anyone got recommendations for books to read over the summer? nothing specific, just, erm, good? :D post here, and if possible, link to a bit of info about it, cheers <3
BLOOD OF OTHERS / Beauvoir, Simone de, 1908-
Quest of the absolute / Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850
Of mice and men / Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968
To have and have not / Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961
Nineteen eighty-four / Orwell, George, 1903-1950
Slow learner : early stories / Pynchon, Thomas, 1937-
Wheel of Time-serie by Robert Jordan (11 books, 12th is coming out 2008-2009 hopefully as the writer is really sick atm) Dark Tower-serie by Stephen King (7 books) Song of Ice & Fire-serie by G.R.R. Martin (4 books, 5th coming out this or next year) Tyrants & Kings-serie by John Marco
They are all fantasy-novels, so you got to like the genre and you will love these books. If you don't like the genre, you may start it but there's no guarantee you'll like it (although you most likely will).
george r r martin for sure. looking back on robert jordan, his books are a bit lol early on... i wonder if he'll finish the series (he has some kind of cancer) - nothing much seemed to happen in the last one he released, but it should all come together for some good shit in the last couple :)
try robin hobb for a good, unorthdox take on fantasy
and i seem to remember some steven erikson books that i read that were pretty epic - will have to reread
oh yes and "magician" and accompanying books by Raymond E. Feist are pretty good - although i read them ages ago so they might not be that great
murder/mystery books are pretty good too - try henning mankell and ian rankin
and history wise - A Short History of the World/A Short History of the 20th century by Geoffrey Blainey
and i read some history of science and history of maths, pretty interesting too
Robert Jordan's books are a bit lol? :x
His books own, you just have to like and apreciate it. And in book 8-10 nothing much really happened (besides the Cleansing) but in his last book (11) you can't say not much happened if you read the book completely. There was actually quite a lot that happened and he wrapped up a lot of storylines so that we can focus on only a couple remaining ones in the last book.
Martin indeed is very very good. You never know what to expect. He's never affraid to let a main character die, and that's not a common thing.
Erikson I've heard of, and I've read the first book and yea it's pretty good. I've the others as well and I'm planning on reading them after I finished Bored of the Rings which is pretty funny.
Furtermore I've read The Farseer Trilogy from Hobb and I didn't think it was an orthodox fantasy-novel. They're just not with elfs and dwarves like most and it's written from 1st person perspective, but that's not unorthodox imo. Anyways, it still was a very good trilogy :p
About Feist, yeah he has a couple of good books but not much. Magician is great, and the Empress-trilogy is awesome as well. That's about it, the others are average or bad. He's going for quantity instead of quality these days (I don't exactly blame him as he makes a lot of money and it's his choice).
what i mean by jordan being a bit lol early on is the way of writing... in the first couple of books he's finding his feet - i mean, trollocs? lol. yeah book 11, stuff did happen, but nothing got resolved (from what i remember) - it was just things moving towards a conclusion, which will happen in the next 2 books
i definately agree about fiest. i remember the first few were great, like magician etc, but then went off him completely. he just couldnt get over the world he'd created (making about a bajillion spin off series etc)
There is only 1 book remaining in the WoT-series, which makes me conclude you're talking about book 10 and then I say you're right. Nothing much happens there, book 11 (Knife of Dreams) however is packed with loads of action imo.
And Hobb, well I don't know. I'm gonna start this week with Erikssons books about the Malazan Empire and I guess I'm gonna be busy with them for a month, maybe 2 as it's vacation. Also I will be reading the HP-books again now the 7th is coming out in july, so I guess I can only start with Hobb in September or perhaps October but I was kinda hoping Martin's 5th book would by then be in stores :-D
I don't understand the hype around Dan Brown, he's really not as good as everyone seems to think, he's quite average. My guess is that those who are so enthralled by his books probably don't do a great deal of reading.
(but any book from Asimov is above other books)
the unknownness scares! :D
EDIT: click
- deception point
Quest of the absolute / Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850
Of mice and men / Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968
To have and have not / Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961
Nineteen eighty-four / Orwell, George, 1903-1950
Slow learner : early stories / Pynchon, Thomas, 1937-
Fucking hilariously random useless shit :D
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schotts-Original-Miscellany-Ben-Schott/dp/0747563209/ref=pd_bowtega_1/026-9326315-8366023?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181474529&sr=1-1
sabriel, lirael, abhorsen (same)
easy, but nice stories :)
Dark Tower-serie by Stephen King (7 books)
Song of Ice & Fire-serie by G.R.R. Martin (4 books, 5th coming out this or next year)
Tyrants & Kings-serie by John Marco
They are all fantasy-novels, so you got to like the genre and you will love these books. If you don't like the genre, you may start it but there's no guarantee you'll like it (although you most likely will).
try robin hobb for a good, unorthdox take on fantasy
and i seem to remember some steven erikson books that i read that were pretty epic - will have to reread
oh yes and "magician" and accompanying books by Raymond E. Feist are pretty good - although i read them ages ago so they might not be that great
murder/mystery books are pretty good too - try henning mankell and ian rankin
and history wise - A Short History of the World/A Short History of the 20th century by Geoffrey Blainey
and i read some history of science and history of maths, pretty interesting too
His books own, you just have to like and apreciate it. And in book 8-10 nothing much really happened (besides the Cleansing) but in his last book (11) you can't say not much happened if you read the book completely. There was actually quite a lot that happened and he wrapped up a lot of storylines so that we can focus on only a couple remaining ones in the last book.
Martin indeed is very very good. You never know what to expect. He's never affraid to let a main character die, and that's not a common thing.
Erikson I've heard of, and I've read the first book and yea it's pretty good. I've the others as well and I'm planning on reading them after I finished Bored of the Rings which is pretty funny.
Furtermore I've read The Farseer Trilogy from Hobb and I didn't think it was an orthodox fantasy-novel. They're just not with elfs and dwarves like most and it's written from 1st person perspective, but that's not unorthodox imo. Anyways, it still was a very good trilogy :p
About Feist, yeah he has a couple of good books but not much. Magician is great, and the Empress-trilogy is awesome as well. That's about it, the others are average or bad. He's going for quantity instead of quality these days (I don't exactly blame him as he makes a lot of money and it's his choice).
i definately agree about fiest. i remember the first few were great, like magician etc, but then went off him completely. he just couldnt get over the world he'd created (making about a bajillion spin off series etc)
you should definately check out robin hobb btw
And Hobb, well I don't know. I'm gonna start this week with Erikssons books about the Malazan Empire and I guess I'm gonna be busy with them for a month, maybe 2 as it's vacation. Also I will be reading the HP-books again now the 7th is coming out in july, so I guess I can only start with Hobb in September or perhaps October but I was kinda hoping Martin's 5th book would by then be in stores :-D
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-Bulgakov/dp/0679760806
I don't understand the hype around Dan Brown, he's really not as good as everyone seems to think, he's quite average. My guess is that those who are so enthralled by his books probably don't do a great deal of reading.
*Disturbed can be replaced by any other equally horrible 'nu-metal' band devoid of any talent.
It's for the masses, I doubt you'll find many respectable book critics complimenting his books.
Print them and read them outside in the sun
Especially The Death Gate Cycle Series ( 7 books ) and The Original DragonLance Series.
Fantasy genre, and nice to read books.