I want to read
Submitted by Decapode on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 09:17
- # The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King; J.R.R. Tolkien)
- Greatest fantasy tale ever written.
- # A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle Book 1, Ursula K. LeGuin)
- A very cool world of wizards and the power of names.
- # Dune (Dune Chronicles Book 1, Frank Herbert)
- An entirely desert planet of giant sandworms and the prescience power of spice.
- # Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
- A dystopian novel in which fire-fighters burn books instead of putting out fires. Hits frighteningly close to home. For anyone who loves to read.
- # Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)
- The classic dystopian novel. Big Brother is watching. A must read for anyone who values freedom.
- # Brave New World (Alduous Huxley)
- Another fascinating dystopian novel, foretelling of genetic engineering, helicopters, television, and recreational drug use… written in the 1930s.
- # Replay (Ken Grimwood)
- An absolutely incredible work that demonstrates why science fiction is not just about space ships and robots. If you've ever wondered how your life could have turned out differently, this is a must read.
- # Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs Book 1, Richard K. Morgan)
- Cyberpunk science fiction at its finest. Near future world where people's minds exist digitally, allowing you to switch bodies.
- # The Great Book of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber Books 1-10, Roger Zelazny)
- Epic science fiction fantasy blend set in modern times. Infinite dimensions exist and can be easily traveled by a select family.
- # Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
- A beautiful 19th century novel of the human condition. For anyone who has felt the pangs of love or the agony of being an artist.
- # The Hobbit (Prequel to The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)
- An easy read that captures the imagination. A great starting point to get into the Fantasy genre.
- # Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
- Don't see the movie. It doesn't even come close to this gritty Science Fiction masterpiece. A great read especially for those interested in the military.
- # Ender's Game (Ender Wiggin Saga Book 1, Orson Scott Card)
- One of best Science Fiction novels ever. You can easily escape reality and lose yourself in this enthralling tale of an intelligent young boy that captures some real truths about being a kid.
- # Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles Book 3, Frank Herbert)
- The only book in the Dune Chronicles I enjoyed as much as the first. A MILLION times better than Dune Messiah, so don't quit on book 2.
- # The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle Book 3, Ursula K. LeGuin)
- A stunning wizard fantasy that builds from the first two books. The story depicts the universal foe of death, described with such powerful imagery.
- # The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
- What a great detective novel! The perfect read if you're craving a trenchcoat and fedora 1920s mystery.
- # Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
- The extremely popular novel of a young man trying to hold onto his individuality in a world of phony social constructs.
- # Lady Chatterley's Lover (D.H. Lawrence)
- Possibly the best depiction of the human quest for true love in an imperfect world.
- # For Us, The Living (Robert Heinlein)
- Utopia in 2082 characterized by no marriage, private vs. public sphere, monetary allowance for all citizens, fiat currency, and minimal clothing indoors.
- # The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)
- Time dilation due to near-speed-of-light space travel and its results on Earth while soldiers fight a distant alien enemy.
- # Left Behind (Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins)
- A thrilling page turner about the sudden disappearance of half the world's populace.
- # The Lords of Discipline (Pat Conroy)
- The best novel about life as a cadet, be it at The Citadel, VMI, or the Service Academies.
- # Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
- A poignant tale of an impoverished Irish family that is ghastly in it's suffering, yet able to evoke laughter and hope from an innocent childhood perspective.
- # Xenocide (Ender Wiggin Saga Book 3, Orson Scott Card)
- Outstanding return to form that makes the entire "Ender" series well worth the read.
- # Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny)
- This book gets better with every chapter as we see the interactions between gods. Much like the Roman gods (Zeus, Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, etc.) except in a Hindu version.
- # Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
- Terribly slow and tedious at times, this book grows on you the further you read. By the end, you'll understand that Frankenstein is a true masterpiece undeserving of the campy stereotype image of the movies.
- # The Naked and the Dead (Norman Mailer)
- Life in the military, especially in war, is too harsh to tolerate the superficialities of social norms. The only way to survive, to not go mad with fear, is to accept the fact that you are already dead. We are naked and vulnerable, despite our attempts at relevance with personal appearances and fleeting possessions.
- # Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos Book 1, Dan Simmons)
- Who would think to build an intergalactic sci-fi epic around the works of one of the most impressive poets of the 19th century, John Keats? Seems like a ridiculous combination, yet it works through a character driven delivery in the vein of "The Canterbury Tales." A great testament that we may be done with the past, but the past is never done with us. WARNING: This book is only half of the story, with no semblance of an ending. You must read "Fall of Hyperion" immediately afterwards to get legitimate closure.
- # Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos Book 2, Dan Simmons)
- Often times, we cringe at the prospect of hating the sequel to a book we liked. Sequels often fall short. In this case, the story gets far better. Definitely a must-read for science fiction fans.
- # The Iliad (Book 1, Homer)
- One of the oldest books ever written. The definitive war epic portraying the jealousies of kings and the unquenchable rage of Achilles. Just don't expect to find references to a Trojan Horse or Achilles' Heels.
- # The Odyssey (Book 2, Homer)
- The grandfather of fantasy and imagination in literature. Be regaled by tales of the crafty Odysseus.
- # Gates of Fire (Steven Pressfield)
- Awesome fictional tale based on the true events of 300 elite Spartan soldiers slaying a million of the invading Persian hordes. Inspiring for people about to join the military.
- # Children of the Mind (Ender Wiggin Saga Book 4, Orson Scott Card)
- A thoroughly enjoyable finale to an awesome sci-fi series. Not to be missed.
- # The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
- What will the future be like once we achieve the technology to enable us to start colonizing Mars? Will we do better as a society with a chance to start over?
- # The Eye In the Pyramid (The Illuminatus! Part 1, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson)
- A disjointed mindfrag of conspiracies and myths revealed. It's a detective story, a sci-fi novel, political commentary, and a raunchy romance novel all rolled into one.
- # Elric of Melnibone (Michael Moorcock)
- What an intriguing beginning. Unfortunately, the fascination and excitement take a plunge as the second half of this book loses its focus.
- # The Sword of Shannara (Terry Brooks)
- Classic meat and potatoes fantasy on par with "The Lord of the Rings," with an interesting twist.
- # Flowers For Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
- Movie was okay, but read the book instead. A mentally handicapped man has brain surgery and becomes a genius. Great story about the drawbacks of intelligence and the horror of losing one's self-consciousness.
- # The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle Book 2, Ursula K. LeGuin)
- Must read if you loved "A Wizard of Earthsea."
- # Ringworld (Larry Niven)
- Fascinating artificially constructed world. The physics of how Ringworld exists is cool. The characters are of rather silly design, but it's a fun read good enough for serious sci-fi fans.
- # Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)
- Captivating story about cryptology within the National Security Agency (NSA), the agency that spies on our emails.
- # White Noise (Don DeLillo)
- Great book about how abnormal your average family really is. In our materialistic suburbia, there's no such thing as happily ever after.
- # Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray)
- Life is hard. Survival is rarely easy. As in nature, there are the strong and the weak. The smart and the dumb. Natural selection. As in society, there are lambs and there are wolves. The weaker sex may not be as strong physically, but in society the mind and lips make for an unpredictable battleground.
- # The Woodlanders (D.H. Lawrence)
- D.H. Lawrence is the master of using plain, rural people to demonstrate the universal human condition of complicated love with the contrasting backdrop of the harsh and unfeeling world of Nature.
- # The Summons (John Grisham)
- About the complications of inheritance and what happens after a rich guy dies. Really good mystery that builds throughout.
- # The Testament (John Grisham)
- Another great story about inheritance. A woman doctor helping poor natives in the Amazon jungle is suddenly the heiress to a massive fortune. Except no one has heard from her in years.
- # Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein)
- An outstanding look at love, sex, and marriage from a 1960s hippie perspective with a science fiction bent.
- # Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
- A fascinating western tale delving into the dark side of man. I'm not into westerns, generally, but this is an awesome story.
- # The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells)
- It really would be cool to be invisible sometimes. But not all the time. That would probably suck.
- # The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert Heinlein)
- A futuristic laissez-faire moon colony with technical difficulties. A fascinating futuristic society.
- # The Rainbow (D.H. Lawrence)
- Life goes on. There are highs and lows, but what art rarely captures is the repetitiveness, the endless transition of generations. This great book is a marathon in describing life, rather than a one sentence summary. Life is full of love and tragedy. It is unplanned, unrehearsed, awkward, unjust, and random. There are no perfect parallel storylines to tie together. There are no fairytale endings. Life simply goes on.
- # American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
- There's God and then there's gods (lower case "g") in the classic Greek & Roman sense. Just imagine these gods, who've been around for millenia, blending in with modern American culture, each with their own agenda.
- # Taps (Willie Morris)
- A genuine tale of a young American boy growing up during the Korean war. Though far from the battlefields across the sea, the boy experiences the effects of death as he plays Taps on his trumpet at military funerals and gets a job working in a funeral home. Outstanding book about male youth as well as a critical perspective on the sad side of military service.
- # The Broker (John Grisham)
- Another fun Grisham novel. Definitely worth reading if you like his other books.
- # Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs Book 2, Richard K. Morgan)
- Not anywhere nearly as good as "Altered Carbon." However, a decent story if you simply must have more after "Altered Carbon."
- # The Stars My Destination (Alfred Bester)
- A compelling tale of revenge. Also, a very intriguing future in which people have learned how to teleport themselves with their mind.
- # Sons and Lovers (D.H. Lawrence)
- A masterful tale exploring the intricacies of emotions between family members. Love, romance, and jealousy depicted with tremendous insight.
- # Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles Book 5, Frank Herbert)
- This is where the Dune series gets back to having lots of action instead of boring talking all the time. This is also where Frank Herbert realized that the giant sandworms are what made this series interesting in the first place.
- # A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
- Story of a young girl with a passion for books as she grows up in Brooklyn. Very worthwhile tale of youth from the female side.
- # The King of Torts (John Grisham)
- The lawyer world of lawsuits is both fascinating and despicable in its excess.
- # Neuromancer (William Gibson)
- The birth of the Cyberpunk genre. Although it is a fascinating world, the characters didn't captivate me.
- # A Fire Upon The Deep (Vernor Virge)
- An excellent sci-fi epic in which the closer you get to the center of the universe, the more the strong gravitational fields slow space travel and hamper technology. At the universe's outer rim known as The Beyond, humankind mistakenly unleashes a cosmic monster bent on enslaving all civilizations.
- # Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer - Part II: Lords of Destruction (James Silke)
- This is rated "R" barbarian fantasy for its gritty, gory, and sexual content. The Frazetta cover alone inspires powerful imagery throughout the book.
