Recommend me a good book

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Javery

Javery

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I need something to read. I like sci-fi and action-type books. The last 3 books I read are Angels & Demons (loved it), The Da Vinci Code (liked it a lot) and The Sigma Protocol (meh). I prefer shorter books to longer ones - I lose interest quickly.
 
I've gotta agree with Cheapy. Rainbow Six is by far one of my favorite Clancy books. Another awesome Clancy book is Without Remorse. As opposed to some of his other books, which get long winded with the politics of everything, WR is pure action. It's all about John Clark and his past, so it's all of his badassery. Clark is also the semi-main character of Rainbow Six, though he's less badass in that.
 
Hyperion by Dan Simmons the first of 4 books in the Hyperion series it is by a wide margin the best Sci Fi book I have ever read.
 
If you liked those two Dan Brown books you should check out Deception Point. It's not along the religious vein that the other two are, but it's good. It's more scientific.

And hey, if you like humorous mysteries, try the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. They're all numbered, like "Hot Six" and "To the Nines." They're mystery-types kind of like Dan Browns, but have a lot of humor in them.
 
If you are into star wars, like cheapy said the thrawn trilogy, and Shatterpoint, which is about mace windu...great book
 
books I just read that I liked:

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by Dave Sedaris
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

graphic novel:

"Blankets" by Craig Thompson

all time favorite book:

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde
 
Iam Legend by Richard Matheson is one of the best books I've ever read, and it's not too long. Main character is the only survivor of a virus that has turned everyone into vampires. He must fend them off at night, and hunt them down during the day. Great read!
 
[quote name='karmapolice']Enders Game or Enders Shadow[/QUOTE]
Rock on ... have you read the entire series? How about the new one?
 
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (fantastic series)
Dune by Frank Herbert (favorite series ever)
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
And the Star Wars Coreillian Trilogy, forget who wrote it though.
 
Orson Scott Card:

Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets

Tom Clancy (I'd recommend more but these are the shortest ones I could find):

Rainbow Six
Splinter Cell (not really by Clancy but it's based off the game which Tom Clancy was a consultant on)

Neal Stephenson

Cryptonomicon
Diamond Age
Snow Crash
Zodiac

Timothy Zahn:

Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy
Star Wars: Hand Of Thrawn Duology
Star Wars: Outbound Flight (not out till Oct. 2005)
Star Wars: Tales from the Empire (anthology - short stories)
Star Wars: Tales from the Republic (anthology - short stories)

There are other writers (as well as works of the writers above) I'd recommend but they tend to go long: Robert Heinlein, Stephen Baxter, Kevin J. Anderson, Michael Crichton, etc. etc.
 
Well, I love epic literature. The stuff is just facisnating, and very adventerous. If you want something epic, all of these are great.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...ding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books
IMO, this is the greatest work of all time. I just love this book and can read it straight with no trouble. I love Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus, Hector, Ajax... I could go on...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Not nearly as good as The Iliad, this is still excellent and reads fast. Most people have read it though.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
well, if youre going to read the first two, you just as well read the conclusion. However, I think Virgil is a crock compared to Homer. Still, it's nice to hear how the Romans viewed Homer, and its a wonderful piece of propaganda.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
This one is really interesting, its an Icelandic saga about Grettir, quite a rash and strong man. Follow his adventures of outlawry and fighting berzerkers and trolls. Set in Iceland after the Christian convesion, but still mingling with Icelandic tradition.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Beowulf, what a guy, three times he slays foul fiends. Each time i read this book I appriciate it more and more. Like the Odyssey though, many have read it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Just one of my arthurian legends, sir gawain and the green knight is one of my favorites, though not as violent as previously mentioned books, the journey is still a fun one to follow

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
the song of roland, based off historical events and taken to a mythological level. follow king charlamagne and roland as they fight against the moslems.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
this is a wonderful new translation by robert atler of 1st and 2nd samuel and 1st kings from the old testament. It reads much easier than any other bible ive read and the footnotes are fantastic. I really enjoy this because its a part of the old testament that seems very unchristian to modern readers, a very contemporary story.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
sure it might seem hard to pronounce the nibelungenlied, but the book is fun, dragaon slaying is fun, and chivalry is fun. ive already named, greek, roman, icelandic, anglosaxon and french epics, why not through a german one into the mix

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
the legend of seyavash is fun, its an islamic story and part of the bigger book below. i singled it out because i like it, seyavash is a smooth noble god fearing man, follow his tragedy during the war of the persians

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
This is The Persian Book of Kings, a huge collection of stories, some mythological, some historical. I enjoy this a lot because its fun to contrast Islamic heroes with European heroes, its nice to take in some culture and see that we arent that different after all. This one has lots and lots of different adventures, so its a good read if you want a variety


wow, that was my longest post ever! :cool:
edit - fixed the double images
 
[quote name='karmapolice']Enders Game or Enders Shadow[/QUOTE]

The Ender's series is good. I'd also recommend most Michael Crichton, but his books are rather complex so you'd need a good feel on the topic.
 
[quote name='karsh']I've gotta agree with Cheapy. Rainbow Six is by far one of my favorite Clancy books. Another awesome Clancy book is Without Remorse. As opposed to some of his other books, which get long winded with the politics of everything, WR is pure action. It's all about John Clark and his past, so it's all of his badassery. Clark is also the semi-main character of Rainbow Six, though he's less badass in that.[/QUOTE]

wow, what a coincidence hehe. the first book i thought of when i saw the op's question was rainbow six by tom clancy. hmmm, if you want something with a lot of action but is on the short side, i'd recommend eaters of the dead by michael crichton. his books are always filled with interesting facts and lots of action. i'd recommend any of the books written by him except that some of his novels might be construed as "long" hehe.
 
[quote name='Dragoon_42']And the Star Wars Coreillian Trilogy, forget who wrote it though.[/QUOTE]

Roger MacBride Allen. I didn't find this series too good since the characters are 'out of character'. They just don't seem to act like you would expect of Luke, Han and the rest of the gang. You could easily replace them with other names and no one would notice the difference. Luke is a bit dependent in this series and doesn't act like a venerated and experienced Jedi Master. Basically, he acts like the Luke from 'A New Hope' vs. the badass Jedi Knight from 'Return of the Jedi'. It's a step backwards. The Jedi children are seemingly God-like in the Jedi-ness. There's one scene in which the youngest, who has an affinity for mechanical/electronic things, picks up a computer chip, puts his finger on it and says 'fix'. I'm fairly familiar with Star Wars lore and I don't recall kids having full fledged Force powers which don't require any training to use. It doesn't fit into the believability of the Star Wars universe.

Another Star Wars book to avoid is 'The Crystal Star' by Vonda [size=-1]Mcintyre. It's just too ridiculous. How do you counter the Force? Why, let's use a thing called the Anti-Force and call it a day. Weak. At least Timothy Zahn had an interesting take on how to counter the Force using creatures called ysalamiri. As TCS was published after Zahn's books, you'd think they'd use something that was already there instead of a cliched and lazy concept as the 'anti-force'. This is as bad as the Star Wars Holiday Special.
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Three of my favorite Crichton novels that aren't too uber in depth are Timeline (amazing book, crappy movie), Prey, and State of Fear. His older novels are good too, but some get a bit too in depth.
 
[quote name='Moxio']The Ender's series is good. I'd also recommend most Michael Crichton, but his books are rather complex so you'd need a good feel on the topic.[/QUOTE]

Crichton's books are complex? They are the epitome of an airport/vacation read. Crichton's books are some of the simplest reads ever.
 
Crichton- Eaters of The Dead (became the movie The Thirteenth Warrior). What the movie doesn't go out of its way to say is that the story is that it's a re-telling of the Beowulf saga. If you ever had to read through (a translation of) Beowulf as part of a highschool english course, Crichton takes the story further. He attempts to take the epic and imagine a regression for it so that he could tell the story "as it really happened", before it became inflated by generations of storytelling. The monsters in here aren't supernatural, but they would certainly seem so to a superstitious people in the middle ages. Neither book nor movie was extraordinarily popular, but I was impressed by the idea of imagining the grain of truth in an epic saga.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer - The Firebrand. This one may be hard to find, but it too is a retelling of a saga. It's the story of the Iliad, the sack of Troy, except told through the eyes of Cassandra, princess of Troy and sister to Paris. Great story, and again it shows a believable series of events, including some that we know as super-human, like Achilles and Ajax, Odysseus, Agamemnon and Helen.

Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe's Rifles. This is the first book of a great series. Each is a short read, but very succinct. The books follow the stories of Richard Sharpe, a low-ranking officer in the British army during the Napoleonic wars. Sharpe was promoted to Lieutenant in the past after a suicidal act of bravery; the only problem is that he serves in an army that doesn't usually promote from the enlisted ranks. Most officers are gentlemen, and Sharpe is low-born and grew up in the gutters of London. He's considered an outsider, trash, by most of the officers and viewed as "not a proper officer" by the enlisted men who he's supposed to command. This is the start of the story, when his rear-guard rifle company gets cut off behind enemy lines in the mountains of Spain, and the only other ranking officer, a captain, is killed. Sharpe has to survive, keep himself and his men alive, and the French are closing in.....Great stuff!
 
[quote name='savestheday888']Iam Legend by Richard Matheson is one of the best books I've ever read, and it's not too long. Main character is the only survivor of a virus that has turned everyone into vampires. He must fend them off at night, and hunt them down during the day. Great read![/QUOTE]

I agree, great read. As a side point, it served as a basis for the movie Omega Man starring Mr. NRA.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...38479/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/102-7533796-9148968
 
Anything by Philip K. Dick or Robert J. Sawyer. Two of my absolute favorite sci-fi authors ever. Also, if you're looking for something a little more fantasy oriented, check out anything by Neil Gaiman, especially American Gods, one of my favorite books. And, to go along with iheartmetal's classics, I just finished Dante's Inferno, and I'd certainly recommend it. If you don't mind reading poems about hell all day ;)
 
[quote name='cheapass Gundam']Fight Club. Different enough from the movie to still be an enjoyable read even if you've seen the film already.[/QUOTE]

Short too, should be possible to read it over a few hours.
 
I very, very highly recommend A Drink Before The War, or anything by Dennis Lehane if you're at all into mystery or thriller novels. You could also read Mystic River, which was incredibly good. Same author, but A Drink Before The War is the first of a series involving two detectives who are pretty awesome characters.

I also insist you read Life of Pi, which was a superb novel.
 
[quote name='bowmanarmy']If you like the Fight Club movie, i recomend the book, or choke by the same author[/QUOTE]

I think Survivor's the best, but it's a little longer than the others.
 
i think mine have been the least popular thus far, but i found another great one!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5389403-6172169?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
The Heliand! Its a 9th century version of the Gospel. It was written for those crazy pagan warriors in medieval Germany. Believe me, this is the most unique New Testament youll ever read , "No one else among the geroic sons of men was to attempt it, since these four had been picked by the power of God: Matthew and Mark, Luke an John were their names. They were dear to God, worthy of the work. The ruling God had placed the Holy Spirit firmly in those heroes' hearts, together with many a wise word, as well as a devout attitude and a powerful mind, so that they could life up their holy voices to chant God's spel. There is nothing like it in words anywhere in this world! Nothing can ever glorify the Ruler, our dear Chieftain, more! Nor is there anything that can better fell every evil creature or work of wickedness, nor better withstand the hatred and aggression of enemies. This is so, because the one who taught them God's Spell, though generous and good, had a powerful mind: the noble, the almight Creator Himself." ...... It's good stuff
 
[quote name='iheartmetal']i think mine have been the least popular thus far, but i found another great one!
[/QUOTE]

Actually, I liked your recommendations. Enough of this bestseller pap. Give us the classics, I say!
 
I would further recommend Dune by Frank Herbert, it may take a little bit to get into but is very good. Dune Messiah is also very good and a fast read, its the second in the dune trilogy.

Micheal Crichton is a good recomendation, I would suggest the two Jurassic Park books Jurassic park and Lost world. Both were good, his books often feel a little shallow to me though but definately entertaining.

Stephen King may be write longer books than you are looking for but everything I have read of his I have enjoyed. I can again second the dark tower series.

John Connolly The killing kind, dark hollow, and every dead thing are good suspense detective novels.

And one of my personal favorites Clive Barker, he is great Imajica, Galilee, Coldheart Canyon, I would thouroghly recommend picking up one of his books. On a side note he also worked on the Hellraiser series of movies and lord of illusions.

oh and not sci fi but thomas harris is good too author of Hannibal, red dragon, and silence of the lambs
 
I was really excited to read fight club and it was ok and a very fast read. Fight club is the only book in which I liked the movie more than the book.
 
[quote name='Tromack']Crichton's books are complex? They are the epitome of an airport/vacation read. Crichton's books are some of the simplest reads ever.[/QUOTE]

Haha, wow, I must be really dumb than :rofl:
 
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