Reddit mentions: The best tv, movies & game tie-in fiction books

Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...

Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.

Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D

Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!

Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!

Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)

Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.

Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!

I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!

Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).

I highly recommend:

1. The Orphans of Chaos trilogy by John C. Wright. He really pushes the boundaries of the imagination by writing about a universe in which there are 4 different paradigms of magic/power, each of which cancels one of the others out and is canceled out by one of the others. It's an epic Titans vs Olympic Gods fantasy, and I've read it several times--which is rare for me to do.
   
   
2. Obviously read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin if you haven't already done so! I delayed reading it a long time but then read all of them in a week and a half when I finally succumbed.
   
   
3. ALWAYS recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
   
   
4. ALSO always recommend Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels by Scott Lynch.
   
   
5. The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. It's YA, but pretty mature YA, and IMO could easily transition to the regular fantasy section.
   
   
6. Books by Diana Wynne Jones. She writes YA, but fantasy that I wouldn't call immature. The best word I could use to describe it would be "whimsical." If I could compare her style of fantasy to anyone's it would EASILY be the filmmaker Miyazaki. (His films include Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, etc.--he even adapted one of her books!) I think her best work is her Chrestomanci series which has 3 volumes (each volume is made up of several novellas), but she is best known for Howl's Moving Castle, which I also highly recommend (along with its sequels Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways).
   
   
7. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. It's fun, original, often dark, often humorous, fast-paced, and FILLED with action. As noted by someone else, there are vampires in the universe, but they're not the central motif. There are also other scary things, like fairies, goblins, witches/wizards, demons...the list goes on and on.
   
   
8. Terry Pratchett's Discworld canon. There are many, MANY books, and they're not written in series so you can jump in almost anywhere. I recommend Small Gods to start.
   
   
9. The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier, starting with Daughter of the Forest. There are also spin-off novels, though I haven't read them all. Her writing is beautiful and mystical. She almost makes me believe magic/fae could exist.
   
   
10. The Passion and The Promise (a duet) and, separately, The Alchemist by Donna Boyd. These are really, really excellently written. "Lush" would be the word I'd use. They're not hugely well known, and I find that utterly boggling considering how good they are.

Obligatory wiki links: Dystopian Literature. Although, some of the titles listed don't seem to fit (The Dispossessed?). Nuclear holocaust fiction, and your general apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Some of the better/more popular ones:

• Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm.
  
  
• Eternity Road Jack McDevitt. Well written, but not very insightful.
  
  
• The Postman David Brin.
  
  
• Mockingbird Walter Tevis. Great read. Think Idiocracy, with a serious take. Humanity's totally run by robots, everyone's forgotten how to read and think for themselves, and the world population's dropped to almost nothing.
  
  
• We Yevgeny Zamyatin. The inspiration for George Orwell's 1984. Not the best read IMO, but some people claim it's better than 1984. It's possible I read a poor translation.
  
  
• Island Aldous Huxley. It's a utopian island surrounded by a dystopian world. Might not fit in this list, but it's a good read if you like Huxley. I think it was his last novel.
  
  
• 1984 George Orwell. One of my favorite novels. I have a bumper sticker with the quote "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery", which is a slogan from the book. (Also, a sticker on my mirror with "Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me"). The link points to Animal Farm and 1984.
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury. Another must read. Very well written, thought-provoking novel. Is it still required reading in schools?
  
  
• Earth Abides George Stewart.
  
  
• Alas, Babylon Pat Frank. Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle. I'm grouping these two together because they're very similar, both in setting and politics. I didn't really enjoy either. The politics were not at all subtle, and the characters fit too neatly into stereotypes, and too obviously the writer's hero fantasy. Still, they're pretty popular, so try them out and feel free to disagree with me.
  
  
• Brave New World Aldous Huxley. Really just a utopia that's rough around the edges, if I'm remembering it correctly (also called an anti-utopia, thank you wikipedia). Another must read.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter Miller.
  
  
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub Stanislaw Lem. Another favorite. I once created a text adventure based on this book. It was about as frustrating as that Hitchhiker's Guide game.
  
  
• The Road Cormac McCarthy.
  
  
• Philip K. Dick It's hard to keep track of PKD's novels, but some of them are dystopian, all of them worth reading. Favorites: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (also known as/inspired Blade Runner), Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, The Man in the High Castle.
  
  
• The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood.
  
  
• Y: The Last Man A graphical novel/comic collection. Decent art, great story.
  
  Zombies: World War Z, Raise the Dead, Marvel Zombies, Zombie Survival Guide, Day By Day Armageddon, I Am Legend.
  
  Also, just for kicks, some of my favorite dystopian movies:
  Brazil, Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Blade Runner, Akira, Children of Men, Dark City, A Boy and His Dog, Logan's Run, Idiocracy, Equillibrium.

> it is only proving the point that he, as an writer, doesn't care for sales number.

>He SHOULD be worried more than anyone if someone doesn't buy his books because they will think it is a game adaptation.

Either sales matter or they don't. Make up your mind.

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> If sales number matters in a discussion about popularity and not flat fee profitability, it is because this discussion is ours, not Sapkowski's.

You started this discussion by quoting sales figures in response to my post regarding the games' popularity in relation to the books.

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> But I'm discussing about what Sapkowski thinks, and not about what you or me think.

No, you're discussing what you think he thinks.

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> I was not happy at book fairs or conventions, when the fans took my books in my hand, looked at the covers and scornfully put them away. Game related. Games are not interested in us, we will rather have something original, new Abercrombie, Aaronovitch or Tregillis.

What is he describing here? Do they actively go up to him and say out loud to him that they are not interested in his books because they think they are game related, or is he simply attributing their disinterest to that idea?

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> He is talking about the games covers on his books, and not the games themselves nor CDPR;

In that interview. In the one I linked and many others he is talking about the games. From the article:

"I have nothing against the game itself. I think it's a high-level product. All the benefits CDPR received for it are absolutely well-earned. I have nothing against video games in general. I have nothing against the people who play them, even if I don't and never will," Sapkowski says. "The whole animosity started when the game began to spoil my market."

That's him saying the games have started spoiling his market. Not the game art on the cover or the publishers, the games. Yes, he has nothing against the games as products, but he seems to focus more on the negatives their success brings him more than the positives.

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> He EXPLICITLY took off all the blame from CDPR in that regard in other interviews, making sure it is foreign publisher's fault.

Yet, he says this in this interview that was published last month:

"How are some of them supposed to know—especially in Germany, Spain or the US—that my books are not game related? That I'm not writing books based on games? They may not know that, and CDPR bravely conceals the game's origins. It's written in fine print, you need a microscope to see it, that the game is 'based on' [my books].""

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> If he is talking about "losing readers", he is clearly referring, by definition, to people who HAVE NOT bought his books. Of course that if someone bought his books even with that games covers, then this comment does not extent to them.

And just what are you referring to here? What do you think I wrote that would warrant this clarification?

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> But do you think that these game covers will help the books sell for those who have not played the games or aren't gamers themselves? The non-gaming public, which is a far larger target audience, never takes seriously what they consider to be a game adaptation.

This is where you lose me. Yes, the American covers for the Witcher series published by Orbit look like shit, and they do use assets from the games. I disagree about them "looking like adaptations". There are other books that use 3D models on their cover, without it being based on anything else. If you don't know the games well enough to recognize the character models, you're probably not going to make the connection that it is related to a game until you read the back where it says the books inspired the games, and not the other way around.

The covers aren't bad because they use assets from the game. They are bad because they are bad covers. You know what other covers are bad?

http://www.fantasyshop.cz/gfx/upload/fs_ob_200742311542.jpg
https://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/279-6489234-9877263?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Sapkowski
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/19/ac/92/19ac92959047dc057381d622be9730df.jpg
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/6/61/Blood_of_Elves_UK.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110601235454

That last one can't seriously be an actual cover, can it?

Everybody knows the idiom "don't judge a book by its cover" and anyone who's serious about reading abides by that. We've all seen books we know are good with terrible covers, and we've all bought books that looked good on the surfaces that turned out to be shit. Have you been in a fantasy section of a bookstore recently? If you can't look past tacky cover art chances are you aren't that heavily invested in the genre.

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> Tell me, what do you think is a larger public: those who played the games or the average fantasy reader like the ones from LotR, ASOIAF, Harry Potter, Narnia etc. etc?

How modest of you to bring up the absolute biggest fantasy books series as if the Witcher books were destined to be among them, or if interest in those books would translate into interest for the Witcher series if the covers were just differnt.

