I was trying to explain a plot to a friend of mine recently when he brought -in a kind way- the fact that i was basically losing him entirely because we like completely different types of books so he didnt' really care...lol. I think maybe its good to try different things every once in awhile, so what kind of books does everyone else like? or what authors would you reccomend?

I love Sci-Fi/Fantasy, generally because i read to escape. but real-life books can be pretty awesome too.

Michael Chriton, Ann McCaffrey, Tamora Pierce, Patricia Wrede, Diane Duane, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett come to mind when i think of authors that i read/have read a lot of.

Have you read Frank Herbert or Orson Scott Card? They are both very good sci-fi authors in my opinion. Namely, Dune and Ender's Game are my favorite.
I also like Tom Clancy (and friends :rolleyes:).
Other than those three though, I usually just read what looks good regardless of the author.

I work in a library, so I end up reading a lot...
Fiction-wise, my favorite authors are Lawrence Block (excellent author... One of my favorite books is an 800 page collection of his short stories, "Enough Rope"), Lawrence Sanders (who is actually dead, but they're still publishing books based on his notes), and Robert Crais. I also usually read Sue Grafton (The "A" is for Alibi, "B" is for... etc) lady, but only when there's a new one out.
Non-fiction-wise, I tend to like stuff about science and philosophy. Ayn Rand and the like on the philosophy side, and usually theoretical physics on the other side. I read a good book by John Skoyles a while back, too, "Up From Dragons", on the workings of the human mind. Very intriguing.

ah the non-fiction - gotta love that too.
Hawking, Smolin, Chown... Good stuff.

ok, so huge delay between asking for and beginning to follow people's recommendations.... but i just finished Ender's Game and it was way past excellent. :D

Continuing with the resurrected after 7 months thread...
I just read the five Hitchhiker's Guide books... very funny, although the ending was kind of a letdown. I also read Huxley's Brave New World, which was excellent, and am now reading one of the other Douglas Adams book series (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency).

Yep, see, toldya. Ender's game rules.
The best part is there are THREE sequals and a parallel plot line which has THREE more books. There's also several background book too I think, like a prequel or two. So you can keep yourself in the Ender Universe for as long as you want.

Dune has even more books than Ender...

you have no idea how happy i am that you told me that. aaahhh- my winter break has just been planned out as a vacation in Enderworld. -extreme happiness-


different note- yes, the end of Hitchhiker's Guide is rather a let down. if you didn't care for that, don't read The Salmon of Doubt. ever. it's the saddest thing i've ever put myself through -and by saddest i mean that i mourned for Adams for the lack of a plot that was coherent-in-that-crazy-but-logical-way. its just random pieces published after Adams' death. and they don't really go together and the story just abruptly stops, and its not such a great story. love to hear what ya think of Dirk Gently though, haven't touched it yet.

I finished the first Dirk Gently, which was amusing, but not incredibly great. Worth reading during boring bits of school, though. I just started the second one, but am going to interrupt it to read a Steve Martin book, as it has to go back to the library.
And whatever happened to Fenchurch in HG2G?! She was my favorite character.

yeah, fenchurch was cool. too bad about that freak travel accident. they said something about plurals being subject to disappearing suddenly and other such things.

Mmmm... Ender's Game. I read that three times. Looking for more Card stuff... there's like six books in the Ender series.

Thank you so much for writing about this book! A guy I met told me about Ender's Game and how he is legaly changing his name to Ender, but I forgot until now! Yeah! Christmas break is looking a lot less full of nothing to do!

no, no, no- for it to be good, he has to change his name to Andrew and go by Ender...

I just finished Speaker for the Dead. that was my Christmas Eve project. i know, my life is so exciting. I feel all sad and distant now, and my family is all worked up about presents. I am sitting here thinking about how things ought to have worked out for the characters and contemplating man's ability to cope with species from other worlds. Do you think we'd kill them all? i mean, if they weren't trying to kill us? Death sucks. and for some reason it makes me think of Christmas. a little. in that not so connected way. Upon request (one i'm quite happy to fulfill) I am going from Ender to the Bible. so i think any thoughts on that would belong elsewhere in the forum.

Merry Christmas everyone, lots of love and good tidings.

Good girl, I appreciate it ;)

I suppose death does suck for some... but for others, it's not the end. That too, however, belongs in another forum.

I just finished Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul by Adams, and it's very good, much better than the first Dirk Gently. Some good Norse mythology.

I just got Meaning of Liff, The Deeper Meaning of Liff, and The Salmon of Doubt, all by Adams, for Christmas. I'll tell you all what I think of them once they're fully devoured.

Wow this is late, but I forgot I was going to say how they were. Meaning of Liff and Deeper Meaning of Liff were pretty hilarious, but they get old after a while, because it's basically like reading out of a dictionary. Salmon of Doubt was nifty. I liked the story myself and was disappointed that he never got it finished before he died. What was done was just enough to make you curious as to how he would have pulled it all together in the weird way that he always does.

My favorite author ever is Diana Wynne Jones. I love almost everything she's ever written.

I also recently discovered the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. I highly recommend.