Favourite book

Northwind

So in a nutshell, we are all big nerds.

Foxglove

Some are: the twilight series from stephenie meyer and the gargoyle from andrew davidson :oops:

pte1643

Favourite Book???

The Hungry Caterpillar.

pte1643

BlackSpur wrote:

whalley665 wrote:

Chris Ryan - The One That Got Away
Andy McNab - Bravo Two Zero

Both great books about the same thing, but told from two very different perspectives

Yes, very good books

On the subject of Military "Non-Fiction"...

Vulcan 607 (Rowland White).

Superb read.

Zeroman_IR

Northwind wrote:

So in a nutshell, we are all big nerds.

Looks that way,,,

Can I add Peter F. Hamilton, Raymond E. Feist and David Gemmell to the list. Plus a lot of the WH40K novels, Dan Abnett is good to start with. And a lot of what has been mentioned in the fantasy/sci fi genres in previous posts. I've heaps of books everywhere here.

Northwind

I like those 40K books. They're completely s*** but in a good way

Anonymous

i feel like a right dullard, i dont really read at all unless i am away on course and even then, i dont read anything intelligent or artistic. i reallylike dean koontz books, i find them very entetaining, faves would possible be the odd thomas books by koontz.

Zeroman_IR

Northwind wrote:

I like those 40K books. They're completely s*** but in a good way

Aye, nothing like some good mindless violence. Some of them are very well written though. Try the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. Or the Ciaphas Cain novels by Sandy Mitchell. Best to have read some more conventional 40K novels first though, so you can understand exactly what she's achieved in bringing humour to the 40K setting.

And Flenser, looks like we have a similar taste in reading so I'll have to try some of the authors you mention that I haven't had any exposure to.

Flenser

Zeroman_IR wrote:

And Flenser, looks like we have a similar taste in reading so I'll have to try some of the authors you mention that I haven't had any exposure to.

What you read so far? I can give you some to try...

.blitz

American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis

Porgy

Northwind wrote:

So in a nutshell, we are all big nerds.

Why are you so surprised.

I bet not even one girl posted on this thread.

Zeroman_IR

Flenser wrote:

What you read so far? I can give you some to try...

Out of your first list, I haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land. Haven't read any books by Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke. What would you recommend in the vein of Hamiltons Nights Dawn trilogy? Are the non M Iain Banks books any good? I've read all the Culture novels but never chanced the non Ms

blister pus

It was his debut novel, The Wasp Factory, that made his name winning the Whitbread, so that's worth a read. The Business and Complicity were worth a squirt too.

Flenser

Zeroman_IR wrote:

Flenser wrote:

What you read so far? I can give you some to try...

Out of your first list, I haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land. Haven't read any books by Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke. What would you recommend in the vein of Hamiltons Nights Dawn trilogy? Are the non M Iain Banks books any good? I've read all the Culture novels but never chanced the non Ms

Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein are the "Big Three" of sci-fi. You really need to give them a try. Certainly some of their works fall into the Space Opera genre that Banks and Hamilton inhabit.

Check out Vernor Vinge, he's another Space Opera don as is EE Doc Smith.

Larry Niven is probably my favourite sci-fi author, check out Ringworld for the inspiration to the Xbox game Halo. Niven and Pournelle's Footfall is another goody.

I've got all of Bank's stuff (apart from his whiskey book) both M and non-M and I can recommend the lot.

Zeroman_IR

I've read Niven and Vinge 8) How have the big 3 aged nowadays? Are their books still believable?

bikeperson45

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton

welshkev

i've just thought of a couple of others aswell:

the traveller and the dark river by john twelve hawks, sort of 1984 meets the matrix...they're a really good read

Flenser

Zeroman_IR wrote:

I've read Niven and Vinge 8) How have the big 3 aged nowadays? Are their books still believable?

Some of it hasn't aged so well but it's all rip-roaring stuff.

Porgy

Flenser wrote:

Zeroman_IR wrote:

Flenser wrote:

What you read so far? I can give you some to try...

Out of your first list, I haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land. Haven't read any books by Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke. What would you recommend in the vein of Hamiltons Nights Dawn trilogy? Are the non M Iain Banks books any good? I've read all the Culture novels but never chanced the non Ms

Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein are the "Big Three" of sci-fi. You really need to give them a try. Certainly some of their works fall into the Space Opera genre that Banks and Hamilton inhabit.

And Philip K dick was the young punk who rewrote the rules. A genius when it comes to looking at the nature of reality and paranoia - really is the writer for outr times. Clarke was the key sci fi writer whe we thought we would be expanding the human sphere into space using technolgy and ingenuity and it would be all straight forward and predictable - sort of Newtonian sci-fi - then Dick came along and pi5sed on established Sci-Fi - chaos theory of sci-fi - to some extend Frank Herbert did as well.


Heinlein can be good, but his longer books need serious editing - too much pointless waffle - Clarke can't write characters, but his ideas and plot are good, same with Asimov really - terrible characters - but he wrote some important and influential works.

Oh and a mention of James Blish - cities in space, etc. Britlliant books.

EDIT - so much for my typing skills - still I'm sure you can undertsand it all

Fully

Another one for Steven Kings The Stand, also Salems Lot scares the shit out of me, shame that the film looks so dated now. I like most of his books, but a couple of them are really poor - Dreamcatcher for instance, i struggled to finish it, it was really hard going.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is another favourite, as is To Kill a Mockingbird which i decided to re-read last year since i hadn't read it since school. It is awesome.

I read my first Robin Cook book on holiday (Vector) and was quite impressed. I may get a few more of his soon.

marinman1

Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy and 1984 are probably my favourites, reading On The Road just now. not the most enjoyable but probably the most interesting book i've read was a biography of Lenin, heavy stuff.

Flenser

Porgy wrote:

then Dick came along and pi5sed on established Sci-Fi - chaos theory of sci-fi - to some extend Frank Herbert did as well... Oh and a mention of James Blish - cities in space, etc. Britlliant books.

I can recommend Dick, Herbert and Blish as well.

Also like Hubbard's sci fi, Battlefield Earth is an excellent twister of a story, shame that the movie was such a dog.

Richie63

On The Beach by Neville Shute

You won't find a better read for a short book

Zeroman_IR

Read all the original Dune novels and a few of the ones by his son (?). The originals are by far the best. Neal Ashers Polity novels are a fantastic read too, hard sci fi in the vein of Hamilton et al.

For fantasy, let's add George R.R. Martins a Song of Fire and Ice series...but still unfinished.

Snelly

"The Wind In The Willows" by Kenneth Graham. You can't beat it.

I also have a soft spot for "Cosmic Banditos" and "In Search of Captain Zero" by AC Weisbecker!

Stoo61

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque.