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YA Recommend a book

Gibsons

Gibsons

Lifer
Leaving on vacation tomorrow, going to the library in a bit to grab a book or two.

Genres that I like

Scifi - I've read most/all of Foundation, Dune, a lot of P Dick, a few others.

Fantasy - sort of hesitant to jump in here (I've read LotR, T Covenant, most of Hpotter). Haven't started Game of Thrones. Not going to continue with WoT.

History - I'm really into WWII history, but I've read tons of it already. Big fan of Beevor. Might read some John Toland stuff, I haven't read him yet. I've got Churchill's wwii memoirs on the bookshelf, but I don't know if I want to dive into that yet.

Mostly looking for sf/fantasy escapist stuff. But I'm open to some off the wall things, sciency non-fiction, just a good story.
 
It sounds like your book choice will be mostly dictated by what's available at the library. If you can get it, "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vinge is an amazing SF classic (won a Hugo).
 
Pheran said:
It sounds like your book choice will be mostly dictated by what's available at the library. If you can get it, "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vinge is an amazing SF classic (won a Hugo).
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Yeah, I'm cheap. 🙁

That looks interesting though, will check.
 
The Greatest Generation - Brokaw <-- If I remember correctly it is what Band of Brothers was based off of.

Great book though. It's both uplifting and deflating because you get a lot of pride in American citizens during WWII and realize that our race will never be that unselfish ever again.
 
Helmet for My Pillow - Robert Leckie

I've also started reading "No Easy Day", about bin Laden's capture. It's good but I'm only a few chapters into it.
 
I'm currently reading Game of Thrones and I cannot put it down. I haven't seen the HBO series yet so I can't comment on that aspect.

I would also read the Dark Tower series by King. The first book was a little hard to get in to but the last one I read, Wizards Glass, was exceptional.

The last book I will recommend is The Adleph by Borges. It is a series of short stories that go over a bunch of topics. The Deutsches Requiem was by far my favorite one.
 
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It's a great fantasy novel and really turns some of the conventions of the genre on their ears.
 
I just finished State of Mind. It takes place not too far from now, in a time where everybody has "omnis" (wrist mounted computers) that control pretty much everything. A new "p-chip" is being trialed which is implanted into your brain and brings all the tech of omnis without an external device. Want to learn a new language? Just access the net via your brain and download it. Seems awesome until people figure out how to hack the p-chips... Anyway the story revolves around a main cop who got the p-chip implant and what he goes through. It's book 1 of a trilogy I guess that's on its way. It also seems like it'd be good movie material so you can jump on that bandwagon before it's tainted😉

Anyway, it was a solid read and it's only $3 via any of the ebook sellers (B&N, Amazon, and itunes). The writing is a little amateurish at times with too many awkwardly placed similies and metaphors at first, but once it gets going everything flows better.
 
Brigandier said:
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It's a great fantasy novel and really turns some of the conventions of the genre on their ears.
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Maybe I'm in the minority but I thought the book was very dull. I finished the book, but only because I'm a completionist, and reaching the very last page seemed like a chore for me.

Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
 
Snow Crash

No series, no pitifully overwrought plot, no incomprehensibly bad use of language. Easy to read yet provocative. Perfect.
 
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Raymond E Feist. Start with magician and follow the series. I love his world it is so detailed and his storylines are epic.
 
If you've already had your fill of WW2, then here are a few interesting history books, especially if you like reading about naval warfare.

Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. It's about the political situation and arms race that led up to WW1.

The Potemkin Mutiny, is an interesting historical story.

The Russo-Japanes War of 1905 is worth reading about if you like naval history.

For some historical fiction, Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. The Chinese classic.
 
GobBluth said:
The Greatest Generation - Brokaw <-- If I remember correctly it is what Band of Brothers was based off of.

Great book though. It's both uplifting and deflating because you get a lot of pride in American citizens during WWII and realize that our race will never be that unselfish ever again.
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Band of Brothers was based on the book by Stephen Ambrose. I keep hearing good things about Brokaw's book though...

clamum said:
Helmet for My Pillow - Robert Leckie
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I really need to pick this one up someday.

Pheran said:
It sounds like your book choice will be mostly dictated by what's available at the library. If you can get it, "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vinge is an amazing SF classic (won a Hugo).
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They had the next book in the series, not that one.

bigrash said:
Game of Thrones
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Checked out, to no surprise. I should've started looking earlier, I know. 🙁

sigurros81 said:
http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-G...shades+of+gray
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:|

tynopik said:
can you do ebooks?

also a link to your library's catalog might be helpful
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I should have done that first post.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
plus three branches from here
http://library.austintexas.gov/

SphinxnihpS said:
Snow Crash
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/forehead smack, I've been meaning to read this for years! Maybe when I get back.

KeithTalent said:
I'm about 50 pages into Eon by Greg Bear and am enjoying it quite a bit. It had pretty much completely sucked me in by around page 12.
KT
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Saw this on the shelf and grabbed it. I read something else by Bear a while back and liked it.

Also remembered I have a book on Guadalcanal on the shelf.

Thanks everyone for contributions! I've got my reading for the trip, but I can always read more afterwards. 🙂
 
BladeVenom said:
If you've already had your fill of WW2, then here are a few interesting history books, especially if you like reading about naval warfare.
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Not so much had my fill, but I've covered a lot of it in detail. Still need to read all of Beevor's stuff, Clear the Decks, Churchill's stuff, etc. Would like a good overview of some lesser known stuff like Leningrad, Metz, Italian campaign, some others. Hopefully Beevor takes on some of these. 🙂

Someone I know of is supposed to be working on a book about the LW's special Mosquito-hunting squadrons, would really like to read that.

Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. It's about the political situation and arms race that led up to WW1.
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This sounds right up my ally, assuming it goes into some design and building strategy. Jackie Wallace and whatnot?

The Russo-Japanes War of 1905 is worth reading about if you like naval history.
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I do, but isn't this one a bit depressing? The russkies make a pretty remarkable voyage just to get slaughtered? Maybe okay if the russkies are the bad guys.
 
SphinxnihpS said:
Snow Crash

No series, no pitifully overwrought plot, no incomprehensibly bad use of language. Easy to read yet provocative. Perfect.
Click to expand...

Snow Crash is good, if dated, but Anathem is a masterpiece. If you only read one Stephenson novel, read Anathem
 
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