Then maybe, _The Genizah at the House of Shepher_
Inkwell
-----------------
"The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp."
-Anonymous
Also, Neil Gaiman and Stephen King tell fantastic stories.
And as a general aside to everyone here at Hatrack, if you have not read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, shame on you!
I second the Sword of Truth series with the same complaint.
I also recommend Coldfire by Dean Koontz. Or Odd Thomas, also by Koontz.
The Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman is excellent. Black Sun Rising is the first book. It's SciFi/Fantasy. Literally. You'll see what I mean if you read it. It's a Fantasy set in a SciFi world.
Hope that helps.
Modern Lit? A few years ago I read the alternate history, Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove. Haven't read any others by him, but I keep meaning to.
Is there a particular genre, period or style that appeals to you?
If you like classic, public-domain stuff, there's tons to read and tons that should be read to see what has come before... and it's all free. However, they aren't printed books, and unless you're comfortable dealing with ebooks and text files, then it's probably a no-go for most. If anyone is interested, here's a link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
Must reads that aren't free:
Anything from Douglas Adams
Pretty much all of OSC's catalog, especially Ender's Game and Pastwatch. The Homecoming series is enjoyable, too.
Anything from Bill Bryson.
And if you really want to go on the cheap and easy to obtain, there are plenty of stories here on Hatrack that could stand a reader / critique.
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers is amazing; a spectacular autobiographical work with a decidedly metafiction bent (i.e. it is concerned with the writing of itself). Funny and tragic (well, to use the right literary terminology it is pathetic) and uplifting.
If you haven't read it already, try "To Kill a Mockingbird" as well, Harper Lee
so many more, these may not even be the best, but they are what I thought of at this moment.
I think DUNE should be mandatory reading for Sci-Fi readers, although I think all the followup books were nowhere as good. Frank Herbert's son, Brian, had done an excellent job in writing the prequels to DUNE. They were engaging and well done.
Has anyone here not read OSC's full library? I particularly liked some of the less popular books like Songmaster and Wyrms. I loved the first 3 books in the Alvin Maker series, was very not-impressed with the more recent three. But OSC on a bad day is better than most fantasy authors on a good day.
When I was a teenager I loved Robert Heinlein. Now I can't choke him down.
I read a lot of non-fiction, too. At least, I used to. I've been consumed with writing the past two years, and frankly, I don't have a lot of leisure time for reading anymore. Every possible waking moment I can, I'm writing. It's hard to get excited about someone else's story when my own is trying to tumble out of my brain.
Funniest book I ever read: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), by Jerome K Jerome. Easy read.
Another funny one: To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. Time travel, farce.
Best books about aliens:
The Mote in God's Eye, Niven & Pournelle
Dawn (and its 2 sequels), Octavia Butler
Startide Rising, David Brin
Mysteries: anything by Agatha Christie.
Farce: P G Wodehouse
Other cool ones
Wind in the Willows
A Riddle-Master of Hed
The Doomsday Book
Voice of the Whirlwind
Hardwired
The Martian Chronicles
The Prince of Tides (very dark)
Genesis Two
Science Fiction:
David Drake - Northworld Trilogy
Gordon R. Dickson - Dorsai
Timothy Zahn - The Icarus Hunt
David Weber - Honor Harrington/The Shiva Option
David Brin - Uplift War
C J Cherryh - Foreigner
John Dalmas - The Regiment
Chris Bunch - The Last Legion
Fantasy:
Glen Cook - Black Company
Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light/Amber series
Michael Moorcock - Elric Saga
Steven Brust - Vlad Taltos
David Farland - The Runelords
Eric Van Lustbader - The Sunset Warrior
George RR Martin - Game of Thrones
Michael Zucker Reichert - Last of the Renshai
Gene Wolfe - Soldier of the Mist
L.E. Modesitt Jr. - The Magic of Recluse
Dave Duncan - A Man of his Word/King's Blades
Mary Gentle - Book of Ash
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
Historical Fiction:
Steven Pressfield - Gates of Fire
Gillian Bradshaw - Island of Ghosts
Lindsey Davis - Marcus Falco Mysteries
Actually, I'm supposed to be working on a paper, but this was just the most recent excuse for ignoring it. I guess it won't write itself -- will it(please)?
