Even if you hate historical novels, I recommend 11/22/63 by Stephen King whenever anyone asks for a book to read. It's a masterpiece. Besides, who isn't interested in the 1950s-60s to at least some degree?
EDIT: If you don't mind mild romance, I would also recommend Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars, both by John Green. Paper Towns is about a guy looking for this girl who suddenly disappears, and TFOS is about a girl with cancer who tries to live like she wants for the few years she has left
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Did you ever get to the ending? Its not boring. It just has a lot of the details. All those details factor in to what happens later on the lifeboat.
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I loved Life of Pi. So did my grandmother, my mother and my students. Masterful sense of Pi's existence.
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Read Armor by John Steakley. One of my favorite books and the guys behind Halo said it was an influence on them.
Other ideas are The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (my favorite author), the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov or if you're into cyberpunk stuff, check out Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Hope this helps! :)
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I thought nobody else ever knew about Steakley's Armor. +5 to you, sir. Your comment made my day.
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+1, the Foundation series is the best... Especially the original trilogy (The extended ones feel a little bit forced). The Robot series isn't bad either. Better yet, try to find Asimov's short story collections!
Also, I'd recommend Philip K. Dick's short story collections as well.
Also, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury if you haven't read it yet.
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Never heard of Steakley, but i stand behind all the others recommendations. Speaking of Ray Bradbury and his Farenheit 451 ( you just got to read that one ) i would recommend George Orwell 1984 as well as his Animal Farm.
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id also throw in a recommendation for "a down and out in paris and london" by orwell, more of a semi autobiography but it gripped me as a teenager after id read 1984 but this may be a thing where im an englisman who's visited france so it spoke to me even it was 60 written decades before i was born :)
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The Terror by Dan Simmons. Terrible title but an amazing book, it adds a supernatural monster to the factual account of the HMS Terror getting icebound exploring the Arctic Circle in the 1850s. Supposedly being developed by AMC for tv, too.
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divergent series, hunger games series, Nicholas Flamel series,
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If you like first person SciFi, Vonnegut's Galapagos is weird and brilliant. It's about a catastrophe that will soon happen and change the course of human evolution, told by a narrator who seems to have lived a thousand years later and yet experienced the events as they happened. There's a double mystery as to what exactly will happen and who could have lived to tell this.
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+1
Galapagos is awesome (as is often the case with Vonnegut).
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Do you like to read theather plays? If you do, and you love wordplays, I would recommend you to read some Theater of the Absurd.
I love Jardiel Poncela, but since you don't speak spanish and jokes can sometimes be very idiomatic I can't recommend you anything in particular.
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Ok, some books in order of awesomeness
Foundation - Asimov, my favorite author... after reading many of his books, I saved a few of them to read in times of necessity as they help me ease my mind when life gets too hard...
Tigana - I can't suggest this book enough, best stuff I have read in ages, and from an author I never heard before. Best birthday gift I received in a long time.
Old Man's War - Second best book I have read last year...
A Song of Ice and Fire - Pretty good, the series is in a hype now
The name of the Wind - Good stuff, has some flaws but still worth reading
I would suggest getting the first book from some of those series and see what you like most
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Besides recommending all the Vonnegut you can get your hands on ('cos he's my favorite), I'll nominate a couple of books that I've really enjoyed for one reason or another: first, China Mieville's The City & The City, 'cause its concept is just so damn bizarre I can't help but love it; William Goldman's The Princess Bride, which is genuinely one of the funniest, most fantastic books I've read in a while (though not in first person, for the most part).
Another one that I've quite enjoyed is Carlos Ruiz Záfon's The Shadow of the Wind.
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I don't read much Sci-Fi, but check out Ursula K. LeGuinn or Phillip K. Dick if you haven't heard of them. They're the centerpiece of anyone who's even slightly interested in science fiction. I saw Asimov in the suggestions - he's the more fortunate of the pulp science fiction era. He's a master and a classic, but you really should look into the time period as a whole if you like Asimov. There are lots of quick reads that are well-made and fun.
If you don't know what to read, allow me to introduce Tom Wolfe. His books are filled with political commentary, layers of meaning, and sensual plot connections. He's a contemporary writer, so you might want to get a collection of good contemporary short writing first since I noticed that most of the suggestions were more of the more cheap young adult books. No offense to any fans of the genre, but I really can't read one of those for very long anymore. Once you go to contemporary, you never turn back. It seems that young adult writers restrict themselves and use less effort in their young adult books. It's like an entire genre is just filled with the trash a good writer wrote in a few months for a few extra bucks that somehow got on the New York Times Bestseller List.
I can understand why people read young adult fiction, but it seems like the genre is so disposable. It's simply fact that young adult books are cheaper, pulpier, and a leisurely read. Face the facts and read something that has some meaning!
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Yes, Philip K. Dick wrote several brilliant books. I recommend "Ubik", "The Man In The High Castle", "Do androids dream of electric sheeps?" and "Scanner darkly"
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Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy <- sci-fi + tons of surreal humor
Terry Pratchett - Discworld saga (start from "Pyramids", "Guards! Guards!" or "Small gods") <- fantasy + surreal humor
Strugacki Brothers - Roadside Picnic (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video games were inspired by that book), Stanisław Lem - Solaris - classics of "existencial" sci-fi
George Orwell - 1984, Animal Farm, Aldous Huxley - Brave New World - the best dystopian novels I have read
William Golding - Lord of Flies - just try it. Stephen King said that it is his favourite book, and I second that opinion.
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Haven't read all of those yet, but it's definitely a list of recommendations I can get behind.
If you like dystopian novels, have a look at "We" from Yevgeny Zamyatin. It's pretty decent too.
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Yeah, I heard about it and it seems to be really decent book, but unfortunately here in Poland it's pretty hard to find that book.
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You should set up a Goodreads account if you like to read. It's an easy way to keep track of what you've read and get recommendations for other stuff to read.
My personal recs:
I could go on forever. I mostly read the bizarro/disturbing horror stuff though.
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One of the best things I did was refrain from watching the movies, instead reading the Ender series. I ended up reading one book per day. They're just that good.
Add me on Goodreads, Michael M., would love to talk more about books in general, if you're interested.
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Some great Sci-fi:
Some other recommendations:
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Books are my specialty. I could type for hours.
Get Blood Meridian, The Road, Catch-22 and Brave New World and your life will change.
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I second The Road, it is by far the best book I have ever read. I have never found myself so emotionally attached a book before.
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Neil Gaiman does a lot of fun contemporary fantasy. Not hard core sci-fi but still fun reads.
Check out American Gods and the semi stand alone sequel Anasni's Boys.
Also Good Omens written by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Apparently them combined feels like Douglas Adams.
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I got £30 to spend at Waterstones and an extra £10 for WHSmith (And some of my own money)
BOOKS
Truthfully, I'm not too sure what I want to read. Anything really. Sci-Fi is good, read a horror/graphic book a while ago and really enjoyed it...
Not too crazy about historical novels, or incredibly romantic tales either but nonetheless, go ahead.
I do much prefer first person books ("I" "We" etc)
Thanks in advance, everyone.
And hopefully some people out there also looking for books can find something.
EDIT: Recommendations coming in quick... Going to bed soon, can't wait to see all the replies tomorrow! (I might be going shopping tomorrow so hmm...)
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