Cogito ergo sum: Give me authors.

[The Wooster]

Hey everyone, over the past couple of years, I have noticed that my amount of reading (used to be 2-4 books a week) has dwindled to a big fat zero, and so I am turning to the escapist for any recommendations. It'd be really helpful if you could point me in the direction of some good authors/books/series, the bigger the better.

I am a fan of Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix, Phillip Pullman, and have read most of their works, so if you can recommend anything by them/ similar to their stuff, that would be good, but don't just recommend me fantasy stuff, it just happens to be the genre im most comfortable with. The more the merrier

Obvious one first. The Hitchhiker's mother fucking guide to the Universe.

A little more obscure 'Skullduggery Pleasant' and 'Playing with fire' are nice and witty, the 'Monster Blood Tattoo' series is a nice alternative to Pullman/Nix and if you're a Pratchett fan you really can't go wrong with any of Tom Holt's books.

 

[Motti]

Brent Weeks Night Angel Trilogy.

This times a billion!

Also, give Matthew Reilly a go. I'd recommend Temple or the Scarecrow Trilogy but they're all good reads. They're not exactly genre-ified, but the closest category I can think of is thriller with a little bit of sci-fi. They are absolutely brilliantly written and you can easily lose track of time and stay up to 3 am reading them (not like that's happened to me though. >.> . . . <.<).

 

[Ironic]

Thanks everyone, I'm going to make myself a list from this and plow through

 

[DoW Lowen]

Based on your tastes I would recommend Douglas Adams or Neil Gaiman. Also Chuck Paluniki is always good.

 

[Scarecrow38]

Matthew Reilly. Not so deep on the thematic side but he writes rollickingly awesome books that are, unlike so many books described by this adjective, " unputdownable" (they're also good enough for me to use the word rollickingly to describe them). Full of action. Not a dull moment.

In fact, CERN is still trying to figure out how they manage to float in mid air once you let go...

 

[SevenStarSonata]

I am a fan of Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix, Phillip Pullman, and have read most of their works

(Emphasis mine) This makes you AWESOME. Like, seriously awesome. <3

Ever read Abarat by Clive Barker? It's a two-book series and very, very cool. Hard to explain, but worth a read if you enjoy Garth Nix's stuff.

"The last book in the universe"
"The Zombie Survival Guide" "Holes"
"The Holy Bible"
"After"

The only three good ones I've read, I hated all the books I had to read in school...

You say three, but I count five. D: Am I losing my mind? Is this some thinly-veiled reference to the 5-book Hitchiker's trilogy? Waaaaaaahhhhhhh.

 

[messy]

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss; really good if you like books like LOTR
Edge Chronicles - forget who by.

 

[RAWKSTAR]

Harlan Ellison.
Writes a lot of short stories aswell if you want to get back into reading easier. I reckomend 'I have no mouth, and I must scream.'

 

[Agayek]

Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. There's 11 books out now I believe, all of which are about a wizard working in Chicago much like a supernatural PI. Highly entertaining and well done.

Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. 5 books out now, the series is going to be finished in November. This series was inspired by a "worst story idea ever" challenge, where the winner was "A cross between a lost Roman legion and Pokemon", and it ended up being amazing. Basically, there's a whole society fairly close to the ancient Romans, except they possess the ability to call on "furies", which are animalistic representations of a specific element (wood, fire, water, earth, wind, and metal). These furies perform all the magic for the Alerans, the people of that society. The story is about a boy named Tavi who doesn't actually have any furies, the only Aleran in all of history to not wield them, and how he helps deal with threats ranging from invading wolf-men from across the sea, to an insatiable alien bug-like race whose sole purpose is to devour all life. It's my favorite series of books at the moment, can't recommend it more.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Can't go wrong with The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. If you're looking for something more complex, try The Malazan Book of the Fallen series or A Song of Ice and Fire, by Steven Erriksson and George RR Martin respectively.

Edit:

they possess the ability to call on "furies"

Thank God they spelt furies with one R.

 

[I_LIKE_CAKE]

Brent Weeks Night Angel Trilogy.

This times a billion!

