Suggested Reading thread (Non Pornographic)

[LordJerle]

Here lies a list of my top 5 books I think everybody should read.  Feel free to add your recommendations.

 

1) Dune.  It has been recently been accused (by somebody who can't even spell the word) of being pretentious, self righteous, and boring.  Not so.  I first read it after seeing the Scifi (I refuse to use the new "hip" version of the channel name) mini-series, during a very hard time in my life, and it forced me to think and deal with the issues head on when I didn't want to.  

 

2) The First King of Shannara.  By far, the best of the series.  It explains the origins of the sword and the circumstances that later forces the Ohmsford legacy to take up arms in the fight against the various forces that seek to corrupt and overtake the lands of the planet.

 

3) Sphere.  I suppose this one will also be accused of being "pretentious" and "self righteous.  

 

4) Jurassic Park.  Forget the movie, the book actually makes you think.

 

5) The Hobbit.  It's the freakin Hobbit.  Do I need to explain this?

[TSS5062]

Anything by Joe Haldeman.

Three great ones:

"The forever war"

"Mindbridge"

"Forever Peace"

 

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson

 

"Gateway" Frederic Pohl (spelling?)

 

"Disaster Capitalism" nonfiction.  God I blew that title

"The shock doctrine" Naomi Klein

 

Anything by Phillip Dick.

Try "Now Wait for Last Year" a lesser known title, it's a mindfuck, like all his books.

 

"Triton" by Samuel R. Delaney

"Dahlgren" by the same author. To this day I don't know what to make of it.

 

The theme here is utterly mind blowing books.

[formel]

"The wheel of time" series from Robert Jordan/ Brandon Sanderson

 

The Witcher from Adrzej Sapkowski (the short stories and the pentalogy)

 

The First Law Trilogy from Joe Abercrombie (but also the three other books he wrote after the trilogy settled in the same universe)

 

and of course how could it be otherwise:

"A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin

[Ashal]

"The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas

I find most classic literature to be dry and hard to get into, The Count of Monte Cristo is a major exclusion to that for me, the more recent of the unabridged English translations by Penguin Classics to me read more like a modern style novel, which really helped me get over that classic literature aversion. I ended up really loving it and would easily consider it my favorite book without hesitation, it's just such a complete and utterly perfect story of dedicating oneself solely to revenge.

 

"A Storm of Swords" by George R R Martin

Most of Song of Ice and Fire is great, as a series is shed everything I hate about cliche fantasy epics, opting more for shades of grey and ultimately flawed characters, as opposed to the the black and white of normal fantasy epics, everybody unites (probably under the banner of naive village boy) to fight and oppose the evil forces. A Storm of Swords in particular doubles down on everything that makes the series so unique in the genre.

 

"Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card

First off, I dislike Orson Scott Card as a public figure, he makes too much effort to put himself out in the public to make his political positions known, positions I wholly oppose. That aside, the man can write interesting and complex characters like few others can. Having read Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow ultimately retroactively makes Ender's Game a better book, an already great book in it's own right. As a single standalone novel, I'd say Ender's Game is the better of the two books, but when read together in proper order, the fact that Ender's Shadow goes back and makes Ender's Game more interesting, makes Ender's Shadow the more interesting of the two to me at the end of the day.

 

It also helps that I found Bean's Shadow series infinitely more enjoyable than the proper sequels to Ender's Game, which kinda went off the rails after Speak for the Dead. Bean and Peter proved more interestingly complex characters throughout the Shadow series than Valentine or Ender himself. Them feels near the end of Shadow of the Giant when you read Peter's perspective of his conversation with Ender that happens at the end of Ender's Game...

 

 

 

"The wheel of time" series from Robert Jordan/ Brandon Sanderson

 

I'm actually working my way through Wheel of Time right now, been marathoning through them the past 6 months, I'm half way through Memory of Light now and hoping to finish it in a couple days. Despite it being the exact cliche I mention above under Storm of Swords, I'm really liking it, but I'd kinda say I'm liking it in spite of itself, it's a like for a handful of characters storyline and the well crafted world it is set in that keeps me reading it.

