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Post by Rob Lewis on Feb 25, 2013 12:18:53 GMT -5
Of all the things that define Nerd/Geek culture, reading books (comic or otherwise) has always been my Achilles Heel. The last bit of "serious" reading I did was the Harry Potter series.
So, I'll put it out there as a question. What new books out there are worth reading?
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Post by jocarra on Feb 27, 2013 11:43:19 GMT -5
I'd go with some basics, like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, and the Prydain Chronicles - the latter is probably least known amongst the three, but is similar in being one of the earlier attempts at fantasy following Tolkien's example, and while being children's books, have that wonderful quality of being accessible but surprisingly compelling.
If you want something light and fun, try Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, or the Dresden Files books - you've probably heard of the former, but the latter is basically film noir meets fantasy about a practicing wizard private investigator working in modern-day Chicago, humorous and sorta fun/pulpy in feel, easy to read, but develops into some great story/character arcs.
If you remotely enjoyed the Game of Thrones television series, you may also enjoy the books, which are filled with complex and detailed world-building, dark politics and lots of scheming, and character arcs involving, basically, what happens to people in a horrible world filled with horrible people :b
Books by Robin Hobb are, in general, excellently written. They all take place in the same world, so you get quite a bit of depth over the course of her various series, without having to read all of them. I've only read the Farseer Trilogy (the first of which was probably the most depressing book I've ever read, but extremely good), but I believe the Liveship Traders Trilogy is one of the better ones?
V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and Neil Gaimain's The Sandman graphic novels are all quite good, in my opinion. I'm sure you've heard of the first two (people who saw Watchmen but hadn't read it first all seemed to hate it with a passion as one of the worst movies in history, not sure why), but The Sandman is basically a surreal, "very Gaimain" story about Dream and his siblings, all embodiments of various universal forces (Death, Desire, etc.), and his/their interactions with the real world. On that note, Neil Gaimain's stuff can be strange and wonderful and disturbing, and if you're into that sort of thing, try checking out his novels Neverwhere (which is more whimsical) or American Gods (which is a little darker), or possibly one of his collections of short stories.
That's all I can think of at the moment :b
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