Recommend me some books.

secretkeeper12

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I'm having an excellent time reading Magician: Apprentice (part of the Riftwar saga, not the narnia series). It does a wonderful job with characterization and making the setting come alive. The premise may sound hopelessly cliched, but I assure you it's much better than that.
 

CapnCJ

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Mar 4, 2009
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The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, I really can't recommend this enough. Funny, dark, and violent, with an excellent cast. Honestly I rate it above the Game of Thrones saga.

bartholen said:
H.P. Lovecraft collections.
Also, this. A deeply troubled mind, but he produced some amazing works of horror.

Edit: Oh, and read 1984. It's one of those books that stuck in my mind for weeks after I finished it.
 

spartan231490

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thejackyl said:
I just got a kindle for Christmas, but I'm not much of a book person. Recommend me some good books.

I enjoy pretty much any setting as long as it's interesting.
Sword of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan/ Brandon Sanderson
Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks
And the seldom recommended on this site: Attikus Kodiak Series, but Greg Rucka
Those are all really really good, and that's several months reading or more.

If you'd prefer something a little less dense but just as fun try
Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Ranger's Apprentice series, by John Flannagan
Deltora Quest series, Emily Rhoda

If you haven't read it yet:
Harry Potter, by JK Rowling
Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer(probably didn't spell that right)
Lord of the Rings, by Tolkein

If you prefer something with a bit more romance in it:
try just about anything by Patricia Briggs, Mercy Thompson series and Alpha and Omega series are both really really good.

Also, I suggest just about anything written by Chris Crutcher. He writes YA stuff but it's really good, even if you're not YA. I wouldn't suggest it if you're over 30 though, probably a little boring. I particularly liked Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Run if you Dare, Running Loose, Iron Man, Chinese Handcuffs, and Deadline. That's more than half of what he wrote.

I am a big book reader, and these would be my first suggestions.
Edit
Can't believe I forgot the Dragaeran or Vlad Taltos series, by Steven Brust. Amazing, it's a great series that lives by it's amazing characters. If you love sarcastic main characters, than this is one series you absolutely can't allow yourself to miss. It can be read in just about any order(that's what the author intended) but I personally prefer publishing order, though chronological order wouldn't steer you wrong either(yes that's correct, they weren't written chronologically)
 

agent_orange420

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Philip K Dick - books or collection, vary varied in content. some are even available in public domain (e.g free!)

Micheal Crichton - all good techno thrillers.
 

spartan231490

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cloroxbb said:
I third the Dresden Files

Some of my personal faves:
Jumper, Reflex - Stephen Gould (teleporter)
Midnight Blue - Nancy A Collins (3 book compilation, gory vampire chick book)
Point of Impact - Stephen Hunter (one book in a great series about a Marine Sniper)
All the Dexter books - Jeff Lindsay (same character as on the tv show)

I have many many more I could recommend, but Im lazy.
Second Jumper/Reflex. They are very good, and if you didn't like the movie don't worry, they're not really similar at all. If you did like the movie, don't worry, It's a great book anyway.
SmileyBat said:
I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, among which the books that feature Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore are exceptional. There are around 30 of them now. Personally I had hopped in during the Hunter's Blades trilogy and went back to find the rest afterward; any book is a fine starting point as long as it is book I of its particular arc but Homeland is the very beginning.

Also hugely praiseworthy is the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. These were penned pretty recently and Mr. Weeks has shot up tremendously in the literary world because of it.

For something other than fantasy I have to recommend reading Cyrano de Bergerac, my favorite play. If at all possible I'd go into that one not knowing anything about it. Just do it, it's short but great. Actually i googled it and found the full text right here :D

>> http://www.scribd.com/doc/22637704/Cyrano-de-Bergerac-FULL-BOOK <<
I warn you against Drizzt, the first 3 trilogies are really good, but from then it just goes downhill fast. In my opinion, the Author has just lost interest in it, but his publisher is making him write more and it shows. After like trilogy number 4 or 5, it's not even mediocre anymore. I hear it picks up again, but I couldn't read it. No spoilers, but the author does something that made me lose absolutely all interest. If you don't mind leaving a series unfinished, then go for it, but for me and many others it really sucks to leave a series half read, and the second half isn't worth reading. That's my .02, take it for what it's worth.
 

spartan231490

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oggebogge91 said:
The Name of the Wind & A Wise Man's Fear By Patrick Rothfuss
Probably the best fantasy books I've read since Lord of the Rings, I'm just desperately waiting for the third book in the series(The Doors of Stone). The story is a framed narrative with the main character telling the story from his humble Childhood to how he became the most notorious man the world has ever heard of.
OMG I LOVE the prologue and epilogue of those books sooooooooooooo much. Also, his introduction! Amazing! Spectacular books, second to none. READ THEM, READ THEM! And now that the manic fan in me is satisfied.


