Nitefly is a Book Novice, Please Help Him

You can't gow wrong with a bit of Stephen King, especially Salems Lot, The Shining, Pet Semeatry and The Green Mile
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison
Adrian Mole books by sue Townsend
 
_dogma_ said:
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
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Those are great books, and so are these:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
Billy Straight, Jonathan Kellerman
A Painted House, John Grisham
Fluke, James Herbert
Weaveworld, Clive Barker

:)
 
Urrgg main stream books to get you back in it :confused:

You'll only get back in to it, if you read books you enjoy. So if it is not "mianstream" then don't read that stuff.

For me I like simple action. Things like mathew riley, lee child, Jack higgins. If it has the same main charcter over a series even better.
 
If you want a bit of Urban Fantasy to shake things up, take a look at these:

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Sixty-One Nails - Mike Shevdon

They're all awesome.

Also read anything by William Gibson, that man is a genius. I would recomend the Sprawl trilogy, starts with Neuromancer.

Also for some Sci-Fi, read the The Forever War series by Joe Haldeman.
 
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Bill Watterson ~ Calvin and Hobbs It's a Magical World

Bill Watterson ~ Calvin and Hobbs Somthing under the Bed is drooling

Bill Watterson ~ Calvin and Hobbs Revenge of the Baby Sat
 
I've just got into reading Sci-Fi, get Ringworld by Larry Niven, it kicks ass, I finished the sequel (there are 3 in total) the other day and can't wait to read the final one.
 
Frederick Forsyth - The Day of the Jackal
Stephen King - The Green Mile
Jeffrey Archer - Anything by him although I'd particularly recommend Kane & Abel, As the Crow Flies, False Impression, A Prisoner of Birth and Paths of Glory.
 
im not a big reader myself so when i tried to get back into reading the first book i got hold of was:

Call of Cthulu and other weird stories by HP Lovecraft, its an easy and interesting read as its all short stories, i think the longest is about 40 pages long so there easy to pick up and read.

from that i went onto the god delusion by Richard dawkins as this is a subject that interests me and was the first book i read from front to back since school.

the latest book im currently reading is Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist and im holding off watching the film until ive finished reading, its a very good book and with it being a horror it is somthing im interested in.

from the selections above personally im prefering the last but the above books are the few thats kept me interested enough to keep reading recently and the only reason is the fact they are all subjects/genres that interest me.
 
I'd second any recomentdations for
Niven's Ringworld series.
Asimov's Robot (and Empire, and Foundation series)
Eddings: Belgariad and Malloriam
Pratchett's Discoworld - I'd actually suggest possibly starting with something like Guards Guards, as it's slightly easier to get into imo than Lightfantastic (and better in my book:p)
Herberts Dune is very good, but can be very hard going, not good if you're after something light:)
Orson Scott Card's Enders game (and sequels is good).

And a couple of ebooks that you can probably find free and are good fun/have an interesting hook:
John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars (the main character is quite literally that), and Old Man's War ("On my 70th birthday I did two things, I visited my Wife's Grave and joined the Army")

Also, you may like to have a butchers at Baen's free library, specifically at the likes of the Honor Harrington books by David Weber (the first "On Basilisk station" and a couple of collections of shorts are available free*).



*I blame Baen for me getting my 505, I started reading some of their free ebooks and liked them enough that I bought them, but couldn't stand reading them on my PC :p
 
At the risk of being unoriginal, I'd certainly agree with Neuromancer by William Gibson, and American Gods by Neil Gaiman being near the top of your list.

A couple of other random recommendations from me are Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Boudain and Wild Swans by Jung Chang.
 
Wow, thanks for the onslaught of responses chaps / chapettes :)

I have read through the Harry Potter books and His Dark Materials, enjoying both thoroughly. The list you provided Dogma was excellent and contained the 'mainstream and popular' books I was after, although in such a bit list it's slightly intimidating! Could you perhaps recommend a select few out those you have provided?

