Recommend Me Some Good Books
- Thread starter sean360h
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mein kampf actually is pretty boring.sean360h said:
the series A Song of Ice and Fire, is awesome. I'm recommending it.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (also reccommend the film)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Diaspora by Greg Egan
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (also reccommend the film)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Diaspora by Greg Egan
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
<link=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/john-dies-at-the-end-david-wong/1100355994>John dies at the End
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It seems as though we have a similar taste in books. I would recommend you read Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World if you liked 1984. Dune by Frank Herbert is another good book. I don't know if your interested in (alternative) history but if you are I would recommend Red Inferno by Robert Conroy (I think). I am currently awaiting to get my copy of Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse (which someone recommended to me on this website). Check them out they fit with the books you've read.sean360h said:
Raymond E Feist's "Faerie Tayle" In fact, anything by Raymond is usually great, but this one is my favourite.
Wow. The first reply ninja'd me. And with a slightly more obscure fantasy series.Darknacht said:
I would personally also recommend the following:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - dystopian novel similar to 1984 but better in my opinion
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - a book about a girl discovering the world through philosophy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson - a great murder mystery for book one and a great thriller trilogy overall
Neuromancer by William Gibson - lots of science fiction like The Matrix owe this book everything for being an amazing and captivating story
The complete unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo.
I also have comic recommendations:
- Fables
- Unwritten
- Sandman
There are more but I am not in a position to check my library.
I also have comic recommendations:
- Fables
- Unwritten
- Sandman
There are more but I am not in a position to check my library.
A book topic that hasn't yet had me suggest Anno Dracula?! Horror!
Anyway, yeah, the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman are hands down the best vampire books ever written. The first, Anno Dracula, is set in the late 1880's, three years after Dracula came to England and soundly thrashed those upstart Englishmen (and one Dutchman, silly Van Helsing) who tried to stop him. By this point, Dracula has married Queen Victoria and become the new Prince Consort, vampires are an accepted part of everyday life, a good chunk of English society across every level have become Undead, and life, or unlife as the case may be, is moving on. Then some nut with a knife begins butchering vampire prostitutes in the district of Whitechapel. Before long, the murderer has become known as Jack the Ripper.
They're all fantastic books. The second one, the Bloody Red Baron, is my favourite. Set during the height of WWI, one of the German flyers, the Red Baron (Mannfred von Richtofen) has earned a fearsome reputation as one of the best pilots on either side of the war. This is partly due to this ability to shapeshift into a colossal bat-monster and tackle enemy planes in midair. Edgar Allan Poe (a vampire, of course), living in exile in Austria after the end of the American Civil War, gets hired to write the Baron's Biography, and a lot of crazy stuff happens. Really, really brutal book (they're all pretty gory, but some scenes in the Bloody Red Baron were just... wow), but does a brilliant job of capturing the despair of a neverending war. And this is a war fought by both the vampires and the living, so when they talk about an eternal war, they know what they mean.
And then there was the third book, the Judgement of Tears, set in Rome during the 1960s. By this point the series has conditioned you to accept all the weird stuff it likes to throw at you, and that's good, because this book has one of the most brilliant scenes ever involving a vampire spy called Bond and Frankenstein's Monster, the latter of which was working as a hitman for the cat that runs the Russian Spy Bureau in Rome.
Speaking of weird stuff, the books feature both a lot of historical figures and characters from the public domain lifted out of Victorian literature. You have Dr Jekyll and Dr Moreau working as coroners on the Jack the Ripper cases (the latter turns up working as a field medic/vampire researcher in the trenches of WWI in the Bloody Red Baron), the Dioegenes Club plays a big part in the first two books, Inspector Lestrade is the representative of Scotland Yard, a hopping Chinese vampire turns up in the first book, Count Orlock is put in charge of the Tower of London, Professor Moriarty makes an appearance now and then. The list goes on and on and on, and it is awesome. If you know your vampire media and Victorian literature, these books contain reference after reference, some of which will have you splitting your sides.
These books tend to be extremely gory, but they're by far the best vampire books I've ever read. Becoming a vampire isn't a free ride to immortality (written in the early 90s, so pre-Twilight), you still have to conform to the social norms, keep your bloodlust in check, avoid all sunlight for at least your first century, if you were religious in life then religious icons can now hurt you, and there are always anti-vampire hate groups (often religious in nature) that would gleefully stake any vampire they get their hands on. Basically, even by the 60's, vampires only rarely live longer than they would have as a mortal, and as the pace of technological and societal change picks up during the 20th Century, more and more of the elder vampires begin to fall into a lethargic state, no longer interested in a world that doesn't even remotely resemble what they used to know.