 

A lot of the other characters seem determined to drive me away from enjoying it however, instead of coming off as loveable flawed characters like I would use to describe many of the characters in Song of Ice and Fire, they just come off a irrational and one dimensional to me. Joffrey and Cersei in ASOIAF for example are both total unrepentable cunts, but a cunt in a way that I love them and find them interesting. At this point in Wheel of Time, I find Elayne and Egwene both to just be annoyingly arrogant and nothing else, but not earned and explained arrogance, they just come off as arrogant for the sake of being arrogant. Most of their chapters are just hard for me to get through and I can find no reason to pity either of them. Nynaeve was the worst offender of this early on in the series, and actively made me dislike large chunks of the book, but she evened out after Ebou Dar and I'd actually say is one of my favorite characters to read now, unfortunately as soon as she got likeable is precisely when Elayne and Egwene decided to pick up her slack and be cunts in her place.

 

Brandon Sanderson has done well enough with the series from where he picked it up though, especially after the slump of painful books that was Path of Daggers through Crossroads of Twilight, well enough that I decided to move onto reading his Mistborn series after I finish with Memory of Light.

[illuminaughty]

The First Lulu
"The complete script to Frank Wedekind's symphony or rather a cacophony of deotic sexual rhetorics.

 

The Tao of Badass
suddenly find yourself in bed with dozens of beautiful women

 

Yakuza Moon
Born into Japan's most notorious crime syndicate, Shoko Tendo is struggling to break free of her violent legacy.

 

Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.

 

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Oldest Military Treatise in the World

[Kind9]

Gormenghast series - Top tier gothic fantasy. Some strange characters...

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series - It's been called Harry Potter for adults. Third and final book out soon.

 

Chronicles of Amber series -  A modern fantasy set in "shadow" earth and the "true" world of Amber.

 

The Haunting of Hill House - My favorite ghost story, spawned two movies.

 

[azazil]

Gormenghast series - Gothic fantasy of the first tier.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series - It's been called Harry Potter for adults. Third and final book out soon.

 

Chronicles of Amber series -  A modern fantasy set in "shadow" earth and the "true" world of Amber.

 

The Haunting of Hill House - My favorite ghost story, spawned two movies.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series - It's been called Harry Potter for adults. Third and final book out soon.

 

recomended book ill buy this one after i read synopsis from wiki

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harrypottersatan.gif

[LordJerle]

 

Gormenghast series - Gothic fantasy of the first tier.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series - It's been called Harry Potter for adults. Third and final book out soon.

 

Chronicles of Amber series -  A modern fantasy set in "shadow" earth and the "true" world of Amber.

 

The Haunting of Hill House - My favorite ghost story, spawned two movies.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series - It's been called Harry Potter for adults. Third and final book out soon.

 

recomended book ill buy this one after i read synopsis from wiki

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harrypottersatan.gif

 

 

I don't get why people look at the wiki of a book before reading it.  Why not just go to the library and grab it?  Reading about the book before reading the book just spoils it.

[Userper]

A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin;      probably the best series of books I have read.

 

also

 

The Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien;          a truely awesome book providing much needed background for LOTR and the hobbit.

[formel]

"The wheel of time" series from Robert Jordan/ Brandon Sanderson

 

I'm actually working my way through Wheel of Time right now, been marathoning through them the past 6 months, I'm half way through Memory of Light now and hoping to finish it in a couple days. Despite it being the exact cliche I mention above under Storm of Swords, I'm really liking it, but I'd kinda say I'm liking it in spite of itself, it's a like for a handful of characters storyline and the well crafted world it is set in that keeps me reading it.

 

A lot of the other characters seem determined to drive me away from enjoying it however, instead of coming off as loveable flawed characters like I would use to describe many of the characters in Song of Ice and Fire, they just come off a irrational and one dimensional to me. Joffrey and Cersei in ASOIAF for example are both total unrepentable cunts, but a cunt in a way that I love them and find them interesting. At this point in Wheel of Time, I find Elayne and Egwene both to just be annoyingly arrogant and nothing else, but not earned and explained arrogance, they just come off as arrogant for the sake of being arrogant. Most of their chapters are just hard for me to get through and I can find no reason to pity either of them. Nynaeve was the worst offender of this early on in the series, and actively made me dislike large chunks of the book, but she evened out after Ebou Dar and I'd actually say is one of my favorite characters to read now, unfortunately as soon as she got likeable is precisely when Elayne and Egwene decided to pick up her slack and be cunts in her place.

 

Brandon Sanderson has done well enough with the series from where he picked it up though, especially after the slump of painful books that was Path of Daggers through Crossroads of Twilight, well enough that I decided to move onto reading his Mistborn series after I finish with Memory of Light.

