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Author
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Topic: Looking For Books...
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SpazGirl
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posted April 12, 2007 06:51
So, I'm starting a summer reading list and want to expand my current taste in authors. If any of you have read books you would like to recommend please do so, I would be most grateful. Thanks guys (and gals ![[Razz]](tongue.gif) )!
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Things, and things.
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WinterSolstice
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posted April 12, 2007 07:29
Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. Awesome read - classic old Sci-Fi
And of course Beneath a Sunless Sky by Jessica Alter. Great new Sci-Fi ![[Smile]](smile.gif) (but I'm biased - the author is hot)
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An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
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Ashitaka
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posted April 12, 2007 07:43
For any geek I think Homo Faber is a must read if you have never read it. Just because, i think, we geeks (specifically those geeks of the enginnering and science persuasion) see a bit more of ourselves in the main charachter at the beginning of his journey than we would like to.
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"If they're not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and violent extremists, then why should I take the time to distinguish between decent, fearful white people and racists?"
-Assif Mandvi
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SpazGirl
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posted April 12, 2007 07:56
Winter, as much as I would love to read Beneath a Sunless Sky, I doubt that they'll have it at my local library... but thank you guys for the suggestions, keep them coming ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
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Things, and things.
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BooBooKitty
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posted April 12, 2007 08:04
Hey Spazgirl! Are you looking for something beyond the sci fi/fantasy genre? If you are, I've got a few recommends.
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SpazGirl
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posted April 12, 2007 08:09
BBK, I'm looking for anything, I like my books like I like my music... completely random.
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BooBooKitty
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posted April 12, 2007 08:15
Check out stuff by Nick Hornby.
I'll see what else I've got when I get home tonight.
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Xanthine
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posted April 12, 2007 10:44
The Master and Margarita
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And it's one, two, three / On the wrong side of the lee / What were you meant for? / What were you meant for?
- The Decemberists
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littlenewsie
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posted April 12, 2007 14:02
Secret Sacrament by Cheryl Jordan or anything by Ted Dekker
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"Teachers ramble on and on about freedom of the press but God help you if you try to use it." Gordon Korman
Posts: 46 | From: The Other Side of PA | Registered: Feb 2007
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boo
Highlie
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posted April 12, 2007 14:06
The classics are still my favorites. Have you read many of them? Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, Mark Twain's Tom and Huck books; and once I got into it, I couldn't put Mutiny on the Bounty. down. Oh, and if you like mysteries, Martha Grimes earlier works were great.
Posts: 775 | From: us of a | Registered: Oct 2006
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Grummash
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posted April 12, 2007 14:31
Hi Spaz - my $0.02, if you will allow.....
I don't read much fiction, I'm more of a "non-f" person, but there have been some high points:
Sci-Fi: it has to be John Wyndham, anything and everything that man wrote was worth reading. Sorry Mr Asimov, you sold lots of copies but you were never in this man's league. The plots work, the "science" part is usually plausible, and the quality of the English is just .....beautiful.
I haven't really read the Classics, but the literary 'classics' always seem dull to me. My best recommendation is the Penguin translation of Zola's Germinal, unless you can read it in the original (I can't). This is a novel of staggering dignity. Marvellous.
'The Wasp Factory' by Iain banks. Don't waste time on anything later - that was his finest hour.
'The Comedians' by Graham Green. A very well-judged way of getting into the threatening ambience of Papa Doc's Haiti. ...although I have to admit, I didn't really "get" The End of The Affair.
And my final piece of advice... avoid George Orwell like the plague: even the best of his stuff is bollocks! Yes, I know he is supposed to have been a literary genius, but if he was too fscking lazy to write a proper ending for "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", why should I waste time reading it???
</rant>. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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...and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this earth with envious eyes...
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stevenback7
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posted April 12, 2007 15:55
umm recently i've quite enjoyed Micheal Crichton Airframe and Stephen Kings the long walk.
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Comic Book Guy: There is no emoticon for what i'm feeling.
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Rhonwyyn
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posted April 12, 2007 17:52
Anne Perry
Charles O'Toole
Madeleine L'Engle
Marguerite D'Angeli
Lori Wick
Ginny Aiken
Carol Mott Davidson
Hannah Alexander
Randy Alcorn
...just some of my favorite authors. I definitely recommend them for summer - or anyime - reading.
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Change the way you SEE, not the way you LOOK!
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SpazGirl
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posted April 12, 2007 18:19
You guys are awesome! Thanks, keep them coming, you can never have a "Must Read" list that's too long!
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Things, and things.
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Callipygous
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posted April 12, 2007 18:21
Patricia Highsmith is brilliant. Her first novel "Strangers on a Train" is a good place to start, and the Ripley series is magnificent. I think she is the best crime novelist, and because she wrote mainly in that genre, also seriously underrated.
If you fancy a big fat classic nineteeenth century novel, give George Eliot's "Middlemarch" a spin, an utterly engossing picture of a whole community. She writes with such insight and sympathy about such a wide range of characters.
I love Frank O'Connor's beautiful Irish short stories. He was another writer of great warmth, wit, and wisdom.