Fascinating books, all in all, and I heartily recommend them to anyone, especially people getting tired of the way vampires tend to be portrayed in media these days. The books are full of black humour, interesting messages and ideas, provide extremely unique plots and characters, and are generally very well written. Best of all, Kim Newman is writing a fourth book, which has me over the moon with glee.
Anyway, yeah, the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman are hands down the best vampire books ever written. The first, Anno Dracula, is set in the late 1880's, three years after Dracula came to England and soundly thrashed those upstart Englishmen (and one Dutchman, silly Van Helsing) who tried to stop him. By this point, Dracula has married Queen Victoria and become the new Prince Consort, vampires are an accepted part of everyday life, a good chunk of English society across every level have become Undead, and life, or unlife as the case may be, is moving on. Then some nut with a knife begins butchering vampire prostitutes in the district of Whitechapel. Before long, the murderer has become known as Jack the Ripper.
They're all fantastic books. The second one, the Bloody Red Baron, is my favourite. Set during the height of WWI, one of the German flyers, the Red Baron (Mannfred von Richtofen) has earned a fearsome reputation as one of the best pilots on either side of the war. This is partly due to this ability to shapeshift into a colossal bat-monster and tackle enemy planes in midair. Edgar Allan Poe (a vampire, of course), living in exile in Austria after the end of the American Civil War, gets hired to write the Baron's Biography, and a lot of crazy stuff happens. Really, really brutal book (they're all pretty gory, but some scenes in the Bloody Red Baron were just... wow), but does a brilliant job of capturing the despair of a neverending war. And this is a war fought by both the vampires and the living, so when they talk about an eternal war, they know what they mean.
And then there was the third book, the Judgement of Tears, set in Rome during the 1960s. By this point the series has conditioned you to accept all the weird stuff it likes to throw at you, and that's good, because this book has one of the most brilliant scenes ever involving a vampire spy called Bond and Frankenstein's Monster, the latter of which was working as a hitman for the cat that runs the Russian Spy Bureau in Rome.
Speaking of weird stuff, the books feature both a lot of historical figures and characters from the public domain lifted out of Victorian literature. You have Dr Jekyll and Dr Moreau working as coroners on the Jack the Ripper cases (the latter turns up working as a field medic/vampire researcher in the trenches of WWI in the Bloody Red Baron), the Dioegenes Club plays a big part in the first two books, Inspector Lestrade is the representative of Scotland Yard, a hopping Chinese vampire turns up in the first book, Count Orlock is put in charge of the Tower of London, Professor Moriarty makes an appearance now and then. The list goes on and on and on, and it is awesome. If you know your vampire media and Victorian literature, these books contain reference after reference, some of which will have you splitting your sides.
These books tend to be extremely gory, but they're by far the best vampire books I've ever read. Becoming a vampire isn't a free ride to immortality (written in the early 90s, so pre-Twilight), you still have to conform to the social norms, keep your bloodlust in check, avoid all sunlight for at least your first century, if you were religious in life then religious icons can now hurt you, and there are always anti-vampire hate groups (often religious in nature) that would gleefully stake any vampire they get their hands on. Basically, even by the 60's, vampires only rarely live longer than they would have as a mortal, and as the pace of technological and societal change picks up during the 20th Century, more and more of the elder vampires begin to fall into a lethargic state, no longer interested in a world that doesn't even remotely resemble what they used to know.
Fascinating books, all in all, and I heartily recommend them to anyone, especially people getting tired of the way vampires tend to be portrayed in media these days. The books are full of black humour, interesting messages and ideas, provide extremely unique plots and characters, and are generally very well written. Best of all, Kim Newman is writing a fourth book, which has me over the moon with glee.
The Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibsom (Neuromancer, Count Zero,and Mona Lisa Overdrive)
Probably the best cyberpunk writer of all time. And he wrote them pre-internets.
Probably the best cyberpunk writer of all time. And he wrote them pre-internets.
I'll just throw in a few i haven't seen mentionedt:
Roger Zelazny's amber series. Short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level, but a bit more mature of a theme, set in a multiverse kind of setting before there ever was such a word.
