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...)

10 years ago*

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A Confederacy of Dunces is pretty good.

10 years ago
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+1

10 years ago
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A Song of Ice and Fire.

10 years ago
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Not really a first person series, but awesome non-the-less.

Also, Jon Snow, of course you'd recommend the books that you star in ;P

10 years ago
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That's not Jon Snow, it's Robb Stark. :D

10 years ago
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You know what? You're right. I don't know why I thought that was Jon, but in my defense it has been a while since I watched GoT.

10 years ago
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Hmmm...

If you like fantasy than "The deed of Paksenarion" Elisabeth Moon... or if you like anything darker take something from eastern europe...

Steam age: "The Light Ages - ian r. macleod"

Sci-fi - "Broken Angels - Richard Morgan"

Classic stuff - "The Idiot" Dostoyevsky or "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov (if you didn't read it start with those 2... my personal 2 best books...

10 years ago
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+1 for Broken Angels

10 years ago
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Eschalon - Book II

10 years ago
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Read the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks - its one of the most underrated, amazing books of all time.

10 years ago
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Get some comics. Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman, Superman, The Flash. :D

10 years ago
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someones asking for something to read and you come along with comics? :3

10 years ago
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That's how I roll. BD

10 years ago
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American psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Dune by Frank Herbert

Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Sins of the fathers: A Gabriel Knight Novel by Jane Jensen

Ring, Spiral, Loop - A novel trilogy by Koji Suzuki

and some others i guess :)

10 years ago
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Dracula and Frankenstein are probably 2 of the most famous historical novels. I read both many years ago, Dracula is a great book, but its just a novel, Frankenstein is way deeper, its not just a novel, ill make you think about yourself.

Probably my personal lecture wont appeal you too much, but if it counts, game of thrones (books are great XD).

10 years ago
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Probably readed those already, but man... if you didn't... read right away!

DUNE- the whole series from Frank Herbert is amazing

SHOGUN- by james clavel; again a series wich is awesome, but the first one is by far and large one of the best books ive ever readed

Everything Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchet if you want clever humor

LORD OF THE FLIES: a classic, a favorite

Also everything from Borges and Calvino

10 years ago
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Read a Games of Throne. It is in POV chapters. I'm sure you will like it.

10 years ago
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The Dark Tower(series)

The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western.

10 years ago
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I was given The Dark Tower II as a gift 10-15 years ago, but never did read it because I hadn't read the first one. Thanks for the inadvertent recommendation!

10 years ago
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I second the Dark Tower Series. Nearly through it myself and it's great reading.

10 years ago
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We. Arguably the first important Sci-Fi novel ever written. Also a fascinating read (especially if you enjoy Russian dystopian novels).

10 years ago
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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

10 years ago
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this, then rest of the ender quintet:
speaker for the dead,
xenocide,
children of the mind

10 years ago
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Yes, almost all 5 are goldies.

10 years ago
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When you start getting serious about good books, you'll be looking for authors, not titles. You find an author you like to read, then you find the people that inspired that author, and so on. Good authors put out good material, whereas weak authors may put out one good book.

Philip Jose Farmer has a lot of good stuff. Jack Chalker has some good series. Robert Aspirin is quite enjoyable if you like comedy. There are many others if you check around, too many to list here, but there is one Fantasy series that was both unusual and entertaining. Start with "The Riddle-Master of Hed" and see if you like that.

10 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 6 years ago.

10 years ago
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I mainly read sci-fi and fantasy so I hope the following takes your interest. At the moment I am mainly switching between two books as they are in a series that is still being written.

Frontiers Saga - Space sci-fi series.
Sorcerers Ring - Fantasy book series.

A few other suggestions from books I read last year:

Wool Three book series.
The Rho Agenda Three book series.
Scrapyard Ship Currently on second book in the series.
Ring Runner - I got this free in one of the Groupees bundles, worth buying though.

Hope that helps.

10 years ago
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The Kingkiller Chronicles, Ender's Game, also Shogun (I know it's a historical novel but it's really a great book), The Dark Tower series, The Wheel of Time series, also I liked The Sword of Truth (First 5-6 are very good and although some of the books later are a bit boring I really enjoyed the final three) :)

10 years ago
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Anything from Terry Pratchett.

10 years ago
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Totally this!! You can't simply go wrong with picking Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

10 years ago
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the non discworld or certainly good omens is probably the best he;s ever written though admittedly that might be colabberating with neil gaiman, i equal parts pray for and dread a tv/movie adaptation of good omens, if its good itd be magnificent but it probably wont be and itll suck more than the latest model dyson

10 years ago
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eats shoots and leaves

10 years ago
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The End of Mr.Y by Scarlett Thomas: masterpiece

10 years ago
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The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

10 years ago
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Nice recommendation.

10 years ago
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indeed

10 years ago
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If you like Sci Fi you might want to read The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil, its a theory not a story thought.
Entering Space as well about space colonization, by Robert Zubrin.

10 years ago
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If you like fantasy, first person, and long stories, you may like enjoy The Black Company (Glen Cook). People also mentionned Dan Simmons, I cannot tell too much how this writer is awesome: Hyperion / Endymyon, Ilium / Olympos, and of course the must-read Carrion Comfort. And a great (quite) classical one: The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.
If you want something without space or magic or the like, this one is really great: A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. Another really funny one is The Throwback, by Tom Sharpe.
Say goodbye to social life :)

10 years ago
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I'm not sure exactly what brand of Sci-Fi you meant OP, but I would suggest you check out any of the fiction works of James Rollins myself. I find them to be highly engaging. All of his books are relatively unique, in that they are somewhat sci-fi or fantasy related, but using a basis in actual modern science and scientific theory. And after his first few books, they also have a whole section in the back of the novel that explains where he got all the ideas from, with some research information included, should you be interested in looking up more details about some of the RL theories that inspired his fiction. I'll admit, I probably geek out more over that section than the books themselves, but the actual books are also quite good.

On a less intellectual note, I very much enjoy the writing of Jim Butcher, both the Dresden Files books and the Codex Alera series. I find him to be a phenomenal author, who strikes an almost perfect balance of fulfilling my need for information without going overboard, with an eye for just about the perfect amount of detail, and a knack for making the action in his books immersive.
I'm generally a fan of the Urban Fantasy genre, so I also read the Hollows series by Kim Harrison and would recommend that, though it's not as good as the Dresden Files series imo.

There's also the ever-present standby of reading things by R.A. Salvatore, who will carry you across various popular titles, each of which are genre defining in their own rights. He's of course written numerous D&D books, which he's rather famous for, as well as having written things for various video game tie ins, a few Star Wars books, and a number of graphic novel adaptations.

Hopefully that will give you a few different ideas to try out, and I hope you find something you'll enjoy!

10 years ago
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Closed 10 years ago by Simowl.