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Recommended books

Started by Cornflower MM, May 08, 2016, 01:24:56 AM

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Cornflower MM

Soooo. . . . We don't have a topic for books we would recommended to others. And I personally really love topics like this, so I though, why not?

One thing, first: PLEASE DO NOT HATE ON BOOKS/AUTHORS OTHER PEOPLE LIKE. Okay? I don't care if if the book in question is Twilight, please be respectful and courteous. You know what's sad? That I actually have to say something like that. . . Anyway, without further ado, my list of book and author recommendations:

In no particular order
Watership Down. Not only do I feel a sort of obligation to post about it, (;D) it really is good book! It has rabbits. Yes. *Nods* They go on an adventure! Although there is a slightly profane seagull, and okay it's a little bloody, it's a really good book. You should try it! It's by Richard Adams! (I totally didn't forget his last name for a sec. Not at all.)
The Twilight saga/cycle really isn't that bad. Seriously. You should give it a try. how do you know that you don't like it if you've never read it?!
Anything by Maggie Stiefvater. Her Raven Cycle is flippin' amazing, but I've read The Scorpio Races too and that's just as good. In it's own way of course. TSR is about horses. Water horses, to be exact, and there's a little romance too. Good book! Such a tearjerker ending, too.
Let's see, what else? John Green. Great writer. True, I found Paper Towns a little hard to get through, but the other two books of his I've read (The Fault In Our Stars, An Abundance Of Katherines) are really, really good. They draw you in and refuse to let you out until you've finished!

And of course, anything by Cassandra Clare or Rick Riordan goes without saying. If you haven't read anything by either of them GO GET ONE OF THEIR BOOKS. You haven't lived until you've read them.
[close]

Recommend away! I need new reading material people! :P

Ashleg

The Warriors series by Erin Hunter is awesome, it's about four Clans of cats that live in the wild and have epic battles and things like that. There's also the Wolves of the Beyond series by Katherine Lasky--it's way shorter but just as good if not better. The first book is probably the least interesting out of all of them, but the second is my favorite and the last couple books are actually pretty dark.
Then there's the Wings of Fire series, about dragons...also amazing.

Cornflower MM

Ooooh, dragons! Who's it by? And, yes, WotB is awesome.

Jetthebinturong

Skulduggery Pleasant is something I recommend to absolutely everyone, regardless of its scarcity in America. If you like urban fantasy, mystery, romance, high fantasy, action, adventure or even sci-fi then there is at least something in this series that you will definitely enjoy. I have never ever encountered someone who's read SP and not liked it. It's by Derek Landy and there are ten books in the series (THERE ARE NOT NINE BOOKS LIKE THE AUTHOR SAYS, THERE ARE TEN, IT'S JUST THAT SKULDUGGERY ISN'T IN MALEFICENT SEVEN SO IT CAN'T BE COUNTED AS PART OF THE SERIES) and a short-story collection.

Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy and its prequel, The Ring of Solomon are incredibly moving and thought provoking.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott is a great blend of mythology, history and original fantasy and I think anyone with an interest in mythology will love it. There are six books.

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen is a fantastic fantasy series about a young J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams. The sixth book, The Dragons of Winter got a little too religious (specifically, Christian (unsurprising as Tolkien, Lewis and Williams were all Christian (Tolkien and Williams being Catholic, and Lewis being, as far as I can tell, non-denominational)) for me, but I suspect for most people that won't be a problem.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is basically LotR with added dragons and the purple prose removed, so I suspect that a lot of people would find it entertaining.

I recommend The Archived by Victoria Schwab to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. It's about a library where the dead are kept on shelves where their memories can be accessed.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones are excellent satirical pieces and hugely entertaining fantasy stories. Though having read three of her books, I think she may have had a problem with rushing endings.

And for people who don't mind reading about LGBT+ characters, I recommend Proxy by Alex London and The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black. Proxy is a dystopian story, but definitely a lot different to the typical post-apocalyptic dystopia. TDPotF on the other hand is about fairies and monsters.

I think that's all I've got.



"In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system."
"Understood." Will looked at Nico. "Will you be my buddy?"
"You're a dork," Nico announced.
~ The Hidden Oracle, Rick Riordan

Cornflower MM

Ranting on Skulduggery Pleasant
Scarcity in America? Scarcity in America?! SCARCITY IN AMERICA?! JET DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A BOXED SET OF SP IS FOR ME ON AMAZON?! Which, incidentally, is the only place I can find anything more than the first book. (Which I read and loved.)
For books one thru eight it's 67.99 for me, which iiiissssss 47.12 for you. (I have no idea how the pound works, so blame this place if there's any mistakes)
[close]

Also, thanks.

Feles

You forgot the trilogy that your signature is quoting...
I am the harbinger of the spicy rooster apocalypse,
I am the hydrogen bomb in a necktie,
I hold the flames of a thousand collapsed stars,
I am Bobracha!

Jetthebinturong

Quote from: Cornflower MM on May 08, 2016, 02:00:24 AM
Ranting on Skulduggery Pleasant
Scarcity in America? Scarcity in America?! SCARCITY IN AMERICA?! JET DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A BOXED SET OF SP IS FOR ME ON AMAZON?! Which, incidentally, is the only place I can find anything more than the first book. (Which I read and loved.)
For books one thru eight it's 67.99 for me, which iiiissssss 47.12 for you. (I have no idea how the pound works, so blame this place if there's any mistakes)
[close]

Also, thanks.

Ask for it for Christmas or a Birthday if you celebrate those. If not. Well I'm hesitant to advocate something illegal, but you could try looking for it on the internets.

Quote from: Inquisitor on May 08, 2016, 02:00:55 AM
You forgot the trilogy that your signature is quoting...