 

Yeah the charakters have less depth as in Song of Ice and Fire but I find the charakter development understandable, especially in case of Egwene who adopt in the process of becoming a Aes Sedai

and the Amyrlin

behaviors of the Aes Sedai and I find their arrogance very logical.

But over all it is a very thrilling story and I found my self regularly unable to stop reading when I got a new book in my hands.

I agree with you on Brandon Sanderson he continues it very good and has very accurately taken over the style from Jordan.

[RezTheFatal]

Relic ~ amazing techno thriller that has about 20 sequels.

 

A boy and his dog ~ If you like Fallout and want to know about its influences this is required reading.

 

Black House/Eyes of the Dragon ~ proof Stephan King can write fantasy with the best of them.

 

Nos4A2 ~ Incredible horror story that even scared me a little and I'm pretty jaded.

 

The Traveling Vampire Show ~ The good book involving sex and vampires, I won't even mention the other one.

[xartom]

The Brothers Karamazov

[Mazeppa1]

The Wheel of Time series ... yes I saw it mentioned before LOL ....

John Norman's Gorean Saga .... Though not what I would call well written a well concieved world and storyline

Pretty much anything by David Eddings, Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman

Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms ... Eh the whole D&D franchise really

All time favorite though ... Robert Heinlen's Stranger In A Strange Land

[BoozeJunky]

The Brothers Karamazov

 

^^This^^

 

Brothers Karamazov should be required reading for everybody, everywhere. Or at least the chapters Rebellion and the Grand Inquisitor at a bare minimum. Also, "The Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan and "In a Grove" by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (the story the film "Rashomon" is based on)

 

Just about anything by H.G. Wells is pure gold as well, especially a lot of his short stories that kind of get outshined by his more popular stuff. "Under the Knife" and "The Man who could Work Miracles" are especially good.

[Emily]

"How To Instantly Connect With Everyone" ~LEIL LOWNDES.

 

Put you into good perspective ABC on Love, business and relationship. Stuff that every sociopath didn't know.

Emily read this for 3 days and it already make her life a lot better. It's a shame that she didn't read this earlier.

 

[Heromaster]

"The wizard of Emerald City" (I don't know the exact title in English but it is a series of 6 books). Basically it is the russian version of The Wizard of Oz. I like this way more than the original.

 

[Aryes]

All of the books listed are pretty awesome and most of my favourites have already been listed, so I'll just include the ones I like which haven't already been said.

 

Anything by Juliette Marillier but especially Daughter of the forest. She writes fairy tales like 'The Six Swans' and turns them into works of art targeted at adult audiences.

 

The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones. The plot sounds silly when you talk about it but the way its executed was just fantastic (then again maybe I'm just remembering it through the eyes of my childhood).

 

Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist

 

I know its corny but I will always love Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice. Those zombie ones are an abomination! (Disclaimer: the views and options expressed therein are mine but I completely respect your opinion if you like the weird Seth Grahame-Smith versions. But know that we are now and forever arch nemeses!)

[AKM]

The Mission, The Men, and Me by Pete Blaber

 

Another of those "life lessons" type of books, it has many good points wrapped in the military mindset that I find so fascinating (he was a US Army Delta Force officer).  The first one's in the title itself.  A good leader always puts their people first.  I've heard this both ways.  "The mission, then the men" or "The Men first, and they'll make sure of the mission".  Ideas like "Think outside the box" put to real world situations.  One of my favorites is "Don't get treed by a chihuahua".  Basically, make sure you have all the pertinent information on a situation before making a decision; otherwise, you may find yourself making the wrong conclusion based on incomplete information.

[formel]

"The Superfluous Human" from Ilija Trojanow (That guy got an entry ban to the USA only because of his publications, which surely don't contain any appeal to violence and murder. A cheer for the freedome of speech!!)

 

 

"Dialectic of Enlightenment" from Max Horkheimer/Theodor W. Adorno

 

[CoxcombCornking]

Anything and everything that you should have been forced to read in high school; but, chances are they have been dropped off of most high schools' ( and college!) reading lists. 

Catch up now, while the lessons to be learned may still be relevant in your life.

Many times, in discussion with folks younger than me, I've seen horror in a face when mentioning the content within just the stacks of summer reading my classes were given by our schools. Although, Shakespeare had only taught during the academic year, damn near any other authors' work could and would be assigned for reading on our own. Hawthorne to Vonnegut. Essay tests would certainly follow in the Fall.