Also, give Matthew Reilly a go. I'd recommend Temple or the Scarecrow Trilogy but they're all good reads. They're not exactly genre-ified, but the closest category I can think of is thriller with a little bit of sci-fi. They are absolutely brilliantly written and you can easily lose track of time and stay up to 3 am reading them (not like that's happened to me though. >.> . . . <.<).

I definitely read all of the scarecrow books and loved them. Without a doubt worth reading.

 

[Sevre]

Terry Lamsley (I think that is his name) would put Stephen King to shame with his horror.

 

[ComradeDL]

Similar tastes to mine, oddly enough. I thought I was just weird. I currently love the Seventh Tower series XD Anyway, a lot of the books previously mentioned are good books.

I'd like to agree with the person who said 'Power of Five' series by Anthony Horowitz. Although I found it easy reading, the story is very gripping and will leave you on the edge of your seat. Plus, the books get longer as you go on, which improves it just that much more.

I'd also like to add my support to the Dresden Files. I haven't read many of the books, but the ones I read were very good.

I'd also say the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. These have been my favourite since I was a kid. Although the whole setting surrounding mice, squirrels, badgers, etc, sounds childish, each story is actually very mature and can be read as a standalone. It's very easy to lose yourself in the story.

The last lot to recommend is the Twilight trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko. It focuses on two organisations - the Night Watch and the Day Watch. There are people called 'Others' who live amongst normal humans, but live longer, happier, etc. The story is very heavy on the good/evil/grey plotlines, and each book can be read as a standalone.

Good luck with finding something! And my passing tip: I found my favourite books by following the shiny/decorative covers. A bit silly, but it worked. ^_^

 

[Merteg]

The Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind.

 

[skyfire_freckles]

they possess the ability to call on "furies"

Thank God they spelt furies with one R.

ROTFL! I never thought of that. I love the Dresden books and read Alera #1 and 2 (tho I lost interest after that) and I never thought of that.

 

[Lazy Lemon]

The Stars My Destination/Tiger! Tiger! by Alfred Bester. Just because I'm reading it at the moment and it's amazing. A lot of people think it's the best Sci Fi book of all time and I can sort of see where they're coming from.

Before that I read Mr. Norris Changes Trains/The Last Of Mr. Norris by Christopher Ishwerwood which I also recommend highly.

And I've just bought my friend a book with The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Good-Bye by Raymond Chandler. If three books by one of the best crime writers ever for just £8.44 isn't enough for you, then how about this cover photo:

I Like William Gibson, you know, the Cyberpunk Genre? Burning Chrome would be a good place to start with him.

I second Gibson but I'd say Neuromancer is the best place to start.

 

[Marcus Attell]

The Stars My Destination/Tiger! Tiger! by Alfred Bester. Just because I'm reading it at the moment and it's amazing. A lot of people think it's the best Sci Fi book of all time and I can sort of see where they're coming from.

Before that I read Mr. Norris Changes Trains/The Last Of Mr. Norris by Christopher Ishwerwood which I also recommend highly.

And I've just bought my friend a book with The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Good-Bye by Raymond Chandler. If three books by one of the best crime writers ever for just £8.44 isn't enough for you, then how about this cover photo:

I Like William Gibson, you know, the Cyberpunk Genre? Burning Chrome would be a good place to start with him.

I second Gibson but I'd say Neuromancer is the best place to start.

Yeah but 'Chrome' is a collection of Short stories, so that he can get the feel, and not over invest himself in something he may not like.

 

[Arbitrary Imposition]

Have you tried The Artemis Fowl series,

Based on Ironic's OP, I'd reccomend this series as well.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

From the stuff you mentioned there i would reccomend Terry Brooks With his Shannara series. Its about 20 books long and they are all fantastic. Esdpecially the Elfstones of Shannara. In my most humble opinion that is the greatest book ever wriiten.
I would alsoreccomend the Night Angel trilogy be Brent Weeks thats fantastic

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I liked (dare I say) The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr). I also thought World War Z was good. Dune is quite good, but Im sure you already read that. And for short stories: The Call of Cthulhu. 1984 and Animal Farm are both great books.