Book Recommendations, please!!!

[Lord_Of_Plum]

My current favorite author is Dan Simmons. His work is awe-inspiring; personally, I would rank him up there with the greats.
Since your into Sci-Fi, check out his Ilium/Olympos series, made up of two incredible works of sci-fi. I strongly, strongly recommend you check these books out.

 

[HPoirot]

If you like murder mysteries nothing is better than the work of Agatha Christie.

And Then There Were None and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd are two of the best books I have ever read.

 

[Noogai]

Even though you like scifi, everyone loves Shogun, by James Clavell

 

[Roganwilson]

I would recommend George R.R. Martin's series: A Song of Fire and Ice. It's fantasy, but it isn't high fantasy. Some good bits about statutory rape in there, so it is definitely a more adult tale.

 

[fogmike]

Hmmm, I'm a very big reader in the scifi/fantasy section so...

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (I know it's already been said, but it's freaking epic)
The Belgariad/Mallorean Series by David Eddings
The Elenium/Tamuli series by David Eddings
Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings (Guess what, he's my favorite author )
Hitchhikers Guide to the Ga;axy series by Douglas Adams
Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained by Peter.F.Hamilton (My favourite two books of all time)
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, later Brandon Sanderson (The very definition of epic. A not quite finished series of 14 books, and I was actually left feeling empty when I closed the third book after reading it. Awe-inspiring if you like high fantasy)
Harry Potter series (I know, I probably don't need to mention them, but they shouldn't be overlooked whatever you're into)
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (Eragon, etc.)
The Clayr trilogy by Garth Nix (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen)
Against Gravity by Gary Gibson (Much heavier than the above books)
Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (Win. Just win.)
The Black Book of Secrets by F.E.Higgins
the Armageddon Trade by Clem Chambers (My God, I never thought that a book based on financial terrorism could be so good)

Yeah, just get any of these out of a library. Out of these, the best is probably Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained.

 

[captainwillies]

SWORD OF TRUTH SERIES

 

[BoVinE]

Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained by Peter.F.Hamilton (My favourite two books of all time)

You know, I was about to post these, and I feel the same way about them. Hamilton somehow manages to cram an entire civilization into those two books, and the only problem people have found with these when I suggest them is that don't want the half book setup for the action to start rolling. Don't listen to them. These two books are incredible, and his Dreaming Void Trilogy is about to have the final book published this year I believe.

basically, Peter F. Hamilton writes incredible space opera's. Read them no matter what it takes.

(for fantasy, has anyone suggested 'The Name of the Wind' yet?)

 

[fogmike]

Really?! Dreaming Void finished?! I didn't know they'd finished the second one yet... Thank you so, so much.

 

[Queen Michael]

You should read A Void by George Perec. It was written completely without the letter e! It's amazing!


Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar. (It's the perhaps most brilliant book I've ever read! Please read it!

Any of the Silver books by Juan Ramón Jiménez. They are very beautiful.

The Tillerman series by Cynthia Voigt.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

The Divine Comedy by Dante. (No rhyming translations, though, they always sound forced.)

The Gaulic War by Julius Caesar.

And, of course: Any sci-fi by Isaac Asimov.

Edit: I know these aren't sci-fi, except for the Asimov. But they are the best books I know, and that's more improtant, right?

 

[BoVinE]

Really?! Dreaming Void finished?! I didn't know they'd finished the second one yet... Thank you so, so much.

Yea, the second one is out, and Hamilton has speculated late 2009 for the third one, so he's gotta be pretty damn close to done.

 

[Julianking93]

Okay, so I just finished reading Watchmen for the 20th fucking time and I realized, I need some new books.

So, what should I do other than turn to my fellow Escapists?

What would you guys recommend for me. I'm heading out to Books A Million within the next few days, so really anything would be appreciated.

I tend to like a lot of graphic novels. I have almost all of Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's work with the exception of The Killing Joke which is on my list to get. I also love horror stories, murder mysteries, suspense, and psychological themed books.

