Books

[Elysian]

So I was recently thinking (I know, shocker) how nice it would be to get some good book recommendations. But in order to recieve some you should give some so here is a list of a few of my favorite books.

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (series)
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop (series)
Archangel by Sharon Shinn (series)
Ender's Game
Brave New World
Sword Of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Catcher in the Rye
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Transformation by Carol Berg

Well there's a good start anyhow. Most of these are fantasy/sci fi since I figure that's what most people on this board read (since this is kind of a fantasy type place) but I like other genres too. Just give me something good to read...summer gets boring. lol.

[Serenity]

You totally left out Garth Nix's series!!!

Sabriel
Lirael
Abhorson

I've read the Seventh Tower books by him too, though they are for younger readers and I didn't find them very good, though the concept was interesting.

Also, DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown are very good.

I'll also second Elise on The Dark Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop, because they are my favorite books ever, followed second by Terry Goodkind's Sword of truth Series and then Sharon Shinn's Samaria Trilogy (which really isn't a trilogy anymore because she wrote a few more). Everything else on the list is good too, with special mentions to Enders Game by Orson Scott Card, they just arn't my<i> favorite</i> favorites...

I happen to own around 5 copies of Archangel, because I buy it everytime I see it... heh... That should give youa hint as to how good it is.

A warning on Terry Goodkind: I swear there must be ten books in his series and he is still coming out with new ones. The funny thing is is that each one only covers around a month or so in time wise. If you start reading them, be warned, they are good and will take up all your time! They all also happen to be like 800 pages each...

The Sword of Shannara is something you should read if you coulnd't get through LOTR but you liked the concept, because Terry Brooks was a fan of Tolkien and therefore was GREATLY influenced (to the point of it being kind of sad...).

Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony is also very good, quite amusing. He's big on puns, so any of his books are okay, I just happen to liek that one a lot.

I read "A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray because someone baought it for me when it came out, though the story continues on in another book, but she hadn't written it yet. It was a decent story though, about a British Bording School. It doesn't contain so much fantasy, just some magic.

I'd also recommend some of the clasics, like Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, A Tale of Two Cities... If you don't like your Highschool english courses, you might not like them though...

"Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo was a very, very good book, though try and get the unabridged version, because it's less confusing and I think they cut out too much in the abridged version. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is good as well, though the ending is sad...

I haven't mentioned a lot, but you guys can start with these...lol.

BTW Elise: Is this your copy of "The Blue Sword" that I have or Becky's?

[Blacksails]

Ya, Garth Nix's series is absolutely amazing! I just picked up a series a books at my local library...and, the series doesn't have a collective name...

The author is Harry Turltedove, and the books all have the word darkness in their titles...Into the Drakness, Darkness Descending, Rulers of the Darkness, Through the Darkness...the whole series is basically a world war two scenario done fantasy style. Dragons for air-support, leviathans as submarines, behemoths for tanks. They're great so far, I'm currently reading Darkness Descending, and I can't put it down. Anyways, great books.

Oh, and the Ender series only gets better after Ender's Game. The cool thing is...Orson Scott Card wrote a companion novel for Ender's Game called Ender's Shadow...written from the perspective of Bean. It's great.

[+ Silver - Orbs +]

best books of all time

Artemis Fowl 1,2&3
The Keeper
Harry Potter series
Elidor
Owl Service
Moon of Gomwroth
Weirdstone of Brisingamen

[Chalgrish]

Greatness is relative, Silv. Of course, those are all excellent books, why havn't you included Dragon Rider and Eragon? I must put them up....But first, my meds.

[Dream Lord]

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. There are ten books in the series with an average of 800 pages each I think. There is also a prequel which is fairly short.

[Elysian]

My sister has the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan but I never picked them up because she said I wouldn't like them. I'll look at them though.

Lol, Serenity. I was just thinking of Garth Nix after I posted. Get out of my head woman. Oh and I think it probably is my copy of The Blue Sword. I can't find it anyhow.

I've read the Artemis Fowl books and Eragon and the Harry Potter series (of course!) but I'll check out these other books.

And if you guys don't want really huge fantasy books (which they all tend to be) seriously check out Everworld. They're so funny. I first read them when I was about 13 and I still think they're hillarious. It's kind of a test of a books quality really. If you can reread them and still find them good even though you're older and have changed and all that. Try it.

[White Dragon Alorith]

Steven Brust is great. Well to me mostly because of the sarcasm in the Taltos Series and the style of his writing. I got hooked after that. Ever since I read his works, I started basing my rping after his style. Took me forever to find his books here though. Oh, and Heaven and Hell is only good if your in to Christianity. Something about the angel revolution. What got me was that Lucifer and Satan were two different people in this book. I always thought they were the same.

If you want some non fantasy then try Daniel Pinkwater. Especially The High school Life of Robert Nifkin[/i. Not sure of the spelling on that last name. I suppose his works are for the younger audience (which is probably why I liked them) but funny in the weird sort of way.

The Darkness series, which Blacksails brought up, is good, but be warned. There are more characters in those books than wack jobs on this board. I played it safe and simply ignored each name when I read it. They bore into your mind after a while.

What else? I don't have my book self next to me, so I can't remember anything right now. Well that's all then. Read damn you, read!

[Aspaheir]

You forgot the "Dragonlance" series by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Jeff Grubb, and some other authors who's names I forget.

Did you know that:

-the dragonlance series contains over 100 books?

-over 15 authors wrote books in this series (I think)
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Well, I guess that's it for the "Dragonlance series..


Aspaheir

[Serenity]

I never really liked Dragonlance... it's too much like reading an RPG because so many people wrote it. It's just too... choppy, I suppose the word is. I don't like reading anything if it's something I think I could be writing instead. That, and the fact that if I wanted to sit down and watch an RPG (Remember that these books are D&D sponsered) I'd rather be participating in it, I think it would be more amusing that way.

[White Dragon Alorith]

Only DragonLance book I read was the Year of the Dragon. I really liked that one. I've never gotten into the others.

[Bluebadger]

Ah, les miserables, I had to read that for school. It was actually one of the more interesting books that ive been forced to read...I would of enjoyed it much more if I could of read it at my own pace and free will. Also, the teacher made us skip parts of the book for some reason. I like dragonlance a lot, but I recently found out that it IS dnd, apearently these people sit around and play dnd and then write about it as they go along or after the campaign is over or whatever. The only book I didnt like that much was one of the first dragonlance books "the dragons" I thougth it would be cool because it focuses just on dragons...but it was kinda like a history book/biography more than a novel =p. It was kinda boring but if your DROCD (thats "dragon related obsesive compusilve dissorder") then you might like it.

[Silentiea]

The Lost Years of Merlin series by T. A. Barron. Especially number two, the Seven Songs of Merlin.