the great book recommendation thread.

[katster]

Okay. I threw this question on IRC, but I'll throw it here too. There's got to be somebody out there who's got an answer or two or six.

We'll leave alone any question of genre at the moment (although I like my fiction more in the science fiction/fantasy department) and simply throw the table wide open.

What books would you recommend? Books that are your favourites, books that are timely, books that mean the world to you fifteen years later...any book at all. Just toss me a few recommendations. 'Cause I'm looking for good books to read, and the best way to find new books is to ask friends what they like. Anything goes here, if it's readable, it'll count as 'book' in my mind. :) [yes, comic books and graphic novels count in 'books'.]

So help me out here and recommend a book or twenty. ;)

[still need a good bibliophile icon, yes.]

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Bujold, Lois McMaster. Any and all of them, though I found The Spirit Ring to be a weaker work, and Falling Free improved greatly upon rereadings.

Also Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress #7, because I have a story in it.

Also Best In Show (at sofawolf.com, I believe; they were doing reprintings, I think?) because ditto. O:>

[katster.livejournal.com]

The thing that baffles me about Bujold is where to start. :) (That and I'd have to figure out where the hell I've put the few books I've bought.) So help there is greatly appreciated.

And, ooh, Bethfic. :)

-kat

[archangelbeth]

Okay, the thing about Bujold is that she really does want you to be able to pick up any old book of hers and, well, start.

Her first book was Shards of Honor, now the first half of Cordelia's Honor. It's not a bad place to start, but I started with The Warrior's Apprentice (now the first chunk of Young Miles, I believe) and didn't read the (then out of print) Shards of Honor until after I'd read the much-later-written Barrayar, which is the direct sequel to Shards (and the other half of Cordelia's Honor). And then I realized that I'd read Falling Free at the library long ago!

Falling Free can stand on its own -- it's a prequel of centuries.

If you can grab it, get Young Miles or Cordelia's Honor. But Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem is probably a fine place as well. Or any book you find used. (If you do. People tend to hang onto them...)

If you go for her fantasy, go for Curse of Chalion first. Then you can do Paladin of Souls or Hallowed Hunt, either way. Paladin does have spoilers for Curse; Hallowed Hunt doesn't, being same-world/different-area, but there may be a few assumptions that are more clearly explained in Curse.

[nathelmi.livejournal.com]

Eddings, David. The Belgariad.

Although, he is Old School and Paternalistic.

There is a sorceress who seems like a bitchy mom and rather than use sorcery, she's the designated kitchen wench. But other than that it's fantastic.

Here's a couple

[joshbrown.livejournal.com]

1) Watchmen, by Alan Moore: This is an excellent analysis of what it would be like if super heroes really existed.
2) The Duncton Wood series (two trilogies) by William Horwood: A fun series of books about moles and their religious wars.
3) The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster: This has been my favortie book ever since I first read it, 25 years ago.

[rickvs.livejournal.com]

"Silverlock", by John Myers Myers

The Gaean Trilogy, by John Varley

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", by Robert A. Heinlein

The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn (Star Wars universe)

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

I'll second pretty much any Timothy Zahn recommendation. His stuff's across-the-board fun to read.

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files series)
Simon R Green's "Nightside" series

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

As I think I've said before, I don't read many new books these days, for some reason.

However...

"The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse" and its sequel, "Gumshoe Gorilla," by Keith Hartman. We can only hope the future will be this much fun. Or not.

Just about anything by Ursula K. LeGuin. But of all of them, I still think "The Dispossessed" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" are best.

Three words: Miss Jane Austen. One word: "Persuasion".

And I am really enjoying re-reading "The Cryptonomicon".

[tropism.livejournal.com]

I'll second the Dresden Files recommendation.

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
The Wiz Biz series by Cook -- there're a coupleof collections out.
Anything by Heinlein, particularly The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and his short story collections.
CJ Cherry's Chanur and Alliance-Union series...
Speaking of which, http://www.cherryh.com/www/list.htm

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

I second the Cherryh, though I enjoyed the Foriegner stuff more than any other universe.

[tropism.livejournal.com]

Really? For some reason I just couldn't get into the Foreigner stuff. I oughta give it another shot.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

SF&F:
Mark Helprin's _Winter's Tale_
everything by Guy Gavriel Kay
Terry Pratchett!
oh, and Pratchett & Gaiman's _Good Omens_
Bujold
Cordwainer Smith
Zenna Henderson
Mystery:
Dorothy Sayers
Laurie King
Lindsey Davis

um. lots and lots more, but I'm brainfogging badly...

Couple more I thought of

[joshbrown.livejournal.com]

Anything by Kinky Friedman or by Spider Robinson.

