RE: The American Book Club
Stole most of this from uc board thread with similar topic. I mostly read science fiction and fantasy (I have some other fiction favorites, but I'll stick with this area for this post). Here are some of my favorite recommendations for people (not in any real defined order):
1. Hyperion (Dan Simmons)- Written in the style of Canterbury Tales with elements of Keats and Shakespeare woven in, Hyperion is basically the story of 7 Pilgrims and the journey to the Time Tombs on the planet of Hyperion. Each Pilgrim tells their own tale as to why they are making the journey on their way and each tale is completely unique in style and feel. The stories range from pure intrigue, to action packed, to emotionally brutal. The tombs are guarded by a creature called the Shrike who impales his victims on a metal tree. Just an awesome work.
2. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)- Many are probably familiar with it. It's the story of a brilliant young boy being trained to lead the military and save the world from an alien race that has attacked Earth twice. The brilliance in this book is first and foremost in the emotional impact the decisions Ender is forced to make have on him and his relationships with those involved. Much of what happens take place inside Ender's head, but the story is very good.
3. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)- The original sequel to Ender's Game...this is a totally different kind of story dealing with a much older Ender Wiggin. Many did not like it as much as Ender's Game but to me it felt real in very different ways and I liked a totally different take on interactions with an alien race than what we see in most science fiction. Again though Card's best feature is really write characters well.
4. Use of Weapons (Iain M Banks)- Banks is second to none when it comes to sprawling, epic action sequences, but Use of Weapons i believe his his best novel because it offers much more. It's style takes a bit of getting use to as alternating chapters take you from a present tense story that goes chronologically to flashbacks which by in large go in reverse order. It is in these reverse order chapters where much of the depth is added to our protaganist Cheradenine Zakalwe. The added knowledge to the Zakalwe's background and motives that you have by the end of the book invites you to scroll back and re-read certain parts. The toll that Zakalwe's decisions have taken on him to me is what really hits home in this novel. (He wrote Consider Phlebas and Player of Games first... both will give you a great look at The Culture from 2 different perspectives which may add to this book but isn't necessary)
5. Watership Down (Richard Adams)- A tale about rabbits leaving their warren as it is being destroyed and searching to find a new life is not a story I ever expected to stick with me, but Watership Down has done just that. This story is very fun, the characters are well fleshed out and the action is great. I read it many years back and it sticks with me to this day.
6. Game of Thrones- Great series, by now everyone knows of it (in the old book thread I remember mentioning how pumped I was for the show that was quickly approaching). Storm of Swords (Book 3) still stands as one of my all time favorite novels.
7. Dune- Another I am sure many have read. Great story of political intrigue, betrayel and religion. It has held up for a long time.
8. Perdido Street Station (China Mieville)- Incredibly original and well written novel. The Slake Moths are absolutely terrifying and the introductory ride into New Crobuzon is breathtaking. China Mieville has a way with words like few authors do. He creates incredibly quirky and interesting species and some ridiculously cool ideas (The Weaver was amazing). The first couple parts are slow, but always fascinating and well written. The rest of the book is just awesome.
9. Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) - Though a bit dated, Snow Crash is about as fun as a novel can get. From the opening description of the "Deliverator," to the pure awesomeness that is Y.T. this novel remains fun throughout. There is a rather large info dump in the middle which at times can get a bit tedious, but despite that Neal Stephenson delivers with a novel that is just pure entertainment.
10. The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)- Scott Lynch's first in the Republic of Thieves series is both an original take on fantasy and a fun caper tale. The city of Camorr and the underworld that thrives there really comes alive and for a series novel it has a very satisfactory, self contained ending.
11. A Fire Upon The Deep (Vernor Vinge)- The scope of this novel is nothing short of grand. Vinge takes many intriguing ideas, creates multiple fascinating alien races and gives us a tale that is epic in scope and fascinating to read. There are several amazing actions sequences that kept me riveted throughout.
12. A Deepness in the Sky (also by Vinge)- Deepness does not quite have the epic scope of A Fire Upon the Deep, but it's a fascinating tale of the conflict among two groups of human space travelers centered around their varying desires of how to extract resources from the first known alien race. The idea of mindrot is very cool as is the moral dilemma it ends up causing for our protagonist. The alien race to me was very believable and though I found myself more interested in the human plot I thought the way they blended together worked well.
13. Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie)- You may want to start with his First Law Trilogy which is great in its own right and gives you good background to the world, but this is my favorite Abercrombie novel. It's a story of revenge, but complicated in a way so many similar stories of revenge are not. The Snake of the Talins is an interesting protagonist and all of the supporting characters are incredibly well drawn out. Nicomo Costa quickly became on of my all time favorite book characters.
14. The Heroes (Also by Abercrombie)- A battle (and the setup to it) between the North and the Union taking place on and around a Hill called the Heroes. The novel takes place over about 5 days and is fascinating throughout. A chapter called Casualties was one of the most unique battle chapters I've ever read and it's another book where Abercrombie doesn't make war look so black and white. As always, Abercrombie delivers many memorable characters.
15. Malazan Book of the Fallen - This is quite the commitment for anyone who wants to try it. It's a 10 book Fantasy Series starting with Gardens of the Moon. I took my time reading about 2 a year for 5 years. There is truly nothing like it. The scope of what the author is doing is unbelievable, but he manages to combine it with intriguing characters and completely unique stories. Gardens of the Moon was good, but a lot to process as he just throws you into the world and expects you to slowly get what is going on (really the whole series does this). The Chain of Dogs from book 2 (Deadhouse Gates) was something completely different than anything I've found in fantasy or any other type of novel and was incredibly done. Book three (Memories of Ice) quickly skyrocketed up the list of my favorite books. It's amazing stuff from the epic prologue, to the Siege of a major city, to the incredible end. And that's just the start.
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