48 replies to this topic

[Kamina-Yoshi]

Contact by Carl Sagan. Real classic, and a brain-teaser. Carl never failed to amaze me.

[Mugen no Neko]

I recommend -

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

~ Course, I'm kinda late in the game. It's really good, and really made me think about how horrible war really is even though I'm not directly exposed to it...

[Shadowmoon~]

I was advertising this in my previous avatar and signature. The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is definitely a great read. It's fun to be part of the adventures of Artemis Fowl, who is a teenage genius and also, a criminal mastermind, after he discovers a giant secret, unknown to most humans.

And, as you can see in my current avatar and signature, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan is also a great read, especially if you love Greek mythology. There's a total of five books in the series.

[JG111580]

I just happend upon the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. Jack is the former head of an elite division of the military police that now wanders country with only the clothes on his back, going nowhere in particular, and trouble usually finds him. He utilizes an amazing investigative mind to reveal that the situation is not what it appears to be. The more deeply involved he becomes, the more he wants to win. Once he closes in on the villains, he takes them on, eliminates them without mercy, then moves on. While they not be the finest literary works, these books are definitely fun from the escapist's point of view.

[Anguyen92]

Can we do autobiographies? Because if so, I'd recommend Chris Jericho's Lion's Tales and Undisputed: How to become World Champion in 1,372 steps, which mainly talks about his childhood, dreams, his idols, his great matches, his band, his personal life, and its all good and funny stuff.

[TheBerserkMoogle]

I reccomend Don Quixote, by Cervantes. It's a great knight in shining armor story, but it's actually about an insane man who lives during the renaissance and thinks that he is a knight. He takes on quests with his "Squire" Sancho, and he also falls in love, but it's not your typical romance. It's about 1000 pages long so it'll keep you nice and entertained for a while.

[ShippudenGirl]

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- because it's like based in the future and America is rules by a dictator who comes up with "Games" and it forces children drawn from a lottery to kill each other! So cool.. Hehe. It's like a series... The Hunger Game then Catching Fire then Mockingjay. My old man and I read 'em all.

[alexander]

Metro 2033. It's an russian online novel later turned in a book and also video game. It mixes many genres, such as suspense, horror, politics and principally the discussion of human nature. The plot is about the renmants of man kind living under an metro station after the world was destroyed by nuclear holocaust. In there, people not only deal with the harsh living condition, but also are tormented by mutant creatures and banditis living in the metro. The plot is very deep, aways exploring the consequences of our actions.

[No WhereMan]

Just finished the newest Dresden Files Book: Ghost Story.


Epic read! Would highly recommend it to all.

[ciardha]

As a librarian I'm glad to see this has turned into a general book recommendation thread

I do a book discussion group once a month at my library. My favorite thus far was the letters collection of John and Abigail Adams titled My Dearest Friend - it was incredibly fascinating. Unlike a lot of 18th century writing you'll find in the Adam's letters a near modern English conversational style (well to me, as a 40 something woman who dislikes texting "English" that is .

You can tell from the letters that Abigail was yet another "First Lady" who was more intelligent and considerably more humanitarian minded than her president husband. John Adams even tells his wife she's a lot smarter than he is and notes what he's learned from her, even though he had some formal schooling (he laments the lacking quality of it though) and she was basically self-taught. What comes through in the letters is the negative historical images of John Adams are pretty accurate- except we do see with Abigail he does have some flashes of humor. Abigail comes across even better through her letters than her historical image. I came away from the book even more impressed by her, and couldn't help but imagine how much better a president she would have been than her husband.

Minor fun (but gross fact- I found out from their letters that the word "puke" to describe vomiting dates back to before the youths of John and Abigail Adams- several times they frankly describe being sick and write of "puking". I'm a bit of a linguistics geek so it was fascinating on that level too- seeing the letters reproduced in the exact way they wrote them- including misspellings. There were some turns of phrases that surprised me dated back that far as well.

Edited by ciardha, 29 July 2011 - 05:11 PM.

[Inori]

I recommend the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick.. ;]] they are really awesome

Edited by AnIMeGiRL, 28 August 2011 - 09:35 PM.

[Konohakitten]

I'd recommend any of the Pendergast books which are Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Those two really know how to keep you on the edge of your seat!

[Fyuria'sLeo]

I recommend the sequel to the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Im reading the first book at the moment but its a great read so far, the old characters are in it too so im all happy. It's called "The Lost Hero" Title really says it all, Percy pretty much went missing and no one can find him.

Edited by Fyuria'sLeo, 16 May 2012 - 12:39 AM.

[Abel Nightroad]

Some oldies, but goodies:

Doc Savage series (Lester Dent, Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and others) - He was Batman before Batman was Batman. Using nothing but his wit and a life time of training (and a mess load of money, enough make Bruce Wayne envious), he travels the world fighting bad guys and saving the day.

Dragonriders Of Pern (Anne McCaffrey started it, her son currently does it) - Can't really discuss the backstory on this one without giving spoilers. Suffice it to say, it is, as the title says, about people who ride around on dragons and the entire series, all the books, covers centuries of history.

