Book recommendations

Try 'Gardens of the moon' by Steven Erikson, if you like that, read the rest. One of the best fantasy worlds with some of the best characters ive read :)

Edit: For fantasy that is
 
Maybe try His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman?

Also, if you want to improve your vocabulary try anything by Umberto Eco - you will need a dictionary, thesaurus and a whole stack of reference books to fully comprehend all the references in his novels.

For thrillers I would recommend the early Thomas Harris books (Black Sunday, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs) - don't be put off by the film adaptations, these are superbly written thrillers. Also, the first three Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell are great (later ones increasingly rubbish). And finally - Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal is superb.

For sci-fi Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, John Wyndham and Alfred Bester would be my favourites.

And the best tip of all - secondhand bookshops are so great. You could probably pick up all of the books mentioned here for less than a tenner. Bargain.
 
Robin Hobb- Read the Liveship Trilogy :) The Farseer & Fool trilogies are set in the same world, but aren't quite as good. The Soldier Son trilogy is also well worth a read, but unfortunately isn't in the same leauge unfortunately.

Another much overlooked choice is the Saga of the Exiles by Julian May. Sadly these have been out of print for several years now, but they form one of the best fantasy/ SF clones that I've come across.

SF-wise, the two must read authors are Isaac Asimov & Ben Bova.
I also agree with the Arthur C. Clarke reccomendation, but some of his works are better than others :)

I really wouldn't bother with Umberto Eco tbh, somone who needs all of 5 pages to describe the contents of a rucksack (Without any side stories either) should be shot!


You name it, I've read it, so my opinion may be a little biased :p
In all seriousness though, you've got to decide on amongst other things the style of book you're looking to read- If you're looking for fast-paced action, then the field of authors is much different to those who take a more philosophical and moral slant to thier work. (On that tack, I'd reccomend Harry Harrison & Jack L. Chalker; Both may be slightly harder to find, but have produced some exceedingly good stuff)

Cheers

-Leezer-
 
GeezerButler said:
Maybe try His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman?
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Not bad but I'd not recommend reading them back to back as I did - perhaps it is just something I do but I tend to pick out similar patterns of speech/writing and I found quite a lot of them in his work. To me it seemed they were also written slightly with children in mind more than adults but that could make for an easier read which might be wanted.

GeezerButler said:
For thrillers I would recommend the early Thomas Harris books (Black Sunday, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs)
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I think Red Dragon is probably the best of his Hannibal books, I haven't read everything he has written so can't say for certain but I'd suspect it will be one of the best overall.
 
I'm not a big reader but wanted a book for my holiday. A friend lent me the first Dexter book "Darkly Dreaming Dexter". A very easy read and I couldn't put it down. Just about to start the second book. :)
 
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