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

Lessee. Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Eliot, The Golden Key

Dan Simmons, Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion, Ilium, and Olympos

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

Roger Zelazny, Eye of Cat and the short story collection The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth

Thomas Costain, The Last Plantagenets

Stephen Baxter, Ring (It's like scripture for atheists.)

Joan D. Vinge, Catspaw (Personally, I think this is the best of the trilogy and wouldn't really recommend the first and third, but go ahead if you find them.)

Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky

Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass

Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon, The Black Gryphon (The first Valdemar novel I read, and the only one I consistently reread.)

Mary Gentle, A Secret History

Herodotus, History

Shakespeare, Henry II (Totally underappreciated.)

I could go on for a while, but that should give you plenty to start with. ;)

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

Thought I closed all those tags. Darnit.

[spitgirl.livejournal.com]

I love some of the books that your friends have recommended... here are some more.

The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
Bless Me, Ultima, by ... gah, I can't remember, it's late.
Jane Eyre (you can look at the beginning of my livejournal about what I thought of that... I got so caught up in that), C. Bronte
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
My Antonia by Willa Cather. I loved this book.

The Magician series, by Raymond Feist (and a few with Janny Wurts)
C.S. Lewis. (Mmm, C.S. Lewis)
Anne of Green Gables. I like the first four books better than the last three, though I own all seven of them.
Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
O Pagador de Promessas - if you can find this translated, it's hilarious

I'm currently reading Villette by C. Bronte on my commute to work.

[vacheestfachee.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like Chaim Potok. Nice choice.

Bless Me, Ultima is by Rudolfo Anaya. I was supposed to read it for one of my classes, but never did.

Here's a few more:

Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (even if it is "Canonical"...)
Madeleine L'Engle, The Weather of the Heart (It's poetry. I'm liking it so far.)
Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (also poetry)
I have a bunch of Anne McCaffrey books a friend gave me... those can be pretty fun when one is in the mood...
I have friends who've lent me the box set of Narnia books and a set of Madeleine L'Engle's journals... I really need to get around to reading those. :)

I may think of more... I know of more good books than I have actually read...

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" series, beginning with "The Eyre Affair". Thursday is a "Special Operative in literary detection" - her father is in Temporal Security (which explains why he often turns up just in the nick of time). Enough - go, read and enjoy. (BTW, if you're a RHPS afficionado, there's a passage in "The Eyre Affair" that will have you howling.)

[prophet-marcus.livejournal.com]

And now for something a little different.
"There's No Such PLace As Far Away" by Richard Bach and "The Tao of Pooh" by Alan Watts (? or am I confuzzling. But the book is great.)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Kipling, "Puck of Pook's Hill" and "Kim".

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

Some that may have slipped under the radar screen:

James Hilton -- Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr Chips
Ann Nolan CLark -- Secret of the Andes
CHristopher Isherwood -- Down There on a Visit

[ladycalliope.livejournal.com]

Matt Ruff, Fool on the Hill.

I read it a little over 15 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite books ever.

[haruchai.livejournal.com]

Any of Stephen Kings's "Dark Tower" series (or rather the whole series), and connected books such as "The Regulators", "Desperation" "From a Buick 8" and "Eyes of the Dragon". Also, if you haven't seen the movie yet, read "Dreamcatcher".

moving on..Asimov's Foundation series, The Pern series by anne MacCaffrey, Stephen R. Donaldson's Covenant books (though I have a feeling you may have already read them), Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion Series (I especially like the Elric and Corum books), and of course the Laurell K Hamilton books.

Paul J. McAuley's "child of the river", "ancients of days", and "shrine of stars" (or "Confluence" if you get the one with all three).

Diane Duane's Spider-Man trilogy (Venom Factor, Lizard Sanction, Octopus agenda) is decent, and the novellizations for the Batman arcs of Knightfall (Dennis O'Neil..a must read for anyone who knows about the real Bane) and No Man's Land (Greg Rucka) were especially good.

The darksword series (paperback only to my knowledge) by margaret weiss and tracey hickman is still a fav. The graphic novel comprising the "Infinity Gauntlet" arc was a good read too.

And on a more singular note; "Friday" by Heinlein, "the fires of paratime" by L.E. Modessit Jr, and "The REd Tape War" BY JACK l CHALKER, MIKE RESNICK AND GEORGE ALEC EFFINGER.

Sorry bout the caps. Other than that I recommend any of the TSR books. Notably the cleric quintet, the drow books (see my webpage for a list) or the harper series.

And I'm not sure since I haven't read it, but there's this wheel of time series that's supposedly good too.