f13.net

I'm kind of curious as to what books people read around here.  I tend to read quite a bit, even (gasp!) forgoing games for a weekend of nonstop reading outdoors in my backyard.  Mostly with beer and/or wine.  And homemade barbecue.  But I digress...

I mostly read fantasy and hard science fiction, but as I've gotten older my tastes have become more eclectic.  I'd love to hear recommendations and reviews from people on interesting books to fuel my own reading.  Here's what I've read recently that I thought was pretty good.  Please note that if you don't like something, my only defense is that I tend to read in an alcohol- and barbecue-soaked fugue sometimes.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
A very strange religiously-themed novel that I got into while I was in London this past fall.  Pi is an Indian boy who survives for 272 days at sea after his ship sinks in the Pacific.  The story has a bit of a Shyamalan-esque ending, so be warned.  I liked this book enough that I will be rereading it, after ....

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
I'm rereading this now.  It's one of my favorite science fiction novels.  The title is from a poem by Keats.  It's basically similar to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  A group of pilgrims travel to the planet Hyperion to confront the Shrike, which is an ancient organic killing machine.  This Shrike guards the Time Tombs, which are ancient structures, built by some alien intelligence, moving backwards through time.  Each of the pilgrims is not what he or she appears to be.  They all have secrets, and in one or two cases they are pretty horrific secrets indeed.

The Reality Dysfunction, by Peter F. Hamilton
The Brits are producing some spectacular science fiction novels right now, and these are some of them.  It's a science horror story that spans 6 books.  Humans start returning from the dimension they occupy after death, and a galactic struggle between the living and the dead (including Al Capone!) ensues.  The first half of the first book goes pretty slow, but after that the books are all real page-turners.

Angelmass, by Timothy Zahn
Just finished this book.  Ever since his 3 Star Wars sequels in the mid-80's, this man has walked on water for me.  Anglemass is about a black hole that kicks out "angels", subatomic particles that render people calm, ethical, and generally "good".  The Pax is the central human government.  The story is told mainly from the point of view of a Pax spy who infiltrates the Empyrean, which is the human offshoot faction which uses angels on all their politicians.  The Pax want to save the Empyrean from (supposedly) the threat of control by these angels, whose exact nature is revealed over the course of the novel.  Pretty good stuff.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams
This book might not be for everyone, but I love it.  Every time I read it I get more out of it.  Rabbits going on a grand adventure to find a new home is not what the story is really about.  It's an allegory for mankind's relationship with nature, something I didn't appreciate when I first read this book at 8 years old.  If you're a treehugging naturelover like me and haven't read this book, I'd recommend it.

The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
I'm one of those nutjobs that reads Tolkiien's major works every year.  It was time last week to reread this book, and I loved it all over again.  For the uninitiated: this book is the backstory to Lord of the Rings.  It starts from the creation of the world and focuses mainly on the history of the elven race(s).  It is both sad and uplifting at the same time.  Aragorn and Arwen?  Nah ... Give me the love story of Beren and Luthien any day.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, by Steve Coll
Long title, long book, great read.  No matter your politics, this book is a must read to get perspective on the current problems in the Middle East.  Steve Coll is a very good journalist.  Though his bias does show through in parts, it is pretty hard to see throughout the majority of the book.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond
This is a wonderfully researched and thoroughly readable dissection of how and why primitive peoples have been conquered over the centuries.  I've reread this a couple of times just because I liked the author's writing.

King Rat, by China Mieville
A modern and urban twist on the old Rat King legend.  The main character (Saul) is accused of his father's murder, is put into jail, and then is freed by an exceptionally strong stranger.  A rather odd and twisted adventure ensues in which Saul discovers that he's part of (and the object of) a century's old struggle between supernatural creatures.  This was a very quirky novel that had none of the trappings of more popular fantasy novels.  This novel has more in common with Lovecraft than it does with Tolkien.  I liked it so well I'm going to be reading all of Mieville's stuff soon.

Be sure to read all the sequels as well (Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion).  IMO the books just kept getting better and better, and the conclusion to the last one was satisfying enough that I didn't feel gypped that it was over, which is rare.

I only fairly recently started reading Neil Gaiman, having been alerted to his existence by the very entertaining Good Omens.  Neverwhere is an awesome book, with its only drawback being that I went through withdrawal after it was over, because I had fallen in love with the setting and the characters.  So I picked up American Gods, which wasn't quite as good but was still very respectable.  (I know I have to go get his graphic novels now and read them; I keep hearing how brilliant they are.)

I've also been churning through L. E. Modesitt's Saga of Recluce series, which starts with The Magic of Recluce.  I'd recommend these books to anyone who likes fantasy; all the basic elements, but the spin he puts on magic and the writing style are sufficiently unique that you probably won't have that "I've read this before" feeling that accompanies most generic fantasy novels.  Until you get about five books into the series, at which point you realize that the last few books have all been basically the same book told in different time frames; fortunately, that one book you've just read three times is a pretty damn good book, so you might not mind too much.

My most recent book purchase was The Salmon of Doubt, Douglas Adams's last book (compiled posthumously by an editor who went through all the random unfinished stuff on his hard drives after he died, kinda like those last two Beatles songs), the first half of which is random essays/commentaries/speeches by.  They vary between entertaining, insightful, and annoying.  I've only just today reached the story proper, so we'll see how that goes.

Eh, I don't read nearly as much as I probably should, but anyway....

PIllars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I had to read this for a Medieval history class. At first glance I was appalled to have to read something so large, in addition to normal textbooks....but once you get into it, the book is absolutly addictive.

The Anead, Illiad, Odyssey are all good choices too, naturally.

Gosh, I don't read nearly enough.

I mostly gave up reading "literature" ages ago.  I just read trash now.

I'm a big Heinlein fan.  My favorite of his is probably To Sail Beyond the Sunset, partly because it wraps up his multiverse histories of his later novels (Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, etc.) quite nicely, and partly because a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the novel is really about a marvelous woman growing up in early 20th century rural Missouri, which is something I can relate to.

