Well with vacation finally here I am in need for some good literature to crunch through.
I've been reading science fiction and realistic novels all year long now so I'm looking for a well-written, captivating, fantasy book. I hobbled over to my bookstore only to come face to face with an enormous selection of fantasy books. usually when I find myself in such a situation i pick out a book with a pretty cover and leaf through it... but I realized that is not a very intelligent way to pick a good book.
So I bought Children of Dune (even though I can't stand the cold storyline and it isn't exactly beach-literature) And thus I appeal to you: Please, recommend me a good book.

And to Indignus: before you mention it, I'm not interested in reading 'The Good Earth', got that?

If you're looking for a well-written, captivating fantasy book, I know just the book(s) for you. It's a series of fantasy books called a song of ice and fire, by George R. R. Martin, and it's the best fantasy I've ever read.

The first book in the series is called A Game of Thrones, so that is where you should start. The books are very well-written and the story is simply amazing. It has some excellent plot twists, and you're never sure what is going to happen next. I highly recommend those books.

Be aware, though, that the series isn't finished. Martin just finished the 4th book, called A Feast For Crows, and three more are planned, although it could easily be more than that (originally, only six books were planned, but the fourth book got so massive that he had to split it in two).

Anyway, if it's good fantasy, you're looking for, this is definitely it. It's the best there is. :)

Edit: Spoiler-free review

Besides the two I recomende in the other post I'd recomend some of these:

Jaroslav Hašek - The Good Soldier Švejk
Umberto Eco - Name of the Rose
Vladimir Bartol - Alamut
Winston Groom - Forest Gump (the book the film was based upon)
Ernest Hemingway - A Ferwell to Arms, For whom the Bell Tolls
Arthur C. Clarke - 2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, Childhood's End, City and the Stars


(not sure if english translations even exist)
Jaroslav Boček - The Case of dr. Karpeta
Stanislav Lem - The Adventures of space pilot Pyke
Frenk Bükvič - The Buss of Fools

Well that's for now... More to follow.

What I can whole-heartedly reccomend you is the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Those books are a good read and there's a bunch of them, I'd advice you to read them all one after the other, this will easily take you the whole summer.

more info here.

I'd recommend Diana Wynne-Jones' Tough Guide to Fantasyland. It plays on all sorts of fantasy and roleplaying clichés; I found it hilarious. If you prefer the more serious stuff, Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb is quite good as well. It's the first part of a trilogy.

I should reccomend you my book, but it isn't finished... :tomato:

Anyway the ones by Terry Brooks about Shaannara are good! :ok:

The entire discworld series by Terry Pratchett, all books by Robin Hobb.

Hi Stroggy :bye:

I must recommend The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings by Tolkien.
The ULTIMATE story of good versus evil.

Have fun LOL

Micheal Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné ,The History of the Runestaff and The Chronicles of Castle Brass.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman: Dragonlance Chronicles ("Dragons of Autumn Twilight", "Dragons of Winter Night" and "Dragons of Spring Dawning") and Dragonlance Legends ("Time of the Twins", "War of the Twins" and "Test of the Twins").

Have fun! :ok:

I'm reading Chainfire by Terry Goodkind. You should read whole Sword of Truth series, if you like fantasy books.

Rest of the books from series are:
P. Debt of Bones
1. Wizard’s First rule
2. Stone of Tears
3. Blood of the Fold
4. Temple of the Winds
5. Soul of the Fire
6. Faith of the Fallen
7. Pillars of Creation
8. Naked Empire
9. Chainfire

I recommend the Discworld books(Suprise!) or the Lords of the Rings.
For some good classic reading,i recommed Bram Stokers Dracula(Very good classic,with the real "non-action" Van Helsing in it).

That mentioning of Drakula reminded me where I got it from (for free).

Check out this free eBook downloads.
I know - a book is something you hold in the hand and take out of the room with you, but these are really worth looking into (maybe not for the light summer read, but deffinetly worth reading).

"Incarnations of Immortality" Series by Piers Anthony

At least the first book "On A Pale Horse"
I'd explain what they are about but im 2 lazy.... just google for the name of the first book. believe me they are really cool... if you like the fantasy stuff

First of all: whats with all the "Terry" books?

Terry Pratchett
Terry Brooks
Terry Goodkind

(I have books by all those authors, but it IS weird)


A book BESIDES The Good Earth? (While, it really is a dang good book but if you want....)

Ice Hunt, By James Rollins. Other very good books by him: Amazonia, Subterranean, Excavation, Deep Fathom (havent read this one yet)

All very very very good modern sci-fi books. You get sucked in really fast. :ok:

If you can't find him, find Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Sphere, Congo, The Terminal Man, Airframe, Prey, can't think of any more.... :D

Similar to James Rollins, very good scifi.

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (in five books) by Douglas Adams.

Aye, Hitchhikers guide is very good, too. :ok:

Well i haven't read all of the later replies since I went to buy the book, but come on... what kind of literary recluse do you take me for? i've already read all the discworld books, the tolkien books (didn't really like the story but I enjoyed the structure) and I just finished reading the last book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (pity really, i bought all those ugly little books, and now they suddenly launch a new book which contains all the books in the series and has a nifty cover, damn!)