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"Knowledge is Power. France is Bacon" - Milton
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YaYawoman
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posted April 12, 2007 21:23
Hi there. If you are looking for some non-fiction thought provoking books, try The Long Emergency by kunstler(peak oil and suburban dystopia) Twilight in the Desert by Michael Simmons(more peak oil, energy and geopolitical issues).
For pure fun summer fluff:
Laurell K Hamilton a nice mix of violence, horror and sex. ahem. Sounds odd, but works. really.
I forget the first name, but the Kushiel series by Carey. similar to above, but more fantasy based. And more from the submissive side.
For wonderful old-soldier space opera anything by David Weber or John Ringo.
Police procedural meets wizard via Jim Butcher's Storm Front series.
And finally for wonderful snarky giggles/dead-on social commentary Terry Pratchett. Reaper Man so far has made me laugh out loud the most. Everyone at work would look at me oddly as I sat in the smoking area snorting and cackling. Then again, I work in a factory in a red-neck area, maybe they just found it oddthat someone reads for fun.
Good reading!
PS John Scalzi is a good read too.
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Xanthine
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posted April 12, 2007 21:43
Neil Stephenson's got lots of good stuff, even though he can't write a decent ending. The Baroque Cycle is the exception - that's a trilogy and it does tie up nicely at the end. My favorite in the Baroque Cycle is The Confusion. Lots of swashbuckling. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
The House of the Spirits is an excellent epic by Isabelle Allende. If you like magical realism, 100 Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) is another good read.
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis is a good one. He sends his buddy Tolkien to Mars.
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And it's one, two, three / On the wrong side of the lee / What were you meant for? / What were you meant for?
- The Decemberists
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Spoongirl
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posted April 13, 2007 07:35
Check out stuff by Nick Hornby...
Oh God, no.
Spazgirl - What's your genre?
Edit: Duh, you've answered that. I say go with Asimov. Light wee books with interesting concepts and far-reaching ideas. Great for summer. Oh, and only intelligent people will approach you.
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"And we will call it... This Land..."
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BooBooKitty
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posted April 13, 2007 07:59
quote:
Originally posted by Spoongirl:
Check out stuff by Nick Hornby...
Oh God, no.
Spazgirl - What's your genre?
Edit: Duh, you've answered that. I say go with Asimov. Light wee books with interesting concepts and far-reaching ideas. Great for summer. Oh, and only intelligent people will approach you.
Nick Hornby! Yeah! *high-five*
I can't wait for the weather here to improve so I can clean up my deck and make it habitable for outdoor living. Some sun, a drink and a good book!
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Mel
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posted April 13, 2007 10:16
Frank McCourt - Angela's Ashes
I'm into the classics, so The Canterbury Tales are fun to read, along with the Decameron. What's good about them is that they are huge collections of short stories, so they are less intimidating than they appear.
Sometimes I just read stuff for fun, like The Wizard of Oz, or Good Girl Wants it Bad (about a nymphomaniac serial killer).
Green Grass, Running Water is also a good story about native culture and the origins of the world.
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Huicho
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posted April 13, 2007 15:03
If your like the C.S. Lewis stuff, I would also read Perelandra, The Great Divorce, or his pseudo-biography Surprised by Joy. Also many of C.S. Lewis contemporaries were very good. I recomend Robert Graves. If you haven't read any of the Jane Austen books then you should, everybody should. They are all good. If you have not read Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, you could try them. I don't think that they wrote a bad book. For Dostoevsky, I really recomend Crime and Punishment to start and if you really like that then read The Brothers Karamzov, or you could watch the movie starting William Shatner as Aliosha.
If you like History, Barnes and Noble has a cheap abridged version of Winston Churchil's History of the English Speaking Peoples. David McCullough is good too. His 1776 book is fast and interesting reading. For something heavier you could read his Biography of John Adams. It really depends of what you like.
If you like funny Science Fiction there is always Douglas Adams five book trilogy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
If we are lucky, Jess could finally publish Beneath a Sunless Sky or maybe post some previews of Solaray Dawn.
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WinterSolstice
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posted April 13, 2007 15:18
I love Terry Pratchett (discworld) and most sci-fi. I have to second Asimov, and add Ian Fleming to the list
The Bond books are awesome and quick reads.
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An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
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LemonSmuggler
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posted April 13, 2007 15:50
I propose Alexander Hamilton, it's by Ron Chernow. It's a very large book, but being a history lover I enjoyed it very much, I've read it cover to cover two times already and I'm reading for a third time now.
Like all bio's it tells the story of his life, but Ron Chernow puts a passion into his writing, the words are beautifully formed, and the tale flows smoothly. Alexander Hamilton has always been one of my favorite people from history, though I know many don't favor him at all, there's something about him that interests me greatly.
Oh and also Inventing A Nation, brilliant. Just a great story all around, of course it's based on history, but it's more of a history fiction mix. In true Gore Vidal fashion to I might add.
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Oy to the vey.
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Huicho
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posted April 13, 2007 16:08
I have always admired Alexander Hamilton for his role in the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention and as Secretary of the Treasury for George Washington. One book that I liked on the subject was Joseph J. Ellis' Founding Brothers. I really recommend it.
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Sxeptomaniac
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posted April 13, 2007 16:11
There's a lot of great ones listed so far. I would highly recommend Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. Short story collections can be fun, too, such as Edgar Allen Poe or Ray Bradbury.
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Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. - C. S. Lewis
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