Recommended reading? (not art related)

[Sepulverture]

I was just wondering what everyones favorite books are? History, Sci-fi, Fantasy, whatever. I`m just looking for some new rec reading books, and dont know which one i should get at the book store (there are tons, but i dont want to spend 1,500 yen on a book just to find out it sucks and am stuck with it). Thanks!

[Interceptor]

The Golden Compass / His Dark Materials series. I just started reading because of a recommendation from someone on the site. I'm hooked :)

[ruzkin]

Neil Gaiman all the way.

[Elwell]

The Golden Compass / His Dark Materials series. I just started reading because of a recommendation from someone on the site. I'm hooked :)
If you really, really like the first one... you might want to stop there.

[Jedmo]

If you really, really like the first one... you might want to stop there.

Man, I really liked the first one but havent gotten around to picking up the second. Should I stop there?

Also, to keep this post on topic, some of my favorites are the Dark Tower series by Stephen King and the Arthur series by Bernard Cornwell. The three books are The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur. Definitely good reading.

[walnut]

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series.

[Simon.Rain]

yeah I second the dark tower serie from Stephen King and I ll raise you a Battle Royale from Koushun Takami

[Sepulverture]

Excellent. i have seen the dark tower series at the book store, so that will be an easy series, and i remember reading something on wikipedia.org about the battle royale book. thanks for the recommendations! Thanks Interceptor, I will read around, and see what info I can get on those books. Looks like I may be in for some new stories:D Thanks again.

[Crane]

(Fantasy)
The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings (10 books series)
The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings
All the Harry Potter books hehe

(sci Fi)
The nights dawn trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God By Peter F Hamilton
Pandora's star and Judas Unchained by Peter F Hamilton
Anything else by him too.
Eon By Greg Bear
Eternity By Greg Bear
The forge of God By Greg Bear For the really brainy haha, very complex stuff going on here... whoo

And the best book i've ever read :Radix By A.A.Attanasio Unbelievablely amazing. (apparantly theres 4 Radixs books, I've only seen one and thats the first, so get that one)

[JenZee]

Mmm books :9
A Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows) by George R. R. Martin is absolutely excellent. Have recommended it to tons, and have never recieved complaints :) The last book isn't out yet, but... :D!

The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Freidman. Interesting fantasy take with a science fiction-ish undertones. Cool characters, cool ideas :)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Carde... Just damn good. Very short book, but of the highest quality!

I could continue forever and ever but I won't... lol

Have fun :9!

[tensai]

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - which for me explains a big part of life, and how to deal with it.

Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster - I always dream I can fly, and this hasn't made it any better.

City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling - to me, the best SF book out there. Its about the early history of NY, and the people going there. I swear to god it is exactly like Star Trek, with people leaving everything they had, and going to an unknown place and set up life over there.

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem. The other best SF book. Absurd critique on bureaucracy and paranoia in general I guess.

Nice idea for a thread.

[demented]

Dune by Frank Herbert
and
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Though this last one probably isn't everobody's read I'll bet.

Dune is also one of those series that shouldn't have gone beyond the first or second book in my very humble opinion. Only really liked the first.

Itching to get into 1984 by George Orwell, just not finding time though.

ciao!

- d.

[Ive]

I think everyone should read a book from Lynne Mctaggart, it's called The Field.
It's about a (relatively) new theory of zero point energy or vacuum energy. It explains on a scientific yet aproachable way the phenomena like telekinesis, ESP, color healing and much more. All there, with a bunch of recorded evidence. The theories are not hers, she just collected and interviewed a bunch of scientist who are struggling against mainstream science wich consider them "pseudo". The first part of the book may be a hard read if you don't understand the basics of quantum physics, but it's definetly worth trying.

[Flake]

/cut'n'paste from the books thread in the movies and games forum..

Iain M. Banks
http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm

Greg Bear- Forge of God / Anvil of Stars

Orson Scott Card- "Enders game"/"Enders Shadow"

Frank Herbert- "Dune"

Richard Matheson-"I am Legend"

Tolkien- "Lord of the Rings"

George R. R. Martin- "Song of Ice and Fire"- he really needs to get his butt in gear and get the new one out.

