In Need of Some New Reading

[itsthesheppy]

Hello all. Yes, this is another 'please recommend me a book to read' thread. I've leafed through a couple of the ones in the forum's archive, but they tend to be a grab-bag of everyone's favorite reading material; everything from contemporary fiction, non-fiction, to fantasy/sci-fi, to blockbuster hits and indie writers get a mention. That's all well and good, but it creates a problem where I'm spoiled for choice and unable to really decide.

So I figured I'd specify a few things to help with recommendations. Here are the series I have recently been reading. I have read literally every available volume in them:

A Song of Ice and Fire
Hitchhiker's Guide
Discworld
Temeraire[footnote]Seriously, if you havn't tried out Naomi Novik's fun 'Flintlock Fantasy' series, go check out His Majesty's Dragon, the first in the series. I find them to be delightfully refreshing in their unique premise.[/footnote]

Having exhausted all of the volumes in the series' above, I've run into the unenviable position of having to branch out. So here are a few things I happen to enjoy:

Satire - I like a book that can make me smile and has something clever to say about contemporary society.
An offbeat premise
Doesn't take itself too seriously (obviously suspended in the case of ASOIAF)
The 'Sympathetic Alien' - Dragons, aliens, or otherwise odd creatures who are not depicted as enemies by default
Dry, British-style humor

I don't want to sound too picky; I can of course get into just about anything if it's written well enough, but those are my hot buttons, I guess you could say. So, if you've got a book series or author in mind that you think I'd like who deserves a bit of my money, have a go at recommending them to me. I've got reading time and nothing to read in it!

 

[Colour Scientist]

It may not fit your exact criteria but this book is amazing:

Spoiler

It's insane in the best possible way and to be honest, explaining too much about it would ruin it. Not that I could ever explain it properly.

It also has pages like this:

Spoiler

 

[itsthesheppy]

That page sounds like the ramblings of a madman. I'm definitely interested, but does the book make coherent sense? Like, is there a story there, or is it mostly abstract like modern art?

 

[Colour Scientist]

That page sounds like the ramblings of a madman. I'm definitely interested, but does the book make coherent sense? Like, is there a story there, or is it mostly abstract like modern art?

There is most definitely a story, I couldn't put it down. Anyone I know who has read it, loved it. There're a number of different narrators and story-tellers in there but it's not difficult to follow.

 

[itsthesheppy]

That page sounds like the ramblings of a madman. I'm definitely interested, but does the book make coherent sense? Like, is there a story there, or is it mostly abstract like modern art?

There is most definitely a story, I couldn't put it down. Anyone I know who has read it, loved it. There're a number of different narrators and story-tellers in there but it's not difficult to follow.

Very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.

 

[Arsen]

Like "Song of Ice and Fire"?

Then I have a series for you...

"The First Law" series by Joe Abercrombie, accompanied by his stand alone novels proceeding the series. "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes".

Imagine if the main characters were Gregor Clegane, Ramsey Bolton, Theon Greyjoy, Joffrey. It imagines that setting and world where every character is gray and no one is good or evil. The character development is a par above Martin's, it involves similar complexities in storyline and plotting, it has twists and turns that rival Song (trust me, I had to struggle to finish the pictured book, because of a twist that hit me around the fifth villain or so...it hit me that strongly), and the fight scenes are exhilarating.

I will tell you no more. Believe me though. Pick up this series immediately.

 

[itsthesheppy]

Like "Song of Ice and Fire"?

Then I have a series for you...

"The First Law" series by Joe Abercrombie, accompanied by his stand alone novels proceeding the series. "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes".

Imagine if the main characters were Gregor Clegane, Ramsey Bolton, Theon Greyjoy, Joffrey. It imagines that setting and world where every character is gray and no one is good or evil. The character development is a par above Martin's, it involves similar complexities in storyline and plotting, it has twists and turns that rival Song (trust me, I had to struggle to finish the pictured book, because of a twist that hit me around the fifth villain or so...it hit me that strongly), and the fight scenes are exhilarating.

I will tell you no more. Believe me though. Pick up this series immediately.

Sounds intense. What's the setting?

 

[Arsen]

Like "Song of Ice and Fire"?

Then I have a series for you...

"The First Law" series by Joe Abercrombie, accompanied by his stand alone novels proceeding the series. "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes".

Imagine if the main characters were Gregor Clegane, Ramsey Bolton, Theon Greyjoy, Joffrey. It imagines that setting and world where every character is gray and no one is good or evil. The character development is a par above Martin's, it involves similar complexities in storyline and plotting, it has twists and turns that rival Song (trust me, I had to struggle to finish the pictured book, because of a twist that hit me around the fifth villain or so...it hit me that strongly), and the fight scenes are exhilarating.

I will tell you no more. Believe me though. Pick up this series immediately.

Sounds intense. What's the setting?

Mixture of worlds.

The Northmen - Mixture of Vikings settings, Celtic traditions, and British ways of speaking
The South - Roman Empire mixed with 17th Century Renaissance.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

If you like Temeraire,
try the Dragonriders of Pern,
it's a huge series and should keep you busy for a while.

 

[Cheesepower5]

I can't reccomend enough Bernard Cornwell's "The Warlord Chronicles" series. It's a rare, darker and more realistic take on the King Arthur mythos, sort of like the 2006 movie, only awesome.

The first book is "The Winter King," the second is "Enemy of God" and the third is simply "Excalibur." Puts Game of Thrones to shame, in my humble opinion.

 

[Nerexor]

Well, I keep hearing about this book called 50 Shades of Grey... I'm just kidding.

Some pretty good recommendations on here already, I'll second the Warlord Chronicles as it's a very fresh and interesting take on King Arthur.

As always, I'll use this thread to plug the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, as it does meet some of your criteria.