Favorite writers also include Harlan Ellison, Peter David, Lawrence Watt-Evans, and Simon Hawke.

I have not read any new sci-fi or fantasy in many years.  Peter David's Q-Squared remains one of my favorite Trek novels.

Bruce

I mainly read non fiction, and most of the fiction I do read is usually not current (ie classics). My favorite writers tend to be either as dead as Dostoevsky or from some other bygone era. Nowadays, most of the fiction that has gotten a reaction out of me hasn't been from books, but comic books. I enjoy the hell out of poetry, plays (read or performed) and films though, but I doubt that counts either.

That being said, some good non fiction I've read recently:

Under the Black Flag - The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates

-- speaks for itself

Please Kill Me

-- Totally hilarious. Well worth reading if you have any interest in Punk in the 70's. It chronicles the era starting with the Velvet Underground, and the few bands that followed soon after (The Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, Ramones, Dead Boys etc..) and ends when the British started picking up. Pretty light reading, all done in an interview format.

Hyperspace by Michio Kaku

-- Theoretical Physics and Superstring Theory for the rest of us. Kaku is one of the more entertaining science writers around imo. If you're already into reading heavy scientific texts, this may not be for you. But for anyone with just a passing interest, Kaku is a very engaging writer who can speak about these things without totally dumbing it down.

That was a very good book. A couple I recommend:

The Pirate Hunter : The True Story of Captain Kidd (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786884517/qid=1109383733/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5731689-7942356?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
by Richard Zacks

One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1568582196/qid=1109383826/sr=1-16/ref=sr_1_16/104-5731689-7942356?v=glance&s=books)
by Richard Abanes

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375760393/qid=1109383924/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5731689-7942356?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
by MICHAEL POLLAN

Foucault's Pendulum (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345368754/qid=1109383988/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-5731689-7942356)
by UMBERTO ECO

Dan Simmons has a new sci-fi book out I liked a lot called Ilium that incorporates a lot of the Illiad into it. I am looking forward to the sequal out this year.  I liked Hamilton's last one too (Pandora's Star) which is the first in a 2 parter.

Last recent series of books I really dug was Alistair Reynolds' 4 books (its a trilogy, Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap,  plus one other book in the same universe, Chasm City). 

I'm currentlly in the middle of The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stevenson. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Quicksilver (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060593083/qid=1109392150/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/102-8767192-1341712)

The Confusion (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060523867/qid=1109392150/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/102-8767192-1341712)

The System of the World (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060523875/qid=1109392184/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-8767192-1341712)

Although, you might want to read Cryptonomicon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060512806/qid=1109392209/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-8767192-1341712) first, as it is a sort of prequel (with a recurring charcter between the two.)

If there's an abridged version out, I'd recommend getting that rather than reading The entire Baroque Cycle. It's just not interesting enough for how many pages it's put on.

Cryptonomicon however could be one of the finest books written in the last 50 years.

Currently I'm reading the Count of Monte Cristo. Over the past year I've read:

The Sword of Truth Series up to the current book
The Song of Ice and Fire Series, all three books
Enders Game

After you get done reading that read Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It's a great sci-fi version and one of the great old school sci-fi books.

Hyperion is one of my favorites as well. That being said, other books I liked...


Series: #1 Warrior, #2 Wanderer, #3 Witch - Donald E. McQuinn - What isn't there to love about a book that mixes post-nuke indians, castles, and heavy assault weapons?

Series: The Last Dancer, The Long Run, Emerald Eyes - Daniel Keys Moran - France nukes everyone and takes over the world. Telepaths, time travel, hover cars, ninjas, ballistic missiles, near future setting. If Hyperion is #1 these are #2.

Treason by Orson Scott Card - Guy is a walking organ vat plant. They cut off his hands, legs, etc. to use for transplants and he re-grows them. Feels a lot like Dune. Short.

Series: The Princess Of Mars (and the other 11 books) by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Civil war vet. gets transported to Mars (pulp science fiction). Organ vats, 6 armed mobs, sword fighting, ice monters, canals (on Mars), flying ships, etc. The first 6 or so books you can get for free off Gutenburg as the copyright has expired. If you liked the Princess Bride you'll probably like these (easy reading).

Series: Homecoming Saga (#1 is The Memory of Earth I think) by Orson Scott Card - I mainly liked the technology and the reverse of our own culture in the books. The politics get a little over the top. The end books which feature human bats fighting human rats fell a little short for me.

Series: Forbidden Borders (#1 is Requiem for the Conqueror) by W. Michael Gear - Humans are stuck in a petri dish star system fighting it out between the last two great empires. The mercenary faction is the real power in the petri dish and wants to unite all factions to break out of the petri dish.

Series: Spider Trilogy (#1 is The Warriors of Spider) by W. Michael Gear - I don't even remember the story line in this series other than it was good and reminded me of the Jedi from Star Wars. In both W. Michael Gear series' the torture is a little over the top.

Series: Deathstalker (bunch of different series and books in the Deathstalker universe) by Simon R. Green - It has an empire the scope of the one in Dune except the books take place on all of the planets not just one. Somehow the writing style or actual content of the stories feels like eating McDonald's but the concepts, technology, and characters are good.


All I have time to post at the moment.

Edit: The Shattered World by Michael Reaves, Helm by Steven Gould, Destiny's Road by Larry Niven.

Put "Childhood's End" somewhere on your list.

Also, Caleb Carr's "Alienist" and "Angel of Darkness" are superb.

I was going to recommend anything Carr wrote, but I figured I'd already listed enough.

Since I don't actually read anything intelligent, the only books I have to add are:

Exiles series - Melanie Rawn - very good fantasy series, focuses on politics mostly and has a unique magic system.

Bifrost Guardians series - Mickey Zucker Reichert - time travel (vietnam to fantasy land), light read but fun.

Dark Heart - Margaret Weis & David Baldwin - modern day mystery with fantasy elements thrown in.

If you like vampire erotica, my girlfriend loves all the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton.

