Non-Star Trek Recommended Books

[KillerGodMan]

This be the place where you recommend books that have NOTHING to do with Trek.

I recomend the lot of yuhs read The Silverwing Trilogy by Kenneth Oppel.

Recommend peoples! Recommend, recommend, recommend!

[mudshark]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. -- the book I'm reading now for the first time, though I have no good explanation for why it took me so long to get around to doing so.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Anything by Arthur C. Clarke, really.

Asimov's good too. I read the Star Wars New Jedi Order books, and they could be worse. Better than the previous novels.

As far as non-SF goes, I enjoyed the Hornblower (C. S. Forrester) and Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell) books.

Possibly more when I'm not in the lab.

[whoiam]

The HitchHiker's Guide trilogy (books 1, 2, 3, and bits of 4 and 5) and Red Dwarf books.

Neither are *serious* Sci-Fi, but then neither was the Sharpe series...

[Michiel]

I like The Hitchhikers Guide series, Harry Potter series the Lord Of The Rings series. I'm now reading The Da Vinci Code, and I like it so far (chapter 15.)

[PointyHairedJedi]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. -- the book I'm reading now for the first time, though I have no good explanation for why it took me so long to get around to doing so.
I want to read that at some point - thing is, the list of books that I want to read that I haven't yet is pretty horrendously long, not to mention all the books that I have read (but not for a while) and wish to read again. I need clones, dammit.

For a recommendation I would say The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is my second favourite book that I've ever read - only Dune to my mind surpasses it. Anything pretty much by Iain Banks too, except that I've head his books are not that easy to get a hold of in the States (and they have slight differences from the UK versions too apparently).

[Celeste]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. -- the book I'm reading now for the first time, though I have no good explanation for why it took me so long to get around to doing so.

I am reading that right now. Just got through with the first third of it. Very good. I can't wait to find out what will happen next! If you're looking for other science fiction books to read, WE and Brave new world are supposidly very good as well. I'll be reading them next. (Gotta love a class where you get to read Science Fiction books, eh?)

[Gatac]

Anything by Neal Stephenson. The man is a modern god.

Gatac

[Chancellor Valium]

Rubicon by Tom Holland.
Not a sci-fi book, but a serious look at the downfall of the SPQR. Very entertaining and well-written.

Erm, the Grand Admiral Thrawn trilogy of SW books are good....

Lungbarrow, The Sands Of Time and The Well-Mannered War are all very good DW books, which are available in e-book format on the Beeb webpage. Other good DW books are Matrix, The Face Of The Enemy, and The Tomorrow Windows.

[MaverickZer0]

The Eight by Katherine Neville. It's a thriller, a mystery revolving around the metaphor of chess.

Also, Digital Fortress by the same person who wrote The DaVinci Code (I can't remember the author's name.) It's along the same lines, only more modernized, and also delves deep into the internal workings of the US Government codebreakers.

...I read too many thrillers.

[richardson]

Well...

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

the Pern seies by Anne McCaffery

Elvenbane series by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey,

could go on and on. I have a copy of most Sci-fi books published since 1950.

[PointyHairedJedi]

If you're looking for other science fiction books to read, WE and Brave new world are supposidly very good as well. I'll be reading them next. (Gotta love a class where you get to read Science Fiction books, eh?)
"WE"? Brave New World is very good though - I suspect you'll enjoy it.

Lungbarrow, The Sands Of Time and The Well-Mannered War are all very good DW books, which are available in e-book format on the Beeb webpage. Other good DW books are Matrix, The Face Of The Enemy, and The Tomorrow Windows.
I just finished Tomorrow Windows not long ago. Quite good. The one I'm reading at the moment (Anachrophobia) is by the same author I believe. I'm also idly reading The Dying Days in my spare moments.

Also, Digital Fortress by the same person who wrote The DaVinci Code (I can't remember the author's name.)
Dan Brown. I don't think I like his style of writing very much. He's not a bad writer, he just can't seem to manage nuance very well, let alone strong characters.

Well...
the Pern seies by Anne McCaffery
I don't like her fantasy stuff so much. She 's written some okay SF though.

[Celeste]

"WE"? Brave New World is very good though - I suspect you'll enjoy it.

WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin:

In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincs have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the spaceship Integral, that frontier and whatever alien species are to be found there will be subjugated to the beneficent yoke of reason.

One number, D-503, chief architect of the Integral, decides to record his thoughts in the final days before the launch for the benefit of less advanced societies. But a chance meeting with the beautiful I-330 results in an unexpected discovery that threatens everything D-503 believes about himself and the One State. The discovery, or rediscovery, of inner space...and that disease the ancients called the soul.