LotR and the Hobbit popularized the fantasy genre and has as such become somewhat of a definition of . If you have any interest in the genre you are probably going to read it.
Here it is being sold with assets from the movies on the cover.

ASOIAF had sold 60 million copies over 5 books and 3 novellas in 2015 (latest numbers available), while the Witcher game series has sold 25 million copies over 3 titles.
Here it is being sold with assets from the HBO series on the cover.

Harry Potter and Narina are children's books that are well written enough to be enjoyable by those who are older, so naturally they have a much wider demographic that the Witcher series could ever reach without changing it at its core.

Books like that don't become huge hits because of their covers or impulse purchases, but by word of mouth. If a friend recommends a book to you and you see it has a bad cover, will you not read it? If you like it would you not recommend it to your other friends, telling them to ignore the bad cover art?

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> I mean, why do you think he should not worry about his reputation as a serious and authentic fantasy writer, instead of someone who seems to only write games novelizations?

Because as I wrote earlier I think people who don't play the games probably won't make that connection, and in any case anyone qualified to pass that judgement wouldn't be making that mistake. Confused gaming fanboys are not any authority of literature. There are people out there that don't know that the movie Titanic is based on a real event. As any audience grows the amount of idiots within it will also grow.

If someone is looking for serious and authentic fantasy, they look for it by doing research and fishing for recommendations among friends or online, not picking up books at based on cover art because that's just a shot in the dark. A book cover is just an ad, and anyone looking for quality products know to look past the ads and check out the reviews for any quality issues.

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> That other quote about walking through the woods and talking to a squirrel means the same thing that when he says that no adaptation can match the original in terms of storytelling. He is not detracting any medium, he is just stating a well known fact.

That's not a fact, that's an opinion. You can't do it exactly the same, but that doesn't mean you can't do it just as good or better (not saying whether or not the games did do it better in the case of the Witcher). As an example, many of the works of Shakespeare are old folk tales and stories modernized (for the day) and adapted for the stage. Now they are held up as classics because of how he was able to present those stories.

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> Ask it to any book reader, especially to ASOIAF or LotR readers. Likewise, there's no way for a movie or a game to nail the omniscient description of a character's feelings, thoughts or any other circumstance with the same depth that a written word can. Everyone knows it, what is wrong about that?

Again, opinions. By people who identify as readers about their favorite medium. Pictures, movements, sounds, dynamic interactivity, etc can express and reveal things that would be to impossible or trite to put into text. Just because you and a lot of other people might favor depiction in written form does not mean it is an absolute fact.

ERMAHGERD!! I have been wanting Limbo so, so, so badly! =D I watched a friend's friend play it, and immediately I knew it was a game I'd like. Not only is it a platformer/puzzle game (which are my absolute favorite!), but the art is beautiful. I love it!

As for something entertaining, why not take a minute and look at these adorable baby skunks? =D

And ERMAHGERD I LOVE READING! It is the ultimate de-stressing activity for me, although I don't get to do it often during the school year because I have to read my textbooks and stuff instead. I've really been wanting to read A Game of Thrones! I have just heard such good things, and it really seems like a book I'd love. =)

Thanks for doing this awesomely awesome contest! =D

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot, here's a gifting that I have done!

I don't read enough books to know where to look for reviews, but I'll do my best. I got like 200 pages into ADWD before no longer caring, whereas with the first 3 I finished them all in days. It's like he looked at the last books and thought "hmm, people like seeing bad things happen to the characters. I'll just keep throwing bad things at them over and over again and they'll be so shocked they love it!"

AGOT - 4.5 stars. Top reviews are all of praise.

ACOK - 4.5 stars. Most of the top reviews are praise, some notice a dip in quality. I agree, though still a great book.

ASOS - 4.6 stars. Top reviews are praising it, much deserved.

AFFC - 3.8 stars. Top reviews say "it's okay, but..."

ADWD - 4.0 stars. Top reviews are even worse, despite the higher score.

Good books? Maybe, but they're not on the quality level of the Harry Potter books and the first 3 asoiaf books, which was what most people were expecting again.

Ahh! This is such an awesome contest and you are awesome!

Personally, ever since I was little I've been a huge bookworm. One summer growing up i think i averaged 8 books a week. im pretty sure my mother took away my harry potter books. it was no joke. Hahahaha but now with that silly thing called life in the way, I rarely get to read as much as i would like but whenever i do it really is a treat.

This summer however I will have more time than usual to read. I'm currently living in NJ so that I can commute to NYC for an internship... Thaaaat I just found out is mostly online and I only go in 1-2x a week. So now I'm living in a town with my aunt where I don't know anyone or anything so I don't have a whole lot to do since no one will hire someone for the summer :(

Anyhooooo, winning a Kindle Fire would be so great so I don't have to lug around a ton of books ;) I had one about two years ago until the screen mysteriously broke (aka my brother got ahold of it). Since then, I didn't know anything about a warranty and I never got to have another one. It really was a glorious twoish weeks while I had one.

My favorite ebook that I don't have yet would have to be A Song of Fire and Ice, Book 1. I have a feeling this will be mentioned a lot but I've been meaning to read it forever and well that's the one I'd like! I am absolutely HOOKED on the series and I just need to start reading the books. Orrrrr possibly Jodi Picoult. Growing up, her books were an escape of sorts for me. I always like to stay up to date with her novels :)

Either of those books are sure to keep me reading for days! This post is getting obscenely long somehow so I'm just going to stop now.... Stay fabulous :)

Is there anything in particular you're leaning to?

Author Cherie Priest has a couple excellent books.

• Boneshaker, first book in her Clockwork Century series. It's a steampunk setting with zombies and all sorts of wonderful stuff. This book is actually on sale through the end of the month for $2.99.
  
• Bloodshot, first book in her Cheshire Red Reports series. It's about a vampire gal who is a thief-for-hire.
  
  The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher, is a wonderful series. It's about a wizard-for-hire in the modern world, and delves into the wonderful magic environment that Jim has created. Jim likes to put his characters through trouble and turmoil, and it's good for character development! The series starts off with Storm Front.
  
  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another great series. It's a post-apocalyptic/oppressed setting, centering around something called 'The Hunger Games' - an annual battle that captivates the capitol and all twelve remaining districts. There is a movie releasing next year, as well.
  
  The Name of the Wind is a terrific book by Patrick Rothfuss, the first entry into his series The Kingkiller Chronicles. It's a fantasy setting, and is about a character named Kvothe recounting his life. The writing style has an absolutely artistic writing style that is captivating to read, and such interesting and progressing events that make you eagerly turn the page. I have not yet read the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, but I'm told it's even better in every way.
  
  Terry Pratchett is an amazing and renowned author. He has been knighted, an event for which he created his own sword for by hand, battles against Alzheimer's in a most respectable and commendable way, and has created such an interesting and provoking world that provides a lot of laughs and curious perspectives on matters. Where you start is a more difficult choice. A couple choice options might be as follows (I haven't read others yet, so I can't attest to others, but there are many!).
  
  
• Guards! Guards! which is the first installment to the City Watch sequence.
  
• The Reaper Man trails after Death, after he has been fired from his job.
  
  I haven't started this book yet, nor looked into it, but I have heard terrific reviews. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, is his first book in his Gentleman Bastard Sequence series.
  
  And of course, if you haven't entered George RR Martin's world of Westeros, the series A Song of Ice and Fire could be a wonderful read. It's very complex and very long and not yet complete (five books so far). It starts off with Game of Thrones, which is what the recently-aired HBO series was based upon.
  
  In the science fiction sphere, I would recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's the first in his Ender's series, and there are quite a few books set in the world. I have only read the first one, and it was an excellent read, insightful and thought-provoking.
  
  ...anyway, that should be a few to peek at!

GW is a awesome game. I only have 4 points left on my HoM and im real excited. You will be able to get them after GW2 comes out but might have a harder time as the GW userbase is already pretty low.

If you have a friend who wants to do it or you can find a few people, or a guild, its worth it for the first 15. The last 15 (assuming you only want the items) will take you about the same amount of time to get 1-3 points. First 15 you can do in 1 1/2 weeks.

The story is pretty good in a silly way. If you want to get the most out of GW2 you should probably buy the books 1 2, they are pretty good at least if you have played GW and stayed interested.