Again, thank you for all your recommendations - tomorrow I will trawl through the thread, make a choice, and let you know which one I bought to get me going.

AcidHell2 said:
Urrgg main stream books to get you back in it :confused:
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Well, the thing is I don't really know what I do enjoy, so a popular, well regarded book is probably a good place to start :)
 
Well, first of all Nitefly, if you're a complete Novice at books, I do suggest, in fact I simply *insist* that you first learn to read.

Seriously though, I reckon I'm in the same boat as you.

What about going through the various books that have won prizes over the last 8 years or so....? I've made a very feeble start at The Time Traveler's Wife after being recommended however I don't think it's gonna be my sort of thing.
 
wozzizname said:
At the risk of being unoriginal, I'd certainly agree with Neuromancer by William Gibson, and American Gods by Neil Gaiman being near the top of your list.

A couple of other random recommendations from me are Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Boudain and Wild Swans by Jung Chang.
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Neuromancer is awful, an absolute slog and outdated.
 
Nitefly said:
Wow, thanks for the onslaught of responses chaps / chapettes :)

I have read through the Harry Potter books and His Dark Materials, enjoying both thoroughly. The list you provided Dogma was excellent and contained the 'mainstream and popular' books I was after, although in such a bit list it's slightly intimidating! Could you perhaps recommend a select few out those you have provided?
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Your wish is my command ;)
These are some of the few I've read and throughly enjoyed. Most of these books are kids books but I still think they should be read. I also find a lot of the "classics" a bit of hard going and that's not what you're looking for. You also have to remember, just because a book/author is popular doesn't mean you'll enjoy reading them.


4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl

Everybody should read Roald Dahl, yes they are kids books but they are amazing! The Twits was one the first books I ever read.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a very good, powerful book. And if you ever get round to reading and enjoying it another author along the same vein who I would suggest would be Anchee Min.

I would also recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and sequels) by Steig Larsson, and of Simon Kernick and Lee Child's books also.

Simon Rothfuss has a book that reminds me of the Lost Odyssey memories, if you like that sort of thing too.

Also, Trudi Canavan has got 2 series out Age of Five and The Black Magician and they're well worth a read too.

I read a lot but I tend to just go into a bookshops and look at the spines of books, if I see one I like I pick it up and read the blurb. It's how I discover a fair few authors that I normally wouldn't read.

Sorry I get carried away when it comes to books!! :eek:
 
Panzerbjorn said:
I'd counter Semi-Pro's comment on Catch 22 (Joseph Heller) and Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) - I enjoyed them both. Catch 22 did go on a bit but the farcical nature of it appealed to my sense of humour. I love Catcher in the Rye because it's essential a post-modern novel written long before there was such a thing.
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I think expectations had a lot to do with my views on these books, they'd been built up to me as marvellous examples of writing and they're decent enough but I really wouldn't go out of my way to read them again. I own both and even recently re-read Catch 22 to see if I was missing anything from my initial assessment (at 13ish), got a marginal amount more out of it but still came to the conclusion that it could (and probably should) have been told in less than half what Heller took. Catch 22 should in theory be right up my street as I've got quite a dry sense of humour often and an fairly solid appreciation of irony and satire but I just didn't find it all that great.

It could be that I'm simply contrary, for instance despite (or perhaps because of) all the critical acclaim I hated The Road by Cormac McCarthy, not even because it wasn't a good idea, principally I disliked it because it was a good idea done very badly with a writing style that distracted massively from the whole point. However it's all very subjective so if you enjoyed them then that's great of course. :)

The Great And Secret Show by Clive Barker might be worth considering, it's a pretty hefty book but entertaining, if a bit strange.

Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice isn't too shabby either although her books are weirdly sexual at times as if she couldn't decide whether to write a vampire story or soft core porn.

Filth, E and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh are all good modern novels, peculiarly Scottish but I don't think that restricts the enjoyment of them.
 
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