old - Fazer Owners Club - old
General => General => Topic started by: Hedgetrimmer on 19 March 2015, 09:33:53 pm
-
Reading Stephen King's "Dr. Sleep" at the moment. I love his writing style, but have trouble finding other fiction stuff that will hold my attention. Who're your favourites, what genre do they write (horror, sci-fi/fantasy, crime, comedy etc) and what do you like about them? Need to get my head around something different.
-
At the moment, I'm reading 2 authors: Terry Pratchett for light-hearted silliness with a cynical sense of humour, or Clive Cussler for the penny thriller style. Writing is crap, storylines are all similar, but it whiles away an hour or three.
If you like well written action / thriller, I can recommend Alistair MacLean or Hammon Innes. Personally, I prefer the latter, as his characters are more human, better developed. If you're after a book to work through, Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a good read, if somewhat hard work in the second half.
-
Joe Abercrombie - The first law series, 3 books. 8)
-
If you're after a book to work through, Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a good read, if somewhat hard work in the second half.
I read that once Christo, it started well pretty interesting and some of the theories and stuff I liked. Then it got to a point where I could read a whole page and couldn't actually tell you a single piece of it in any sense if you asked me. The words were just nonsense so I didn't finish it.
Best trilogy I ever read was by Raymond E Feist. The first book is called Magician. I'm not a big reader, but my dad recommended them to me and at first just looking at the cover and reading the back I thought it looked a bit poncey but once I started I couldn't put them down. Excellent charachters and story in my opinion. Game of thrones is really good too, but quite long and ponderous at times. I like the series better because I'm a lazy foccer :D [size=78%] [/size]
-
Yea I like Joe too
If you like SK then I think you will like John Connerly's Charlie Parker novels
http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/charlie-parker-books.php (http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/charlie-parker-books.php)
Or SK son Joe Hill
-
"The Great Escape" by Freida Convict
-
Joe Haldeman (Sci Fi) - The Forever War, 3 books (I think) easy reading and good action, believable portrayal of long term space travel and the effects of relativity.
Harry Harrison (Sci Fi) - The Stainless Steel Rat series, very good Thief turned Investigator type stuff.
Issac Asimov (Sci Fi) - Foundation series.
Arthur C Clarke (Sci Fi) - Rama series. Also, get the Collected Short Stories, they are all in one (big) book, some really good stuff in there.
Stephen King and Peter Strawb (Sci Fi/Fantasy) - The Talisman.
Julian May (Sci Fi/Fantasy) - The Many Coloured Land, 3 books (I think). People who chose not to fit in with society choose to be sent back to the Pliocene epoch on a one way trip. Good stuff!
There's lots more, in my loft, under the bed, on bookshelves, bloody everywhere. Ive been buying books (mainly Sci Fi) since I was about 8, and never sold or thrown any away. The wife has threatened to give them away, I told her I'd give her away first!!
-
Try Richard Laymon, similar to Steven King but I prefer Laymon's writing. The Beast House trilogy is really good.
-
Dean Koontz is similar to Stephen King except he doesn't go off on the massive tangents that king tends to, after reading Koontz I didn't go back to King and have now read the majority of his books, the odd Thomas series is good, I'd suggest intensity or fear nothing as a first read!
-
Joe Haldeman (Sci Fi) - The Forever War, 3 books (I think) easy reading and good action, believable portrayal of long term space travel and the effects of relativity.
Harry Harrison (Sci Fi) - The Stainless Steel Rat series, very good Thief turned Investigator type stuff.
Issac Asimov (Sci Fi) - Foundation series.
Arthur C Clarke (Sci Fi) - Rama series. Also, get the Collected Short Stories, they are all in one (big) book, some really good stuff in there.
Stephen King and Peter Strawb (Sci Fi/Fantasy) - The Talisman.
Julian May (Sci Fi/Fantasy) - The Many Coloured Land, 3 books (I think). People who chose not to fit in with society choose to be sent back to the Pliocene epoch on a one way trip. Good stuff!
There's lots more, in my loft, under the bed, on bookshelves, bloody everywhere. Ive been buying books (mainly Sci Fi) since I was about 8, and never sold or thrown any away. The wife has threatened to give them away, I told her I'd give her away first!!
