Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

I am interested to know what are some good books but if people recommend what they think i should read when they don't know me sounds like it wouldn't work.

What is the best book YOU have read?
That would help me out.
Thanks :)

Sounds like you need a trip to Listopia! Take your pick:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/sc...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/fa...

if i had to pick one then i need a lot more time to think but off the top of my head it would have to be Ubik.

Ask me tomorrow and i will no doubt choose something else but i love PKD and this book in particular.

It's an awfully big question, looking back over an awful lot of books, probably Lord of the Rings, judging by the number of times I've re-read it, but some of Pratchett will run it close :-)

Oh Ubik is a great choice, I love it but for some reason don't always think of it when asked about a great book.
Also, Hyperion just blew my mind.

I second the recommendation for 'Rings'. But whether you'll enjoy it or not depends on if you like reading rich and complex, but lengthy novels.

One book? Impossible. 100 would be hard. Compare books with some people here. If you have similar tastes, go to their bookshelves, sort for the 5 star reads & then look at the shelves that interest you. Read reviews for some of them. Do that for 10 people & I'll bet you find a dozen that we all picked as tops. That's a good place to start.

My favorite would be Lord of the rings but it's not the best book i've read. Paladin of souls and Curse of Chalion both by Lois McMaster Bujoldare probably the best books i've read overall.

Bryan wrote: "Oh Ubik is a great choice, I love it but for some reason don't always think of it when asked about a great book.
Also, Hyperion just blew my mind."

i think its the one book where the ending has left me wondering just what happened, who was alive and who was in half-life or where they all?

its also one of those few books my girlfriend and pal have read so we can chat about it but we still cant agree or decide on the ending. It has that quality for me anyway.

Dune

Michele wrote: "Dune"

now there's one i could list tomorrow... my most read book. Still never made my way through the series and stopped at God Emperor of Dune. I might try to continue as i own up to Chapterhouse: Dune

The best books that I have read so far in my life are The Lord of the Rings triology and Dune.

For me it's wheel of time, it's frustrating sometimes but it's still my favourite.

There are a lot of great books out there, but nothing has ever come close to Lord of the Rings. Tolkien created a monolith, and it seems like all the other fantasy authors just caper about in the shadow of that monument, gibbering and throwing bananas.

Of course it's an impossible question but it is also a fun one.

I should just say Dune because it blew me away. Buuut...

I'm going to keep this in science fiction and fantasy since you asked this in this discussion group and I'm going to toss out Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Thought provoking, extremely well written, a great, great hero, and Zelazny turns the whole notion of good and evil upside down. And yes, I liked it more than Lord of the Rings.

I have trouble counting to one so...


Monster Hunter International series
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
The Martian
Ender's Game entire series
Armor
Year Zero
Expanse series
14
Live Free or Die series

I'm not sure where in the list to place The Frontiers Saga because it's still in progress. Loving it so far, but only 10 of 75(!) episodes have been released.

I should probably also mention that I experienced all these books as audiobooks, which were all well done. I feel a great narrator adds to the experience.

Christopher wrote: "There are a lot of great books out there, but nothing has ever come close to Lord of the Rings. Tolkien created a monolith, and it seems like all the other fantasy authors just caper about in the shadow of that monument, gibbering and throwing bananas. ..."

You,Sir, are a writer

Thanks, Jim. If I had to choose, though, I'd rather be a reader (but still throw an occasional banana).

For me it's Dune as others have stated. Superbly crafted book that always had my mind absorbed into the story. 1984 was good too.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Without a doubt it's Lord of the Rings. :)

If it's just one book, then Dune.

If a bunch is allowed, then most of David Weber and David Drake's books.

I like LOTR a lot, but if I had to chose, then Dune would still win. There is so much that you just glimpse in the book that leaves you wondering and thinking even after all these year of reading and re-reading.

V.W. wrote: "If it's just one book, then Dune.

If a bunch is allowed, then most of David Weber and David Drake's books.

I like LOTR a lot, but if I had to chose, then Dune would still win. There is so much th..."

Very true. I think Dune is probably my second favourite. The first time I read it I was pretty lost. I didn't really appreciate it until my second read. Now it's been probably over 6 years, so definitely time for a reread!

