Recommended reading

[Heather]

One of my favorite series (that I didn't see listed) was the Pern series by Anne McAffrey. I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's favorite simply because in some aspects, it's juvenile. However, I loved the idea of a world where dragons choose to bond with humans. On Pern, just about every young person wishes to be a dragonrider. Some children get the chance if they're chosen to be at a hatching. A hatching is a momentous event because the hatchling dragons choose which child they'd like to bond with for life. Once bonded, they are the center of each others universe and live only as long as the other is living. Oh yeah, and these dragons can talk. If you enjoy reading about deep bonds, this is an excellent series.

 

[hodor]

On the genre of historical fiction I would highly recommend Pillars of the Earth. It hasn't been long since I have finished this hefty work (nearly 1000pgs strong in pb). I had thought it would become tedious as I advanced through it but was greatly suprised at how extremely hard it became to put down. It is rather obvious the author, Ken Follet, did extensive research and shows this through his accuracy throughout the novel. It portrays several classes of society throughout the book and none quite as interesting as the church itself. An amazing read and very deep.

 

[stencyl]

A few I would recommend, in no particular order:

Neuromancer--Gibson
Xenogenisis series--Butler
Blood Music--Bear
Schismatrix--Sterling
V., Gravity's Rainbow--Pynchon
Simulacra and Simulation--Baudrillard (philo)
Snow Crash--Stephenson
Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven--LeGuin
Red Spider, White Web--Misha
Brave New World--Huxley
1984, Animal Farm--Orwell
Ubik, Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep, The Man in the High Castle--Dick

Just to name a few...

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Great list, stencyl - at least, it seems to include a lot of my favourites too!

 

[dwndrgn]

Bumping for new members...

 

[GOLLUM]

I agree that's a fairly classy literary list you have there Stencyl..

 

[Darken Rahl]

Ok, the short list of those I don't recall seeing above,

Anything written by Morgan Llewellyn - Celtic historical / myth based fiction. Well written, and she was a well respected scholar, so very good descriptions of daily life in Celtic / Gaul clans too. If you only read one, read Bard : Oddessy of the Irish.

Fritz Lieber - Swords books Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser have to be two of the best characters in fantasy. Collection of short stories.

Lynn Flewelling - Nighrunner Series Excellent characters, I just love rogue types that don't always follow the rules. Very vivid descriptions of people and places draws you into the world. (Tamir series mentioned above is also excellent)

Roger Zelazny - Amber series Save some cash and get The Great Book of Amber to start with, it contains all ten books and you'll want to read them all anyway. Lots of sci-fi and fantasy elements, so fans of both welcome here.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Fritz Lieber - Swords books Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser have to be two of the best characters in fantasy. Collection of short stories.

I'd second that quite heartily.

 

[Leto]

Roger Zelazny - Amber series Save some cash and get The Great Book of Amber to start with, it contains all ten books and you'll want to read them all anyway. Lots of sci-fi and fantasy elements, so fans of both welcome here.

Or in general, any book by Roger Zelazny. Very different one for another, yet they're always top quality.

 

[Jay]

Forgive my similar post admins but I just finished my new list of recommendations:

I just yesterday finished rounding at my former 101 list of recommendations to 200. My new list I'm calling The Back 99. Each entry has a description/synopsis. My new list can be found on my new Blog [url=http://bodhisattvafiction.blogspot.com/[/url]]HERE if interested.

My prior 101 list is HERE

 

[stencyl]

Excellent list with comments, Ainulindale.

I have had Altered Carbon on my to read list for a while. I'll have to pick it up.

 

[Novocaine]

I am exploring a novel that I will pick up soon known as The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson. The only reason I do recommend this because this is the ONLY fantasy series to EVER outsell Lord of the Rings! That's right, this book outsold the one book that will remain ingrained in the fantasy genre for eternity. For me this is a must have!

 

[Jay]

Excellent list with comments, Ainulindale.

I have had Altered Carbon on my to read list for a while. I'll have to pick it up

Thanks I appreciate it

I have fast become a Richard Morgan fan myself.

 

[GOLLUM]

I am exploring a novel that I will pick up soon known as The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson. The only reason I do recommend this because this is the ONLY fantasy series to EVER outsell Lord of the Rings! That's right, this book outsold the one book that will remain ingrained in the fantasy genre for eternity. For me this is a must have!

As per my comment in the Authors forum I'd suggest you read the the first 2 T Covenant Cnronicles (6 books) to get a proper understanding of Runes although Donladson has provided a very handy summary of the previous books at the beginning of Runes.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Star Rover by Jack London Why? Because its a great book and It has great story concept of Astra projection and reincarnation of the protagonist into his past live. It's epic, powerful, wonderful and strange . It doesn't deserve the obscurity that it's relegated to.