The game is different than most games, you will probably mostly play alone or only with friends. It isn't open world, you have to form your party and skills in towns. The game is completely skill based, if you are a bad player you will always be bad. It has a pretty decent learning curve but it throws a lot of people off the game. Also don't expect to pvp in GW, if you get in a game you are going to get pwned.

Not quite what you're asking but I'm putting in a plug for "A Stitch In Time," which is not a fan novel- it was written by the actor who played Garak. I think it's technically canon- it's definitely an official ST publication.

I enjoyed it partly because the background story is interesting- if I remember correctly, Andrew J. Robinson, the actor, created an intensely detailed background story for the character Elim Garak. Of course, the character's demeanor was so terse and cryptic that the story he'd created mostly served to inform subtle on-screen reactions, and the bulk of the details never made it to the screen. Mr. Robinson wrote the ("auto")biography to get it out of his head, to help make peace with, and let go of, the character.

I also enjoyed it because it was a good read, well-written, carefully thought out and contributed to my depth of experience with the series as a whole.

It is always best to approach any kind of activity with a “moderation” mind set, including video games. If you are concerned that your child is spending too many hours sat in front of a screen playing video games during their free time, you could try to find some inspiration from the games that they play for other kinds of activities. For example, if they like playing sports games maybe they would like to join a team sport? Or attend a live sporting event? If your children like fantasy games, maybe they would like to work on a costume for Halloween next year inspired by their favorite character? Or perhaps they could be enticed to delve in to some fantasy novels such as The Hobbit or A Song of Ice and Fire?

gifting is fun.

no but seriously, it is.


ive been reading a lot lately, and this is next on my list. they dont sell it at my local barnes and noble though :(


This is also on my list. I love me some Metal Gear, can you tell? haha


and finally, there is The Boss. She's a bit pricey, and I think the shipping makes it over $20 total. So nevermind. But still, she's awesome. :D


Anyway, whether you gift me something or not, what you are doing is absolutely incredible. People like you make the world a better place.

Sure, a couple notes while I'm downloading BaW :)

The book order is thus:

The Last Wish

Sword of Destiny

Blood of Elves

The Time of Contempt

Baptism of Fire

The Tower of the Swallows

The Lady of the Lake

There's no official english translation of the last book yet, but the one I've linked is the best fan translation I've found. It's the one I read, and I honestly would have had no idea it wasn't a "real" edition if I didn't know better. Fantastic work.

There's also A Season of Storms, which is sort of a midquel for the series. But it was written in the last two years, has no bearing on any of the game's canon, and contain some minor potential spoilers for later books since he expected his readers had finished the series at this point. I recommend you ignore it for now, and if you decide you want to read it down the road pick it up after the series.

The first two books are a short story collections. The series is in chronological order, but the actual novel arc doesn't begin until the third book. Definitely don't skip the first two though, they set up important characters and events in Geralt's life prior to the novel arc beginning.

Lastly, if you really can't be bothered to spend a bit on the amazon paperbacks here's a link to all of them in epub format. I can't vouch for the quality of the fan translations in this pack, nor do I recommend this format. Buying the books supports the author and reading a book is still easier than reading on a tablet in my opinion.

Good luck on your journey into the Witcher!

P.S. - Oh, here is the Witcher 1 recap video I mentioned. DO NOT WATCH THIS until after you finish the books. It will spoil the climax of the series and ruin your reading. You can buy the game dirt cheap if you can handle a playthrough on PC, but you really won't miss a ton of important info if you skip it. I don't want to spoil the end of the books either, but essentially the second and third game don't rely on the first one at all aside from knowing cursory details of the first game.

Wow, that short story was awesome. It's great that there's still so much Greg Egan I haven't encountered.

You're right that this idea feels like a deus ex machina. When I first read "Permutation City" I walked around for a few days in a euphoric haze, imagining simulations running without their substrates. But then reality hit. I was running huge microprocessor simulations in those days, and I remembered that you can't simulate their instructions out of order. There are dependencies that have to be respected[1]. And Egan had glossed past that in a single page, so slickly that I never noticed. This feels similar. It's dangerous to introduce too much fiction into one's worldview.

[1] Though it's possible you can sidestep dependency constraints, using something like maximum entropy to simulate a set of particles at far enough time steps without simulating the intervening steps, simply by estimating the probabilities of different kinds of interactions. It might work better if you have a goal in mind to train for using reinforcement learning. Then you could leave the fundamental laws of the simulated universe open and part of the weights to train, and select the simulation that gives you what you want. But all this is probably like Borges's library[2], or at least way beyond our computational capacity. Or maybe you need to imagine your goal to such depth that.. what's the point of finding a simulation that yields it? The world has never been easy, so better to assume it never will be until one is proven wrong.

[2] When I first read Carl Sagan's "Contact", the final chapter left me in a similar euphoric haze for a few days. Inside the infinite digits of pi in all bases you could find all possible patterns, all truths. Then I discovered the insight of Borges's library for myself.

Wow. Dorset is near the front page? My parents live nearby Dorset in Nevis, MN and I've been there over 100 times I'd say? In fact I've been in the mayoral race myself... I just didn't get enough votes apparently. The festival that the election occurs during is called the Taste of Dorset but you have to understand, for a tiny town that you can drive through before you take a breath - this festival is INSANE! People from all over come to Dorset and basically flood the streets... found a picture online.

It's a great tourist attraction and one of the many things I love about Northern Minnesota. Also, the town is only open in the summer, pretty much everything closes shortly after Labor Day.

Edit: Personal note, in the mid 90s I bought a copy of Jumper at Sister Wolf Books and read it that afternoon sitting by the lake - amazing memory.

Hmmm... paranormal/supernatural tween reads with strong girl characters (not that Twilight had a strong female lead in it, but you may as well steer her in a better direction).

You really can't go wrong with the Hunger Games. Or you could get her the Japanese novel Battle Royale. It's also a dystopian novel about teenagers forced to battle each other to the death.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is worth checking out. It starts to lose some oomph towards the end, but is still a solid read with actual substance to the storyline. I'd get the hardback - the photography in it is just genius. Male lead, but there's a pretty cool chick who throws fireballs.

I enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood. It's a bit like Supernatural, only with one male ghost hunter as the protaganist. He falls in love with a ghost, but she's a homicidal maniac.

The Rise of Renegade X - a boy raised by his evil supervillain mom discovers that he's the product of her one-night-stand with a superhero. That was pretty enjoyable...

Poison Study is a great book about a girl who's been sentenced to death and is offered a reprieve if she becomes the king's food taster. Her handler ends up subjecting her to a litany of poisons so that she can build up immunity. Didn't read the sequels, but the first book was pretty good.

Graceling is set in a world where certain people are born with random talents - the ability to hold their breath underwater for long periods of time, musical or dancing abilities, cooking the best food imaginable, etc. The main character is born with the talent to kill & becomes her uncle's assassin.

Stardust - Neil Gaiman... really nuff said, eh?

Howl's Moving Castle - A girl is turned into an old woman by an angry witch & takes refuge in the mysteriously moving castle of an "evil" wizard.

Okay. I'll stop now. :)

Upvoted for a really great response.

I would second crillbilly's recommendation of reading Dawkins', specifically The God Delusion. He deals with pretty much every question you've asked here. Complexity and mystery don't necessarily equal a God. If that were true, you could throw anything into those "gaps" in our knowledge. I believe that's where the infamous "spaghetti monster" came from. I could tell you he existed, and if you never find him, that just means you haven't looked in the right place.

There will always be things we won't know, and one can always hold those "unknowables" hostage as proof that there's just one more layer we've yet to peel away in our search for God. But my philosophy on that is: belief is what you want it to be. Its importance is only what you ascribe to it. You don't need it to live a happy life, only if you've talked yourself into believing that you do.

tl;dr - Read Contact by Carl Sagan. Striking a balance between faith and science is pretty much all he did, and he did it well.

I would have switched TOS and ENT in your order, but everything else looks pretty good. Since Garak is your favorite character, I would recommend A Stitch In Time which is basically a bunch of letters from Garak to Bashir written by the actor who plays Garak. I am part way through it and it's pretty good especially reading it in his voice.

there is also 3 published books that you might enjoy (I know I did)
they cover lots events that happened after GW1 and before GW2

Ghosts of Ascalon - I still need to read this one but i believe its talking about the events that lead to the peace negotiation between the Humans and Charr

Edge of Destiny- this book talks about the the 5 main NPC you play with throw the personal story, how they met and what happened between them before the events of GW2



Sea of Sorrows - talks about the re-creation of Lions arch after Orr risen from the ocean, how it became free city for all races and a heaven for pirates, great story

> I'm wrestling with finding meaning in my life and I know there's no one solution like traveling, but for some reason I feel like if I don't try this now I never will. Any advice is appreciated.

If you're MGTOW, there's really no reason you can't travel a year or ten years from now. If you're just looking to support yourself, you can live obscenely cheap for the rest of your life. Money should never be a problem.

My two cents - meaning is internal, not external. It doesn't matter where you go or what people say to you if you don't grapple with hard questions and take the time to think. So my suggestion is to get a few books, ignore everything job-related for a while (if your field's in-demand, getting back on the grind is easy, especially if you've worked internships), live cheap, and get reading.

Not sure where to start? I think a great, accessible introduction to philosophy and thinking about important issues is George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Of course, if there's books you've been meaning to read, start with those.

I wish you well on your journey, brother.

This list needs more Neil Gaiman.


Children/YA books: Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and Stardust are my favs. Do yourself a favor and read the version illustrated by Charles Vess, it is far superior to the (non-illustrated) mass-market paperback. I would link to it, but I can't seem to find it on Amazon. Sorry.

Now, at no point did you ask for short-fiction, though I would think it fits your criteria of being able to pick up and set down at a moment's notice, so I'm gonna rec some fine short fiction as well. Smoke and Mirrors is quite good, as is Fragile Things.

Now as long as I'm here I would be remiss if I did not at least mention The Princess Bride and the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. I linked to the first one in the series, but it has been my experience that you can read them in just about any order you want with very little trouble. I usually just go to my local library and grab whichever one strikes my fancy. Terry Pratchett is an amazing storyteller and he also made a sword out of metal ore mined from a meteor after being knighted. That is a true thing that happened. I kid you not. Read his books. They will make your life better. Also to bring this comment full circle, he co-authored a book with Neil Gaiman called Good Omens that is just fantastic.

I highly recommend anything Carl Sagan has written. The book Contact is a good start since it's fiction. It's basically Sagan's love note to science. I also enjoy many of his non-fictions since he has a way of explaining things so that even an ignoramus like myself can understand.

My favorite is The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, but the first one I read was The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal view of the Search for God. I really attribute this book with making me want to learn more about science. It's the first non-fiction book I ever enjoyed.

Oh yeah, and watch any interview you can find with Richard Feynman. He has such a great way of looking at everything!

Buy yourself a copy of Game of Thrones! It's sooooooooooooo amazing--you really have to read it :D You're going to love it!

As for myself, I'd love a gift card to add to my Kindle Fire fund. I have a long ways to go before I can afford it, but I'm super excited for it!! And every little bit helps :)

i mean, i say give the books another shot because i can't imagine enjoying the movies but not the books. but to each their own. if you don't want to go down that road, what do you mean things that might interest you? do you mean in the harry potter universe? if so, the other stuff is fun but the original seven are her magnum opus IMO and to get my fix, i had to go outside the Harry Potter universe.

some books that I just inhaled and read in one sitting will sound super corny, but...

• The Sookie Stackhouse novels. Wow. I am embarrassed at how fast I read these books. Edward Cullen can screw off. Eric is way hotter.
  
• the Da Vinci Code. Not the best writing. not the most factual history. don't care I blasted through that book.
  
• Ready Player One
  
  If you just want some good fantasy that isn't just Lord of the Rings rip offs, these are the ones I like.
  
  
• Gormenghast
  
• King Killer Chronicles
  
• Wheel of Time
  
• Game of Thrones
  
• The Blade Itself
  
• The Crystal Cave

Great contest!

I want to get into reading the game of thrones books . I hear such great things about the show, and everyone tells me I should definitely read the books. I've been meaning to find a good series to get into now that I've finished school and have time to read for fun lol.

I haven't read anything good in years and the things I have read are usually due to finding new books for my kids or reading the books that have been adapted to tv/film.

One of my all time favorite series was from Robin Hobb. Starting with Assassin's Apprentice. This was a difficult read for me at the time, but I loved the story behind the characters.

I started reading less fantasy after reading Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Millennial Series. I read these after watching the original films. It is fantastic. Just don't buy the fourth book, it wasn't even written by him as he has been dead for a while now.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. I didn't start reading those until Game of Thrones premiered on HBO.

Now for some really old school, Dragonlance by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The fourth book came out years later and was fantastic. I have read more than a few of the side stories, but the main books are the best in my opinion, probably would not hold up well today.

Currently, I have The Martian by Andy Weir and Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan waiting for me to read.

The Five People You meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is a book that I consider a must read. I don't consider it a spiritual book, but it did change my perspective on how I view my life in this world.

Ooh, I adore this movie, but I've never read the book! Can I still enter? I've heard good things about the book and would love to read it.

If so, and if I didn't link properly, here is a link to the list it's on. I didn't know you could link an item and have it have your wish list info. If I did it wrong, please let me know. Thanks for the contest!

Sometimes everyone needs a hug.

internet hug

For me it is all the amazing adventures that I plan on having and the knowledge that to get there I have to go through this. Some days it works better than others.

Hope you feel better!

And for the contest a used version please!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0553593714/ref=tmm_mmp_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=&qid=

Hi! My name is Dillon, awesome contest, thank you for doing this! George R.R. Mofoing Martin ( I didn't wanna swear) his first Game of Thrones book. I've wanted to read the rest of the books so bad but haven't had the money for them which is okay because I can watch the show but I have had a huge lust and love for medieval scifi and I have lost touch with reading books and I would love to start again so bad.

Aww this is very sweet of you! Thank you for the opportunity.

For me I would really like one because well, i'm a broke college student. I live on campus in a very small dorm room and have little room to store my actual books. I always thought an e-reader would solve that problem though. I've just never had the money to buy one. I've heard good things about both the Kindle and Nook from family members who own them! An e-reader would work perfectly because I could finally begin to read again! The lack of space prevents me from being able to purchase new books and find that little piece of happiness i've been missing.

A book I would really like to read is: A Game of Thrones - I'm dying to read this series before I dive into the television series. Because as readers know ... BOOKS ARE ALWAYS BETTER <3 Unfortunately the lack of space and cash prevents me from buying the collection.

This post has the order of the stories:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3h4lgb/the_complete_wow_book_reading_order_lore_timeline/

It's long, as it includes comics, short stories, etc.

Book wise, if you're looking at WoW specific lore, there's a few that are what I consider the essentials. I recommend you start with picking up Rise of the Horde, it gives a great background on how the Original Horde came to be. Then get the Warcraft Archive it has four books that all relate events to after WC3/before WoW. After that, get The War of the Ancient. At that point, you've read all the essentials of the pre-WoW/current WoW material. All the books past there can really be connected to specific events in the game (in which case, see the list on the thread I linked earlier.

I ain't birthed no babies! XD

Pokemon and video games in general make me so happy and help me destress. :)

I recommend trying the Game of Thrones series. Happy Birfday!!!!!

The book https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Novel-Koushun-Takami/dp/1421527723 is pretty good.

The comic follows the book pretty faithfully - to the point where you probably don't need to read the manga if you read the book. I read it back when the manga was still being released in NA and I wanted to know what happened :) It was a hard book to track down back then, I think had to get it special ordered.

Now it's pretty easy, they republished it a few years back when hungergames was all the rage.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Mmmm, sounds yummy!

I would love to have Silver Linings Playbook. http://amzn.com/B001ANSSDC

I haven't seen the movie yet and I know it received rave reviews. The book can only be better, am I right? Thanks for having this contest, I love reading. Are you reading anything good right now?

The Princess Bride has been on my To-Read list forever and I keep forgetting about it. If I had a copy, though, I'd definitely be done reading it by the weekend, because I'm sure it's that good of a book! :) This is such a cute contest idea. I love used books, so I think it's great when people gift them! :)


Buying a book is not about obtaining a possession, but about securing a portal.

From your description, I immediately thought of What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson. I think some might call it dated, because it's obviously set in the seventies, but then, most books written today will be considered dated in twenty years if anyone's even still reading them! Anyway, this is a book that had a profound impact on me when I first read it.

I'd also suggest Emergence by David Palmer, if you can find a copy. Or perhaps The Postman by David Brin -- haven't read that particular book by him but it seems to fit the bill and he's a very good author.

I don't know if any of these qualify as extremely dark, even though they do deal with mature subjects and events. I'm big on hope.

Yup! These ones. As nice as they look/feel I think I'll end up regretting them....unless the last two books will have a version released to match.

If you'd like something nicer than the regular hardcopies, perhaps wait until the series is done (will it ever happen tho? lol) to buy a nice edition such as the leather.

You're welcome tho. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been.

I've never read the books but would love to. I'd like the Kindle book.

Awwe your kids are so precious! Just adorable!!

To get addicted? I would say the War of the Ancients trilogy, it covers a period in Warcraft known as the sundering but from a different perspective from Warcraft 3 as it focuses on 3 characters 'created' by the author (technically you can say it was blizzard/knaak) which in turn heavily influence the current story and timeline in World of Warcraft (WoD excluded to a point).

If you aren't looking for a long read, as mentioned by /u/disaace, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King is fantastic and covers Arthas Menethils descent in to 'madness' as he takes up the mantle of 'The Lich King'. The internal struggle in that book was one of the best things in any of the Warcract/WoW series i've read.

If you enjoy either of those, you can go in a few directions but i'd recommend covering the history of/between Orcs and Humans which you can read in World of Warcraft: Chronicles of War which covers 4 books and gives you a really solid grounding.

Some people have issues with some of the writing styles but if you just take the story for what it is and you've grown up around the Warcraft games then it's hard to not geek out a bit!

I would high recommend The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. This is a sword and sorcery fantasy series that has a very strong back story of the main character finding true love. It is 6 books long so not to big to get into and I know that Jim's books have been used several times to get people either back into reading or to get them hooked on reading in the first place.
Another classic book is The Princess Bride most folks have seen the movie but I am always surprised at how few have read the book. It is just as good if not better than the movie.

Enjoy

Sure thing!

• Metal Gear Solid - I am almost finished with this book. It is very detailed about everything, I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - I will be reading it shortly.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots - Different author, but I am still excited to read it.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid Omnibus - Graphic novel, I enjoyed it.
  
  
• The Complete Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty - Another graphic novel, I am going to start it before I read the 2nd book.
  
  
  Unfortunately there is nothing for Snake Eater :-/

Dr. Max Tegmark, cosmologist and physics professor at MIT

• Permutation City, by Greg Egan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Jane Goodall, Primatologist
  
  
• The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Miracle of Life (not listed)
  
  Dr. Sean Carroll, Theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology
  
  
• Dragon's Egg, by Robert Forward (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Temple Grandin, Animal scientist
  
  
• "I’m a Star trek fan..."
  
  Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior astronomer and director at the Center for SETI Research
  
  
• Golem XIV, by Stanislaw Lem (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Chris Stringer, Anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London
  
  
• Brazil, the movie (YouTube)
  
  Dr. Jack Horner, Paleontologist at Montana State University
  
  
• Jurassic Park, the movie) (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Adam Riess, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University
  
  
• Contact, by Carl Sagan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Silo saga, by Hugh Howey (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Stand, by Stephen King (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Watership Down, by Richard Adams (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Steven Strogatz, professor of mathematics at Cornell University
  
  
• The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Chriton (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, the movie (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, materials scientist
  
  
• Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute
  
  
• Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Dr. Strangelove, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the movie (IMDB)
  
  Olympia LePoint, rocket scientist
  
  
• Gravity, 2013 (IMDB)
  
• Back to The Future, 1985 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Danielle Lee, biologist
  
  
• Dune, 1984 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Michael Shermer, historian of science
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
  Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• Planet of the Apes, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• The Terminator, 1984 (IMDB)
  
• The Quiet Earth, 1985 (IMDB)
  
• Contact, 1997 (IMDB)
  
• Deep Impact, 1998 (IMDB)
  
• The Matrix, 1999 (IMDB)
  
• The Island, 2005 (IMDB)
  
• Watchmen, 2009 (IMDB)
  

Yeah, I can agree on some. I own this series as well https://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Ice-Fire-Volumes/dp/0007477155 and it has a sleek look that doesn't look too bland like some other versions, like the ones sold in most bookstores, which are all black with just a symbol on them and a big sticker slapped on them saying "THE ORIGINAL TO THE SUCCESSFUL HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES"...just ruins the look.

Frankly, after trying a few on many years ago, I don't think there are any good novelizations.

Novels contain more information than their movie adaptations in terms of character development, plot, background details, etc. There's simply too much stuff to cram into 2 hours. As a matter of a fact, the easiest stories to adapt to movies are short stories, not novels. Most movie scripts read more like short stories than novels.

So to take a movie based on an original script and try to translate that into a short story is relatively easy. Trying to make it into a novel...well, there's just not vital material. Sure the poor SOB contract writing the thing can create details to fill out the book, but the more they stray from what was portrayed in the film, the more they risk arousing the reader's frustration.

There are some franchise fiction novels that are fair to good, but those aren't novelizations of films, they're just set in a commercial universe. At least the writers have some leeway to be creative.

I think you're always better going with original material. Authors who make up their own worlds are much more emotionally connected to their writing, and jazzed about what they're doing.

Kenobi.

Prime Directive.

A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson.

Uhura's Song.

I can recommend:

• The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett has a really nice and different world compared to other fantasy series and I'm really mesmerized by the story. 4 books
  
  
  
• Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time has 14 books, so it might be more than what you are looking for. But the story is insane, except for 1-2 books that were slightly boring.
  
  
• A Song of Ice and Fire. You have probably read it, but since you didn't list it, I thought I'd recommend it anyways. Amazing fantasy world, but with Game of Thrones being everywhere, you know of this one. 5 books (not finished yet)
  
  
• I also like the Eragon-series, but it's not for everyone and might be not as "grown up" as the others. Eragon by Christopher Paolini. 4 books

Books! I feel like this is my element! Can I suggest multiple books or does that not count?

You can never go wrong with A Song of Ice and Fire (which starts with the book, A Game of Thrones) if you haven't read it yet.

These next two I got for free from Amazon as part of the Kindle First program, and I really liked both of them! They're both the first books in their respective series, so I haven't got around to reading the rest of the books in each series but they have potential.

The Paper Magician is about a girl who has just graduated from Magician School, and has been sent off to do her apprenticeship with a paper magician, who only works magic through paper. The girl is a little miffed as she doesn't think paper magic has any worth.

The Line is about a girl who is the only non-magical member in her family of extremely powerful witches who live in Savannah, GA.

Basically, they are the same, but obviously very different circumstances. With acting, it's about creating a character, and with the writing it's creating that universe. In the memoir I just wrote I had to create the world of my childhood from memory and it was just as satisfying as creating Garak's world in A Stitch In Time.

The Narnia series. I read this series over and over as a child. Its the reason I read so much today. I had read books before that series but I wansnt into reading untill I read this series. It just had everything I was into at the time, Travel, adventure, danger, fictional characters. It also paved the way for me to be into book series more than single books. I think they can go into more detail and make you feel like your part of the story more than one book can and when they are over you almost feel as if a part of you is over. Like its a part of your past life.

a few of my favorite series are:

LOTR

The earths childrens series which is my favorite

The song of ice and fire

The touchstone trilogy

lol, I had no idea they sold stuff like this http://www.amazon.com/BLACK-Handcuffs-Cuffs-COMBO-Package/dp/B002R1OMOA/ref=wl_it_dp_v_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1BA21CVUG4K22&coliid=I3O8R8MDYOVDNA on amazon (page 17 of your wishlist). Thanks for the info ;)

If you add http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Called-Mercy-Thompson-Book/dp/0441013813/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373863282&sr=8-2&keywords=mercy+thompson to your wishlist I'll send it to you. It's one of my favorites. Although I am currently in the middle of this fabulous book and highly recommend it http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553386794/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373863555&sr=8-2&keywords=game+of+thrones+book

I'm sorry your husband upset you this morning. Guys have a tendency to do that on occasion. :hugs:

My husband and I are rewatching the seasons of Game of Thrones again in preparation for the next season, and we were talking about how great the show is, and how we haven't read the books.

• I suppose since we haven't read them yet, the most logical place to start would be with the first book, right?
  
  
• e~book or physical book is fine. Used is great! Either way, my husband and I will read it together. I have a Kindle, my husband prefers physical books because he doesn't have a Kindle, but we can read aloud to each other with either format.
  
  
• Your kids are adorable!! I'd say that anyway, even without a contest. <3
  
  Thank you for the contest. :)

I'd love to have the first book but the ebook would would be fine as well.

The kiddos look awesome!

