Must Read Books

Depends what you are into.

James Herbert :- Nobody true is a good read, infact anything by James Herbert.
On the Edge My story :- Richard Hammond.
Just about any thing by Clive Barker.
The lord of the rings and The Hobbit.

Isaac Asimov - The Caves of Steel
George R R Martin -A Game of Thrones
Haruki Murakami- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Eiji Yoshikawa - Musashi
Zadie Smith - White Teeth
Manuel Mujica Láinez - The Wandering Unicorn (might be hard to find)

The robot books by Isaac Asimov are pretty smart.

The Book of Disquiet- Fernando Pessoa
American Gods- Neil Gaiman
Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood

Yay, my first post and it's about books. :-D

Abraham Varaghese - Cutting for Stone
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
Jon Krakauer - Into Thin Air
Justin Cronin - The Passage

A bit of variety for you...

dougk3454 said:

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

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That's my favorite!
I add anything by Kurt Vonnegut.

Some probably very typical recommendations and some not so typical
1984 - George Orwell
Brave new world - Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Snow - Orhan Pamuk
The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth

The first 3 are musts, and the 4th is definitely one to read to expand horizons

Ohhh I love this thread! I have been on a reading frenzy since I got my Kindle in December.

This will not really expand your horizons so to speak but if you like Thrillers/Murder Mystery James Patterson is an AMAZING Author. I really enjoy the Alex Cross series, I am currently on book #11 in the series and cant quit reading them!

Nicholas Sparks (yeah I know girly books)

Jodi Picoult is another good author

ElaySmith said:

Ohhh I love this thread! I have been on a reading frenzy since I got my Kindle in December.

This will not really expand your horizons so to speak but if you like Thrillers/Murder Mystery James Patterson is an AMAZING Author. I really enjoy the Alex Cross series, I am currently on book #11 in the series and cant quit reading them!

Nicholas Sparks (yeah I know girly books)

Jodi Picoult is another good author

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Haha Elay I'm in love with my Kindle too!! I have like 800 books on there now, the only thing I didn't like was having to manually add each one to a collection - but I found a freeware app that can do it on the pc.

I'll add a couple more recommendations I just thought of:

Magician - Raymond E Feist (this one is a fantasy classic that gets many people into the genre)

Our Ancestors - Italo Calvino; three short stories, classics of literature that are just awesome.

One, The Cloven Viscount tells of a nobleman cut in half by a cannonball fighting turks in the 16th century, who then splits into two people lol..

Two The Baron in the Trees The story of twelve-year-old Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò is narrated by his younger brother, Biago. Set in Liguria near the French Riviera, the two brothers belong to a noble 18th century family whose estate is located in the vast forest landscapes of Ombrosa. The regions of Italy have not yet united and the Ligurian Coast is not ruled by a legitimate king.
In a rebellious fit after refusing to eat a dinner of snails prepared by Battista, his sadistic sister, Cosimo climbs up a tree and decides never to come down again. He has literally had enough: enough of family and decorum, his proper role as a future Baron, and of everything on the ground. Initially helped and sometimes cared for by Biagio, the young Baron eventually becomes self-sufficient but finds that the more he distances himself from others in order to see them from a new point of view, the more he helps everyone on the earth. His love for a young woman named Viola changes the course of the lives of everyone: Cosimo, Viola, Biagio, and the community of Ombrosa.

Three The Nonexistant Knight is set in the time of Charlemagne, and draws material from the literary cycle known as the Matter of France, referencing Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. The knight Agilulf is a righteous, perfectionist, faithful and pious knight with only one shortcoming: he doesn't exist. Inside his armor there is no man, just an echoing voice that reverberates through the metal. Nevertheless, he serves the army of a Christian king out of "goodwill and faith in the holy cause".

My Secret Diary by Amber
Fornicating for Fun by LovelyLemon
Please Call Me BB by AshaSnow
Cam Cumming on Cue by SiaGreen

Just some of my favorite reads :-D

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Gap Cycle
Both are awesome book series. Both are by Stephen R Donaldson. Gap is S.F. and Thomas Covenant is Fantasy.

