# Recommend me some good books



## Jackson12s (May 4, 2013)

Hey all,

I've been reading the Stephen Leather 'Dan Shepard' series and I'm up to the 9th one in the series and the 10th isn't released till Jul (hardback) or Nov (paper back) so I need some padding to fill the space. If you don't know the series it's a Brit crime/thriller and I really recommend it, undercover agent shizz.

I need some recommendations away from this genre though as I've read 9 books on it and need a change haha. I was reading some war books before, SAS/Seals... No Easy Day (Osama Bin Laden raid) and I also like historical stuff, comedy, action..

I have a few books on my read list: Raven: Blood Eye (recommended Viking book) and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (seen the movie but not read the book(s)) but I want some more recommendations so I can see what else I'm missing as I only got into reading properly no so long ago!

TL;DR: Recommend me some books around action/war/comedy/anything.

Thanks!


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## The Grief Hole (May 4, 2013)

Catch 22 for your comedy/ war fix. I also thiught the last, ghost-written Bond was very good. It was by Sebastian Faulks IIRC.


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## Watty (May 4, 2013)

Clive Cussler's books are kind of in that vein and pretty easy reads. I haven't touched anything of his for the last 8 years or so, but I remember it being fairly entertaining.


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## Jackson12s (May 5, 2013)

The Grief Hole said:


> Catch 22 for your comedy/ war fix. I also thiught the last, ghost-written Bond was very good. It was by Sebastian Faulks IIRC.



Ah yes Catch 22, I remember looking at that before, I'll put that on my read list for sure! The last Bond book on the wiki is Carte Blanche by Jeffrey Deaver? The last one by Sebastian Faulks was Devil May Care?



Watty said:


> Clive Cussler's books are kind of in that vein and pretty easy reads. I haven't touched anything of his for the last 8 years or so, but I remember it being fairly entertaining.



Just has a look on his personal site and his books look really up my street, sort of action/adventure. I'll put them on my read list too! It's growing for sure! haha


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## Yimmj (May 5, 2013)

All Quiet on the Western Front is incredible, its a book about the memoirs of a german soldier in WW1 its excellent

also, anything by max brooks


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## Rosal76 (May 6, 2013)

Jackson12s said:


> TL;DR: Recommend me some books around action/war/comedy/anything. Thanks!


 
I highly recommend Dalton Trumbo's, "Johnny got his gun", an anti-war novel written in 1938 and later made into a movie in 1971 and remade in 2008. Metallica has a song and their first video, "One", which is based off of the book and movie.

I read the novel in 1992 and it is really, really, really horrific what the main character had to go through. I don't want to add any more details as I might spoil it for ya, but it definately changed my way of how I look at war. 

The book.

Johnny Got His Gun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The movie.

Johnny Got His Gun (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## petereanima (May 7, 2013)

Yep. Johnny Got His Gun is amazingly horrific. I can't remember anything else making me feel so ...hmm...uncomfortable and sad, and something in between.

Fellow Metallica fans will recognize it btw.


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## vilk (May 7, 2013)

I don't really know how to categorize this book, but my number one favorite book is Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It's pretty short, you could read it in a day, and after you read it you're just mind-f***ed for the rest of your life. I recommend it to everyone who asks me for a book recommendation.

but uh, please note that this book doesn't incorporate any war, action, or comedy whatsoever. It's more like, an adventure? But of the mind?


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## TIMEwaveXERO (May 7, 2013)

If you like freakishly massive in scope and story fantasy (no not song of ice and fire).. try Steven Erikson's: Malazan Book of the Fallen. Book 1 (in a recently completed series of 10) is called Gardens of the Moon. 

Incredible books. Just astounding.


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## Jackson12s (May 7, 2013)

Thanks guys, some amazing recommendations, I ordered World War Z and I'm taking a look at the others, Johnny Got His Guns rings bells of the 'One' video, that video always got to me, he couldn't ask for them to kill him and he couldn't kill himself.. deep.


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## Steinmetzify (May 12, 2013)

Whenever anyone asks this I always say the same thing. The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny. It's massive; 10 main books and some short stories incorporating some of the characters. There's an omnibus edition which is all 10, and it's decently cheap on Amazon.

The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber):Amazon:Books

No one that I've referred it to that's read it hasn't absolutely loved it. Honestly, it's amazing. I found the first 4 books on an uncle's shelf by accident, and was hooked immediately...had to find the rest. That was 22 years ago, and I've read it at least once a year since then. It's a masterpiece of storytelling. The guy was a genius.


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## Nyx Erebos (May 12, 2013)

I'd recommend the Odysseus in case you didn't already read it.

And the Witcher saga. The overall story is very good but it's the situations that make it worth reading and the characters are some of the best I ever read about. Some of these characters are a bit caricatural but some others are just more human than a human could be. Even if you're not a fantasy guy it's a must read, it's more about a world drowning in fear, hate and violence, and a man trying to find its path in this mess.


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## danger5oh (May 19, 2013)

Anytime the subject of books comes up, I always recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. And if you're feeling really ambitious, you can read the rest of his books that are centered around that storyline in sequential order (which it seems are practically most of them... even some of the more commercially well known ones are surprisingly linked to the Dark Tower).


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## hairychris (May 20, 2013)

Iain (M) Banks
Charles Stross
Alastair Reynolds

All are pretty bad-assed British sci-fi authors. If you want reading that goes from out-loud funny to gut-wrenchingly unpleasant in the space of a page, then Iain Banks is your man. "M" is for scifi, without is for genre. Charles Stross is a geek, his boks are fun. Reynolds is about the best "hard" scifi that I've read (he's an ex-scientist so his tech is down).

Philip K Dick is good. Robert Rankin is great for the funnies (in some ways like Terry Pratchett). William Gibson is good but his early stuff has dated a bit. Asimov, obviously. Larry Niven has some interesting concepts but his books are occasionally annoying. Heinlein.


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## MFB (May 20, 2013)

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Sirens of Titan, or Cat's Cradle are all fantastic reads. Galapagos however, is incredibly boring and not worth it. I have an audiobook of Breakfast of Champions that I've yet to get around to but I'll probably buy a physical copy soon.

I also highly recommend Neil Gaiman's works of either American Gods or his work with Terry Pratchett on "Good Omens." Stephen King's "Duma Key" is what I finished before starting G.O. and that one got so weird towards the middle I had to start reading in the middle of the day (at the time I was living alone with a rather unassuming dorm and would read in the wee hours of the night)


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## GizmoJunior (May 29, 2013)

danger5oh said:


> Anytime the subject of books comes up, I always recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. And if you're feeling really ambitious, you can read the rest of his books that are centered around that storyline in sequential order (which it seems are practically most of them... even some of the more commercially well known ones are surprisingly linked to the Dark Tower).



I was actually gonna recommend The Dark Tower series. It was a great adventure and I think I'm gonna reread the series this summer. 

My other favorite author is Chuck Palahniuk. He wrote Fight Club and several other books. Generally he writes about dark satire, drugs, and sex. Haunted and Invisible Monsters were both fantastic. You may not like them or attempt to read them but they were worth a mention.


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## danger5oh (May 29, 2013)

I hope you read The Wind Through the Keyhole!


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## GizmoJunior (May 29, 2013)

danger5oh said:


> I hope you read The Wind Through the Keyhole!



I got it the day it came out!


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## GuitaristOfHell (May 29, 2013)

Anything written by Stephen King. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is awesome.


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## Mexi (May 31, 2013)

Indeed, I just finished reading his Everything's Eventual short story compilation back from '03 and and it was really, really good. There are two Dark Tower related ones in it and other brilliantly written ones (like Riding the Bullet). I forgot how many good stories this guy has written.

I would also suggest Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, very different from most of the other stuff suggested here but it's really well written and is a very poignant commentary on war, technology and ideology.

I'm currently reading Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep (after hearing it was influential in the 1999 game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) and I'm really enjoying it too. Probably the first "true" sci-fi book I've read, touching on all sorts of stuff from interstellar civilizations to artificial super-intelligences and everything in between, a sort of epic "space opera" of some sort.


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## sakeido (May 31, 2013)

some of my favorites I've read lately

The Sisters Brothers - short read, can finish this in an afternoon no trouble. About a couple of brothers, Western story, with a very charming narrative voice

Dark Tower - have been liking each installment progressively less as it goes on, but the first one especially is still great

Snow Crash - good post-cyberpunk novel. Liked it a hell of a lot more than Neuromancer. Very upbeat and adventurous, full of awesome characters, whereas Neuromancer is grim, bleak, depressing and follows a plot arc I still don't really understand the importance of. Neuromancer is mostly notable for anticipating a lot of modern day stuff like the internet back in 1984. 

Dune - one of my favorite books of all time. Very dense, political, with one of the most authentic and lively feeling worlds I have ever read about 

The Magician & The Magician King - first two parts of a trilogy-to-be, third book ain't out yet. Deconstruction of a Harry Potter-esque school of magic. Very self aware... it's nice to read a book in which the characters in the book have actually read books and watched movies, and act accordingly. While the main character can be a real douche, still loved these books to bits.


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## MFB (May 31, 2013)

sakeido said:


> some of my favorites I've read lately
> 
> The Sisters Brothers - short read, can finish this in an afternoon no trouble. About a couple of brothers, Western story, with a very charming narrative voice
> 
> ...



Which book are you up to, because Wizards & Glass is probably the most kick-ass book I've ever read and if I could get a full series about young Roland ....ing shit up with his Gilead Ka-Tet then it'd already be sitting in my shelf


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## sakeido (May 31, 2013)

MFB said:


> Which book are you up to, because Wizards & Glass is probably the most kick-ass book I've ever read and if I could get a full series about young Roland ....ing shit up with his Gilead Ka-Tet then it'd already be sitting in my shelf



I'm actually on that one right now, still only about 175 pages in or so but it is definitely better than the Waste Lands so far.

I think I'll just stop after this, heard how the Dark Tower goes after this book and I don't really feel that interested in continuing on.


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## Judge_Dredd (Jun 4, 2013)

The world according to Garp? Great book. It's a tragicomedy. I laughed a lot with this book but it also has a great story.


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## estabon37 (Jun 5, 2013)

I've found myself really affected by Albert Camus' _The Stranger_ (sometimes titled _The Outsider_ depending on the translation). It's a short book, and on the surface is a great read about a man who lives life sensually, without allowing the lives of others to affect him. Once you've finished it, if you care to read some extra literature about it, you find that it's a philosophical conundrum and many layers deep. It's not just readable, it's re-readable.

On the other hand, give Cormac McCarthy's _Blood Meridian_ a shot just to see if you can. Don't buy it, borrow it from a library. Because if you find the opening chapters too dense and disturbing, you won't finish it. The same author wrote _No Country for Old Men_ and _The Road_, just for a point of reference. I realise it makes more sense to recommend these (fantastic) books, but I like recommending _Blood Meridian_ just to make people hate me .


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## Blake1970 (Jun 5, 2013)

George R.R. Martin's series - A Song of Ice And Fire
Blake Crouch's - Pines


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## Blake1970 (Jun 5, 2013)

estabon37 said:


> I've found myself really affected by Albert Camus' _The Stranger_ (sometimes titled _The Outsider_ depending on the translation). It's a short book, and on the surface is a great read about a man who lives life sensually, without allowing the lives of others to affect him. Once you've finished it, if you care to read some extra literature about it, you find that it's a philosophical conundrum and many layers deep. It's not just readable, it's re-readable.
> 
> On the other hand, give Cormac McCarthy's _Blood Meridian_ a shot just to see if you can. Don't buy it, borrow it from a library. Because if you find the opening chapters too dense and disturbing, you won't finish it. The same author wrote _No Country for Old Men_ and _The Road_, just for a point of reference. I realise it makes more sense to recommend these (fantastic) books, but I like recommending _Blood Meridian_ just to make people hate me .




Blood Merdian is an incredible read. Probably one of my favorites of all time.


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## flexkill (Jun 5, 2013)

The Running Man- Stephen King, Richard Bachman(Pseudonym)









Great freaking book....couldn't put it down. Read it years ago....might even read it again myself....should check it out.


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## MrYakob (Jun 5, 2013)

I just finished reading Patient Zero, and I absolutely loved it. If you're into zombies and/or Military action I'd give it a read.


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## AdenM (Jun 9, 2013)

Not sure if you're into the whole postmodern literature thing, but as Estabon said, Cormac McCarthy is pretty awesome on all fronts. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (think The Road, but more Sci-Fi), and Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. One of the hardest books I've ever read, but really trippy and thought provoking. I also dug the whole Ender Quartet by Orson Scott Card, Asimov's Foundation series, and Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon is pretty hardcore Sci-Fi as well.


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## GizmoJunior (Jun 10, 2013)

flexkill said:


> The Running Man- Stephen King, Richard Bachman(Pseudonym)
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I read that last summer and it was f*cking great. I think I read it in one day because I couldn't stop reading it. Definitely a good suggestion for the OP.


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## blackjackslsc8 (Jun 10, 2013)

Read anything by the guy who most inspired stephen king--richard matheson. He wrote back in the 40s and 50s or thereabouts and is mostly known for his awesomely creepy, trippy short stories, for all you short attention span readers. If you read through his bio you will be amazed at how many of his stories were made into movies (I am legend, stigmata, a lot more that I can't remember). And the stories retain their vitality through all the years. Also anything by herman hesse if you want to get cerebral on a brother. And fighting chess with hikaru nakamura is a good nonfiction read, if you also have a chess set handy.


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## Beowulf Von Thrashmeister (Jun 18, 2013)

How about some action and adventure from the classical world ....


The Illiad by Homer

Iliad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Odyssey by Homer (anyone remember the Symphonny X song based on this awesome story? ) 

Odyssey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Vinland Sagas 

Vinland sagas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To name a few old favourite I definatly reccomend anyone who loves an epic saga or two !!!.


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