Time Quartet/Quintet series (Madeleine L'Engle) - A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Hard to describe one thing about this series as it covers so many different things.

The Dig (Alan Dean Foster) - Oddly, a book based on a computer game. However, it is still a good stand alone story on its own merits. It is about, well, first contact, more or less. All I can say without spoilers.

Redwall series (Brian Jacques) - Not just a series for kids. Though the characters in these books are anthropromic animals, the books cover mature themes from murder, revenge, war, and so on.

Chronicles Of The Lensmen (E. E. "Doc" Smith) - Can't call yourself a true sci-fi fan if you've never read these books. Smith was inspired by his life living through the era of world war and wrote this vision of the future. Some say he's the grandfather of the entire genre.

That's all I've got for now.

Not sure if you've read it, but i would recommend starting the "Inheritance Cycle", which starts with "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini. Some people talk down on it by saying he just copied bits a pieces from other works into his series, but i beg to differ, and i highly recommend it if your into that kind of genre: Fantasy of dragons, elves, dwarves, magic, ect.

Seconded.

Edited by Abel Nightroad, 23 June 2012 - 04:15 PM.

[Angel]

Four days ago my friend introduced me to his collection and forced a book in my hand that he called "Book one of a series named The Dresden Files"

Today Im four books in and having problems getting to sleep because Im still reading at four in the morning.

[Jwolf0]

And you just hit where the books start getting BETTER. Seriously, Butcher has actually suggested before that new readers start at Book 4 and read the first three later (for background and stuff). Enjoy your continued sleepless nights!

Especially when you get to Dead Beat (book 7). Those ending chapters...

Don't cli-...ah, you know you're going to. --Click here to view--

[Smiter]

I highly recommend Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

The year is 2044 and the world is in near-ruins. The Great Recession has taken its toll on the world's economy, and resources are scarce. The Internet and gaming culture have evolved into a creation known as OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a massive multiplayer online simulation game created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Simulation Systems (GSS), formerly known as Gregarious Games. Halliday, with no heirs or other living family, dies suddenly and leaves a video will to those in OASIS and a book that was dubbed Anorak's Almanac, a journal written by Halliday himself containing all his thoughts. The video says that whoever can collect three keys (Copper, Jade, and Crystal) that are hidden throughout the universe of OASIS and pass through the matching gates will receive his fortune and controlling stake in GSS. This becomes known as the Hunt and people immediately begin the search for Halliday's Easter Egg. Those searching for the Egg are referred to as "gunters," a portmanteau of "egg hunters." Gunters devote an enormous amount of time to studying 1980s pop culture, the decade Halliday grew up in and was perpetually obsessed with, in the hope it will assist them with locating and solving the puzzles involved with the egg.
As the book opens, many years have passed since Halliday's death, but none of the keys have been found. The public frenzy about the hunt has receded into a gunter subculture, while Innovative Online Industries corporation continues to operate a task force dedicated to solving the puzzles and seizing control of GSS.

This book was a lot of fun to read, and I enjoyed the characters and world of OASIS. Readers will definitely find plenty to relate to, and anyone who had an 80s childhood will enjoy it even more!

[sushi.]

The hunger games. Don't even compare it to twilight, just because it's a book series turned into a movie. (those people exist DX) The Hunger games is actually very well written, and the main character is a good heroine. HG and The lovely bones is my two favourite books, the text flows very well, I just read through it with ease and I don't like reading books.

[Sakamaki Izayoi]

50 shades of gray + The hunger games + Twilight and you're done.

[KonaKonaFan]

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE A BOOK THREAD HERE


In hindsight I don't know why I didn't just make one myself... Anyway.


I am an avid young adult book reader, so here are my suggestions!

Three non- young adult recommendations I will give are The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Most people have heard of the latter two, but not as many people have heard of The Dice Man, I find. Too bad, it's a great piece of dark humor.

One YA novel I've been raving over lately is Pink by Lili Wilkinson. It gives an interesting look at the teenage LGBT community and teenage sexuality itself. It's one of those books that makes you just stop and think about other people's lives. You know? That's the best way I can describe it.

Every few years I make a point to reread The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. Oh. My. God. No teenage reader girl can live without this series, I swear. *fangirl flails*

For the obligatory female body image novel, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Caroline Mackler. This manages to do the whole, "Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes," thing without being cliche, trite, or preachy, which, if you are as into the YA scene as much as I am, you know that's hard to do. However, the story doesn't only just focus on loving your weight, it also focuses on self-expression and loving every part of yourself.

Oh, also anything by Barry Lyga, such as The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Hero Type, and Boy Toy. Especially Boy Toy.

Ahhh, I'll just stop now and recommend more later! I'm totes dying to post more!

EDIT: OMG, I cannot believe I forgot Going Bovine by Libba Bray! Such a hilarious, fun, interesting story!

Edited by KonaKonaFan, 22 March 2013 - 04:05 AM.