Book recommendation thread

[LadyMara]

Title ( only needed if recommending books ) : The Wheel of Time
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : eh...about 1000 pages a book, 14 books and a prologue(which is shorter) so... about 14.000 pages total.
Series or one book : Series
Details : Your average war between good and evil with three boys in the playing the main parts, but everything keeps surprising you, so maybe the war between good and evil is average, but the way it's fought. A lot happens, hard to summarize, but there's a lot of magic and a lot of unexpected events.
Extra : Just try, or like the man in the bookshop said to me when I bought the first book: "Know what you are starting at!

 

[spagbog]

The CHERUB books are really good. I've read all of them so far.

 

[MRPolo13]

Oh... I read the same author's books, Henderson's Boys (I think). They're also a great read if you want some spy action but in Second World War era

 

[K9]

Yeah the CHERUB and HB books are really good, but the CHERUB's without James (I think there is 3, not including that mini book, red sun I think) aren't as good. They're okish but not amazing.

-K9

 

[Legion]

Title : The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Genre : Science Fiction
Length of book : I dont remember off the top of my head, about 350 pages.
Series or one book : Single book.
Details : Set slightly in the future, on a colony on the moon. The main protagonist, Emanuel, who works as an engineer with computers on the "luna" station accidentally gets wrapped up in a planned revolution to liberate the Lunar Colony from its borgeoise leaders far away on distant Earth. His main asset is "MIKE," The A.I. computer that Emanuel works on that has acquired so many connections to data streams and input, that it seems to be truly sentient. The novel explores the idea of Libertarian Revolution, A.I. evolving into sentience, the culture that man would develop from life on the moon, all nicely tied together in some epic Sci-Fi battles, in which the Lunar Colony pounds Earth into submission by hurling rocks from its low gravity in a hijacked catapult designed to deliver farm crops to earth.
Extra : One of my favorite books of all time. The end will make you cry.

Title : The Dresden Files
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : Each is between 400 and 500 pages long.
Series or one book : Massive series. 13 books released and they keep coming every year.
Details : Follow the story of Professional Wizard Harry Dresden as he battles whatever goes bump in the night in modern day Chicago. Theres too many books for me to give a viable summary.
Extra : These are the best books ive ever read. It ties together mystery and fantasy and places magic in a modern setting in a way that doesnt compromise the magic itself, nor belittling science and the human race. It all fits.
Read these books, all of them, now. They are friggin incredible.

 

[cherbert]

Four of the most amazing books ever.

Eon by Greg Bear
Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson
The Real Story by Stephen Donaldson

 

[spagbog]

Lord Foul's Bane is really good. My dad recommended it to me a while back.

 

[Faelin]

Title: The Neverending Story (My kind of book...)
Genre: Very clever fantasy/philosophy
Length of Book: Umm... It's not very long.
Series or one book: One book split into two films
Details: A story within a story. A "fat little boy of ten or twelve" steals a book that - quite literally - takes him on an adventure through a world built on the dreams of humanity. Originally written in German by Michael Ende (Ironically).
Extra: So meaningful that it would take a good couple of lifetimes to truly analyse. One of the best storylines that I have ever happened across.

Title: Animal Farm
Genre: Dystopian/Political Fiction
Length of Book: Very short. I read it in a few hours.
Series or one book: One book, but there is also a film which I highly recommend.
Details: A group of farm animals rebel against the oppressive farmers and form a society in which all are equal... However it is soon discovered that some are more equal than others.
Extra: George Orwell was a genius... And manages to show how the poles of the political spectrum are far closer together than either side would want to admit.

Title: A Song of Ice and Fire (Can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet)
Genre: "Epic Fantasy"
Length of Book: Very long... And there are lots of 'em.
Series or one book: A huuuuge series. There is a tie-in TV show produced by HBO which is brilliant.
Details: A clash of opposing forces in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the surrounding lands, houses fight for land, titles and revenge whilst the dead walk in the North and dragons are rising in the East. In a word: spectacular.
Extra: As much as I loathe to admit it, I find these books more gripping than Lord of the Rings, which (if you haven't read it) is utterly fantastic.

Title: His Dark Materials (Better known as The Golden Compass)
Genre: Alternate Reality/Dark Fantasy
Length of Book: Not too long.
Series or one book: Three books getting gradually more complex.
Details: Set in a parallel world fraught with the struggles between science and religion.
Extra: Scary. Some of the connotations and concepts in the books are pretty complex.

Title: The Wave
Genre: Social Experiment - based on real events
Length of Book: Very short.
Series or one book: One book. There is also a film out in German with English subtitles, although it doesn't quite stick to the story as much.
Details: A high school experiment spirals out of control as a dictatorship forms in a classroom.
Extra: Based on real events in a high school in the USA where an experiment was carried out to mimic how people were indoctrinated by Nazi beliefs during and prior to the Second World War. Psychologically scary.

I also highly recommend LotR and the Harry Potter books, although I would have hoped most people would know what those are about.