My name is Kayla. :) and my favorite books are the ASOFAI books. All of them. I love them and the show so much. I flew througb the first three. I just couldn't put them down. They made me laugh, they made me cry, they made rage, and they made me feel good about myself. I am so glad I discovered these books. I will continue to reread them until I am an old, withered woman yelling at passerbys, "WINTER IS COMING!" :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000QCS8TW/ref=mp_s_a_1_sc_3?qid=1370565099&sr=8-3-spell&pi=SL75

I love Edward Gorey so much. I know that one's expensive though, so I'd also really love to read this!

Thank you for the contest!

Here's "the most complete" fan-made world map to date. GRRM said that, with the information we have from the books that are out, this is most likely the best a fan could come up with.

Looking for an official world map? George is releasing one this October!

Information dug up from this thread that was posted about 5 days ago. Hope that helps.

John Howe's maps of Middle-earth (available in a big box set) are pretty good, and his map of Middle-earth is definitive as far as I'm concerned.

Jonathan Roberts created a set of maps for A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones called The Lands of Ice and Fire which are excellent. I have the big map of the entire world on my wall.

Terry Pratchett has a whole set of maps for his Discworld books, including the entire Discworld itself and the city of Ankh-Morpork (both twice, in fact, in The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, The Compleat Ankh-Morpork, The Discworld Mapp and The Compleat Discworld Atlas).

You can buy a map of Roshar from Brandon Sanderson's website and one of Temerant from the Worldbuilders Store.

Of course you can, GW2 takes place 250 years after GW1 so some stuff will be familiar like old places and probably stuff mentioned in books or something, but otherwise the stories are pretty much self contained. If you're interested in getting into the lore prior to GW2 coming out, then go check out the books. The end of Eye of the North in 2007 was the starting point of everything that happened in-between GW1 and GW2 with the Beyond content giving you more of the story leading into GW2.

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-Ascalon-Matt-Forbeck/dp/1416589473

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-J-Robert-King/dp/1416589600/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Also, someone can probably link you to a primer for the lore on youtube.

Wow, this is super nice of you. I would love CAH since I am sooo tired of playing Loaded Questions and The Game of Things. Spicing up game night would be simply marvelous! ;)

Anyway, a book that I like, but in no way falls into any of the categories you listed is The Silver Linings Playbook. It was so much better than I anticipated and so much better than the movie. (Which I thought I would love due to the cast!)

Anyway, thanks for the contest.

I'm Horrible

Not about the Dominion War, but Andrew Robinson (the actor who plays Garak) wrote a book about his character's backstory, and his time after DS9, and it's actually quite good! It's called A Stitch in Time. I'd definitely recommend it!

There are two Raymond Benson novels (MGS1, MGS2) then there's the one by Project Itoh for MGS4 (which I heard is really good).

There's also an artbook by Ashley Wood. Then there is the Metal Gear Solid Omnibus which is the comic series of MGS1 and MGS2 by a few writers with Ashley Wood's art. There's also the Deluxe Collection but it's pricey and I'm not exactly sure what makes it different from the Omnibus.

I think any Metal Gear Solid fan who doesn't own these would definitely appreciate them. I know I would.

Google Cardboard is Awesome.

Why not get the Leather Bound set for $5 more?

And I found an awesome 5TB drive on sale last summer... definitely can't have too much!

I'm also about to do a road trip with two other scientists! Here are some awesome books that either I've read, or I plan on reading on my trip:

Contact - Carl Sagan. This book is absolutely my favorite science-y fiction, ever.

Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, if you haven't read them already.

Anything by Ray Bradbury - specifically Fahrenheit 451, also if you haven't read it already.

If you're into full-on science fiction, I can totally recommend the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card and the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons.

I have reread Jumper a few times. I found it many years before the movie. While the movie was ok. I enjoy the books original world better. I didn't like the paladin thing.

He also has other non jumper books that are very good.

• Jumper by Steven Gould (Jumper, Reflex, Jumper: Griffin's Story, Impulse, [Shade](https://www.google.com/#q=Steven Gould AND Shade)))
  
  
• Non Series Books by Steven Gould (7th Sigma, Blind Waves, Helm, Wildside))

> "Hey, Harry Potter/A Game of Thrones/Northern Lights/American Psycho were written 20+ years ago! I shouldn't have to pay 11.99 for copies! They should be 3.99 at most they're so old! Only new stuff should be expensive!"

Ummm....yes, actually. Would you pay $10,000 for a 1992 Ford Taurus, even if it still "runs well"? Would you pay $25 a The Dark Knight Blu-ray, even though it was one of the best movies of the 2000s and, arguably, the best movie of 2008? Would you pay $40 for A Link to the Past, a game considered the greatest of all time? No, you wouldn't. Despite those items still holding up and being great, you would not pay that expensive price for them, precisely because they were old.

There's such a thing as depreciation, and the market determines that (go to any used game store and CoD4 will be $5-7, whereas a black label copy of, say, Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be like $50, due to rarity). They're keeping the price artificially high to make it seem like a "premium" product that's still "in demand". If that were truly the case and people were still gobbling this game up (I'm not saying the community isn't still there, I'm talking about new consumers. That's what 'demand' addresses), they would continuously be bragging about the sales and that would justify its price point. You wanna know why GTAV is still $60? Because millions of people are still buying the game, to this day, and some milestone achievement is announced every 6 months or so. That obviously isn't true for CoD4, despite how good the game is.

Oh, and btw, I really don't know what point you were trying to make mentioning any of those books, considering:

Harry Potter

A Game of Thrones

Northern Lights

American Psycho (This one appears to hold up, but apparently it's a rare book)

I intentionally sorted by new, because if I picked used, the price would literally be a penny for 3 of those books, and $0.74 for the last.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Gold Coast trilogy begins in near future and then becomes dystopia (The Wild Shore) and then the third novel is a sort of eco utopia (though in a world still with challenges). It's set in California through those eras.

Children of Men, I've seen but not read, but it's a dystopia where people stop giving birth. Good movie, dunno about the book.

I thought Never Let Me Go, was a pretty good book though it is definitely telegraphed. I don't think you can really spoil it. It begins in an almost timeless world where these 'orphans' are raised and taught that they are special, for a reason.

David Brin's The Postman was made into an amazingly bad Kevin Costner movie. But despite that, I like the book and his central idea that his postmen could bring order to an apocalyptic world. I guess that's probably too fantastical from what you want.

Ups for everyone who mentioned "The Disposessed" and "A Handmaid's Tale". I'm not a big fan of "Oryx and Crake".

If you like Game of Thrones and maps, you should check out "the Lands of Ice and Fire". It's an official map pack and they look great on walls. Amazon link (just 23,43$ right now)

Great collection btw!

I'd love to start the Game of Thrones series. Haven't seen it nor read it. It'll be exciting to finally get what everyone is talking about.

Drama llama!

Thanks for the contest!

I'VE BEEN GOOD I SWEAR AND I WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK USED.

You rock :)

Riddle one : wine to keep me going till I can head to the village for sweeties!

Riddle 2: vacuum until I learn my spells, I will have to keep things tidy somehow!

Riddle 3: umbrella for all those quidditch games I will be going to, who knows what the weather will be like!

Riddle 4:Books for studying and getting to know the world around me!

Riddle 5: Trunk top store all of my supplies in!

Bonus: Cape for general wooshing around the castle.

Mischief managed!

I don't know of any hardcovers like that but there is a nice looking set of all 5 books in the cloth/leather material with very minimalist, clean looking covers. I just got the set actually.

Amazon link below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101965487?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

After the bomb goes off I'll have plenty of time on my hands for these

Change Jar!
Thanks for the contest. :]

Just splurged on a gift for myself. I have really been wanting to read the Song of Fire and Ice Series but George R. R. Martin. I don't know if I could stomach the violence from Game of Thrones but have heard nothing but great things about the books as well. Found this beautiful set on Amazon for a fantastic price!

Leather Box Set

If you're a fan and collector and haven't seen this set, I would highly recommend it for the price Amazon currently has it selling for!

I can't wait until it arrives to start reading!

I have that big poster in my room, as well as a Braavos map and another one of the whole world.

They came in an awesome pack, I have like another 4 - 5 that didn't fit on my walls :)

EDIT: I think it's this one http://www.amazon.com/Lands-Ice-Fire-Game-Thrones/dp/0345538544

Jumper and its sequel Reflex were quite good. The movie sucked balls and I haven't read any of the books written after they became movies, but those two were good at least.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is kind of like what you're describing; a (completed) fanfic where Harry has the special power of rational thinking, as well as the standard magic from the canon books.