And to Sebatianos, I already read all the books you suggested, except for 'The Good Soldier Švejk' and the ones you didn't know if they were translated, but thanks anyway, they are great books.

I couldn't find the Terry Brooks book (well i found them, but not the first in the series) so i just went with "A Game of Thrones" (thanks Flop, hope the book doesn't turn out to be a flop) which looks interesting and reads smoothly which is just the thing I want in beach literature, not that I am adverse to deep books which requires some reflection and pondering, but it's not the thing I want when lying on the beach.

I think it was Pratchett who spoke of this in one of his books including Rincewind (I think it was in The Last Continent): during the vacation everybody will try to read something profound and important, but no matter what you take with you, that book will change (because of quantum) into a book with a catchy and cool name and cover.

Thank you for all the suggestions, I'll be sure to check out Terry Brooks again.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :ok:

I also hope that you don't get a complete breakdown, in two weels time when you've read the three first books, and realise that the series isn't finished. :D

If that happens, just remember that he just finished the fourth and that it'll be published in october or november.

Ah, this is the chance I've been waiting for, it has been a long time since i've been able to wait for a book in anticipation. Sure, it's fun when pratchett's new book is in the stores, but since his stories aren't ever really continuous it's not the same as waiting and thinking "I wonder what will happen next?"

Maybe so, but Martin writes very slowly (quality over quantity and all that). It took him five years to write the last book, and the only reason it didn't take him longer is because it was split in two (i.e. it wasn't really done, but the final work would have been way too big one book). But with any hope the fifth one won't take too long to write, since he's already written at least some of it (about 40% according to himself).

Anyway, although it goes down fast you may still want to put it down once in a while and ponder what happens next. I know I did, anyway, but also to just check the "family trees" in the back of the book, since there are so many people to keep track off. :)

There doesn't seem to be one

Science Fiction but not so far off and futuristic
I would read Crichton books

Jurassic Park
Prey

I enjoy his books much better than any of the movies that they made about them, and I probably learned more about Dinosaurs, Cloning technology, and Nanotechnology theorys from him than I normally would from casual reading :)

There doesn't seem to be one [/b][/quote]
Really? There should be an appendix, with a list of the most important members of the main houses. Which version did you get (although the list should be in all versions, AFAIK)? I have the bantam paperback myself.

Perhaps a book made by Patricia Cornwell or Tony Hillarman? Of course, this is if you like crime(homicide) solving material.

I can dig up some more authors in a little bit... The NAMES only :bleh:

Have you read any of the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan, Stroggy? The first 4 are definetely good fantasy. After that the story tends to drag a little, with some good parts though. The only downside is, that after 10 books, the end is still nog in sight... Still a good read though.

And it's not fantasy but fantastic SF: Peter Hamilton's 'Nights Dawn'-trilogy is a guaranteed page-turner.

And, though I'm not familiar with his works, someone recommended the Dutch fantasy-writer Peter Schaap to me. 'De schrijvenaar van Thyll' is supposed to be an excellent book... I'm going to try that one myself somewhere in the near future...

I read all the Michael Crichton books already, he used to be my favourite author.

The Wheel of Time books were good, but as you said they tend to drag on a bit, which is why I gave up halfway through the 4th book (don't worry i'll pick it up again some day, just as I eventually finished reading Dune Messiah, which had a pretty slow story for such a small book)

The HarperCollins paperback version, and there is no appendix, it just ends with a list of recommended books. Perhaps you could scan it, it sounds crucial.

That's very strange. I don't have a scanner unfortunately, but I'm a passive member on the asoiaf board, and I'll try asking them if they can help. You do have the maps right? Otherwise you can get them here (the maps of the north and south are the only ones included in the first book). Be careful what else you read on that page, though, as it can contain major spoilers.

And you're absolutely, one hundred percent sure that you don't have the appendix. My version of the book ends with a preview chapter of the next book, and the appendix comes before that, so maybe you just didn't look thoroughly enough? Anyway, I'll let you know what the dudes on asoiaf says.

Ah, thanks but no need, I found it online (It begins with House Baratheon, right?)

Hm - seems like it's the rather popular sci-fi and fantasy books that are at rage here. However, I'd like to recommend the excellent, yet fairly unknown "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. It's a touching one with excellent storytelling, and no one I know has regretted reading it.

Of course, my suggestions from the previous thread still stand.

Yeah, it does. Great! But beware plot spoilers when surfing for asoiaf info, as the plot takes some major twists, and trying to figure out what happens next is one of the things I enjoyed the most while reading them.

Anyway, when you're done with the books that are out now, there are two short stories as well, which take place about 100 years before A Gane of Thrones, and the first one of those has even been adapted as a comic book (very successfully, I might add).

No one I know personally has ever read Pratchett books.


I'm taking special care, Dune was ruined for me because of spoilers placed in reviews that were supposedly spoiler-free.

I read that, is Chainfire good? Haven't read that one yet....

OK so, ya like he said Sword of Truth...
Also: The Green Mile, Neeful Things, The Regulators (all Stephen King, Regulators is Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King) Net Force (Tom Clancy), The magic of Recluse (forget the author) and don't forget Twizzle the Wonder Bunny!!

Let's Parler Franglais is hilarious if your english and french is ok.

Hmmm... I just read The Tiger In The Well by Phillip Pullman, that was good.

erm... everybody who hasnt already has got to read "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger... ex-specialy (yeah yeah shut up) the people between like 15-20... GREAT BOOK!

i just finished "The Heart of Darkness"

its a good book and very poetic.
Its all about Belgium colonialism in the Congo. (and other stuff)
i highly recomend it if you like that sort of book. :ok:

I recommend you to read Carlos Castaneda, great adventure ...
:kosta:

Interview with the Vampire

I also finished it just a week ago, as my girlfriend bought it for me and urged to read it. It is a fine one, with an atmosphere you can cut with a machete. The language is very rich, and it's hard to believe the author wasn't an English native speaker.

In case there's someone unaware of it, this is the book Apocalypse Now! is loosely based on.

The Relic, Thunderhead, and any other book containing Agent Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Discworld series. Redwall series.

Well i think I've got more than enough to read now, but feel free to post more titles, I'm sure this is a handy thread for others.

Strangely i remembered only now to reccomend you the books written by Ray Bradbury: very well written! They're masterpieces of art IMO!

the salmon of doubt by douglas adams. not only is it full of amazing material, but also it is the best insight into the arch hitchikers mind i have come across in book form.
it is actually one of the only books that has bought tears to my eyes a little, as it is such a shame that adams a man with many ideas still to come died and yet noel edmunds who is older than him and far more hated still survives.

Wow, that brings back memories. I used to buy one of those a month with my pocket money years ago before I moved onto Discworld paperbacks; my sister's still got them. Salamandastron was the best by quite some way, however irritating those hares were. They are quite possibly the most twee series since Enid Blyton died, and they get very samey towards the end (well, all the way through actually).

I used to love em.....(redwall) I would read them all the time when I was 5 or 6....now I hate them . The older I get the more I hate books about mice and hares and foxes and rats and so forth. It just sounds too ridiculous to me.

They were very good, though. :ok:

I agree on Ray Bradbury's books (a bit more artsy then Asimon [did I recomend him to you in this thread already?] or Clarke - but still excelent).

Then there are many other books that would be simply excelent (I'll just go by the authors):
- Karl May (I'm sure you've heard of and maybe even watched the films, but have you read them?)
- Julius Verne (I bet you read most of his work, if there's something you missed out you should go to the library now - and if you read them when you were younger then 12 you should reread them again - they give you a completely new perspective)
- Jose Saramago (his style of writing is something completely else and his books are from historycal right up to the social realism - great stuff)
- Mark Twain (remember his books are social/political satire mostly, so don't simply go for Huckelbery Finn or Tom Sawyer - although those two aren't bad either)
- Jack Karuac (he talks about things that were basicaly the inspiration for the hippie movement, so you're bound to like it :sneaky: )
- John Steinbeck (what can I say - novels at their best)

As I said before: "More will follow..."

even Of Mice And Men? I hated that book at school. Blech.

I tried it once but can't say I really liked it.

I read them in french a few years ago, there are still a few I haven't read but I'm not in the mood for french literature now.

My dear old granny gave me all his books for my last birthday, I'm ashamed to admit I enjoyed reading his (rather racist) journals more than his stories.

I had to read "On the Road" for English, I can't say I agree with it but it sure drives a point (just because I don't agree with it, doesn't mean I can't enjoy it... not that I enjoyed it though)

I'm lukewarm towards Steinbeck, I enjoyed reading "The Winter of our Discontent" but I can't say the same for "East of Eden" and "of Mice and Men"... perhaps it's just me.

Steinbeck: "The Pearl" sucked. Had to study it for english.

Asimov (not asimon :D ): love him. I,Robot is the best book ever written IMO.

I tried to read the original english text but I just could not understand it. It was the most difficult text I had and have read!!!

Why don't you try Chinua Achebe's (pronounced Achaba)Things Fall Apart. It is a very good novel on the pre- and post-colonial lifestyle of the lower Niger tribes. Although it sounds hard to read , it is a very
"digestible" book.

Well, as odd as this may sound Masters of Doom by David Kushner is a Awesome book, chroncling the adventures of the Two Johns through making Wolf 3D, Doom, and Quake.

I have found that for long, boring drives books on tape are awesome.
Anyone else notice this?

Like with music my mind just forgets it is playing so I don't think i'd be able to focus my attention on the story while doing something else (like driving)

Not really, it's hard for me to actually pay attention to books on tape, I enjoy listening to them, but there's a point where I start thinking of other things and later realize that I missed a chunk of the story, so it's not my thing.

I enjoy reading comedy and satire induced literature on a road trip, right now my book of choice is :

If Chins Could Kill - Bruce Campbell

Funny and informing.