I also second the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R R Martin, probably my favoritest fantasy series.

If this thread doesn't have enough books for you to read please let us know .. I have another 20 or so to recommend. :) Though, if someone is looking for specific genre's I'm sure everyone can chip in more.

I couldn't remember the name of this series last night.

Series: Mageworlds (#1 is Price of the Stars) by Debra Doyle, James D. MacDonald - Space opera with magic ala the force. Borrows some from Star Wars (like Wookies).

I am sure to post more on this thread...

The Selfish Gene.  Richard Dawkins.  If you have advanced high school biology you can read this book, it is very lay friendly.  Despite being lay friendly, it is a classic among scientists concerned with behavior, evolution and anthropology.  Very simply written, it brings a whole new way of looking at social systems as a product of the unit of selection in evolution - the single gene.  Some of this may sound "old hat" to some of you, but this book is 25 years old now and was monumental in building this point of view today.  There is a great discussion here on the "battle of the sexes" and how the risks of reproduction are not shared across species, and how that leads to gender specific behaviors etc.

The First Three Minutes.  Steven Weinberg.  Weinberg received the Nobel prize for his work in physics and this book is approachable by those with a good lay understanding of physics and cosmology (early undergraduate physics).  The book is only 150 pages long or and is widely hailed as classic.  It was the first work to marshal available evidence around the "Big Bang" theory as a "good theory" rather than "the best we have at the moment".  With each chapter in the book, it describes the decreasing temperatures of the universe as it expands.  With each major shift in the temperature of the universe, larger particles appear and unitary forces fracture into larger groups we describe today.  The early universe that is so dense it is comprised of "liquid light" was fascinating - if not impossible to imagine.

Black Athena.  Martin Bernal (Volume 1).    This is the first in a 4 volume series that is a serious scholarly work.  I read the first volume.  It is a fascinating argument, espoused by the leading proponent of this view, that much of what we ascribe to classical Greece was taken from Egypt (gods, belief systems etc.).  Despite the professional scope of the book for those in the field, I found it approachable as a lay person to the field.  The book offers other insights along the way.  For example, some societies in Ancient times were far more cosmopolitan than we imagined.  His speculations on racism are also of great interest.  Bernal points out how our notions of Greek culture and its contributions to the Western world were formed during the height of colonialism, and as such our vision of history during Ancient times needs to be revisited given clear bias during the inception of this period in our acadmic systems.  The author also makes an intriguing claim, that racism was not really a phenomena until colonialism.  Not endorsing all the views in the book, but it certainly makes one think.

Manufacturing Consent.  Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman.   Chomsky received the nobel prize for his work in linguistics providing evidence for the biological basis of grammatical structures that are culturally invariant.  Not content to stop there, the past 30 years of his life have built a substantial reputation (largely unpopular) of US bias in looking at the rest of the world (he is focused on the US but these problems apply elsewhwere as well).  The first chapter in this book does a great job explaining his model.  Chomsky is not arguing that there is high level conspiracy, but proceeds to explain through issues such as corporate ownership and the mechanics of the media, how we never receive any real information about events in the world other than the standard view despite existing in a democratic society.  

Animal Thinking.  David Griffin.  This book haunts me to this day and I have my phd in neuroscience.  Completely lay friendly, Griffin leaps to the defense of the animal world and argues that almost all life is capable of sentient thought or consciousness.  This includes insects.  A large part of this book points to tool use behaviors by various animals and some intriguing experiments with chimpanzees involving mirrors to illustrate self awareness.  He argues that the fact smaller animals or insects "appear dumb or robotic" is a anthropromorphic bias.  It is our inability to relate to such creatures with biology so different than our own we impose unrealistic standards on what consitutes "intelligent" behavior.  We fail to recognize what intelligent behavior might be by the standards of living creatures that deal with environments very different than our own.  He also makes some simplistic arguments how the underlying neural underpinnings in even insects may support higher level functions we reserve for larger life forms, including humans.  Delightful and disturbing read for meat eaters.

Biophilia.  Edward O. Wilson.  Absolutely one of the greatest biologist living in our time and one of our greatest scientists living in our time.  Biophilia - "love of life".  To put this in perspective, his career started with a monumental work on Insect Societies in which he discovered "phermones" (chemical signals ants use to coordinate activities), now included in perfumes (since it was discovered phermones can be sexual attractants) and practically a household concept today.  Lay friendly and very short, this is an emotional book by a prolific scientist about the value of biodiversity to our society as a whole and its impact on our cognitive development as we mature.  In the last 15 years Wilson has become the leading authority on placing estimates on biodiversity and briefly refers to his publications in this area to give the reader a feel for the uncharted magnitude of this task, what threatens it and how that might impact society.

Genetic Takeover and the Mineral Origins of Life.  Cairns Smith.  This book is not lay friendly and requires advanced knowledge of geology and evolution.  You should have basic undergraduate level chemistry and molecular biology under your belt. This book is interdisciplinary in some regards.  The argument is one of the most audacious and fascinating ideas I have seen:  the first systems that were life like on our planet were silcon based, not carbon, and were derived from the repilicative properties of clay.  In other words, the first replicative systems were not nucleic acid based, but relied on a precursor system of clay.  The stone age versio of a gun was not a gun of stone, but a stone itself.  In looking at life today we try to imagine simplified forms of it in  the early phases of evolution, rather than thinking of entirely new systems that may have been scaffholding to what we see today.  The audacity of this outrageous idea is matched only by the rigor of the book in going through mechanics and possible history of this event.  You don't have to "agree" with the author, but he does an exquisite job in marshalling disparate areas of research to support his theory.

