The need to read.

[Zhukov]

Just realized I haven't had a good book to stick my nose in for, Christ, at least three months.

Looking for recommendations.

Not too fussy about genre. I've enjoyed a lot of stuff from a lot of genre's in the past, so it's all fair game. Oh, except no crime drama please. Not my thing.

Would be specially interested in any good sci-fi.

Fantasy... ehhhh. Sure, I guess. Just think twice. I've been burned before when it comes to geeks and fantasy.

Mostly looking for fiction, but if you happen to know of some great non-fiction then fuck it, throw that at me to.

 

[Barbas]

At Home, by Bill Bryson. It has everything. Everything. Toilet evolution, stair measurements, fork use, spice trading, everything. More than I can possibly remember. The man is fascinating and possibly the very best kind of insane - the kind that good professors and lecturers are made from.

EDIT: Possibly the very best thing to read in the bathroom, praise not given lightly.

 

[Lightspeaker]

You read The Martian yet? The one that the film last year was based on? Its excellent if you haven't.

Apart from that...hmm...if you're looking for Kindle stuff I've rather enjoyed a funny series called "Admiral Who" by Luke Sky Wachter (absolutely no idea if that's his real name). Its up to nine books now (the latest one is the first part of a two-parter it seems, though I've not read it yet).

Apart from that...um...I'm actually having some trouble thinking because I've not done a huge amount of pure fiction novel reading lately. What I HAVE been reading is some alternate history and some light novels upon which some of my favourite anime are based. If you like alternate history stuff I can recommend Peter G. Tsouras' alt history books; they're pretty good.

 

[Elfgore]

Soon I Will Be Invincible. One of the greatest Superhero novels I've read. Brings the heroes down to human levels, awesome setting, and just something overall awesome. Short too, only around two hundred pages.

 

[Fractral]

There's a lot of good Sci-Fi I can reccomend but you've probably read most of it:
Anything by Iain M. Banks is good; I especially like Surface Detail and Against a Dark Background.
Arthur C Clarke has some good and some bad. I think as long as you avoid his sequels you should be fine; Rendevous with Rama and Childhood's End are personal favorites.
Peter F Hamilton writes good Space Opera. His old stuff is very good; the Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of my favorite series ever. The Commonwealth saga is less good, and I didn't like Great North Road or the Greg Mendel Trilogy.
Stranger in a Strange Land is good. Not sure what else to say; I've never read anything else by the author.
Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep are both compelling reads, mainly because he's very good at creating believable but totally alien aliens.

Also, obligatory Brandon Sanderson mention. He's the best Fantasy writer of the past decade at least. Try Mistborn (the first trilogy) and see if you like his style; after that there's literally a whole universe more stuff. Elantris is very good, Warbreaker is pretty decent and The Stormlight Archives are well written if glacial paced Epic Fantasy.

Personally, I've been on a bit of a non-fiction binge recently. I read both Into Thin Air and Touching the Void recently; they're probably more appealing to me since I indulge in a bit of mountaineering but nevertheless they're exceptional true stories of survival.

 

[sageoftruth]

Have you read anything from Terry Pratchett? If you want a fantasy book that breaks away from the formula with a healthy dose of absurd humor then you should give his books a try.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I've recently made myself stick my neck in a book again and picked up For Whom The Bell Tolls. It's really pretty damned awesome, if you can get around some of the weird language (Hemingway writes Spanish as a direct translation and a few other things) and how overwhelmingly depressing it is.

 

[Zhukov]

At Home, by Bill Bryson. It has everything. Everything. Toilet evolution, stair measurements, fork use, spice trading, everything. More than I can possibly remember. The man is fascinating and possibly the very best kind of insane - the kind that good professors and lecturers are made from.

For a moment there I thought you were joking.

Then I remembered that Bill Bryson was the name of the guy who wrote A Short History of Nearly Everything which was a thoroughly delightful book and some of the most fun non-fiction I've ever read.

I'll give At Home a look.

Have you read anything from Terry Pratchett? If you want a fantasy book that breaks away from the formula with a healthy dose of absurd humor then you should give his books a try.

Sadly, yes, I have read every single book by Pratchett.