An offbeat premise: The series revolves around Harry Dresden, private investigator and Wizard. There are scary things out there that people refuse to believe in and he is there to help out both the local police force and locals who can afford his fees when things go bump too loudly in the night.

Doesn't take itself seriously: The series is littered with pop culture references and Harry is often a dry and funny narrator. At one point a character tells him he can make references to things other than Star Wars and his response is "That, is why you fail." Another time after he snatches a mcguffin from a much more powerful enemy, he sticks out his tongue, says "MEEP MEEP" and runs like hell.

Satire: Of a particular variety. The "official explanations" for supernatural occurences are sometimes quite funny and Harry occasionally speechifies about how good we are as a society about ignoring unpleasant facts. Scarily enough the statistics he uses about comparing missing persons reports compared to loss ratios of herd animals (basically pointing out that something is clearly higher up the food chain than us) are actually real statistics.

The "Sympathetic Alien": This is actually quite well done with a variety of supernatural beings. They aren't just there to be evil monsters and are often portrayed with interesting twists to how their powers work and their natures. They are very definitely different, but not necessarily unsympathetic.

Aside from all of that it's a very well put together universe with a consistent and interesting set of magical laws behind it. Magic doesn't flat out defy physics, the enemies are interesting and varied in their intentions, methods, and powers, and Harry is a compelling character and fun narrator. The supporting cast is also excellent, and all of them grow and mature throughout the series. It's also up to something like 13 books now so it should keep you busy for a while if you decide to go for it.

 

[Furbyz]

There's a pretty firmly unheard of book that I think might be right up your alley called Rock Zombie by J.S. Connor. I recently did a live reading of the first chapter (which the author loved yay me) that has all the info on where to buy it and the summary and what not. I absolutely adore this book. Weapons-grade Moose. Need I say more?

Rock Zombie by J.S Conner
Tom Savery never asks for trouble, because he usually gets it anyway. All he really wants is to bring back classic rock in the year 2018, but when a shady government task force begins to stalk his every move, he has to put his career on hold for his country, whether he wants to or not. The neurotic new director of the FBI has evidence that the Soviet Union is making a comeback, and they are about to reignite a conflict as old as Tom's musical influences. In order to stop a second Cold War, he must survive heavily-armed secretaries, singing bi-lingual gangsters, weapons-grade moose, and, of course, mind-controlling the recently deceased with his guitar. For most, beating those odds would be impossible. For a man who can faithfully cover any song in the Rush discography, it's only very unlikely.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Temeraire - Seriously, if you havn't tried out Naomi Novik's fun 'Flintlock Fantasy' series, go check out His Majesty's Dragon, the first in the series. I find them to be delightfully refreshing in their unique premise.

Crud... I've read the first five (got them as they came out)... clean forgot about that series...

HoL

*mild strangle noises* I... couldn't really get into it... the format and narrative being the least of my problems, just a distinct lack of discernable purpose...

OT: First thoughts that came to mind: Ab Urbe Condita and Polybius' the Histories.

Ehm, my intellectual fanboyism aside: Midkemia (or rather, the mass of books based there) by Raymond E Feist, Leviathan (a tad kiddish, but it's a good book/series) by Scott Westerfeld, pretty much any thing by Robin Hobb... *shrug* (s'what I read is all...)

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, you've read everything in "The Hitchhiker's Guide", but have you read "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Service"?

No?

THEN DO THAT.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

If you're looking for British humour, you may enjoy Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde#Bibliography] series. I haven't read the series myself, but two of my family members have read them and have greatly enjoyed them. Also, it manages to make Swindon interesting, which is always an achievement.

 

[Rusman]

It may not fit your exact criteria but this book is amazing:

Spoiler

It's insane in the best possible way and to be honest, explaining too much about it would ruin it. Not that I could ever explain it properly.

It also has pages like this:

Spoiler

Ninja'd by the first post. Curse you.

 

[soren7550]

Well, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (any of them really) are good reads that provide both humor and knowledge. The Perfect Dark books are the best Sci-Fi books I've ever read (hard to find though).

I can't think of much else at the moment since I'm tired. So zzz...

 

[itsthesheppy]

These are all great suggestions guys, thanks so much. I've heard good things about Thursday Next as well.

 

[HerrBobo]

OK, I work for the oldest online book shop in the world (It was the second one to go online, in 1993, I think, but the first one has since closed). So, I come across literally several hundred book a week.

The Rift War Saga by Raymond E. Feist is a great fantasy series. Three books in total, it is not as long or complex as A Song of Ice and Fire. It is a story of a war between two different worlds, with an over arching story of an ancient evil. It is well written and easy to read. One reason I really loved it was cause it is quite magic heavy, which is very refreshing. Well worth a look, as are all Feist's books.

The Foundation Series by Isac Asimov. There have been a lot of sequels and prequels added to this series over the years, none of which I have read. The original series is great though. It is far too complex to go into here, so I'll just say this. Asimov wrote it after reading Edward Gibbion's The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire (which you should also read) and he said that Foundation influenced was directly infulanced by it. So, yeah, the fall of the Roman Empire, in space!

For something funny, look no further than something by Robert Rankin and his off the wall humor. With this being his best, that I have read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollow_Chocolate_Bunnies_of_the_Apocalypse

 

[Penguinis Weirdus]

If no ones suggested it and your up for a good(if slightly fucked up heavy) Let the right one in is a good book. Metro 2033 isn't too bad either (again heavy but good book. Get a good translation of the book though cos the copy I've got is bit hard to read).

Mogworld is good, sorta like Prachett but not, I found it rather amusing. Theres also Ready Player One thats good fairly easy to read Scifi not to heavy.

EDIT: Tom Holt is good too, its rather amusing