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Reading Frenzy

I don’t usually read non fiction books, I read some tech books, but that is work, more than anything else. I do read a lot, and I thought that I might post what I like, in hope to get recommendations for more stuff.

The following list is mixed between authors & characters, depending on what I find more memorable. I only included authors / books that I read in the last 6 months or so.

  • Robert Jordan
  • Kris Longknife
  • Miles Vorkosigan
  • Jim C. Hines
  • David Weber
    • Honorverse
    • Safehold
    • Dahak
  • John Moore
  • Rachel Caine
    • Weather Warden
    • Outcast
  • Southern Vampire – Charlaine Harris
  • The Lost Fleet – Jack Campbell
  • Terry Prachett – the entire Discworld series
  • Ilona Andrews
    • On the Edge
    • Kate Daniels
  • Votta War

Those aren’t all of them, but that should be enough for now. Those are all that pop into mind as good reads.

Print | posted on Friday, December 04, 2009 8:18 PM

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 8:58 PM Ryan

I really liked Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Have you heard of http://www.goodreads.com?

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:31 PM Mark

George R.R. Martin - Song of Fire and Ice series. Really good read.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:39 PM Craig

I'm in the middle of Neal Stephenson's Anathem right now, and am enjoying it immensely.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:45 PM Cyril Gupta

I am in a reading frenzy too... From the last couple months I've been reading books from Robert Heinlein and I've set my mind to read all the books that he wrote before I move on.

He writes good science fiction (Which I see you read a lot of too), and you can find some reviews on my website (http://cyrilgupta.com)

If at all you are ever inclined, you could read some of the science fiction short stories that I've written. Here's link to one : http://kalkion.com/cyril-gupta/33

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:48 PM FallenGameR

If you like Prachett then maybe Douglas Adams...

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:55 PM Bill

I'd recommend anything by Neal Stephenson, but especially Anathem as you mentioned, and Cryptonomicon and the Quicksilver Trilogy.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 9:56 PM configurator

"If you like Prachett then maybe Douglas Adams..." I was just about to say the exact same thing. I own the entire Discworld series (except Unseen Academics, I don't have that yet), and also the entire Hitchhiker's Guide (except the new one, And Another Thing..., which isn't Douglas Adams)

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:06 PM Jason

"George R.R. Martin - Song of Fire and Ice series. Really good read. "++

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:08 PM Doug Ferguson

If you like keeping track of the books you have read, I saw a link to a site on somebody else's blog. It's called Shelfari and it lets you track (and link to) your reading collection.

I found it to be very useful.

http://www.shelfari.com/

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:17 PM joe

Gone-away World by Nick Harkaway has to be one of the best books of the last 10 years. Science fiction AND ninjas!

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:30 PM Rafal

Wow, don't know any of these authors, with the exception of Terry Pratchett (which I consider a good read but only for the first time). Is it a sign that I'm not a genuine geek???...... And don't recommend Cryptonomicon at all, got stuck somewhere in the middle and feel like I've had enough for a year or two...

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:34 PM Greg Duncan

You might also like John Ringo's books. He has co-authored some with David Weber and solo'ed many. Great Mil-SciFi author...

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 10:36 PM Jeremy Wiebe

Orson Scott Card has some good books, IMHO. "Ender's Game" starts a series. I found that the series dropped off after the first couple of books, but I really enjoyed Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 11:07 PM grega g

I liked Dread Empire's Fall series (3 books) by Walter Jon Williams. it's kind of realistic sci fi.

A lot of read for six months, even assuming you read only recently published books of honorverse, jordan etc and not the whole series.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/4/2009 11:24 PM Shawn Wildermuth

If you like DiscWorld, I think you'll like "Good Omens" by Prachett and Neil Gaiman. (Too bad it isn't available on the Kindle though).

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:21 AM zvolkov

+1 for Neil Gaiman, my favorite modern writer (not that I read a lot though)

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 9:41 AM Stephane Tombeur

if you like david weber, check out the prince roger series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Man)
A good mix of sci-fi and history is 'Illium' and 'Olympos', both by Dan Simmons

+1 on neal stephenson (cryptonomicon, diamond age)
+1 on neil gaiman (american gods, anansi boys)
+1 on ender's game - why isn't there a movie yet?

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 10:07 AM Kelly Clowers

Charles Stross - I have only read Halting State so far, it was fantastic.

Stephen Baxter - Hard SF. Nothing like a good old-fashioned war between the baryonic lords of the universe and the dark matter beings.

Tad Williams - Fantasy and fantastic SF

Seconding suggestions of Stephenson, Adams and Gaiman.

Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey (at least up to "All the Weyrs of Pern") are good as well (I see now though that you already are familiar with Misty at least).

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 11:11 AM SimSod

I second the A song of ice and Fire series by George R.R Martin, one of the best in my opinion!


I also quite like the Malazan book of the fallen series by Steven Erikson, haven´t finished that series tough!