Good luck on your reading endeavors my good man.
 

sextus the crazy

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FizzyIzze said:
sextus the crazy said:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It's one of the funniest books I've read.

Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte. It's his autobiography of being an italian ambassador to various axis nations during WWII was written in 1943. It's a masterpiece with some beautiful prose.
Bump for Catch-22. What was true and funny about the Army back then is still true and funny today.
Hell, I read it before I got interested in military history and such stuff. It combines the workplace humor of Dilbert with some of the absurdity of Monty Python and creates a humorous, emotionally gripping story.
 

Hazy

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Like Cyberpunk Noir? Of course you do.

Richard K Morgan's Altered Carbon.

 

LazarusLongNL

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Gizmo1990 said:
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher- Harry dresden is a wizard PI who always ends up saving the world. Bad guys include Vampires (Good ones, not twilight crap), faries (immortal, super powerfull psychotic megalomaniacs, who just like to screw with people), fallen Angels, warlocks (evil wizards) and others I cannot say for plot reasons. First book is called Storm front, currently 14 books and there are more to come.
Dude, thank you, i couldn't remember this series after it was recommended to me by a friend!

On Topic,

-Starship troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein; the book is not a movie about bugs but about fascism in SPACE, its actually way cooler then it sound, give it a whirl.
-Time Enough For Love, By Robert A. Heinlein; Most definitely my favorite work, its a very long and extremely well written piece about a man who lives to be thousands of years old. It takes and challenges many aspects of humanity as the this universe twists out of control. That said, best "space colonization" stories are also to be had in this book.
-Foundation (series) By Isaac Asimov, pretty amazing series. It takes on super-humanity and controlling destiny and all the pitfalls that come with that. Long and deep read, something to keep you very busy reading it.
-Old Man's War by John Scalzi, a (much) shorter but pretty cool story about grandpa's and grandma's getting body switched to fight on behalf of expanding humans in the galaxy, it covers pretty much the war and how it "uses" up the sick old and dying to battle horrible enemies but also touche some political stuff. But these are very minor, check out the sequal Ghost War if you can.

Above, more great titles :) just added some.
 

Faux Furry

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Apr 19, 2011
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If you're into religious fiction by those who could be seen as the Devil's Advocates,you would do well to give the Godhead Trilogy(comprised of Towing Jehovah,Blameless in Abaddon,and The Eternal Footman)by James K. Morrow a once-over,twice if it tickles your fancy just right(and it just might)or The Satanic Verses by...do I really have to say his name? You're probably already familiar with it anyway.

For something that others are unlikely to recommend,how about Gojiro by Mark Jacobson. You don't get many(if any)tales of giant monsters told from the perspective of one of those monsters.
 

Gizmo1990

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Oct 19, 2010
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LazarusLongNL said:
Gizmo1990 said:
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher- Harry dresden is a wizard PI who always ends up saving the world. Bad guys include Vampires (Good ones, not twilight crap), faries (immortal, super powerfull psychotic megalomaniacs, who just like to screw with people), fallen Angels, warlocks (evil wizards) and others I cannot say for plot reasons. First book is called Storm front, currently 14 books and there are more to come.
Dude, thank you, i couldn't remember this series after it was recommended to me by a friend!