I finally got rid of all my books and read everything on a Kindle now. I got fed up with having to pack them all up every time I moved, and will be moving again shortly, so I glad I don't have to lug that lot again! The extra space is much appreciated. Probably not what you want to hear, I was quite attached to mine and didn't really want to get rid but needs must an all that. Just don't let your missus see this post! :lol
I dithered over that Arthur C. Clarke collected short stories last night, didn't go for it in the end. I think I might though. I tried my first foray into sci-fi last week (first apart from Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" , which we did at school for English Lit - bit dated now, but good stories): "The First Exoplanet" by T.J. Sedgwick; again, good story but not particularly well written I thought. I need good writers!
Isaac Asimov...that's one of the names for sci-fi I was trying to think of last night :thumbup
I didn't necessarily want to just stay with horror, and had considered both Dean Koontz and James Herbert before, may come back to them later, although I have just bought a couple by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) on recommendation though. I also got a crime thriller sampler and some other sci-fi sampler just to try some new authors in different genres to what I usually read.
Christo, I might try that Terry Pratchett one; could do with some good comedy stuff. Anyone got more suggestions in the comedy genre?
Thanks all for your suggestions so far :)
-
Always been a big fan of Neil Stephenson's work. He's done quite a mix, from his early cyberpunk (Snow Crash, Diamond Age) stuff, to a huge swashbucklying pirate, Newtonian, renaissance epic trilogy (The Baroque Cycle), crazy WW2/modern crypto/gold hunting fiction (Cryptonomican), to slightly theoretical sci fi (Anathem), that's not a million miles away from Ian M. Banks' Culture series.
-
If you can find it/them, Roald Dahl's short stories are worth a read, 'Parson's Pleasure' in particular left me feeling cringy for ages.
Or David Sedaris' 'Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary'. I'm not usually one for short stories, but they are cleverly written and make you chuckle in a dark way.
My wife has been reading fantasy for years now and got me into reading (had maybe read 5 or 6 whole books before I met her) with the 'Across the Nightingale Floor' trilogy (now 4 or 5) by Gillian Rubenstein, as well as Garth Nix's Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen books if you fancy a bit of magic etc.
I used to just browse charity shops and the like for different reading material as they're the best place to pick things up cheap to try without thinking " I just spent £8 on this book, I know nothing about it, and I don't know if it'll be any good."
Hatfield was always good for the when I was at Uni as the town centre is pretty much just charity shops.
-
I used to just browse charity shops and the like for different reading material as they're the best place to pick things up cheap to try without thinking " I just spent £8 on this book, I know nothing about it, and I don't know if it'll be any good."
Hatfield was always good for the when I was at Uni as the town centre is pretty much just charity shops.
Kindle do a selection of free and very cheap books, so I dip into that now and again. Got a couple last night, some free, some at about 99p. You can even "borrow" books on there for free.
-
Have Read a lot of Ian Banks (AKA Ian M Banks), both Sci-Fi and general fiction only one book of his that I couldn't get to grips with called 'The Bridge'
Unfortunatley he died last year, so no new stuff
-
Comedy books.
The Guards Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. Very funny! In fact, all of the first 10 or 15 Discworld novels (excluding the Truckers trilogy and the Dark side of the Sun) are hilarious.
"What a Good Do", James Whithams' autobiography, very good, very funny, ive lost count of how many times ive ever read it, I just tend to open it and start reading nowadays.
-
Comedy books.
The Guards Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. Very funny! In fact, all of the first 10 or 15 Discworld novels (excluding the Truckers trilogy and the Dark side of the Sun) are hilarious.
"What a Good Do", James Whithams' autobiography, very good, very funny, ive lost count of how many times ive ever read it, I just tend to open it and start reading nowadays.
Just re-reading the full series again. "Raising Steam" was great fun, although it'll take a while to get round to that one. Just started "Mort" today.
-
Comedy books.
The Guards Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. Very funny! In fact, all of the first 10 or 15 Discworld novels (excluding the Truckers trilogy and the Dark side of the Sun) are hilarious.