If you're in to historical fiction, check out _The Other Boelyn Girl_ by Philippa Gregory. Or _Pope Joan_ by Donna Woolfolk Cross.
Now I need to go place holds at the library for all of the ones that people have mentioned that I haven't read.
[This message has been edited by limo (edited April 20, 2005).]
[This message has been edited by limo (edited April 20, 2005).]
I second the recommendation of Guns of the South by Turtledove; I read that recently, and it was superb.
Heinlein ought to be read, but selectively. A lot of his early YA material was terrific, such as Have Space Suit, Will Travel; or the one about the kids who were stranded on an alien planet during a final exam (can't remember the name). Starship Troopers and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress are great reading for a more mature audience. He has some really good short stories out there, too.
If you're into historical fiction, the Patrick O'Brian sea novels about Aubrey and Maturin are excellent (the first is Master and Commander), and of course much of the Shaara body of work makes for good reading.
quote:
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Tolkien yet
yeah, and no one has mentioned breathing either... I just presume that EVERYone who is ANYone has read Tolkien. (Of course, I'm continually amazed at the number of people on this board who haven't yet read Ender's Game.)
I must mention my all-time favorite, Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Mists of Avalon"... a wonderful version of King Arthur from the point of view of his sister, Morgaine. It represents the clash between the old druidic/goddess culture and the new Christian culture.
Anyway, you have plenty of options here.
*coughmissmarycough*
Looks like it.
Please ignore my snarky attitude about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, just go read him! If you find his novel hard to take, then go read the short stories. If you've ever heard of magical realism, these works are an excellent example, and the novel starts with a GREAT hook.
quote:
Was I the only one who caught that?
Some of us caught it, but assumed that Miss Mary knows good writing when she sees it.
I also second many of the above recommendations, particularly "Watership Down" and "Wind in the Willows". "Shade's Children" by Garth Nix is pretty well done.
Please please read any OSC you have not yet gotten to. I'm re-reading his works for the umpteenth time. Some of my personal favorites besides Ender's Game: Wyrms and the Worthing Saga. Also "Maps in a Mirror: the Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card" is a must-read. You learn a lot about him as well.
Jane Austen will always hold a hallowed place in my heart.
Try to read the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis before you die. This is just in case you haven't already; many people have. I probably read them yearly.
James Herriot is always excellent. True stories about his experiences as an English veterinarian beginning in the 1930's. Hilarious throughout, poignant often, always engrossing. Start with "All Creatures Great and Small."
I could go on and on and on.
I was heavily influenced by Anne McCaffrey's Pern books when in middle school. As an adult, there are some pretty annoying things about them, but they are still definitely worth the read. The best dragons I have ever come across. Start with "Dragonsdawn" if you like to read chronologically, or "Dragonflight" if you want to read them in the order they were written.
If you like light-hearted mysteries at all, read Dorothy Cannell. Start with "The Thin Woman" which inroduces truly delightful characters.
I read voraciously. Characters from books I have read also live on in my mind; I consider myself a better person for knowing them, and I mourn when they die. I rejoice when they have joy, and remember them always, even if I never read the book again. My favorite characters I visit often; re-reading my favorite books over and over through the years.
If the list isn't already too long to read before you die let me know and I'll add another couple miles of text to my post. 
[This message has been edited by autumnmuse (edited April 24, 2005).]
On that note I'd mention Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" which was the first sci-fi book I ever read (in fifth grade). And I still love to re-read from time to time "Cheaper By The Dozen" ... not the drek that made up the most recent Steve Martin movie, but the original true story. I still laugh when I think about the dad writing "Two maggots were fighting in dead earnest" on the wall to give the kids a lesson in deciphering morse code. I second the nomination of "To Kill A Mockingbird" - a great example of a well-written book in first person POV. Other favorites: Shogun, The Far Pavillions, Medicine Woman, Gone With the Wind.
It's fun to see what other people have enjoyed reading over the years.
I read the first two Grail Quest books, The Archer's Tale and Vagabond, in about two days. If you like medieval warfare novels you'll like this series. It also touches a little on some parts of the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, strangely enough.
The second one is a retake on the Arthurian legends, and is quite good as well.
[This message has been edited by keldon02 (edited April 28, 2005).]
I've only been a teacher for 11 weeks so I may not be quite tough enough yet for any trully traumatic novels. I agree about Robin Mackinley novels esp. for women readers, really enjoyable.
Anyone read Sally Vickers? I haven't but she's been recommended to me.
HSO not snarky at all - at least maybe I've got used to your tone of writing - I saw no snark there and I hunt for them ya know.
li
Drat back to work on monday. Ugh I wonder how I will handle the next 30 weeks. Escape Escape!!!!
I mean, Nighttime was pretty tame, and yet the "I'm a real person writing this" conceit was more than a little...irritating, since I never found it very plausible.
It wasn't terrible. I did read the whole thing. But I've never felt a desire to go back and read it again, or to seek out more like it.
As for OSC, I do second that the last few Alvin books have left me empty. Crystal City more so. Even the latest installment in the Shadow series left me a bit empty.
As someone said above, Roger Zelazny's Amber series (but don't touch the prequals written by Betancourt).
Herbert's Dune series, deep rich plots. Sometimes a bit hard to follow later on. But the prequals can't hold a candle to the original series. They're OK, but I don't think it's what Herbert had envisioned.
I second David Farland's Runelord series.
Mary Stewart's Hollow Hills series is pretty good.
What I've read from Octavia Butler is good, Wild Seed, its sequal Mind of my Mind, and Parable of the Sower.
Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series and his World of Tiers series.
Donaldson's dualogy, Mordant's Need.
King's Dark Tower series. I've only read the first four so far, in part because of the forth was bitterly disapointing. Good but it did not measure up to the 3rd.
However, Stephen King at his worst can sometimes be better than other authors at their best. I'd definitely recommend finishing the Dark Tower Series, especially because he ended it in exactly the way that I wanted him to.
If you're more into brain candy, Hunt for Red October's always entertaining, Jurassic Park, (the ONLY Crichton novel I can stand to read repeatedly.) or my personal favorite, Design Patterns Explained, by Alan Shalloway.
Wait . . . that's a programming book. Who slipped that on my reading list?!!
- Falken224 - posing as Corin
[edited to add]
And I COMPLETELY forgot Starship Troopers by Heinlein. KILLER book. Don't judge it by the movie!
[/edited to add]
[This message has been edited by Corin224 (edited May 03, 2005).]
Charles Stross, Singularity Sky
Very amusing story about a technologically backwards world suddenly being given miraculous AI/nanotechnology by posthuman visitors and the effects it has on them. Great characters.
Stephen Baxter, Coalescent
Still reading this one, but it's... interesting. Combines two story threads, one set in modern times and one set during and following the Roman withdrawal from Britain.
Wen Spencer, Tinker
Urban fantasy with a technoligical spin. Intriguing worldbuilding. Amusing characters. And the author hangs around on another site I visit regularly.
That wouldn't be Forward Motion, would it?
I'd second the Wen Spencer suggestion, actually. She won the Campbell award, and there's a reason for it.
Tinker's a great book, and I just made the mistake of reading the sample chapter of the sequel off her web site. Now I'm going to be impatient for it to be released...
I'm going to add The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale to this list.
Alas, my holidays usually involve picking up stuff to read when I get back, usually lighter tomes. I do usually take some old familiar book along to start reading with, then skim through some stuff I've picked up along the way. I wind up with a huge pile when I get back home.
If I were planning a period of leisure time, where I couldn't write, but had enough time to really go over something properly, I might find some solid thick book and go through that. There's lots of things I haven't read that I'd like to...some things I even have copies of.
What comes to my mind first is "War and Peace," which I tried to get through in high school but couldn't get past page twelve. (Cultural barriers, mostly.) From all the good things I've heard about it, it might be worth another attempt...
Mars is standalone read too. But he did eventually go back and write Return to Mars something like 7-8 years later.
