Recommend GP some books to read

[Mihai]

'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card is excelent.
Also, the other two in the trilogy ; 'Speaker for the Dead' and 'Xenocide' are pretty good.

[rah]

Lucifer's Hammer. Just a bit of SF in the premise but realistic enough. A good read.

RAH

[Sandman]

Read an Agatha Christie mystery. I did and now I'm hooked on the damn things.

Strangely, the butler hardly ever does it.

[red_jon]

My favourite book was Nineteen Eighty-Four and would definintly reccomend reading it.

Or 'The Outsiders'.

[Dauphin]

Fatherland by Robert Harris.

Alternate history based on Germany reaching a negotiated peace with the US in WW2. Set in the 1960s.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Mihai
'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card is excelent.
Also, the other two in the trilogy ; 'Speaker for the Dead' and 'Xenocide' are pretty good.

Mihai: Did you read 'Children of the Mind'?

GP: I'd recommend anything by Terry Pratchett (Good Omens, any of the DiscWorld books). Ditto for Dave Barry. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was a good fast read, and his short stories are also quite good. I just finished Job and Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein and I Robot by Asimov--I greatly preferred Asimov since Heinlein seems to have difficulty with pacing, though.

[Kropotkin]

"The Dice Man" by Luke Rhinehart; Fun and somewhat disturbing novel about a man that lets the dice decide his actions.

[Jaakko]

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco - a great conspiracy/mystery sort of book, where a practical joke done by three book editors goes horribly wrong. Very complex. I can't tell much else, I've only started on it myself. But I do love it so far.

The Descent by Jeff Long - what if the myth of Satan and demons was based on reality? Vast networks of caves are discovered around the globe, and the caves aren't empty...
A great horror-techno thriller mix, and a genuinely scary book at times.

[TCO]

Originally posted by DanS
Read your Keagan?

The war historian? I tried one, but it was a bit boring. I could take another look if you think it's worthwhile...

[TCO]

Originally posted by SuperSneak
I second Atwood's Tale, a great "what if" (right-wing Christians take over) in its own right.
Sticking with the female, I'll also highly recommend Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" a Hugo AND Nebula award winner.
Though you are averse to series', I would be remiss if I didn't turn you on to the Riverworld series by Philip Jose` Farmer. An excellent adventure full of historical characters (Twain is a major protagonist) who all wake up naked and shaved on a global riverfront and proceed to seek its source.
Kerouac's Desolation Angels is a great wilderness to city introspective.
I might also suggest absolutely anything by a little known but extremely excellent author named John Fante, who was a Hollywood screenwriter to pay the bills, but wrote some wonderful novels, namely Ask the Dust, one of my all time favorites.
KW Jeter's Noir is a really good futuristic pot-boiler, with people obsessed with "plugging in" to the neural Net, and doing anything to get the latest and greates hardware.
Though I didn't like it much initially, I really enjoyed the whole Ender's series.
And, if you can handle a gritty, ugly world of archaic fantasy sans fairies and dragons, I recall Gene Wolfe's Executioner series....excellent, two fisted tale.
No one is complete without having read "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. D*ck.

1. I'll look at some of these books. (Several that I don't recognize.
2. I liked the story Ender's Game best. After that, I felt that Card was going to the well too much. diluting what had been a kick ass story with a tough decision. I also felt that the later stories allowed him to have his cake and eat it. Much better to end with him eradicating the bugs and just wondering if it was right or not. More powerful.
3. Sometimes series are ok. Usually when the author plans them as series, I don't like them. As they are too long. And the individual books not enjoyable. I especially don't like series where the story is more about evolution of a planet or a family or a society. I want books about characters that I care about. Sundiver and Uplift War were ok. The next trilogy was too dense. I bought it and never read it.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Starchild
If we're talking shameless space opera, might I recommend David Brin's Uplift Saga? I just finished reading the latest book for the third (fourth?) time. Any sci-fi idea that could get thrown in did (except for a few, like transporters).

The only problem being is that, like any self-created mythos, you really have to start from the beginning of the first trilogy. Actually, you can't probably skip Sundiver but Startide Rising is essential to understand the Jijo Trilogy.

Edit: Ooops. Missed that bit about not liking series.

Thanks, see my comments to Sneak regarding Brin. His individual books like Postman or even Sundiver/Uplift are ok. The series stuff (next trilogy and the foundation stuff) is too processy. Not enough story. too much of just an archtecture.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Darsnan


I second that! Great series!
As a standalone, Frank Herbert's "The Dosadi Experiment" is a superior psychological sci-fi thrilller. Nothing I have ever read (fiction or otherwise) compares to it.

D

Got it. REad it. Was disturbing as I read it quite young. Will reread it. Thank you.

[Urban Ranger]

How to Win Friends and Influence People

[TCO]

Originally posted by loinburger


Mihai: Did you read 'Children of the Mind'?

GP: I'd recommend anything by Terry Pratchett (Good Omens, any of the DiscWorld books). Ditto for Dave Barry. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was a good fast read, and his short stories are also quite good. I just finished Job and Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein and I Robot by Asimov--I greatly preferred Asimov since Heinlein seems to have difficulty with pacing, though.

Will check out Pratchet. You are right about the later Heinlein. He got sloppy without an editor to crack the whip on him. Read some of his earlier stuff, though. It is quite tight.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Sandman
Read an Agatha Christie mystery. I did and now I'm hooked on the damn things.

Strangely, the butler hardly ever does it.

I am really into mysteries lately. They are usually entertaining. Brit stuff esxpecially. My favorite type of book on tape for long car trips.