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Zenbane
Zenbane
Honored Contributor
September 13, 2018
Question

The Official "Books Worth Reading" Thread

  • September 13, 2018
  • 153 replies
  • 26634 views
I used to be an avid reader, but over time I've found it difficult to commit to the literature being released. I figure I just must be missing out on the good stuff. Use this thread to recommend the "best of the best" that you've encountered.

I've read all but the last "Game of Thrones" (Ice and Fire) books. However, my favorite series of all time is Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Before that, I read a ton of fantasy and horror books, but none worth really recommending. Probably my favorite Stephen King book is Needful Things.

Any other readers out there?

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      JeremyC85
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018

      Zenbane said:

      I used to be an avid reader, but over time I've found it difficult to commit to the literature being released. I figure I just must be missing out on the good stuff. Use this thread to recommend the "best of the best" that you've encountered.

      I've read all but the last "Game of Thrones" (Ice and Fire) books. However, my favorite series of all time is Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Before that, I read a ton of fantasy and horror books, but none worth really recommending. Probably my favorite Stephen King book is Needful Things.

      Any other readers out there?


      As a guy that has read all of the Sword of Truth (13-14 books?) and all the Game of Thrones and also LOVES fantasy / horror...

      I can not recommend enough the Prince of Thorns series (3 books with an additional 3 book side-series that is ALMOST as good)

      as far as the previous sugestions... I agree with almost everything snowdog said, and nalex66 hit it on the head with "A Canticle for Leibowitz" - this is a top 10 book for me 
      SkScotchegg
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018
      Books???/ Books?????!!!!!!

      I can't read!!! This is so unfair.  :p

      EDIT: I've only ever read one book my entire life, and that was American Psycho! I enjoyed it! lol
      UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!
      Morgrum
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018
      Glenn Cooks - Black Company is a dark fantasy series about mercs trying to survive in a war between wizards.

      Kojack I agree Alen dean Foster has some great novels.
      I still have splinter of a minds eye which he wrote to be Star Wars episode five until the change to empire.
      It reads more like fan fiction now.
      WAAAGH!
      Digikid1
      Honored Contributor
      September 13, 2018
      I read a lot of books...but mostly older ones from my childhood.  Gordon Korman Books are still fantastic especially The "Bruno and Boots" series.  I read a lot of scifi books from Alan Dean Foster ( only his Star Trek books ) and the Halo series ( from the excellent Halo video games series )  I also read Star Trek Books from other authors as well.  If you love Star Trek books you should REALLY check out the "Starfleet Corps of Engineers" series.  Truly excellent.

      I also proofread books from friends such as Steven Lake ( You really should check out his Earthfleet series ).

      And then there is my massive Archie Digest Collection....all up to 2008.....
      bigmike20vt
      Honored Contributor
      September 13, 2018
      The Gap Cycle  (a quintology of books)
      The mote in gods eye
      1984
      Do androids dream of electric sheep (blade runner was based off this book)
      Dune

      I gotta admit i do not have time to read as a pure past time any more unless on holiday, so i cheated.. the above are audio books i picked up and listend to whilst playing elite dangerous
      Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR :)
      Anonymous
      September 13, 2018
      I'm also a big horror fan too so should have added The Rats Trilogy and The Fog to that list too. I'm surprised they haven't made films of his Rats books tbh.
      Chazmeister
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018
      I'm more of a Sci-fi bod myself, so anything by:

      The top two here, Hamilton and Asher, are in my opinion the best sci-fi authors around at the moment, they're at the top of their game and there's none better than these two right now.
      Peter F Hamilton (big chunky daunting looking books, but real page turners with no boring bits)
      Neal Asher (he just keeps getting better and better. action packed sci-fi on a grand scale)
      Charles Stross
      Alastair Reynolds
      Ian M Banks
      Richard Morgan
      Paul McAuley
      Greg Bear
      Gregory Benford (hard sci-fi)
      Larry Niven 
      Scott Lynch (The Gentleman Bastard series)
      Karl Schroeder (Virga series)
      Ben Aaronovitch (Just started the Rivers of London books, very good so far)
      China Miéville (for Perdido Street Station and The Scar. haven't got around to reading the Iron Council yet, any good? quite liked Railsea too.)

      and a whole load more besides.

      kojack
      Honored Contributor
      September 13, 2018

      Techy111 said:

       :D  i had to look twice at the word following "Huge" I thought you was a porn reader LMAO 


      God damn it, should have been Hugh Cook.
      Did a mod edit my post? I'm sure I didn't write that. :|

      Sadly the books didn't sell well, so his plans to make a 60 volume epic ended after the 10th book. Don't worry, the story isn't incomplete.
      He died from cancer 10 years ago. :(

      The books have cool things like the villian in one book is the heroe of another book and you get to see their side of the story
      .

      Morgrum said:


      Kojack I agree Allen deen Foster has some great novels.
      I still have splinter of a minds eye which he wrote to be Star Wars episode five until the change to empire.
      It reads more like fan fiction now.


      He ghost wrote the novelisation of Star Wars, it was credited as written by George Lucas.
      He also wrote novelisations of tons of scifi movies. All the Alien ones, a bunch of Star Trek, etc.
      He's got around 134 novels at the moment.


      I really liked the Dancing Gods series by Jack L Chalker. It was a spoof of many fantasy tropes. It's set in a world where all of the laws of reality were written in a library of rule books by wizards. Why do medicines taste bad? Because some time in the past a wizard wrote that as a rule in one of the books, forcing it to apply to the world forever. A rule can't be removed once written. It's a great series.

      His Gods Inc series is great too. It's about two private eyes that get involved with parallel realities.
      Soul Rider started off fascinating, but by book 2 it had turned into body transform fetish porn so I never finished the series.



      If you want amazing artwork and a fascinating storyline (although the artwork is the primary focus), get Simon Stalenhag's Tales From The Loop, Things From The Flood and Electric State. SO GOOD.


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      sford52
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018
      For historical fiction I'm reading Bernard Cornwells's "The Saxon Stories" dealing with England in the late 10th century (970-990). Danes, Norse, Irish, Scotch and Saxons. Pagans and Christians. Sailin and fightin. Something like 10 books in the series. Just a few "main" characters and the hero is in all of them.

      For Sci Fi, I can't say enough good things about the "Three-Body Problem" series trilogy by Cixin Liu. It's got some pretty hard science, but there's some great imagry. Cryin for VR. It isn't light reading, but there are ideas leaking out from every corner.

      With Pratchett, any of the Night Watch books. Love Sam Vimes and the whole crew.

      Finally, was lucky enough to get an audio of the "Cabin Pressure" series with Benedict Cumberbatch before he was Benedict Cumberbatch. These are 1/2 hour radio audios. Very funny.

      ASUS ROG Strix GL702VS-AH73 17.3" Laptop.  I7-7700HQ, GTX1070, 12 GB DDR4 RAM, 500 EVO 970 GB SSD, VS 2017, Oculus rift, Windows 10 home
      Stryker1000
      Inspiring
      September 13, 2018

      All of tom Clancy`s early stuff..i think his later stuff is a bit meh. Top recommendation ATM is John Scalzi`s Old mans war. really gripping read and very original. also anything by Raymond feist.

      Plus the usual stuff like playboy .razzle fiesta and  the other stuff.

      but in between all of the early Viz stuff when I don't need to think

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