| Page 1 of 2 |
Przepraszam
VIP Member
Posts: 14496
Location: Poland. New York.
|
 Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 08:41 Post subject: What books do you recommend to read? |
|
 |
I know that we have thread about what books you are reading right now.
But I would be more than welcome to hear about the books you have read in the past that made you with a big impression(pardon my language)
For example. I have all of the books by Trudi Caravan which include The Black Magician Trilogy, The Magician's Apprentice , The Age of the Five Trilogy, and The Traitor Spy Trilogy. I thought they were pretty good written fantasy books all around.
I have also read almost entire John Grisham collection, I still miss a few but I read the majority of it. ( His new series of Theodore Boone and few others)
My next trilogy that I will read is The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks and Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett.
anyone here have any recommendations to read?
(Pardon my language and my common spelling mistakes. I did not realize what I have mistype until I re-read it. )
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 09:24 Post subject: |
|
|
I'm currently finishing up The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Its pacing is a bit slow, but I'm fairly certain that's deliberate, as Sanderson has a very unique take on the world he's crafted in everything from its state, to its politics, as well as its magic system (generic DnD this is not).
It's also very raw in the sense that Sanderson isn't afraid to mince words or focus on that idyllic storybook ending, or characters, and I respect em for that.
Quite a lengthy read at nearly ~2100 pages in total, but I'd recommend it.
I can never be free, because the shackles I wear can't be touched or be seen.
i9-9900k, MSI MPG-Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon, 32GB DDR4 @ 3000, eVGA GTX 1080 DT, Samsung 970 EVO Plus nVME 1TB
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 12:40 Post subject: |
|
|
Since Ive mostly read only scifi in the last few years (not enough decent movies nor games in the genre to quench my thirst :>) I'll recommend Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" (there's a movie being made of it). Also from the same genre I would definitely recommend Frank Herbert's "Dune" and Isaac Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy". I'd say these books are the best in the genre, though there are ofc tons of other great books.
Stephen King's Dark Tower series is also pretty damn cool. Hard to put it in one genre. You could say it's fantasy/sci-fi, but maybe even horror at some point.
i5-3570k @4.4gHz, MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4g OC'd, MSI z77a-g45, Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600mHz, Corsair TX650 PSU, Crucial M4 128gb, WD 1.5 TB HDD, Seagate 1TB HDD, LG 27MB85R-B 1440p
RSI name: ctulu
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DXWarlock
VIP Member
Posts: 11422
Location: Florida, USA
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 13:46 Post subject: |
|
|
Enders game was awesome..But i cant speak for the books in its series that follows. The main book was a good solo book for me. It wrapped up nicely, nothing to follow up on really to interest me in the rest. My wife read them, and enjoyed them....but was a bit like the movie 'saw' to me.
The first covered the whole story and suspense and closed the ends..and I enjoyed it very much. Havent had an urge to see anymore 
But for book recommendations, Im thin on good books to read.
Only fiction genre I read is like Hitchhikers Guide, Disk world..etc Mostly dry humor comedy fantasy setting types. Both are really good.
then the odd Stephen king book, as I'm not so much into horror, but his type of dark subtle humor he sprinkles into them.
Other than that, unless you want nonfiction like: random fact books, or like God delusion, selfish gene, Brief history of time, In search of schrodinger's cat, ...then I can help.. 
-We don't control what happens to us in life, but we control how we respond to what happens in life.
-Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. -G. Michael Hopf
Disclaimer: Post made by me are of my own creation. A delusional mind relayed in text form.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
couleur
[Moderator] Janitor
Posts: 14334
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 13:56 Post subject: |
|
|
I always recommend Dostojewski (or Dostoyevsky), especially "Demons" and "The brothers Karamasov".
Those works are difficult to get into, but once you are, they are extremely intelligent and entertaining. You learn so much about psychology and society in Dostojewskis works along very intense storys and amazingly deep characters.
In the beginning it takes some real stamina to get into them, especially to learn the names of the protagonists, but in the end the read is extremely rewarding.
Just take care to get the more recent translations, as they are more adapted to the way we use language nowadays, and they mostly put more work into recreating the flow of the russian language and the poetic style of the original.
Edit: I suppose you could read the original text?
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24636
Location: Your Mom
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 16:15 Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 17:06 Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 17:23 Post subject: |
|
|
I was already thinking of getting Eon a few months ago but I'm usually very hesitant with 'outdated' literature.
Maybe the 80's are recent enough though, Simmons was just 10 years later and his books held up really well. On the other hand the internet was already emerging that time, as well as the 2nd revolution of string theory.
I definitely have problems reading 50's,60's,70's sci-fi its always such a rollercoaster ride.
One moment you think - "oh what a great idea/concept!" and "what amazing forecasting abilities" then the next moment "omg what were they thinking? oh how naive people of the past were". Science has advanced so much during the past decades, even the best writers miss a lot of shots. Just take Asimov's books for example, for every bit of brilliance there is also something in there thats just ridiculous and outdated in retrospect. So how well did Greg Bear's book hold up? Future cold war scenarios alone thats something thats continually harder to take seriously the more time passes by.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 17:52 Post subject: |
|
|
Eon has aged very well, a very interesting read. The second book is worse though, but I still finished it since it's a good read.
Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) is cool (the first three books atleast), but it has the same problem 90% of the fantasy series have, too much bullshit after a while.
The Malazan books are quite good (though the first book is very hard to get into). I think I prefer it over Song of Ice and Fire now (I'm reading the fourth book) since it has more focus while the scope is bigger (yeah sounds a bit contradictory).
Enders Game is good, simple to read.
The Farseer Trilogy is a must-read, nice and conclusive.
The Stand by King, great read.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tonizito
VIP Member
Posts: 51405
Location: Portugal, the shithole of Europe.
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 18:12 Post subject: |
|
|
Stuff from James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler, a few from Lawrence Sanders,Thomas Harris, Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, bit of EA (electronic arts) Poe and a couple of more that I can't remember.
You know, stuff that no one reads nowadays  
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
LeoNatan
☢ NFOHump Despot ☢
Posts: 73196
Location: Ramat Gan, Israel 🇮🇱
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 18:59 Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Przepraszam
VIP Member
Posts: 14496
Location: Poland. New York.
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 19:05 Post subject: |
|
|
I have explained why I decided to create this thread instead of using that thread.
iSatan pls
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 19:28 Post subject: |
|
|
Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa and The Egiptian, by Mika Waltari. I know they don't fit the fantasy genre everyone is so fond nowadays, but nevertheless they are amazing books.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24636
Location: Your Mom
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 20:53 Post subject: |
|
|
| Shocktrooper wrote: | I was already thinking of getting Eon a few months ago but I'm usually very hesitant with 'outdated' literature.
Maybe the 80's are recent enough though, Simmons was just 10 years later and his books held up really well. On the other hand the internet was already emerging that time, as well as the 2nd revolution of string theory.
I definitely have problems reading 50's,60's,70's sci-fi its always such a rollercoaster ride.
One moment you think - "oh what a great idea/concept!" and "what amazing forecasting abilities" then the next moment "omg what were they thinking? oh how naive people of the past were". Science has advanced so much during the past decades, even the best writers miss a lot of shots. Just take Asimov's books for example, for every bit of brilliance there is also something in there thats just ridiculous and outdated in retrospect. So how well did Greg Bear's book hold up? Future cold war scenarios alone thats something thats continually harder to take seriously the more time passes by. |
Eon has held up very very well and anachronisms are few and doesn't affect the full experience. The fictional "science" (based on hypotheses and theories) in it is still flabbergasting and mindblowing as used. Manipulating spacetime itself to become a kind of matter, a man made infinitely long singularity creating an infinite human made universe etc... All are concepts to this day that are very fascinating and interesting. Just great hard scifi with some really good characters and events that keep you interested.
I didn't like the third book (Legacy) which is a prequel to Eon and Eternity. Eternity (sequel) pulls the scientific & philosophical concepts to their conclusions, but Eon surely is a masterpiece (which is why it got the prices it did).
But then I never had any problem with Asimovs Foundation Trilogy (which ended up at 7 books) or his Robot series (Caves of Steel for instance) etc., I knew when they were written and yet a lot of what he wrote was so influential and so mind blowing that current and future science fiction will keep using his universe (Star Wars borrowed heavily from Asimov's universe though not the stories). Some of the shortstory collections have some incredible simple yet genius subcontexts. And to be honest, the 3 first sequels to the Foundation Trilogy were so different (the search for the mythical origin of humans 20,000 years earlier by exploring some of the 50 first colonized worlds) that anachronisms were gone. It was more adventure using scifi as a vehicle for the adventure.
I basically view Isaac Asimov as #1 when it comes to Science fiction. Arthur C Clarke sure made a couple of good books (but a lot of not-so-good short stories). Philip K Dick made some mind bending social sci fi. Robert A Heinlein... Don't like his stuff that much.. very polarising and he really loved the military ideals and individual liberty where he sometimes touched upon fascist ideas (he was full of communist fear). Veerhoevens version of Starship Trooper was satire since he was a critic of the actual book which was pro-military, meant to make the audience feel and think about the movie as a kind of recruitment movie (which is what he felt the book was).
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24636
Location: Your Mom
|
| Posted: Sat, 23rd Feb 2013 22:33 Post subject: |
|
|
| Shocktrooper wrote: | Ordered it. 
Have you read Tau Zero by Poul Anderson?
I haven't (yet) but I'm thinking of getting it. |
Nope. I'm about to stretch my legs and go looking for some great scifi. I can't stand those endless military scifi books that go on for 24 books etc. though, not my style at all. I'm all about big, mind blowing hard scifi like Asimov, Bear, PK Dick etc...
