Reddit mentions: The best mystery & suspense action books

Funny you should ask. I'm a novelist in this genre as well, and I've done a bit of research on the market. As you might imagine, this is a fairly niche space. I'd probably be making more money if I wrote vampire romances, but you gotta write what you love, right?


Anyhow, the advice about the Fantasy>Superheroes category on Amazon is real good. There are a lot of books directly tied to licensed properties, like DC and Marvel characters, but I can't tell you much about those since I work in my own universe. There are also excellent lists on GoodReads. Here are some of the examples I used to figure out my keywords and categories (I haven't read any of these yet, but they're on my list):


Soon I will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. I hear this is awesome.

Confessions of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer.

Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story by Michel Crider.

Meta by Tom Reynolds.

The Second Super by Logan Rutherford.

ULTRA (The Last Hero Book 1) by Matt Blake.


And, I hope this isn't a violation of the self-promotion rules (if it is, please let me know and I'll edit this out), but I can't help but add my own novel, The Hero Beat!

For a quick read: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Great story, hilarious, lots of layers, if you want to go looking for them. Fun read even if not.

Two excellent novels that you might identify with. Both long, but fantastic:

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Novel about a young officer in the Vietnam war (around your age), based on the author's experiences. Great book, long, but very engaging and entertaining read.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts: Just go to the amazon page, can't do it justice here, fantastic book.

A cool part about these is that each could be considered a "Roman a clef" (should be some accents there), at least loosely, as both are based to some degree on actual events in the author's lives. Though liberties are certainly taken, still neat to remember.

Here's a few that won't get mentioned since it seems like people are only putting down books they had to read for school.

Shantaram - Fictional but based off author being an escaped Australian convict who joins the Bombay mafia.

Catch Me If You Can - Read this years ago. It's supposed to be true but apparently a lot of it is just tale tales. Don't care, most fun I've had reading a book.

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter - Finally, a smart book about video games that won't insult your intelligence. All gamers who care about the games they play should read this. It also does a great job on showing where the industry is failing creatively. God I loved this book.

Anything by Chuck Klosterman - He's funny, smart and writes on deep philosophical/sociological ideas by talking about Saved By The Bell and other pop culture ideas.

This is a lovely way to remember your mom :) She sounds like she was a lovely person and raised a lovely child :)

My Mom is always cool and calm, and always ready for a laugh. She takes shit from nobody, and doesn't give a rats ass what you think about her. I strive to be more like her :)

this book is about dinosaurs and I haven't read it yet :) Used, please!

"Hey Bean!"

Some of the best books I've read came from people recommending them to me. Please don't ever feel terrible for asking.

It might be a good idea to start with some fun books:

• Matthew Reilly's Ice Station is like an action movie in book form.
  
  
• Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a fun, fantastic, silly ride.
  
  
• Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is just a great series that gets better with each successive book.
  
  
• Dean Koontz Life Expectancy is one of my favorite books.

You might be interested in Pierce Brown's Red Rising series if you haven't tried it already. I felt it started slow, and had more of a YA feel than I would normally go for, but it shifted gears and became interesting. The second book, Golden Son is actually better than the first, and I'd say it's one of the top 3 SF of last year.

William Forstchen finally came out with One Year After, the sequel to his influential post-apoc One Second After.

Michael J. Sullivan's The Age of Myth is the first book in an enjoyable new series. It's set in the same world as his Riyria series, but in an earlier age.

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer is a rich SF, dense with ideas. It's cultural immersion SF, so it takes a couple of chapters to really understand what's going on, but then you're off to the races. A shoe-in for the awards shortlists.

On the lighter side, David Wong's Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is very enjoyable.

Ream.de by Neal Stephenson. My favorite living sci fi author. It’s not his best ( I preferred Snow crash, cryptonomicon, anathem, seven eves and the baroque cycle, and put this on par with Diamond Age and Rise and Fll of Dodo (which he co-authored)), but it is very very good, and one of the few with no true “sci-fi” elements (as in, it takes place today and there is nothing supernatural and all technology in the book exists and is in use). It’s a crazy story involving a crypto virus, the Russian mob, and terrorists - I won’t say more because that would be giving it away. If you like techno thrillers, I recommend it highly. Even though it is among my “least favorite” of his works, we are talking about literally my number 1 favorite living writer. Ream.de is better than all Tom Clancy novels combined - and I’ve read a ton of those - he basically slam dunked the entire genre in a single book and then moved on. For any other author it could easily be a fitting magnum opus, but so much of the stuff Stephenson has written is so insanely creative, compelling, mind blowing and expertlt crafted - I mean how many people can keep you on the edge of your seat for 900 pages of a story about a cryptolocker virus? That’s ream.de, and like I said, it’s among his less compelling works. His first major novel, Snow Crash, is on par with neuromancer as an all time sci-fi greatest hit. It’s “cheesy” but it is so much fun and alarmingly - alarmingly - prescient.

Anyway, yeah. He is good.

The Mist by Stephen King, a novella in the collection Skeleton Crew, is about small group of people taking refuge in a supermarket when a monster-filled mist rolls into town. It's fantastic, but the ending leaves a bit to be desired.

The Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch is about a secret service agent investigating a disappearance in a small Idaho town where everything is too good to be true. It's a small spoiler to include this book here because the creatures don't show up right away, but it's great.

Relic (plus one sequel) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is about a creature lurking in a museum.

The Alien spinoff novels are fun (but also a bit cheesy and derivative at times).

If you're into dinosaurs, there's always the Jurassic Park books. (or my book, for something a little more pulp-y).

If you're into sharks, there's Jaws (a classic) and The Meg (also pulpy).

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Best,

Geoff Jones

Author of The Dinosaur Four

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Firstly, what are you reading? Are you feeding your mind? You have a professional obligation to be reading voraciously. Required reading, Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. A very cute tongue in cheek novel about a superhero and a supervillain, but also a very compelling page-turner.


As deeper research, you might want to read Mutants And Mystics, a book of essays about the origins of superhero comics. Did you know a lot of the guys who create the superhero genre were themselves having profound mystic/supernormal experiences? Back in the 50's, if you told people you were having a "kundalini awakening" like they talk about in yoga classes these days, guys in white coats would show up in a van and cart you off to the nearest asylum. So they had to sublimate these stories into fiction as a way of working out what in heaven was happening to them.


On a more fundamental level, I'd start outlining your characters. Not just their powers, but who they ARE as people. For instance, maybe your strongest superhero is really strong, but he's a health freak. He's a 100% raw vegan who only eats organically grown fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. And it's complex. He has to get a certain amount of calories, or (psychosomatically) he believes he'll lose his superpowers. And if you know anything about raw vegans, it's hard to get enough calories eating that way. Fruit is basically just water. Many people binge on raw nut butters and then pass out from all the fat, or sit around eating dozens of bananas at once, and then crash from the sugar. (30 bananas a day is an online community for raw vegans). This is just one example. Tie in your superheros with real life things people do to try and be superhuman. You could have a super-genius superhero who hangs out with "Masters Of The Universe" on Wall St. And maybe he believes that he has to make $250,000 per day on the stock market or he'll lose support of the big corporations who are doing dark rituals or something to empower him. Maybe his power comes from the "mastermind" council of these corporate overlords, and if he doesn't maintain that profitability with his supermind, they'll stop doing the ritual and he'll be cut off, or killed or something.


