Peace gang,

To all dudes who read:

I'm leaving on a long trip in a few days. Can you recommend the books you absolutely loved reading? Anyone can recommend any *must read* classics?

Thanks in advance....

How to Read Books by Brooke Buch

Science Fiction:
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

The Call of the Wild - Jack London

If you can appreciate the US South, Beach Music and Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy are both great. (They're also long books, which could be good for your trip)

If you're feeling spiritual/religious:
The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
The World's Last Night - C.S. Lewis

None of those are old, but I really enjoyed them all.

I'm currently reading The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, which is the series that the HBO show Game of Thrones is based off. There's currently 4 books out, with a 5th that I believe is out this next week. I will say they are a bit graphic - both in violence and sex. If that doesn't bother you, I'd definitely recommend them.

I'd also recommend, of course, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. If you've already read those and enjoyed them, perhaps look into some of Tolkien's other works, such as The Children of Hurin or The Book of Lost Tales.

I've also started reading the first book in the Shadowdance trilogy by David Dalglish. It's decent enough, though perhaps not as good as the others I've mentioned.

As for any others, I'm not sure. It's been a while since I've read anything other than fantasy, and to be honest, I just got back into reading about a month ago.

• A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
• Return From The Stars - Stanislaw Lem
• The Moral Landscape - Sam Harris

"A People's History of the United States" is a good read & will likely introduce you to some things that you weren't previously aware of (assuming you haven't already read it).

"Return From The Stars" is a very depressing, yet interesting book. If it doesn't make you want to kill yourself, you're likely a sociopath.

"The Moral Landscape" is actually next on my list of books to read but I've read all of his other books & am very familiar with his ideas & rest assured that this one will be equally as interesting.

I would also recommend just about anything by Robert Silverburg. You can probably find almost all of his books for pennies at a flea market or even online.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

I'm now reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville and it's actually very cool. It took me a while to adjust to China's style, but by the 5th page I didn't want to stop.

Other than that, I second Snow Crash. That book is just plain awesome.

Additionally, most things by Stephen King and Wilbur Smith if you're into horror / historical fiction respectively. And Arthur Conan Doyle. If you haven't read the Sherlock Holmes stories, then it's never too late to start.

White Noise - Don DeLillo
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Written on the Body - Jeanette Winterson (might not be your cup of tea as it's romance-y, but I love the way it's written and that the narrator's gender is never made clear)
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton >.>

not read and loved but currently reading and enjoying How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove

-great expectations, excellent classic

-the Jedi apprentice series. while aimed at youth, the series is absolutely fantastic and very well written. it remains my absolute favorite books ever published.

Another vote for Snow Crash. And if you're into computer science or cryptography, I'd also highly recommend Neal Stephenson's other novel Cryptonomicon.

If you like postmodern "new weird" fiction, I recommend City of Saints and Madmen, which is an anthology of novellas about a fictional city called Ambergris.

I also recommend reading a collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges.

This. The rest of the series isn't bad, either. I'm reading through it now.

-Pride and Prejudice, if you think there's any possibility you might like it.
-A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Absolutely fantastic space opera from the early 1990's (& won the Hugo in 1993); I think it would appeal to most people who love Star Wars: richly imagined aliens, a compelling plot (w/ some excellent twists), a future that for some reason still has Usenet... Stumbled upon it back in 2008 & it's still my favorite scifi novel. (Ranked below that are Ender's Game and Asimov's Foundation series, for comparison.) Also, if you like Fire, it's got the best-executed prequel I've ever seen: A Deepness in the Sky.
-His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. Think Patrick O'Brian (Master and Commander), i.e. Napoleonic naval novels, but add dragons. Despite the potentially tacky premise, it turns out that it's executed with lots of charm & grace, making for a really enjoyable light action novel. Probably the best summer trip reading of all the books I'm recommending.
-As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Despite people's obsession with Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury, I think this is Faulkner's masterpiece. Devastatingly tragic, and makes the best use of modernist literary techniques (a la Virginia Woolf & James Joyce) of any book I've read.
-Dostoyevsky, if you haven't read anything by him. Crime and Punishment is a more manageable length, but Brothers Karamazov is worth the length. To classical music lovers, I usually describe Dostoyevsky as the Mahler (or Shostakovitch) of literature.
-Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, if fairly random, oddball humor mixed with genre satire is your thing. I wouldn't start with the beginning of the series... I'd recommend beginning with Guards! Guards! or Small Gods. I love Reaper Man, too, though for that you probably would need to read Mort first (which I like rather less).

