What are some great books?

[Dimensional Vortex]

Hello Escapists,
I am looking for some great books to read, they can be about anything really, as long as they are great to read.

I'm not looking for anything too specific, just a great read that will leave me wanting more. Thanks for any recommendations or suggestions.

 

[Blue_vision]

Jonathan Livingston Seagul
Siddhartha
Sophie's World
White Noise
I Shall Not Hate

Would be what I'd suggest.

 

[Trivun]

Read this:

Spoiler: Epic Awesomeness Within

I first read this when I was eleven, finding it in my school library at random. It's certainly not a read for eleven-year-olds, though, and I have no idea why it was in our library, but I was hooked. Since then I've read repeatedly every book in the series (the Three Worlds Cycle, made up of two quartets, a trilogy, and a midquel trilogy still being written). Amazing fantasy, with a bit of sci-fi later on, and it's written by an amazing author. You will be hooked, believe you me...

 

[Devetta]

Eagle in the Sky by Wilbur Smith. (Go into detail in the currently reading thread).

Authors to check out: (as in I've read most of their books, all crime fiction)
Martina Cole
Patricha Cornwell
Jeffery Deaver
James Patterson

 

[Joshimodo]

Paradise Lost.
Lord of the Flies.
Shade's Children.
Just My Type.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Absolutely anything by Terry Pratchett, but especially his Discworld series.

If you like off-the-wall humour, incredibly human characters, absurd stories and idiosyncratic fantasy, you should enjoy the Discworld. My favourite author and series ever!

 

[feculance]

It all depends on the genre you are most open too but I would recommend the following, being books that I loved:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Murakami)
Flow My Tears the Policeman Said (P.K. Dick)
East of Eden (Steinbeck)

If you want a story that is just a great ride you should look up the early works of Harry Harrison. 'Death World', 'The Stainless Steel Rat', and the first 'Bill the Galactic Hero' are all just fun journey's for the impatient armchair philosopher.

 

[AnonymousTipster]

My five favorites:

Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein)
The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)

 

[SimuLord]

I'm a nonfiction fan m'self---not into sci-fi or fantasy, so:

Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond)
Hitler (biography in two volumes, Ian Kershaw)
Napoleon Bonaparte (Ian Schom)
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William L. Shirer)
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (Tom Holland)

 

[blouk]

I'd recommend Hunter S Thompson of course, even his letters are great to read.

When I was younger I was a huge Bukowski and Hubert Selby JR fan, but I find my tastes to be mellowing somewhat now.

I've recently begun rereading "A Fan's Notes" by Frederick Exley and its pretty awesome, down to earth and touching but without any bs sentimentality.

 

[Synthenoid]

I'm only just getting back into reading through my book collection.
Notoble titles would be:

The Mists of Avalon
The Saga of the Exiles
Finnikin of the Rock
Starship Troopers
The Silmarillion
The Girl in Times Square

Also, any number of books (if not all of them) by Terry Pratchett, Anne McCaffrey and Tad Williams.

I might also suggest Eregon/The Inheritance Cycle if you like Tolkeen-esque fantasy with a splash of magic, though don't expect too much depth from the series.

 

[nisman]

any discworld books (terry pratchett)
the death gate cycle (weis and hickman)

 

[Spade Lead]

Hello Escapists,
I am looking for some great books to read, they can be about anything really, as long as they are great to read.

I'm not looking for anything too specific, just a great read that will leave me wanting more. Thanks for any recommendations or suggestions.

Well, my personal favorite authors are Dale Brown (NOT Dan Brown, of DaVinci Code fame), Tom Clancy, David Weber, and anything Star Wars.

Now, I am going to take a shower and go finish off book one of my Special Edition of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace three book set.

 

[Feste the Jester]

anything by Mark Twain. Particularly A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

 

[Korten12]

Hello Escapists,
I am looking for some great books to read, they can be about anything really, as long as they are great to read.

I'm not looking for anything too specific, just a great read that will leave me wanting more. Thanks for any recommendations or suggestions.

Posted this in your other topic:

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima and its sequel the Exiled Queen.

http://www.amazon.com/Demon-King-Seven-Realms-Novel/dp/B0046LUTRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297486823&sr=8-1

Story for The Demon King:

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can't sell. For as long as Han can remember, he's worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They're clearly magicked-as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.

While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them. Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history-it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai camp - riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea-the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her--plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

----------------------------------

and hey its on sale right now. I am currently reading The Demon King again and then going to read The Exiled Queen again. There just that good, and its one of the first book series that had me stay up all night even with school the next day to keep finding out what happens.

 

[End]

The "Skulduggery Pleasant" series by Derek Landy (all of which I found funny and addictive), the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman, "The Shining" by Stephen King, "The Keeper" by Sarah Langan, both of the Metal Gear Solid books by Raymond Benson, and "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss, to name but a few of the great books that I've read.

 

[Skuffyshootster]

I recommend the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher.

 

[MetalDooley]

If you've any interest in fantasy then A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R Martin.There's 4 books in the series so far and it's one of the best fantasy sagas I've ever read

 

[Flamezdudes]

1984 by George Orwell.

Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist.