What should I read next?

I thought it might be better to just come here again instead of making a new thread. I just finished the three Night Watch series books by Sergei Lukyanenko. Though now I'm going to hate waiting for the last one to be translated. Though I've read many books since I last posted in this thread anyways. I'm just not sure what to read next again, atleast what to pick from my getlist I have. Especially since I have $70 borders money now too from christmas.

I havn't gotten around to the Martin or Erikson books yet even though there suppose to be so good. The no main characters and tons of others just kind of puts me off. I'll get to them eventually though. I was thinking maybe one of the J. V. Jones series on my list(at the bottom). It sure does become harder to choose with more titles on your list. Though I also got the Philip Pullman trilogy and The Sword of Shannara. I don't know why I don't feel like reading the Pullman books. Just havn't touched it yet. And I read 25 pahes of Shannara and the history junk the character was talking about annoyed me and put it down. Not sure about all the series on my list, some might be iffy. So maybe the Jones series and I guess The Time Travelers Wife? Anyone got better suggestions for me?

Current Book Getlist:
Malazan Books of the Fallen, Steven Erikson
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny
Fortress in the Eye of Time, C. J. Cherryh
Legend(Drenai Series), David Gemmell
Skolian Saga, Catherine Asaro
The Skewed Throne, Joshua Palmatier
Undertow, Elizabeth Bear
The Last Apprentice(Revenge of the Witch), Joseph Delaney
The Amulet of Samarkand(The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1), Jonathan Stroud
The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
Pern, Anne McCaffrey
Cordelia's Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold
Partners In Necessity, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Guardian of Honor, Robin D. Owens
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
The Ill-Made Mute(Bitterbynde, Bk. 1.), Cecilia Dart-Thornton
Stravaganza City Of Masks, Mary Hoffman
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTure(Song of the Lioness, Bk. 1.), Tamora Pierce
Sabriel(The Abhorsen Trilogy), Garth Nix
Spirit Gate: Book One of Crossroads, Kate Elliott
King's Dragon(Crown of Stars, Vol. 1), Kate Elliott
The Baker's Boy(The Book of Words, Book 1), J. V. Jones
A Cavern of Black Ice(Sword of Shadows), J. V. Jones
Second Contact, Mike Resnick
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
 
Good list, Shingetsu.

The Bujold book, Cordelia's Honour, though, is not fantasy at all, if that's what you're reading at the moment...it's more soft SF/romance.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is excellent...persevere through the first few chapters, it takes off after a slow start.
 
No, just the getlist. I stick to one book/series at a time usually. Those are books I need to buy and read still. Yeah, I know about the Bujold book, I got a thread about such books. I liked Sharing Knife by Bujold, and its a light book with romance. But of course not the only types of books I read or anything.
 
Nice list Shin.

I've read or have most of those listed. I didn't like JV Jones Baker Boys but her current Sword Of Shadows series is great stuff. Like JD alludes to Neal Stephenson's work is excellent, Amber an instant classic, Time Traveller's Wife worth reading, Mythago Wood a classic story, pretty much anything by Lois McMaster Bujold, Dart-Thornton's trilogy, Fortress in the Eye of Time by C. J. Cherryh, Gabriel (Nix's YA trilogy), Crown Of Stars series and of course anything by Martin or Erikson is superb IMO.

Start with anything from those I've listed and you can't really go much wrong.

Good luck.
 
Should I assume there is very light romance in the Jones series? Or atleast that's what I would conclude from the two main characters in both series being male and female around the same age(i'm guessing atleast). I'll probably atleast get The Time Traveler's Wife so far. Only one book anyways and wouldn't take long to read. Good thing theres paperback for it too. Would hate to have to use my borders money on hard covers if I didn't have to.

Edit:
I really shouldn't read things about books... Now I don't really feel like buying The Time Traveler's Wife. Read a bunch of reviews on amazon about it, the good ones even. That's what I get for not having anything to read at the moment. I'm kind of tired of things with bad endings. Even though I may be new to books I'm not new to anime. I've been watching anime for 6 years and have seen quite a bit. More often then not theres bad endings. Instead of becomming "numb" to them I just become annoyed.
 
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Erm... what do you mean by "bad" endings? Where things end badly for the characters (in which case it may in fact be a perfect ending, depending on the tale)? Or poorly constructed, poorly written, etc.?:confused:
 
Main character dying and ending a book and leaving it in tragedy isn't my idea of "fun" reading. As an example atleast. Tragedy for the main character and whatever he must do is fine. Which is what usually books are all about. But I don't care for ending in tragedy without fixing it. I like to read for enjoyment, not about some sad story about a main character doing what he has to to die in the end and make you not care about it anymore. Of course this is just my very naive view. My thought is you can't keep causing problems for the main character is he's dead. I was looking up the Thomas Covenant series and read some stuff to see if I should add it to my list or not. It's probably something I wouldn't read with the tragedy and disturbing things that happen to the main character. I don't know, who knows what point I'm trying to get across. But something like Goodkinds series is fine to me. Stuff happends, but atleast main characters don't die.
 
ahh you are after a happy ending - or at least an ending where the lead is not tormented after the pages close. A closed and complete tail with no (or very few) loose ends to patch up
 
Hmmm.... I would argue that unnecessarily killing off the main character for a gimmicky (shocker) ending, etc., is a bad idea... but if the character's death has some meaning, then that can help drive home a strong emotional (as well as philosophical) point, making things much more powerful. Think of A Tale of Two Cities, for instance; or, in the sff field, would Flowers for Algernon be anywhere near as good if Charlie didn't (apparently) lose all he'd gained at the end -- including his life? After all, it is that very loss that makes so very many points, not to mention allowing him to achieve a nobility that will leave you with a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes. Or I Am Legend, which simply requires such an ending to make its point -- again, with spreading implications.

