OT - I know we've discussed this before...

[dogscoff]

But I'm after your book recommndations. I was given some book vouchers recently, and I may even get a chance to go to the shop soon.

Will consider anything, fiction / non-fiction, modern/ classic... just as long as it's a good read.

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SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.

[Dracus]

I personally like most Steven King books.

[dogscoff]

I've read quote a bit of Stephn King, and quite enjoyd it. Read "The Stand", "The Dead Zone", some medieval / fantasy SK book I can't remember the name of, and I've watched Carrie... Looking for something different though.

Here are some ideas I'm playing with:
Foundation series: Worth the effort?
Dune: Read the first one, is it worth reading the rest?
Iain M Banks: Don't know anything about the books but I like the covers=-)
That new Tad Williams one: Liked his previous books. Is the latest (forget name) more sci-fi?
Stphen Hawking: I'm interested, but I might not be clever enough=-)
Philosophy: Complete newbie to this field, but I'm tempted to get into it.
Something by Aasimov that I haven't read yet: Love his stuff, recommendations please. (Anyone ever read his non-scifi book about a "pocket demon" called Arizaphael? That was brilliant. What was it called? Would like to own it.)


Or something else entirely new and different to me.

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SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.

[Aristoi]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dogscoff:

Iain M Banks: Don't know anything about the books but I like the covers=-)

---

Banks I do know. If you're looking for great Sci-fi novel with compelling characters, go with Excession.

However, I loved The Bridge as well, which is more of a psychological mystery with certain science fiction overtones.

Other authors that I like:
Ken Macleod, The Cassini Division- Takes a little work, but I enjoyed it and the ideas are cool.

Dennis L. McKiernan, Anything he has in the Mithgar cycle - He writes high fantasy with realism, the way that Tolkien could never get. When his characters talk they actually sound natural. He's great.

Jack Whyte, The Eagle's Brood and others - A new take on the Authur legends set in Post Roman times. Very interesting and well written.

Just my thoughts on them.

[tesco samoa]

The Harry Turtledove series The great war.

Start with how few remain and then the great war series.

Alt history. Very good.

And John Keegan has just came out with a new book on the eastern front.

Or the David Wingrove series.



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Inter arma silent leges

[mac5732]

Dave Weber's In Death's Ground, others in series, Insurrection, Crusader, excellent series, new one in series due out in Feb 2002, When you read them you'll think of SE4.
Sci-fi,, action packed, good plots, Lost Regiment Series by Fouchsin (I know its not spelled right) another excellen series.

just some ideas mac

[Puke]

I have been thumbing through some David Weber and some David Drake over on Baen, and I am enjoying both authors. we could begin to discuss classic sci fi novels again, but you might as well dig up the old thread for that.

if philosophy is an interest, there is a brand new translation of Sun Tzu out. Also, I think some publishing house has been working on a compiled and newly commentated set of Nietzsche's stuff.

im not a big S.King fan, but a book containing the complete works of Poe probably would not set you back more than 30-40 bucks or so, and its not like hes going to pull a 'Douglas Adams' and write one more book on you, invalidating your compendium. you can also sample most of Lovecraft's stuff for free at http://www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/index.htm


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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[Dragonlord]

If you like fantasy, the best I read in years is the Last trilogy by George Martin, and he is working on book 4. Start with "a game of thrones"

As for Sc fi, I just finished the 4-book series called Otherland by Tad Williams, pretty good stuff, especially the Last 3 books.

[Taqwus]

I recently read a translation of Camus's short psychological novel, "The Stranger". Similar genre to Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", or perhaps (more distantly) to various bits of Kafka ("The Trial" and "The Castle" being interesting reads).

Hrmmm. Time to toss out some highly random items from a variety of genres.

War (theory): Clausewitz's _On War_. Clavell's translation of _The Art of War_ is good.

War/Conflict (novels/serials): Tolstoy's _War and Peace_ (Napoleon's 1812 campaign); Pasternaks' _Dr. Zhivago_ (Russian Revolution), Luo Guanzhong's _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ (warring states in China, ca. 170 AD. OK, so you're probably NOT going to find this one lying around your bookstore, unless it's damn big or a speciality store).

Fantasy: Haven't read much for a LONG while, but concur on Martin's "Game of Thrones" series. Although the reliance on slightly modified Medieval Europe Fantasy staples e.g. knighthood, "Ser" instead of "sir", and so forth, annoys me a touch. At least it's not plagued with too much Tolkien-derived material; he has the decency to make up *his own* fairly refreshing world.

Morgan Llelywnn (sp?)'s "Finn mac Cool" is a nice retelling of a Celtic legend. So is Nikolai Tolstoy's "The Coming of the King", which IMHO is far more impressive than T.H. White's "The Once and Future King", at least for adults.

Sci-Fi: Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" trilogy is darn good "hard" science fiction, IMHO. I'm also partial to John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar", "The Shockwave Rider" (pref. read Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" before reading TSR), and Orson Scott Card's Ender books are also quite thoughtful.

History of espionage: "The Puzzle Palace", "The Man Called Intrepid", and "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive" are interesting to varying degrees.

Thrillers: Frederick Forsyth wrote pretty good works ("Day of the Jackal", for instance). Others? Perhaps works by Eric Ambler ("A Coffin for Dmitrios"), or John le Carre (quite a few Cold War spy novels).

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[dogscoff]

Hmm, looks like otherland, Banks or Weber. I was tempted by Nietzsche but I think I need some sci-fi.
I'll go down to the shop soon and see which one I see first=-) (Unless anyone has a better suggestion?)

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SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.