Suggest my new favorite book!

[Scout101]

So, I'm a pretty fast reader, and as such, tend to burn through a lot of books. I've run out of my backlog, and staring at my massive book collection, I can't muster up the energy to re-read any of my books for the 1000th time right now. For example, just re-read all 10 or 11 books of the Sword of Truth series...

Anyway, looking for suggestions for the next book, series, or author to get hooked on. I generally seem to stumble onto them, but figured this might be a more direct, targeted way to get what I'm looking for.

Will try to list some series/authors I like and have read, in order to at least get it narrowed down a bit:

-Terry Goodkind and Terry Brooks (gives an obvious theme/genre), but couldn't get into the Wheel of Time series. Read the first two, and just couldn't keep my interest. Sword of Truth and Shannara series are favorites, though.

-Dan Simmons. Picked up Hyperion on a whim a while back, love the whole Cantos. Branched off and read most of the rest of his stuff (Illiad/Olympos was great).

-Orson Scott Card. Ender's Game was among my first real books read in the 3rd or 4th grade, and love the series. Enchanted and Pastwatch are another couple favorites by him.

-S.M. Stirling. Saw "Dies the Fire" when browsing, was drawn to it, and then sucked into the rest of the series (plus found out it was part of a larger series, at least indirectly, so had to read Island in the Sea of Time, as well. I seem to accidently start a lot of series mid-stream, as Phantom was the first Sword of Truth book I noticed, and then found out it was like book 10 of 11!). Anyway, I've read a lot of Stirling's stand-alond stuff as well, and enjoy the alternate history takes.

-Greg Bear. Read Anvil of Stars as a kid, and enjoyed it despite what upon later re-read turned out to be a lot more sex than I had noticed before. Anyway, enjoyed that, Eon, the Darwin books, etc.

-Arthur C. Clarke, and the whole 2001 series, good stuff. The Time Odyssey series was interesting as well.

-Larry Nieven. Read the whole Ringworld series and despite some oddness, enjoyed it. Wish there was more to it, seemed they barely scratched the surface of the whole thing. Which I guess was the point, with the unthinkable size of the thing, but still...

Anyway, i could go on forever, and I still reserve the right to add more later, or say i've read what you suggest, but this gives a starting place, and eliminates some of the usual suspects. I like fantasy books, decent mixes of sci-fi (although usually not too HARD sci-fi), alternate histories, and a mix of doomsday/apocolypse books. What are some of the good ones I'm missing out on? Stand-alone books are fine, perfectly willing to take on a whole series as well if it's worthy. I've gotta drop off Confessor at the library at lunch, point me towards another shelf!

 

[scnj]

The Dark Tower by Stephen King
A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R.R Martin
Malazan Book Of The Fallen by Steven Erikson

 

[Caliburn24]

For fantasy, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and Glen Cook's The Black Company series.

For Sci-Fi, John Ringo's Posleen series(starts with a Hymn Before Battle) and David Brin's Startide Rising.

 

[Evil Twin]

As the first two have said, A Song of Ice and Fire series. End of discussion. Close thread.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sounds like you might like Vernor Vinge . . . .

 

[Scout101]

LOL, a bunch of quick votes for A Song of Ice and Fire, so guess that should be my first stop. Definitely keep the suggestions coming, though, I'm checking these all out as i go, and will likely get to a good chunk of them. Have a week-long vacation by a lake coming up, as well as a couple long plane rides (Vegas and Europe) so going to be hungry for good books!

Been meaning to try the Foundation series as well, but have never gotten around to it. Should I be logging off right now to get it, and hanging my head in shame for not already having done so, or go for Song of Ice and Fire first?

 

[Shurik]

Another vote for A Song Of Ice And Fire series.

Try Neil Gaiman's stuff - American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust.
I've recently finished a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, loved most of them.

 

[Mistral]

Logging off AND hanging head in shame is the correct answer-but just read the original trilogy. Life is too short to waste on cheap knock-offs.

I second Startide Rising and up the ante with Brin's The Uplift War and The Postman.

Mike Resnick's Santiago(skip the sequel)

For a deep dive into alt hist start with 1632 and go from there. Trust me.

Little Fuzzy by H Beam Piper (ET, move over!)

The Warlock In Spite of Himself-Chris Staffesh(anybody who can write about a sentient, epileptic horse can't be all bad!)

The Domination by Stirling *shudders*

Armageddon Blues by Daniel Keyes Moran(sad that he quit writing scifi)

GRUNTS! by Mary Gentle (Everybody knows Good and Evil are going to have one big battle in the end, just like everybody knows Good will win. So what happens if you're an Orc?)

Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

Bolo by Keith Laumer(Military scifi at its best, IMO)

Interstellar Patrol by Christopher Anvil

The Peace War and also At Rainbow's End, both by Vernor Vinge

anything by Ken McCleod, The Stone Canal was really good.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson

And Having Writ... by Donald R. Bensen.

Orbital Decay by Allen Steele (Blue-collar workers in space. They aren't astronauts, that's for certain.)

Stopping here-I could go on for a while. Oh, wait, Farmer's Riverworld series. To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the first. And try Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy stories.

And if you can find a copy the Timeliner trilogy by Richard C Meredith. Book one is At the Narrow Passage.

 

[Scout101]

Wow, that's a big list. And Shiurk, I've read American Gods, liked it.

So went to the local library, and basically struck out on a few of the big ones I'd selected first. Either didn't have them, lent them out, or had later books in the series, but not the first book. Great inter-library loan setup, though, so will have them sent here. Ended up decided to try Ben Bova's Mars for today, one I'd seen around and never gone for.

keep the suggestions rolling, though, this is good stuff!

 

[Ubik]

Yes, obviously the original Foundation trilogy. They're quick reads, but they're among the best sci-fi you'll find. Put them near the top of your list.

Since you like a lot of the stuff I like (Greg Bear, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Simmons), allow me to STRONGLY suggest Fredrick Pohl's Gateway. It is a series (called the Heechee books), but the only absolutely NECESSARY one is the first one, called simply Gateway. It's quite literally one of the 10 best sf books I've read. And don't just take my word for it. I'm sure anyone here who has read it will agree with me. It takes place on a space station (kind of a Deep Space Nine vibe to it, actually), but it's got the sense of awe of a Greg Bear, with the emotional wallop of a Robert Silverberg.

In terms of fantasy....have you read Ursula K. Leguin? Critics know that her Wizard of Earthsea is easily as good as anything Tolkien or Lewis ever wrote, but for some reason, she's not as well known. Anyway, the Earthsea trilogy, starting with Wizard of Earthsea (a short book), is mandatory fantasy reading.

 

[scnj]

Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson are worth checking out too.

 

[Scout101]

Gateway sounds interesting, will add that to the request list. Forgot to mention Robert Silverberg initially, but enjoyed Roma Eterna and his take on alternate history of the Roman Empire...

I read the Earthsea books as a kid, but it's been a while.

 

[Kegg]

Speaking of Earthsea, I'd recommend a book by the same author (Ursula Le Guin) that I recently read, Left Hand of Darkness. Excellent read if you like worldbuilding fantasy (though this is a science fiction story, but ah, semantics!) Great characterisation too.

That said. Arthur C. Clarke? Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, the obvious picks but also the essential picks. Worldbuilding? Frank Herbert's Dune. If you like that, then Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune - you can stop after the last one, really. Can I be any more ploddingly, gift-store book obvious?

Hell yes. Alternate history, well, it's a decidedly harebrained take on the concept, but I must predictably recommend, all together now:

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

What if the Axis won World War II, occupied the United States? The central narrative is, admittedly, very Dickian, but there are a lot of alternate history touches there I love - like the idea that American artefacts are a curiosity for rich Japanese tourists, that kind of thing. And since I read this other alternate history novel recently - The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon - heck I'll throw that in too. There's one; what if Israel never got founded and there was a Jewish colony in Alaska that spoke Yiddish? Splendid read too, awash with detail and slang and such.

Also: Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I'd call it the second best fantasy series ever written after the one by J.R.R., but really, what the hell do I know about fantasy literature? Even less than sci-fi...

 

[John Clark]

GRUNTS! by Mary Gentle (Everybody knows Good and Evil are going to have one big battle in the end, just like everybody knows Good will win. So what happens if you're an Orc?)

Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

Orbital Decay by Allen Steele (Blue-collar workers in space. They aren't astronauts, that's for certain.)

I concur with all these. For Asprin, I started with the Phule books and soon got sucked into the myth series too. It's been a while since Grunts! but it is a fun book.

Another vote for George Martin and the Song of Ice and Fire series. Discworld is good too.

Most of the Allen Steele are worth a read (I think I have four or five of his).

I enjoyed David Weber's books (generally Military SF) and the Axis of Time trilogy by John Birmingham (Alternate History) are good ones.

 

[Mistral]

Another vote for Birmingham. Excellent twisted history trilogy by him.

 

[Canadave]

In terms of fantasy....have you read Ursula K. Leguin? Critics know that her Wizard of Earthsea is easily as good as anything Tolkien or Lewis ever wrote, but for some reason, she's not as well known. Anyway, the Earthsea trilogy, starting with Wizard of Earthsea (a short book), is mandatory fantasy reading.

On the subject of Le Guin, The Dispossessed is amongst the best science-fiction novels I've ever read.

I also second the recommendation of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.

And finally, I recommend pretty much anything by Robert J. Sawyer. His books are very engaging, filled with interesting ideas, and tend to be incredibly readable, to boot. Calculating God is a good starting point, IMO.

 

[Scout101]

Haven't read Calculating God, but checked him and and read FlashForward when the series came out. Enjoyed the book, ending was a little out there, but good book.

 

[Ubik]

In terms of fantasy....have you read Ursula K. Leguin? Critics know that her Wizard of Earthsea is easily as good as anything Tolkien or Lewis ever wrote, but for some reason, she's not as well known. Anyway, the Earthsea trilogy, starting with Wizard of Earthsea (a short book), is mandatory fantasy reading.

On the subject of Le Guin, The Dispossessed is amongst the best science-fiction novels I've ever read.

I also second the recommendation of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.

And finally, I recommend pretty much anything by Robert J. Sawyer. His books are very engaging, filled with interesting ideas, and tend to be incredibly readable, to boot. Calculating God is a good starting point, IMO.

Ugh! I HATE Robert Sawyer. Calculating God in particular began my hatred, and then Hominids confirmed it for all time. Mindscan actually wasn't bad, but whenever this guy requires a sense of wonder, or awe, a feeling of something alien and unknown, his pedestrian imagination is completely incapable of the task. He reads more like fan-fiction than actual literature, if you know what I mean. Sorry....no offence. But his success is utterly baffling to me.

 

[Starbreaker]

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M Robinson
Engines of God/Deepsix/Chindi by Jack McDevitt
Raft, Timelike Infinity, Ring, Exultant by Stephen Baxter

 

[Scout101]

What do you think of The Terror so far? Thought about it, but kinda mixed reviews. Kinda let down after reading Drood, not sure I wanna take on The Terror right now...