I always have to come in threads like these and suggest The Forge of God and Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear. End-of-the-world science fiction done right.

I second Ender's Game by Card.

I also recommend Whipping Star by Frank Herbert.

Another vote for Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

Unbroken-olympic runner's story about his time adrift in the ocean after being shot down, and his capture and time as apow. Amazing storyShadow divers- story of a group of divers who found a uboat and the quest to figure out which uboat it was.

OCTOPUS.

I'm reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - it's a fantastic argument for nature selection, evolution, and the impact of genetics on our behaviors to this day. I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

I'll throw in another for Brothers Karamazov. Dense but faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic

Another vote for Snow Crash and Ender's Game.

I'm reading The Past Through Tomorrow, a collection of (loosely related) short stories by Robert Heinlein. It's awesome. Also highly recommended by him is Time Enough For Love and Stranger in a Strange Land. This is classic scifi at it's best.

Everything about Heinlein is awesome. Is it satire? Is he serious? Good luck figuring that out. Starship Troopers is probably the best example.

Just finished it last week, I agree with this statement.

Just finished reading A Clockwork Orange! Very awesome book

You *******! You beat me to recommending my all time favorite books!! Seince you didnt mention it specificly i'd like to add

jrr tolkien - the silmarillion.



**** yes! "Who ever heard if a clockwork orange?" I love all their lingo, it makes the book.

I would also recomend all the Dune books, both Frank Herbert and Brian Herbert books. In response to the criticism over Brian renditions of dune, id just like to say in defence, they were awesome. Peticularly the 3 pre-prequels: The butlerian jihad, the machine crusade, and the battle of corrin. Awesome.

Hunter s. Thompson's- the rum diaries is cool as well.

I'll second the recommendation of the Silmarillion. I actually think I like it more than LotR.

The Good Earth

Pearl S. Buck

The first wife is such a badass.

Thats the one with The Door Into Summer right? love that story.

You just have to read these classics from one of the all time best SF authors: Jack Vance

It always baffles me that no one else on massassi has read Vance...

Tales of the Dying Earth - Jack Vance

Or alternatively: 'The Eyes of the Overworld', 'Cugel's Saga', 'Morreion' (These are all included in 'Tales')

Also, 'Lyonesse' is great.. it's more fantasy though, but it is unlike any other fantasy.

Vance can't be compared. His writing is unique... his unique use of words, his subtle dry humour... and he's written so many books. I've been collecting them all, still am. His oeuvre is pretty huge.

I third Ender's Game... So the vote passes on that.
I'm up to the third one in that series.

You could start the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. You know, so Geb & I aren't the only ones on Massassi who have read them. That starts with The Colour of Magic.

As for 'Classics' that are always a great read... Peter Pan is actually very good. And a quick read. You could pick up one of the volumes of the Sherlock Holmes casefiles. Moby Dick is actually a pretty good comedy right up until around the chapters The Masthead, The Quarterdeck, &/or Moby Dick (depending on what sort of sense of humor you have, of course).

If you want a lady to think you have some class when she sees you reading, I'ld pick up a Shakespeare play. Romeo & Juliet as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream are pretty cliche (although still very good), and might make you look a little girly, so I would recommend Hamlet, Othello, and/or Macbeth.

i've read discworld. i just dont recommend them to people unless i'm sure they have a decent sense of humor.

as for Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing are also pretty good.

Much Ado and Twelfth Night are the best comedies. Period. Hamlet, Lear, and Macbeth are fantastic, of course, though I could never get into Othello. (Now, the Verdi opera, on the other hand...)