The Histories.  Herodotus.   I have been reading this damn thing for years - it is taking me forever to get through it.  It is a really tough read for me.  Written in about 250 BC or so - Herodotus is regarded has man's first true "historian".  He is also referred to as the "Father of Lies" since he writes of things in first hand account he could not have possibly have had any knowledge of.  This is actually 9 books putting at about 700 pages or so.  The book is hard read unless you really have a solid grasp of Greek politics in Ancient times in addition to the pantheons surrounding the culture.  But reading such an account gives some neat little insights.  For example, Herodotus mentions that men of earlier times were shorter than they are now.  Very interesting - since we say that now too - but with a lot more at our disposal to support it.  His accolades to Egypt as the spiritual center of the world is also interesting - and have been cited by Martin Bernal (above - Black Athena) in talking about the cultura exchange between Egypt and Greece.  For the dungeons and dragons fans - Herodotus takes time to describe in detail something that has always dumbfounded archeologists:  winged serpents in Egypt.  Nobody has any idea what the hell he is talking about there.  Tough read, for me, but a fascinating account by possiblly our earliest historian ever.

From Beirut to Jerusalem.  Thomas Friedman.   The premise of this book is at first dubious - an American Jew providing an objective account of affairs in the Middle East.  He won me over after the first few chapters.  Mr. Friedman does a wonderful job not only displaying an even handed approach to the problems of the region, but in making its complex history manageable to lay readers that are completely unfamiliar with what the hell is going on (this was my first introduction to the problems of the region).  If I recall - the author talks about his journeys in the area during the 1980's when he was working as a journalist for the New York Times.  The book has been udpated with additional chapters.  He has some great cultural anecdotes in the book and really gives you a deeper sense of the political landscape in the area.  This book was written shortly after the Isreali invasion of Lebenanon - so there is a lot of discussion around Lebonese politics.  While Lebonese politics may seem less relevant to today's affairs, his description of the various factions is quite illustrative of the problems that pervade thinking in the region.

Neural Darwinism.  Gerald Edelman.   Well, I can put one book in here from my specialty.  Edelman recieved the Nobel prize for his work in immunology and then shifted his research interests to neural modelling.  He has written a series of books now on his views of brain function, and I think this is his best work.  You would need advanced undergraduate biology for this read.  His vision for brain function has captured the imagination of many.  He uses concepts from evolution, such as group selection, to describe how the brain can organize itself into functional neuronal groups that compete for input in the course of learning.  When amputation occurs (e.g. you lose an arm), these neuronal groups compete for input from other sensory regions - giving rise the "phantom limb" sensation.  This is the report by amputees that they can still "feel" their missing arm.  He then talks about how the competition between these neural groups can occur at multiple levels of the nervous system through feedback loops.  Shameless plug:  I tested this second aspect of his model and published several papers on it as my phd thesis.  His ideas appeared to be correct - input from higher levels of the nervous system is critical for enabling learning at lower levels of the nervous system. 

Demon Haunted World.  Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.  Sagan's last book, he is well known for his promotion of science to the public with an emphasis on astronomy.  The central thesis of this this book is a lot of fun:  the reports of alien spaceships by people in the media is the product of a mass hallucination in our society.  This sounds just as preposteros as the claim of alien citings - but Sagan and Druyan do a great job explaining how this works.  I howled as Sagan compared the descriptions of Aliens involved in abductions and landings in the US and compared those to reports in Europe.  Apparently, completely different alien species visit the two geographic regions.  Sagan also discusses the rampant reports of Angel visitations several hundred years ago, and how that has been supplanted by alien visitations today.  Nice light read with some great critical insight.

The Culture of Contentment.  John Kenneth Galbraith.   Galbraith is one of the most revered economists in the world.  This book is very short and a light read.  He focuses on the US electoral process.  His argument is that only those groups of people well served by the policies of elected administrations over the past several decades both to vote.  They are the "contented".  Those not content are voting less over time.  He ties this back to the paucity of political candidates representing a broader spectrum of opinions and vision.  In his view, democracy is failing those increasingly marginalized by our society.  The absence of clear political choices (barring our the last election) exaceberates this problem further.

A very interesting read.  For a conflicting viewpoint,  try "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" by David Landes.

Basically,  Diamond argues that geography and distribution of natural resources (including domesticatable plant and animal species) led to increased historical development.  Landes argues for societal/cultural make-up,  along with political organization, accelerated some societies. 

For a classic:  "Mutiny on the Bounty"  Great read.  If you find yourself very interested by the premise of the story,  check out "The Bounty",  a look at the history behind the actual event.  Basically tries to sync up historical record with the fictional account.  I bogged down in the last 1/3 of the book, but he first half was engrossing.

Also you could try "Into Thin Air".  A journalist's first hand account of the deaths/disaster on Everest a few years ago.  Lays some blame on guide Anatoli Boukreev (sp?),  who responded with his own account "The Climb" (had a ghost writer).

I've tried reading that damn book at least a half dozen times. It's like elven C-SPAN.

/agree

I just cannot do it. I can read tome after dry tome on the French Revolution, but I start to snore when I open the Silmarillion.

I start to snore when I open the Lord of the Rings.

I've gotten away from fiction lately.  Maybe I'm burned out on it for now, since one of my two bookshelves is filled top to bottom with it, and the other is making a serious effort to compete.  Right now I'm "reading" several books for work (programming stuffs), and for leisure, a book on the history of assassins and templars (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/089281859X/qid=1109602098/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-7778474-4945458?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).  This one is fairly decent - the last I read was on the same period, but was so terribly boring even for me that I've yet to finish it.  This one is good enough that I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the period.


Well, that was sort of the point.  Silmarillion was never intended to be for publication or general consumtion.  Tolkien wanted to create something that was more or less on par with the ancient epics, like Beowulf.  Mixed in with that however was a desire to represent the history that he'd been working over - a roadmap to how things got to where we were in LotR.  That's why there are a ton of references to things in LotR that you really don't know anything about unless you read Silmarillion, and a large part of what makes the trillogy so culture-rich. 

It's a book that's only really enjoyable to people that enjoy that type of book, or people who dearly love Tolkien / LotR.  It's not a "good" book in the sense that most people would hate it.  It is a good book in the sense that it is a fantastic companion to anyone who loves Tolkien or what he worked on. 

It took me multiple tries, but I finally got through it.  It was well worth it though.

