It's summer, I'm grounded for 2 friggin' weeks, and I have to find a way to spend all of my time. I was wondering if someone knows of a good summer read, something taht will keep me coming back for more. Anything from Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or any other fiction. Thanks!
Oh, almost forgot. A friend of mine recommended the Discworld series... I know they're really famous, but I'm not sure... What do you think of these?
I've never read the Discworld series, but I would recommend the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. I haven't finished any other series that he's written yet, but I'm working on a couple of his other books, and they're also very good, so if you've read the Ender series already and don't want to read them again, I would definitely look into some of his other books.
If you haven't read anything by him yet, Brandon Sanderson makes for a nice bit of fantasy reading over the summer. If you're unsure whether you want to buy his books, he's released a free pdf of his latest novel, Warbreaker, on his website. I prefer his first novel Elantris and his Mistborn trilogy, but they're all very entertaining.
My Summer List Okay, so I'm buying 4 books and I've only chosen 3. I'd prefer the last one to be humor, preferably a stand-alone. Any other good book would be welcomed, too. This is my list: - The Strain, by Guillermo Del Toro. - The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. - The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo. Help with the last one, please!
I absolutely adore The Alchemist. So uplifting. I would recommend some humorous books, but the ones I read are geared more toward women, so...
You might like EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED by Jonathan Safron Foer. (If you've seen the movie, don't judge the book by that). The matter of dealing with language between cultures, I thought, was really funny and well written. I mean, there's certainly an underlying significance to this story, but I found it entertaining, too (and I did laugh out loud at some of the language).
I preferred Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close to Everything Is Illuminated, but both are definitely worth reading....he's such a witty author.
Well, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but Joe Abercrombie is a bit of a new author and his trilogy is amazing. "The Blade Itself" is the first book, and I was blown away at how excellent the dialogue was, and the characters were refreshingly raw. It sticks to traditional fantasy elements but blurred the lines of "good" and "evil", and threw in some grit. Once I was hooked, I read all three last summer.
Well, if you want something humorous and if you don't mind reading non-fiction then I would highly recommend Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. It's fantastic if you enjoy hiking and being out doors. There were parts that had me rolling and crying with laughter. If you're not into a book about hiking and being outside, then I'll third (...or fourth) the recommendation for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I found the book funny, but it's also quite sad. Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint is hilarious. But it's a bit vulgar and I'm not sure what your age is. Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are wonderfully silly and entertaining. And if you're into some older stuff, then I can highly recommend Jane Austen's work. Carl Hiaasen writes comical mystery stories that are quite hilarious and at the same time riveting. Okay, and my last recommendation is Terry Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. It's a hilarious farce on religion. There... a bunch of recommendations to consider. By the way, McCarthy's The Road is one of my top three favorite books of all time. It's fantastic. Enjoy it.
Terry Pratchett is a genius and when I rule the world his books will be compulsory reading. As far as hilarious satire go, you can't go wrong with Pratchett. He kinda gets better the more he writes, though, so his early Discworld books are just "good," as opposed to "sheer brilliance." Someone mentioned Neil Gaiman, who is also brilliant but a bit hit and miss with me: he tends to be a bit dark for my taste. My favourite Gaiman book is Ananzi Boys, no contest. Neverwhere ain't bad either. Stardust is okay, but I liked the movie a lot more. These two wrote Good Omens together, which somehow manages to perfectly combine the best traits of either. Highly recommended.
Pest Control - Bill Fitzhugh Read it when I worked at a movie theater once upon a time. Kept me sane while working box office on weekday mornings