These are just some examples. It's just raw creativity, man. Like a painter or a tattoo artist (hopefully) grinds their own ink, you have to sit down and grind on your characters. As you learn more about them, the story ins and outs will become at least clear enough for you to get started. I wouldn't invest a lot of time in a super duper detailed outline of the whole book, because as you're writing more things will occur to you, and that will pull you off your outline. Stay agile. Be willing to go on digressions. Just get to a point where your characters are dynamic and fun enough to write and then play jazz with the story, you can always fix inconsistencies in post.

There are many classics that you should definitely check out, but I'm going to recommend two different things:

I would highly recommend Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is a long read about an escaped Australian convict that begins when he touches down in Bombay, India. There are really interesting characters, and the story is great.

Also, if you happen to like the epic fantasy genre, you should check out The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. This is a link to the first book in the 14 book series. The series' final book is due to come out fairly soon, and it has become my favorite epic fantasy story.

Star Wars Darth Bane Trilogy (Written by Drew Karpshyn):

1. Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
   
   
2. Darth Bane: Rule of Two
   
3. Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil
   
   This is the trilogy I recommend starting out on. It gives a lot of history and background on Sith culture and how modern Sith philosophy was (this would be Old Republic Era, just so you understand what I mean by modern) and towards the end of the trilogy brings about the creation of the rule of two and the revolutionized Sith philosophy created by Darth Bane (which would be the Sith you see in the movies and anything in the books after that).
   
   Then I would recommend reading this. This book takes place about a millennium after the events of the Darth Bane trilogy were set in motion and will help you see how the Sith in the movie plot are connected to the Sith in history. I think reading these four books will help anyone interested in the Sith make the transition from "Evil villian bad guys that hurl lightning at Jedi just because" to "Human beings with feelings, goals, plans, and standards who are trying to achieve universal conquest at all costs" and bring Sith from other books you might read in full circle from being labeled as "psychotic evil sadist" to "unconventional anti-hero that probably has an actual story besides being conveniently evil for dat plot".
   
   If you're asking about Star Wars books in general I still recommend reading the books I listed before first just because they give so much depth to a mostly uncovered concept in the Star Wars universe that many authors don't bother going into. You can read any series as long as you start at "Book One" of the series (to avoid confusion) and know where in the timeline the book you're reading is taking place (there is a timeline in the front of just about every Star Wars book that will tell you when the book takes place in relation to the movies and other series. I'll list a few series that I think everyone should read right now in preparation for the Disney Star Wars Movie (Sith help us, please let it be good).
   
   First off and by far my favorite series is the Darth Bane into Darth Plagueis series (the ones I listed before). There will be a lot of Sith stuff going on in the new movie so it'd be important to have an understanding of them or at least get references, and this series is where you will learn that from.
   
   The next series is the Han Solo Saga. These are two separate trilogies about Han Solo's adventures before the movies that were written by two different authors but one is written to follow and compliment the other trilogy, making it a full saga. This is a book of three short stories. Start out reading the first book in this trilogy: (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3) then alternate between book and trilogy story respectively.
   
   The last one is what the new movie will actually be based off of and it isn't a series I enjoyed too much but wasn't bad either. Here it is, The Jedi Academy Series: (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3).
   
   There it is, this is my list of "must reads" but you can really throw a dart at a list of all of the Star Wars books and find a good series. A lot of people really like the Republic Commando series (I have not yet read it) and a lot like the Red Squadron series, so it's really preference. The stuff they made to history-fill for SWTOR release is pretty good too and most are singles and not in a series if you don't like to read much. Enjoy! :)

Gregory Benford might be to your liking, Eater hits a lot of those old hard SF buttons in particular. The Hyperion Cantos may also do the trick. C.S. Friedman's In Conquest Born and This Alien Shore are favorites that have that classic sci-fi feeling.

I would also give Stephenson another shot.. it's really good stuff, but yeah Snow Crash is a little over-the-top (very much so for the first chapter or two, but it does settle down a good bit). I mean, the main character is named Hiro Protagonist... there's obviously going to be a certain level of tongue-in-cheek, self-aware ridiculousness going on, but it's quite amazing how well he foresaw much of the modern computing world. Cryptonomicon is awesome and is one of those rare books that somehow feels like science fiction even though there's nothing out of the ordinary in it. Anathem and Zodiac are also quite good and more traditional in tone and style.

1. I like psych books too! I also love TV, gaming and drawing. :) Hi!
   
   
2. this book because I really love books
   
   
3. 85 :0
   
   
4. Born Liars is one of my fave psych books!
   
   
5. What a fabulous wishlist!
   
   thanks for the contest!

Fantasy is my usual choice, but my book club recently read The Show Child and I really enjoyed it. It's a nice mix of realism and fairy tale set in 1920s Alaska.

We also read The Rosie Project which was surprisingly entertaining and sweet. I didn't expect to enjoy it but I did. I just saw there's a sequel to that one I'll be checking out.

I'm also a huge fan of M.R. Carey's post-apocalyptic The Girl with all the Gifts.

I completely resonated with what you're saying for the past few years. I've discovered that the only thing I can do is just force myself to read new books, and the past month I've started a challenge with myself: one new fiction book a week (I love non fiction anyway and read it frequently.) That probably sounds like a pretty lame challenge for most people!

One book I really liked is The Girl With All the Gifts. It's a kind of scifi zombie thriller, except it's better than it sounds. I never thought I'd like a zombie book! The main character is definitely pretty weird: she's 10, brilliant, and [spoiler]

https://www.amazon.com/Girl-All-Gifts-M-Carey/dp/0316278157

Ok, now we've got something to work with.

Have you read any of Chuck Palahniuk's books (author of Fight Club)? If not try Choke and Fight Club. Like the movie they are dark and brooding, but if you liked the movie, you should enjoy the books.

Since you are into science, you've got an excellent trove of books to dive into by Michael Crichton. A lot of films have been based off the books, but pretty much every book was better than the movie, yes even Jurassic Park. Crichton started to get lazy later on, and a bit preachy, so I'd recommend his earlier stuff. Read: Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strand, Congo, and Sphere.

If you would like to try some hard science books, you can try out either Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, or perhaps Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene.

> However I do think superheroes in film have had essentially no evolution the way other genres have, and they've stagnated massively. Essentially every Marvel film is identical, and for some reason the few unique ones all choose for the ultra edgy grimdark path. At least with Westerns, a similarly long-beloved genre, new ones are expected to innovate. Not so with superheroes.

