Good Books

[Chronictank]

Anyone recommend any?
genre doesnt matter really so long as it isnt the romance stuff as that bores the hell out of me

 

[evzy]

Harlan Coben - thrillers / detective type novels with some humour in - you can pick up his first 3 usually in places like MVC or Cheapo Bookshops - the Myron Bolitor series - starts with Drop Shot I think - really good books and the main char and his sidekick are very funny at times

Really good dark thriller/crime/detective type book - John Connoly - written a few - Can't remember what the first one is (in work at mo and teh books at home) if you want me to find out pm me - he does have a website somewhere - really really really good books imo - his other stuff hasnt been as good though - Bad Men was one - not bad..

Chuck Palnihuk (prob spelt wrong that) - wrote Fight Club - his books are very funky tbh..

Greg Isles - Thrillers but with some supernatural twists occasionally - read quite a few of his and not read a bad one yet.

 

[evzy]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - a book everyone should read tbh - film doesnt do it justice.

 

[evzy]

Meep keep remembering stuff

Gangster Bio - Dave Courtney - Stop the ride I want to get off - probably the funniest by far I have ever read..the follow up books are not bad but the first one is best.

 

[Thorwyn]

Flenn O´Brien - "At Swim-Two-Birds" and "The Third Policeman"
..both highly surreal stories. Not an easy read though.

Another recomendation would be anything by Akif Pirincci: "Felidae" or "Yin". Very creative author, although hard to get in english I reckon.

 

[Lamp]

Velocity by Dean R Koonz is about as an exciting and addictive read as you can get ! Highly recommended

Raymond E Feist: Magician, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon

 

[Blackjack]

Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw. Brilliant

 

[Mikah75]

Raymond E. Feist
fucking ace selection of books, better than LOTR's
his first series is:
The Magician
Silverthorn
Darkness at Sethanon
Prince of Blood
The Kings Buccaneer

 

[Aran Thule]

Raymond E Feist: Magician

Seconded, brilliant story couldnt fault it, one of the best ideas and story in a fantasy setting.

 

[evzy]

Velocity by Dean R Koonz is about as an exciting and addictive read as you can get ! Highly recommended

Raymond E Feist: Magician, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon

If you enjoyed Velocity check out some of those Authors I mention - I read velocity the other week and was disapointed tbh - liked the idea etc but didnt think it was as good as it could have been - enjoyed the Frankenstein books he recently did loads more.

Best Musical Bio I have read recently (at home now and looking at me bookshelves) Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedes from Chilli Peppers - really fascinating at time.

Mark Bowden has written a couple of good books - Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo - both very interesting.

If you like cooking at all - check out the Anthony Bourdain books - first one is his life story, then the next two are about him travelling the world eating exotic stuff - really funny in parts.

James Patterson and Michael Connoly are both very decent Detective / Thriller type writers as well - I love Connoly's Harry Bosch books ..

 

[WiZe^]

American Psycho by:Bret Easton Ellis

 

[Amanita]

Got bored with Velocity, but I loved his Odd Thomas.

Robin Hobbs: Assasin trilogy, Tawny Man trilogy and the Liveship Traders trilogy too.

Anne McCaffrey - Dragonriders of Perne stuff but she's also done some other brilliant series

Bernard Cornwell: All his historic novels are brilliant although they all seem to star the same kind of character

Maggie Furey: Artefacts of power and another series which I've forgotten the name of Bit like a tabloid writer when compared with Hobbs but still rather good.

Terry Pratchet: 'nuff said.

 

[Elkie]

If you are into History a great 3 book series is Shelby footes American CIVIL WAR books, you just cant put it down takes 3-4 months to read all 3 books (unles u have alot of spare time) but damn they are great. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394749138/102-6789746-1366541?v=glance&n=283155 The reviews say it all

Also ofc has to be The Da Vinci Code honestly i am not into these sort of books atal but i read it and thought it was fantastic well worth a try.

ofc im scratching the surface really these are just books that are great imo, as im a big history man myself

 

[Raven]

anything by David Gemmell, look for Waylander or anything in the Drenai series.

 

[Dantares]

Terry Pratchett is whom I mostly read. Mainly the Discworld collection of books.

 

[Oysterboy]

Stanislaw Lem: The Cyberiad (Really funny book about two more or less crazy inventors. Exerpt here.)

