Suggest some books?

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2005
Posts
14,354
I've never really read a lot of books, but recently I have been doing so.

Mainly biographies and comedy style books. I've been reading through Karl Pilkingtons books recently which are hilarious.

I want to read some 'proper' books but, but I don't really know where to start. I'm not into horror, so anything besides that would be fine. I'd prefer something easy to get into, something that would be great for a 'new' reader as such.

I recently watched Shutter Island, but how does the book compare?

Any suggestions would be great!

Cheers
 
Some of the sci-fi classics would be perfect for you I think.

Check out Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick, and Orson Scott Card, etc.

The book club are currently reading Frank Herbert's Dune (see my sig), if you fancy giving that a go.
 
As Nix says Asimov, Phillip k Dick and Orson Scott Card all have good books for people who want to try reading something different for the first time :)

I'd highly recommend Asimov's Caves of Steel for example, as both science fiction, and detective :)
Or his Robot shorts to get a feel for him.

Some of Heinlen's books are still very good even today (although his later ones are not as good a lot of the time, and his attitude towards women isn't PC;)).
Puppet Masters for example is a classic alien invasion story and has (from memory) been made into films twice officially (and I think several more have been based on a very similar idea), and "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon is a harsh mistress" are both fairly classic.

Larry Niven's Ringworld series is a must if you try some science fiction (in my mind), it's one of the series that I tend to reread every few years, indeed I'm currently reading as much of the "known space" and "man kzin wars" books and stories as I can find at the moment (the Ringworld takes place in the "Known space" universe after the Man Kzin Wars, but you can read Ringworld blind).

In addition to the above David Weber's Honor Harrington series are good, the first few are available as free ebooks from the Baen free library (and if you like them you can buy an ebook bundle with the whole series + more for about $12*), very nice if you've got a Kindle or other ebook reader (and played a very large part in my decision to buy a Sony PRS 505 a couple of years back).
Basically space opera in the vein of Hornblower (I think), but in Space :)

Peter F Hamilton's Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are are a very good SF series, but long at something like 1000 pages each (and the Void trilogy that follows on as a sequel series is another ~3000 pages)

Dune is to my mind a great book, and a good series of books (at least the ones written by the original author), but can be very heavy going at times from memory.

For non Science Fiction/Fantasy stuff, one of the obvious suggestions is Tom Clancy's "Ryan" series, starting with The Hunt for Red October.

*I think the July 2010 set has the 4 books including the latest in the HH series, and also includes a CD image with about 30+ more ebooks (the whole HH series up to the latest one).
 
I bought a hardback book last week, Derren Brown's latest called Confessions of a Conjurer from Amazon, it was a tenner as well and has gotten excellent reviews.
 
I'm part way through the Stieg Larsson trilogy, I've finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and am on the Girl Who Played with Fire. Excellent, excellent books. There were moments in the first one that had my biting my lip so hard, and I'm told to expect much worse in this one... I can't wait. :p

Anything by Christopher Hithcens: 'Love, Poverty and War', the Trial of Henry Kissinger, The Missionary Position, all incredible reads.

It goes without saying, but all of the Harry Potter books are outstanding (apart from the very end of the very last book, annoyingly :p).

I have Shutter Island to get through, a couple of James Bond novels and about twenty Stephen King novels. I hope they're as good as I'm hoping. ;)


Hang on... What are you doing back here? :eek: I remember reading some rather unpleasant stuff about me, posted by you, once. :p
 
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Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. Much appreciated.

I was let back on here not long ago Naffa - After 5 years of being banned. Yes, I think we had a run in, can't remember what it was about or what was said but it's forgotten now. :)

Cheers
 
Also worth a look is anything by Bill Bryson, some very funny and entertaining stuff there!
Another vote for me for the Larsson trilogy, Im also halfway through the second book.
I preferred the first (so far) but will be getting the 3rd from Amazon soon, no doubt :)
 
Yet another vote for the Larsson trilogy. Hefty books that kept me entertained for hours. The last one starts a bit slow but it brings the story to a satisfying conclusion. Well worth the read. Too bad Larsson passed away as I thoroughly enjoyed Salander and her shenanigans.

Bill Bryson, as Mingeroonie said, are excellent and hilarious reads. On a flight to Norway a few years ago I was reading 'Neither Here Nor There' from him, I had to stop reading mid-flight as I was shaking with laughter, so much so that I kept waking people up.

For more serious reading, I can recommend A Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela. Fascinating story and insights that transcend racial and national boundaries.
 
mingeroonie said:
I preferred the first (so far) but will be getting the 3rd from Amazon soon, no doubt :)
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I'll just say that I accidentally started reading the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I got all three free on my iPad and mindlessly picked a book to see what it was like to read with the Kindle software, only intending to read a single page. But I ended up reading three chapters before I realised my mistake. :p It seemed to be damn good. :cool:
 
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