One interesting thing about The second foundation trilogy (the sequels about finding the mythical origin of the human race in it's original form) connected the Foundation series with the Robot series which in themselves are simply genius. And before starting on those 4 books people should get the Robot collection to get the prequel to those books with Detective Elijah. He's made one big universe in different times all hanging together even if there's thousands of years between books. From the beginning it's all about Susan Calvin as the robopsychologist whose work it was to assess the "minds" of positronic brains that failed or displayed anomalous behaviour. Those are to be found in "The Complete Robot" anthology since that's where the whole thing about Susan Calvin, positronic brains, the three laws and robotics start as well as a couple of stories about robots malfunctioning in various environments due to logic flaws in early models on hazardous planets
| Quote: | The first four robot novels The Caves of Steel (1953), The Naked Sun (1955), The Robots of Dawn (1983), and Robots and Empire (1985) make up the Elijah Baley (sometimes "Lije Baley") series, and are mysteries starring the Terran Elijah Baley and his humaniform robot partner, R. Daneel Olivaw. They are set thousands of years after the short stories, and focus on the conflicts between Spacers — descendants of human settlers from other planets, and the people from an overcrowded Earth. "Mirror Image", one of the short stories from The Complete Robot anthology, is also set in this time period (between The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn), and features both Baley and Olivaw. Another short story (found in The Early Asimov anthology), "Mother Earth", is set about a thousand years before the robot novels, when the Spacer worlds chose to become separated from Earth.
Asimov later integrated the Robot Series into his all-engulfing Foundation series, making R. Daneel Olivaw appear again twenty thousand years later in the age of the Galactic Empire, in sequels and prequels to the original Foundation trilogy; and in the final book of the Robots series — Robots and Empire
|
He's connected his Robot universe with the foundation universe in a flawless and logical way.
He was a genius and wrote stuff that is still mind blowing. I've read "The End of Eternity", basically the ultimate in time travel/paradox/control stories, so many times it's all broken up.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 05:59 Post subject: |
|
|
I'd definitely recommend Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber series. Definitely an amazing series of short novels/novellas, by one of the fantasy genre's not-so-widely-known great authors.
A lot of video games make occasional reference to the series as well (a cheat code in Warcraft, a login name in Deus Ex, etc.). Definitely the first books that I ever read which really grabbed me by the throat and forced me to read them straight through without stopping.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
WaldoJ
VIP Member
Posts: 32678
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 08:00 Post subject: |
|
|
I just love the basics if i ever do read them...
philip k dick (whole antohology on my ipad mmm)
etgar keret (pretty much the only reason why i don't hate the jews  )
douglas adams (duh his shit you gotta read at least once a year)
thats pretty much it. Those three keep me inspired in toying with the language and everything else.
| Sin317 wrote: | | I win, you lose. Or Go fuck yourself. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Badrien
Posts: 2118
Location: Netherlands
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 11:44 Post subject: |
|
|
Anything by Terry Pratchett really, Been enoying his book for many years
RTX ON
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 14:09 Post subject: |
|
|
The Dispossessed
Blood Meridian
Gravity's Rainbow
 Spoiler: | |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chiv
Posts: 27530
Location: Behind You...
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 18:50 Post subject: |
|
|
have it on good authority that its a rich and complex philosophical story about one douchebag and his boat |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23342
Location: Trelleborg
|
| Posted: Sun, 24th Feb 2013 19:11 Post subject: |
|
|
Anything by Lovecraft/Heinlein/Asimov/Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchet should be read.
shitloads of new stuff in my pc. Cant keep track of it all.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bigperm
Posts: 1908
Location: Alberta,Canada
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 16:56 Post subject: |
|
|
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, i think everyone should read.
And anything from Heinlein.
| Jenni wrote: | | I drunk. I don't fucking care! |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 17:23 Post subject: |
|
|
If you're into Fantasy - Roger Zelazny's - Chronicle of Amber's collection
If you're into Sci-fi - Lois McMaster Bujold's - Vorkosigan's Saga collection
I highly recommend those 2, best fucking thing I had my hands on ever
both are like around 10 books
| Lutzifer wrote: | | and yes, mine is only average |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 18:34 Post subject: |
|
|
Never heard of Zelazny before. I'll give it a try thanks.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 19:37 Post subject: |
|
|
I can recommend this book, I'm having some troubles myself on the second chapter but I'll find him...ohh yes I will.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
WaldoJ
VIP Member
Posts: 32678
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 20:09 Post subject: |
|
|
| Ankh wrote: | | Anything by Lovecraft/Heinlein/Asimov/Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchet should be read. |
oo forgot lovecraft. Mmmm. Entire anthology on my bookshelf is gathering glorious dust.
| Sin317 wrote: | | I win, you lose. Or Go fuck yourself. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Waargh
Posts: 6997
Location: hell on earth
|
| Posted: Mon, 25th Feb 2013 21:15 Post subject: |
|
|
Neil Gaiman - American Gods, Anansi Boys, Stardust
China Mieville - King Rat, Perdido Street Station, Un Lun Dun
awesome stuff
Today I didn't even need to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day. (c) - Ice Cube
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Page 1 of 2 |
All times are GMT + 1 Hour |