So help me out!!

EDIT: Oh, yeah, this might help. I also like Scifi themes

The demonata series by darren shan if u like horror. It's really messed up.

I read about 4 chapters or so from that because a friend of mine recommended it to me.

He's into demonic shit.

I shouldn't have read it. I had nightmares for the first time since I was 6.

 

[Tdc2182]

Okay, so I just finished reading Watchmen for the 20th fucking time and I realized, I need some new books.

So, what should I do other than turn to my fellow Escapists?

What would you guys recommend for me. I'm heading out to Books A Million within the next few days, so really anything would be appreciated.

I tend to like a lot of graphic novels. I have almost all of Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's work with the exception of The Killing Joke which is on my list to get. I also love horror stories, murder mysteries, suspense, and psychological themed books.

So help me out!!

EDIT: Oh, yeah, this might help. I also like Scifi themes

The demonata series by darren shan if u like horror. It's really messed up.

I read about 4 chapters or so from that because a friend of mine recommended it to me.

He's into demonic shit.

I shouldn't have read it. I had nightmares for the first time since I was 6.

Yah they just get more messed up as the series goes on also.

 

[Xvito]

Okay, so I just finished reading Watchmen for the 20th fucking time and I realized, I need some new books.

So, what should I do other than turn to my fellow Escapists?

What would you guys recommend for me. I'm heading out to Books A Million within the next few days, so really anything would be appreciated.

I tend to like a lot of graphic novels. I have almost all of Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's work with the exception of The Killing Joke which is on my list to get. I also love horror stories, murder mysteries, suspense, and psychological themed books.

So help me out!!

EDIT: Oh, yeah, this might help. I also like Scifi themes

You should read all of the Lovecraft that you can get your hands on. It seems to be your kind of books.

--Xvito, keeping it excellent.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

If your looking for graphic novels I would suggest some of Neil Gaiman's and Garth Nicks stuff, like Preacher and The Sandman. Both excellent series and they're only made of about 7 graphic novels each, so affordable too (if you convert the meaning of affordable into comic book form).

 

[cleverlymadeup]

ok here's my list of books

the Dexter Series - Jeff Lindsay
Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire - a retelling of the Wicked Witch of the West's life
the Night Watch Series - Sergei Lukyanenko - awesome Russian SciFi/Horror series
Imajica - Clive Barker, well anything by Clive Barker
Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way - Bruce Campbell (do i need to say why this book is awesome?)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K Dick
A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K Dick
most anything by Neil Gaiman

 

[Some bullets]

The Name of the Wind if you like fantasy Great Book

 

[WTFdonut]

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Exceptionally good book. Pick it up if you get the chance.

 

[Orannis0]

Read the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. It's AWESOME.

 

[ayailla]

Anything by Richard Laymon. I suggest the Beast House trilogy or even After Midnight.

I'd also suggest the Sherlock Holmes series which have already been said. My favourite book EVER is Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, so I'll suggest that to anybody.

If you wanna go down the geeky route, go for the Legend of Drizzt series by R.A Salvatore.

 

[Blue Sonnet]

This is the first time I've seen a book recommendation thread get to two pages without mentioning Terry Pratchett's Discworld series! I've got about a hundred manga, and am three short of owning every single Discworld book, most of which need replacing due to my quite literally reading them to death.

It's a science fiction/fantasy series, set on a world which mirrors ours in such a way that there are some wonderful pieces of satire crossed with incredible humour - it's really hard to describe to other people, but no-one I know who has read more than a page has ever, ever not become a fan.

It's a little late here, so I'm going to be lazy and find some stuff about the series from Wiki to try to sum up what my brain currently cannot (all it can mutter right now is "the man got a bloody knighthood for these books! Isn't that enough?"):

Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, political and scientific issues.

Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times best-sellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s [...] Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, five Discworld books were in the top 100, and a total of fifteen in the top 200.

Manga-wise xxxHoliC is really good - especially now that things are finally getting interesting!