Give Me Book Recommendations!

[Tony]

Here's a few for ya. Don't know what you've read or how often any of these have been listed here, but...

Iain M. Banks is my favorite SF writer. Unfortunately his books are SLOW to reach the US in any form but some are available on Amazon and all are on Amazon.co.uk.

Use of Weapons - One of my all-time favorites. Cleverly written, fun, and Greek Tragedy all-in-one
Excession - The most fun I've ever had with an SF novel since Stephenson's Snow Crash.
Player of Games - Great fun.
Against a Dark Background (in the US 07/09) - Another excellent tragedy, this one on a global scale, with a cool anti-heroine.
Consider Phloebus - All Sci-Fi "Greek Tragedy". Everybody dies. Well almost. Good story though.

Non-Fiction semi-fluff.
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales - A bit melodramatic, but an excellent read and very informative if you aren't aware of how your brain works in survival situations.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - Sometimes dry, but enlightening and interesting.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - This was a blast, and informative. I will never eat a "well-done" steak again.

-Tony

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy. Exciting, skeletal detective with fireballs fun. You'll laugh till you wet yourself, and that's just the "about the author" section. The actual book is even better. n.n

[FLOCK of RABID SHEEP?!?!]

Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories (volumes 1/2) - collections of his short stories. Very good stuff here. Golden age sci-fi.

If you'd rather read novels, I suggest The Caves of Steel (with two followups) which are nice scifi detective/robot stories.

i did enjoy the later foundation books...i forget which ones exactly, foundation and earth for one

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

the story lines of The Caves of Steel (Robots Series) and the Foundation series are connected

i would recommend farewell my lovely and the big sleep by raymond chandler...they have both in one volume on amazon (where i got it) for cheap...if you want variety, get a compilation and do what i'm doing: read a bunch of different short stories written by different authors, it changes things up a bit...

some more sci-fi writers on my shelf are jack mcdevitt who is pretty good, with infinity beach and deepsix and alan dean foster who also has a good variety with paralellities being on the top of the list (foster always seems to combine a general sense of humor along with his sci-fi not unlike Douglas Adams but not quite as good or as British in content)

[gbeenie]

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

[mrbasehart]

I've read quite a bit of Chandler.  I think he's great. 

[Manda947]

Survivor by Chuck Paluhniuk, who also wrote Fight Club, is AMAZING. I thought I'd hate it because it's about a survivor of a death cult, but it's actually really good. However, if you're into really happy, not cynical and sarcastic, kind of books, then this probably isn't for you.

[bettertomorrowamy]

Mr. Basehart needs some Bukowski.  Factotum is for ye!

[mrbasehart]

Mr. Basehart needs some Bukowski. 

I have no need of more Japanese porn.

[bettertomorrowamy]

Mr. Basehart needs some Bukowski. 

I have no need of more Japanese porn.

That's good to know.  But you should read Factotum....no Japanese people in it.

[mrbasehart]

Mr. Basehart needs some Bukowski. 

I have no need of more Japanese porn.

That's good to know.  But you should read Factotum....no Japanese people in it.

... What's the movie adaptation like? 

[bettertomorrowamy]

Mr. Basehart needs some Bukowski. 

I have no need of more Japanese porn.

That's good to know.  But you should read Factotum....no Japanese people in it.

... What's the movie adaptation like? 

It's good, but it doesn't follow the book.  The movie seems to just use Bukowski characters in Bukowski type situations.  The book is better.

[mrbasehart]

Okay, I'll put it on my list. 

[bettertomorrowamy]

Yeah!

[RockSiren]

Well, apparently you already know about the ASoIaF series, so I'll skip to the next one:

The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher.

Book 1: Storm Front

First post, BAM!  I was actually just about to say this!

[THE QUEEN!!!]

If you've never read the book THE PRINCESS BRIDE (yes, the one the movie is based on), it is FANTASTIC. It's hilarious and brilliant. It's one of my favorite books ever. It's funny like the movie but in a different way. Plus it's written by the guy who wrote the screenplay.



Most of the other books I like are either plays (theater major) or classic literature. Most people are not classic literature fans or enjoy reading plays, so unless you are, that's all I got for this minute.