books...

[pollaxe]

I'm afraid I tried Robert Jordan and once I came across 'trollocs' I laughed out loud. From then on I had a mental block and gave up. I do occasionally still shout trollocs, though, so it wasn't entirely wasted. Some good friends of mine are passionate fans of the Wheel of Time series but not me.

I'm not an admirer of overblown American fantasy, Book 15 of the Cobblerarium etc. Having a background in history has also made me extremely critical of writing and art in fantasy settings in particular. I find I look at book covers and think, 'Hmm, how could they bend at the middle in that armour?' and 'Grr, why do they write 'fire' whenever someone shoots an arrow..?' and so on.)

Of course Saracen's caveats are worth taking on board but as we're recommending books on personal experience then I'm going to list some. The Da Vinci Code was a rip-roaring read but I found the technique of ending each chapter on a cliff-hanger a little artificial and once I noticed it, I struggled a bit. I'm a big re-reader, most of my copies get read multiple times over the years and I tend to have at least three books on the go at once but I've never re-read Mr Brown's book.

There are too many I love to list but ones I would mention would be:
Fantasy/Historical
Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle.
1610: Sundial in a Grave - Mary Gentle.
Anything by Peter Morwood (particularly The Horse Lord series and the Prince Ivan series.)
Anything by Sharon Penman (a bit romantic at times, but good otherwise.)
Anything by Bernard Cornwell, particularly his Arthur series (simply some of the best stories I've ever read) and Sharpe of course. I like his historical stuff (Azincourt was my most recent read) but feel the Arthur and Sharpe books are the strongest.
Anno Dracula and The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman.
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (of course!) I could never get into The Silmarillion or his other works, I'm afraid though.
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials series.

Military/Thrillers
Anything by Duncan Falconer (pseudonym of an ex-SBS man.)
Eye of the Storm - Peter Ratcliffe (ex-RSM of 22 SAS and a far more believable read than most of the other memoirs out there.)

Erk, running out of time (work!) anything by Bill Bryson and How to be a (bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes.

[Grey M@a]

That's exactly what i was going to say

I recently read this, absolute genius - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Me-Cheeta-Au...0857283&sr=8-1

If you like your hardcore Sci-fi, Dan Simmons Hyperion is a must.

Love Bill Bryson stuff too.

Thanks for the heads up on the Me Cheeta book, think I will give that a shot, sound interesting enough

Also check out Douglas Coupland:

Generation X
Microserfs
jPod
The Gum Thief
Eleanor Rigby
Hey Nostradamus!

To name a few of his.

The only other book I can think of right now would be Neuromancer (released in 1984 and first coined the phrase cyberspace and essentially predicted the internet) by William Gibson. Great Sci-Fi book and the follow up to it Count Zero and then the third in the trilogy The Mona Lisa Overdrive best of all they aren't linked as one long story but the themes and certain characters come back in other books etc. The only other book of his I have read would be his latest one called Pattern Recognition.

[Funkstar]

Of course Saracen's caveats are worth taking on board but as we're recommending books on personal experience then I'm going to list some. The Da Vinci Code was a rip-roaring read but I found the technique of ending each chapter on a cliff-hanger a little artificial and once I noticed it, I struggled a bit. I'm a big re-reader, most of my copies get read multiple times over the years and I tend to have at least three books on the go at once but I've never re-read Mr Brown's book.

I can't forgive Dan Brown for Digital Foretress. Where a massive computer melts as opposed to just crashing due to overheating, or the fact it was designed without any kind of thermal self protection at all amazed me. Pretty much gave up after that. And if you don't get sucked into the constant cliff hangers of The Davinci Code, it's a terrible book.

Just my opinion of course

[Zadock]

Dune
Everytime I read it I pick up on something new.

