Comments | shannongeek: Book/Author Recommendations

shannongeek

Book/Author Recommendations

Mar 27, 2007 08:21

I asked for book/author recommendations a little while ago, but I think perhaps it was buried in enough other stuff that most people overlooked it. Here it goes again.

I'm stuck in a reading rut and want to expand my horizons. I tend to read a lot of hard science fiction, some magical realism, early 19th century fiction, modern fiction/humor , and ( Read more... )

Comments 8

tandu March 27 2007, 14:17:06 UTC

I have Iain Banks' "The Wasp Factory" if you want to read it. Non-Sci-Fi. Crazy, crazy book, his first, and hard to find.

S.M. Stirling does some wonderful alternate history stuff. It's very accurate as far as the history parts, very interesting as far as the characters involved. Favorites include the Draka series, and Island in the sea of time.

If you like spiritual Realism, you might like "My life with the spirits", which is the memoir of a modern magician. I have that one, too, and it's kind of hard to find. The author/main character is coming to town as part of my church meeting, and he seems like a humorous fellow.

I also read "The Magician" by Somerset Maugham. It's a little dated, but the main character is based off of Aleistar Crowley, and it's an entertaining read.

And, of course, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher was really good. I only read "Storm Front", but it was excellent.

whymc March 27 2007, 16:26:02 UTC

yay for the dresden files!

tandu March 29 2007, 16:12:37 UTC

Cannot believe I forgot: Philip K. Dick.

There's a great blog: http://fraser.typepad.com/frolix_8/philip_k_dick/index.html

What Philip K. Dick story are we in today?

fencert March 27 2007, 14:18:48 UTC

Growing up I was a big fan of Heinlein- not his early kids stuff or his preachy late stuff, tho'.

The Myth-adventures series is a hoot, but not at all serious.

Currently I'm involved in the excellent Song of Ice and Fire, but the bastard author has extended the series from 5 books to maybe 9 and I hate that (they're REALLY big books).

Have you tried Harry Potter? Not a bad light read.

What else- the Centotaph Road series was okay, but not inspiring. Niven's books are great- very good science overall. Lucifer's Hammer, Mote in God's Eye, Ringworld series...

drunk_bohemian March 27 2007, 15:20:51 UTC

You might like Neil Gaiman.

shannongeek March 27 2007, 19:47:12 UTC

I do. I just finished re-reading Stardust, in fact, and Ken and I recently read Good Omens aloud together.

whymc March 27 2007, 16:25:38 UTC

A few items for your consideration:

Guy Gavriel Kay does nifty historical-ish fiction
Paula Volsky also does, with more notable magical overtones, and has a lovely prose style.
Christopher Moore's books, while candy, are really, really *funny* candy
C. S. Friedman writes some very thought-provoking fiction - 'this alien shore' is a great personal favorite of mine
Jim Butcher's 'the dresden files' series has a nifty wizard-as gumshoe perspective, and I find them to be very entertaining.

I think that, of all of these, my strongest recommendation is for 'this alien shore'

financenerd March 27 2007, 18:11:03 UTC

I've already mentioned Robertson Davies, and I believe we talked China Meiville while in Inverness (SteamPunk genre, The Scar was very good as is Iron Council, he has one more, Perdido Street Station, that I believe Ken said he owns ( ... )