I think thats a combination of the superhero genre only becoming really big recently and the monopolization of the films under the Marvel/DC label. Marvels had success with making their films light so theyve become hesitant to step outside their wheelhouse with regards to film (TV is completley different however) and DC seems to think that darkness is the only way to react to the "fun" of Marvel. My hope is we'll see more interesting films play with the concept as the "superhero age" drags on someone will take on the melancholy Soon I will be Invincible or the bleak realism of Worm and succeed outside of the Marvel/DC wheelhouse and hopefully impact the genre for the better

Some personal favorites:

• The Source by James Michener
  
  
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  
  
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  
  
• The Junction Boys by Jim Dent. This one isn't very well written, but I enjoyed the story.
  
  
• Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
  
  
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. This one can be read in an afternoon. It's perfect for enjoying a pipe and some sweet tea on your back porch. Start after lunch and you'll probably be done by dinner.

I would suggest C. S. Friedman. She has a lot of the flawed character thing going on in many of her books. She does a bit more sci-fi than fantasy, but honestly either way she's great.

This Alien Shore is good, and a stand-alone:
http://www.amazon.com/This-Alien-Shore-C-S-Friedman/dp/0886777992/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-9

Feast of Souls is the start of a good trilogy:
http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Souls-Magister-Trilogy-Book/dp/0756404630/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-5

And Black Sun Rising is also the start of a good trilogy:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rising-Coldfire-Trilogy-Book/dp/0886775272/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-1

I actually found that reading the pertinent sections of the Ulysses guide before each chapter helped.

I liked the Molly section of the book. But otherwise Ulysses really seemed to me to be essentially a written collage or mix tape, in that Joyce strung together so much of what he'd studied and called it a book. Which I don't mean as a slur against mix tapes or collages.

Did reading Ulysses give me insights into existence, as any great work of art should? Hard to say, though that last section was pretty good--not because of what all Joyce did, but because of the sheer disconnect between Bloom and Molly.

Probably I'd recommend reading at least half a dozen other books instead. Heck, Shantaram was more important to me than Ulysses.

The combination of Shantaram, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and A Fan's Notes taught me a lot more than did Ulysses, and they were far more fun, interesting, and quick to read.

Oh i love scavenger hunts! They are so much fun!! Not gonna enter but I am gonna participate because they are a blast!!!

I'm gonna keep editing as I find things lol

1. Something Blue
   
   
2. Summer fun flag!
   
   
3. Dehydrated spider yum?
   
   
4. Will come back
   
   
   
5. Meg Because irs a book about the most amazing shark that has ever lived! (Or still alive maybe....)
   
   
6. Will come back
   
   
7. Collars . I wanna get my GSD one of these! They would look absolutley amazing on him.
   
   
8. I'D WEAR THIS EVERY DAMN DAY

morning star is the 3rd book in the red rising trilogy by pierce brown. while more sci fi than fantasy it is AMAZING and i cant recommend it enough, it starts with red rising

great story, amazing pacing. if you like a story where the plot moves along rapidly while still filling in the details nicely do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

I'm reading Red Rising now, and I'm digging it (heh.) It's set on Mars, but it's far enough in the future that it's more fantasy than scifi. Much of the book gives off a Potteresque vibe to me, even if the plot sounds entirely different. There's also a lot of references to Greek and Roman mythology if you're a fan of that.

I also just read the Martian, which was really good (I guess I'm on a Mars kick.) It's basically the Hatchet but on Mars (it follows an Astronaut stranded on Mars having to survive.) I expected it to be sort of dry, but it was the opposite - extremely entertaining and often pretty hilarious.

Check out Drood by Dan Simmons. I picked it up on a whim, and couldn't be happier that I gave it a chance. It's a total trip, and suspenseful in a laid-back / behind-the-scenes sort of way.

Also, I find anything by Michael Chrichton to be utterly "un-put-downable". I'd recommend starting with Congo or Prey, but definitely give Sphere a shot before you move on.

Edit: Sorry I meant Micro instead of Prey. Prey was "meh" but Micro is great. Also definitely check out Timeline! (Sorry, I'm basically obsessed with Chrichton)

Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, is another favorite of mine. But, it's been so long since I last read it that I can't really remember why. I'm going to be rereading that one again soon.

I think Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts might be what you're looking for. I usually read fantasy also but I've never been sucked into a novel like Shantaram... truly a special book.

If that doesn't sound like your thing, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho gets suggested in the sub a lot, its also very good.

>In Conquest Born

Yeah, that was good. I have had This Alien Shore on my bookshelf for over a year. Her books are thick, but rich with characters and settings. I might give it a shot. I am finishing Chris Moriarty's Spin Control and it is not as good as the first Spin State.

I would also give an honorable mention to John Scalzi and his Old Man's War series. They were great too.

Several of the ones I would recommend have already been mentioned, but I also enjoyed The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey and The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell. Another good one is The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. It's YA, and it is the first in a series. I haven't read the other books in the series, though. I think it works fine as a stand alone and just haven't had the desire to read the others.

If you're interested in YA, you might also enjoy the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield.

happy birthday man, time to end boredom

for me it was playing music. My friend randomly told me one day I should get a bass because he played guitar and my other friend played drums. fast forward 10 years and it's essentially my profession.

as for the wishlist item, how about this

it's a book that's been on my to-read list for over a year now, just haven't had the chance to get to it because of so many other awesome books.

1. This is a book about somebody just like me, and there aren't very many of those out there. It's so great to see representation of queer types in media, however rare.
   
   
2. This book looks pretty awesome. I read the preview and got hooked. It's a really unique perspective on a dystopian society.
   
   
3. If I were a book, I hope that I'd be a great one.

Yeah I'm sure it's pretty unheard of I'm always getting books and things form friends, if you enjoy that one THIS is simply a masterpiece.

My son doesn't need this, but he would love to read it. He loves the movies. Thanks for the offer.

Has anyone heard of this oddball doorstopper tome Shantaram link to Amazon here? It's got a breathless cover blurb love note from Pat Conroy (who I love) but...a well meaning much older hippie dude pulled it out and was pressing it on me and I generally side eye books that people try to push on you (A Child Called It, The Shack, The Secret, Five People You Meet In Heaven, Heaven is For Real, etc). Any impressions?

Here's the back blurb/summary: (which is not encouraging, btw)

"So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel by Gregory David Roberts, set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature"

Reamde by Neal Stephenson link



A young man steal credit card numbers for the mob. The middle-man in the deal got his computer hijacked by a virus relating to an insanely popular MMO that the yourn man's girlfirend's uncle owns and develops. They then have to track down the hacker to get the computer virus removed to save them from the mob.



It is a really interesting book and a great, fun read.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts has similar themes to many of Hesse's books -- if you liked Demian, Steppenwolf, and Siddhartha, you probably would like this. Be advised, however, that it is more than 900 pages long.

