Another book recommendation thread!

[shrekfan246]

I know, I know, we get recommendation threads every week or two and the last one about books wasn't that long ago, but I can't help myself.

As a person looking to break into the world of published writing, I feel I should take it upon myself to... well, read. I read a fair bit while I was growing up, but as I started going through high school and the years since, I've been switching much more heavily toward gaming and neglecting any sort of book collection. So I figured I would change that, and who better to ask than... okay, there are probably a few better places I could ask, but I'm most comfortable with the community around here, and I know plenty of you guys and gals like to talk about literature!

As for what I'm looking for:

Spoiler: What I already have access to, enjoyed in the past, or am otherwise already considering.

Eoin Colfer's urban fantasy series Artemis Fowl.
Brian Jacques' Redwall series.
Garth Nix's The Seventh Tower series.
The Chronicles of Narnia.
Harry Potter.
The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit.
A Game of Thrones.
The Phantom Tollbooth.
Magic Kingdom For Sale--Sold!

The Book of Lost Tales/The Silmarillion.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.
Terry Brooks' Shannara novels and other Magic Kingdom of Landover novels.
Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga.
Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series; I have read the first book in the series however.
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot/The Caves of Steel/The Naked Sun/The Robots of Dawn/Robots and Empires/The Complete Robot, the Foundation novels excepting Foundation and Earth.

Everything except Discworld in this section is part of my dad's collection, though, which is part of the reason for this thread.

George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire; on A Clash of Kings.

Considering all of this, I state that I would prefer novels around 300-400 pages in length just for the sheer fact that there's a daunting collection I already have that I can work my way through, though obviously longer ones are not a problem for me if they're simply that good. I should also like to not spend more than $20 USD per book if possible, as I don't have unlimited funds for the purchasing of new things.

As should be evident, I do prefer works that aren't set within the real world or which stretch the boundaries of reality, though I have no real preference between high fantasy and science-fiction, and I would like to know of more urban fantasy stories (I've heard The Dresden Files is such and generally pretty good?).

So there you have it! Go nuts!

 

[Bleidd Whitefalcon]

Yes. The Dresden Files are GREAT - once you get to book 3 and onwards. One and two are meh but still decent. So I highly recommend those

 

[SweetShark]

Right now I have some books I can recommend for you to enjoy [sadly lazy to explain why...]:

The biography of a super soldier, Gabriel. Put some dose of Deadpool as well and you have a hell of the ride XD

When Satan visit Russia. Also a badass cat. That all.

When literally the Angels want to make you lose to a competition and you just can pray to have a beer......f*cking radical!!!

 

[Raven's Nest]

Mass Effect: Revelation is an enjoyable short (300 page) read, particularly if you are a fan of the games and want to learn a lot more about Anderson and Saren. You should be able to pick it up pretty cheap and it's written by Drew Karpyshyn (lead writer of many great bioware games including ME1 and 2). It serves as a great prequel story from which to launch yourself into the games too if you haven't played them.

 

[CheesyGrin1992]

Well, you seem to have read a fair bit of fantasy. Particularly, leading on from The Seventh Tower series, I would recommend reading The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, consisting of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen.

Also, I would highly recommend reading some of Brandon Sanderson's fantasy work. As an aspiring author myself, I am in love with his writing. Particularly, I love his work for his unique takes on "magic", as it were. For a standalone book, I would recommend looking at Warbreaker. It has a unique approach to magic, concerning something called BioChromatic Breath. If you wanted to look at a series, the Mistborn books are a very interesting read, looking at individuals who can extract power from various metals. This series starts with The Final Empire.

 

[jurnag12]

As previously commented, The Dresden Files is pretty great. But I'd also like to recommend the Alex Verus novels, a series that's of a similar brand of Urban Fantasy as The Dresden Files.

And I'd also like to punch you for having the Discworld novels yet not having read them. They're great and relatively short, so you have no excuse, damnit.

Also, the Ciaphas Cain Warhammer 40k novels are pretty good, so if you can get a hold of the Hero of the Imperium collection of the first 3 novels and 3 short stories, I'd heartily recommend them.

 

[lord Claincy Ffnord]

Also, I would highly recommend reading some of Brandon Sanderson's fantasy work. As an aspiring author myself, I am in love with his writing. Particularly, I love his work for his unique takes on "magic", as it were. For a standalone book, I would recommend looking at Warbreaker. It has a unique approach to magic, concerning something called BioChromatic Breath. If you wanted to look at a series, the Mistborn books are a very interesting read, looking at individuals who can extract power from various metals. This series starts with The Final Empire.

I will second Brandon Sanderson's stuff and Note that the first The Final Empire is my favourite of his books.
I will also suggest the Queen's Thief series as some of the best books I have ever read. They are in the 300-400 pages range. First book is called The Thief. If I could only recommend one novel to someone, it would be that one.

 

[OneCatch]

Well, you seem to have read a fair bit of fantasy. Particularly, leading on from The Seventh Tower series, I would recommend reading The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, consisting of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen.

Seconding this.

I see you've got the Silmarillion there - I found that a complete ***** to get through, but I was only about 13 at the time and haven't re-read it since, so I'm not sure what it's like for an adult!

Also, if you like Asimov, try Arthur C Clarke's stuff. Similar style, relatively short stories, but often in collection form. They tend to move away from being purely robot related too.

 

[Wunderhund]

If you want to try a strange, noir-ish fantasy, check out William Vollmann's The Royal Family .

I'm only halfway through myself, so I can't speak to the ending or how the themes ultimately play out, but I've been having a blast reading it. A plot synopsis wouldn't help the book's case much, but it's trippy and interesting.

 

[Smiley Face]

It's neat, looking at what you've read, it pretty much lines up with what I'd read before I was 12 - except I have no idea what Magic Kingdom For Sale is, and I hadn't read Game of Thrones at that point. If you're looking for more of the stuff like that, I might recommend Percy Jackson and the Olympians - takes Greek mythology, places it in modern setting works well with it; other fantasy series I read in my early youth were Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy, Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Series, Chirstopher Paolini's Inheritance Saga, Chris Stewart & Paul Riddell's Edge Chronicles, and Des MacHale's Pendragon Series.

If you want Urban Fantasy, you really have to check out the Dresden Files - it only starts looking at itself as a series of books, rather than standalones, at the 3rd book, but then it really takes off, really catchy stuff, and of the manageable size you're looking for.

Even though it's on your list, you should check out Terry Pratchett's Discworld - it's an excellent fantasy series, which also doubles as an excellent satire of fantasy series. I'm not sure whether I'd call it Urban Fantasy, but it is fantasy in a predominantly urban environment.

I would also recommend Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard Sequence - Fantasy setting, it follows the lives of a group of talented young con artists. Excellent humour, really well developed setting, and thieves as heroes - really well done, only has 2 books out so far, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and Red Seas Under Red Skies.

And last, but not least, one of the best fantasy series I've read recently is Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, so far with The Name of the Wind, and Wise Man's Fear. It's AMAZINGLY well written and structured, you can't help but get caught up in it - and then as the story develops, you find yourself caught up in the detail of the world, the way magic works, the relationships between the characters - I would recommend this series first and foremost to anyone looking for fantasy series, but if you're looking for good writing, you really need to check this out. Also, with what you've read in the past, you'll probably enjoy the way it comes close to, but does different things with, some things you'd be familiar with - Magic School, for instance.

And personally, I don't mind these threads cropping up - every time they do, someone share's something that piques my interest, and goes down on my list.

 

[saintdane05]

Stephen King's novel It. Yes, I know of the movie with Tim Curry. It was stupid, but good.
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The novel is less, "EVIL CLOWNS OMG" and more of a story of an elder evil haunting a town, and (More importantly) what we lose when we leave our childhood selves behind.

 

[shrekfan246]

And I'd also like to punch you for having the Discworld novels yet not having read them. They're great and relatively short, so you have no excuse, damnit.

Yeah, that's mostly because it's only been the past few months that I started acquiring them and it's been a major hassle trying to find them in order (though I have since found they're split into different sections of characters they actually feature, which should help significantly).

It's neat, looking at what you've read, it pretty much lines up with what I'd read before I was 12 - except I have no idea what Magic Kingdom For Sale is, and I hadn't read Game of Thrones at that point.

Well, that is about the time I stopped reading for the fun of it.

Magic Kingdom for Sale is a book in which a depressed lawyer from Chicago finds an ad for a magical kingdom being sold in the newspaper, and on a desperate whim decides to purchase it and is then transported into a fantasy world, crowned king of a broken nation with only a ragtag complementary court--A fool serving as wizard, a scribe turned into a dog by said wizard, and two Kobolds as groundskeepers and defenders. It's followed on by the other Magic Kingdom of Landover novels, which I haven't read yet myself. It's a pretty light read, but I remember it being rather charming (though to be fair, nostalgia does blind us to all in the end).

Well, you seem to have read a fair bit of fantasy. Particularly, leading on from The Seventh Tower series, I would recommend reading The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, consisting of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen.

If it shows how out-of-touch I am, I didn't even know Garth Nix had other series'.

But The Seventh Tower's world is a big influence on the story I've been building myself, so I'll definitely look into that one.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, guys! It's always much better to go into the store with an idea of what you want to pick up, and all the more satisfying when you then find it.

 

[hermes]

Out of your collection, I would recommend you to read Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy. It doesn't match the 300 pages restriction, but it can be if you read each book of the series separately (they are fairly independent)

 

[BeeGeenie]

I notice you have no Niel Gaiman in your collection. I would recommend "Good Omens," which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, as a good place to start.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks is easily the best series I have ever read. Highly recommended

However, be warned: It is very graphic and there is some rather disturbing content. if you're into that sort of thing, then this is a must-read, but if you're sensitive then I say you should pick up something different...

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

any of the novels that relate to blizzard games, you do need to be into the games though.
A lot of people that i know think that the novels are shit, but i've read almost all of them and they are really good.
but if you're not into blizzard games, the novels might be less interesting, since it ties into the world they relate to

 

[Sixcess]

When Satan visit Russia. Also a badass cat. That all.

Seconding this. The Master and Margarita is a fantastic read.

For my own recommendation I'll say the Culture novels of Iain M Banks. They are beautifully written, have incredibly imaginative and well realised ideas, and are thoughtful, moving and often extremely funny. Start with Consider Phlebas and go on from there. I can't recommend them highly enough.

 

[shrekfan246]

any of the novels that relate to blizzard games, you do need to be into the games though.
A lot of people that i know think that the novels are shit, but i've read almost all of them and they are really good.
but if you're not into blizzard games, the novels might be less interesting, since it ties into the world they relate to

I love Blizzard's games, incidentally. The lore of Warcraft has always been rather interesting to me.

I've never really thought about books related to video games, to be honest, though I know there are quite a few for many different franchises.

When Satan visit Russia. Also a badass cat. That all.

Seconding this. The Master and Margarita is a fantastic read.

For my own recommendation I'll say the Culture novels of Iain M Banks. They are beautifully written, have incredibly imaginative and well realised ideas, and are thoughtful, moving and often extremely funny. Start with Consider Phlebas and go on from there. I can't recommend them highly enough.

I'll have to see if I can find The Master and Margarita (I do live in a pretty small, unimportant state), and the Culture series looks interesting, since my only real exposure to space operas are, of course, Star Wars and Star Trek. Thanks!

 

[Bruce]

Marian Zimmer Bradley's The Shattered Chain is pretty good, as are Thendara House and City of Sorcery. Her stuff can vary greatly in quality though.

Seconding the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, just remember it started off as a radio series so you shouldn't read it all at once.

Arthur C Clarke can be interesting but a lot of what he wrote has dated quite badly. Asimov's foundation trilogy is great, but you aren't missing much by not having Foundation and Earth.

If you feel like branching out from sci-fi and fantasy, you may want to try John D Macdonald's Condominium.

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

any of the novels that relate to blizzard games, you do need to be into the games though.
A lot of people that i know think that the novels are shit, but i've read almost all of them and they are really good.
but if you're not into blizzard games, the novels might be less interesting, since it ties into the world they relate to

I love Blizzard's games, incidentally. The lore of Warcraft has always been rather interesting to me.

I've never really thought about books related to video games, to be honest, though I know there are quite a few for many different franchises.

yea, the warcraft lore has always stuck with me, blizzard has some great writers employed, have you played starcraft and read the books? i think it's a bit better than warcraft in a few aspects