My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

I just finished this, it's all about sex and it's hilarious if you are looking for a stress-relief read.

Any chance we can sticky this thread? Dunno about everyone else but I'm always looking for cool new stuff to read

I mostly read books about serial killers, dictators and other evil people.
The Stieg Larson trilogi is great too. And all ten Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo.
The Nesbo books are far better than the Larson books though.

Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Suess

CLASSIC!

I'm rather fond of humor myself.

Coyote Blue - Christopher Moore. It's about a Man who is part of the Crow Nation attempting to run from a shadowy past until the God Coyote shows up and reeks havoc on his life... somehow for the better.

Skinny Legs and All - Tom Robbins. If you want to read a book and come out of it feeling like you just tripped balls at a Dead show, this is the book that'll do it. Jitterbug Perfume is also one of my favorites of his. The thing about Tom Robbins is you get humor, love, and lots and lots of sex that intertwines with a story that twists your mind and makes you believe the unbelievable. Come to think of it, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is another must.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - classic British humor and one of the best funny sci-fi books ever.

The Stupidest Angel - Christopher Moore. Though I usually only read this one around Christmas. How can you go wrong with Christmas Zombies?

Lightning - Dean Koontz. I can't really bring myself to read his newer stuff, he lost me at Odd Thomas, however Lightning is the first non young adult book I ever read and I have read it about 6 times since then. It's romantic, suspenseful, sci-fi, and thrilling. It's just and AWESOME book.

Watchers - Dean Koontz. This one is right up there with Lightning. If you have ever seen the movie I strongly recommend you forget about it as soon as possible. The movie (though I loved it as a kid) was HORRIBLE and the book is amazing. Again, romance, humor, thriller, intelligent dogs, freaky monsters. Good stuff.

ANYTHING Neil Gaiman! My personal favorites are Stardust, The Graveyard Book, and the stories in M is for Magic. Anansi Boys is awesome too, but I am a huge mythology nut.

Gone with the Wind - Read it three times. SOOOOOOO much better than the movie, though the movie is awesome too, just not remotely accurate :lol:

One a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony. Also, any of the Xanth series. Start at the beginning with A Spell for Chameleon. Awesome book.

Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and Bite Me - lovely vampire tales from Christopher Moore (no glittering!)

Dogs and Goddesses is an interesting romance. I'm not too big on romance but I saw this book and had to read it for some reason. I liked it.

I know I am leaving a ton out but when you're talking about good books you'll never be able to list all of them.

If you have never read the books from John Hodgman (PC from those Apple computer ads), you are missing out on some hilarity. I would suggest trying to get them in audio form too. Hearing him read them is even more awesome.

I'm a fantasy nut with a strong dose of historical fiction, specifically Roman based historical fiction, plus I tend to read series instead of one-offs.

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, there's a new book coming out for it in August that I'm really looking forward to 'The Omen Machine'
The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher
The Song of Ice and Fire series, reread it because of The Game of Thrones on HBO, now impatiently waiting for July's release of 'A Dance With Dragons'
Hannbal's Children and The Seven Hills by John Maddox Roberts, alternate history of Rome where Hannibal beat the Romans in the second Punic Wars and exiled the entire Roman nation,
they settled in Gaul/Germany and spent the next century conquering the region after which they reconqured Italy. It's supposed to be a trilogy but it's been six years since The Seven Hills came out and I haven't heard anything about a follow-up.

The adventures of lord iffy boatrace :- Bruce Dickinson, laugh out loud funny.

morment said:

Hannbal's Children and The Seven Hills by John Maddox Roberts, alternate history of Rome where Hannibal beat the Romans in the second Punic Wars and exiled the entire Roman nation,
they settled in Gaul/Germany and spent the next century conquering the region after which they reconqured Italy. It's supposed to be a trilogy but it's been six years since The Seven Hills came out and I haven't heard anything about a follow-up.

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Might have to look that one up, btw that seems a much kinder fate than the Romans eventually served up to Carthage, sacking it and completely burning it to the ground lol.

Another fantasy series I can recommend (well two actually) are the Nightrunner series about a pair of spies, and the Tamir Triad about well....it's complicated. Both by Lynn Flewelling.

