I would really love to start reading some books. First off, why don't I tell you all a little bit about myself. Well... Basically I am an 18 year old male, (turning 19 this July) and have just finished my last year of high school. At the moment I am awaiting news from Universities regarding what my options to study are next year however, I am very happy to say that after much hard work through the previous two years it seems as though I have reached the goal I set at the beginning of the year. That is to make it into the combined degree of journalism and law at university (still to be confirmed! I find out in about a week, however, I passed last years cut-off ) I would like to start reading a few books and would love recommendations. Growing up through school and what not I can not say that I was a massive fan of reading novels. I can probably count on three hands the amount of books I have read in my life and they mostly consist of books I was forced to read as I was studying them through Grade 11 and 12. A few of these books include Dracula (Year 11) and Frankenstein(Year 12). I can not say that I particularly enjoyed either. However, there was one book which I read last year by Geoffrey Robertson titled The Justice Game which I quite enjoyed albeit this enjoyment was slightly tarnished by the fact that I had to write numerous essays on the conflicting perspectives within the book. Other books I have read which I quite enjoyed include; the Harry Potter series, as well as the Bartimaeus Trilogy (Johnathan Stroud) which includes the likes of The Amulet of Samarkand. I have also read a few books from Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer both of whom I enjoyed. Now I am looking for something else to read and this is where I am hoping your recommendations can help me out. I do not know exactly what I am looking for but as I stated above I quite liked Johnathan Stroud's three novels, so anything like that I think I might enjoy. Also, I was considering looking at books that are somewhat more psychologically stimulating though not sure where to begin looking in this regard. Fire away!
ROFL "Murder at Fenway Park" by Troy Soos. "Bang the Drum Slowly" by Mark Harris ^ those are two of my favorite books not by my favorite author. They have baseball in them--if you can't stand baseball, don't read them. Instead, try "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chiam Potok .... I had to read this in high school and thought I'd hate it but it's awesome. My favorite book by my favorite author is "Cordelia's Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold. When you're done with those, I can give you some more.
Recommend me some books It depends on what genre you enjoy but I recently read,'One Second After' by William R. Forstchen.It was a truly frightening look at life after an EMP strike.I don't want to be a spoiler but this book has a fantastic plot with interesting characters that everyone should empathize with. For me this book definitely woke the survivalist in me and raised an awareness of a very real possibility, be it an EMP from a nuclear weapon or a solar flare. Apocalyptic thriller that's a must read. Any Lee Child or there is this eBook titled 'Playing God' by me Doug Moore.Here's my blurb. It's available at Amazon and most eBook retailers. Shifts in the ocean’s currents due to the melting polar caps have led to the collapse of a large section of the western continental shelf triggering a massive tsunami that hits China, killing millions and leaving the country in ruin. In its wake a pathogen emerges that threatens the entire world. Jake Miller is a former combat pilot and soldier of fortune haunted by his past. He is the only survivor to an outbreak years earlier while working in the jungles of Panama with parallels to China’s epidemic. His blood runs cold when CNN confirms it’s ‘mouse pox’ and it’s spreading fast. How could this be? Jake enlists the help of a friend and private investigator and start to dig but someone wants to bury him and the events of Panama. Jake and his family flee across America amidst the breakdown of society, the fall of man and the rise of a new dominant species while being hunted by those who want him silenced. Jake may be the last man on earth who can piece together the truth and save his family if he lives long enough.
if you are considering going into journalism, i would suggest reading anything by ernest hemmingway...for his style of writing. Barry Lopez for his style. and Robert Penn Warren (a newspaper writer.) or Tommy Thompson (blood and money) and Truman Capote (in Cold Blood) The Autobiography of Mark Twain (he was a newspaper man) and is on the top of my list of all time best writers. to name just a few i suggest that you find writers that have a style you can relate to and learn from. anniemule
I'm not sure if this is what you're interested in, but the Hunger Games trilogy is absolutely fantastic. I can't even put in words how amazing these books are. Description: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister Primrose, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Don't let the description put you off, it's really much better than it sounds.
The Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom Rator Red by Robert T. Bakker Carry Me Home by Sandra Kring Also, mentioned above, One Second After by William R. Forstchen is a good choice. The first couple are Fantasy, as you'd expressed an interestr. The rest are more mainstream in nature, although some would consider One Second After a bit of a near future SF novel.
As a total fanboy of Orson Scott Card's Ender series, I have to recommend "Ender's Game". It's a sci-fi novel that won a lot of awards and is wonderfully written if you ask me. I'm also reading "The Hunger Games" books, which are pretty good. I also just finished the Inheritance Cycle (or the Eragon books), but I wouldn't really recommend those unless you've already read some of them (most likely as a child) and wish to finish them up, as I did.
NOOOOOOOO. Think The Imperial Affliction, snap! You WANT to tell people, but you DON'T want to! I have to agree with snap, but I've got mixed feelings on whether I really want to tell anyone, truly, about The Fault In Our Stars. Anyway, L. Lee Lowe (his/her stuff is online at lleelowe.com) wrote both Mortal Ghost and Corvus, both of which are awesome. Evan Puschak wrote Big City which is a brilliant BRILLIANT sci-fi piece which you can find easily on issuu.com.
Haha I knoooow. Unfortunately, I haven't yet read The Fault in Our Stars. I recently lost my Kindle, and with it, my copy of the book. And yes, I COULD download the Kindle app and read it on my computer or smartphone, but unfortunately I have neither the time nor the dedication for that. :-(
Well, that's fair enough. I was the same way before I read TFIOS (what with the being more likely to tell people).