+1

Dedicated to ecologists everywhere or the like it says in the front, made me smile because I am one

I rather like Clive Barker particularly: Cabal (on which the film Night Breed is based), Mr Begone (very funny), The Great and Secret Show (and the sequel Everville, which I am yet to read but if its anything like the great and secret show it will be quite epic).

Matty, if you like the game The Witcher two of Spakowski's books about the Witcher are now available in English. "The Last Wish" (a collection of short stories that kind of re-counted whilst Geralt is recovering from the injury he sustained from the Striga, see the intro video to the game she gets him at the end) and "The blood of the Elves" - first proper book, the character of alvin in the game is inspired somewhat by the character of Ciri in this one. I've read both and they are a good read, quite short but very clever and often very funny.

[Grey M@a]

How could I forget this:

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers. Bloody good Russian Sci-Fi if anything it's almost like they seconded guessed the Chernobyl incident (loosely I will add as this book is more about the after affects if such an accident would happen) and also it's a massive influence on the STALKER games

[JPreston]

How could I forget this:

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers. Bloody good Russian Sci-Fi if anything it's almost like they seconded guessed the Chernobyl incident (loosely I will add as this book is more about the after affects if such an accident would happen) and also it's a massive influence on the STALKER games

That's a good suggestion, think I'll order that now actually. I really like the movie Stalker, which is based on this, and through which it influences the STALKER games. Which I really like too .

OK, in a similar vein then I'm first to recommend Stanislaw Lem - collections of short stories like Mortal Engines or the Cyberiad might be a better place to start than Solaris (not that I've read Solaris yet...but I like the original movie...). The Cyberiad in particular is almost like a children's book....but a book for robot children in a universe where all intelligence is artificial.

Not many autobiographies yet...I recommend Robert Mason's Chickenhawk to the Bravo Two Zero lot above (or anyone interested in helicopters - it's about his time flying choppers in 'Nam) and Papillon by Henri Charriere (the definitive ripping yarn, and amazingly it's true).

Speaking of ripping yarns, someone recommended me The Count of Monte Christo and I really enjoyed it. And since that's a classic, I'll just go nuclear and recommend Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, which is surprisingly accessible given it's about the most illuminating novel on the human condition that mankind will ever produce.

I've started re-reading 1984 since posting here yesterday, and I'll re-recommend it again because it's even better than I remembered.

[Grey M@a]

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - by Douglas Adams.
Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini

Those ones by Hicks that are kicking around in his siggy. If it is hicks. I might have it wrong. Run a forum search

Would this be the guy you are talking about?

http://forums.hexus.net/members/bluecube.html

Has two books which were given away free but you can make a donation if you wish. I read the first one and it was very good, need to start the second one. I have said before that these should of been snapped up by a publisher but for some reason Bluecube isn't having much luck Well worth the read.

[shaithis]

Iain M Banks (Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Excession, Feersum Endjinn, et al)

Although if your only just into reading, stay clear of Feersum Endjinn for now It can be a very hard read.

But otherwise, Iain M Banks books are awesome.

My person favourite though is the Necroscope series of books by Brian Lumley. Bit of a horror-fantasy-SciFi crossover.

[Tzarbo]

For instance, if you're after an entertaining read rather than a literary masterpiece, give something like the DaVinca Code a try. Because you might enjoy it. I certainly did.

Well, assuming you mean the Da Vinci Code, that's the worst advice in human history. I mean, it's Heat magazine in book form. Hyped up complete tosh, for the very, very, very easily pleased to slowly die while reading.

Everything by Dan 'American Person' Brown is pretty bad, but there are limits.

DO NOT waste your time with this book, consider watching Trisha instead, you'll get the same level of interaction, and watching Trisha is deeply less humiliating than reading this school girl nonsense.

[JPreston]

Well, assuming you mean the Da Vinci Code, that's the worst advice in human history. I mean, it's Heat magazine in book form. Hyped up complete tosh, for the very, very, very easily pleased to slowly die while reading.

Everything by Dan 'American Person' Brown is pretty bad, but there are limits.