 

[spagbog]

You guys all seem to read the same books as me! The Neverending Story was so good!

 

[Jeroxia]

... *needs to buy song of ice and fire*
I loved lotr.. that's why..
And I love the tvshow

 

[Legion]

... *needs to buy dong of ice and fire*
I loved lotr.. that's why..
And I love yhe tvshow

Dong of ice and fire...
LOLOLOL

 

[Jeroxia]

O god...
Nooo! My dignity!
Wait... Nevermind

 

[Mitch]

Title: Wizard's First Rule.
Genre: Epic fantasy.
Length of book: 836 pages.
Series or one book: Belongs to the Sword of Truth series.
Details:
"Richard Cypher's decision to help a woman in the Upper Ven near the Boundary between the Midlands and Westland creates more trouble than first appears. The woman, Kahlan Amnell, seeks the help of a wizard in the Westland, and she brings with her dark news from the other side of the Boundary: Darken Rahl, Ruler of D'Hara, has brought down the Boundary between D'Hara and the Midlands. This menacing ruler continues his dead father's quest for control by pressing war on the now vulnerable Midlands. Kahlan is attempting to find the great wizard who had left the Midlands for the Magic free Westlands due to the corruption of the government in his eyes, so as to have him Name a Seeker of Truth. The great wizard turns out to be Zeddicus Zu'l Zorrander, Richard's longtime friend, who then proceeds to name Richard the Seeker."

Extras:
There was once a television series based on it, Legend of the Seeker, however it has since been cancelled. There's two seasons of it. The book is a bit confusing and boring in the beginning, however it really picks up further in the book and throughout the series.

 

[Catalyst]

Genre :Horror
Length of book : Shortish, 300-400 pages
Series or one book : Apocalypse Z: The beginning of the end, Series [only one in english at the minute however]
Details : Follows a guy as an epidemic breaks out from Russia and into Europe/Rest of the world and he is eventually one of the few left on the spanish mainland
Extra High in the Kindle store

Genre : Horror
Length of book : 300 pages
Series or one book : World War Z
Details : A UN researcher makes a book after the end of a zombie apocalypse with such topics as racism dealt with
Extra Film is almost nothing like the book by the trailers

Genre: Apocalyptic/Religious
Length: 1200 pages
One book: The Stand
Details: A virus kills most of the american population and the survivors are forced to fight in a religious battle of good versus evil

Genre: Fantasy
Length of books: 4 Books at about 500-800 pages each
Title: The Inheritance cycle
Details: A farmboy finds a dragon-egg in a forest and becomes a dragon rider

 

[mairinbaihn]

Title ( only needed if recommending books ) : The Blade Itself
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : 527
Series or one book : Series - The First Law
Details : One of the best fantasy book series I've ever read and I've read alot of em! Great writing that tells the story not just from a main characters standpoint, but from the standpoints of several amazingly developed "classic fantasy character types". Berserking barbarian, maimed once tortured now torturer, old crotchety wizard who is too old and too good for his own robes, etc....awesome read!
Extra : There is another series by the same author - Joe Abercrombie - that is about some of the other characters you meet...haven't read it yet but hear it's great as well.

 

[Faelin]

Oooh, I forgot to add the Book Thief... Another one based around/during the Holocaust.
Very, very sad book.

 

[spagbog]

Such a good book!

 

[Yoda]

Oooh, I forgot to add the Book Thief... Another one based around/during the Holocaust.
Very, very sad book.

YES

SO MUCH YES

Then sadness...

 

[Ephemarel]

I'm sure avid fantasy lovers such as yourselves have at least heard of it, but...

Title : Homeland (I'm really recommending you read the whole series, but start with this.)
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : 343 spellbinding pages
Series or one book : The Legend of Drizzt Series
Details : "Station is the paradox of the world of my people, the limitation of our power within the hunger for power. It is gained through treachery and invites treachery against those who gain it. Those most powerful in Menzoberranzan spend their days watching over their shoulders, defending against the daggers that would find their backs. Their deaths usually come from the front." -- Drizzt Do'Urden
Extra : I totally want to make the drow city of Menzoberranzan on the server. Eventually.

 

[Axell]

Title ( only needed if recommending books ) : The Capture by Kathryn Lasky
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : Short
Series or one book : Series, Guardians of Ga'hoole which is about 14 books in all.
Details : This book series takes place in the far future, where there are no humans, just animals, and they can talk to each other. A young barn owl named Soren is kidnapped and taken to St. Aegoulis's Academy for Orphaned Owls, where they brainwash young owls into being slaves.
Extra : There is another series that takes place afterwards in the same world.


Title ( only needed if recommending books ) : Lone Wolf by Kathryn Lasky
Genre : Fantasy
Length of book : Short
Series or one book : Series, About 9 books I think.
Details : Faolan the wolf is born with a splayed paw, which makes him have to be kicked out of his pack. Despite his mother's attempts to hide him, wolves of the pack toss him into a river, where he is found by a grizzly bear and raiseed by.
Extra :