Jump to content

Looking for Book Recommendations


Karst

Recommended Posts

What it says on the tin- I'm in between books at the moment, and I'll have some spare time to read over the holidays.  I like sci-fi and fantasy, and I'm not big on romance or horror.  Open to both fiction and nonfiction suggestions.

Link to post
Share on other sites

My favorite series of books has been the Foundation series by Issac Asimov 7 books in total with the book Foundation being my favorite (1st book written 3rd in the timeline) Hari Seldon creates a Foundation to preserve art and science during the time between the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of a 2nd Galactic Empire.

 

Also Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke is near the top of my list. It's about the golden age of man and Man's next evolution.

 

For something a little more fun I suggest the Kingdom Keepers. 5 kids (later 7) are hired by Disney to have their images turned into Holograms to serve as tour guides in the Disney parks. When the real kids sleep they "cross over" into the parks and become half human half hologram hybrids to fight Disney villains. There's like 13 books in total now but I only like the first 4 with book #4 Power Play being my favorite.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Watch BlacKkKlansman, and then read the novel. 

If you like weird sci-fi concepts and math, read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. 

Just a couple random books but I promise you they're good. 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Sci-fi: the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey. A distopian future where people are living in silos to avoid a disaster. I'd rate it 5 stars. 

 

Fantasy: the discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Humour, satire and very poignant commentary on the real world explored through fantasy tropes and excellent characterisation. They don't have to be read in a specific order so I recommend Guards Guards, The Hogfather, Witches Abroad and Going Postal as good places to start. 

 

Fantasy: the Hawk and Fisher series by Simon R Green. The lead characters are a married couple who work for the city guard in a corrupt urban environment. Simon R Green also wrote The Death Stalker series (sci-fi) and the Nightside series (urban fantasy). Both are noteworthy series. 

 

YA fantasy: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. May not be for everyone since it's YA but I'm a 34 Yr old who doesn't read much YA but Six of Crows is one of the best books I've ever read. It's a heist story about a gang of older teenagers who break a prisoner out of a notorious prison and end up sort of saving a whole race of people even though their only intention is to get a shed load of money. I thought it was dark and gritty for a YA book - there's a scene where a protagonist rips someone's eye out, and said character also has secret trauma that turns out to be rather morbid. I absolutely love the book, it has everything - magic, politics, action, humour, bit of romance but it's not typical stuff, diversity of race and sexuality. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Itsa me a person
3 hours ago, Black-purple-grey said:

YA fantasy: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

YESSS Six of Crows is a great book 

Link to post
Share on other sites
SabeSparklexoxo

Eragon, Harry Potter are good ones but they are a bit heavy going when trying to finish the series. 

Hunger games, Specials, divergent, are interesting but Battle Royale is great!

As for seperate series, ill have to think, ive read so many books. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, Itsa me a person said:

YESSS Six of Crows is a great book 

One of my favourites. I forgot to add that it's also got a disabled character, a character with dyslexia, a woman with a fuller figure who's still sexy af, and a character with possible adhd. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

fantasy: I LOVE "Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Le guin. It's 2 sequels are good too.

sci-fi: I'm a big fan of many Stanisław Lem's books - well I've hears he's know outside Poland so maybe you could find these books in English

Also "The Martian" by Andy Weir. Ignore the movie, the book is better.,

Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, szarlotka said:

fantasy: I LOVE "Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Le guin. It's 2 sequels are good too.

sci-fi: I'm a big fan of many Stanisław Lem's books - well I've hears he's know outside Poland so maybe you could find these books in English

Also "The Martian" by Andy Weir. Ignore the movie, the book is better.,

I've been a fan of Le Guin for years now, actually.  The Left Hand of Darkness helped me realize I was trans.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/23/2022 at 8:16 PM, Karst said:

What it says on the tin- I'm in between books at the moment, and I'll have some spare time to read over the holidays.  I like sci-fi and fantasy, and I'm not big on romance or horror.  Open to both fiction and nonfiction suggestions.

1. All The Wrong Questions (Series) by Lemony Snicket >> This is my favourite book series (Mystery)

 

2.Maximum Ride (Series) by James Patterson (Science Fiction)

 

3. The Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley & Malcolm X (Autobiography)

 

4. Black Boy by Richard Wright

 

5. The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy)

 

6.The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Magical Realism)

 

7. Beloved by Toni Morrison (R rated) (Dark Fantasy and Historical Fiction)

 

8.Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate (Realistic Fiction)

 

9. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Mystery)

 

10. Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas by Fredrick Douglas ( Memoir)

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
imnotafreakofnature!

Pretty much anything by Orson Scott Card. I've never actually read anything by him, but I know plenty of people who are outright addicted.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

I know I'm late to the party. 
but I will always and forever recommend people check out Holly Black / Rosie Garland / Cassandra Clare / Ben Aaronovich/ Gail Carriger. 
not recommending specific books because everyone likes different stuff for different reasons, but I adore all 5 and have yet to find anyone better (open to suggestions)

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/23/2022 at 7:16 PM, Karst said:

What it says on the tin- I'm in between books at the moment, and I'll have some spare time to read over the holidays.  I like sci-fi and fantasy, and I'm not big on romance or horror.  Open to both fiction and nonfiction suggestions.

The winter holidays are behind us, but I understand there are people who actually get summer holidays still ... so:

 

Teixcalaan series by Arkady Martine is complex, culturally, spiritually, socially, etc., but is well worth the reading. So far there are only two books in the series, but they are rather long, so be prepared. Genre: SF.

 

Vorkasigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold has two starting points. The first features Cordelia Naismith and Arol Vorkasigan when they first meet: Barryar; the second starting place is The Warrior's Apprentice featuring their son, Miles who, by complete accident, creates a mercenary fleet and becomes Admiral Naismith, even though he's only just 18 at the time. It's a fun, rollicking, roller coaster ride of a series after that. Genre: SF

 

The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers is a low angst SF series.

Link to post
Share on other sites
nanogretchen4

I wholeheartedly second the Teixcalaan series and the Wayfarers series. Both have some sexual and romantic content but it is not central to the story. They are very different in that Wayfarers is chill, meditative slice of life sci-fi without much plot. Teixcalaan is very fast paced action packed sci-fi with lots of plot twists. 

 

If you like fast paced action packed sci-fi with lots of plot twists you may enjoy the Expanse series. The chapters are short and every single chapter ends on a cliffhanger.

 

The Broken Earth fantasy trilogy is amazing but be prepared for very dark and traumatic elements. 

 

The Nsibidi Scripts series so far contains the books Nakata Witch, Nakata Warrior, and Nakata Woman. It is a young adult fantasy series set in Nigeria, and I highly recommend it. 

 

I enjoy Ann Leckie's books, which are mostly sci-fi except for The Raven Tower, which is fantasy.

 

I really enjoyed Babel, which is a dark academia novel set mostly in England in 1828, with one history altering magical twist.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...