The Nightside series. Also short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level. Modern day meets sci-fi meets fantasy. Still ongoing I think.
Since you liked Harry Potter - Harry Potter fan books. There are some alternative versions of the various books that people wrote before the real ones were released. Some were actually pretty good. There's a fake Deathly Hollows w/a far better ending than the real one, for instance.
The Malazan Empire series, by Steven Ericson (sp?), and w/other books in the same world by another (forget his name). Not short reads at all. If you want something more meaty than the above - this might be better. Fantasy. His own world, not orcs/goblins and such. Mature. A bit less structured, more about the world than any 1 character. A little hard to get into because it just sort of throws ya into the mix of an already ongoing set of conflicts, not any lead-up or intro. And the writing style is a little unusual. But if ya stick w/it, it becomes worth it. Some really unique characters. If you're into unique worlds then it'd be a good one to get.
If ya like D&D, since someone else mentioned the drizzt series, ya might want to try the firestaff series. Its free. There are a couple different series set in the world of Sennadar (firestaff is the first series). If ya dont' mind a protagonist that becomes very overpowered. But hey, its free. I think the author must be a d&d fan because you see a lot of its influence in the books. Or at least it used to be free, i just went to check the site and nothing is coming up: http://sennadar.com/ Anyhow, the author himself gives the books out free, so ya might be able to grab 'em somewhere else too. When i say free, i mean the legit kind of free. And if ya want a crapload of d&d books - the forgotten realm brand of books has a crapton from good to bad (kind of like star wars in that its one setting w/a million different authors).
I loved the dragonlance series when i was in high school many years ago. Authors = Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Later it kind of became like the above where other authors made books in the same world, but if you just stick to the books by the original authors you'll have a consistent experience.
Someone mentioned the discworld series. Other comedy = the Myth series by robert asprin. And of course the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (my favorite version though is the bbc radio broadcast of it, not the books, though the books were pretty good). As far as the discworld series, if ya want a free preview - there are a couple movies of a couple of the books on netflix's watch instantly (hogfather (the best) and the color of magic).
If you like it dark - Dexter. There's a series of books in addition to the t.v. series. Book series starts off good. Then got a little supernatural, which i didn't like at all for the series. I personally enjoy the t.v. series better myself. Stopped reading the books at that point, might have gotten back to its roots since then and improved, but i haven't gone back to see. Up until that point the books were good though. Also there's the C.S. Friedman - coldfire trilogy for dark fantasy (and i don't mean girly vampire romance novel "dark" fantasy).
Dragon Riders of Pern series. I didn't like it much but many love it. Anne Mccaffrey has a great writing style. Hard to put a book down. But I'd find myself reading half a book then looking back to realize that only like 3 things actually happened in all that time. hehe. Even though i love the wheel of time series, i disliked the one book - crossroads of twilight(?) - because it was like this. In an entire book only a few things happened, they were things of note to be true, but man, reading that book was labor. The entire pern series was like that to me. Just not my thing, but I seem to be in the minority amongst my friends who read, because the all loved the Pern series and even the CoT book. Weirdos. I don't mind verbose writers, love 'em in fact, but I need things to actually be happening in the story as well.
If ya just want more classic but good fantasy (not overly dark, fluffy, mature, or kidsy, just very middle of the road), the series of books by Raymond Feist fits the bill. If ya ever played the old pc game betrayal at krondor, it takes place in his world.
Roger Zelazny's amber series. Short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level, but a bit more mature of a theme, set in a multiverse kind of setting before there ever was such a word.
The Nightside series. Also short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level. Modern day meets sci-fi meets fantasy. Still ongoing I think.
Since you liked Harry Potter - Harry Potter fan books. There are some alternative versions of the various books that people wrote before the real ones were released. Some were actually pretty good. There's a fake Deathly Hollows w/a far better ending than the real one, for instance.
The Malazan Empire series, by Steven Ericson (sp?), and w/other books in the same world by another (forget his name). Not short reads at all. If you want something more meaty than the above - this might be better. Fantasy. His own world, not orcs/goblins and such. Mature. A bit less structured, more about the world than any 1 character. A little hard to get into because it just sort of throws ya into the mix of an already ongoing set of conflicts, not any lead-up or intro. And the writing style is a little unusual. But if ya stick w/it, it becomes worth it. Some really unique characters. If you're into unique worlds then it'd be a good one to get.
If ya like D&D, since someone else mentioned the drizzt series, ya might want to try the firestaff series. Its free. There are a couple different series set in the world of Sennadar (firestaff is the first series). If ya dont' mind a protagonist that becomes very overpowered. But hey, its free. I think the author must be a d&d fan because you see a lot of its influence in the books. Or at least it used to be free, i just went to check the site and nothing is coming up: http://sennadar.com/ Anyhow, the author himself gives the books out free, so ya might be able to grab 'em somewhere else too. When i say free, i mean the legit kind of free. And if ya want a crapload of d&d books - the forgotten realm brand of books has a crapton from good to bad (kind of like star wars in that its one setting w/a million different authors).
I loved the dragonlance series when i was in high school many years ago. Authors = Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Later it kind of became like the above where other authors made books in the same world, but if you just stick to the books by the original authors you'll have a consistent experience.
Someone mentioned the discworld series. Other comedy = the Myth series by robert asprin. And of course the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (my favorite version though is the bbc radio broadcast of it, not the books, though the books were pretty good). As far as the discworld series, if ya want a free preview - there are a couple movies of a couple of the books on netflix's watch instantly (hogfather (the best) and the color of magic).
If you like it dark - Dexter. There's a series of books in addition to the t.v. series. Book series starts off good. Then got a little supernatural, which i didn't like at all for the series. I personally enjoy the t.v. series better myself. Stopped reading the books at that point, might have gotten back to its roots since then and improved, but i haven't gone back to see. Up until that point the books were good though. Also there's the C.S. Friedman - coldfire trilogy for dark fantasy (and i don't mean girly vampire romance novel "dark" fantasy).
Dragon Riders of Pern series. I didn't like it much but many love it. Anne Mccaffrey has a great writing style. Hard to put a book down. But I'd find myself reading half a book then looking back to realize that only like 3 things actually happened in all that time. hehe. Even though i love the wheel of time series, i disliked the one book - crossroads of twilight(?) - because it was like this. In an entire book only a few things happened, they were things of note to be true, but man, reading that book was labor. The entire pern series was like that to me. Just not my thing, but I seem to be in the minority amongst my friends who read, because the all loved the Pern series and even the CoT book. Weirdos. I don't mind verbose writers, love 'em in fact, but I need things to actually be happening in the story as well.
If ya just want more classic but good fantasy (not overly dark, fluffy, mature, or kidsy, just very middle of the road), the series of books by Raymond Feist fits the bill. If ya ever played the old pc game betrayal at krondor, it takes place in his world.
Anything written by terry prachett is worth a look. Start with The Color of Magic. Its short and does a great job of introducing the world in which all of his books take place in.
House of the Scorpion
Catcher in the Rye
Watchmen (I Know it's a comic but it still counts as one of the best books ever written)
Enders Game (I've heard that the sequels are also pretty good)
Catcher in the Rye
Watchmen (I Know it's a comic but it still counts as one of the best books ever written)
Enders Game (I've heard that the sequels are also pretty good)
Well, I'm going to repeat a few that's already been said, so here goes.
Bartimaeus trilogy
Ranger's Apprentice
The Last Apprentice
Republic Commando (Hard Contact, Triple Zero, True Colors, Order 66)
Inheritance Cycle
Wheel of Time
The Hobbit: Lord of the Rings: The Silmarillion (in that order)
Pendragon
Artemis Fowl
Pit Dragon Chronicles
Charlie Bone
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Legend of Drizzt
And it's not hard to just get sucked into the Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance multiverse if you don't watch it, I'd just find random trilogies and such and they are many and most of them are good, in my humble opinion.
But yeah, if you read Halo: Glasslands and liked it, that was Mrs. Traviss, she wrote the Republic Commando books and I'd highly recommend them.
Bartimaeus trilogy
Ranger's Apprentice
The Last Apprentice
Republic Commando (Hard Contact, Triple Zero, True Colors, Order 66)
Inheritance Cycle
Wheel of Time
The Hobbit: Lord of the Rings: The Silmarillion (in that order)
Pendragon
Artemis Fowl
Pit Dragon Chronicles
Charlie Bone
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Legend of Drizzt
And it's not hard to just get sucked into the Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance multiverse if you don't watch it, I'd just find random trilogies and such and they are many and most of them are good, in my humble opinion.
But yeah, if you read Halo: Glasslands and liked it, that was Mrs. Traviss, she wrote the Republic Commando books and I'd highly recommend them.