Marquise de Sade: Justine (About a girl who just wants to be kind and good, but who is disappointed again and again. Very good novel, if you can stand the "antiquated" way of writing. E-book here.)

Stephen King: Salem's Lot (Horror. My favourite of what I've read by King.)

Don't remember any more atm. I've read quite a few good books, but that was mostly before I got a PC...

 

[Ezteq]

theres a guy called lawrence block and he writes awsome stuff, one of his called "small town" aboutpeoples lives in new york is fantastic (and theres some really pervey bits in it) he also writes a series about a detective called Matt Scudder ive read loads of them and they are really cool.

 

[Oysterboy]

Stanislaw Lem: The Cyberiad (Really funny book about two more or less crazy inventors. Exerpt here.)

Marquise de Sade: Justine (About a girl who just wants to be kind and good, but who is disappointed again and again. Very good novel, if you can stand the "antiquated" way of writing. E-book here.)

Stephen King: Salem's Lot (Horror. My favourite of what I've read by King.)

Don't remember any more atm. I've read quite a few good books, but that was mostly before I got a PC...

Hmm this is really strange... I hadn't thought about Stanislaw Lem for a loong time, years maybe.
Then I post one of his novels as a suggested read here, and while browsing the net for reviews on his books I found that he just died, at 84. Today it seems.
New York Times

 

[Overdriven]

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Bag Of Bones - Stephen King
Roses Are Red - James Patterson (IIRC)
Violets Are Blue -James Patterson (IIRC)
The Others - James Herbert
Books Of Blood Volume 3 - Clive Barker
Spawn - Shaun Hutson

 

[Oysterboy]

Hmm this is really strange... I hadn't thought about Stanislaw Lem for a loong time, years maybe.
Then I post one of his novels as a suggested read here, and while browsing the net for reviews on his books I found that he just died, at 84. Today it seems.
New York Times

Apparently he died yesterday: http://www.culture.pl/en/culture/artykuly/os_lem_stanislaw

 

[Lamp]

God's Debris - Scott Adams
Imagine you meet a man who knows everything. Literally everything. What would you ask him ? Thought provoking.

Necroscope I - V - Brian Lumley
Vampire horror like you've never read before. Simply awesome. Compelling reading. Brings the Wamphyri screaming and tearing right at ya !

Poetry by WB Yeats
Painfully romantic.

The Silmarillion
My favourite Tolkein read.

Skellg - David Almond
Ubelievable power and beauty. A tiny novel but beautifully written.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340716002/026-4068661-4964418


Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass - Robert Pullman
Awesome fantasy
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/series/-/90801/paperback/ref=pd_iis_2/026-4068661-4964418

 

[Oysterboy]

Another great book is The Golem by Gustav Meyrink.

Review here.

 

[liloe]

Tom Clancy
-Rainbow 6: Book about a multi-national special unit
-Operation Center 1-6: a center of global operations
-well, basically all of his books rock

Tom Clancy is a very exact author when it comes to technical things and his plots are very political. He has his own military advisor, so you will find his descriptions of military tactics and equipment very realistic. He also has very good ideas for his plots and every single book was a realy thrill to read. The action starts at multiple points and then slowly gets together, which makes the whole thing very interesting. His books generally have lots of pages, so you better have some time (or read fast =)) )

Marion Zimmer-Bradley
-The Avalon Trilogy +The priestess of Avalon
-The fires of Troy (think it's that in eng. )

Totally the opposite of Tom Clancy, she's a more sentimental author and some passages could be more of less classified as women books, which is not to be taken as negative though. The stories I read involved some real history combined with mysticism and magic. Knowing that she was a wicka, it is pretty clear that the books are more feminine focused when it comes to the main actor (for instance "The Mists of Avalon" is more focused on Morgane than on Arthur). Her books are a very good read though, cause personally I really plunged into the story and got carried away by the awesome plot.

Jules Verne
-In 80 days around the world

I only read this book of him, but it really got me. The story is pretty fascinating, considering the time where he wrote it and actually pretty fun aswell. The story is about an english man who bets that he can travel round the world in 80days (a bet that will either ruin him or make him a rich man) and so he starts with his trusted servant. They of cause have a lot of different and more or less funny adventures on their way round, always racing against the clock.


Of cause I read lots more, but tons of these books were German and I can't think of all, neither do I know the english names =)

 

[noblok]

Hesse - Steppenwolf. I had a bit of issues reading it, but when I later did some research on schizophrenia I was astonished. Will definately have to re-read it sometime.

