There is a great thread in the lounge about Books in general, but to be honest, all I really want to read is Sci-Fi (including post-apocalyptic), and Fantasy.
In this OP I will compile every poster's top 3 Fantasy/SciFi suggestions if they give me them. I will try to keep the posters in alphabetical order in case you want to find someone's suggestions easier.
CP POSTER SUGGESTIONS
Baby Lee
1. Fritz Lieber's Swords Against series.
2. George R.R. Martin's SoIaF series [no brainer that will probably make tons of other lists]
3. Umberto Eco, Foucalt's Pendulum [a little more obscure/forgotten to make up for GRRM]
Frosty
1.Raymond Feist - Riftwar Saga
2.Terry Brooks - Shannara series (starting with the Knight of the Word books)
3.Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Huffmeister
(1) Dune - Frank Herbert
(2) The Stand - Stephen King (1000+ page unabridged)
(3) Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (checkout the song by Yes, too. lots of great bass)
Jawshco
1. "Book of the Long Sun" by Gene Wolfe
2. "Paradise War" by Stephen R Lawhead
3. "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams
listopencil
1. Edgar Rice Burroughs, any series
2. Robert Heinlein, everything he has written in chronological order (but read Starship Troopers first)
3. Doc Smith's Lensman series
vailpass
1. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, 2A & 2B books are a gold mine for sampling the evolution of sci-fi. (below)
2.The Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards (selected yearly, pick a year)
3. Years Best SF Annual publication, pick any volume from 1 to the current volume 17 See Post 142 [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Just started reading "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. Supposed to be one of the greatest works of science fiction ever. The first few chapters are pretty intriguing.
Great book. I love "discovery and exploration" stories. Another great book in that genre is Ringworld by Larry Niven. It's a really cool premise and has some pretty interesting concepts. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Just started reading "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. Supposed to be one of the greatest works of science fiction ever. The first few chapters are pretty intriguing.
Thanks for the tip, just e-reserved it at the library. AC Clarke kicks it old school. [Reply]
Originally Posted by NewChief:
I really thought I would like Jonathan Strange...but I didn't. Just sort of boring to me, unfortunately.
You definitely need to read Ender's Shadow since you read Ender's Game. It's, arguably, better. The series drops off pretty steeply for me after those two books, but a lot of people like them all.
I enjoyed "Speaker For The Dead" but nothing in that series came close to the first book in my opinion. I did really enjoy the Prentice Alvin series by Card. [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
I enjoyed "Speaker For The Dead" but nothing in that series came close to the first book in my opinion. I did really enjoy the Prentice Alvin series by Card.
Slide over to "Ender's Shadow","Shadow of the Hegemon", "Shadow Puppets", and "Shadow of the Giant". [Reply]
Originally Posted by Braincase:
Slide over to "Ender's Shadow","Shadow of the Hegemon", "Shadow Puppets", and "Shadow of the Giant".
I don't remember where I tailed off on that series. I might have read all of those, I'll have to look at the synopsis of each online. I do enjoy Card's writing, I'd say he took the place of Heinlein in my mind. [Reply]
Originally Posted by keg in kc:
Have you read Dune yet? That's a really good audiobook with an ensemble cast, runs a little over 20 hours.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is also really good. Also an ensemble cast as I recall. Also a little over 20 hours.
If you want to go insanely long you could always do Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth. Yeah, not SFF, but it's 40+ hours for 1 credit.
Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings is a whopping 45 hours for 1 credit. That's the first book in a series he began two years ago. I think it's the best thing he's written so far.
And then there's Patrick Rothfuss. The first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles, The Name of the Wind is 28 hours for 1 credit, and the second, The Wise Man's Fear, is 43.
That's all I can find in my library that I like, that's 1 credit, and that's looong.
Oh, oh, one more. Neil Gaiman's American Gods. That's the original version with George Guidall, which I love. They did an ensemble 10th anniversary version too, but I've only listened to the Guidall one. Both are in the 20 hour neighborhood.
Note: Audible cranked "The Way of Kings" back up to 2 credits, so I checked it's availability on an "alternative audio library" site. Downloading via bittorrent now. Then I'll use ZODWC to create a .wax file and transfer it onto my .mp3 player. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Huffmeister:
Great book. I love "discovery and exploration" stories. Another great book in that genre is Ringworld by Larry Niven. It's a really cool premise and has some pretty interesting concepts.
I really loved Rama, man. It's kind of crazy how your mind just starts developing theories as you go along with the story. I'm going to have to check Ringworld out, thank man.
Originally Posted by vailpass:
Thanks for the tip, just e-reserved it at the library. AC Clarke kicks it old school.
Yeah, man, let me know what you think. Clarke is definitely old school. Dude knew WTF he was doing, though. Kind of mind-blowing, really. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
I really loved Rama, man. It's kind of crazy how your mind just starts developing theories as you go along with the story. I'm going to have to check Ringworld out, thank man.
Yup. You owe it to yourself. Niven is very, very good and the original in this series is a classic. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Braincase:
Note: Audible cranked "The Way of Kings" back up to 2 credits, so I checked it's availability on an "alternative audio library" site. Downloading via bittorrent now. Then I'll use ZODWC to create a .wax file and transfer it onto my .mp3 player.
Yeah, sorry about that. That was actually a mistake on my part. I guess I never remembered to edit that post. [Reply]
10 - Shute "on the beach"
09 - Brin "the postman"
08 - McCarthy "the road
07 - King's "the stand"
06 - Niven & Pournell "lucifer's hammer"
05 - Cronin - "the passage"
04 - Bacigualupi "the wind up girl"
03 - McCammon "swan song"
02 - Stewart "earth abides"
01 - Frank - "alas babylon"
I love this genre of fiction. I sometimes wish I hadn't read the best yet, so that I could experience them again. Driving on the train tracks in "Lucifer's Hammer," or the brother giving the code word in "alas, babylon", or the soldier and his wife crying as they put down their baby as well as themselves in "on the beach" are some of the most humbling and emotional reading excercises I have ever experienced. [Reply]
Thanks for mentioning 'Swan Song". That's one of my favorite books, on par with 'The Stand", but I don't think many know about it.
I read 'Lucifer's Hammer" when I was a kid and remembered liking it. I picked it up again recently and started re-reading it. I burned through the first half but kind of slowed down after that and then got stuck about 100 pages from the end. I'll pick it up again at some point to finish it but kind of went in a different direction in the meantime. [Reply]
Just finished "The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett & Brandon Sanderson. Very good book, has potential to become a great series if they want to serialize it. [Reply]