Irvine Welsh- "Trainspotting", "Porno"

Walter Williams- "Praxis" trilogy- entertaining brain-off space opera.

Anne Rice- first three "Vampire Chronicles", stop after that though, they get very bad indeed

David Gemmell- most of the "Drenai" books (Waylander trilogy etc), don't start reading the "Troy" books though because the series is unlikely to be finished, what with him being dead and all. :(

Clive Barker- "Great and Secret Show", "Weaveworld", "Imajica"

Sergei Lukyanenko- "Night Watch".

William Gibson- "Neuromancer" etc.

[dogfood]

I've been screaming about this book for years:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

It's an easy read and is packed with fascinating facts.

Facts are an important ingredient in your repertoire. Facts are the skeleton upon which you hang your muscles of imagination and skin of fancy.

[fedezz]

I've already started a similar thread some time ago, so might find some interesting recommendations in there.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=60471

[Rudeone]

Hard Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World - Haruki Murakami

I didn't feel like writing a review so I quoted someone else's:
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is really two separate narratives: Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World are two seperate stories, told in alternate chapters of this delightful novel.

The first story, Hard Boiled Wonderland, is a sort of detective story set in a technomagically realistic Tokyo somewhere in the vicinity of the present. This story follows a man working for The System: a pseudogovernmental organization dedicated to the keeping of certain information secret. This man is, essentially, a human encryption device. Simply put, he encodes data using the structure of his brain as a sortof encoding key. This character gets assigned to a particularly interesting encryption job where he must use special advanced (and prohibited) techniques which make use of his subconscious mind. This job, however, embroils him in a strange world of intrigue on levels he never imagined both figuratively and literally.

The second story, The End of the World, involves a man who arrives in a walled village from which he cannot leave who finds that he has no memory of his life prior to arrival. This man is given a job and begins to settle into and discover the world around him, which feels something like a combination of The Village from The Prisoner and the barren islands of Myst. His shadow pulls at him to attempt escape as he becomes ever more interested in this curious place that he now calls home and the people, and dreams, that inhabit it.

This novel is, at surface, simply an enjoyable and fantastic read, something which I would have heartily enjoyed even in Middle School. And yet the novel becomes in certain respects a deep look at issues of identity and the nature of the Human Mind through the lives of the two main characters. The characters must make choices and take part in events that have effects not only on the world around them but on the function and existance of their own egos. A book which operates on many levels, I heartily recommend it.


I loved it, great novel!

edit: just saw Strych9ine posted this one in Fedezz's thread

[GriNGo]

Dune (all the books), and the books his son Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson wrote. Dune kicks so much ass, it's hard to describe. Just excellent reading. The first books is the easiest to understand though. The others require more thoughtful reading (I'm talking about Frank Herbert's books). The new sequels a& prequels that his son and the other guy wrote are much easier to read, but nevertheless, very fun (& long!).

Then I recommend George Orwell: Animal Farm, Burmese Days, & 1984. By Aldous Huxley, check out Brave New World. Right now I'm reading Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer & Heart of Darkness.

[That fat kid]

No one's read a Vonnegut and decided to recommend it? Get ahold of some of his early stuff, very entertaining.

~A

[Elwell]

The first part of the book may be a hard read if you don't understand the basics of quantum physics, but it's definetly worth trying. Please ... stop ... can't ... take ... the ... ... irony... :dead:

[Gryphon]

To go for the more obscure authors I like, since people already hit the more popular ones - I'll recommend any of James Alan Gardner's SF novels, though Expendable is probably still my favorite so far. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana is also an excellent fantasy novel.

[lysander]

I quite liked contact by carl sagan, lots of great stuff in that one.

[demented]

Please ... stop ... can't ... take ... the ... ... irony... :dead:

lololol!

- d.

[nofingers]

Robert Heinlein is becoming one of my favorite authors. So far I've read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Straship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. A nice blend of Sci-Fi, action and socio-political commentary.