Sounds really good to me. A classic dystopian novel according to the back of the book. I'll let you know how it is once I finish reading it. :)

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I read a lot of Harry Turtledove. He's been described as the Master of Alternate History. His series include the Worldwar tetralogy (the titles all include the word Balance), various Videssos series, something called Southern Victory that's up to ten novels so far, plus a few other stand-alones or nascent trilogies (like what would have happened if the Japanese had sent a landing force along with the air raid on Dec. 7, 1941).

Caveat: while the actual alternate history is interesting, Turtledove cannot write dialogue or prose. Most of his characters spend all their time stating the obvious and then telling each other they're correct (when they're not being shot at, bombed or shelled, that is). I tend to skip vast chunks of text since there's nothing happening except wooden character lack of development.

[Chancellor Valium]

I didn't think of this before, but Terry Pratchett's books are works of pure genius...

[evay]

My parents thought Canticle was the best book ever, but I wasn't that impressed with it. It's good, but no better than anything by, say, Frederic Brown.

I recommend anything by CJ Cherryh; I'm finishing up the second Foreigner trilogy right now. Mercedes Lackey continues to branch out from Valdemar, and (other than the Bedlam's Bards and SERRAted Edge books, which are only so-so) practically everything she's written is outstanding. McCaffrey's last four or five Pern books, after they found the original ship, have been kind of tired, but the original ten or so are great.

Funny you should mention Silverwing, KGM -- someone on another board suggested I give that as a gift for a friend's daughter, which I've done.

Clarke's Rama series scared the crap out of me, they were so good. Tolkien was hard but worth it. Harry Potter is a given.

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin is another dystopian classic.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Clarke's Rama series scared the crap out of me, they were so good.

The bits he wrote were good, at least. The collaborator was atrocious. Rama II was drek, but the two after that improved slightly, at least in my opinion.

[evay]

You're right, I should specify that Rama, the first, scared the crap out of me with its quality while 2-4 were just a decent space opera. I thought 4 was really the drek of the batch.

[Zeke]

I like a lot of sf authors, but my favourite has got to be Ray Bradbury. He was one of the first, and he's still one of the best. Go to your local used bookstore and pick up one of his short story anthologies -- you won't regret it.

Other authors I like, going for ones who haven't been mentioned so far: C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, John Wyndham, Timothy Zahn, K. A. Applegate (Animorphs is the most underestimated sf series ever), Stephen Leacock, Robertson Davies, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy (the original soap opera writer), Neil Gaiman, Beverly Cleary, Jules Verne, L. Frank Baum, Donald J. Sobol (I loved Encyclopedia Brown when I was a kid), and Shakespeare, who really IS as good as he's made out to be.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Other authors I like, going for ones who haven't been mentioned so far: C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, John Wyndham, Neil Gaiman, Jules Verne
I knew there was a reason I liked you. :D

Have you ever read anything by Eric Frank Russell perchance? Most of his books are out of print at the moment, but I suspect you'd enjoy him immensely.

To name some names of authors that everyone should read at least once (aside from the blindlingly obvious ones like Clarke, Asimov and Herbert):
Nevil Shute
JG Ballard (particularly his short stories)
Frederick Pohl
Iain (M) Banks
Gregory Benford
Poul Anderson
John Brunner
Lindsey Davis
James Blish
Harry Harrison
Graham Greene

[Celeste]

(Animorphs is the most underestimated sf series ever)

I *love* animorphs! Nickelodeon did a tv series based on those books. But it was quickly canceled only a season in. I was so upset. lol

[MaverickZer0]

The TV series didn't really do as much justice to the books as it could have, though.
*has a stash of Animorphs books*

[Chancellor Valium]

LOL, very, very good choices, Zeke :D

The absolute favourite of mine, though, has to be 1066 And All That by WC Sellars and RJ Yeatman. An older work, but hilarious nonetheless :wink:

[Opium]

I like a lot of sf authors, but my favourite has got to be Ray Bradbury. He was one of the first, and he's still one of the best. Go to your local used bookstore and pick up one of his short story anthologies -- you won't regret it.

Other authors I like, going for ones who haven't been mentioned so far: (snip)Agatha Christie, John Wyndham, Timothy Zahn, K. A. Applegate (Animorphs is the most underestimated sf series ever), Stephen Leacock, Robertson Davies, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy (the original soap opera writer), Neil Gaiman, Beverly Cleary, Jules Verne, L. Frank Baum, Donald J. Sobol (I loved Encyclopedia Brown when I was a kid), and Shakespeare, who really IS as good as he's made out to be.

Well, I'm an Agatha Christie reader. I love her mysteries-they're all well-written, better than fluff or light summer reading, but still casual enough to be fun to read anytime, anywhere. She also wrote some romance novels that are actually good, and not trashy, under the name Mary Westmacott.

I have to say that a great experiences is to read Shakespeare while applying it to an actual stage show.

Jane Austin really is a wonderful writer. If you can get through the first shock of reading very proper English, you'll have a dandy time.