Also, I enthusiastically second everything in the other post (with the exception of Nausea which is a strong contender for my least favorite novel ever). :)

Check out Red Rising By Pierce Brown, who is a much better author than I will ever be. Martians, super soldiers, twist endings, pretty awesome stuff.

> Questions of fate, duality, and loyalty, evolve in a cruel test of war... By turns brutal and heartfelt, Red Rising is nonstop action with surprising twists and unforgettable characters.

Not even close to the right book, but it almost fits! :)

In seriousness, here's what the OP refers to... from the year (2012) it might be outdated but looks worth reading for fans and has a great cover!

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Washington-Capitals-Story/dp/1770411054/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451281550&sr=8-1

Satisfying endings? Damn it, I am coming up short on examples. A lot of the books I've read recently have had unsatisfying endings, either because they're rushed or don't address all plot points or don't quite fit with the tone of the books.

One ending/epilogue that made a huge impression on me was the continuation of Aragorn and Arwen's story in The Lord of the Rings. That still ranks as one of the most depressing things I've ever read.

I'm still coming up short on satisfaction. I have definitely read plenty of 'first in a trilogy' books where I've gone on to read the second (and usually third) for one reason or another, but I think that's because I give so much leeway to the second book in a trilogy. I already know the characters, so I'm less critical of character development. I've read the first book, so I know the tone and writing quality ahead of time and can usually pick it up in the right mood. The series isn't 'finished' yet, so I can let bad science and plot holes slide on the assumption that they'll be addressed in the third and final volume... I am often sadly disappointed by the third's finale.

Hmm, maybe Rae Carson's The Bitter Kingdom would rank as a wholly satisfying ending? The book kept up with the previous books and addressed the major plot and subplots as it ended. However, there was a certain amount of ambiguity about politics and relationships (not "These two got married and lived happily ever after") to fuel fanfiction or speculation or give a backdrop to a related series, and a minor character (Mula Red Sparkle Stone) was propped up to take the reins on a sequel by hinting that she's going to do something big and has something to do with an enduring origin mystery.

Maybe I am just a fan of ambiguity in endings in general. Going through my list, I have decided that Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, Two Boys Kissing, and The Girl With All The Gifts claim the accolades for having wholly satisfying endings, and the unifying theme there was that they were all low-key and somewhat ambiguous. You know how the Climax was addressed, but not whether the Solution actually works out or not. You're left still thinking about the books and what would logically happen to each character.

As for the last question... When I officially finish, I'll let you know about the celebrations. I'll assume it will involve beer and bragging on the internet. And kudos from the two real-life people who care.

This is an interesting series of novels. Not really necessary to read them in any particular order, but set in the same universe with some really neat ideas. Expendable, James Alan Gardner. I'm a stickler, so I like to read in order and this is the first.

http://www.amazon.com/Expendable-League-Peoples-Bk-1/dp/038079439X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267371733&sr=8-8

I'd also add C.S. Friedman, This Alien Shore

http://www.amazon.com/This-Alien-Shore-C-S-Friedman/dp/0886777992/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267371906&sr=1-8

And if you haven't read them, the Halo book series is surprisingly good.

http://www.amazon.com/Books-Flood-First-Strike-Reach/dp/0345473043/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267373681&sr=1-4

I would LOVE to visit India some day! Im really intrigued by the entire culture!

if you havent read Shantaram i highly recommend it.. im nearly done now and its amazing!

Edit: I just realized how retarded I am and that you were looking for 2016 books. Sorry about that. These are all relatively new though, and great reads.

I see you read Dalzelle's Black fleet trilogy. For something similar but with better tactics, an interesting perspective on differences in technology advancement, and a more expeditionary style conflict, including actual interactions with alien beings, try Evan Currie's Odyssey One series.

Another good Mil-Scifi is Michael Hicks In Her Name series. I've linked the last of the books chronologically but they were the first published and how I read them; so I feel its a good introduction to the series. It focuses on the main character who plays a central role in the human's conflict with a race of blue skinned, Amazonian-like warriors who prefer close quarters combat despite technological superiority(sounds cheesy I know, but the character and culture development is very well done). The middle trilogy is much more military oriented but focuses less on open space naval battles and more on ground battles across multiple planets. The "first," newest trilogy, chronicles the establishment of the Empire that humans are at war with (I haven't read this one yet). The series has some elements of science fantasy, which is all I can say without giving away too much.

My most recent favorite and I can't recommend enough is Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy. It's kind of hard to pin down this one into a specific genre. It seems like it would be YA, but it is not. It has eugenics, enhanced humans, an interesting caste system, space battles, ground battles, high technology, low technology, decent character development, and just a ton of other elements. It's sort of Game of Thrones meets Hunger Games meets Harry Potter meets Brave New World meets Roman history in space. It is very well told and is a New York Times best seller for good reason.

You seem to enjoy a lot of YA dystopian sci-fi series - Hunger Games, Divergent, etc. You should definitely try the Red Rising trilogy. It is more graphic and adult oriented, but with similar themes. Plus, the final book of the trilogy comes out in a month or two, which would be pretty perfect for you if you time it right!

I really can't recommend "Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse" by Victor Gischler enough. It's an awesome post apocalyptic novel that revolves around a man who became a hermit and comes back to "civilization" after it has crumbled, and in it's place a new post-apocalyptic society has formed.

It's VERY fun & funny. Action-packed and pretty crazy. Recommend it 100%

Agreed, I also wouldn't want to live in the past, unless your royalty, and even that is fraught with hassles. I want to live in the future on my own Dyson Sphere.

That's why the recent Interstellar movie was so interesting. An ultimately hopeful story written to advance a positive view in Sci-Fi movies, kind of like the Hieroglyph book, yet they still needed a dystopian element to even tell the story. And while there are glaring plot holes in the movie big enough to drive a black hole through, they were needed to advance the story. I still liked both the movie and the book.

Speaking of Star Trek, I wouldn't have my cell phone if some engineer didn't like it so much. Or even the Internet itself if DARPA hadn't been worried about nuclear bombs destroying the infrastructure. What's really interesting his how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will change society in the future. Like ReamDe or Ready Player One explore.

Reading this, I was reminded of a passage from one of my favorite books (Shantaram):

> Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied, even those who offend us and must be punished by us. You can see, by what we have done with these two boys, that justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.

Michael Crichton; he does a lot of books like The Martian. His books are based on real scientific points that blur into fiction to make it more realistic. I like to describe them as "approachable science fiction."

He's most famous for his books-turned-movies: Jurassic Park, Timeline, Congo, and 13th Warrior.

But he also has great approachable ones like Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, and Next.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton is a great novel, intense and clever. Quite different and much better than the movie. 📚

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
It's an investment of time (i.e 944 pages) but the first line is:
"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

It's a (slightly fictionalized) account of an escaped convict who creates a new life in Bombay. One of the few books that I deeply regretted finishing.

TL;DR - You need to have a story a lot of people think is good. Your story will become more visible as people pump you up with good reviews. That's how horribly stupid books still get attention: somehow they still get positive reviews.

Long story:

I don't know how some of the self-published authors on Amazon make any money. I'm not at all published, and am nowhere near it yet, so what the hell do I know, right?

However, as a reader of fiction, I can say that I have read PLENTY of dumb books by unknown authors who somehow make it into the Amazon Books of the Month, or books that go on clearance sales. I think the secret behind it is the number of 4 or 5-star Amazon reviews received versus the total number of reviews. If 90%+ of readers give it a 4 or 5 star, and there are 800 reviews, then I think Amazon's super smart computer algorithm guesstimates that the book will generate some revenue. Then the book gets bumped to the top in terms of advertising and running deals on the book.

However, I don't understand how most of the 4 or 5 star reviewers think. Are these people able to tie their own shoes in the morning? An example is the book by self-published author A.G. Riddle The Atlantis Gene: A Thriller. It has a TON of awesome acclaim, averaging 4 stars with 8,000+ reviews. I thought that this must be a great story. It's a conspiracy, science fiction, has historical references...great! I read the whole damn thing and I just couldn't see it. I didn't see what they were talking about. How did this guy get up in the ranks???? Somebody must have already passed out the magic koolaid and I showed up late to the party after it ran out. Or maybe I'm in the minority. Who knows.

I'm not going to buy the other 2 or 3 books in his series. I guess I get what I pay for when I make a $1.99 purchase.

Seconding Soon I Will Be Invincible.

After The Golden Age was pretty good.

I have a copy of Powerless in my classroom, and my kids seem to enjoy it. It's a YA novel.

Yeah Ready Player One is one of the biggest Sci - Fi novels written in the last decade. This is legit stuff but I'm usually more optimistic when I see a book is being made into a TV series or mini-series.

For another MMO related mainstream SCIFI novel, check out ReamDe by Neal Stephenson. You can probably find Ready Player One and ReamDe in your local library if you live in the USA.

Jurassic Park is a great read! I'm sure he'll love it.

Shantaram

I hate to sound like a salesman, but this book has everything. It's a fugitive tale, a love story, an insight into the author's mind, a philosophical treatise, a war novel, an ode to India, and more. I've never read a book that had so much to give and so much to say. Brilliant.

As funny as it is tragic, as sentimental as it is harshly realist.

*Former gunny

Does he like to read? These are two of my favorites, and I'm fairly certain most vets would enjoy them too:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616641&sr=8-1&keywords=The+forever+war

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616649&sr=8-1&keywords=Without+Remorse

Yeah it can be a bit dense, particularly with the military jargon. I tackled it in high school, and if it weren't for the fact that I regarded it as this big, adult novel, I wouldn't have persevered. I hadn't yet read a book that seemed to tell so many stories simultaneously!

But I recall -- during my second attempt, I believe -- that I was suddenly aware of all the different threads and who everyone was. And I was utterly, irretrievably, hooked. Now I think of Clancy as an author who writes for those of us with short attention spans, despite the intimidating length of his novels.

But as a first Clancy book, I would really recommend Without Remorse. It's a page turner without all the military-speak of Red October.

As an aside, I'm reading Red Storm Rising right now, and while my Kindle doesn't have page numbers, per se, it tells me that, at my current reading rate, I have 28 hours left in the book. Lol.

Just have these few off the top of my head

Lucifer's Hammer

Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse (pretty funny too)

The Afterblight Chronicles pretty good and there are spinoffs in the same universe with other authors

What about Sphere by Michael Crichton?

Or The Legacy of Heorot?

Hope that helps! If not, let me know and I can keep searching. :)

I'm not going to call any of them "literature", but I've read and enjoyed a bunch of new-ish books recently.

• Ready Player One
  
  
• Little Brother/Homeland
  
  
• John Dies at the End
  
  
• Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (and pretty much anything else by Tom Robbins)

Trenutno citam:

• Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
  
• Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy (Josef Steiff)
  
  Planiram i citati:
  
  
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
  
• Het Achterhuis (Anne Frank)
  
• Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
  
• Pyongyang (Guy Delisle)
  
• I bilo njesta od Alan Watts
  
  Evo moj 'library' :P
  http://i.imgur.com/Xpe7Vk5.jpg
  
  Moj tip za vas je Shantaram. //switch to English now, because it's a lot easier. It's about a guy who escapes from a prison and goes to Bombay. He starts off low and grows both spiritually and materialistically in the streets of Bombay. It's like GTA: Bombay but with more places (Indian countryside, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa). I've already been interested in India because of films like Darjeeling Limited, but this book sealed the deal: I want to visit that country.

Don't worry guys, I'm here for the ultra-nerdy Extended Universe explanation of why, despite this not being at all the point, this post defies the true nature of Han and Chewie's brohood.

You see, before his days of lawless smuggling and being a handsome vagabond, Han Solo was an officer in the Imperial Navy. Han was given an order to execute Chewbacca, a 200+ old Wookiee Imperial slave. Han refused and was summarily discharged from his military service. According to the customs of the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, Chewbacca swore a "life debt" to Solo to the point where he would readily surrender his own life to spare that of his friend's.

All this, and many other nerdgasmic details are described or alluded to in the very enjoyable Han Solo Trilogy by the talented author Ann C. Crispin.

You're welcome.

1. Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates - by tom robbins
   
2. 9.5/10
   
3. Humor/Literature
   
4. It is the best piece of american literature ever. every sentence is perfect.
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Invalids-Home-From-Climates/dp/055337933X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344605797&sr=8-1&keywords=fierce+invalids+home+from+hot+climates

The first novel I read was [Jurassic Park] (https://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-Park-Novel-Michael-Crichton/dp/0345538986/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=). It created in me a love for reading solid captivating novels that has lasted over the last 25 years.

If he likes Sci-Fi, he should definitely check out Red Rising. It's a pretty easy read and sort of morphs into a sci fi game of thrones later on, where there are multiple groups fighting to rule over the galaxy.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown/dp/034553980X

1. I understand it is used. No bitching from me, win or not.
   
   
2. My favorite book (series actually) is Red Rising.
   
   It's a future dystopian/hard-ish sci-fi novel that is not YA. It's amazing and I highly recommend you read it.
   
   I'm actually doing a contest concerning this book which ends tomorrow night at midnight CST.
   
   
3. Cowabunga dudes!

Without Remorse is probably the best story and character plot line. This book was actually fantastically interesting to read instead of Clancy's usual war stories (which are also great for a quick read.) Of all Clancy's books, Without Remorse is the only one that I have gone back and read a second, and third time.

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I recommend the Red Rising Saga (a trilogy).

They're a "near-future" Sci-Fi series, where humanity has begun to colonize other planets in the solar system. The story follows a "Red" miner of Mars and his story of revenge. The first book reminded me of a mash up of Hunger Games and Ender's Game. Highly recommend the saga as I couldn't put them down once I started reading them. Quickly became one of my favorite book series.

The first book has a 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon review with over 3,700 reviews. And a 4.26 on goodreads with over 14,000~ reviews.

I read through the series once then went back and listened to it on Audible later. I would recommend the audio-book as well as it was also well done.

Sounds like a plan! I can't remember what got me hookedon reading. It may have been the Percy Jackson series that make me looove books.



And if you haven't read it, I highly recommend Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Greatr ead. Currently my favorite book.

Would be really interested in a game that plagiarizes the economic system in Reamde, which was otherwise a mediocre novel: http://www.amazon.com/Reamde-A-Novel-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062191497

Basically all money and other resources need to be 'mined' in-game first, like Bitcoin, before it exists. There's a finite (but large) amount of resources in the world. There's no need to spawn players with money if they have some kind of capability that other players might find useful.

Highly recommend reading the Han Solo Trilogy for a really good look into what a younger Han could be like.

I'm going to go with Shantaram. Probably one of my all time favorite books, has some of the most beautiful prose ever committed to paper. I'm not really sure why it isn't more well known. Those who have read it seem to gush about it.

You should check out REAMDE! It nailed the whole ransomware phenomenon before it was on most folks' radars. Pretty incredible, and more fun and less technical than a lot of Stephenson's work.

If you haven't read the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, I think you should give it a go. Stick through the first 50 pages, and you won't be sorry. The second in the trilogy is actually better than the first, and Goodreads called it the best SF of the year.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

On My Way to Paradise by David Farland.

I really enjoyed the Han Solo trilogy myself. I really liked these (they even have a Kal'rathi / Vanduul type alien species): http://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Snare-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553574159/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375057832&sr=1-2&keywords=HAN+SOLO

http://www.amazon.com/Hutt-Gambit-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553574167/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375057832&sr=1-3&keywords=HAN+SOLO

http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Dawn-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553574175/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375057832&sr=1-4&keywords=HAN+SOLO

Other books to explode your brain with awesome.

Crooked Little Vein http://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Little-Vein-Novel-P-S/dp/B003F76I1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314238590&sr=8-1
Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful, and Hells Half Acre http://www.amazon.com/Phineas-Poe-Judas-Penny-Dreadful/dp/159692151X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314238655&sr=1-2
Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse http://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girls-Apocalypse-Victor-Gischler/dp/1416552251/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314238751&sr=1-1

These are just some of my favorites.

I definitely recommend it, especially if you like books and action.

Try Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. Definitely a B-movie type book and surprisingly good.

A little guidance in your taste of literature would help. However, because I like you, I'll recommend Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, or really anything by Tom Robbins.

Megalodon is accidentally discovered in the Mariana Trench when scientists are installing earthquake-monitoring devices on the ocean floor. One surfaces and causes general mayhem...

Here's a link to the first book which probably has a better summary than I can write: link

And it looks like the prequel novella is on free offer right now.

Other works of fiction that contain the concept of a metaverse;

Books

• The Otherland series, by Tad Williams, beginning with City of Golden Shadow (sidenote, this series also has an MMORPG based on it, currently in closed beta, and recently (October of last year) brought back from the dead)
  
  
• The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons, beginning with Hyperion.
  
  
• The Golden Oecumene, by John C. Wright, beginning with The Golden Age.
  
  
• Accel World, by Reki Kawahara, beginning with Kuroyukihime's Return. (If you are familiar with the manganime Sword Art Online, this is by the same author, and shares the same universe)
  
  
• This Alien Shore, by Celia S. Friedman. (amazon link)
  
  
• The Sprawl Trilogy, by William Gibson, beginning with Neuromancer.
  
  
• Accelerando, by Charles Stross. (free e-book link)
  
  Anime and Manga
  
  
• The .hack series, specifically .hack//SIGN
  
  
• For a lighter feel, there's Summer Wars (available on CrunchyRoll) and the INCREDIBLY similar second Digimon movie, Our War Game!. Also I guess by extension, but not really explored as much, the entire Digimon series, as it takes place in an analogy for the internet.
  
  
• Serial Experiments Lain
  
  
• Okay fine, here's Sword Art Online (CrunchyRoll link)
  
  Film
  
  
• The Singularity is Near, a speculative documentary based on the Ray Kurzweil book of the same name.
  
  
• The Thirteenth Floor, a crime thriller about the owner of a VR simulation company getting murdered.
  
  ----
  
  I know I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the genre, because if there's one thing humans are good at, it's writing fucktons on what we like.
  
  So feel free to comment additions to this list, or opinions on what I've currently included. I have by no means read/watched all of these, so having someone with actual experience with each of these weigh in would be nice.

These kinds of articles remind me of John Brunner's prophetic 1975 sci-fi novel Shockwave Rider in which people are literally a code that serves as their identity and their credit and their complete personal history and potential future. The main protagonist is so gifted that he is able to change his code, thus changing his identity and his credit, and he does so to evade capture by the very group that educated him.

[Nine Princes in Amber] (http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Princes-Amber-Chronicles-Book/dp/B008R63HH2), maybe? There are more books in the series, but it stands alone just fine and is a quick read. I also loved [Shockwave Rider] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Shockwave-Rider-John-Brunner/dp/0345467175/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375051918&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=shickwave+rider), which may be dated in some ways, but is also all too relevant in others...

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts.
I've been reading through this book for a few years, but it so beautifully depicts Bombay that I so desperately want to visit.

It's also a lovely book.

Check out The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle it's a really fun sci-fi adventure concerning this incident.

This is not exactly what you're looking for, but it deals with issues of perfection in society. Check out the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown/dp/034553980X

Some historical fiction: [Saturday Night and Sunday Morning] (http://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Night-Sunday-Morning-Sillitoe/dp/0007205023)

[Armageddon] (http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Novel-Berlin-Leon-Uris/dp/1453258396)

[Mila 18] (http://www.amazon.com/Mila-18-Leon-Uris/dp/0553241605)

[Russian Hide and Seek] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0091420504/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

[The Man in the High Castle] (http://www.amazon.com/The-High-Castle-Philip-Dick/dp/0547572484) There's also a TV show based on this book. Haven't gotten around to watching it all, but watched the first episode and really enjoyed it.

[In the Garden of Beasts] (http://www.amazon.com/In-Garden-Beasts-American-Hitlers/dp/030740885X)


Other books: [Something Wicked This Way Comes] (http://www.amazon.com/Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes/dp/0380729407)

[The Girl With All the Gifts] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-With-All-Gifts/dp/0316278157)

[1Q84] (http://www.amazon.com/1Q84-Vintage-International-Haruki-Murakami/dp/0307476464)

Edit: I like to read!

Edit2: Added more books and included amazon links to all of them. Would add more, but don't want to overload you with recommendations :p

It's not a series, but I recently read The Girl With All the Gifts and thoroughly enjoyed it.

One thing I like in fanfic is deconstructions. Two deconstructions I've enjoyed are Soon I Will Be Invincible and Redshirts.

There is a scene like that the Atlantis plague book series by a.g. riddle. I don't think it's until the 3rd book though and it's a smaller part of the overall story. I enjoyed the series though. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C2WDD5I/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b00c2wdd5i

What I enjoyed as a teenager, and among the easier reads are Ender's Game, Animal Farm, and Ringworld. Less 'literature' are Rogue Warrior, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, and Ice Station. Actually, I've never read a book by Matt Reilly (Ice Station) that I didn't finish in one day - they're hard to put down.

I, also, would recommend the Ex-Heroes series by Peter Cline.

I liked Austin Grossman's Soon I Will be Invincible which has chapters alternating between the POV of the main Villian and a Rookie who has just been drafted into their version of the JLA.

I have a few more recommendations if you want

Anyone ever read The Atlantis Gene series? It's fictional but has a lot of these theories in it about Antarctica and the global elite and ancient beings. Fun read.
https://www.amazon.ca/Atlantis-Gene-Thriller-Origin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00C2WDD5I

The Forever War - Haldeman

Flowers for Algernon - Keyes

The Prestige - Priest

LoTR - Tolkien

Sphere - Crichton (One of the first "real" books I read as a kid, and was my favorite for years. It isn't the best in the world, but it is an extremely fun page turner and means alot to me)


There are also three books I've read in the last couple of years that I want very badly to say are in my top five (to replace some of those listed above). But it has not been long enough for me to make a decision, and I probably need to re-read them. Those three are:

The Passage - Cronin

Cloud Atlas - Mitchell

Wolf Hall - Mantel

If you're into India and amazing stories from jail you should read Shantaram. I read it several times!

And I agree with 'On the Road' as least favorite!

How about instead we instill a caste based Society where the rulers all have really awesome Roman names and the castes are all color coded. Source

Check out Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It is set in a future where we've colonized the solar system. Society has a strict hierarchy, like a caste system, and ancient Roman culture has been idealized.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265074018&sr=8-1) - the best book i've ever read and more than likely will ever read.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. A great story too, but I'm amazed at his style and how effortless it is. He's one of the few authors that, as another writer, I'm envious of.

Really good sci-fi book that plays around with this question.

Based on your comment, I have determined you may be interested in REAMDE by Neal Stephenson.

Pierce Brown - [Red Rising] (http://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Book-Trilogy/dp/034553980X)

It came out in July and is awesome. Book 2 just came out, too.

Have you read Red Rising by Pierce Brown? It's a sci-fi dystopia book that I've described to friends as featuring a hemospectrum-like class system.

It's a few hundred years from now, and humans have begun to colonize the solar system. The Red caste labor beneath the surface of Mars, working to terraform the planet so that the other castes can make the journey from earth. However, one Red worker discovers that the planet has already been terraformed, many years ago, and the rest of the colors are living in luxury above ground. He then infiltrates the ruling caste, starts a rebellion, all sorts of lovely things.

I'm currently in the middle of the last book in the trilogy, and so far I'm loving it. There's a bit of a Hunger Games vibe in the first book, but it quickly loses the similarity. There's a lot more politics, and the characters are far more interesting(Sevro. Bloodydamn Sevro. Enough said). I highly recommend it, and apologize if the ending of the last book sucks, because I haven't gotten that far yet!

My goal for the year is to read 50 page a day. I've been on or ahead of pace for every day except two so far this year. I go through books quite quickly and I'm itching to read a long book. May I offer Reamde? I read his Anathem this year already. It is one of the few long books I've read that held my interest. It has renewed my faith in reading longer novels. Sadly, it is not much cheaper used.

If I may, the next book I would like to read is the sequel in the Thursday Next series. Just finished the first and I can't wait to start the second. This is another rarity as I generally dislike series. This book can be purchased much cheaper used ;)

Shantaram Such an amazing book that you won't notice how long it is.

Don't get me wrong, he's talented and I've never failed to get through one of his books (I'm looking at you Stephenson - odd, I usually love his novels but that I could not get through). I do find myself thinking "Oh, get on with it. Let's have some more story already" quite often.

Close plot but not the book I was looking for. After an extensive search through the intense action novel genre I have found it: Ice Station

This is a good trilogy. It is a thriller and some sci-fi throw in.

In all honesty, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are pretty tough to get into, since they are practically the ur-examples of fantasy, written back when a lot of commercial fiction methodology was still being developed.

When i read a book, I worry first and foremost if I'm entertained, if I am, I'll give it my recommendation, regardless of the flaws. These are the ones I think you'd find best for jumping in with.

YA/Middle Grade Books

• The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner (post-apocalypse)
  
  
• Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (modern kid finds he's the son of Poseidon)
  
  
• Leviathan/Behemoth/Goliath by Scott Westerfeld] (World war 1 with mechs and genetically engineered animals)
  
  
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (a kid finds a dragon egg and fights the big bad guy. As a warning, it uses the exact same monomyth structure as Star Wars so the similarities are... apt.)
  
  
  Fantasy
  
  
• Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (a gang of thieves try to rob the evil overlord)
  
  
• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (a brutal war between about a half different factions over who gets the crown. Gets really complex fast so it might not be a great one to start with.)
  
  
• Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (I always say it's Oceans 11 written in the Game of Thrones world)
  Discworld by Terry Pratchet (I'd recommend not starting at the beginning.)
  
  
  Sci-Fi
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (it's Ender's Game. You must read this)
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Not sure how to pitch this. It's space marines fighting everyone)
  
  
• The Sector General Series by James White (It's like House, but in space with aliens. Not without flaws but very underrated in my view)
  
  
  Urban Fantasy
  
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (a hard boiled private eye who is also a wizard)
  
  
• Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (Band of mercenaries hunt monsters. The author is very libertarian/right wing so if you can't stand that, you might not like the books. The kindle edition has to be bought from the baen.com bookstore)
  
  
• Grimnoire Chronicles by Larry Correia (1930's with magic, zeppelins, etc Same warning as above, but it's more subdued here.)
  
  
  Thrillers/Suspense
  
  
• Da Vinci Code/Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (even though I think Brown really needs to improve his writing style, he still can get the books going pretty intensely)
  
  
• Jurassic Park, Timeline, Congo, etc by Michael Crichton (a bit tougher reads since they're pretty scientific, but still good stuff)
  
  
• John Grisham's early work such as A Time to Kill, The Firm, Runaway Jury, etc. (legal thrillers but not hard to get into. I'm not a huge fan of his later stuff)

You might enjoy Soon I Will Be Invincible.

I love the Red Rising series. It’s in the future, sci fi, and has some bad ass women in it.

I think you'll enjoy this.

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girls-Apocalypse-A-Novel/dp/1416552251

REAMDE is is an extremely enjoyable experience

Half of Soon I Will be Invincible is from a supervillains point of view, aaaand it's awesome, full of gems like:

>You don't build a 100 ft robot out of nothing.....there's rumors and gossip, trace evidence. There's a shadow economy out there, where these things get done.

and

> Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor.