A big part of it is knowing what all the terms mean.  I think a big reason it's dry is that you keep expecting him to explain what a Vala or Maia or petty-dwarf is.  If you really do want to read it, I recommend looking up the terms (good reference (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/)) as they occur.

Re: Life of Pi.  I started listening to this on audiobook because I had nothing else at the moment.  It gripped me so well that I listened to the whole thing.  Amazing book IMO.

Oh, that reminds me, I am "reading" some books on CD.  Just listen to them on the way to/from work.  At present listening to High Country, by Nevada Barr.  It's the third I've gotten ahold of so far (Flashback and Deep South being the others).  They're starting to sound a bit formulaic, but better than the same recycled music on the radio.

They're cheesy as hell, but I admit to a certain guilty pleasure in reading them...until the end of the last book, when it felt like the author didn't know where to go with it and just copped out on the ending.  That wrecked it for me; I've never had the desire to go look at them again.

Recently finished Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. If you liked Alchemist this one is a must read.

Good book.  I really liked Shadow Divers (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375508589/qid=1109613539/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6838973-4083905?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) for a good non-fiction read.  I also just finished To Hell and Back (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805070869/qid=1109613605/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-6838973-4083905?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

I am currently in a Lovecraft phase with my fiction, so I am delving into his writings right now.

I'm probably wierd, but I enjoyed The Silmarillion on its own merits, apart from Tolkien's other works.  The style of writing is reminiscent of more classic literature, though a bit disjointed.  There's something about reading grand history that moves me, even if its fictional.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread.  Amazon and my credit card company love me now.

I love grand history. I love high fantasy. For some reason, I cannot get through the Silmarillion. Perhaps I'll try it again this year. I'll make it a New Year's resolution (have kept all of them thus far so I need at least one to break ;).

Currently reading Blink (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316172324/qid=1109621357/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-8556710-6907061), by Malcolm Gladwell. Short read and quite interesting.

I haven't been reading much the last few years, but I'm a fairly avid reader otherwise. And I do work in a library.

Hyperion was good, so was the Rucluse series. I also like Ray Feist's work, including the stuff with Janny Wurts (one librarian argues that's his best), excepting the Krondor: trilogy (I think there were three of them, thin and bland).

My favorite fantasy series is probably the Black Company by Glen Cook. Epic global war between undead wizards told from the point of view of a medic in a mercenary company. Goblin, One-Eye and Silent - some of the best wizards ever. I gotta go back and read these again, I've heard he's been writing some new ones.
Lovecraft pwns me, my favorite overall author. One thing I really miss is my rare full set of thin hardcovers with painted covers, had all his printed works at the time, I think it was done in the early 60s.

Christ almight, what happened to [the set]?

Due to your earlier recommendation, I picked up the first book in the Black Company series.  Early on, I really really didn't like it much.  It was kind of like my early impression A Song of Fire and Ice.   Farther in though, it's just golden.  One of the best and most unique pieces of fantasy literature I've ever read.  I really should go back and pickup some more of his works but currently I'm stumbling through the rest of the Dark Tower series by King.  These books (Dark Tower) have a way of losing momentum very quickly. 

As for Lovecraft, I think it took me playing "Eternal Darkness" to finally appreciate his writing.  Before it felt like reading stereo instructions.  Perhaps now I can go back and read the Silmarillion.  I think last time I tried, it felt like one of the most boring, plodding works I've ever attempted.  The early part of Les Miserables was more digestable than that.  Made Neal Stephenson read like Harry Potter.  (I really didn't like Snowcrash that much.  The heady linguistics crap just didn't resonate with me at all and bored the piss out of me at times. )

Hehe.  Reading Tolken to me is like reading a chemistry book upside down, a practice I left in Highschool and have no desire to ever return too.

Nice thing about Lovecraft is when you look at Robert E Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs you can see the interconnection these arthors had with each other.

Because of the great recommendations in this thread, amazon.com and my Mastercard company are going to shit when they see my next order.

In before Dark Tower.

Now for my suggestions:

Read the Dark Tower. I'm reading Song of Ice and Fire, and it's not grabbing me like DT did. Of course, I"m just into book six on the Dark Tower series, so hey.

Second to Hyperion.

If you haven't, read Thomas Harris.

Bret Ellis is also great, if incredibly insane.

Classics I can recommend out the wazoo.

It's cliche now, but read anything by Hunter S. Thompson. Don't start with Fear and Loathing, or you'll be That Guy.

Lovecraft is also the shit. I'd recommend Lurker at the Threshold as a good starter. The man's gift for mood is uncanny.

This is so true, it's kinda scarey. Pre-Homeric Greece was really pretty primitive until they came into contact with Egypt. Probably about half of what we know as "Ancient Greece" or "Classical Greek Culture" etc, has its roots deep within Egypt ( I want to say 19th Dynasty Egypt). It's pretty interesting if you think about it...the  Greeks (or more correctly, the Hellenes [spelling]) borrow cultural traits from Egypt, Hellenize them....and then have them borrowed by the Romans, who had an obsession with the Hellenic world.

The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russel. A must for any dark fantasy lover.

The Anita Blake series by Laurel Hamilton (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/series/-/118/paperback/ref=pd_serl_books/103-2838929-2519848) is pretty good. All kinds of supernatural beasties exist, and vampires have recently gained rights as citizens in the U.S. Blake is a reanimator (she can raise the dead so they can testify in court cases, clarify something in their will, or even so someone can say goodbye) by day, a licensed vampire hunter by night, and moonlights as a supernatural consultant for the St. Louis Police. They're mystery/thriller books with lots of gore, sex, and obnoxious vampire posing. The first books are good, the later ones seem more concerned with which supernatural creature she going to have sex with.

Tad William's Otherland series (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/series/-/133/hardcover/ref=pd_serl_books/103-2838929-2519848) is all about virtual worlds. Something in the net is causing kids to fall into comas. A bunch of people log in trying to find our what is causing it, but end up getting trapped online.

Right now I'm reading Robert Ludlum's Bourne Supremacy. How close was the movie to the book? Well, they both have a character named Jason Bourne...

