Recommend some good books

[Spacemom]

I'm going through a really rough time right now and I just want some escape. One of those books that you start reading and look up and 3 hours have gone by. I like sci-fi and horror, but really, I'll read anything.

[indy_azcat]

1. I just finished Newton's Wake

it was pretty darn good!

http://www.computercrowsnest.com/sfnews2/04_april/review0404_22.shtml

[Spacemom]

3. Wow

That sounds like a good one! Right down my alley too. :D

[MN ChimpH8R]

9. Patrick O'Brien!

The Aubrey/Maturin books - all 20 of them. One long novel, really, and the most beautifully written prose imaginable. A couple of them were combined in the film "Master and Commander." No one has ever made the past live as vividly as O'Brien.

Pauline Gedge's 3-book Lord of the Two Lands series if you're partial to ancient Egypt. First class historical fiction, though not up to O'Brien's lofty standards.

Umberto eco: Foucault's Pendulum. Great conspiracy theorizing. For more hard core tinfoil hat fun, The Illuminatus Trilogy.

edited for spelling

[SCDem]

2. The Story of B by Daniel Quinn

The Life of Pi by _____ Patel (don't know his first name)

those are fictions but really make you think

[Richardo]

6. Life of Pi = Yann Martel

Very good.

Also my faves in fiction recently:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (talk about immersion, I read it in one day.)

The Closers (Michael Connelly crime fiction - excellent)

Citizen Vince (Jess Walker) - Ex mob guy in Witness PRotection gets found by his former good fellas - must survive by outwitting them. All against the background of the 1980 election, so there's politics, too. Fantastic!

[Heidi]

4. Two.

"War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race," by Edwin Black. http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/

"Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter," by JR Salinger.

[progmom]

5. i really liked the Time Traveler's WIfe

Got into it right away, and totally got lost in it. It was exactly what I needed after the election...

[RebelOne]

7. Any Stephen King or Dean Koontz book for horror and sci-fi

Robin Cook is good also if you like medical thrillers. I'm reading Koontz's latest book, "Velocity" right now. Very, very suspenseful so far.

[Spacemom]

11. King and Koontz are two of my favorites

I need to pick up Velocity. It looks really good.

[RebelOne]

12. It is so far. Keeps you on the edge of your seat. n/t

[ernstbass]

8. Reading Paul Theroux's new book

Blinding Light - Just started it and so far it's really interesting. A washed up travel writer goes to South America in search of a hallucinogenic plant that will help him w/ his writer's block. The plant causes him to lose his sight.

[RebelOne]

13. Sounds really good. I will have to keep that in mind. n/t

[BOSSHOG]

10. Anything by James Lee Burke

Murder mystery stories anc vicious crime detail with a decidedly New Orleans touch. Excellent.

If you like Horror - Black Lightning by John Saul.

[Southsideirish]

14. Its not new but its a great one, "Ripley's Game" by Patricia Highsmith.

Brilliantly written, suspenseful as all hell and just, well, great!!!
Your library should have it or a local used book store or Amazon.

[Richardo]

15. The Ripley books are great...

:thumbsup:

[chickenscratching]

16. pick up some HG Wells

[quisp]

17. I'd recommend...

What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
by Thomas Frank

well written, witty, insightful. A good read

[Crazy Guggenheim]

18. I love the book "Eyewitness to Power" by David Gergen. Another

book is "What Liberal Media?" by Eric Alterman.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Any of the Darkover books by Marion Zimmer Bradley or

books my Robert Jordan or Mercedes Lackey or David Eddings for sereis that can keep you occupied for a while.

For a smile, try Anthony's Xanth, Brooks "Magic Kingdom", Aprin's "Myth", Pratchett's "Discworld" or Adams' "Hitchhiker's" books.


*hugs*

[Spacemom]

28. The Hitchhiker books

have seen me through many rough times. Thanks for reminding me. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Then go after the rest of the funny ones I mentioned. I promise that

you will lurve them. *g*

[Liberalynn]

20. This Is kind of Sci-Fi, Kind of not

but I think J.D. Robb's "In Death" Series is great. It is set in 2058-2059. It is about a Homicide Detective named Eve Dallas who is married to a guy named Roarke who owns half the planets. LOL. There are a lot of books in the series, you can read them as stand alones but it is better to read them all and in order so you don't miss some allusions to earlier stories in the later ones.

There are some great secondary characters and she does a wonderful job of mixing romance, mystery, humor, and giving a unique view of what life might possibly be like during that time period.

By the way it is Nora Roberts writing under a pseudonym.


Also I liked Superstition by Karen Robards. It is about a TV reporter for a tabloid newsmagazine who has her mother a medium try to contact the spirits of three teenage girls,who were all murdered 15 years earlier, on the air. Their murderer was never caught. More murders occur and the local Sheriff gets involved.

[Java]

21. Orbital Decay

I liked Orbital Decay by Allen Steele

Also good, but not sci-fi is: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

22. The Snow Queen by Joan Vinge...

This is one of my favorite books. It was written in 1980, but I stil have my copy and read it once a year or so. Rich, layered, mystical, and imaginative as hell. It will take you to a whole new world that you will love.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446676640/ref=pd_sxp_f/002-7775269-3064030?v=glance&s=books

[pointless]

23. Catch-22

Is one of my all time favorite books. I recommend it to anyone. As long as you start reading it knowing it is supposed to be funny.

[Nye Bevan]

24. I just read "Fatherland" by Robert Harris

A gripping detective thriller set in 1963 in a world where Germany won World War II. A fascinating backdrop (Albert Speer got to construct the Berlin of his dreams) and a compelling story-- very hard to put down.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0061006629/qid=1119634561/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-4554520-2163052?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[unhappycamper]

25. Some oldies but goodies.

Battlefield 3000, L. Ron Hubbard Before I get flamed on this recommendation, Hubbard is an asshole, but this was a pretty good book.)

Ringworld, Larry Niven

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

The Stainless Steel Rat, Harry Harrision

All my time favorite:
the Lensmen Series, Doc E.E. Smith

[Bridget Burke]

26. "The Peshawar Lancers" by S M Sterling

Alternate history & a ripping yarn. Especially for Kipling fans.

"The List of Seven" by Mark Frost. Young Dr Arthur Conan Doyle encounters occult evil & assists a brilliant, mysterious character in the fight against them.

"To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis. "Science fiction" in that it deals with time travel. Mostly a hilarious comedy of Victorian manners.

"Fevre Dream" by George R R Martin. Vampires & steamboats on the old Mississippi. Apparently out of print--cheapest paperback is 9.00!

I'm currently enthralled by the 2nd volume of Neal Stephenson's Baroque trilogy. But you might consider it a bit heavy for summer reading.

[NewJeffCT]

27. Fantasy, rather than Sci-Fi, but George R.R. Martin

His "Song of Fire & Ice" (or is it Ice & Fire?) series that begins with "A Game of Thrones" is a terrific read and is some of the best fantasy I've ever read, and is not the typical Tolkien rip-off.

Book 4 of the series comes out later this year.

To top it off, the guy is a good liberal, too.