I originally picked up one of her books secondhand since it had glowing praise from George RR Martin who is hands-down my fave fantasy writer, and was certainly glad I did.

She seems to cross a few gender/sexuality boundaries in her books - without giving too much away the Tamir Triad revolves around a princess enchanted by a witch immediately after birth into the body of her stillborn twin brother, because the kingdom passes through a matriarchal line and she would have been killed as a threat to her uncle's usurping rule. Anyway, she grows up a boy, doesn't know she was ever a girl, has all sorts of sexually confused feelings towards her male bff lol...yeah so I guess it kinda explores transgender issues....BUT at the same time it's a fucking great read.

Nightrunner series - maybe even better in my opinion, revolves around the clandestine activities of a pair of elven spies working for the same kingdom in the tamir triad, only a few hundred years later. I've always enjoyed stories about rogues and assassins in fantasy stuff so this one really appeals to me, and the fact that the main characters are gay lovers...well...it doesn't detract from the plot and the writing and really why not have a couple of openly gay male fantasy heroes for once? :dontknow:

Jupiter551 said:

Might have to look that one up, btw that seems a much kinder fate than the Romans eventually served up to Carthage, sacking it and completely burning it to the ground lol.

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No kidding, the justification for the exile option was that even though they had the capability of wiping out the Roman army Rome was capable of throwing another, bigger army at them in a matter of days if they were given cause, so Hannibal capitalized on his advantage.

I might have to look the two series you mentioned up, although I've already got a fairly decent sized backlog of books waiting to be read now.

morment said:

Jupiter551 said:

Might have to look that one up, btw that seems a much kinder fate than the Romans eventually served up to Carthage, sacking it and completely burning it to the ground lol.

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No kidding, the justification for the exile option was that even though they had the capability of wiping out the Roman army Rome was capable of throwing another, bigger army at them in a matter of days if they were given cause, so Hannibal capitalized on his advantage.

I might have to look the two series you mentioned up, although I've already got a fairly decent sized backlog of books waiting to be read now.

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Yeah well historically Hannibal was within striking distance of Rome, cut off their supply lines, and faced and destroyed the armies Rome sent in a desperate defence, despite their overwhelming numbers, but for some reason he never followed through with making the final blow then and there, and eventually attrition took its toll... One of his commanders commented "Hannibal, you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one." Hannibal was never defeated by the Romans in open battle to my knowledge.

I am a total dorkus but I love Janet Evanovich for her Stephanie Plum series.

I am surprised no one has mentioned JT Leroy.

I prefer serial killers, infamous murderers (Joseph Mengele, Ted Bundy) anything about forensics or death.

Lydia_Deetz said:

I am a total dorkus but I love Janet Evanovich for her Stephanie Plum series.

I am surprised no one has mentioned JT Leroy.

I prefer serial killers, infamous murderers (Joseph Mengele, Ted Bundy) anything about forensics or death.

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OOOOH thanks for reminding me - if anyone likes murder mysteries/serial killer/forensic psychology stuff I HIGHLY recommend Val McDermid's Tony Hill books - start with the first one The Mermaids Singing.

The tv series based on the books is also extremely good and multi-award winning, named The Wire In The Blood, each episode is like 90 mins to 2 hours so they're like self-contained movies.

Anything by Augusten Burroughs is great. Very different, but very good. My favorite would probably be Running with Scissors.

Jupiter551 said:

Yeah well historically Hannibal was within striking distance of Rome, cut off their supply lines, and faced and destroyed the armies Rome sent in a desperate defence, despite their overwhelming numbers, but for some reason he never followed through with making the final blow then and there, and eventually attrition took its toll... One of his commanders commented "Hannibal, you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one." Hannibal was never defeated by the Romans in open battle to my knowledge.

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That's true, if I'm remembering correctly a large part of why he was never able to take advantage of it was that he wasn't backed up by the ruling council of Carthage, they were afraid that he'd use a victory to crown himself king of Carthage and didn't want to lose their power so they refused to send him reinforcements or even adequate supplies. Also he was promised aide from Alexander IV of Macedon which never materialized.