[Flake]

Starship Troopers is a fantastic little book, almost convinced me that fascism is the future and I'm basically a tree hugging hippy.

[0kelvin]

I've been screaming about this book for years:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson


A definite second on that one. I think I actually picked this one up on your recommendation a while back. Fantastic book.

I read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell recently, and really enjoyed that.



0kelvin

[Ive]

Please ... stop ... can't ... take ... the ... ... irony... :dead:
It's not that hard. Really :)


well, this is an art forum afterall :nohope:

[Elwell]

Another vote for A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Another vote for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.
Also:
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Freekanomics by Steven Levitt
The Amazing Adventures & Kavelier and Clay by Michael Chabon

[Alcian]

Arthur series by Bernard Cornwell. The three books are The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur. Definitely good reading.
I second that; great, great trilogy.

[Elwell]

Yeah, Cornwell writes great historic pulp.

[Flake]

Don't read any of the "Dune" prequels, they are shite.

The original books are excellent but the sequels are a horrific cash in shitefest.

[invinciblewombat]

the dune series written by frank herbert are pretty damn amazing, the prequels are a decent read but nothing to original or groundbreaking.

anything by donald barthlme is a great read too, he's got a couple of collections of short stories, some of them more coherent and readable than others, but all pretty damn entertaining.

david sedaris is another good pick if you're looking for humor, he has quite a few collections of short stories and essays.

I'm not really much for novels, I don't have the attention span

[darkwolfb87]

I love my winter survival books:

Winterdance by Gary Paulson

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

They both get my highest recommendation

edit: I personally haven't had the patience to read it front to back, but so far Walden by Thoreau has had the same effect on me as the above-mentioned books. That is, a deep appreciation of life and nature.

[dogfood]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Here here! Marvelously insightful.

I need to tap those last two.

[Elwell]

I'd also seriously recommend taking a second look at all those books you think you hate because you had to read them in high school.

[Jason Rainville]

I want to take a look at "What if?" 1 and 2, but right now I'm quite engaged in the book 'The Vikings' written by someone whos name eludes me.

[sciboy]

I've always enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's science fiction.
Particularly her short story collection The Girl Who Heard Dragons.

Ringworld by Larry Niven is a science-fiction classic i enjoyed. :D

[Sepulverture]

Wow... Didn't think this thread would get so much love! Looks like I'm off to the book store with a shopping list. Thanks a lot guys.

[ah.heng]

the suzumiya haruhi series is good for light hearted reading during train rides, and costs only 514yen.

[seth1]

Interceptor, To funny. I just posted some thing up in the massive black thread, about the last book, and how it depicted a scene from it, quite well.. Love Philip Pullmans books. I hope your reading the series of them.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/
I also really enjoyed james pattersons, books. They keep you on the edge of your seat and there fun. My favoruites of his, are Roses Are Red, and Violets are Blue. They're about the same character, Detective Alex Cross. Very very good books.
http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_rosesAreRed.html
http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_violetsAreBlue.html

Seth.n

[Noë]

hmmz, I mostly read things from dutch writers lately because we can't use english literature for school, but ehhh a book I really liked was "Discovery of Heaven - Harry Mulisch" The writer is dutch, but the book is translated in english I believe.

books I read in english are the Harry Potter books, LOTR (those improved my english a lot), and ehhh a few others from which I don't remember the name, so they weren't that great. Ah, well, I really should read more.

love
Marleen

[JERI]

Auto-repair for Dummies.

Worthed every cent.

[bunny]

I'm not much for Sci-fi or fantasy... but, um... The Painted Bird made me cry.

[dmitri]

Any and all classics... just to know why they are classics and to feel a bit smarter. :D

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is a surprisingly entertaining and interesting read.

[Slash]

For easy and funny reading try the discworld series by terry pratchett. One of my favorites! I also like the wonderful weirdness of lovecraft. Tolkien's lord of the rings, silmarillion and incomplete works are also a very good read if you like that kind of stuff.

I also get a kick out of old computer books, i dont know why.. I got the interest for it when i was 10 years or something old, me and a friend of mine had days and days of fun making batch files and stuff in DOS.