DO NOT waste your time with this book, consider watching Trisha instead, you'll get the same level of interaction, and watching Trisha is deeply less humiliating than reading this school girl nonsense.

It's easy to be a critic Tzarbo, but could you write a book like the Da Vinci Code?

Well, the answer is obviously 'Yes - anyone with a reading age above 9 could'. The problem is that there would be no market for such a book, because all the people who will only ever read one book in their lives have already read that book, and that book was the Da Vinci Code.

Have some Stewart Lee on the subject

I bet you're a big Harry Potter fan too...


(BTW that post earns my first thanks, ever)

[Knoxville]

Well, assuming you mean the Da Vinci Code, that's the worst advice in human history. I mean, it's Heat magazine in book form. Hyped up complete tosh, for the very, very, very easily pleased to slowly die while reading.

Everything by Dan 'American Person' Brown is pretty bad, but there are limits.

DO NOT waste your time with this book, consider watching Trisha instead, you'll get the same level of interaction, and watching Trisha is deeply less humiliating than reading this school girl nonsense.

While it isn't the earth shattering read it was hyped to be when it was released it's not that bad a book in my opinion, it's the kind of book I'd buy if I'd got nothing to read on a long journey to be fair because it's still entertaining even if it does lack substance, Tom Clancys books are very similar in my opinion, amazing literary works they aren't but they keep you entertained well enough that you keep reading.

[Tzarbo]

Have some Stewart Lee on the subject

Is that the 'the famous man looked at the red cup' line?

I bet you're a big Harry Potter fan too...

Nothing specifically against Harry and his average chums going about their predictable adventures... I've never bothered to read one though.

It's just strange how people these days act as if JK invented childrens books, and before Potter there were no great books for kids to read. Roald Dahl was writing books far more magical and engrossing decades before Potter.

James and the Giant Peach > Harry Potter and the Tree of Nothing.

(BTW that post earns my first thanks, ever)

Oooh, you little tease.

One last thing, there is something lower than reading the Da Vinci Code and thinking it was a good book - reading the Da Vinci Code and thinking it's a true story.

[BigGlenn]

Like a lot of things... it all comes down to personal choice but here are a few other authors to throw into the mix

neonplanet40 mentioned Magician by Raymond Feist, personally I enjoyed that and have quite a few of his books
If you enjoy that then you may want to consider books by David Eddings

Tom Clancy - eg Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger to name a couple of his books that were made into films, personally I prefer the books to the films

Clive Cussler
Terry Goodkind

[stevie lee]

talking about the Da-Vinci code, we have 14 copies of it - which leads me onto my point..

if you're not sure what books you'll like, rather than paying full price or 3for2 price at tesco./asda/wherever then why not find an auction house that does house sale auctions. if you're lucky you will find a box or 5 full of books of all kinds and just pay £1 for the lot (its the reason my dad had 50,000 books last year). when you have finished reading them, just sell them on ebay or back at the auction, as long as you get more than a £1 back you would have read hundreds of books and made money in the process.

it will also help decide what kind of books take your fancy, but be warned, you will get hundreds of copies of 'mills & boon' and readers digest books. most of the books recommended by the other posters have been in these 'auction boxes' at one point.

you might even get lucky and find a rare book about todmorden that sells for £200

[Funkstar]

Thats a good point Stevie. A guy I worked with only bought books in charity shops, because it was cheaper than the late fees when he kept forgetting to take books back to the library. Once he had read it, he'd just hand it back to the shop when getting some more. So it cost him about 50p for a few evenings entertainment.

[sammyc]

Something else I've recommended before is having a listen to BBC7, as they serialise some good stuff scifi/fantasy/classics etc & you might hear something you like & then follow the author up.
Also I click along those 'people who bought this also liked' suggestions on Amazon (even if the titles aren't all obviously related to your original choice, it can take you off on some ok tangents sometimes.)