I'm an avid reader, dont see a thread for book recommendations so... My own genre of choice is fantasy....the swords and sorcery type, not the karma sutra type (although that has its place too!) A few series worthy of a place in any library in my opinion are... The Belgariad (David Eddings) 5 Books The Conqueror (Ami Marmell) 2 Books The Elenium (David Eddings) 3 Books Entreri seires (David Pontier) 3 Books Farseer chronicles (Robin Hobb) 3 books The first Law (Joe Abercrombie) 3 books + stand alone Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson) 3 Books Orcs (Stan Nichols) 3 Books Raymond E. Feist and David Gemmell are authors of dozens of works and their own websites will give reading orders. Cannot recommend them highly enough for anyone interested in getting into the Fantasy Genre. Only thing most will say about them is that if you develop a taste for Fantasy, and read some of the "heavier" series, Feist and Gemmell will appear simplistic by comparison, I dont mean that in a disparaging way simply that both authors are basic good guy charging to the final chapter overcoming the odds all the way to save the day (usually) with little of no side plots, political intrigue etc, but still a lot of fun! so read them first, and enjoy them before moving on.
Don't forget the king of fantasy JRR Tolkien. Also Robert E Howard (Conan series) and George RR Martin (Game of Thrones). I'm currently on the 6th book in Stephen Kings The Dark Tower books which are pretty amazing.
Lets see if you feel that way when you read the end of the last Dark Tower book or want to find Stephen King and punch him in the face instead.
i like all that beat type stuff, hubert selby jr, charles bukowski, william burroughs. although burroughs stuff is really just crazy drug induced fantasy. also really like philip k dick's books, about the only sci-fi books i can stand. favourite writer is chuck palahniuk, who wrote fight club. his first 7-8 books are great
Theres another one due out in November set between "wizards and Glass" and "wolves of the Calla" http://www.stephenking.com/promo/wind_through_the_keyhole/announcement/
Of the ones you listed what which would you recommend first. Ive read The magician by Raymond E. Feist years back and loved it couldnt get in the second one for some reason.
As regards fantasy books I can't believe nobody mentioned "The Wheel of Time" books by Robert Jordan. I think they are absolutely fantastic.
Seven in all with a new one out next year. The books are best described as a mix between lord of the rings and the good the bad and the ugly. Cheers Dubred for the heads up about the new book. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
David Eddings is in my opinion a must read. The Elenium is a great yarn. Central hero is a Knight (Sparhawk) with some magic at his disposal. Some very good story telling and a dry sense of humour that will have some chuckles for you. The Belgarion is well worth a read too (read it several times myself) your typical coming of age story for a peasent boy going on to become a king and all the adventures he and his various companions go through to get him there.but theres a stand alone that serves as a backdrop to the whole tale called Belgarath the sorcerer. A very good story in itself. Entreri seires (David Pontier) gave me my favorite anti hero of all time. an assassin and is an expansion of a character in the Salvatore books about Dritzz a dark elf. Hard to get your hands on (unless you have a decent torrent site) but well worth it. Anything by David Gemmell are worth your time, particularly "Legend" his first book introducing Druss the Axeman. Two other novels have Druss in them and again, personally I love them. Gemmells heros or antiheroes tend to be the main focus of the novels, as in theres very little jumping from character to character. Thers 15 or more books to chose from and the only ones I didnt have a lot of time for are The stones of power series and the Troy series. Anything else grab it. Joe Abercrombie is relatively new but his books are absolutely awesome. Very graphic, and characters tend to be more humanised than most other authors, in that they have faults as opposed to being purely good or evil.
Anything by Lee Child for me.His ex military cop character Jack reacher is a great lead in each book.Find these books almost impossible to put down.Highly recommended!!
I got a Kindle for Christmas and i downloaded 2 torrents with about 5000 books in them. If you like crime books i love John Connolly's Charlie Parker books.
Sounds like something i'd be into, must have a look. Just back from Holidays and read some good books, two of Micheal Connollys - the Brass Verdict which is a follow up on character from Lincoln Lawyer, also got Connollys first book on Harry Bosch which is a great read, the Black Echo. Read a fantasy book from David Gemill called Legend which was a good read too.
Book IIV: The Dark Tower is actully the last one and completes the series, the new one thats due out next year takes place between book IV and V so its just an expansion book. I wont spoil anything for you but after the last chapter in book IV King wrote an Afterword which continues the story on a bit and King himself actually tells you not to read it, and take it from someone who ignored his warning close the book and put it back on the shelf at that point and you will be happy you read the series.
Serpeus (and anyone else with an e-reader) have you downloaded the Calibre application? If not, highly recommend you do. Its free, and the best piece of software for e-readers out there. Its a library thingy but has a few great apps on it. One being that you can convert any file format to the format your reader uses. Means you can grab virtually any book in any format from torrent sites and make it fit your book reader.
More recommendations.... Just finished one set, started another and on book 4 of 5 in another. (I cant just read one book at a time..) Rangers apprentice series by John Flanagan (the Australian author not a certain fullback) is a 10 book set with 4-5 central characters rotating around Will, the apprentice in the title. Great light reading with plenty of action. I mean light in that its not a set of political intigue a la "Song of Ice and Fire" (Game of thrones being book 1). Second set I came across I've seen several times but avoided as I thought it was purely young adult fantasy, and the covers of the series look like they are purely going to be about a young girls coming to womanhood in fun adventures like Twilight for instance. (I swear to robbie, I've felt like killing the leads in those books myself. Teenage angst is bad enough in real life without reading it every two pages) The Raine Benares series, by Lisa Shearin - currently 5 books is none of the above. The Lead, Raine gets her mediocre magical powers jazzed up by an accidental bonding to an ancient magical stone of soul sucky uppyness. the books are her adventures trying to get un-bonded and staying alive at the same time. She also manages to have "feelings" for two men at the same time, and I promise you its not some Victorian love story, as her feeling run more towards the "tingly in special places" as she puts it herself. The books are from chuckle to yourself to laugh out loud all the way through. Virtually all the characters are downright sarcastic and I have to say I havent enjoyed a series as much in a long time. Last set I found are the "Meg" series by Steve Alten. Think Jaws, but make the shark into a Megalodon rather than a great white. For those of the non shark nut variety (card holding member here), Megalodon was the grand-daddie of the great white. Same shark just a little bigger, about 50 ft give or take. Teeth the size of your hand, and work your way back from there. These creatures DID exist up to 10,000 years ago scientists think but have obviously disappeared.....or have they? Thats where the books start, deep sea diving in the Marina trench, two of our heroes find that Meg's are not as extinct as theyre supposed to be. By the time we get back up the seven miles to the surface, we're down one hero and plus one Megalodon in open waters. Not going to be included in any classic literature lists but a good adrenaline fest set of books and worth a scout.
Just finished Ozzy Osbournes autobiograhy, even if your not into music, this book is a brilliant read both gripping and humourous, I'd highly reccommed it, how he's still alive is amazing in itself. Just started Keith Richards autobiography, I'll post back when I'm finished.