Suggest something new for me to read...

dmoore44

I am looking for a good to book to read. I like sci-fi, fantasy, and related books. Currently I am reading Cryptonomicon (been "reading" it for 5 years and have finally decided to finish it). Some of my favorite books include 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Dune, LoTR, The Hobbit, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc...

So, based on that, what can you recommend?

gosh1976

hmm things I've read that come to mind when reading that list -- Stephen King's Gunslinger series? A clockwork orange? catch-22? naked-lunch? slaughterhouse 5? the martian chronicles?

thehourman

If you like Scifi, I would recommend The Mistborn Trilogy.
I was not a book reader at all because I thought it was boring since there is not picture and stuff. But for some reason my co-workers had convinced me to read the first book, and I got hooked. Since then I have been searching for some really good Scifi/fiction books.

Paperlantern

Personally I read more paranormal stuff. Im into Kim Harrison and the like. I just got into the Zodiac series by Vickie Pettersson, very good. For fantasy, i drilled through the entire Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Its fairly massive, the first book dating back to the late 70s The Sword of Shannara. Total there's roughly 14 in the direct shannara series, then another 3ish that follow surrounding characters and elaborate even further on the story.

For just fiction, the Women's Murder Club series from James Patterson is a good series. 9ish books there. I also like Clive Cussler, he has a very intense obsession with old cars and nautical based stories. Dirk Pitt is a great character in those.

Slowhand

Something to pick up while you're pondering the thicker tomes: The Road to Mars.

It's a fairly quick read, but it's highly entertaining. Written by Eric Idle, it follows an android (that's modeled to look like David Bowie) who travels with a pair of comedians on tour around the solar system in hopes of getting a gig in the entertainment-mecca of the future: Mars. If you're into Terry Pratchett or Doug Adams, you'll most likely find this book quite funny.

the_Grinch

Two suggestions:

Starships Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Amazon.com: Starship Troopers (978044178358: Robert A. Heinlein: Books

and

Stranger in a Strange Land also by Robert Heinlein

Amazon.com: Stranger in a Strange Land (9780441788385): Robert A. Heinlein: Books

Both are awesome books and pretty quick reads.

dmoore44

Interesting suggestions... I've read Starship Troopers, the first book in the Gunslinger seres, and Catch-22... But none of the others. I'll have to pick up Stranger in a Strange Land - I love Heinlein! I've started Slaughterhouse 5, but find Vonnegut's writing a little hard to get into (same with William Gibson) - but I'll finish it (and Neuromancer) eventually.

And just for further info, I've read these too:
The Sword of Truth Series
A Song of Ice and Fire
The Wheel of Time Series
Almost every Star Wars book

mickeycoronado

If you want a quick enjoyable read some evening check out "The Curse of Lono" and "The Rum Diaries". You can finish each in a night or two and they're good little novels.

Plantwiz

dmoore44 wrote: »

I am looking for a good to book to read. I like sci-fi, fantasy, and related books. Currently I am reading Cryptonomicon (been "reading" it for 5 years and have finally decided to finish it). Some of my favorite books include 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Dune, LoTR, The Hobbit, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc...

So, based on that, what can you recommend?

Check out Barry Eisler (Ice-lur):

The Rain Series is great, but he has written a couple afterward that are good too!


"Rain Fall" - Very Good
"Hard Rain" - One of my favorite
"Rain Storm" - Good
"Killing Rain" - Good
"The Last Assassin" - Good
"Requiem for an Assassin" - Good



Then he also has:
"Fault Line" and "Inside Out" both very good
BARRY EISLER: The Official Website

snadam

Last non-text book I read was Halo: Fall of Reach a few years ago, and I actually enjoyed it (Halo fan, BTW )

Anyway, they have the First 3 books at amazon for $16 if you're interested.

Webmaster

I hardly read any fiction, even less science fiction, so I have little to compare to, but last year I read a couple of books by John Scalzi which I enjoyed:

Books by John Scalzi Whatever

Beach

I am a fan of the author Vince Flynn.
He writes some decent political/CIA books.

noobsrevenge

Surely not everyone is reading for certs all the time.

Any good nerdy books for recreation you guys can recommend?

Something like:
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which was rather comical at how outdated it is, but interesting nonetheless

Help me find another Thanks.

mattlee09

I haven't gotten around to it yet, but Zero Day by Mark Russinovich

Nothing but tech stuff for me lately, and probably for the next foreseeable year or two. I've even managed to avoid playing games/Diablo 3 entirely so far.

quinnyfly

Having all those security certs you have, perhaps you have already read:

The Kevin Mitnick series: The Art of Intrusion/Deception, Ghost in the Wires.

I have recently purchased Liars and Outliars and Scheiner on Security (Bruce Schneier)
and
Security 2020 (Howard Prince).

These are my supplementals for now, however as we all know, when you are studying for other certs, it is difficult to find the time for this kind of material. I find a good movie with the Mrs sees me relax my mind to mentally unwind for the next day.

wellnowwhat

Have you read "Ender's Game"? If not, it is a sci-fi staple

I also recommend "We" by Zamyatin. It's an early dystopian sci-fi novel. It's very beautiful and well done.

noobsrevenge

Oh yea, I had forgot about Enders Game. I did read the first book a long time ago and loved it, if I remember right that is a series of like 5 or so books, I will have to get back into that!

Also thanks for the Kevin Mitnick suggestion, I had heard of those books but never looked into it, finally checked the description out on Amazon and it does look very interesting indeed ! Between certs and these books I will be busy for a while. Thanks.

bermovick

Tad Williams is pretty good, if you like dictionary-thick books.

The 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' trilogy is good fantasy. Pretty dark too.
and the 'Otherland' series is somewhat sci-fi'y.

noobsrevenge

Cool, I love the fantasy genre as well, I looked that up, looks like its right up my alley!

Currently my favorite fantasy author is RA Salvatore, I have read probably 15 books by him (Drizzt series, The Cleric Quintet) they are really good, but I look forward to checkin out Tad Williams.

bermovick

Just be warned; Williams is a LOT different than Salvatore. I've got a handful of the drizzt/dark elf series (where they grouped his story into a single long series), and they seem to be much more 'light reading'. Williams is much heavier, but I find the more I read, the more my tastes swing in that direction (although I still find the Game of Thrones book series TOO heavy somehow)

There's always the Wheel of Time series. Hopefully you've already read that though *suspicious glare*
Sword of Truth series started off well, but got WAAAY too preachy later on, and most of the later books ended with a deus ex machina.
The Dune series is still one of my favorites. I haven't even read them all though.
Lately I've read the old Foundation series. Interesting stuff from Asimov. I never really got into the classics before.
Piers Anthony has a couple series that are good VERY light reading - the Incarnations of Immortality and the Apprentice Adept series are both ok. I really can't stand any of his Xanth novels anymore though.
I'm a big fan of Raymond Feist, although as his series draws on, the conflicts are starting to get ridiculous (more powerful good guys means the next series has to have ever-more powerful bad guys)

Oh! My big thumbs-up will go to the Death Gate cycle by Weis/Hickman. Fairly light reading, but still my all-time favorite.

I could go on all day

longhorn79

The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher

vCole

Ready Player One: Amazon.com: Ready Player One (9780307887436): Ernest Cline: Books

YuckTheFankees

My gf keeps telling me '50 shades of grey' is a good book lol

I would check out any book by Max Barry, my all time favorite author (Jennifer Government is awesome, pretty cool concept as well)