Such tragedy is a part of life, and any art worth its salt has to reflect life in one way or another... else it can't make any emotional connection with a reader, and simply falls flat. But these endings are often very positive and humanistic, really, as they often say grand things about what it means to be human.....
 
If you're not a fan of tragedy, then Malazan might not be for you. There's no "main character" as such, but plenty of tragedy, especially later on in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I love the series, and recommend it to everyone, but still...
 
The no main character is what kind of puts me off the Malazan books. I like getting to know the main character and sticking with him/her. But yeah, I think I prefer books with happy endings. Tragic endings sort of annoy me. Like I would have stopped reading the Hobb books after the first trilogy if it didn't have a nice ending after the last trilogy. I thought there was plenty enough tragedy for the main character there. He lost pretty much everything except his wolf. But it had a really good ending with getting back what he most wanted. I'm sure "bad" good endings are important to some books and wrap the book together nicely, but just not what I wish to read I guess.

Went to two Borders stores. All I managed to get was A Cavern of Black Ice by J. V. Jones. They didn't have Baker's Boy by her or some others. No Dart-Thorton books that I could find, same with Zelazny. They didn't have the first Dark Tower book either. They did have the first book of Crown of Stars and probably should have grabbed it, but didn't. Didn't find acouple others too. And the ones I did find I didn't feel like grabbing for some reason. Like I couldn't make my mind up on anything other then the J. V. Jones book... Even though I got all those titles on my list. Stupid brain.
 
Well let us know how you go with the JV Jones book. There's not much romance from what I remember but it's a well written entertaining read.

You really want to check out Crown Of Stars. Overall things work out OK for the main protagonists and it's quite a story that Kate weaves.
 
Doesn't matter that theres not much romance as long as it's a good story. Not the only types of books I read or anything, just few recent ones from my other thread really. I'll finish this series first then Crown of Stars next maybe.
 
hey shingetsu, im currently reading the riftwar novels im on magician-master and its pretty incredible. have u read memory, sorrow and thorn by tad williams? its amazing. very amazing. right now im just so blown away by riftwar. i highly recommend not reading a series that isnt over or close to finishing. if i could go back in time i would never have read GRRM a song of ice and fire because now i know it wont be finished for atleast 10-15 years. my new policy is to only read finished or finishing series. thats y i havent read malazan yet. I was going to get a crown of stars by kate elliott. ive heard nothing but good things about her. i highly recommend pillars of the earth by ken follett even tho its not really fantasy. And my second favorite novel of all time: the hyperion cantos by dan simmons. i honestly believe its one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever produced. the series encompasses 4 novels and will blow u away. im also an anime fan... tho i have been reading alot more lately. there hasnt been an anime to blow me away since Black lagoon last year. tho darker than black and toward the terra were pretty phenomenal. probably the best anime of 2007. Also im a goodkind fan and will defend his novels till the day i die. it always awes me how much "fantasy" fans hate him and his books, yet so many love him as well. i guess i have always viewed the series as fundamentally philosophical and never really an "adventure" or "fantasy" i have always read them for the concepts and perspectives. If anything goodkind got me into reading. I will never forget that moment years ago when i saw WFR in the library in 11th grade and i have journeyed with him since. and i thought confessor was a perfect ending to the series. all the haters can kiss my black ass.

so check out:
memory, sorrow and thorn
pillars of the earth
hyperion cantos
 
Thanks kauldron26, I've added them to my list. I read Raymond E. Feist books first when I started reading, then Goodkind next. I enjoyed Goodkind even if others didn't. I thought Confessor ended really well, not a bad ending where the main character dies or anything silly like that. Though too bad about his sister, but I suppose that's fine anyways. He says he's not done writing about the characters aswell, so would be nice if he writes another 12 books about them. Or whatever he does do. I'll work on this J. V. Jones series first though, need to get back to reading. Only got 26 pages read before going to bed because of messing around instead.
 
Re: J.V. Jones. Her Baker's Boy trilogy isn't nearly as well written as the series that starts with Cavern of Black Ice. Be warned, that is not a trilogy. There are more books to come evidentally and I don't know how many. For a good stand alone book, read A Barbed Coil. Very good story.
 
I heard it was going to be 5 books for Sword of Shadows. Waiting does suck, but oh well.
 
I remember I had the same problem a loooooooooong time ago: what should I read? I was about 12. I was in a little sci-fi/fantasy/horror book/game shop. The owner recommended Dune, Ringworld, and Elric of Melnibone. I would have to say that the Elric series is the best fantasy I have ever read, with The Book of the New Sun a close second...only becuase it is sort of a sf/fantasy crossover. So Elric of Melnibone is what you should read next. Short and sweet, not some big overblown epic that's exactly the same as LOTR, such as "Shannara".
 
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