Dostoewsky - The Brothers Karamazow. Great book: I cried, laughed and nearly threw it away in anger (but I didn't because I didn't want to damage the book). First two parts were a bit less, in my opinion, but at the first page of the third part it grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go till a few days after you've finished it.

Dostoewsky - Crime and Punishment. The greatness of this book only hit me after I had finished it. I was so impressed I couldn't start reading another book untill a few days later.

Kundera - the Unbearable Lightness of Being. Great book, nothing to add.

Flaubert - madamme Bovary. See above.

Gorky - anything. I'm especially fond of his short stories, but they seem to be pretty hard to find .

 

[Calaen]

David Gemmell :- Waylander Series, Drenai Series pretty much any of his

Ray E Feist Start with Magician then read everything else give more books ffs.

Robin Hobb: Assasin trilogy then 2 other trilogies I believe.

Also I could not praise this book any more Orcs by Stan Nicholls Fucking ace book had me laughing out loud, great idea and well written.

 

[Shagrat]

Thought I'd avoid the obvious stuff that other's are listing so here's the best books I've read in the last 10 years from not so well known authors.

China Meuville - Perdido Street Station - Excellently written sci-fi/horror book set in a world were technology seems steam powered

review: http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ps106.htm

Peter Hamilton - Nights Dawn Trilogy - Sci Fi "Opera" at its best as a hole in space time allows the spirits of the long dead to re-enter the universe by invading the livings bodies - setting up a battle royal between the living and the dead.

Robert Rankin - Brentford Trilogy (at least to start with) - better than Pratchett imo. This trilogy revolves around an irishman and his drunken friend who only get iinvolved with saving the world when it threatens the centre of their lives - their local The Flying Swan - hilariously funny from start to finish

 

[Jimootay]

Hesse - Steppenwolf. I had a bit of issues reading it, but when I later did some research on schizophrenia I was astonished. Will definately have to re-read it sometime.

Dostoewsky - The Brothers Karamazow. Great book: I cried, laughed and nearly threw it away in anger (but I didn't because I didn't want to damage the book). First two parts were a bit less, in my opinion, but at the first page of the third part it grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go till a few days after you've finished it.

Dostoewsky - Crime and Punishment. The greatness of this book only hit me after I had finished it. I was so impressed I couldn't start reading another book untill a few days later.

Kundera - the Unbearable Lightness of Being. Great book, nothing to add.

Flaubert - madamme Bovary. See above.

Gorky - anything. I'm especially fond of his short stories, but they seem to be pretty hard to find .

It's Fyodor Dostoevsky. If u wanna appear intelligent at least spell his name right

Funniest book i have ever read is: Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre.

Also anything by David Mitchell: Number9dream and Cloud Atlas are exceptional.

And if u like crime fiction u can't beat james Ellroy (he wrote LA Confidential)

 

[noblok]

It's Fyodor Dostoevsky. If u wanna appear intelligent at least spell his name right

Oh no, I spelled a name wrong which was originally written in a completely different alphabet, I must be completely retarded. I've seen at least three different transliterations in Dutch: Dostojewski, Dostojefski and Dostojevski. I'm sorry for missing one letter in the English transliteration.

I didn't want to appear intelligent by the way. I truly enjoyed his books and suggested them to someone who asked for advise on books.

 

[Aiteal]

Neil Stephenson's baroque trilogy
If you fancy something that will take a good few months to get through

 

[Shatari]

I've only read fantasy and a few other books, but when it comes to fantasy I've read above the 60+

David Eddings: Belgariad (large serie) or Ellenium (small serie). Both has a good sence of humour along with a good story. The followups to these 2 series, are not very good.

Tamora Pierce: Song of the Lioness Quartet (medium serie).

These 2 authors are by far my favorites.

Tamora Pierce writes a little more from a womans view, just like Marion Zimmer Bradley does. It doesn't destroy the experience though, and the story is still fantastic, although the first book in this serie (Alanna: something-I-cant-remember) is the best and they can be read more or less independed.

George R.R Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire (medium serie).

A Song of Ice and Fire should be very popular, although it was only a little above average in my opinion.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman: Death Gate Cycle serie (large serie).

This is a good read too, just like A Song of Ice and Fire, but has too much death in it along with that you see it from many peoples eyes through the serie, just like in Silmarillion (J.R.R Toliken).