For the longest times I was put off by those ugly covers. Then a friend convinced me to read a Discworld book whereupon I commenced reading them nonstop until the well ran dry.

There's a lot of good Sci-Fi I can reccomend but you've probably read most of it:

Actually, I have read bugger all sci-fi. Every time I browse the sci-fi section of a bookstore I get put off by all the crap that looks like the sci-fi equivalent of D&D fanfiction.

It seems to just be one of those genres where you have to dig through a lot of junk to find the good stuff.

So if there's anything you know of that you didn't mention because you thought it was too obvious, by all means, throw it at me.

Anything by Iain M. Banks is good; I especially like Surface Detail and Against a Dark Background.

Okay, those I have read. Most of them, anyway. Surface Detail was my first.

They were... okay I guess? I felt that they often skimped on compelling characters or interesting plots in order to give you a guided tour of the author's pretty ideas. Too much science, not enough fiction I suppose you could say.

I think my favourite ended up being Consider Phlebas. Granted, it was clearly a bunch of unrelated scenes that the author had come up with independent of each other and then hastily strung together, but it ended up being more lively for it.

Use of Weapons was alright too.

Peter F Hamilton writes good Space Opera. His old stuff is very good; the Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of my favorite series ever. The Commonwealth saga is less good, and I didn't like Great North Road or the Greg Mendel Trilogy.
Stranger in a Strange Land is good. Not sure what else to say; I've never read anything else by the author.
Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep are both compelling reads, mainly because he's very good at creating believable but totally alien aliens.

Also, obligatory Brandon Sanderson mention. He's the best Fantasy writer of the past decade at least. Try Mistborn (the first trilogy) and see if you like his style; after that there's literally a whole universe more stuff. Elantris is very good, Warbreaker is pretty decent and The Stormlight Archives are well written if glacial paced Epic Fantasy.

I'll give these a look.

Thank you kindly.

 

[rcs619]

Just realized I haven't had a good book to stick my nose in for, Christ, at least three months.

Looking for recommendations.

Not too fussy about genre. I've enjoyed a lot of stuff from a lot of genre's in the past, so it's all fair game. Oh, except no crime drama please. Not my thing.

Would be specially interested in any good sci-fi.

Fantasy... ehhhh. Sure, I guess. Just think twice. I've been burned before when it comes to geeks and fantasy.

Mostly looking for fiction, but if you happen to know of some great non-fiction then fuck it, throw that at me to.

I can help with some sci-fi

So... first I'd recommend David Weber's "Honorverse" series. It follows the career and adventures of Honor Harrington, a space-navy officer in a small, out of the way star kingdom in the year 4000 or so. It's harder than a lot of more mainstream sci-fi (Trek, wars, etc) without being so hard that it can't have style or flair. The ship-to-ship combat is actually reminiscent of modern naval combat. Long-range missile vollies, with electronic warfare and point-defense as the main forms of defense. If you take a hit, it's going to hurt.

The first two novels in the series are actually available in full, for free, off the publisher's site. Book 1 here: http://www.baen.com/on-basilisk-station.html and Book 2 (my favorite in the series) here: http://www.baen.com/the-honor-of-the-queen.html

I'd also recommend David Weber's "Safehold" series. It's kind of hard to describe without spoiling the entire premise, but... it's a military and political drama, set in a world with 1700-1800 level technology, with some very strong sci-fi elements hovering just behind the scenes. "Off Armageddon Reef" is the first book in that series.

Tanya Huff's "Confederation" series is also very fun. It follows the life and adventures of Torin Kerr, a badass space-marine sergeant. Humanity, along with two other species have been enlisted to defend this massive confederation of aliens who are so 'evolved' that they've becomes complete and total pacifists. This is an issue when they get invaded by another alien coalition that isn't. So, they recruit a few younger species (humans included) to comprise their new armed forces and fight on their behalf. It's got a really good sense of humor, fun characters, and it knows how to get serious when serious is called for. "Valor's Choice" is the first book in that series.

I'd also really recommend Peter Watt's stuff. Four full novels and over a dozen of his short stories can be found on his website here: http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm and he writes some really great stuff. One word of warning, nearly all of his stories tend to err on the grim side of things. It's an interesting, compelling sort of grim... but yeah, I wouldn't recommend reading Peter Watts if you're already having a bad day XD "Blindsight" in particular is a really good read.

