Good Books

[jorgebonafe]

I'm curious what books people here read, like or recommends. I'm a book addict myself (one of the reasons for my avatar XD ) and I'm always looking for more interesting stuff to read.

Just no spoilers, please... I'm still reading Clash of Kings, and I nearly plucked my eyes out reading the other thread :P

[Brethern]

The only books I've been reading recently are the warhammer 40K books. Good books that are full of action.

[jorgebonafe]

Warhammer? Isn't that a game? Humm, really? I'd normally be apprehensive of picking a book based of an RPG to read... Is it really good?

[Battlecat]

I'm a huge reader as well, it really depends on what kind of genre you are into. I've got a lot of favorite books.

My personal favorite series for a long time has been The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The lead character is a private detective/wizard in modern Chicago. The first book is called Storm Front which is decent enough to hook you but it gets really good by the third book when the wider series storyline really kicks off. If you saw the TV show, don't judge it on that, the books are a million times better.

Anyhow, if that genre isn't your thing let me know and I'll see if I can come up with something else. :)

[PuppetRebel]

I am NOT a great reader. In fact, I'm horrible with books. Still, I would recommend the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's well written high fantasy. There are some 9 books or so in the series, but after the 3rd or 4th it gets rather stale and predictable. Still a good read.

[Stormweaver]

Warhammer? Isn't that a game? Humm, really? I'd normally be apprehensive of picking a book based of an RPG to read... Is it really good?

It's not an RPG :| Used to play warhammer myself, back when money was...you know. It's turn-based dice rolling, more than anything.

Books? I've spent a fair bit of time reading lately, though I'm mainly into my fantasy novels/epics. The wheel of time is a fairly impressive timesink if you have the time. The Shannara 'Series' is also quite long, and worth a read. The Belgariad and it's sequel have also made thier way back onto my bookshelves...suffice to say, I'm spending a lot fo time staring at words recently.

Or, if you're up some something different, there's To Aru Majutsu no Index. Light humour, kinda deep plotline. Features england a lot (always a plus in my british eyes).

@puppetrebel: Sword of truth? Terry goodkind? I'll have to look into that, given that I just suggested the Sword of shannara, by terry brooks. the odd bit is, in my one, the sword is the 'sword of truth.' fing wierd. Quick edit: just looked into it, sounds like the first few books are worth a look. bye bye, 24 more hours of my life.

[jorgebonafe]

My two top favorite books are two books by Dean Koontz, Lightning and Cold Fire, kind of a mix science fiction/suspense/horror. Cold Fire specially is awesome, I've read it like 10 times :p

[Battlecat]

With the exception of the first book, the Sword of Truth series seems to be a love it or hate it series. Personally I like the series, but many of my friends got frustrated with it after a while. Terry Goodkind has some very specific philosophical views and those tend to come through in the later books which is why it gets a bit stale for some people.

@Stormweaver: Oh yes, the Belgariad is fantastic. I highly recommend it!

[Stormweaver]

With the exception of the first book, the Sword of Truth series seems to be a love it or hate it series. Personally I like the series, but many of my friends got frustrated with it after a while. Terry Goodkind has some very specific philosophical views and those tend to come through in the later books which is why it gets a bit stale for some people.

@Stormweaver: Oh yes, the Belgariad is fantastic. I highly recommend it!

I first read it on holiday: went to a cottage in the downs for a week to see the countryside, and found them in the bookcase.

Never saw much of the countryside.

[Brethern]

Warhammer? Isn't that a game? Humm, really? I'd normally be apprehensive of picking a book based of an RPG to read... Is it really good?

There's a ton of books within the 40K genre I'd recommend reading helreach or starting with the horus heresy for the best experience.

Lots of action great characters and it's not your typical full of crap humans when you're entire culture is engulfed in total war basic human rights are removed.

[BinoAl]

I don't always read, but when I do, I read Dexter.

[MoRmEnGiL]

I can easily suggest the original Dune series, by Frank Herbert himself. (And after you get totaly hooked, you'll move on to his son's continuation of the saga :P)

It is an epic of LotR proportions, and although it is sci fi in essense, it is far from your typical setup.

I'm not good at marketing, so I will leave it up to you to look it up or not, but I will just say disregard ANY movie/tv adaptations you may have seen.

Moving on, since you seem to be into fantasy, I will recomend the works of David Gemmel for a very refreshing look on fantasy, especially Legend,which has amazing pacing and a very fresh take on the whole famous hero thing, and Waylander, his take at the anti-hero thing.

Finally I've recently started the Mortal Engines series, and although it is supposedly targeted mainly at younger audiences, it has such a strong main concept (I'm a sucker for steampunkish things) that it actually works in its favour, it being easy and relaxing to read.

[PuppetRebel]

Second on Dune. One of my favorite books ever is the very first one.

Another good book? The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The musical hardly does the book justice.

[rbh]

I agree with MoRmEnGiL and PuppetRebel the Dune saga is really worth your time. The work of the son is not really as Epic as the original but it's still worth reading if only to have a proper ending (and beginningS) to the story.

H.P. Lovecraft is an author that made some really twisted, dark, story. Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu, ...

I should also mention some of Stephen King's work, I have a preference for his work as Bachman but I also really liked Shining, the Stand, Charlie, and the dark tower series.