"What a Good Do", James Whithams' autobiography, very good, very funny, ive lost count of how many times ive ever read it, I just tend to open it and start reading nowadays.
Ok, just downloaded the first Discworld book, I'll give it a whirl :thumbup
Jamie's autobiography not available on Kindle :thumbdown
And one for red98: Grumpy Old Git Jokes by Ian Allen.
A little taster: man goes to Doctor's. Doctor says "All you've got is hypochondria"
Man replies: "Can you give me anything for it?"
Think this one'll be right up my street (if they haven't dug it up to fix the water main again :rolleyes ).
Also comedian Arthur Smith's autobiography. The review sounds good, and I've always liked his take on things.
Edit: Hmmm, so maybe not just fiction I'm looking for, just a good read.
-
Comedy books.
The Guards Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. Very funny! In fact, all of the first 10 or 15 Discworld novels (excluding the Truckers trilogy and the Dark side of the Sun) are hilarious.
"What a Good Do", James Whithams' autobiography, very good, very funny, ive lost count of how many times ive ever read it, I just tend to open it and start reading nowadays.
Ok, just downloaded the first Discworld book, I'll give it a whirl :thumbup
Jamie's autobiography not available on Kindle :thumbdown
And one for red98: Grumpy Old Git Jokes by Ian Allen.
A little taster: man goes to Doctor's. Doctor says "All you've got is hypochondria"
Man replies: "Can you give me anything for it?"
Think this one'll be right up my street (if they haven't dug it up to fix the water main again :rolleyes ).
Also comedian Arthur Smith's autobiography. The review sounds good, and I've always liked his take on things.
Edit: Hmmm, so maybe not just fiction I'm looking for, just a good read.
The 1st Discworld book (Colour of Magic) is technically in 2 parts, you need to read "The Light Fantastic" afterwards to get to the end of some of the storylines.
-
try Malcolm Mackay - The necessary death of Lewis Winter (first book in a trilogy)
Agree Terry Pratchett & Dean Koontz are both well worthwhile
Also maybe try Chris Brookmyre (crime)
-
Jamie's autobiography not available on Kindle :thumbdown
I know its old fashioned and you have to go through the bother of turning the actual page, but 69p + P+P?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Whitham-What-Good-Do/dp/1844257118/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426863371&sr=1-1&keywords=what+a+good+do (http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Whitham-What-Good-Do/dp/1844257118/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426863371&sr=1-1&keywords=what+a+good+do)
-
Just had an Amazon moment.
My Name is Daphne Fairfax, Arthur Smith Autobiography
Stalin ate my homework, Alexye Sale Autobiography.
BSB reviews '09, '10 and '11 on DVD.
BSB review 2000 on VHS, I think I'm missing this one, i'll find out at Easter when I go to France and check the "Bike Video cupboard".
All for £18 delivered, I love Amazon I do!
-
you have to go through the bother of turning the actual page
Hmmm, might overtax me :lol
-
Anything by: -
Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club/Choke
Iain Banks - Wasp Factory/Crow Road
Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting/Filth/Maribou Stork Nightmares
I can send you the MOBI files if you need them
-
Alex Salmond "The Dream Shall Never Die" :rollin
-
I love Wilbur Smith's writings. He does family sagas and stand alone books. Mostly about Africa.Michael Connolly is another favourite. Jeffrey Archer is an enjoyable read, his prison diary was very interesting. I get a lot of books on audio as they while away the hours whilst driving my lorry.
Mickey
-
Sven Hassel---Fredrick Forsythe---Gerald seymore i know they not fantasy but they are good blokey reading--
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
-
Conn Igguldens emperor series about Julius Caesar , or the series about Genghis Khan , Manda Scotts The emperors spy , Simon Scarrows Eagle series ,
Valerio Massimo Manfredi , David gibbins Atllantis , Pathfinder by David Blakeney , The Silent sea , Robert Goddards The ways of the world .
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
Don't know of it. Not heard of the film either. Ok, what's it about?
-
Bernard cornwell, more known for his SHARPE books, does a series about Anglo saxon England and the viking invasions, tells you true English history from a bloody time set around fictional characters, think im about to start book 6 or 7, loved them all.
-
A Game of Thrones just on the 3rd book now.
Ian Rankin Rebus series books crime thrillers.
Bernard Cornwell the American Civil war series
And if you need something to send you to sleep at night, War & Peace.
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
How long since you last read it? The reason I ask is I told my kids exactly the same thing, and forced them to read it. They thought it ok but little more. Determined to prove them wrong I re read it and proved them right instead.
William Goldman is a brilliant screenwriter involved in some of the epic films of our time, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the Presidents Men, Marathon Man, A Bridge Too Far. He also has two brilliant autobiographies (3 but I have only read 2) Adventures in the Screentrade and What Lie Did I tell?
I am a big fan of Goldman and I know he claims to be more proud of Princess Bride than anything else he wrote. I think his opinion is perhaps a little biased because of all the hassle he had getting it made into a film. The story had been picked up and dropped by almost every film company and would likely never have been made if Rob Riener (a family friend) wasnt looking for a first film to produce. The film suffers the constraints of low budget and the book is an imaginative story, with a thread of self depreciating mockery of its genre but these days neither really live up to the hype.
-
Dean Koontz is similar to Stephen King except he doesn't go off on the massive tangents that king tends to, after reading Koontz I didn't go back to King and have now read the majority of his books, the odd Thomas series is good, I'd suggest intensity or fear nothing as a first read!
.....The Tank Engine? :lol
-
I am not usually a big fan of sci fi or fantasy writing but The Song of Ice and Fire Books from which Game of Thrones was made are excellent. Another vote too for John Connolly's Charlie Parker series especially' Every Dead Thing'.
The good thing about these series books is that Amazon will usually discount the early ones to get you hooked into the characters so bargains are out there.
I also like Charlie Williams Mangel series starting with Deadfolk. I reckon Royston Blake is a brilliant comic invention although some are put off by the language. These are being filmed now so read them first before some director ruins them.
I also really like the Jack Irish series by Peter Temple and Barry Eisler's Japanese books. The Power of The Dog by Don Winslow and Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
Don't know of it. Not heard of the film either. Ok, what's it about?
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
How long since you last read it?
June last year by the looks of it
http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php?topic=13575.0
In that particular book I just love the narrative side to the book, which you can almost believe, but to realise that is part of the fiction just makes it even more enjoyable!
-
Griff has already suggested this but Richard Laymon has a few good books worth a read - motsyl horror/thriller type stuff.
Clive cussler was another good suggestion - I especially liked the dirk pitt series of books.
-
Dirk Pitt and The Oregon files are my favorite 2 series. Again, a bit predictable, but quite good for wasting an hour or 3 without engaging brain.
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
Don't know of it. Not heard of the film either. Ok, what's it about?
You must've seen the film at some stage, it's the one with ex wrestler Andre The Giant in it.
-
Ok, if it's a free for all then you absolutely must read 'The Princess bride' by William Goldman, yes the film has a massive cult following (because it's the best film ever!) but the book is perfect!
Don't know of it. Not heard of the film either. Ok, what's it about?
Who he? :lol
You must've seen the film at some stage, it's the one with ex wrestler Andre The Giant in it.
-
As his name suggests, he was a giant!
-
At the moment, I'm reading 2 authors: Terry Pratchett for light-hearted silliness with a cynical sense of humour, or Clive Cussler for the penny thriller style. Writing is crap, storylines are all similar, but it whiles away an hour or three.
If you like well written action / thriller, I can recommend Alistair MacLean or Hammon Innes.
I'm a bit late to this, so a few comments:
Pratchett is always good, although his later work suffered a bit due to his Alzheimers IMO (The Long Earth books aren't that great). Also the first two Discworld books, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are really just spoofs of other stories in the Fantasy genre (eg Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and McCaffrey's Pern books), it's not until Mort that he gets into his stride.
Cussler is rubbish, Dirk Pitt is just Cussler's Mary-Sue style wank fantasy. It might have been good when I was a teenager, but much better to read Tom Clancy (but only the books that he wrote himself, avoid the stuff where he franchised out his name!)