Me in my nerdy corner:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b21/slashesc/me_nerd.jpg

[chaosrocks]

Prachett is greastt for trash reading.. truly recreational

doug addams on hallucinogens

Foucault's Pendulum ...Umberto Ecco

and Battle for the Saints by Jorge Amado
chaos Rocks

[Flake]

If you like Pratchett you might also enjoy Robert Rankin, similarly odd British humour.

[|NTeRN]

the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan

a lot of people say that the books from 4-5 on (theres 11 atm) arnt as good cause the pace of the books change. it does change a bit, but the story is awesome. re reading them right now for the 3rd time

gonna pick up his dark materials tho

[Brightdreamer]

I really need to write these things down; every time I enter a bookstore my mind goes blank...

Let's see, favorite books...

The Liveship Traders Trilogy (Robin Hobb) - For centuries, the liveships - ships crafted of wizardwood with living figureheads - have belonged exclusively to the Old Trader families of Bingtown, allowing them to trade with the reclusive Rain Wild traders on the acidic Rain Wild River (whose acidic water eats through ordinary ship hulls.) The new Satrap, a spoiled boy who cares only for his concubines and drugs, has forgotten the old compacts and let in a wave of New Traders. They know nothing of the ancient pacts between Old Trader and Rain Wild families, seeing only the riches to be had and liveships and coveting both. Bringing with them the darkness of slave labor and their own ignorance, they might bring the whole of Bingtown to its knees.
Living ships, as the title says, star in a wonderful trilogy weaving together sailors, pirates, old money, slavers, lost races, dragons, sea serpents, and more. This is one of those stories where the world seems so real you can almost smell the sea air as you read.

The Dragonriders of Pern (Anne McCaffrey), and the Harper Hall companion trilogy (same) - On the distant world of Pern, a great threat falls from the skies in the form of Thread, a devouring substance that destroys all life it touches. Human colonists were initially devastated by its arrival, but, with the help of genetically engineered local life forms (the dragons), have learned to fight it. Today, humans have forgotten their origins in the stars, and time is measured in Passes, the two-hundred year intervals between Threadfall, after four hundred years people are starting to forget the need for the dragon weyrs. Indeed, only one still stands, the rest abandoned. Is Threadfall truly a thing of the past, or is it about to return to a woefully unprepared Pern?
In its prime, Pern was -and still is - one of the great SF worlds ever created. Yes, it's SF, even with dragons, and McCaffrey will fight to the death to defend it. Unfortunately, the series started falling apart; I quit reading in disgust after she brought high technology back to Pern (and killed my favorite character, not to mention one of the main reasons for the dragons' existence and future) in All the Weyrs of Pern.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (Tad Williams) - Osten Ard is a land of great mystery and deep magic, a land of fading near-immortal Sithi and secretive mountain Trolls, of warring human races and kingdoms and long-lost secrets. Young Simon, a daydreaming scullion-boy in the castle of the High King, never thought any of that grand legacy would come to his doorstep, but after the death of the old High King John and the ascent of his power-hungry son Elias and his pet red-robed priest Pryrates to power, the boy finds himself unexpectedly thrust from his home and onto a perilous journey which could save the land, or see its doom.
I don't know why, but I absolutely love Osten Ard and its inhabitants. It's one of those worlds that really comes to life as you read it, even though it is, in many ways, standard epic fantasy fare.

Tailchaser's Song (Tad Williams) - Fritti Tailchaser, a ginger tabby tom, goes searching for his missing cat-friend Hushpad. His travels take him across the known cat-world, pitting him against dangers not seen since the days of the Firstborn.
My favorite talking-animal story, it avoids the mistake many people make of having humans too involved in the action. Aside from talking to each other and, to a certain extent, other animals, Williams's cats act pretty much like cats. If you like cats and like fantasy, you'll like this book.