[Stormweaver]

I should also mention some of Stephen King's work, I have a preference for his work as Bachman but I also really liked Shining, the Stand, Charlie, and the dark tower series.

The talisman is a lesser know book of his, excellent read though.

[Necropolis]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clark
Brave New World - Aldus Huxley
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemmingway
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemmingway
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
The Doom that Came to Sarnath - H.P. Lovecraft

Plus, Dune and the Wheel of Time series are excellent reads, as the others have said. I can suggest a couple hundred more, if these don't point you in the right track. Also, I have numerous recommendations on pretty much any subject known to man in non-fiction.

Post 100! Yay....

[PatrickSJ]

The Discworld series has great humor & satire. I suggest "Guards! Guards!" as the first book in the series that should be read. After that you can jump around or start from book 1 (39 main series novels).

[Urian]

Depends on what genre you want.

I can recommend:
- Most books by Neil Gaiman
- Most books by Douglas Adams
- Most Discworld books by Terry Pratchett

[M!C]

The most recent addition to that pile of books next to my bed is the 2nd book from the Traitor Spy Trilogy by Trudi Canavan. I read 9 of her books so far and didn't regret buying any one of them.

[FaceFoiled]

I'm heavily into fantasy books myself, a few recommendations that I can think off that have not been mentioned yet are:

Mistborn - Trilogy
The Mistborn series is a trilogy of high fantasy novels, written by Brandon Sanderson. Published by Tor Fantasy between 2006 and 2008, the series currently consists of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, and Mistborn: The Hero of Ages. A stand-alone short novel titled Mistborn: The Alloy of Law will be released in November 2011

The Stormlight Archive
Only one book out at the moment, the first.
The Stormlight Archive is an ongoing epic fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. The world of The Stormlight Archive is one constantly assaulted by hurricanes. Flora and fauna have evolved to cope with this condition. It is a planned multi-novel series, plotted to require ten books to complete. The first book in the series, The Way of Kings, was released on August 31, 2010 by Tor Books. The second book is planned to be released approximately two years after the release of the first book (fall 2012) due to writing the final book of The Wheel of Time series.

Kingbreaker universe
This one is a bit tricky, as it holds several different little mini series (2 books long) that all tie into one story spanned over several decades so to say. The easiest way to learn about it, is to read the books :P In chronological order:

Prequel
Blight of Mages (2011)
Kingmaker, KingbreakerThe Innocent Mage (2005)
Innocence Lost (The Awakened Mage in US/Canada/UK) (2005)
Fisherman's Children
The Prodigal Mage (2009)
The Reluctant Mage (2010)

Diablo novels
The sin war trilogy is basically the Lore for Diablo, the others tie into that a well and do hold vital clues for lore geeks, but are more so stand alone stories.

Books:
Demonsbane
The Kingdom of Shadow
Legacy of BloodMoon of the Spider
The Sin War - Triology

Dragonlance
Very awesome, but a shared universe so there are various different writers with their own writing style. Lots of books.

Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of popular fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job application. At TSR, Tracy met Margaret Weis, his future writing partner, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, a series of novels, licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.
In 1984, TSR published the first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It began the Chronicles trilogy, a core element of the Dragonlance world. While the authoring team of Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis wrote the setting's central books, numerous other authors contributed novels and short stories to the setting. Over 190 novels have used the Dragonlance setting, and have been accompanied supplemental Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting material for over a decade. In 1997, Wizards of the Coast LLC purchased TSR, and licensed Dragonlance to Sovereign Press, Inc in 2001 to produce game materials; this licensing agreement expired in 2007.
The fictional Dragonlance world of Krynn contains numerous characters, an extensive timeline, and a detailed geography. The history of Krynn consists of five ages. The novels and related game products are primarily set in the fourth age, The Age of Despair. Since February 2009, the fifth age, the Age of Mortals, has been used. The Heroes of the Lance, created by Weis and Hickman, are the popular protagonists of the Chronicles trilogy. Along with D&D's world of the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance is one of the most popular shared worlds in fiction.

[walker_boh_65]

Warhammer? Isn't that a game? Humm, really? I'd normally be apprehensive of picking a book based of an RPG to read... Is it really good?

The Shannara 'Series' is also quite long, and worth a read.

I can second that series, (hence my name and avatar). I thought it was worth the hours I put it, but then again, you may not be into fantasy novels.

[sargunv]

The Wheel of Time series is great.

[DaWhiskers]

So many listed here that I can agree with and recommend.

The Warhammer 40K series of novels (my favorites being those by Dan Abnett) Gaunts Ghosts Series, Eisenhorn and Ravenor.

The Foundation series by Issac Asimov

The Dragon Lance series.

Dune, and Children of Dune.

[jorgebonafe]

I enjoy some books from Stephen King too.. The Stand was very good, also It and Under the Dome

And yes, I like fantasy. Some fantasy books I like are Lady of the trillium by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and the Twelve Kingdom series. Not to mention, of course, LotR and The Hobbit :p

I also like most books by Robin Cook.

[Itamarcu]

I like Game of Thrones. The entire series.
By the way, should I buy the new book (A Dance with Dragons)? Have you read it?

I also read Order of the Stick (Like Notch!) and D&D rulebooks...