I didn't forget it, I decided not to include it as, apparently, many people hate the ending and Mal in general.
"In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system."
"Understood." Will looked at Nico. "Will you be my buddy?"
"You're a dork," Nico announced.
~ The Hidden Oracle, Rick Riordan

Aimless Gallivanter

No spoilers please Im still reading that series!!!

I'd say:
Brandon Sanderson
Maggie Stiefvater
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (not YA)
The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfield is a steampunk alternate history
Brandon Sanderson
and also Brandon Sanderson
im gay!!!!!!

Feles

I have yet to finish the series but as it stands Mal is a interesting character, but not unlikable
I am the harbinger of the spicy rooster apocalypse,
I am the hydrogen bomb in a necktie,
I hold the flames of a thousand collapsed stars,
I am Bobracha!

Cornflower MM

Quote from: Jet the binturong on May 08, 2016, 02:07:30 AM
Quote from: Cornflower MM on May 08, 2016, 02:00:24 AM
Ranting on Skulduggery Pleasant
Scarcity in America? Scarcity in America?! SCARCITY IN AMERICA?! JET DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A BOXED SET OF SP IS FOR ME ON AMAZON?! Which, incidentally, is the only place I can find anything more than the first book. (Which I read and loved.)
For books one thru eight it's 67.99 for me, which iiiissssss 47.12 for you. (I have no idea how the pound works, so blame this place if there's any mistakes)
[close]

Also, thanks.

Ask for it for Christmas or a Birthday if you celebrate those. If not. Well I'm hesitant to advocate something illegal, but you could try looking for it on the internets. I did. . . . Money's been a little tight. Shouldn't be complaining, really.

Quote from: Inquisitor on May 08, 2016, 02:00:55 AM
You forgot the trilogy that your signature is quoting...

I didn't forget it, I decided not to include it as, apparently, many people hate the ending and Mal in general. That only makes me more interested. Who is this character everyone ends up hating? What has he done to deserve his fate? (I'm assuming Mal is a he?)

Quote from: Aimless Gallivanter on May 08, 2016, 02:12:09 AM
No spoilers please Im still reading that series!!!

I'd say:
Brandon Sanderson
Maggie Stiefvater
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (not YA)
The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfield is a steampunk alternate history
Brandon Sanderson
and also Brandon Sanderson

You like Brandon Sanderson don't you. :P Sounds vaguely familiar, to be honest, I'll put him on my list.

Ashleg

Quote from: Cornflower MM on May 08, 2016, 01:39:50 AM
Ooooh, dragons! Who's it by? And, yes, WotB is awesome.

Tui T. Seutherland. Sorry I forgot about that one! XD
They're probably better than WotB and Warriors put together. I mean, dragons!

Sadly, I've fallen behind in the series.

Lady Ashenwyte

#11
I recommend Trollslayer, a book by William King. It's an incredibly well-written book about a pair of adventurer, Gotrek, a dwarf is also a member of the doom-seeking Slayer cult, and Felix, a former university student who was forced to leave Altdorf (The wealthy capital of the Empire.) as he killed somebody in a duel, and was in a protest against a new tax imposed by the Emperor.
They are bound to each other by an oath, as during a drunken night in a tavern, Felix swore that he would record Gotrek's doom in a poem. They end up in many adventures together, and each one is filled with exciting action and good storytelling, as well as characters that leap off the page. It has a few mature themes, however, but I highly recommend it. 
                                                                                               
Spoiler
[close]
The fastest way to a man's heart- Or anyone's, in fact- Is to tear a hole through their chest.

Indeed. You are as ancient as the soot that choked Pompeii into oblivion, though not quite as uncaring. - Rusvul

Just a butterfly struggling through my chrysalis.

Skyblade

I'll recommend some stand-alone novels.

Watership Down: Let's face it, my position as a moderator at Fiver's Honeycomb is a great impetus to post this ;) Nevertheless, it's truly a good book. It is, to put it simply, a dramatic story about rabbits. Themes include perseverance and, of course, society. A bit gory, but if you can read the Redwall series, you can read this. Considered a classic adventure novel.

Lord of the Flies: This novel is the exception to the stereotype that classics are boring to read. Humans are trapped on an island, after all. I grew to like the characters, which doesn't come easily for me, and I can recall few novels that made my heart pound so heavily. You'll find themes such as good VS evil and the civilized VS the primitive. A little gory, but again, you can read this.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: Truly a novel for all ages, short and sweet. I don't know how to describe it, but I'm not forgetting it.

Thanks, MatthiasMan, for the avatar!

Hickory

In accordance with some older preferences by some of our members, here's some of the relics I enjoyed:

Of Mice and Men, by the famed author John Steinbeck. For more mature audiences, simply because of language.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. For one who likes his genre but prefers a story told in a way different then blocks of text.

The Lord of The Rings collection (trilogy?), by J.R.R. Tolkien. For older audiences, as the book can get incredibly hard to understand, through its format of huge walls of words.

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. A masterpiece of creation, and it lives up to all of what Sky said it is.


The Mistmantle Chronicles, by M.I. McAllister. A nice series quite similar to Redwall which most of you guys would like.

To be edited as I add more.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Jetthebinturong

To Kill a Mockingbird is a good classic.

I personally didn't enjoy Of Mice and Men, but most of my friends did, so I'm probably in the minority.

If we're talking about classics, I may as well recommend some Shakespeare: Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing are pretty good. Midsummer Night's Dream is okay. I highly recommend not reading Romeo and Juliet, and if you do, I don't think it should be looked at as a love story.
"In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system."
"Understood." Will looked at Nico. "Will you be my buddy?"
"You're a dork," Nico announced.
~ The Hidden Oracle, Rick Riordan