Looking for a few good books.

Ok, so I'm going to the bookshop this week, and don't really know what I want to look for.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I prefer scifi, fantasy, historical fiction, and nonfiction/reference, but all suggestions are welcome

Hi Neph - I'm reading Philip Pullman's - HIS DARK MATERICALS 3 volum. series -


1- The Golden Compass
2- The Subtle Knife
3 -The Amber Spyglass


It's good.



ISBN 0--375-82335-2

Let us know what you end up buying.

I recently read an older series that I loved! Very forgotten realms type stuff.

Authors - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

The Death Gate Cycle

Death Gate Cycle 1 Dragon Wing
Death Gate Cycle 2 Elven Star
Death Gate Cycle 3 Fire Sea
Death Gate Cycle 4 Serpent Mage
Death Gate Cycle 5 The Hand of Chaos
Death Gate Cycle 6 Into the Labyrinth
Death Gate Cycle 7 The Seventh Gate


It's a great story!

'A Fine and Private Place' by Beagle

I never see anyone mention this book, but its great.

'Blind Voices' By Reamy

and

'Anubis Gates' by Powers

3 of my favorites

Some of Neal Stephenson's stuff is fun and apropos to a second-lifer. Of course, you've probably already read his Snow Crash and Quicksilver, so allow me to also suggest Greg Egan's Permutation City, which is an interesting romp. For something different, but also quote good, look up Brooks Hansen's Chess Garden.

chromal

Here's some of my favorites

Sci-fi:

Dan Simmons books are awesome-
Hyperion
Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
Rise of Endymion

Frederik Pohl is great-
Gateway (perhaps my favorite sci-fi book of all time)
The Eschaton Sequence (series)
The Other End of Time
The Siege of Eternity
The Far Shore of Time

Larry Niven rocks-
The Ringworld books (all of them)
Desitny's Road

General Fiction:

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulz
The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken

Non-Fiction:

Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use by Jacob Sullum

Joseph Cambell-
The Power of Myth
The Masks of God: Creative Mythology

Reference:
Who's Who in Hell: A Handbook and International Directory for Humanists, Freethinkers, Naturalists, Rationalists, and Non-Theists by Warren Allen Smith

Nonfiction books I've read recently that are outstanding:

Salt by Mark Kurlansky (I had no idea a mineral could be so interesting)

1421 by Gavin Menzies (I dunno if I buy the whole theroy but it's cool to think about anyway)

Lying by Lauren Slater (just um, kinda wacky)

Made in America: And informal history of the English language in the United States by Bill Bryson (uber cool book in general and a nice reference book too)


Enjoy

Zana

"How to Win friends and Influence People" -Dale Carnagie

Ok Ok Kidding

That book has stuck in my head since the days of Amway.

But Seriously Just kidding.

Just finished the Left Behind Series a while back while on flight back from China last book was Eon by Greg Bear one of my older books I just never got around to reading.

Of Course I do Reread "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" every once in a while.

Wonder what ever happed to that person Named Zaphod in SL

Oh well one never knows.

Shadow

Right now I'm reading The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero and In Search of Dracula : The History of Dracula and Vampires, both nonfiction, and the Ghost World graphic novel.

I'm not sponsored by Amazon; I included the links for information purposes only.

If you want to spend a week and a half or so... (or more depending on how fast you read...) Pick up 'On Basilisk Station' by David Weber. First in a series of (so far) ten books. Great military sci-fi. The hardcover of the last book has a CD in it with all of the previous books in electronic form in it, as well as a number of other books from the same publisher. (Baen books.) Definitely worth the read.

What the heck???????

Darwin didn't post it???

Not to mention that you can download a lot of the series (plus a few others) in electronic form from the baen.com website.

http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm

Sio

Two pretty decent non-fiction books i've read recently i'ld recomend to anyone:

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Doubt (a history) by Jennifer Michael Hecht


As far as fastasy goes I'ld suggest anything by Jack Vance =)

Have a good time reading.

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. Also Time Enough for Love by Henlein.

Nephilaine,

So far as sf goes, have you ever read anything by Philip Dick? Many of his books have been made into films ('Blade Runner' for example, which was a film of his novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'), but the films only give a taste of the truly offbeat, complex and strange world of the books.

If you are looking for adult and literate fantasy, you couldn't do better than the 'Titus' trilogy by Mervyn Peake. The three books, 'Titus Groan', 'Gormenghast' and 'Titus Alone' will immerse you in a world that will seem almost more real than the real one.

Why does that sound familiar?

Neph, you say you're into F/SF so I'll be mildly surprised if you haven't read the following genre staples:

A Song of Fire And Ice, by George R. R. Martin. Fantasy writing with much realism, an excellent series. Three books are out in what is looking like a set of six or seven, but those three are worth reading now: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords. The fourth book, A Feast for Crows, is due in August, and a lot of readers are champing at the bit.

The Book of the New Sun, by Gene R. Wolfe. Science fiction...or is it surrealism? Shadow of the Torturer, the story of Severian (one of my favorite characters ever), is the first book in a continuity of twelve novels served in 3-4 volume series (The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun), with a single standalone volume.

The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks. A great science fiction novel. Pick it up.

Darn it, now I want to curl up with a good book.

Here's my suggestions:

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond


The Handmaid's Tale : A Novel
by Margaret Atwood


Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
by Douglas Coupland

Peter F. Hamilton - Nights Dawn:

1. The Reality Dysfunction
   
2. The Neutronium Alchemist
   
3. The Naked God
   

Sci-fi "space opera".

if u like classics as much as me (a lot) check out Project Gutenberg. they have over 10,000 full books for free in text files and html and if u can't be online all the time they'll send a dvd with everything on it for free!! can't beat that

it's not free, but I like Fictionwise

Project Gutenberg rocks!

Project Gutenberg is the best, when Neil was running his libraries in Stanford and Kissling, all the text for the books came from Project Gutenberg.

One of my favorite books, maybe my favorite, was written around 1920 with a different title but is reprinted now as "The Singing Creek where the Willows Grow".

Opal Whitely grew up in rural Oregon in the early 20th century. When she was a young child she wrote about her experiences with nature and her family life. She says she wrote the thoughts with crayon on paper bags or whatever paper was available to her. Then when she was 12 her sister tore all the paper up. She saved all the pieces and put them together like a giant jigsaw to publish her book.

Many people question her claim and think she did it all later. I don't know but it doesn't really matter, it is beautiful writing. She has a love for a French way of speaking and give the creatures and trees she meets French names. Mostly though, it is such a beautiful child like book.



That's a fun sentence from the book. If you would like to read more here is an excerpt

The whole book is online here.

The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine

...of course.

That's what I was waiting for. hehe