[Edit: Forgot the word "close" in the last paragraph]

To simulate the nausea-inducing camerawork in TBS, read the book while sitting inside a cement mixer.

I got a couple of BN gift certs for my birthday, so I just ordered-

Sethra Lavode- Stephen Brust
Lord of Castle Black- Stephen Brust
Open: Inside the ropes at Bethpage Black- John Feinstein
Black Company (everyone keeps talking about it)-Glen Cook
Post Captain- Patrick O'Brian

Plus 1 companion book for the Patrick O'Brian series so I can understand wtf they are on about when they are describing the rigging.

I wasn't going to say Cook's name, cause I think I've been guilty of plugging him enough already.  He has two books due this spring/summer:  A new Garret novel,  and a brand new hardcover (no relation to any of his previous books, I think.  Brand new trilogy of something).  He was rumored to have a 1000 page plus manuscript for a crime novel lying around that wasn't getting published. 

Lovecraft:  Yah.  Great, great stuff.

Just read Chabon's "The Final Solution".  Meh.  Set around WW2,  with a now 90ish year old Sherlock Holmes gets dragged into a murder investigation revolving around a young Jewish boy from Germany.  Expected surprises and plot developments follow.  It's too bad,  because I really wanted to enjoy the book after "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay".

If historical fiction is your bag,  try Forester's "Hornblower" books or O'Brian's Aubrey & Marturin books.  Both naval, set around the Napoleaonic wars.  I've read most fo O'Brian's 20 plus books in the last month,  and all are fairly decent.  Some slow spots.  Personally, I prefer Forester.

I started the Black Company series with "Bleak Season" (the most recent one out at the time) and worked back through the series as I could locate the older volumes.  I prefer the later volumes, although I believe a lot of people don't care for them as much.  Maybe it's because I started reading out of order, or maybe I just like the milieu better--more of an Indian/South-east Asian feel than the standard medieval European backdrop.

The Garrett novels are great fun as well.

Mostly been reading random junk novels lately, nothing worth recommending.  David Drake's "Goddess of the Ice Realm" (part of the "Lord of the Isles" series) was entertaining enough, although it follows more or less the same formula as the rest of the "Isles" series and it's wearing a bit thin by now.

If you ever get a chance, grab the Animated Movie.  I tell you, absolutely nothing as mind twisting as watching THAT at the age of 8 or 9 when expecting something TOTALLY different (say about fluffy bunnies off on a grand adventure)

I second these. The Sparrow is an excellent book. Dark fantasy isn't quite the word I would use to describe them. They are science fiction in setting and highly anthropological in context. Very interesting books to read. They will make you think and cringe and think and cringe and think some more.

I've read most of these, Forester and O'Brian both, over the last year to year and a half or so and I gotta say that if you haven't taken the trip into Napoleanic Naval Historical Fiction you really should give it a whril.  There is some OUTSTANDING stuff in there.

Taken as a series I would have to give the nod to Forester as being a more complete and smoother experience but there are some indivdual books by O'Brian that I think really make the Hornblower stuff look second rate.  As an added bonus many of the exploits of the main characters are based on the exploits of real people during the Napoleanic Wars, if you find these stories as interesting as I did you should really do yourself and look some of them up (ex. Admiral Lord Cochrane - the nominal basis for Aubery). 

I'll second that... Wolves of the Calla (book 5) wasn't very good but I'm about halfway through Song of Susannah (6) and things are starting to pick up again. The first 4 books were all very good with only a few slow back-story parts.

I've also recently reread Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for obvious reasons. A very good read.

If you enjoy Fear and Loathing check out Hells Angels also by Thompson or Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Wolfe. Those are both good "Gonzo" journalism books. I still think Electric Kool-Aid is the best one I've read but then again that was the one I read during my heavier drug days...

I've also read the Sword of Truth series up to book seven recently. Much better than the Wheel of Time series I think. I couldn't get past WoT book 8. All the female characters just got way too annoying.

I think he only really *has* one female character that he's photocopied and given different names to.  Seriously, if they didn't have different hair colors or styles (like that goddamn braid the one keeps pulling) you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

I refuse to ever finish reading the series and that's a first for me.  I'll read some seriously bad crap just because I can't stand not knowing how said crap turned out--but not the "Wheel."

After finishing Raph's book, I'm back into reading Moby Dick. Yes, Moby Motherfucknig Dick. Because I never have and I don't feel complete. It's actually a lot better than I ever would have given it credit for. It's a shame I got rebellious about "literature" back in my high school days, as I missed some good stuff like this and Anna Karenina.

I got rebellious with litrachure when I was forced to read three Dickens novels in a single year, for a single class. In addition to the regular 9th grade curriculum, like Outsiders and light garbage like that. The only upside to that hellish year (we renamed our teacher Ms Havisham) was another required read: Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Same year Iron Maiden's Powerslave came out, so I totally 'got' the story and loved the original Coleridge work. Bonus: the bits we had to memorize were in the song and the teacher allowed me to play it for the class. A small victory for metal, being played in a scholars english room, heard all down the hall...back when there were 3 'metalheads' in our school...

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the shiznit.

Fucking Dickens should be relegated to hell where he belongs.

George R.R. Martin is still my favorite fantasy author behind Tolkien (Pratchett a close third).  I just wish he would write the fourth damn book.  His website, updated in January, says something like "I have 1300 pages completed and am working on the last five chapters in fragment form".  I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).  Given that he's said there are at LEAST two books after this, I'm worried about him dying of old age before the series is finished more than anything else.

Dickens, while a classic author on many levels, writes characters I repeatedly want to kick in the crotch. See: Great Expectations, a book where I would light every character on fire and dance on their ashes.

Totally agree on Dickens.  I love his style of writing and turn of phrase.  But the characters he comes up with are often so frustrating to read about that I want to gouge my eyes out.  I chalk it up to a different historical time, when people held themselves as prisoners of societal rules more than now and as such behaved in ways that confound Dickens' modern readers.  At least that's my current theory.

