Favorite Books/Authors

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zeekgenateer
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Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Hadn't seen one here so I'd thought I'd share some Authors and books that I've enjoyed. I'm looking for recommendations too so puhleeease give me some stuff.

My tastes run in science fiction and fantasy. I really enjoy comedic works, but also like serious stuff.
(in no particular order)

Honor Harrington Series - David Weber - space combat done "right" books seem repetitive on rereading, but my first read through of the series was great.
Harry Dresden Series - Jim Butcher - the TV show doesn't give it justice, these make me laugh reading the crazy stuff Butcher writes about, wizard detective in Chicago
Codex Alera - Jim Butcher - Another good Jim Butcher series, takes a fantasy ancient rome setting
Tawny Man/Golden Fool Series - Robin Hobb - Good fantasy about magic and intrigue
All books - John Ringo - I love all of them, all of his books make me laugh out loud with the crazy antics and stuff that happens, highly recommended
The Dragon and the George Series - Gordon oliphants - Great fantasy, an engineer is ported to an England that is magical. Has the best crazy, arrogant wizard/mentor of any story I've ever read.
Most books - Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are a must read for any tech people highly highly recommended
1632 series - Eric Flint - a West Virginian town is teleported into central germany during the 100 years war
World War series - Harry Turtledove - Aliens invade during WWII, previous enemies work together to stop their advance
Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained - Peter F Hamilton - excellent sci fi really great plot filled with lots of viewpoints (read slowly)
Ender's Game Series - my first sci-fi love, still read it from time to time
Otherland Series - Tad Williams - an excellent series of sci-fi/fantasy feel, highly recommended
Little Brother/Makers - Cory Doctorow - great near future stuff, oh and his stuff is free to read on his site highly recommended
Kit/spirit walker - Fel (site) - some good fiction not published (the forums are more updated than the stuff on his wordpress)
All Books - Terry Prachett - Mmmmm tasty satire and british humor
Hitchhikers Guide Series - Douglas Adams - one of the classics

I'll add other stuff as I remember/read it.
Last edited by zeekgenateer on Wed Jun 30, 2010 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Dissension »

Well, I tend to read nonfiction, but my favorite (published) authors include Harry Turtledove and Terry Pratchett.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Knew I was forgetting some Terry Prachett is another fave of mine. Too bad about that early onset alzheimer's. He's such a good author.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Slippery-Q »

I enjoy "do it yourselfs" and "guides" a lot.

The Zombie Survival Guide.
The Anarchist Cookbook.
The Jolly-Roger Cookbook.

Pretty much any manual holding specific information on a given subject and advantages to a set of life styles and beliefs will interest me.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Sleet »

I'm a disgrace to reading; I've never read more than one fiction book by a single author, excluding Harry Potter (of which I am a big fan) and Narnia (which I read when I was much younger, and don't remember too much from).

I think I would like Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut from what I've heard about them. I should try to get on that.

As for books that aren't children's fantasy, I really liked reading To Kill a Mockingbird in school, and fairly recently I read Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves, which was pretty rad. I'd probably call those my two favorite non-Harry Potter books, which is not a very big accomplishment since they don't have much competition at all.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by ChewyChewy »

I like a lot of Stephen King's works, especially The Dark Tower series and IT.

I also enjoy the works of J. M. Barrie, especially (what else?) Peter and Wendy.

I've also read Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut and will never forget that.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Kurt Vonnegut was ruined for me by being included in part of my english curriculum back in high school though Slaughterhouse 5 was one the more interesting stories I read and by far one of the most confusing. And Prachett is great to read for laughs. I might suggest Going Postal for one of my favorites.

On another note what happened to reading for the sake of reading in schools, now you have to analyze for made up self interpreted meaning crap in every book. My college humanities class was better but god I didn't want to read Virgina wolf the greatest literary troll of all time senior. Too the lighthouse? Puhleease [rant off]
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Liam »

Well, let's see...
  • Bas-Lag series and pretty much eveything else by China Miéville - all of it is highly imaginative

    Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde - books in best Discworld tradition in terms of humor and ideas

    The Hunger Gamestrilogy by Suzanne Collins - just captivating

    Everything by Peter Watts - brainy stuff for an excellent reading experience

    The Culture series by Iain Banks - showing Star Trek writers how to do it since 1987
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Tiggy »

Yahum...

The Redwall books by Brian Jacques... (Only read two, though <.<)

War of the ancients trilogy by Richard A. Knaak (Only read first one ARGH, gotta get down readin the other two sometime)

Other than that, I don't read very much :3
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

I read Redwall when I was younger, like back in middle school, so a little YA, but they were good when I read them.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by 44R0NM10 »

Roald Dahl. He is awesome. I've read a lot of his books, and own a few as well!

Margret Elizabeth Rey and H. A. Rey. Both wrote the curious George series. They didn't sell those books to England until after the movie came out. I read them because of my autie who lives in America! Once a year when she came over, she had another book to read! Yay!

Francesca Simon. She wrote the Horrid Henry series and it has been my favorite book series to this day!
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by ArgentFlame »

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, as mentioned by zeek up there, they are both hilarious and awesome.
The Nightside series by Simon R. Green, a dark fantasy/sci-fi Private Eye type series.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Slippery-Q »

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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by The Game »

Hunger Games= EPIC WIN!!! I can't wait for Mockingjay!!

The 39 Clues, by a lotta different authors. (It's dumb that there are only 10 books)

Anything by Rick Riordan. I love him!! He's great!!! I cannot WAIT for the Lost Hero!!

The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart. That man is great and I loved that trilogy.

North of Beautiful, by Justina Headley. Girly, but good anyway.

let's see, what else....

Matilda, by Roald Dahl. Read the book and seen the movie, at least 5 times each.

Maximum Ride, by James Patterson. They're good, but he sorta needs to improve his writing style....

Also, the Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale. Very very good; I love the books of Bayern.

I can't think of anymore right now.....
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Enty »

As with everything, a big fan of the classics. Goethe, Shakespeare, Dickens xD

As for modern day authors, Steven King is my only real favourite "author."

And TH White is somewhere in between classic and modern. "The Once and Future King" was simply amazing.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Typhon »

Ender's Game. I love that book so much. Who wouldn't like a book about tactical military genius kids who kill other kids to stay on top?
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Hate to bump a semi dead thread, but I'm still on the lookout for good authors, haven't found anything interesting and "new" in a while.

Also if anyone is looking for free books online to pass the time here are some actually published books whose authors have their stuff put up online. They don't give up the copyright, they just want people to read it, enjoy it, and maybe buy it if they like it enough (cause every avid reader knows a hardcopy is better than an ebook).

Baen Free Library - With some of the Honor Harrington Series, 1632, and some of John Ringo's books this site is AWESOME. Baen publishes some really good sci-fi.

Cory Doctorow's Books Some of his books are really interesting. I suggest Makers and Little Brother, some of his short stories are also good.

Mind and Body by Aaron Dunlap In a crazy Jason Bourne, Manchuria Candidate like cross crazy stuff is going down. A good action novel.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by LucidDarkness »

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

This book has touched me on so many levels, and having gone throughthe mahority of the stuff talked about in the book. I have a deep personal connection to it..
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Dubiousity »

There was this one 7 book series, about how the government tried to control the population and people were only allowed to have 2 children, if they had more they were hunted down and killed.

It was about the 3rd/4th/5th children etc. rising up and securing their rights to live. I can't for the life of me remember.

EDIT: It was by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
* Among the Hidden (1998)
* Among the Impostors (2001)
* Among the Betrayed (2002)
* Among the Barons (2003)
* Among the Brave (2004)
* Among the Enemy (2005)
* Among the Free (2006)
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Teh Brawler »

Dubiousity wrote:There was this one 7 book series, about how the government tried to control the population and people were only allowed to have 2 children, if they had more they were hunted down and killed.

It was about the 3rd/4th/5th children etc. rising up and securing their rights to live. I can't for the life of me remember.
The Ender series?
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Shyanne »

I am a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft. I also like Jack Chalker books. Some Stephen King books are pretty good too.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Kaido »

I've read the Harry Potter books and I've nearly finished "A Series of Unforunate Events". I prefer fiction/fantasy books. 8D

I also really reeeally want to read Warrior Cats, by Erin Hunter.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by The Game »

Dubiousity wrote:There was this one 7 book series, about how the government tried to control the population and people were only allowed to have 2 children, if they had more they were hunted down and killed.

It was about the 3rd/4th/5th children etc. rising up and securing their rights to live. I can't for the life of me remember.

EDIT: It was by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
* Among the Hidden (1998)
* Among the Impostors (2001)
* Among the Betrayed (2002)
* Among the Barons (2003)
* Among the Brave (2004)
* Among the Enemy (2005)
* Among the Free (2006)
:shock:
I LOVED THAT SERIES
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Typhon »

Ender's Game. That book is beyond genius.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Already mentioned I read Ender's Game, and I still enjoy it now and again. The Among the Hidden series is a bit YA (geared toward a younger audience) for me. I did read it in Middle School and enjoyed the first few books. Don't really like Stephen King. Lovecraft sounds familiar, I might see what he writes.

I feel as if I haven't read a good sci-fi epic in awhile. (By sci-fi epic I mean something like the 2 book series starting with Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton). Though I'd love for Neal Stephenson to write something new.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Typhon »

Twilight.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Dubiousity »

Typhon wrote:Twilight.
Oh for god's sake, keep that trash of this thread.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Typhon »

Dubiousity wrote:
Typhon wrote:Twilight.
Oh for god's sake, keep that trash of this thread.
Successful troll is successful ;)
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Senator_Sunburst »

Books that I like that haven't been mentioned yet.

Robert J. Sawyer is awesome I think, especially the Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy. Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle is awesome. Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick was good. Replay by Ken Grimwood I re-read about once a year.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Dubiousity »

Typhon wrote:
Dubiousity wrote:
Typhon wrote:Twilight.
Oh for god's sake, keep that trash of this thread.
Successful troll is successful ;)
You just degraded this thread into nothingness.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Shyanne »

zeekgenateer wrote:Lovecraft sounds familiar, I might see what he writes.
Lovecraft was an author, he lived around the 1920s. He was the master of horror, and paved the way for the current horror writers of our time. He wrote mostly short stories, some famous ones like the Call of Cthulhu mythos.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Onlythebassist »

I used to read a heck of a lot more than I do now (high school sure takes it's toll on the ol' noggin). The last book I read was Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis. It's a great book and I highly recommend it if you want to see him in a different light - his lives onstage and offstage clash with each other tons and there's more mention of 'illegal substances' than in Slash's own book (I've read both, trust me). I'm seriously surprised that he didn't kick the bucket years ago from all the stuff he has done over the years. But I digress...
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Dubiousity »

I recently tried reading the Incarnations of Immortality 8 book series, which is good, but I lost interest in the 5th book and just stopped reading them 2 chapters into the 6th.

I do however recommend the series.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Laxan »

I'm half way through the Temeriare series by Naomi Novik. Anyone else read her work?
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by zeekgenateer »

Laxan, yea I read those, I enjoyed the series. Though the later books were not as good as the earlier ones. And now I know where I've probably heard of Lovecraft, when I heard of the boardgame Arkam Horror.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Liam »

The Revelation Space series, Pushing Ice and House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds were very good, now I'm gonna check out Terminal World.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Agent Sandwich »

Fiction: Carrie - Steven King (That book seriously creeps me out!)
Non-Fiction: Plane Insanity - Elliot Hester (Funniest book ever!)
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Shyanne »

zeekgenateer wrote:Laxan, yea I read those, I enjoyed the series. Though the later books were not as good as the earlier ones. And now I know where I've probably heard of Lovecraft, when I heard of the boardgame Arkam Horror.
neat, there also is a video game called Call of Cthulhu, dark corners of the world, and a myriad of Lovecraft-inspired movies. :)
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Senator_Sunburst »

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is not only in my opinion the best survival horror game ever made, but Lovecraft inspired!

To be honest though, I couldn't stand Lovecraft's writing. His stories were nice from what I remember, his writing, not so much. But I feel the same way with Tolkien. I know plenty about The Lord of the Rings, but I've only read The Fellowship of the Ring.
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Re: Favorite Books/Authors

Post by Adzo »

If sci-fi is your bag then check out "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick. it is the book that "Bladerunner" is based on, and is awesome.
As far as my taste in reading goes My favourite author is Terry Pratchett, but Discworld has already been mentioned in detail. I also like Shakespeare, my favourites being "Hamlet", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Othello" all of which I would recommend to anyone.
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