Recommended Books

I'm curious as to what everyone's recommended/favorite books are - fiction, nonfiction, textbooks, anything goes.

What you like?

Recommend me some epic fantasy please.

I'm reading this one book about Ghengis Khan... It was a text book in college I had but I really like it and reads sort of like a historical novel to some extent.

I try to read bits and pieces of everything, so I'm open to hearing whatever anyone's favorites are. If one HSP is into it then maybe another HSP will be as well.

But I especially wanna hear about all your school anthropology books! Gimme your top choices please

And I second the interest in epic fantasy - my childhood was so dominated by all things regarding Lord of the Rings that I never really bothered to check out any other fantasy series haha. Whoops.

Currently I'm reading a Patricia Cornwell book cause mel suggested I see if I like her, which I do, I'll be getting books by this author in the future. I'm also alternating with 'The Cat Who...' series by Lilian Jackson Braun which I read some of in high school and decided now to go back and re-read them. And I'm reading the 'Grave on the...' series by Darynda Jones which is a supernatural detective romance (the grim reaper is a PI who falls in love with the son of Satan.) Right now I'm working on a Supernatural crime story so my reading is tending to to toward the crime novel section (It's a new thing for me to write.)

My book shelves are covered in everything from Dr Who novels, to Agatha Christie, to Steven King, most of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I kinda float around reading random books.

StealthCat wrote:I try to read bits and pieces of everything, so I'm open to hearing whatever anyone's favorites are. If one HSP is into it then maybe another HSP will be as well.

But I especially wanna hear about all your school anthropology books! Gimme your top choices please

And I second the interest in epic fantasy - my childhood was so dominated by all things regarding Lord of the Rings that I never really bothered to check out any other fantasy series haha. Whoops.

Anthropology wise:
I recommend a book called "Broken spears" which details the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico.
I like it since it contains a lot of their mythology and other stuff like that in there plus the difference in view is eye opening to me. May as well be like Lord of the Rings lol.
If you can find a similar Japanese History book, it's much the same...

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Spears-Account-Conquest-Mexico/dp/080705500X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434307527&sr=8-1&keywords=Broken+spears

For Epic Fantasy:
I really liked "Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny which is a lesser known series.
His books are either epic or really out there at times... Wouldn't be surprised he was HSP from how weird and abstract it can get.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chronicles+of+Amber

The plot dies around like the 5th book or something though. (Courts of Chaos)
It's a very cheap book too for the amount of story you get apparently LOL.

I've been rereading the very few books on my permanent reading pile and most have proven they are worth rereading again and again. I only do so every 20 years or so due to too good a memory. All the ones in this list here: http://funhsps.niceboard.org/t70-great-books-to-read?highlight=books are still on it plus:

Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, a trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. This one works on every level and is full of so many innovative ideas and concepts. The characters have much depth, with all the complexities of real people.

Dream Park, The Barsoon Project, and California Voodoo Game by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes is a very fun trilogy that combines mystery, science fiction and fantasy game playing. The anachronisms due to when they were written is part of the fun.

There are other book reviews of great books in various threads; just use the word "books" in the search function to bring them up.

Adding to this thread, does anyone use Goodreads? I'm on there and if anyone is interested in friending me (I'll pm you my name) you can keep track of what I'm currently reading with that. It also gives you suggestions of books you may like after you read and review 20 books. The more books you read and review the closer to what you'd like the suggestions will be.

I do, thanks to you Sam. Mostly I apply for the chance to win free books, the ones that look interesting. It seems to me to be a good way to discover new authors.

I love all of the book contests on there too, I totally forgot about that which is silly since that's how I found it.

I forgot about a book I recommend to peoples, 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom. It is nonfiction, and it will probably make you cry but it's worth a read.

Zen wrote:
Anthropology wise:
I recommend a book called "Broken spears" which details the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico.
I like it since it contains a lot of their mythology and other stuff like that in there plus the difference in view is eye opening to me. May as well be like Lord of the Rings lol.
If you can find a similar Japanese History book, it's much the same...

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Spears-Account-Conquest-Mexico/dp/080705500X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434307527&sr=8-1&keywords=Broken+spears

For Epic Fantasy:
I really liked "Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny which is a lesser known series.
His books are either epic or really out there at times... Wouldn't be surprised he was HSP from how weird and abstract it can get.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chronicles+of+Amber

The plot dies around like the 5th book or something though. (Courts of Chaos)
It's a very cheap book too for the amount of story you get apparently LOL.

Sweet, did you have the title of that Ghengis Khan one as well? The historical-fiction angle sounds pretty cool.

Samt03 wrote:And I'm reading the 'Grave on the...' series by Darynda Jones which is a supernatural detective romance (the grim reaper is a PI who falls in love with the son of Satan.) Right now I'm working on a Supernatural crime story so my reading is tending to to toward the crime novel section (It's a new thing for me to write.)

My book shelves are covered in everything from Dr Who novels, to Agatha Christie, to Steven King, most of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I kinda float around reading random books.

Rofl, you had me at "grim reaper PI who falls in love with the son of Satan." And same here, I've never been good at delving deep into one genre.

melodiccolor wrote:There are other book reviews of great books in various threads; just use the word "books" in the search function to bring them up.

Thanks for the great list! Sorry about starting a new thread - for some reason I thought I had done a search but I must've been imagining it. Will be sure to double-check next time.

Also I've just set up a new goodreads account here if anyone wants to add me - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/44084486-stealth-cat

I had one in the past but never kept it updated/have forgotten my login since. I never noticed the book contest feature before - will definitely look into that now!

I highly recommend The Water Room by Christopher Fowler. Yes, it is on Goodreads. Basically a murder mystery, but the geological background is accurately researched, and fascinating. In fact, I recommend all of the Bryant and May series by Fowler.