Sugggested reading

[Alice]

Science Fiction and Fantasy is not a genre that I'm terribly familiar with and would like to dive in. Any suggestions on the best-written titles would be greatly appreciated.

[Richard]

I know it's disloyal but there's a nice little list of people's fave SF books forming over at another group.
The latest post of the list can be found here.

[Laurel]

An amazing space opera series is the Miles Vorkosigan saga. Most start with the third book The Warrior's Apprentice.

I also loved Leviathan Wakes, the first in a series, as well as Old Man's War.

For fantasy, I recommend The Curse of Chalion or The Lions of al-Rassan as standalones. Assassin's Apprentice, The Name of the Wind, or A Game of Thrones as series.

If you'd like to try urban fantasy, the Dresden Files starting with Storm Front or the Hollows beginning with Dead Witch Walking are amazing. Patricia Briggs' Moon Called is also pretty great!

I could list a dozen more, but these are a few faves!

[[deleted user]]

You really do need to narrow it down a bit, Alice.

Let us know what you're looking for and we can tailor the Recommendations better.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Ala wrote: "You really do need to narrow it down a bit, Alice.

Let us know what you're looking for and we can tailor the Recommendations better."

I agree with Ala. It's much easier for me to come up with stuff if I have a better idea of what you like in other books or genres.

[Greyweather]

Well, looking at your profile I saw you've read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, and presumably liked them since more of Card's books are on your to-read shelf.

If that is the kind of sci-fi you already enjoy, I think Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish books (like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia) are a natural next step.

In general, you seem to really like crime novels. Altered Carbon is an excellent blend of sci-fi and hard-boiled crime novel. A fantasy novel in a similar vein is Sandman Slim.

An even better fantasy/mystery novel is Martha Wells' The Death of the Necromancer.

Laurel recommended The Curse of Chalion and that is more or less the novel that got me seriously interested in the fantasy genre, so yeah, check that one out too.

[Bonnie]

I finished reading Ready Player One and I'm looking for suggestions as to what to read next. I currently have a list a mile long on my Kindle so I need help narrowing it down. Here are the things I have so far:

The Magician King
The Color of Magic
The Eye of the World
Snow Crash
The Snow Queen
Axis
Mind Games
The Hunger Games

Any other recommendations are greatly appreciated. I read mostly sci-fi/fantasy. I tried to read A Game of Thrones but gave up about halfway through because it bored me to tears. I like a lot of magic in my fantasy. Thanks for any help!

[♥Meagan♥]

The Hunger Games is great, but fits neither magic nor fantasy.

I haven't read any of the others on your list, so I can't help, sorry.

[Bonnie]

My worry about The Hunger Games is that it's too young for me. I'm 34 years old and I know that the trilogy is for young adults. I'm just curious because of the movie coming out.

[[deleted user]]

Dresden Files, Bonnie.

Plenty of magic and never boring.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

If GoT bored you, I can't see you liking The Eye of the World. The Colour of Magic is quirky and a bit of a parody. The Snow Queen has been called boring by several people I know, but I enjoyed it. Snow Crash is cyberpunk. I enjoyed it, but did have to look past a lot of linguistic and lexicon quirks to do so.

[♥Meagan♥]

Bonnie wrote: "My worry about The Hunger Games is that it's too young for me. I'm 34 years old and I know that the trilogy is for young adults. I'm just curious because of the movie coming out."

It does not read like a YA, and the themes are very adult. I think it is mainly YA because the main characters are in their teens (but act very maturely).

I would recommend giving it a go, it is a fast read and sucks you in. I thoroughly enjoyed it and could not wait to read the next book.

[Alice]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate it. I have no idea where to start so I have no idea how to narrow down. I'm going to add all your suggestions to my To Read list and do a little more research over the holidays -- should I ever finish the History of the Papacy which I'm slogging through. Again, thank you so much.

[Trike]

What are your top 5 favorite books you've read ever, and top 5 this year?

[Alice]

Too many to list, really, but off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird; Beowulf (Translated by Seanus Heaney; Nana; In Cold Blood; A Tale of Two Cities.
This Year: Broken; Children of Fire; The Bone People; Daniel; The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

[Silvio]

If you liked Beowulf, starting with Tolkien might not be a bad idea: a classic author with a huge effect on the fantasy genre, a personal favorite of mine, and also a scholar of Old English literature. The Hobbit is light-hearted and funny, The Lord of the Rings starts out similar but gets more of a medieval-epic feel to it once it gets going. The Silmarillion reads sort of like a cross between Norse mythology and the Bible - I consider that good, but not everyone does. Pardon me if you knew most of that already, you said you weren't familiar with fantasy.

Grendel is an awesome and depressing telling of the obvious character's life.

[Stan]

I thought you guys might like to take a look at this book recommendation flowchart put together by NPR using the top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books chosen by their responders. The flowchart is both hilarious and potentially useful.

http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6om...

