I need help discovering incredible books.

PapaNer · 06-16-2012, 04:48 PM

Hello all,

The majority of my life I have neglected reading books and was more focused on learning about computers and playing video games and such. In my junior year of high school, I was introduced to Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, and now I read it once a year. This was good as it got me into reading, but for a long time I could find nothing to compare it to.

Skipping forward a touch, I got a Kindle last Christmas, and started spending all of my free time at work reading. I got through various silly things, such as World War Z and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Then I moved on and finally read the entire Harry Potter series, Hitch Hikers Guide series, Lord of the Rings series, and am starting on Game of Thrones (Which is the first book that I saw a TV show stick so close to, that's awesome).

In short, I like a variety of book types. From comedy science fiction (like Tom Holt's work) to some of the grittier mind-blowing thrillers like House of Leaves. I guess I just want to find more books that excite me. Books that make me feel emotion. Most of all, I want a well thought out, well written and interesting set of books to venture into.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated, and if it's on Kindle, if I read it I promise that if I ever meet any of you, I will personally give you the best High-Five of your life.

Thank you for your time.

Apache · 06-16-2012, 05:01 PM

For funny try Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaasen.
The Vlad Taltos Series by Stephen Brust is a great Fantasy Read as is The Dresden Files by jim Butcher.
Honor Harrington by David Weber or Miles Vorkosigan by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Longmire by Craig Johnson or Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe for mystery.
There just to many of any category but, these are great starts.
Apache

PapaNer · 06-16-2012, 05:14 PM

Thanks! I'll start making my list and researching.

FizzyWater · 06-16-2012, 05:22 PM

It's so hard to know what another person will consider "incredible". One of my favorite books is Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. On the surface, it's just a suspense novel. But I felt it dealt with so many other themes - the loyalty and loss of friendship from childhood to adulthood, the loss of a child, the struggle of a person between "right" and "wrong" and how people determine what that is... I just thought it was a lot deeper than "just" a suspense novel.

I just downloaded a copy of James Hilton's Lost Horizon from the library. I read it when I was a teenager, so it's been many, many years. But I remember it being interesting and thought-provoking. It was written in the 30s, so I'll be interested to see how my tastes have changed over the years.

carpetmojo · 06-16-2012, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaNer

................................................" Game of Thrones (Which is the first book that I saw a TV show stick so close to, that's awesome)."........................................ .........

I believe that's a moot point, if the comments I've heard by those who have seen it are anything to go by ..........

SteveEisenberg · 06-16-2012, 10:00 PM

Taste is so incredibly personal. I often can't finish what I start, showing I didn't even know my own tastes, much less yours.

However, one thing I can do is google. So here's an idea:

10 favorite novels by Alabama authors set in Alabama

Nyssa · 06-17-2012, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apache

For funny try Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaasen.
The Vlad Taltos Series by Stephen Brust is a great Fantasy Read as is The Dresden Files by jim Butcher.
Honor Harrington by David Weber or Miles Vorkosigan by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Longmire by Craig Johnson or Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe for mystery.
There just to many of any category but, these are great starts.
Apache

I strongly 2nd The Dresden Files, and The Honor Harrington series. I tentatively 2nd the Vorkosigan series..it is on my TBR list, but I have not read any of them as yet.

If you think you might like a comedy/paranormal mix I'd suggest the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series by Kate Connor .

ametzler · 06-17-2012, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaNer

In short, I like a variety of book types. From comedy science fiction (like Tom Holt's work) [...]

Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair might fit.

kennyc · 06-17-2012, 07:58 AM

There are no Incredible books, only incredible readers.

I'm mostly a short story reader, but:

Here's my top 10 list(s):

The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany
Foundation Trilogy - Issac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien
City - Clifford D. Simak
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Top 10 SF:
In no particular order after the first two.

Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany
Foundation Trilogy - Issac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
City - Clifford D. Simak
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Ringworld - Larry Niven
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood

in general any John Irving, E.L. Doctorow, Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy.

There's are new Anne Tyler and John Irving novels just released I'm looking forward to reading.

If you enjoy short stories, I always enjoy the annual anthologies: Years Best SF, the Best American Short Stories, and the Pen/O Henry Prize Anthology. (all available as ebooks)

Oh and keep your high-five, send money, I'm a struggling writer.

jgaiser · 06-17-2012, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I strongly 2nd The Dresden Files, and The Honor Harrington series. I tentatively 2nd the Vorkosigan series..it is on my TBR list, but I have not read any of them as yet.

Well, I'll positively 2nd the Vorkosigan series. Lots of humor, lots of action, an intriguing central character (Miles Naismith Vorkosigan) - Poisoned in the womb, he's 4-foot-nine, hunch-backed, and fragile boned. An aristocratic Vor and the leader of a mercenary army. One of the best space opera series I've read recently.

charlesatan · 06-17-2012, 10:51 PM

I really, really loved Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord. I dislike the term magic-realism and it would seem it falls under that category at first but it's not.

There's also something borgesian when it comes to Zoran Zivkovic's writing, more specifically Twelve Collections and The Teashop.

AndrewH · 06-17-2012, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Foundation Trilogy - Issac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien
City - Clifford D. Simak

Yes!

In addition to those, my choices would be:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
Anything (except Ysabel, ugh) by Guy Gavriel Kay.
The Mistborn Trilogy, followed by Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.
Soul Catcher by Frank Herbert. I believe this was his only novel that wasn't sci fi.

taosaur · 06-18-2012, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaNer

Any suggestions would be very appreciated, and if it's on Kindle, if I read it I promise that if I ever meet any of you, I will personally give you the best High-Five of your life.

Thank you for your time.

I haven't read House of Leaves, but if you want more books with an experimental narrative, two of my favorites are William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller... TSATF is mostly noted for the section told in stream-of-consciousness from the perspective of a man with severe mental disabilities, but the same events are then narrated from two very different perspectives, finishing with a more conventional third-person omniscient section following a household servant and touching on everyone's lives after the events.

Traveller is my favorite Calvino book, told in a second-person voice that starts with the general "you" in abstract, hypothetical terms and only gradually becomes a more concrete and specific narrative.

Pax · 06-18-2012, 12:34 PM

I enjoyed many of books you mentioned. I can recommend "Shogun" by James Clavell.
Check it out! If you like it, just let me know.

drofgnal · 06-18-2012, 02:36 PM

You mention comedy sci-fi. I'd strongly recommend 'Old Man's War' by John Scalzi. It was a mobileread bookclub book one month. It has two sequels that are equally entertaining.

Since you are relatively new to reading, i'd recommend you put in a few classics from time to time. War and Peace, Les Miserables etc. Some of the old literature although maybe hard to get through at first is well worth the effort. My favorite classics (Not in any particular order)

War and Peace
Catcher in the Rye
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
Gone with the Wind

A few in the above posts are true sci-fi classics, and I'd add Farenheit 451 to those.

06-16-2012, 04:48 PM	#1
PapaNer Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 2292 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Prattville, AL Device: Kindle	I need help discovering incredible books. Hello all, The majority of my life I have neglected reading books and was more focused on learning about computers and playing video games and such. In my junior year of high school, I was introduced to Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, and now I read it once a year. This was good as it got me into reading, but for a long time I could find nothing to compare it to. Skipping forward a touch, I got a Kindle last Christmas, and started spending all of my free time at work reading. I got through various silly things, such as World War Z and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Then I moved on and finally read the entire Harry Potter series, Hitch Hikers Guide series, Lord of the Rings series, and am starting on Game of Thrones (Which is the first book that I saw a TV show stick so close to, that's awesome). In short, I like a variety of book types. From comedy science fiction (like Tom Holt's work) to some of the grittier mind-blowing thrillers like House of Leaves. I guess I just want to find more books that excite me. Books that make me feel emotion. Most of all, I want a well thought out, well written and interesting set of books to venture into. Any suggestions would be very appreciated, and if it's on Kindle, if I read it I promise that if I ever meet any of you, I will personally give you the best High-Five of your life. Thank you for your time.

06-17-2012, 07:58 AM	#9
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,891 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	There are no Incredible books, only incredible readers. I'm mostly a short story reader, but: Here's my top 10 list(s): The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany Foundation Trilogy - Issac Asimov Dune - Frank Herbert Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien City - Clifford D. Simak Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving The Road - Cormac McCarthy Top 10 SF: In no particular order after the first two. Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany Foundation Trilogy - Issac Asimov Dune - Frank Herbert City - Clifford D. Simak Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein The Road - Cormac McCarthy Ringworld - Larry Niven The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood in general any John Irving, E.L. Doctorow, Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy. There's are new Anne Tyler and John Irving novels just released I'm looking forward to reading. If you enjoy short stories, I always enjoy the annual anthologies: Years Best SF, the Best American Short Stories, and the Pen/O Henry Prize Anthology. (all available as ebooks) Oh and keep your high-five, send money, I'm a struggling writer. Last edited by kennyc; 06-17-2012 at 08:04 AM.

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06-16-2012, 05:01 PM	#2
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,262 Karma: 90000484 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	For funny try Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaasen. The Vlad Taltos Series by Stephen Brust is a great Fantasy Read as is The Dresden Files by jim Butcher. Honor Harrington by David Weber or Miles Vorkosigan by Lois McMaster Bujold. Longmire by Craig Johnson or Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe for mystery. There just to many of any category but, these are great starts. Apache

06-16-2012, 05:14 PM	#3
PapaNer Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 2292 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Prattville, AL Device: Kindle	Thanks! I'll start making my list and researching.

06-16-2012, 05:22 PM	#4
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	It's so hard to know what another person will consider "incredible". One of my favorite books is Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. On the surface, it's just a suspense novel. But I felt it dealt with so many other themes - the loyalty and loss of friendship from childhood to adulthood, the loss of a child, the struggle of a person between "right" and "wrong" and how people determine what that is... I just thought it was a lot deeper than "just" a suspense novel. I just downloaded a copy of James Hilton's Lost Horizon from the library. I read it when I was a teenager, so it's been many, many years. But I remember it being interesting and thought-provoking. It was written in the 30s, so I'll be interested to see how my tastes have changed over the years.

06-16-2012, 10:00 PM	#6
SteveEisenberg Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,371 Karma: 42994616 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: near Philadelphia USA Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)	Taste is so incredibly personal. I often can't finish what I start, showing I didn't even know my own tastes, much less yours. However, one thing I can do is google. So here's an idea: 10 favorite novels by Alabama authors set in Alabama

06-17-2012, 10:51 PM	#11
charlesatan Addict Posts: 230 Karma: 3799024 Join Date: May 2012 Device: iPad	I really, really loved Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord. I dislike the term magic-realism and it would seem it falls under that category at first but it's not. There's also something borgesian when it comes to Zoran Zivkovic's writing, more specifically Twelve Collections and The Teashop.

06-18-2012, 12:34 PM	#14
Pax Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 1052388 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Germany, Potsdam Device: Pocketbook Touch HD 3, Sony PRS 650	I enjoyed many of books you mentioned. I can recommend "Shogun" by James Clavell. Check it out! If you like it, just let me know.

06-18-2012, 02:36 PM	#15
drofgnal Wizard Posts: 1,383 Karma: 10000000 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Ipad Pro/Kindle Oasis 3/iPhone 13 Pro Max	You mention comedy sci-fi. I'd strongly recommend 'Old Man's War' by John Scalzi. It was a mobileread bookclub book one month. It has two sequels that are equally entertaining. Since you are relatively new to reading, i'd recommend you put in a few classics from time to time. War and Peace, Les Miserables etc. Some of the old literature although maybe hard to get through at first is well worth the effort. My favorite classics (Not in any particular order) War and Peace Catcher in the Rye Les Miserables A Tale of Two Cities Gone with the Wind A few in the above posts are true sci-fi classics, and I'd add Farenheit 451 to those.

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