What are you reading?

[Keso]

I can sympathize with the guy hooked on Weber books. Although he doesn't write truly great sci-fi, his books are terribly addictive. Another addictive writer is David Gemmel. He is not a great fantasy writer but a great storyteller. I've just started reading his "The swords of night and day", a book in the Drenai series.
Sci-fi that I can recommend is Dan Simmons Hyperion series and David Brins Uplift novels. For fantasy you can't beat Guy Gavriel Kays books like "Tigana" and the "Fionavar tapestry" series.

[PREDATOR]

passage to india by e.m forster. Its dull/somewhat decent, its also for my english class. wouldnt recommend it so i wont write what the plot is about

[guyincognito]

Mystic Quest by Tracy and Laura Hickman. Anything by Laura Hickman and Margaret Weis is great and I've read them all. I'd love to see the Dragonlance Chronicles made into movies if it could be done as well as Lord of the Rings. Just finished the latest Terry Brooks novel which may be his last Shannara novel. That would also make for great movies. There's so many more that it could be in its own thread.

[guyincognito]

What are these "books" you speak of? Some sort of fancy TV?

Ha Ha! I take it you don't read books? Reminds me of my friend. His mother was a librarian and his wife is one as well. Yet he doesn't read books unless they're about computers or computer programming languages.

[Beachbum]

Gods and Generals, by Jeff Shaara. Fictional, indepth story based around 4 leaders during the Civil War, very closely tied to history. Good so far.
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway. Great story, you know it. Reading it from the writer's perspective since writing a book now myself & this novella won a nobel prize.
Told myself this morning it's time to re-read The Art of War, Sun Tzu. You know this one too.

[Highlander]

I completely agree. They are just amazingly and extraordinarily well written. I've never been so captivated by a set of books as I have been with ASOIAF by Martin.

As for Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, there are a few things I'd like to vent about it but I'll leave it be.

One other thing that sets ASOIAF above many other fantasy series is the they are really unpredictable. He's not afraid to kill off major characters.

Wheel of Time is good. I love the idea of the Aes Sedai and the chanelling of saidin and saidar etc. Crossroads of twighlight was a bit hard going (mainly due to forgetting who half the characters were) but the new one, Knife of Dreams is supposedly back to Jordan's old style where things actually happen. Apparently there is only one more book to go now to finish off the series.

[just Brian]

Death Ground: Today's American Infantry in Battle by Daniel P. Bolger.

I've also just ordred out of print Colorvision. I'm not sure if Ron Cobb authored it, but it's essentially a gallery of his set designs for Dark Star, Alien, and Conan. This book was my inspiration for my career as a science fiction illustrator...a career that lasted one semester at UAA .

[nhbfan8080]

Other than boring technical readings I read a few Dune novels by Frank Herbert.

Death Ground: Today's American Infantry in Battle by Daniel P. Bolger.
....

I've finished The Interrogators: Inside the Secret War Against al Qaeda and Love my Rifle More Than You in the military section.

[Cbear]

Some recommendations.

Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. A sci fi writer gets drunk at a convention and falls out of the hotel window by accident, killing himself. He wakes up to find himself in Hell. Dante's Hell to be exact and with the help of Benito Mussolini he journeys through each level seeking the way out.


Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove. Very inventive and fun little book where everything in life is run by magic, not technology. Magic, myths and conspiricies come together in a fun way.

The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez Revitte is the book that the movie 9th Gate was based on. The book is worlds better than the movie and has a subplot involving author Alexander Dumas that Polanski totally left out of the movie. Nice writing and an intriguing story.


David Morrell, author of First Blood, has written several excellent thriller/adventure/mystery type novels and I recommend most of them (Fraternity of the Stone, Brotherhood of the Rose, Fifth Profession, League of Night and Fog). He even did a classic horror novel, The Totem, thats an original idea and nicely done.

F. Paul Wilsons Repairman Jack series. Jack fixes people problems--permanently. Great hero and crisp writing.

[robbypark]

Highlander, when it comes to ASOIAF who are some of your favorites?

I like Dany, Tyrion, Barristan and Jon Snow.