It's been a while so I'm not 100% sure, but I think Soon I Will Be Invincible fits the bill. Literally superheroes/villains, I'd say comedy.

Shantaram. Actually, I think it would be better as an HBO/Showtime series since I don't think they could condense the whole movie into 120 mins.

I wasn't too keen on White Tiger - it just came across as a bit pretentious - very makey-uppy. But I can see how it would shock and awe the non-Indian readers as a lot of stuff that Indians can gloss over could be positively disturbing to average Western reader.

I am currently reading (nearly finished) Shantaram by Greogry David Roberts. I don't know how much of that is fact, and how much fiction, but man, I am stunned by the international dimension of Mumbai underworld. I had heard of names like Chotta Rajan, Shakeel, Dawood Ibrahim etc, but I could have never guessed how diverse the activities of the Mafia are. Drugs and narcotics seems to be just the tip of the iceberg, if you read this book. I would seriously recommend this to other desi readers.

Right. I get all that. I was just pointing out that there are many books where you see things like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Played-Fire-Millennium/dp/0307949508/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373500736&sr=1-3&keywords=girl+on+fire

http://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-Park-Novel-Michael-Crichton/dp/0345538986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373500809&sr=1-1&keywords=jurassic+park

If you liked Hunger Games, you'll likely enjoy Red Rising. The first book is very Hunger Games-esque, although the sequels branch out more.

Does the whole WikiLeaks situation remind anyone else of The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner?

For those unfamiliar with the 1976 novel, the main character writes a worm whose job is to sniff out the kind of material WikiLeaks has been publishing, and to send that info directly to citizens.

I think this novel is ripe for the big screen.

If you liked it check out the book Without Remorse by Tom Clancy. Everyone I've talked to agrees that Taken is based on the book.

It seems like these 3 codes are all interrelated:

https://www.amazon.com/Atlantis-Gene-Thriller-Origin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00C2WDD5I

https://www.amazon.com/Atlantis-Gene-Thriller-Origin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007FG9LIE

https://www.amazon.com/Atlantis-Gene-Thriller-Origin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00L3U9OCG

Shantaram, just started but its great. About an australian guy that escapes prison and becomes a criminal in India (I think so far). I think about 50% or more is true: http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330529

There's this post-apocalyptic Mad Max style novel called Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse, and the main character holes up in a bunker to wait out the end of the world much like you describe. He decides to burn all the pornography soon after entering hibernation after he realises he's spent nearly 10 days in a row doing nothing but masturbating.

This Alien Shore by C. S. Friedman. I'm not sure how many people have read it, but I don't see it mentioned very often, which is a shame because it's a great book.

when truth stranger than fiction

Also, pronounced in vuh lid. I've looked like an idiot telling friends about this book.

There isn't a movie of these yet, (hope there will) but The Testing Trilogy and the Red Rising Trilogy are very similar (in being an arena) to Hunger Games. I like them both too.

Red Rising by Brown
"A lot happens in this first installment of a projected trilogy. Darrow, living in a mining colony on Mars, sees his wife executed by the government, nearly dies himself, is rescued by the underground revolutionary group known as Sons of Ares, learns his government has been lying to him (and to everybody else), and is recruited to infiltrate the inner circle of society and help to bring it down from within—and that’s all inside the first 100 pages. .."

Read the book Shantaram, It's about a foreigner who discovers India and it's Good, Bad and ugly side!

I'm sure you'll enjoy it

1. Sphere and the book's better.
   
2. no clue.
   

This book about the Mumbai(Bombay) criminal world from a Westerners perspective/involvement. Great read. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537

Red Rising by Pierce Brown is right up your alley. And it's only $1.48 for Amazon Kindle right now. The sequel, Golden Son, just came out too.

You might like The Red Rising trilogy. It's sort of like Ender's Game meets Game of Thrones. Definitely on the lighter side of Sci fi, much more character and plot driven, but takes place across multiple worlds and has high technology, no aliens though.

Maybe something by Alistair Reynolds, House of Suns or Pushing Ice if you want something more solidly sci fi but, still very accessible.

This one. Although, I can't seem to find the exact edition I read. It had a different cover.

It's where the movie came from. I would recommend it. It gets more into the science part of the science fiction than the movie does, and it's also more graphically violent. Plus, there are several pretty epic parts that didn't make it into the movie, and a lot of the characters are more fleshed out.

I'm 63 years old, and I was involved in the Internet before Tim Berners-Lee invented the WWW. My son is currently a PhD candidate in Comp Sci, and will go to work for Google next spring. I have some familiarity with the Internet. Let me tell you a couple of things about it. First, it can't be "cleaned up". Second, it shouldn't be "cleaned up".

By all means learn security. Learn how to keep people's data safe. That is a skill that will be in great demand from here on out. Forget about this whole "justice" thing though. There is no justice. There are just people who don't want to get fucked over, and people who want to fuck them over.

Addendum: If you haven't already, you should read Reamde.

If you have never read the R6 book, but want to, I highly suggest you start with Without Remorse first.

There is this really good book called Soon I Will Be Invincible about Superheroes in the same realistic vein that Worm resides in. It's told from alternating POV's of a Super villain and a new Superhero.

Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girls-Apocalypse-A-Novel/dp/1416552251

Its light, and funny as hell, and there's even some deeper issues hidden in this tale of the rebirth of civilization.

Good book for cleansing your palate after "The Road".

The Han Solo trilogy is a very good series for showing how the Underworld works for smugglers. It follows Han from his childhood, his rocky start into smuggling, joining and then leaving the Empire, acquiring the Falcon, all the way up until he sits down at the table with Obi-wan and Luke. The trilogy gives a look into the shady underbelly of the galaxy.

Scoundrels: A book more in line with a heist film, follows Solo again but this time after the destruction of the first Death Star. Trying to get credits to save his neck from Jabba he accepts a job to infiltrate a fortress and steal from a Black Sun Underboss. It is slow at times and not the best read but it is still a good resource for inspiration.

In case you don't get the reference...

The book: https://www.amazon.com/Sphere-Michael-Crichton/dp/0061990558

& the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120184/

It's been over a decade but how about Michael Crichton's Sphere http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0061990558/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1464396892&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=sphere+michael+crichton&dpPl=1&dpID=51uD6r8D1BL&ref=plSrch

While it wasn't Seattle-centric, Neal Stephenson's Reamde had a scene or two in Seattle. Some of the other locations in the book are in British Columbia and the wilderness between BC and Seattle.

I'm going to throw in REAMDE by Neal Stephenson.

Link's for everyone's convenience:

Amazon

Wikipedia

Shantaram

and The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

Shantaram

Check out this book http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330529

It is basically GTA Mumbai.

Shantaram

Pappillion

Shantaram

http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322162176&sr=8-1

Shantaram by Gregory David

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts