Book recommendation thread (w/ a wee train and *new LV4* flash gib!)

bumparoo

A few short story collections I've really enjoyed this year:

• Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is also excellent)

If you liked Alas, Babylon, I would suggest trying to find a copy of On The Beach, by Nevil Shute.

5 month vacation

muh life

Dune by Frank Herbert
Startide Rising by David Brin
West of Eden by Harry Harrison

I loved The Avatar Series of Forgotten Realms

I really enjoyed Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, and the comic Saga i've read the first few volumes but I think theres like 6 now (I got them digitally from the humble bundle people)

The Neil Gaiman Sandman series of graphic novels (?) issues (?) - highest quality comics. And the great Sam Keith was the artist for the first 20 issues.

A sci-fi book called The Waystation
Sci-fi: The Genocides
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco - I have read this book a half dozen times. So much fun!

I think the book I enjoyed the most was The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. You just have to give it some time.
Other recommendations are Pet Sematary, it, American gods, The Damnation game and the Necroscope

Ender's Game has around 2 sequels that aren't half bad either (or so I've heard, didn't finish the first book yet). Also, obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy recommendation.

Supernatural:
Kim Harrison's A fist full of charms. + Series
Scifi:
Christopher Stacheffs Warlock Series.
Fantasy:
Raymond E Fiest's Magician Series.
Modern Fantasy:
Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt (original series - Not the son - so anything up to and including Valhalla Rising).
Spy:
Roberts Ludlum's Jason Bourne Series (Way better then the movies).
Short Novella's/Short Stories:
Anything by Ben Bova or Robert Heinlein

Edit:
Just noticed a lot of recommendations for the sequals to Enders Game - don't forget there were more then Xenocide and speaker for the Dead - Enders Shadow (which occurs at the same time of Enders game but focus' is on Bean) Children of the Hegemony, Children of the Mind.

I was actually abused last year for recommending Enders Game to another reader - apparently the book has become a call to war because it's "a homophobic rant that promotes violence towards gays".
I've read the series about 10 times and it never once occurred to me that it was homophobic, insensitive or inciteful. I reread it to try and find out where this idea come from but still couldn't find it.

Bump

Bump!

Anything by Ray Bradbury is my recommendation. Especially the Illustrated Man and the Martian Chronicles.

• Absolutetly anything from Terry Pratchett. (Discworld series of course)
• Dianna Wynne Jonnes Howls trilogy
• Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
• AKIRA
• Hitchhker's guide to the galaxy series
• Three Musketeers trilogy (yes, this books are fun as hell, a MUST)
• The Earthsea books from Ursula K LeGuin. (Her SciFi books are really good too. Particularly "Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossesed)
• The Witcher book series from Andrzej Sapkowski

Bump!

Майкл Томас и 7 ангелов. Путешествие Домой.

Now what's not being mentioned yet ..

Classics:
1984
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451

Otherland saga by Tad Williams (sci-fi / virtual reality mixed up with historical events/myths)
Dark Tower saga by Stephen King (dark fantasy / western; features a choo-choo!)
Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz (Detective with ghost assistents, got already a movie adaption, but haven't seen it yet)

Edit: meh, twice beaten.

tl:bump

I read a LOT; mostly fantasy, urban fantasy, and sci-fi. In terms of action/fun, I would say Dresden Files is my favorite hands down. In terms of emotional flavor, I would say Long Price Quartet. Here are some series I've really enjoyed:

• Jim Butcher - Dresden Files series (supernatural/urban fantasy), Codex Alera series (fantasy), Cinder Spire series (steampunk)
• Brandon Sanderson - Stormlight Archives series (swords/magic fantasy), Mistborn series (1st three books are swords/magic fantasy, next 3 are steampunk), Reckoners series (superpowers/urban fantasy). I really like a lot his stuff, especially Stormlight archives and Mistborn.
• Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicles (swords/magic fantasy)... awesome, very well written, great plot... but be prepared to wait multiple years between books.
• Scott Lynch - Gentleman Bastards (think swords/magic fantasy meets ocean eleven). Love this series. I will say that the first half of the first book is a chore to get through, but if you can hold out it makes up for it in spades. Also worth noting, the author has had some personal issues and it may be awhile before the next book comes out.
• Larry Correia - The Grimnoir Chronicles (superpowers/noir... think x-men set in the 1930's), Monster Hunter International (urban fantasy), Dead Six (military)
• Peter V. Brett - The Demon Cycle (fantasy) - the first 3 are pretty solid. some people were b****ing that the 4th book had some racial undertones against Muslims. FWIW, I didn't feel that was a fair portrayal of what he was aiming for and the story was pretty good, if not as great as the first 3.
• Brent Weeks - Night Angel trilogy (ninja/assassin/fantasy), Lightbringer series (fantasy... haven't read the newest one yet but the first 3 were solid)
• Daniel Abraham - The Long Price Quartet (fantasy but very different flavor from everything else I have listed; I really enjoyed this)
• George R.R. Martin - Song of Ice and Fire series (dark fantasy/lot of character deaths)
• John Gwynne - The Faithful and the Fallen series (dark fantasy/lot of character deaths)
• Raymond E. Feist - Riftwaft saga (swords/magic fantasy... but early work his other stuff gets better). Also an excellent DOS-era RPG called Betrayal At Krondor that is set in his world (to this day, it is still my favorite CRPG); if you want to check it out, you can find it on GOG but be forewarned that GOG mixes screenshots for it and a crappy spin-off game called Betrayal in Antara. As for Feist's other books, AFAIK all the other War and Saga series of his take place in the same world/universe/reality.
• John RIngo - Posleen War series aka Legacy of the Aldenata (military/scifi). I liked this but got kinda dry after second book for me.
• Richard Kadrey - Sandman Slim series (supernatural/urban fantasy)
• Myke Cole - Shadow Ops (military/scifi/superpowers). liked the first one (control point). didn't like the prequel one with the zombie (main character felt like a real Gary Stu/Mary Sue)
• Roger Zelazny - Chronicles of Amber (sword/magic fantasy meets noir) i liked this one a lot, but it is older and can be less exciting if you are used to more modern stuff
• Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake series (supernatural/urban fantasy). Be forewarned that there is a LOT of sexual content in this series, especially as it gets several books in. I don't have a problem with sex in books but it does get taken to extremes. By at least book 5 if not earlier, I felt it hard to maintain respect for the protagonist who I had genuinely liked in the first several books and thought was a very unique, independent character. If you're ok with all that, she has a good writing style and some would say her action scene's heavily influenced Jim Butcher's writing style.
• Robert Jordan: fun fact 'Robert Jordan' was just a pen name - Wheel of Time series. I feel like in some ways this is almost as influential on high fantasy as Tolkien's stuff. Tolkien may have set the stage, but Jordan (aka James Oliver Rigney, Jr.) set the standard. I will warn that this is a very LONG series and he can be very overly wordy describing scenery and the like during some parts of the series. But despite that, it has lots of great action, romance, plot twists.
• The Fables series (comics) - I don't usually read comics but these are really da** good. Found out about these after playing the excellent game "A Wolf Among Us" which is based off characters from the series.

Books I would NOT recommend:

• The Princess Bride. This is an excellent movie. And unfortunately, it is the one and only time I will ever say: Don't bother with the book, just watch the movie. The frame story in the movie wasn't very intrusive and worked. In the book, he adds a LOT more frame story and makes it sound like some kind of historical relevant story but it's all fluff as well and just detracts from the real story IMO. Also, the book version adds a single chapter at the end as a "sequel" which from all accounts he never planned to write in the first place, whereas the movie knows where to wrap things up nicely.
• Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea series (Liked a lot of the concepts and the first book was good, if it wandered around a bit. But the rest of the series... found the pacing to be extremely boring and tedious and felt like the plot wandered around without a purpose. To be fair, I didn't make it to book 4 so maybe it got better)

Edit: Holy bad formatting, Batman! Sorry about that folks, hope this helps clean things up

Well, im mostly scifi/fantasy/mistery, so here is some recommendation from me D:

• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (High Fantasy)
• Mistborn The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (High Fantasy)
• Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Steampunk fantasy)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Scifi with Darrow)
• Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Pseudo post-apocalyptic)
• The Black Company by Glen Cook (Epic Fantasy)
• The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erickson (Epic Fantasy)
• The Long Cosmos nby Terry Pratchett
• Blood Song by Ryan Anthony (Fantasy)
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (The Epic Fking Fantasy)
• Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• The Discworld saga by Terry Pratchett
• Waking Fire by Ryan Anthony
• Warship Black Fleet Trilogy by Dalzelle Joshua (scifi)
• The Seeds of Earth by Cobley Michael (scifi)
• On Silver Wings by Currie Evan C. (scifi)
• Neuromancer by Gibson William.
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Dark Tower Saga by Stephen King
• Saga by Brian K. Vaughan (Is a graphic novel or comic, but is pretty good)
• The Foundation saga by Isaac Asimov

Hope you find something you like from this little selection D: Happy reading! D:

I always vote for Dune. It's a long series (ignore the prequels), but none of the books really leave you on a cliffhanger so you can stop when you want. The first is the best, imo mostly for having such a fleshed out and realized universe.

The Deed of Paksenarrion is also good. Follows a girl as she becomes a paladin. Generally not too magic-y, but focusing more on physical weapons and the experience of being in a medieval-ish army and being a soldier.

For sci-fi techy, William Gibson is great, though all of his stories blend into each other so I can't really suggest one over another - start at the beginning.

Ghost in the Shell (the graphic novel) was really good, too. Might be worth a read with the movie coming up (even if it looks the be essentially the first episode of Stand Alone Complex)

Harry Potter (sorry had to mention it :P), Bird Box by Josh Malerman, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, anything by Neil Gaiman. I've only read 2 Stephen King novels (11/22/63 and It) but absolutely loved both. Also NOS4A2 by his son Joe Hill.

As for graphic novels I recommend Saga by Brian K. Vaughan (actually what got me into graphic novels after trying loads without loving any) and Chew by John Layman.

Enjoy your vacation and happy reading!

bump~