Must Read Books

Gaidin109 said:
some good choices, I disagree with Catcher, and have you read Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, it far surpasses the Song series by Martin. :)
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I disagree on both counts :)

You argue that Catcher is out of date, I believe that it perfectly captures the emotion of being that age and that's something which does not date. I even re-read it last year (22) and still found it engaging.

I have read the Wheel of Time and find it quite childish in comparison to the more brutal and realistic Song series. I have read most fantasy books of note and nothing in my opinion comes close to imagination of Martin, plus and importantly the writing is great (unlike most teenage aimed fantasy books).

I did note you list Magician by Feist, I read 6 chapters and gave up! As above I found it to be aimed at teenagers almost exclusively and something I would have enjoyed when I was 16 but now don't. Should I go back and read it?

Finally I bough “Alone in Berlin” (I think you listed it) today and I’ve already burnt through 120 pages and loving it. Hope it stays this gripping.
 
Meridian said:
I hope you have written your will, because I'm now going to have to kill you for being unable to tell a good series from a bad one. The Wheel of Time represents everything that is wrong with Heroic fantasy, whilst Martin at least has attempted to break away from that.
M
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I'd have to disagree, WOT is far superior, vast in it's scope and is Epic fantasy rather than heroic.

Many have tried to kill me, yet none have succeeded. :p
 
Liefrich said:
I disagree on both counts :)

You argue that Catcher is out of date, I believe that it perfectly captures the emotion of being that age and that's something which does not date. I even re-read it last year (22) and still found it engaging.

I have read the Wheel of Time and find it quite childish in comparison to the more brutal and realistic Song series. I have read most fantasy books of note and nothing in my opinion comes close to imagination of Martin, plus and importantly the writing is great (unlike most teenage aimed fantasy books).

I did note you list Magician by Feist, I read 6 chapters and gave up! As above I found it to be aimed at teenagers almost exclusively and something I would have enjoyed when I was 16 but now don't. Should I go back and read it?

Finally I bough “Alone in Berlin” (I think you listed it) today and I’ve already
burnt through 120 pages and loving it. Hope it stays this gripping.
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If you haven't read Feist then I suggest you do. If you like Martin, then John Marco and Terry Brooks would probably be up your street also.

Remember Magician as with the first book of WOT are dealing with adolescents and to some extent the books reflect that, as the series move on you lose that aspect, WOT especially becomes very dark in later books. The Riftwar series and the subsequent Conclave of shadows series are also excellent and dark and brutal in their own way.

WOT is hardly childish, the first volume is naive but the political nature and vast scope of the series is far more intricate and books 4,5,6 are superior in my opinon to the Martin series.

You should read Less Than Zero, which is far superior to Catcher in the Rye also.
 
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Thanks for all the replies :) unfortunatly been at work over the weekend so this is the first opputunity to look at the feedback. After my uni exams im going to look into Stephen Kings Dark Tower series. Ive read his work before but only the usual salem's lot, misery the shining etc so im interested to see his work from an alternative genre. Though ill more then likely read a lot of this list :) Thanks and keep them coming.
 
Eye of the dragon by Stephen King is a good read if you like fantasy, just as a precusor to the vastly more complicated Dark Tower, which after showing some promise fell a little flat for me.

Stephen King's 'The Talisman' is better than both and is of the same genre.
 
vonhelmet said:
I just came back in here to mention this. It's brilliant. A great allegory too, but I'm not going to say for what - read it and find out.
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Exactly, at first I enjoyed it as just a good tale and then those last few pages just blew my mind, I remember reading the bit you're referring to and putting the book down and having to just think about it for a bit.
 
Never Let Me go - Kazuo Ishiguro. I tend just to read without considering the subjects behind the book or any allegorical impact, but this is certainly a book that made me think.

Another vote for Life of Pi as well.
 
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