On Topic,

-Starship troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein; the book is not a movie about bugs but about fascism in SPACE, its actually way cooler then it sound, give it a whirl.
-Time Enough For Love, By Robert A. Heinlein; Most definitely my favorite work, its a very long and extremely well written piece about a man who lives to be thousands of years old. It takes and challenges many aspects of humanity as the this universe twists out of control. That said, best "space colonization" stories are also to be had in this book.
-Foundation (series) By Isaac Asimov, pretty amazing series. It takes on super-humanity and controlling destiny and all the pitfalls that come with that. Long and deep read, something to keep you very busy reading it.
-Old Man's War by John Scalzi, a (much) shorter but pretty cool story about grandpa's and grandma's getting body switched to fight on behalf of expanding humans in the galaxy, it covers pretty much the war and how it "uses" up the sick old and dying to battle horrible enemies but also touche some political stuff. But these are very minor, check out the sequal Ghost War if you can.

Above, more great titles :) just added some.
You will love it. It has a perverse, wisecracking, talking skull called Bob and at one point in the series, Harry rides a zombie T-Rex in the streets of Chicargo. It is impossable not to love that. Its the law.
 

mechalynx

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Mar 23, 2008
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Anything Terry Pratchett, really. Just start with "Color of Magic".
 

Daveman

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Jan 8, 2009
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Anatoli Ossai said:
50 shades of grey, good for burning to keep the fireplace going on those cold christmas nights
Probably best to bear in mind the guy wants them for his kindle.

I similarly got a kindle for christmas and I bought the hobbit, even though I already have it because I felt I should get something and it is a fantastic book.
 

Fleetfiend

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Jun 1, 2011
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The Fade by Chris Wooding. He's a great author, and doesn't get much attention.

Also anything by Anne Rice.
 

Fleetfiend

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Mechalynx said:
Anything Terry Pratchett, really. Just start with "Color of Magic".
Yes, so much this.

I really need to read more Pratchett, but I love all I've read.
 

Commissar Sae

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thejackyl said:
Harley Q said:
Kindle Fire HD to be precise.

EDIT: Holy crap, I'm going to have a huge backlog before I even start reading some of these. That is if I get all of them.

I am interested in some of H.P. Lovecraft's works, and will probably get the collection for $3, where's a good place to start there?
Well some of his best works (in my opinion) are the mountains of Madness, the shadow over Innsmouth, the Dunwhich Horror and the rats in the walls. There are also a few modern Lovecraftian collections that are pretty good, most of "New Cthulhu" is decent, though get a base in pure Lovecraft before diving in.

Otherwise the Dresden files is always fun, and I've always had a fondness for David Eddings (though a lot of his series mirror each other, so you really only have to read one set.)
 

Calcium

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Dec 30, 2010
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The Bartimaeus Trilogy, as has been mentioned on the first page gets my recommendation too. It's somewhat of a victorian with magic setting, where magicians draw their power by summoning imps, demons and djinn to do their bidding. The demons have the power, but are enslaved by the magic of the magicians. The story alternates between the perspectives of a young magician and a Djinn, Bartimaeus (who has a habbit of making additional thoughts and comments as footnotes - though come to think of it, I'm not sure if they'd still have these in a Kindle/e-reader version). It's quite humourous and accessible I'd say.

My second recommendation would be The Night Watch trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko. Again it's a real-world with magic setting, this time in Moscow present day instead of London. The core idea here is that in the past (world war 2) good/light and evil/dark have warred for so long that they threatened to throw the world into chaos. Following this both sides came to a kind of peace agreement. The Night Watch would be a sort of police force made up of good/light magicians who would ensure that the other side was behaving at night, whilst the Day Watch would be the bad/dark magicians doing the same during the day. Every good action must be payed for with an appropriate bad action and vice versa. In escence each side seeks to maintain balance, though at the same time each wishes to further their own agendas.

Third recommendation goes for Myrren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh' (Series called The Quickening, I believe). It's a medievil fantasy world setting, though only humans inhabit the world, and magic is sparse. The son of a revered general takes pity on a girl being burned at the stake, accused of being a witch for her mismatched eyes. She gives him a gift in the form of a blessing... What that gift is would be a spoiler though. :)
 

The Funslinger

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Sep 12, 2010
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CrazyJew said:
> Ctrl+F
> "Good Omens"
> 0 results

I do this every time, and every time with the same results.
Good Omens launched my lifelong quest to find out why the fuck fire lighters are called fire lighters.

OT: I recently read American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which was amusing and enthralling by turns.

My all time favorite book series is Stephen King's Dark Tower series (no, it's not horror. Why do people only know Stephen King's horror?)

Also, A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones, etc)