MacLean and Innes are good too, although a bit dated.
Joe Haldeman (Sci Fi) - The Forever War, 3 books (I think) easy reading and good action, believable portrayal of long term space travel and the effects of relativity.
Worth a read, but a bit of a post-Vietnam American guilt trip. Compare and contrast with Heinlein's Starship Troopers...
Harry Harrison (Sci Fi) - The Stainless Steel Rat series, very good Thief turned Investigator type stuff.
Yes, but only the first three (TSSR, TSSR's Revenge and TSSR Saves the World) are really good. The next couple are ok, but after that they went downhill with TSSR is Born and then he started churning them out and ended up as rubbish.
Issac Asimov (Sci Fi) - Foundation series.
Might have been great once, but now I think they're over-rated and he ended up painting himself into a corner for 20 years after the third book.
Arthur C Clarke (Sci Fi) - Rama series. Also, get the Collected Short Stories, they are all in one (big) book, some really good stuff in there.
Excellent hard SF, but avoid the later stuff where he started co-writing with other authors because it's just not the same.
Julian May (Sci Fi/Fantasy) - The Many Coloured Land, 3 books (I think). People who chose not to fit in with society choose to be sent back to the Pliocene epoch on a one way trip. Good stuff!
I read this series once and thought it was ok, then came back to it a couple of years later and thought "gods, what a bunch of *losers*!" and dumped the books off to a friend.
Have Read a lot of Ian Banks (AKA Ian M Banks), both Sci-Fi and general fiction only one book of his that I couldn't get to grips with called 'The Bridge'
I like Banks' Sci-Fi stuff, especially the Culture stories, but I could never get into his general fiction for some reason.
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
Inconceivable! ;)
A few more recommendations:
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, but then read Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant which really continue that story.
For totally epic Sci-Fi, Frank Herbert's Dune books are very good (although long!). His son, Brian's prequels about the Butlerian Jihad and House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Corrinno etc are quite good too.
Finally Philip K Dick and Roger Zelazny (especially his Amber series) are definitely worth a look IMO.
-
When you say "good" or "not good" about a book, are you referring to plot or what? What I'm really looking for are authors who will draw me in and keep me going. Stephen King does that for me, very few others manage it. I like SK's down-to-earth characters thrown into sinister situations that they have to deal with. I like that he gives you the information you need to make the story work, or make a character seem real, and not just endless drivel as page-filler. In actual fact, he strikes me as the kind of person I would probably hit it off with if we met (I've read his book "On Writing" and even enjoy his forewards; he clearly has good taste in music too!). In short, although I have of course enjoyed books by other authors, King is my favourite, and not even because he writes mostly horror. I reckon I'd enjoy him in whatever genre he did, if his writing style remained as it is. So genre is not the most important thing to me in this search.
So what I really need to find is other authors who can keep me engaged like SK has, and so far I haven't found much fiction work that'll do it. So really, it's kind of difficult asking for recommendations, cos you might like different things from your authors than I do. But all suggestions appreciated, and I will try to get around to trying most of them at some point.
-
Funny, I got out of King because of his endless drivel about non story relayed bollocks!
-
Funny, I got out of King because of his endless drivel about non story relayed bollocks!
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one :lol
-
Funny, I got out of King because of his endless drivel about non story relayed bollocks!
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one :lol
SK ain't got nothin' on Victor Hugo. One of the most exciting bits of "Les Misérables" (Jean Valjean escaping through the sewers with his adopted daughter's injured boyfriend on his shoulders), and he throws in a 30 page essay on the history of the sewers of Paris!!
Hugo's description of the battle of Waterloo can almost be considered a historical source, it is so well detailed. Just reminds you that he was paid by the word, not the book!! :lol :lol
-
George McDonald Fraser - The Flashman Papers. Twelve books in total. Brilliant and informative if you read all the historical notes.
-
For me I love reading Lee Child books based on Jack Reacher. Most bikers could relate to his character in the books, he's a sort of wandering tough guy, hitch hiking across America aimlessly, he's a bit of a dark hero, but always does the right thing in the end and the action is awesome!