Moby Dick is one damn fine piece of fiction.  I've never figured out why, but I love that story.  It's rare to find anyone else who does though.  Most people I talk to use colorful metaphors involving body excreta when describing it.

/agree on Moby Dick. Damn fine work.

As for Dickens, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at the time he wrote authors were paid by the word. Many of his works were originally published in a serial format (i.e. a chapter per month in a periodical). This is not to say that his work is diminished in any way, just that he may have been overly "wordy" in the interest of sapping a bit more cash. Not that his words were a waste in any way, shape or form. And this still does not make up for annoying characters (not all, but some). Yada, yada, yada...

I often think Tom Wolfe studied at the school of Dickens. While writing believable characters, he too cannot seem to write any that I like.

How did you read 3000 pages in a week?

Yeah, Tom Wolfe need a fucking editor like a Hunter S. Thompson needed a fix.

Speedreading is probably my greatest academic talent.  I read 2-3 times faster than even most of my fellow law students, judging from when 2-3 of us are reading off same computer screen and they tell me to stop scrolling so fast.

I bet most people could easily finish 3,000 pages in a week.  It really isn't that much, but with modern distractions and timesinks people have forgotten just how much they can read.  Quit watching TV and playing games for a week, and you'd be surprised :)

My copy of Hyperion is 481 pages, and I finished it in a day and a half.  One of my buddies did the first 4 books of Wheel of Time in about a week.  Neither of us are speed readers.

Bet he can't do the last 4 anywhere near the quickly, what with all the breaks to pinch yourself awake, beat your head against a wall to relieve the tedium, and whatnot.

That's only a bit more than 400 pages per day....I can crank out ~1000 on a good day with a damn good book. I easily read Timeline in a single sitting at some point in high school. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679444815/qid=1109721570/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-2515674-9788720

Don’t forget a 40 hour a week job. So I can afford to buy these books I don’t have time to read.

/agree, I can't afford to read books any faster than I do now

I work 40 hours per week, sometimes more and I still manage to pound out several hundred pages per day. Mind you, my girlfriend and I do not keep a television in our house, but between yoga, cleaning and a couple other hobbies, I find the time to read.

I don't get the Dickens hate.

He is fantastic.

 :|

Not in 9th grade when you're forced to read several of his novels. He may be good, but I'll never know because of my earlier scarring.

The Hyperion books were good in a Space Opera format. The Endyminon were the WORST sequels I have ever read. They take the plot of the first 2 books, rip it up, trample it and do ugly things to the remains. It ends in a Deus Ex Machine and featuers a narrator you want to strangle for being so stupid.


I read a few of hi(9?) books out of order, and didn't seem to miss much, which might be a plus. Note his single story books are based on the same plot everytime, be it SF or fantasy.

To prevent this from being compltly negative, I reccomenad Iain M Banks SF novel's. Very well writtin.

Dickens writes in an era that few Americans can understand due to the ideas that we created of a country without classes. Some of the aspects of that period of British history simply don't translate well into our minds. That is why I find many of the characters frustrating because they are bound by forces that we simply rejected in our culture.

He is also very slow in his prose, although extremely eloquent. Compare him to the style of Alexander Dumas. I can read 1200 pages of Dumas and be flipping away happily. If you made me read 1200 pages of Dickens I'd want to die.

I'm currently reading No Place To Hide by Robert O'Harrow, Jr.  It's about private and governmental data mining/profiling/etc.  Very interesting if you're into privacy.  Sadly, I'm reading it for a "scholarly review" to be published in my LL.M. program's IT & Computer Law journal, so I find myself being overly snarky about certain aspects of the book. 

It's very informative, but at the same time, I think the author wastes too much time trying to discredit the players in the industry by bringing up allegations of misbehavior in the past.  He also tends to strike a rather "tinfoil hat" tone that annoys me.  Also, please don't use "nascent" 3 times in the first chapter if you expect to appeal to a mass market.

My favorite writer is probably Dostoevsky. Yet, 19th century Russia is more foreign than 19th century England in every way.

It's not that I find Dickens' stories and characters to be foreign and remote -- it's that I simply find them to be (as someone else already stated) unlikeable. I think I'm able comprehend him as well one could (And just to mention: I'm a student of acting. Trying to understand cultures and people other than myself is part of what I do...Not to say I'm entirely successful in accomplishing that, but I do make the effort).

Also worth mentioning: I don't like Tolstoy for similar reasons. He was a comtemporary of Dostoevsky. Same culture, same language, but an entirely different choice in subject matter. One which does not appeal to me.

I can read Russian lit like Tolstoy and love it. Try to make me read Dickens and I'll give you a rendition of "Ode to the Nutshot." Ain't happening. I'd rather have sweaty mansex with half the posters on this board, and I do not like the cock. I LOATHE Dickens. I read Henry James recently with little problems, other than the desire to slap the shit out of all the main characters for being such idiotic tools. A Christmas Carol is mildly entertaining. Anything longer gets me stabby. I feel like the man abuses the English language with the sin of gluttony. He feeds the dictionary fetish until it is engorged, slothful and easy prey, then he feeds it some more. I don't think it has anything to do with class roles; I read Balzac, Zola and Flaubert for enjoyment, and they deal with many of the same class issues. Dickens is just a torturous read.

When I'd rather read Henry James than an author, SOMETHING IS WRONG.

On the other hand, at least Dickens isn't a pedophiliac hack like Piers Anthony.

Almost forgot the other book I'm reading right now, one of the best books I've ever read: On Food and Cooking, the Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Simply an amazing book, and an essential read for anyone who enjoys cooking or is interested in knowing more about what they eat.

Okay, everyone, admit it. You're wondering which half category you fall into.

I know which half you fall into...now.

I have to say that the Hyperion sequels did get progressively worse, kind of turning into a data dump at the end. Has anyone read anything else by Simmons? Like Song of Kali? I also remember he put out a book of horror short stories but I'm having trouble figuring out what it was called.

I said in another thread that Cordwainer Smith is great, I'll repeat that here. Some wacky, cool stuff.

Also, I really most of the stuff written by Robert E. Howard of Conan fame. Conan and Solomon Kane in particular. BUT NEVER EVER read a Conan knock-off story!

Pretty much everything he's written. If you like horror, you must read Carrion Comfort. His newest, Ilium, is quite good as well, as mentioned upthread, but if you've read all of Hyperion/Endymion, you'll be wise to his tricks. And, the story doesn't end, there is a sequel that he's still writing, so that's a bit frustrating. I just keep reading him because his imagination is fucking enviable in the extreme.

I picked up Black Company because of this thread. If it sucks I will be most displeased. So far the first 25 pages is interesting, though.

I've read everything I can get my hands on by Simmons.  Hyperion is my favorite thing he's done, and the sequels are fairly good.  Carrion Comfort and Song of Kali are both very good as well.

Simmons is also one of the best short fiction writers I know.  Prayers to Broken Stones is an anthology of his short stories.  One or two of them still make me afraid of the dark.

Any recommendation of Simmons's work need to contain this disclaimer though:  Simmons definitely writes science horror, not pure science fiction.  Think Lovecraft with a phaser rifle.  That's not for everyone.  Just be prepared for some unusual blendings of fiction styles.

Also, if you like horror, you should be ashamed if you haven't already read Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. There are few things as good to me as a big fat fucking brick of a scary book that gives you nightmares for weeks. McCammon has written some other good horror novels, such as Mine and Stinger, but Swan Song is easily his apocalypic, blow-the-shit-out-of-the-Earth-with-nuclear-weapons masterpiece.

I don't know why, but McCammon disappeared for over a decade. He's back with his newest, Speaks the Nightbird, which is not horror, but is quite good.

He also put out a short story collection called Lovedeath, which had some horror stories in it.

I loved the Hyperion books, will have to look up his new one.

McCammon is great as well.  One of my favorites by him is his collection of short stories, Blue World. One of the short stories reminds me of the Watchmen, with an old serial moviestar putting on his old superhero costume to track down a serial killer. Usher's Passing is good too, creepy and reminded me of Lovecraft.

If you can find it, look for a short story anthology called Midnight Graffiti.  It has a short story by Gaiman that is still my favorite to this day, named "Murder Mysteries"  Great detective story featuring angels.  Also has works by J. Michael Straczynski and others.  Great book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446363073/qid=1109951811/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-6787323-4712821?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


Edit:  Browsing Amazon and just found a graphic novel of the same short story I mentioned above.  Wow.

So, the first of my 2 Barnes & Noble orders has arrived. All 3 books I ordered were on the packing slip, and the order included 3 books. 2 were correct. The 3rd, however, was a bit wide of the mark. I ordered this:

(http://a1204.g.akamai.net/7/1204/1401/03112610011/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/7140000/7140005.jpg)



Instead, I got this-

(http://a1204.g.akamai.net/7/1204/1401/04021317011/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/7400000/7409697.jpg)


Are they trying to tell me something??

Now THAT is pricless.








Um, can I borrow it when you're done?

Moment of genius? Or accidental genius?

Good answer either way.

Hope that new book helps!  :evil:

That's akin to getting emails that say "Increase your manhood 25%!" and thinking, WAIT, THEY DON'T KNOW ME!

That is classic.

Lots of good stuff in this thread. Simmons and McCammon are by far my two favorite horror authors. The new McCammon Nightbird books were a change of pace from his usual stuff, but really a good read. Kind of a historical/murder mystery/horror blend. Carrion Comfort is likely my favorite Simmons.

Currently reading Gibson's newest - Patern Recognition.

Spent most of the last month on an airplane on business, and when I fly I need books. Lots of em.  On a suggestion from someone here, I checked out Laurell K Hamilton's vampire novels. Honestly, they are total fluff, but addictive as hell. Picture murder mysteries set in the White Wolf world of Darkness, but without the Masquerade, and with exhorbent amounts of sex.

Going to pick up Ilium for my next trip, later in the week.

Ugh....  Hamilton....   The books start off with a decent premise,  but it turns into alot of macho-female wish fullfillment.  All of the interesting moral dilemmas have been thrown by the board (Blake's relation to the Church/religion, dealing with here feelings on her family and relationships/monogamy,  differences between monsterish behavior by humans/human behavior from monsters) in return for alot of multiple male sex and power inflation that's pretty nuts.  And the awful male stereotypes...

But the first few books are interesting.

Kelly Armstrong deals with similar issues in the modern world with alot more meat and less...  whatever it is Hamilton has.

Tax season....   I pretty much go through 4 or 5 books a week,  so I end up reading alot of junk I don't particularly like....

I'll pump "The Prince of Nothing" series though.  It's Dune, set in a fantasy world with the equivalent of the First Crusade going on.  And of course,  nameless evil is coming but everyone is too busy slaughtering each other to pay attention.  Great stuff, very smart.  I think the author just got his Phd in philosophy,  and it shows.

"Better" mindless reading are most of Gemmel's books.  Geat mindless reading,  entertaining.  Not high literature.

Anne Bishop's "Dark Jewels" trilogy is decent.  Dark fantasy,  more modern setting.  Alot of strong male and female characters,  but less of the female-as-male bizarre wish fullfillment.

For the record:  the male version of it really turned me off to Jordan's Wheel of Time.  When Rand'al-whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is started screwing around with more than two women it pretty much killed any decent basis for developing the characters/relationships.

I agree fully that Hamilton went a little off the deep end in the last few books, but they still work for me on a fluff reading level - which is exactly what I'm looking for when I'm reading on a plane. Reading something like Gibson like I am right now takes too much concentration to do when Im flying.

I like a certain mix of adult content in my fantasy occasionally, but Hamilton has reached the point of devoting entire chapters to one act of sex. Oh well, its still entertaining :)

If anyone wants to recomend any writers in the fantasy/sci-fi genre that delve in to some more mature themes than the standard fare, I'd love to hear it.

And before it happens, no one needs to bring up Gor...