Everworld series (K.A. Applegate) - Four Chicago teenagers find themselves pulled into a parallel world created for, and by, ancient gods from around the world... and beyond the stars. The alien Hetwan god Ka-Anor has recently discovered Everworld, a particularly troublesome arrival as Ka-Anor eats other gods. Some of the Earth gods think the modern-day teenagers could help them survive, while others would be all too happy to see them dead.
This was a great teen fantasy series, with a wonderful concept and interesting characters, but it was axed after 12 installments because the publishers wanted bigger sales. If you get the chance, I suggest you give it a try, though. Lots of guest-shots by elder-day gods, heroes, and monsters, and some rather original twists on classic tales.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville) - Jeremy, a young artist, buys a mysterious orb from a mysterious magic shop clerk. The orb turns out to be a dragon's egg, and Jeremy must hatch and raise the young dragon within until it's old enough to be returned to the dragon world.
Yeah, it's a Young Adult book. What of it? It's one of my favorite dragon stories. (I like most of Coville's writing, actually, and his anthologies rock.)

Inkheart and Inkspell (Cornelia Funke) - Young Meggie's father, Mo, has the gift (or curse) of being able to read things and characters out of books, though always something from this world vanishes in exchange. When Meggie was young, he accidentally read the villians Inkheart and Bascha and the hero Dustfinger out of his wife's favorite book, Inkheart... but his wife, Meggie's mother, was taken into the story in her place. While Dustfinger has had a miserable time in this too-big, too-fast world, Inkheart has adapted wonderfully, establishing a new network of black-hearted criminals. Hunted by his minions, who want Mo to read more companions from the story, Meggie and her father and the mysterious Dustfinger must find a way to defeat the enemy that even his own author never bested.
If you've ever loved a story, you should love these books. The first takes place mostly in our world, and the second is mostly in the "Inkworld" of Dustfinger's story, as Meggie and her father discover how to read themselves and others into fictional worlds. Great concept, well explored. I'm looking forward to the final book in the trilogy.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland and Dark Lord of Derkholm (Diana Wynne Jones) - Fantasyland's a tough place to survive. As a Tourist, you'll doubtless have lots of questions about what to do, who to trust, and where to go. Never fear - the Tough Guide answers all! Want to know the truth about your traveling companions? Consult the handy Color Coding guide to see if that obnoxious lady is a witch or a princess in disguise. Wonder why horses act as obligingly as living bicycles (unless the Forces of Evil are half an hour behind, in which case they may throw a shoe or panic inexplicably)? They're obviously not living mammals but some sort of plant, which explains also why stallions are so docile and mares never go into heat. Wondering how to reach the Dragon Isle? Men must become slaves on a Galley; girls may befriend a Dragon and be airlifted over.
The Guide is a hilarious book for any fantasy lover, poking fun at the cliches of modern epic fantasies without being vicious. Dark Lord of Derkholm uses a similar premise and creates the magical world of King Luther, where the inhabitants are forced to conduct "Tours" for offworlders re-enacting standard epic fantasy moments (from Bandit Raids and Leathery-Winged Avian Attacks to the defeat of the Dark Lord.) It's all staged, of course, but it's a huge drain on local energy and resources, and somehow the offworlder Mr. Chesney, organizer of the tours, always comes off with the better deal. Everyone despises Chesney, but he has a demon captured to enforce his bidding, and even the gods of Luther's land seem reluctant to intervene in his exploitation of the magical world. Finally, the Wizard's Council has had enough, and on oracular advice appoints the gentle Wizard Derk as this year's Dark Lord and his untrained son Blade as the Wizard Guide for the season's last Tour. Derk is a good wizard, but would rather spend his time peacably creating animals like his sentient griffin "children" and his invisible cats. Blade is gifted, too, but entirely untrained in the wizardly arts. Thus begins a Tour season the likes of which Luther's world - or any world - has ever seen, as Derk's griffin and human offspring and friends must pull together and give the offworlders a trip to remember... and Mr. Chesney a send-off he'd rather forget. Fun, fun story, for all that it's a YA title. Don't bother with the sequel (Year of the Griffin), though...

I suppose I've wasted enough time. I have more... check my website in my profile to find my book reviews page if you want more recommendations and warnings.