I'll second falloutgirl99's recommendation of the Hunger Games Trilogy! It's really an amazing trilogy.
If you like fantasy then I would suggest trying some of the Warhammer 40k books which I've found are often given their dedicated section in the larger books store chains. As I've mentioned in another thread the Gaunts Ghosts series is pretty good and based on human Imperial Guard rather than super-human Space Marines which are the focus of most of the other books. Alternatively the Stephen Erickson Malazan Empire books are very good, along with Robert Jordans Wheel of Time although it does sometimes drag. If you want more science fiction then Ian Bank writes some pretty good books along with Alastair Reynolds.
It depends on what kind of books you're looking to read. If you're looking for a good comedy, I would suggest Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". A good, albeit depressing, political thriller would be George Orwell's "1984". A lot of people throw the concepts and terminology from that book around without ever reading it or even knowing what it's about other than "fascist dictatorship". If you're a gamer who likes Halo, I would recommend the Halo books as well. Especially anything by Eric Nylund and ESPECIALLY the books "The Fall of Reach" and "First Strike", which fill in the gaps of how Master Chief became who he is, how Reach fell (the game Halo: Reach got everything wrong, but that's a completely different conversation for a completely different website) and what happened between Halo 1 and 2. Actually, I personally count those two books as part of the main game series rather than the Extended Universe due to how important they are to the story. Also, the books are incredibly well-written and action packed. The space battles will have you on the edge of your seat more than the epilepsy-inducing battles of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy ever would, and you don't actually ever see anything but words on a page!
My personal favourites by genre: Fantasy-The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddel Science Fiction-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K Dick Sad/Moral-Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird Historical-Powder Monkey by Paul Dowswell
I also agree with The Hunger Games, it is really good. Read it before you see the movie, you never know what Hollywood does to those movies. If you enjoyed Harry Potter and that genre and want something light, Try Percy Jackson, (don't compare it to the movie, IT SUCKED, it is about the Greek Gods, the spin-off is better though.)
My all-time favorite book is Magician, by Raymond E Fiest. A few close secconds are T.S. Church's series based on an adventure game, beginning with Betrayal at Falador. Also close seccond is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (it is very phychologically stimulating.
Oooh, read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George r. r. Martin! Or anything by Brandon Sanderson. Warbreaker is particularly good. My friend is into this series called Shadows of the Apt. It's a fantasy world were the people have traits of insects. I.e, Wasp kingdom, Beetle kingdom etc.. I havent read them, but she raves about them a lot.
I have actually never read Harry Potter, so I can't say how similar this is, but the current most-famous teen book serious would be The Hunger Games, which is quite enjoyable. For something like The Bartimaeus Trilogy, the Dresden Files are a fantastic fantasy series by Jim Butcher. I'm not sure how similar they are, having not read Bartimaeus, but one of my friends who recommended both to me absolutely loves them, and are both his favorite series, and he has said they're similar. But the Dresden Files are really quite enjoyable especially if you are looking for fantasy novels set in the modern era. You also mentioned Dan Brown. In that thriller genre, there are quite a few authors who are quite excellent. My favorite is Vince Flynn, who writes political thrillers focused on his main CIA-assassin Mitch Rapp. Recently he released American Assassin and Kill Shot, which are both prequels to the rest of his books (AA coming first, KS being the sequel), so I would suggest you start with those. Then there's also Tom Clancy, Brad Thor, Stephen Hunter, Alex Berenson, and many others. I'm not sure if you'd like crime/detective novels, but if you are Michael Connelly is really amazing in that department (particularly his Harry Bosch series). You also mentioned you may be studying law, so if you want to read any legal thrillers, Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller series is very, very good (recently The Lincoln Lawyer, the first novel, was made into a movie starring Matthew McConaughey), and I also enjoyed Brian Haig's works. There is also John Grisham, who is supposed to be excellent, but I have not read anything by him. Back to crime novels, though, Agatha Christie's Poirot are very good if you want classics, and the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle are also very good. ...Aaand I think that's about all I've got for now. Hope that helps.
Grammar nazi says: RECOMMEND TO ME SOME BOOKS or RECOMMEND SOME BOOKS TO ME I fancy "The Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind. Don't ever watch the TV show, however. Ever ever ever. I just finished The Fault in our Stars and LOVED it! I'm also reading and loving the grungy sci-fi book, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. If you like psychologically stimulating books, classic dystopian books might whet your appetite: 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451. Also psychologically stimulating: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells.
Have you ever read Vonnegut? His writing is simple enough (and often hilarious) while still making incredibly deep commentaries on society and humankind's stupidity. Cat's Cradle is epic.
I actually just got into a new medium of fiction called "Emotobooks" Very cool stuff. They have 4 titles out right now and Ive fallen in love with them. The Sci-Fi title "Swing Zone" was just amazing! Issue 2 is coming out tomorrow and I am very excited about it!! If you want a short read (40mins-1hour) with some awesome abstract art injected into it.. Give em a try
I was the same as the OP when I left school, lost all taste for reading, but then I realised I could read what I wanted now, so I started reading again properly. 1984 - George Orwell The Trial - Franz Kafka Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Survivor / Choke / Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Anything by Michael Connelly Anything by Dean Koontz Dreamcatcher - Stephen King these were some of my early favourites post-school. Just spread a wide net, see what you enjoy. Why?!? The Legend of the Seeker was awesome. I truly do miss that show. Maybe it started shakily, but when Cara was introduced and Kahlan started to fight properly, it got really decent.