Last month I was reading Young Adult books, either the ones that I read and liked when I was that age or have heard good things about since. Many of these books are somewhat short (around the 50,000 word mark) which was good since I don't really have very much free time right now.
From that group I highly recommend _Speak_ (which instantly became one of my all time favorite books) to anyone that has every gone to an American high school (and just about anyone that hasn't), and also it's sequel _Catelyst_. In the last few weeks I've read _A Wrinkle in Time_ and half a dozen related books by the same author, which I also really like.
This month I've started on some of the classics. I went and bought the cheap Dover editions of Mark Twain and the like last night, and it's been great. That'll probably last me a while, and I guess when I'm done with that I can always find some interesting suggestions on this thread.
Jack Vance. He's won Nebula and Hugo twice each, for Dragonmasters and Last Castle. Best book, IMHO, is the trilogy starting with Lyonesse.
Bruce Sterling. Best book is Islands in the Net (cyberpunk). Others worth reading: Holy Fire; Distraction; and especially Zeitgeist, which I'd call magic realism.
The Lymond Books by Dorothy Dunnett (they're historical, but brilliant still).
Regarding OSC, "Hart's Hope" was one of the best fantasy books I ever read.
I'll second will on "To Say Nothing of the Dog". I chortled during the whole book.
I think you have enough to keep you busy anyway. And I lifted a few things to keep mebusy during the holidays as well
in the short story vein you can't go wrong with Phillip K. Dick.
I ran across something the other day, an article about something else (whether rap music was art, I think---I don't have it in front of me right now---the article writer cast a firm "no" vote.)
But one thing struck me. The writer mentioned the Greek playwrights in his discussion, and said something along the lines of "What's being written now, that will still be read and discussed 2500 years from now?"
Appropriate question...I admit I'd be happy to be published in my own lifetime, and let posterity worry about posterity.
Audrey Niffeneger's Time Traveller's Wife is a pretty good read.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
I Will Fear no Evil
Have Spaceuit, Will Travel
Starman Jones
Glory Road
The Puppet Masters
Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
Have fun and enjoy!
- oh, and am I glad I did! It isn't SF, fantasy or horror (it was in the general fiction section) but this chick rocks!!!
GOOD AUTHOR! GOOD AUTHOR!
Her name is Michelle Berry and she's from Canada.
Here's a link to her first novel, Blur
And here's a link to another one of her books, What We All Want
If books were food then these are two of the most devilishly delicious desserts you'll ever eat!!!
[This message has been edited by Paul-girtbooks (edited February 05, 2006).]
Terry Moore's graphic novel sequence Strangers in Paradise
http://strangersinparadise.com/sipindex.html
- tragi-comedy par excellence! About a guy and his two female friends. David's got a dark past, Katchoo's got and even darker past and poor, adorable Francine hasn't got a clue!
Will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. One of the funniest characters is Francine's ex Freddie. And, boy, when he and over-protective Katchoo come to loggerheads - which is frequently - the result is some of the best high comedy you'll ever read!
Oh, yeah, David's in love with Katchoo 
- and Katchoo's in love with Francine! 
Currently running to 17 graphic novels, with number 18 due in the summer. The whole saga ends May 2007 when the last single issue comes out, with the last collected volume - probably number 20 - coming out a few months after that.
Or, alternatively, you can pick up the Pocket Book editions which collect the first 16 standard sized graphic novels into 5 fat paperbacks about B-format size.
[This message has been edited by Paul-girtbooks (edited February 05, 2006).]
By the way, Elie Weisel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
How about some nonfiction? Take a break from fiction once a while and read a book on something that insterests you, or that will inform your writing. Get a book about horses, or sailing, or carpentry, or anything mundane but interesting to you.
It's a good way to pick up some unrecycled dramatic or technical details for your writing.
Theer are some wonderfully narrow histories out there that can be read very quickly but are rich in detail like:
"Salt"
"Cod"
(Both are by the same author, who's name I can't remember except that it's long and Polish)
Ted in PA
I just read a very interesting non-fiction book called Oh What A Slaughter by Larry McMurty--it's about the massacres between whites and Indians during the 1800s, including the Mountain Meadows Massacre.