You can't just name one book. At the time I read them, I considered the following books the best book I ever read, because they were precisely what I wanted to read at that time:
Dune
Lord of the Rings
Last of the Mohicans
Day of the Jackal
Foundation Trillogy
Jungle Book
Wool
Neuromancer

Gilgamesh the King
A great book

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, but I guess that's pretty obvious by now. LOL I've read it four times and I get new things out of it each time I read it. It's a book you can live in for a while.

Have to admit, I've never been an LOTR fan. Never made it through the third book and I never was able to read them at all before the movies came out and I was sick enough to get through all three. I just never liked Tolkien's writing style much. Knowing the story line helped me push through that.

books i read at a young age left big impressions...there are many children's books i still love, like the Doctor Dolittle series...i also loved The Foundation Trilogy, LotR, ect. I also loved all the Star Trek books (the James Blish and Alan Dean Foster adaptations mostly)...When HARILY was One by Gerrold made a big impact...too many to list. What I really loved tho were short story collections...loved me some short stories, particularly by Fredric Brown :D

anyone rember that series from del Rey books, The Best of -----? it was a paperback series, back about the late 70s or so...all the great old masters got their own short story collection...i got everyone i could find, all weekend r awesome. :)

Spooky1947 wrote: "anyone rember that series from del Rey books, The Best of -----? it was a paperback series, back about the late 70s or so...all the great old masters got their own short story collection...i got ev..."

I had a few of these back when they came out. Over the years I've picked up a lot more at used book stores. I think I have about 20 of them.

In the last 20 years I have read an average of well over 100 books a year. There is a fair amount of variety in that but there are dozens and dozens of favorites.

If you had rated more books in Good Reads we would have more to go on in recommending favorites that might tie in with your tastes. Without that it is a pretty tough task to accurately predict which of our favorites might be your favorites too.

The only book you gave 5 stars to I spotted was Harry Potter. From that you might want to check out some Howl's Moving Castle, The Secret of Platform 13 or possibly even Magician.

I do think Dune is an excellent SF novel to start with. It is many people's favorite, it works on many levels and I know of few people who have not at least really enjoyed it.

A personal favorite in recent years is The Drowning Girl it is a book that just blew me away. No idea though whether it is your cup of tea but you can always try reading a sample either downloaded onto an e-reader or on your computer screen and see if it is your type of book.

The Black Company by Glen Cook gets my vote. Though it was tough to pick between that and LOTR.

The Count of Monte Cristo. It's not SFF but it's my favorite. I read it every year.

The Lord of the Rings for me, no question at all.

Would you consider George Orwell's '1984' to be sci-fi? If so, then it has my vote. If not '1984', it's probably J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'. If you're a wide reader, my comment probably hasn't helped much so sorry about that!

The Magus by John Fowles. It is very mysterious and makes you feel like you're on a Greek holiday, whether you are or not. It is a sort of fantasy too, I'd say.

As someone else said, there's no way to pick a single book - I wouldn't even try. That said, some favorites (both older and contemporary, and limited to SF/Fantasy) are:

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
The Dead God trilogy by Richard Lee Byers
Sandman Slim series - Richard Kadrey
The Stand - Stephen King
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
A Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones)
Jurassic Park
The Anvil of the World - Kage Baker
Just about anything by Jack Vance...

Mika wrote: "Such an impossible question.Some of the best I've read include;
A Game of Thrones
Time Shifters
A Clockwork Orange
Tamed
[book:The Eyes of..."

Funny how tastes are so subjective. A Clockwork Orange made me want to gouge out my eyes. But it's the fave of a BUNCH of my friends. Makes me wonder how we ended up friends in the first place with tastes that are such polar opposites.

Bryan wrote: "Oh Ubik is a great choice, I love it but for some reason don't always think of it when asked about a great book.
Also, Hyperion just blew my mind."

Ive bought Hyperion & The Fall of Hyperion so will get back to you on that.

The best book ive read this year has been Neverwhere.

I really enjoyed a couple of books. Ender's Game for one. And most of Orson Scott Card's work. Hitchhikers's guide to the galaxy. Also the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. LOTR was, quite frankly, unenjoyable for me. Dune was ok. And I also liked Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.