Literary Recommendations

[RaistlinMC]

Maybe it's the English teacher in me. Maybe it's the fact that I just finished a 1000+ page tome and am already diving into another one. Maybe it's just the grey afternoon up here in Maine...but whatever it is, I'm in the mood to talk about books! How about you?

Like most folks here at TTW, I love a good fantasy or sci-fi yarn. Personally, I can't wait for the new Stormlight Saga book by Brandon Sanderson to come out so I can get something I genuinely want for Christmas this year.

And while this thread is open for anyone to discuss any sorts of books they enjoy, I'm going to personally try to steer away from the stereotypical picks and mention some of my favorite modern pieces of literature (though surely a list of classics won't be too far behind). I find it hard to believe that anyone would dislike any of these, so if you're looking for a good read, feel free to check these titles out with confidence!

- Anything by Margaret Atwood. Start with The Handmaid's Tale and then dive right into the MaddAdam trilogy.

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It's not his scariest book by any means, but it's his best. Full stop.

- A Prayer for Owen Meeny and The World According to Garp by John Irving are his go-to standards, but for my money, the best book he ever wrote is The Fourth Hand.

- Pretty much anything by Barbara Kingsolver, but The Tanglewood Bible is the most famous.

- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Start to finish, it's one of the most bonkers page-turners I've ever run across.

There. That's a solid 6000 pages or so of goodness to sink your teeth into. Enjoy!

[SoberIrishman]

There's a four book series about Merlin and King Arthor that is one of the best blendings of science with fantasy I've read. The first book is The Dragon and the Unicorn by A. A. Attanasio. If you've ever thought 'I would like more quantum physics with my magic and fantasy' then you have to give this a read.

[Blackfox42]

Well you already hit on the big one for me, Ra. I can't WAIT for Rhythm of War - Stormlight Archives book 4 - to come out next month. I love a Stormlight year. This year especially, as we are getting a Novel-la (aka, what was supposed to be a novella but ended up long enough to be a full novel in its own right) for Post Oathbringer, pre-RoW.

Beyond that, as for recommendations:

Anything written by Brandon Sanderson - Seriously, I have yet to read anything of his that I didn't enjoy. And he's very prolific, so you rarely have to wait too long for a new one.

I'm excited for the announcement from R.A. Salvatore of another Drizzt Trilogy - I've been reading Drizzt books since I was a kid, and I just can't help but be excited when new ones get announced.

As for other things:

The Species Imperative series by Julie E., Czerneda was excellent.

A Time Odyssey series by Stephen Baxter was pretty interesting.

And if you've never read The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (And finished by Brandon Sanderson, then I highly recommend it if you like Epic Fantasy and need alot to read - 13 Books, and each one as thick as a Tome.

[RealWittyAlias]

I'd recommend Terry Pratchett's Discworld books to everybody, especially the Witches and City Watch ones. It's a great fantasy comedy series. As far as more recent recommendations, I really loved Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is also great. It's a fun twist on Sherlock Holmes with magic and Lovecraftian horrors and friendly necromancers.

[sarynkitamo]

Well obviously *anything* Brandon Sanderson. Dude could write the phone book and I'd buy it and read it. I recently re-read Elantris and Warbreaker and both were still good. Very excited for the next Stormlight book.

So let's get into what else I read. WARNING: YA novels are delicious candy for me and I consume many of them.

The Shattered Realms Books from Cinda Williams Chima - decent, though a choice to kill off several characters from the first quartet of books in the second was kinda lame.

The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas - There are *several* books in this series. The heroine could share her plans with more people and probably solve a lot of problems. Manon is the best character, hands down.

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Barudgo - Kind of an Eastern European/Russian vibe to these books that I really dug. There's a duology set in the same universe following a band of thieves that I quite liked as well.

The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey - If you're not watching this on Amazon Prime, you're really missing out. I binged the first three seasons and it was so good I read the books. The show stays pretty true to the books. They're also written by former assistants of George R.R. Martin. And unlike him they've written like 8 books.

Arc of a Scythe series by Neil Shusterman - This one was fascinating though I need to check out the third book... A world where humanity has conquered death and only specially selected 'Scythes' are allowed to kill for population control.

[RaistlinMC]

Saryn, you should read Joe Abercrombie's YA trilogy Shattered Sea. He's known as the Grimdark dude (and he is...and he's awesome at it), but he made a helluva YA series too.

[sarynkitamo]

I'm currently on a binge-reading drive to finish re-reading through the Stormlight Archive books before Rhythm of War comes out. I started... I think last Wednesday? And I'm already 26% into Words of Radiance. I'm pretty sure I'll be done well before the 17th. ^_^

[RaistlinMC]

That sounds fantastic.

Personally, I'm finally getting into Patrick Rothfuss. I'm about halfway through The Name of the Wind and it is, as expected, exceptional.

[Tiger]

Ffs!
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the classics.
Like the Amber chronicles of Roger Zelazny! Or anything else written by him. Like "Bring me the head of Prince Charming", or "This immortal".
Or anything really by Jack Vance (you know, the true originator of Vancian magic).
Or if you want it a little raunchier Tantih Lee.

[Blackfox42]

That sounds fantastic.

Personally, I'm finally getting into Patrick Rothfuss. I'm about halfway through The Name of the Wind and it is, as expected, exceptional.

I refuse to read anything by Rothfuss - First I was just waiting for him to finish the series so I could read it all together. Then I found out he is an absolute and utter asshole to his fans, so I will never read the Name of the Wind.

Shame, because I hear its good...but I'm not supporting that.

In other news, I hope to start DawnShard tonight, in preparation for Rhythm of War in 6 days! WOO!

[sarynkitamo]

In other news, I hope to start DawnShard tonight, in preparation for Rhythm of War in 6 days! WOO!

Six days. I can do it.

53% through Words of Radiance. XD

[RaistlinMC]

That's news to me, Fox. Not about the damn series not being finished; I know that part, but I figured if I sucked it up and still read GRRM then I could do this too.

But what's this about the asshole thing?

[natural19]

I'd recommend To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. Speaking as a Paolini fan, I loved the Inheritance Cycle, but I think that series was good, but no masterpiece. To Sleep is his current masterpiece. He spent 10 years writing it and it shows. He studied physics and astronomy and such and made about as realistic a sci-fi as you can get.

[RaistlinMC]

I'm not usually a big "realistic sci-fi" guy, but I'll have to give that one a shot, Natural. For what it's worth, I found "The Martian" to be engaging, enjoyable and largely realistic sci-fi, though as I said, I'm no expert on the genre.

[natural19]

Honestly, I only tried it cause the author wrote the Inheritance Cycle. I am not generally one for realistic sci-fi either. I grew up on some of the better star wars novels, and mostly fantasy stuff.