For anyone interested in China, politics, world cultures, or journalism, should read Jan Wong's "Red China Blues" and "Jan Wong's China".

And of course, if one is a really sappy mood, they can always read Anne of Green Gables and the rest of the series. Wonderfully written, sweet, and nostolgic.

Erm...does anyone remember having to read a book in elementary or junour high about a boy and a girl who befriend each other. The girl is kind of a tomboy, and they create their own world in the woods behind their homes, and I remember there is a swing to get over a small stream to get to their "fort".

[danieldoof]

I once stumbled across haruki murakami (hard boiled wonderland) and I liked it very much

also like paulo coelho with Idontknowtheenglishtitle (der alchimist)

well douglas adams and terry pratchett speak for themselves
stanislav lem is quite okay

I just started tad williams otherland
lets see what this is like

so much for now
maybe more later :wink:

[PointyHairedJedi]

stanislav lem is quite okay
Solaris was kinda surreal. I suspect it lost something in the translation though.

[stripysox]

Most of mine have already been said but I will repete John Wyndam because he was only mentioned once. Also:

Jostien Gaarder: not sure if that is the correct spelling but it's the guy who wrote Sophie's World. The Solitair Mystery is definately worth reading.

Those and most of the authers on Zekes list.

[Anonymous]

Melanie Rawn is another one of those sweeping epic politics fantasy writers. The two Sunrunner trilogies need character indexes just to keep everyone straight.

Gael Baudino is an acquired taste, tending to appeal to a particular audience niche, but powerful if you like that message. "Gossamer Axe" is more mainstream and one of my favorite books.

I just recently finished Carol Berg's "Transformations" and now I'm craving the next two...

[stripysox]

Oh! I would also like to add that if you don't mind books with lines like 'I know Germans, thier the devil for sticking to a plan.' then John Buchan is an entertaining auther. I epsecially liked The Thirty Nine Steps. I think if you liked the Famouse Five as a kid you would like it.

[danieldoof]

hey he was the one who wrote "im westen nichts neues"
erm mr. standfast??
we saw the movie in school ages ago

when we are talking about war
there is a good book by harry türck called "die stunde der toten augen"
erm "the hour of the dead eyes" in english?

[MaverickZer0]

Erm...does anyone remember having to read a book in elementary or junour high about a boy and a girl who befriend each other. The girl is kind of a tomboy, and they create their own world in the woods behind their homes, and I remember there is a swing to get over a small stream to get to their "fort".

I think you mean Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson. I have that one, but I haven't read it in a while.

[stripysox]

Yep, it is complete rubbish that was writen for war propaganda but strangely compelling.

Also, I totally forgot about Ruth Rendell. Ruth Rendell is good.

[Opium]

I think you mean Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson. I have that one, but I haven't read it in a while.
Thanks :)

I just searched Bridge to Terabethia on Wikipedia and that is indeed the book. I read it in grade 5, and for some reason it always stuck with me.

Oh, and Sophie's World, as mentioned by stripysox sort of, is a great read!

[Chancellor Valium]

A Very Private Life by Michael Frayn is quite good. It's all about a world where no-one moves from their couches at home, spend all their time in front of holoscreens, and take shots of drugs to change their emotions to appropriate versions, and what can happen when a free spirit is added to the mix...

[KillerGodMan]

Yep, it is complete rubbish that was writen for war propaganda but strangely compelling.

AHH! IT RETURNS! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

*KillerGM is aweful memories related to Bridge to Terabithia*

Also, I recomend the Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum. Those books are T3h AWESOME!

[whoiam]

I think there's also a fourth one now.

[Opium]

Yep, it is complete rubbish that was writen for war propaganda but strangely compelling.

AHH! IT RETURNS! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

*KillerGM is aweful memories related to Bridge to Terabithia*



Wow...such a negative response to a book written for preteens and teens! When did you guys read it, and why do you hate is so :?:

BTW, if you haven't already, read 1984 by George Orwell. It's a must read.

[PointyHairedJedi]

^ Orwell's other novels also. I think you can onlyappreciate 1984 truly when you consider it in the context of the rest of his work. I must confess I've never read any of his essays though. Something I plan on getting round to eventually.

[Opium]

^ Orwell's other novels also. I think you can onlyappreciate 1984 truly when you consider it in the context of the rest of his work. I must confess I've never read any of his essays though. Something I plan on getting round to eventually.

I've read a few of his essays, and of course Animal Farm. I really should read some of his other works :D

[PointyHairedJedi]

Burmese Days and Keep the Aspidistra Flying are the two I'd recommend the most. There was actually a film adaptation of Aspidistra that was pretty decent. The fact that it starred Richard E. Grant in the lead role didn't hurt either.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I've read a few of his essays, and of course Animal Farm. I really should read some of his other works

I saw him in the Transformers movie as the voice of Unicron.

[Zeke]

All's Welles that's Orwell, eh?

[Opium]

All's Welles that's Orwell, eh?


OooooooooooooooooooooO *groan*

That's punny!

[whoiam]

...and since you were the second person to make a bad pun in a row, I think everyone will agree that it is well within my rights to sic the Sequel Police on you...

[PointyHairedJedi]

All's Welles that's Orwell, eh?
*Beats Zeke with an aspidistra*

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I find a pool cue works better.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Less topical though.

I'll grant that it's rather hard to play pool with an aspidistra plant, but for beatings it's just fine as long as you lead with the pot.

[Chancellor Valium]

All's Welles that's Orwell, eh?
*Beats Zeke with an aspidistra*

Zeke, that was just bad.

Also, Pointy, I find your choice of a shield to beat Z with interesting. Here, have a gladius :D

:P

[PointyHairedJedi]

Well it's either an aspidistra or a clergyman's daughter, and I just don't have one of those to hand I'm afraid. :roll:

[Sa'ar Chasm]

What exactly is an aspidistra (aspidastra?) anyway? The only other time I've encountered the word was on a sheet of music hall music with no pictures (the song was The Biggest Aspidastra In The World, if you're wondering).

[PointyHairedJedi]

An aspidistra (http://www.greenscenelandscape.com/images/aspidistra-elatior.jpg).

[danieldoof]

hey and what does it taste like ??
:twisted:

[whoiam]

Like aspidistra.

a.k.a. Chicken

[mudshark]

Other favorite authors:

Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
Thomas Pynchon (warning: Gravity's Rainbow is a lot of work -- tread carefully)
Tom Robbins
Salman Rushdie (anything except "Fury" -- that was disappointing)
Mark Twain (natch ;) )
Charles Dickens (a couple of clinkers, but hey ... )
Kurt Vonnegut (especially earlier stuff)
James Michener (kind of invented a particular brand of historical fiction)
Bruce Sterling
Harlan Ellison (prefer his non-fiction, but the fiction is better than just fine)

[Zeke]

I think everyone will agree that it is well within my rights to sic the Sequel Police on you...

I'm not worried. They're busy keeping Space Quest 7 from happening.

[whoiam]

You needent have worried regardless - as you were the first of the two bad puns, you, the 'original', are outside the jurisdiction of the Sequel Police.

The second, the 'sequel', if you will, was actually Opium, and so she was the one I was threatening with Sequel Police.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Other favorite authors:
Mark Twain (natch ;) )
You do surprise me. So, I don't suppose you ever got to actually meet the guy? ;)

[mudshark]

Just a little before my time, I'm afraid. :P

That reminds me of something, though: several years back, I was working my way through a lot of Rudyard Kipling's novels and stories, and I kept getting this Twain vibe, especially in things like Stalky and Company and Soldiers Three. Turns out that Kipling was a big fan, as Innocents Abroad and other of Twain's earlier titles were published during the time Kipling was growing up. As described in Kipling's From Sea to Sea, years later, he was traveling from India to England the long way around (heading east instead of west) and actually went to Elmira, New York and looked up Samuel Clemens at home.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

and actually went to Elmira, New York and looked up Samuel Clemens at home.

...but Star Trek told me Samuel Clemens lived in San Francisco.

(Come to think of it, so did Harry Turtledove.)

[mudshark]

He did live there for a couple of years, when he was younger. He wrote for a couple of San Francisco newspapers in 1863-64. At any time after that, he would simply have been passing through, and did so on at least two occasions, that I'm aware of.

[KillerGodMan]

Yep, it is complete rubbish that was writen for war propaganda but strangely compelling.

AHH! IT RETURNS! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

*KillerGM is aweful memories related to Bridge to Terabithia*



Wow...such a negative response to a book written for preteens and teens! When did you guys read it, and why do you hate is so :?:

I read it in Grade 6, and, like most books one is forced to read in school, (like Lord of the Flies, Cry The Beloved Country, The Trumpet of the Swan), you grow to hate them, EXCEPT for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Lord of the Flies wasn't too bad either.

whoiam - There's only three OFFICIAL Bourne books, The Bourne Legacy wasn't written by Ludlum, it was written by somebody else in his name, to add to the number of boks Ludlum's 'written' since he died 4 years ago.

[Celeste]

I have to do a biographical report on Brian Aldiss, and then I have to read a book by him. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Only thing that's really caught my eye is Helliconia Spring, the 1st part of a trilogy which won a few awards.

[PointyHairedJedi]

You know, I know almost nothing of the work of Aldiss whatsoever. Looking over his body of work (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Brian_Aldiss.htm) I can't even say that I've read a single of his novels, though I've probably at some point read a short story or two.

[whoiam]

*stands corrected. Its like standing to attention, only more correct...*