(no subject)

[lithera]

I've almost caught up on my massive glut of books for me too read. Or atleast I've read enough of them that I feel I can give that pile a rest.

What I am looking for are recommmendations of books that I should read. Specifically Iw as trying to think of those more classic books that I feel I should read, for some reason, but never have. Of course, this can apply as much to 18th century British Literature as modern SciFi.

Any suggestions? (Note: They don't have to be fiction.)

Comments

[wogs.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Ivanhoe.

[archeon.livejournal.com]

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (or anything by Chandler really...)

Kushiel's Dart

[pamc.livejournal.com]

Everyone should read this book. Stunning.

Re: Kushiel's Dart

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Read it. Read the sequel as well. I love them both. I've bought copies of it for people. Spread around the love, I must say.

Re: Kushiel's Dart

[pamc.livejournal.com]

Ah... you are one of the enlightened!

Have you read the Anasazi Mysteries? (Michael & Kathleen Gear)

Re: Kushiel's Dart

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm... I do not know these books. I will investigate.

Anasazi mysteries

[pamc.livejournal.com]

The first in the 3 book series is The Visitant

[warpdragon.livejournal.com]

I cannot speak highly enough of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars. It's really good.

[seanb.livejournal.com]

Some SciFi recommendations:
Herbert: "Destination: Void" and "Dosadi Incident"
Niven: "Inferno", "The Magic Goes Away"
Heinlein: "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "Starship Troopers"
Burroughs: The Barsoom tales. Very strange fluff, obviously from the same author that came up with Tarzan. You may not like it, but at least read through the first book.
Asimov: I, Robot

I also STRONGLY recommend that you read Douglas Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" and James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me". These are among my favorite non-fiction books.

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Read some of those, not others. Mmmmmm.

How about Fantasy?

[morgie.livejournal.com]

P.C. Hodgell:
Godstalk
Dark of the Moon
(The two of these are currently published under the title of Dark of the Gods)
Seeker's Mask
Blood and Ivory (coming out this/next month)

They are to be read in that order, actually. ;)

[gamethyme.livejournal.com]

Anything by Sean Russell

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

The Thousand Orcs.

Due out Oct 15th.

I can get you an advanced reader

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I'll take that.

Oh. I have something for you.

Re:

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

k. I might go out monday night. Otherwise, I'll see ya at the part-tay.

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm thinking I cannot be at your partay as lame as that is.

Re:

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

*kicks you*

Books. :)

[nym.livejournal.com]

The Name of the Rose -- Umberto Eco.

Amazingly great book about ancient libraries, ancient monks, and a nice mystery to boot. (I sound so british).

The Inferno -- Dante Aligheri

Dante's imagery will forever haunt me. His poetry is gorgeous, even when translated.

The Terrorists of Irustan -- Louise Marley

Excellent book about a pseudo-Afganistan society and one woman who overcomes it. Not deep reading, but it made me /sob/ at the end.

Snow Queen/Summer Queen -- Joan Vinge

An amazing world, great stories, love and romance and death and politics.

The entire Skolian books by Catherine Asaro (first is Primary Inversion)

I adore Catherine Asaro, her books are sci-fi romances based on actual true physics. She tells some damn fine stories.

Archangel, Jovah's Angel, the Alleluia Files -- Sharon Shinn.

Jaran -- Kate Elliott.

All four of the above are really adventure romances, certainly not deep and meaty reading, but enjoyable despite that.


The Sparrow -- Mary Doria Russell

This is a book about religion and miscommunication and aliens and God. It's still good. :)

Snow Crash -- Neil Stephenson

One of the original cyberpunk books, and still the best in my opinion.

Someplace to be Flying -- Charles de Lint

You just have to read this. Corvae and Canid and the mysteries of the world. It also made me cry. :)

Brightness Falls from the Air -- James Tiptree Jr.

Honestly, I remember liking this, but I cannot remember the plot.

Raising the Stones, Grass, Sideshow -- Sheri S. Tepper
Venus Plus X -- Theodore Sturgeon
The True Game -- Sheri S. Tepper

All three sets of the above are deeply important reading. The first trilogy speaks of the nature of religion and man, the second book gender, and the third justice and fairness. All excellently told stories.

A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens

Dickens just rocks.

Fountainhead -- Ayn Rand

I don't agree with her philosophies, but it gives you something interesting to think about.

The Moon and the Sun -- Vonda N. McIntyre

A historical romance set in the period of Sun King, in Paris.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Friday -- Heinlein

These were the only two books of Heinlein I ever liked. :)

Stay -- Nicola Griffith

Sad, good love story/mystery.

Labyrinths -- Borges

Excellent, well written short stories.

The Mists of Avalon -- Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Everyone should read this.

I'm currently in the middle of reading:

Kushiel's Dart, Swann's Way (Proust), The Silver Stallion (James Branch Cabell), and Titus Groan (Peake).

Re: Books. :)

[skidspoppe.livejournal.com]

With the exception of the "juveniles" I agree completely on the Heinlein picks.

[quantumhuman.livejournal.com]

Here goes. List divided by category.

Mindbending Nonfiction:
Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe
Stephen Hawking's A Brief History Of Time and The Universe In A Nutshell
Simon Singh's The Code Book
Sun Tzu's Art of War (very short, but read it anyways)

Classic Literature:
George Orwell's 1984
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (give yourself plenty of time for this one)

Modern SF/F:
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth (series)
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (series)
Tad Williams' Otherland and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (both series)
C. S. Friedman's Coldfire (trilogy)
David Eddings' The Belgariad (series)

Best Book Ever:
Frank Herbert's Dune. No contest.

There's a start. And I've got scores more where that came from... if you're ever at a loss for book ideas, ask me.

-Zander

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Well, I've read everything from the Art of War on down. I've been thinking about the Hawking books for awhile.

[skidspoppe.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read them (and can find them), I'd try "The Anubis Gates,""On Stranger Tides," or "The Stress of Her Regard" by Tim Powers; "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks and "The Three Musketeers" by Dumas.

There's also anything by HG Welles, Jules Verne or L. Frank Baum.

Non-fiction-wise "Dino" by Nick Tosches is amazing as is "The Professor and the Madman."

Enjoy!

[hachibambatar.livejournal.com]

I would recommend reading some Ionesco and Beckett. The Bald Soprano and Waiting for Godot are probably the best to start with, but really you might as well read all of it, it'll only come to a few thousand pages each (admittedly a few thousand pages of play is a bit different than a few thousand pages of novel). While we're on plays, I'd have to recommend some Eugene O'Neill, probably Strange Interlude.

For actual novels, I'll put in a strong recommendation for As I Lay Dying by Faulkner.

I'll also put in an anti-recommendation for nearly any pop science (of which Hawking is probably the most offensive). If you don't actually plan on studying a lot of physics, sci-fi is better, and if you do, you will probably notice that the book is a lot of trash.

As 18th Century British Lit goes, however, you might enjoy reading some of the Cavalier poets, and Paradise Lost is fun.

Modern Scifi is characterized and epitomized by Stephen Baxter. His Xeelee series is definitely worth reading for anyone into scifi.

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I've read Waiting for Godot and Paradise Lost.