[Trike]

Alice wrote: "Too many to list, really, but off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird; Beowulf (Translated by Seanus Heaney; Nana; In Cold Blood; A Tale of Two Cities.
This Year: Broken; Children of Fire..."

If you like Dickens, you should definitely try The Diamond Age: or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson. It's science fiction that feels like fantasy and maintains the balance between the epic and the intimate.

[[deleted user]]

Epic and the intimate?

I like that

[Alice]

Trike: I read Cryptonomicon by Stephenson and loved it so I'm adding both your suggestions to my list.

And Stan, I'm jumping over to NPR to look at their flowchart -- I could use some hilarity this morning.
Again, thank you everyone for your input. I'm looking forward to throwing myself into this genre and adding my .02 to the conversation.

[Nate]

I enjoyed SOUL BORN by Kevin James Breaux. Anyone else read it??? Lots of good things from that guy. Soul Born

[Judy]

Alice and Bonnie, I totally recommend Snow Crash and I also enjoyed Zodiac and Diamond Age by the same author. If you like those, try Fairyland or Rainbows End. If you want more fantasy like Tokien, try the books by Guy Gavriel Kay, like The Summer Tree (Fionavar Tapestry series). For sci fi that is very accessible, I LOVE John Varley, and recommend highly his trilogy starting with Titan. I also agree with the recommendation above for the Vokosigan saga, but I would start with the very first book, Shards of Honour.

[Paul]

Judy wrote: "Alice and Bonnie, I totally recommend Snow Crash and I also enjoyed Zodiac and Diamond Age by the same author. If you like those, try Fairyland or Rainbow... Really glad to see some love or MacAuley and Vinge. I've just discovered John Varley, thanks to The Ophiuchi Hotline being a group read in the Hard SF group, and was completely blown away by it.

[Trike]

Valley really is brilliant. Steel Beach is good (with one of the most memorable opening lines ever) and with Golden Globe he's just showing off by writing so effortlessly.

The only book of his I didn't like was Red Thunder. Too YA for my taste. But even simpler adventure stories like Mammorh are really fun reads.

[Trike]

Varley, not Valley. Dumb iPad auto-correct.

[Bonnie]

What Sci-Fi/Fantasy books have a great twist in them? Obviously, please don't spoil the twist! :)

[Kevin]

Bonnie wrote: "What Sci-Fi/Fantasy books have a great twist in them? Obviously, please don't spoil the twist! :)"

If you're looking for one I would recommend The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov, where this book connects his two famous serious the robot novels and the foundation novels. It has a ending that hits you shocks you to the core.

[Trike]

Bonnie wrote: "What Sci-Fi/Fantasy books have a great twist in them? Obviously, please don't spoil the twist! :)"

Anyone who says "Ender's Game" gets a fail-stamp. That ending was so obvious, he might as well have written it on the front cover.

It's hard to recommend books with twist endings, because just knowing it has one tends to spoil the surprise. Connie Willis has written two great stories which are magnificent examples of leading the reader down one path while revealing new information that completely alters your preconceived notions of what you're reading: Remake and Uncharted Territory.

There are a few slight twists found in some of the superhero anthology Masked, edited by Lou Anders.

[Richard]

Bonnie wrote: "What Sci-Fi/Fantasy books have a great twist in them? Obviously, please don't spoil the twist! :)"

I'm assuming you're looking for novels, not short stories where the twist ending is fairly common. After looking through my read shelf I can suggest a few, maybe not all twist endings but certainly dramatic shifts in perspective.
For changes of perspective or understanding at the finale try I am Legend by Richard Matheson, Pavane by Keith Roberts or Engine Summer by John Crowley and maybe even Gateway by Frederik Pohl.
For a more subtle shift in perception leading to a final realisation try Grass by Sheri S. Tepper and for multiple shifts in reality leading to a fantastical truth I can't recommend highly enough Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith.

If I may I'd like to throw in a non genre suggestion from Iain M. Banks' mainstream alter ego with The Wasp Factory, great shock twist in a twisted dark story.

I think they're all great books in themselves but hopefully will also tickle your twisty bone.

[Deanne]

If you like The Wasp Factory which I did, what about Under The Skin by Faber, also disturbing.

[Evilynn]

Almost anything by Philip K Dick will be twisty, and I usually don't figure out what the twist is beforehand (something I did with both Ender's Game and The Wasp Factory), which is a definite plus.

[Paul]

Bonnie wrote: "What Sci-Fi/Fantasy books have a great twist in them? Obviously, please don't spoil the twist! :)"

Iain M Banks' Use of Weapons For a long time this was my favourite Banks book (I think Look to Windward may be even better, but I must re-read them close together). When the reveal comes, clues begin to come together and I found myself beginning to suspect the truth just before it is said outright, and going cold with shock.