Not really sci-fi, but Eric Flit's 1634 series is also pretty cool. Basically, an entire West Virginia town from the year 2000 suddenly gets transplanted smack-dab into the middle of Germany during the 30 years war. "1634" is the first book of the series, and it's split off into a ton of different sub-settings and side-stories through collaborations with other authors.

 

[the December King]

If it's not too late, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring and suggest The Troop by Nick Cutter? It's a horror novel, and I quite enjoyed it.

 

[Zhukov]

So... first I'd recommend David Weber's "Honorverse" series. It follows the career and adventures of Honor Harrington, a space-navy officer in a small, out of the way star kingdom in the year 4000 or so. It's harder than a lot of more mainstream sci-fi (Trek, wars, etc) without being so hard that it can't have style or flair. The ship-to-ship combat is actually reminiscent of modern naval combat. Long-range missile vollies, with electronic warfare and point-defense as the main forms of defense. If you take a hit, it's going to hurt.

I've actually heard of these. Never saw them on a shelf though.

The first two novels in the series are actually available in full, for free, off the publisher's site. Book 1 here: http://www.baen.com/on-basilisk-station.html and Book 2 (my favorite in the series) here: http://www.baen.com/the-honor-of-the-queen.html

Whoa, whoa. Free books?!

I am so fucking down for that.

Thank you!

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

If you haven't read the First Law Trilogy, it's up there as one of the best written fantasy novels I've ever read. A little bleak, but it spices it up with enough humor that it's not depressing.

Another book I recently read was the first of Douglas Adam's Dirk Gently novels. It was quite good, and if you liked Terry Pratchett's books, you'll most likely enjoy these these too, I liked it better than most of the Discworld I read. If by some chance you haven't read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you should remedy that immediately.

Peter F Hamilton writes good Space Opera. His old stuff is very good; the Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of my favorite series ever. The Commonwealth saga is less good, and I didn't like Great North Road or the Greg Mendel Trilogy.

I only read Great North Road, but I actually liked it a decent amount. It really had me at the beginning, but it started losing me towards the end. The ending felt a little contrived with how

Spoiler

Everyone joins hands and decides to work together to save the environment, even the mean, self-centered businessmen

Although I've heard that this is a bit of a theme in his work. I don't mind the message, I mind how the characters all disregard their personalities to get onboard with it.

I'd recommend Great North Road, even just for the beginning though. It's a really interesting premise. Although it's kind of a crime drama, depending on how much you stretch the term. One of the main character's a police officer trying to investigate a murder, and you spend a good deal of time alongside them as they try to figure it out. Wouldn't really compare it to regular police procedurals though. The sci-fi universe is really utilized well in the crime

 

[Kotaro]

I've been reading the Dresden Files series lately, on the recommendation of a friend. Quite addicting. The first few books are a bit rough around the edges, but the series gets really damn good.
If you aren't familiar, it's about a private detective who is also a wizard. It is far better than it sounds. Likable characters, detailed world-building, and so much concentrated awesomeness that your head may well explode.

EDIT: I should mention that I tried checking out the short-lived television series. It does not remotely live up to the books. Don't bother.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I thought The Journeys of McGill Feighan was pretty good. It's been a long time so I'll just post the first summary I find on Google.

Spoiler

"Caverns" is the first book in a (currently) four book series by Mr. O'Donnell. As the title implies, the focus is on a character named McGill Feighan. In this first book, the origin of McGill and the start of his adventerous life is revealed. "Caverns" is at first a light-hearted read, but you soon find yourself drawn into the life of the hero, his triumphs and despair. McGill is a "flinger", a person who can teleport anything (himself, other people, things) anywhere that he's been before. But even for a flinger, he does not lead a normal life due to unusual events in his life, when he was a newborn. Much of the story revolves around McGill's growing-up and learning to deal with his powers, as well as the assortment of people and aliens that take an interest in his life (both good and bad)

[link]https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1112535.Caverns[/link]

One of the things that is unfortunate about the series is that the author gave up and then died before writing the fifth book. So that sucks.

 

[Ryallen]

When I was in middle school and high school, one of my favorite series to read was the Bartimaeus trilogy. The setting is Britain in a world where djinn exist are are regularly summoned by government officials to perform various tasks, such as espionage and assassination. The bulk of the story revolves around a boy named Nathaniel and a djinn named Bartimaeus. Barty here, however, is the focal point of most of the story's engaging writing, as he comes off as an older man who has seen some shit but has retained his sense of humor. I enjoyed his dialogue and even cutaway sayings at the bottom of each page, and found myself going back to read the final book in the trilogy simply because I found it so fun.

Darren Shan is also one author that I thoroughly enjoy, and probably his best book would have to be The Thin Executioner. It takes place in a low fantasy barbarian land where, in this particular city, the executioner is held in very high regard. The main character is the very small son of the town executioner, who is retiring soon and declares that he expects one of his other two sons to take his place. The third son is so offended that he takes a slave and travels to a mountain where power is rumored to be given upon a sacrifice so that he can become the new executioner. It's all very engaging, and the main character is a bit of a prick and it's fun to see him experience the world around him and even become that world weary traveler that so often populates fantasy novels while NOT being the main character, whereas here you get to see him do fantastical shit that he can tell to kids before beddy-bye.

 

[Battenberg]

Any of the Tony Hawks books are worth a read (that's Hawks as opposed to Tony Hawk the skater- different person); Round Ireland With a Fridge is particularly good. They're sort of like a documentary following some of Hawks daft adventures and they're written in an incredibly funny and entertaining way, great for if you want something light.

I also recall really enjoying reading Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet and Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. That said that was years back and I honestly couldn't say if being young at the time us why I liked them (although they did both have fantastic universes to them which generally does appeal to me).

Also when you say you've read "bugger all" sci-fi does that mean you've not read anything by all time greats like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, or Arthur C. Clarke? I'd strongly recommend looking into their books if you haven't, particularly Asimov.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

If you've never read it, strongly recommend "Altered Carbon", by Richard K. Morgan. One of my favorite sci-fi books of all time (it's been stuck in development hell to be made into a film for years).

"Run", by Blake Crouch. VERY depressing book, but extremely good. "Dark Matter", by the same author, is also really good.

 

[FalloutJack]

Currently, I'm reading My Tank Is Fight!, by Zack Parsons. This is a non-fiction with a bit of fun fiction thrown in. You see, during World War II, Germany (and other countries) developed some very strange inventions for combat. This book is about them, how they worked or DIDN'T work, and what it would be like for them to be used in a hypothetical scenario.

 

[Fractral]

Peter F Hamilton writes good Space Opera. His old stuff is very good; the Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of my favorite series ever. The Commonwealth saga is less good, and I didn't like Great North Road or the Greg Mendel Trilogy.

I only read Great North Road, but I actually liked it a decent amount. It really had me at the beginning, but it started losing me towards the end. The ending felt a little contrived with how

Spoiler

Everyone joins hands and decides to work together to save the environment, even the mean, self-centered businessmen

Although I've heard that this is a bit of a theme in his work. I don't mind the message, I mind how the characters all disregard their personalities to get onboard with it.

I'd recommend Great North Road, even just for the beginning though. It's a really interesting premise. Although it's kind of a crime drama, depending on how much you stretch the term. One of the main character's a police officer trying to investigate a murder, and you spend a good deal of time alongside them as they try to figure it out. Wouldn't really compare it to regular police procedurals though. The sci-fi universe is really utilized well in the crime

My problem with Great North Road was that the Crime Drama bit was far too slow paced and added absolutely nothing to the other half of the story, the alien investigation bit, which was what I was actually interested in reading. To be honest it felt like Hamitlon had added it in just for the sheer hell of having a crime drama in one of his books; certainly the other half of the book could have existed just fine as a standalone story. I'm all for authors fluffing out their universes, but I'd have preferred it if the fluff was at least interesting.

And it annoyed me how he introduced a great 'villain' with the Zanth, and then completely ignored them for most of the book. And we'll probably never see another story in that universe since he's focusing on the Commonwealth Universe, for some reason.