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:02 PM Ayende Rahien

Ryan,
Yes, I read the Sword of Truth, great series, although I think it gotten worse as time went by.
I am in Good Reads, yes.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:03 PM Ayende Rahien

Mark
Yep, read that one too.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:03 PM Ayende Rahien

SimSod
I read Sword of Truth, but not Malazan, I'll check it out.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:04 PM Ayende Rahien

Cyril,
I think that I read just about everything by Heinlein, he is _awesome_

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:06 PM Ayende Rahien

FallenGameR,
I read a lot of his stuff. He is funny, but at some point it got annoying, I like to have _some_ plot to the book

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:07 PM Ayende Rahien

Craig & Bill,
I'll check Neal Stephenson out.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:10 PM Ayende Rahien

joe,
I read the except for that, and I don't think I'll like it

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:12 PM Ayende Rahien

Greg,
I read a LOT of Ringo's stuff.
I think he is a good author, but at some points his right wing opinions are TOO blatant to actually read.
The last few books in the Legacy of the Aldenata were quite annoying because of that

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:12 PM Ayende Rahien

Jeremy,
Ender's Game was really good, it tapered off quickly after that, I have to say.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 12:57 PM Ayende Rahien

Stephane,
I LOVED Prince Roger.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 1:46 PM Mike Minutillo

I'm reading Cryptonomicon right now. It took me a while to get into it but it's pretty good. Snow Crash was a better intro to Stephenson I think, if only because it's shorter.

Next on my list is more Alastair Reynolds. I read Chasm City and Century Rain. Chasm City was better but both were interesting enough for me to explore further.

I really like Tad Williams and Ian Irvive. They both build fantastic worlds but I dislike the end of most of their stuff. Speaking of which, Robin Hobb is a good read :)

Finally, I love George RR Martin but don't start it unless you are willing to wait a LONG time between books. The most recent book (#5) is now 4/5 years overdue and it tells the other side of the goings on of the less than stellar book 4. Can't wait but so frustrated.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 5:26 PM nieve

Since everyone's been recommending Sci-fi...
If going for Neil gaiman, check out his comics Sandman- his best work which could also open you to a whole different medium.
I would also recommend "The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay " and "The time traveler's wife": two non sci-fi books which might appeal to you because they're close to that genre and show different ways of dealing with narrative, which might appeal to you as an 'ALT.NET' person... ;-)

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/5/2009 7:26 PM John

For everyone mentioning Stephenson and Martin check out K. J. Parker. I recently finished the Engineer trilogy and it's like a combination of Martin's fantasy (medieval setting, complicated politics, little to no magic) with the geeked out technology details of Stephenson.

I'll also back up the Alastair Reynolds rec by Mike. I've read all of his and they keep getting better. Also check out Iain Bank's Culture series, Charlie Stross and Ken MacLeod.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/6/2009 3:06 PM Paul Robson

If you like epic space opera then I would check out Peter F Hamilton. He has a couple of series out (Night's Dawn, Commonwealth Saga, Void Trilogy) and I love all of his books. For fantasy you really can't go past David Eddings. The Belgariad series is really great, and it's pretty easy to read too. I also really enjoyed the Empire trilogy by Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist - much more than Feist's Riftwar series (Magician etc). It has a really good mix of politics and action.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/6/2009 5:19 PM Chris Wright

Agreement on Iain Banks and Charles Stross.

If you're willing to work at reading, I'd recommend Gene Wolfe, Tacitus, Thucidides, and Suetonius. If you're not willing to expend as much effort, Gene Wolfe is a good choice, but avoiding his Shadow of the Torturer series.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/6/2009 11:10 PM Paul Campbell

Check out Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Quality read man

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/7/2009 12:35 PM gsg9

Neal Stephenson(Snow crash, The baroque cycle, crypto, anathema)
Vernor Vinge(Singularity)
Orson Scott Card(Ender, Shadow)
Neil gaiman(neverwhere, american gods)

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/7/2009 7:01 PM Chris Kemp

I'd got for Raymond E Feist. The Riftwar saga was excellent, as was the Empire trilogy. Those were fantastic, both for different reason. I loved the character depth and adventure in riftwar and the politics and otherworldlyness of empire. Lots of books to be going at.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/7/2009 7:29 PM Jacob

Pratchett can be daunting to those who think they might like to start. I mean, 37 books in the series? The Colour of Magic was okay, particularly for the time, but it's a while until you get to the really good stuff, IMO. Anway, here's a good guide that might help. It includes groupings by story line as well as a couple options for truncated chronological ordering.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/8/2009 6:59 PM Anne

I second everyone who recommended Neal Stephenson and Neil Gaiman. Anything by David Mitchell is damn good as well.

Then I'd recomment China Miéville, especially Un Lun Dun, Looking for Jake and The City and the City.

I'd also throw in Margaret Atwood (e.g. Oryx and Crake) and Jasper Fforde.

And last, but not least, I've recently been in a bit of a Dave Eggers fan phase. So far, everything I've read has been excellent. It's not sci-fi or fantasy in anyway, but definitely good.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/11/2009 12:47 AM Patricia

I love The Belgariad Series by David Eddings. The Mallorean is also quite good. It's a fairly light read, but good fantasty stuff.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/18/2009 7:12 PM Adam

I can not reccommend In the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss enough. Its the first book in a series, and I am eagerly awaiting a second. I haven't been this excited about a series since reading the first few of Jordan's book. It sits on my shelf as the greatest fantasy store I have read to date. I'm dearly hoping Rothfuss can deliver with the rest of the series.

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# re: Reading Frenzy 12/22/2009 7:37 PM Ray

If you haven't read yet, I'd highly recommend Ilium/Olympos and Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. I'm finishing Olympos right now and I am totally in love with this author already...

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