Also, +1 for being someone else who has heard of Replay.

pumpkin ! thanks for the contest. :)

happy cakeday!

And while we're addressing the history of your account, I'll answer a question you asked of /r/books and never got an answer.... Battle Royale. It is a book that both of the other two books were based off of.

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Novel-Koushun-Takami/dp/1421527723/ref=pd_sim_b_3

I suggest the paperback since you're young and the hardback is kind of expensive for a book... I found my copy of this book at Hastings, but you should be able to find a copy or have a copy shipped to most book stores.

My suggestion when reading this book: Do NOT jump to the end and skip the exciting parts near the end... This is a great book.

I've enjoyed the books as a compendium to what I do in game. They might not be for everyone but are interesting and easy reads.

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-Ascalon-Matt-Forbeck/dp/1416589473/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377879616&sr=1-4&keywords=guild+wars+2

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-J-Robert-King/dp/1416589600/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377879616&sr=1-3&keywords=guild+wars+2

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-Sorrows-Ree-Soesbee/dp/1416589627/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377879616&sr=1-2&keywords=guild+wars+2

There's also this book, which is a little on the pricey side but filled with awesome maps like the one you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lands-Fire-Game-Thrones/dp/0345538544/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1371156474&sr=8-26&keywords=game+of+thrones

I haven't read that myself, but based on the description and notes elsewhere in the thread I might recommend these:

• the Newton's Cannon series by J Gregory Keyes - probably more serious than Chaos Walking but not nearly so grave as Game fo Thrones (did you like Game of Thrones?)
  
• Just about anything by Terry Pratchett
  
• Early Piers Anthony like A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, or Castle Roogna
  
• The Expendable series by James Alan Gardner (not the same story as the recent movies)
  
• The Red Lightning series by John Varley
  
• Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
  
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Hell no, he's not a good character. Much less 'really good'.

He's a great character. Fantastic even. Andrew Robinson was excellent in portraying him.

In the Pale Moonlight is awesome for just his speech alone... and then Sisko's right behind it.

Did you read the book by Andrew? It's a great read, about Garak, by Garak!

Is it a great movie? Probably not. But it's a fairly unique one. I think it's worth a watch, particularly if you play Battle Royale games. It's mostly a shock film though (Middle School kids killing each other!).

The novel, on the other hand, was really great through and through. I can only vouch for the original translation, but the updated version sounds good from reviews!

Oh, I hadn't thought about the next book? Maybe like a burnt, or dark orange would be a good way to go!

It was a Amazon Prime deal, so $25 for me.


/u/kak09k found a good link for this set for 45
>https://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-Leather-Cloth-Boxed/dp/1101965487/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=51o4SafxrCL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=3XFJ5EVKZZFDNK5P317D

I'm pretty sure they are published. I've read them all numerous times. Here's a link to Amazon. Really good deal for the book set.

https://www.amazon.com/Thrones-Clash-Kings-Swords-Dragons/dp/0345535529

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156035219/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9SoxzbA4FMQ62

One of my favorite books is about the ability to teleport. Jumper is so much better than the movie they made of it. You might enjoy it.

Lulz, "lift the couch to hoover under it."

"RAAAAAHR, HULK SMA-- er, no, wait. Hulk tidy up a bit."

What about those of us the other side of the pond? I don't know if there's very much of a difference between products on the UK and US sites.

Edit: We both have this and also I have this except you have all (or some) of them separately. We match!

Thanks for the contest! ♥

Coiling Dragon has a total of 806 chapters if WW charges 3c/ch then if we multiply that by 806 we get U$ 24.18.

Now If we compare it with some blockbuster novels we can see the difference in price

|Novel|Word Count|Complete novel price (Amazon)|Price per Word|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Harry Potter| 1,085,000|U$ 68.17|0.00006|
|Game of Thrones| 1,736,000|U$ 34.49|0.00002|

The total word count of Coiling Dragon is approximately 1,874,000. If we do the same calculation but using the price of 3c/ch then we get this:

|Novel|Word Count|Complete novel price (Aprox)|Price per Word|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Coilin Dragon|1,874,000|U$ 24.18|0.00001|

So from my point of view, that price is completely acceptable.

Well, as many are posting already, you can go through them in a very stringent chronological order if you'd like to... or, you could do what I did, and try to dive right in to the core-lore, the oldest and most central stories: [Warcraft Archives] (http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=110000002) is a book containing 4 original stories that cover topics ranging from the origin of Thrall to Medivh and the opening of the Dark Portal. I loved all of them! The next one I plan to read is the [War of the Ancients Archive] (http://www.amazon.com/WarCraft-Ancients-Archive-Warcraft-Series/dp/1416552030) which contains the three War of the Ancients books. Lot's of Night Elf lore! I personally find these collected tomes a perfect way to satiate my hunger for the real meat of Warcraft lore.

I am OBSESSED---> Game of Thrones, I admit I hopped on the bandwagon a little later than most but I absolutely love this series.

I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...

Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World

Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers

Science and Faith Contact

Somewhat easy philosophy

Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill

Mind: Consciousness Explained

War: Just and Unjust Wars

HAPPY HUMPDAY!

GoT - A Song of Ice and Fire

Thanks for the contest!

Garfield loves lasagna and I would love to read this ebook.

• Divergent/Insurgent (First two in an unfinished trilogy)
  
• The Maze Runner (This is a trilogy)
  
• Battle Royale
  
• I've heard good things about The Knife of Never Letting Go (The first part of the Chaos Walking trilogy)
  
  To be honest, these are just some dystopia themed books I recommended because of Hunger Games. However, I could give better recommendations if you tell me more of what she wants. Young adult? Fantasy? Romantic aspect?

The War of the Ancients trilogy is amazing. You can buy it in a paperback form that has all three in it.

http://www.amazon.com/WarCraft-Ancients-Archive-Warcraft-Series/dp/1416552030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373381529&sr=8-1&keywords=war+of+the+ancients+trilogy

Great starting point for anyone who wants to get into WoW Lore.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned The World of Ice and Fire, it's essentially a collection of the history of the world in which A Song of Ice and Fire takes place. It's also only recently been released. I haven't read it myself, but it's apparently a very good-looking book.

Along those lines are also The Land of Ice and Fire, which is a collection of maps for the same world and A Feast of Ice and Fire which is a companion cookbook to the series (is she likes to cook.)

Edit: you did mention that you're looking for something more substantial than just a book, so this may fall under that category, but it feels a little more substantial than getting her the next book in a series she's reading or something.

Samples of xray enabled books definitely come with xray files. If this is your book, it should come with xray as well. I have had success with this. Note that I only use Kindle Voyage and have no experience with android/ios apps. Try asking in previously linked mobileread thread as well.

If you love this movie, check out the Book or the Manga.
They are both really good.

So in the MGS:V will the last section be all blank pages? Or gibberish that has to be decrypted by ciphers (see what I did) in the game?

But seriously, I saw this at Boarders back in the day and picked it up on the principle of "how the fuck could you translate the Psycho Mantis fight?"

I was pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed it and as a whole. Highly recommend it to everyone a fan of mgs.

I did the Audiobooks first but I was so hooked I read them too. Cheap on Amazon for the paperback collection

Great for referencing

And don't go on the reddits until you've finished (if you try, which I totally reccommend; I don't like epic fantasy either and I love the books). The reddits all have spoilers, even /r/gameofthrones.

If you're not into the whole genre, start by watching the show. By the end of the second episode if you're not at least interested in how it goes on, then you're soulless and probably an Other (it's a GoT thing). After the first season, when you need to know more, READ THE BOOKS. DO NOT WATCH THE SECOND SEASON. I've found that it's easier to watch the second season after reading the books, since there is some deviation in the show.

Anyway, after you finish 'A Game of Thrones', 'A Clash of Kings', 'A Storm of Swords', 'A Feast for Crows', and 'A Dance with Dragons', you will finally be ready to watch the second season, and wait with baited breath for 'The Winds of Winter' (warning: links to Wikipedia, which has spoilers for the first five books and beyond), and Season 3 of HBO's Game of Thrones.

And now that I've gone to all the trouble to outline your next month of time, you had better go through with it. Believe me, I'll follow up.

Whole lotta reading recommendations in this thread. May as well throw my two cents in.

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. If you're into Guts' introspective-man-of-violence-looking-for-his-place-in-the-world-thing I'd think you find Logen Ninefingers to be an interesting character. If you're into audiobooks then I highly recommend checking out the audiobook versions. The guy reading them is practically a voice-actor.


The original trilogy:

• The Blade Itself.
  
• Before They are Hanged.
  
• The Last Argument of Kings.
  
  The standalone novels (available as a single volume in The Great Leveller):
  
  
• Best Served Cold (my own personal favorite. Imagine the mercenary-army warring states stuff from the Golden Age meets Kill Bill/Lady Snowblood).
  
• The Heroes.
  
• Red Country.
  
  And the most recent Sharp Ends (short story collection).
  
  The Witcher books by Andrezj Sapkowski. Already spawned a popular video game franchise (I've only played the third one and enjoyed it tremendously, but still prefer the books). They're planning to adapt the books into a Netflix series within the next few years.
  
  Short story collections:
  
  
• The Last Wish.
  
• Sword of Destiny.
  
  The novels:
  
  
• The Blood of Elves.
  
• The Time of Contempt.
  
• Baptism of Fire.
  
• The Tower of Swallows.
  
• The Lady of the Lake.

Read them!!! Even if it doesn't get finished, its still debatably some of the best literature of our generation and gives SO much insight into the story and the characters. Especially in the fifth book, there is a ton of plot points and awesome characters that never made it to the show. I imagine reading it now would be a nice bit of healing/closure after the catastrophe of S8

Only $35 for all five on Amazon -

If you’re wanting to read the rest, there’s a great leather bound set on amazon i just recently got. Just in case you’re interested, I’ll post the link below.

I found it here

"A Stitch In Time" is just fantastic. And it's written by Garak so you know it's all true, especially the lies.

"Hollow Men" is also amazing. It takes place just after "In the Pale Moonlight." Focuses on Garak & Sisko, as you'd imagine.

I read The Thousand Orcs by Salvatore a few years back and thought it was alright. But my favorite series by far is ASOIAF. I would also recommend The Forever War and Anathem.

Legends of the Dragonrealm series are a great first start. I started with just getting the volumes, which includes about 3 books per volume. You'll see the unique style he has there. If you have any interest in diving into Blizzard lore (Starcraft, Warcraft, etc), which personally I'm a sucker for some good lore, check out those series. They do a great job of putting a story behind the games.

I dunno how you read but here are some Amazon links:

War of the Ancients


Dragonrealm Vol. 1

Looking forward to reading Ready Player One, I've been wanting to read that one, glad it was picked. Amazon has it for sale here for only $8 dollars.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, No Country for Old Men, and The Princess Bride also all seem to be fairly cheap buys on Amazon.

I love DS9 and I would be thrilled if someone got me this book as it’s rather rare and expensive for a mass market paperback.


https://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Time-Star-Trek-Space/dp/0671038850

Whatever order you choose to do, I definitely recommend picking up The WarCraft Archive as it contains 4 books: Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, The Last Guardian, and Of Blood and Honor. Saves you a little bit of money as opposed to buying them individually.

Edit: It looks like there's a second WarCraft Archive for the War of the Ancients Trilogy as well.

Sounds like you're being excessively fixated on accuracy of a world purposefully written to be vague. Westeros is approximately the length of South America, per Martin's statements and this is generally accepted by the community.

If you want more info, feel free to check out the official book of maps.

You have got several options here:

| Book/Bundle | Content |
|:------------|:----------------|
| Chronicle: Volume 1 | "This definitive tome of Warcraft history reveals untold stories about the birth of the cosmos, the rise of ancient empires, and the forces that shaped the world of Azeroth and its people." |
| War of the Ancients Trilogy | This trilogy covers the initial invasion of the Burning Legion some 10,000 years before the First War/Warcraft 1. Eventhough it is slightly tainted by Knaak's infamous writing and it has become hard/expensive to get your hands on a new copy; it remains essential in WoW's canon. |

 

 

| ALSO: | |
|:------------|:----------------|
| If you are looking for a recommended reading list before Legion hits | Go to our friends at Blizzard Watch |
| If you are looking for a nerd with a soothing voice, summarizing lore for you | Go watch all Nobbel's videos |
| If you are looking for a subreddit full of helpful lorewalkers | Go visit r/warcraftlore ! |

If anyone wants to start reading The Witcher novels I made a guide over on the "Featured Character" comment section that I'll repost here:

Short stories:

1. [The Last Wish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wish_(book) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
2. Sword of Destiny - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   Novels:
   
   
3. Blood of Elves - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
4. Time of Contempt - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
5. [Baptism of Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_of_Fire_(novel) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
6. The Tower of the Swallow - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
7. [The Lady of the Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake_(novel) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   Overall:
   
   
8. The Last Wish
   
   
9. Sword of Destiny
   
   
10. Blood of Elves
    
    
11. Time of Contempt
    
    
12. Baptism of Fire
    
    
13. The Tower of the Swallow
    
    
14. The Lady of the Lake
    
    The short stories are a must-read before the novels because they introduce many characters and plot points for the main saga. There is also a prequel story called Season of Storms which hasn't been officially translated into English yet, but there are fan translations if you can't wait. I haven't read it myself, but I hear that it is best read after the others. If you want to know more about The Witcher lore there is always The World of the Witcher^UK which will give you more backstory and details.

This is a really great scan from "The Lands of Ice and Fire". If you like this map I would highly suggest getting the whole physical set. I plan to laminate some of them and maybe get one framed.

I feel like I recommend these books every time I post in a /r/books thread.

If you want another long epic fantasy series I'd recommend A Song of Fire and Ice(6 books, 4 released) or Malazan(10 books) above all else. If you want the full immersion effect of entering a more intricate and detailed world than just about any other world out there than try Malazan. For amazing characters and a kick ass plot try aSoFaI. Malazan is completed whereas aSoFaI won't probably be finished for probably another decade.

Bunnicula - what awesome books those were, I use to read them to my son when he was little.

I think you should get yourself this because cleaning boxes out is gross and why can't cats just use the toilet, gawd!

I would love this because I really need to know what everyone is talking about all the time.

Not printable but the best map out there.

Gonna state the obvious but... You can't beat A Game of Thrones for cast diversity. If you haven't read it, you have to try it out. It's not for everyone, but if you love it, you loooooove it.

The books I'm currently reading, I'm totally in love with "the old breed" right now, can't put it down!

A helmet for my pillow

With the old Breed

For whom the bell tolls

The Gay Science

Metro 2033

A game of thrones

The Postman is a good read though its more dystopian future than hard core survival. Still a great book.

This is the set i got when i wanted a physical copy. I like it a lot. I also have the woiaf, which is awesome too.

The book that was released tells their entire story. Short read, pretty fun. Dunno if anyone's got a pdf copy.

http://www.amazon.ca/Guild-Wars-J-Robert-King/dp/1416589600

It's a great read, and translated well. Enjoy!

The twitter link you posted has an amazon link that contains affiliate tags. That means the person who created the link makes money on each purchase. You may resubmit your post but use a clean amazon link instead:

https://www.amazon.com/Thrones-Clash-Kings-Swords-Dragons/dp/0345535529/

If you're interested, here's the chronollogical order of the books (with links to buy them on Amazon):

1. The Last Wish
   
2. Sword of Destiny
   
3. Blood of Elves
   
4. Time of Contempt
   
5. Baptism of Fire
   
6. Tower of Swallows
   
7. Lady of the Lake
   
   --------
   
   Season of Storms is an upcoming book set in between the short stories of The Last Wish. It will be released in English on March 2018.

1. The show stayed reasonably close to the books for the first three seasons, and then veered in a very different direction. So I'd say you're safe in terms of being 'spoiled' as to book events.
   
   
2. Aim for a set that is something like this - there's plenty of versions of the published books. Some sets have ASOS and ADWD split into two smaller books, which is why you get some sets which are five books and some which are seven. There's no differences to the texts AFAIK. It's just for convenience of publishing paperbacks - those two books are extremely large and difficult to bind.
   
   
3. I'd steer clear of googling theories and browsing reddit except when using the spoiler filters on this and other subs. It can lead you down rabbit holes :) But if you like rabbit holes, then browse away while reading! It's up to you.

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-Ascalon-Matt-Forbeck/dp/1416589473 - all 3 books (which cover a lot of kinda importantish lore and if i may recommend in case you just wanna get one, it should be SoS from Ree Soesbee) for 25$, but most important passages are on the net, Gw2guru has its own lore section, but the core plotlines are in the original GW, in the personal story and kindaish here http://atlas.guildwars2.com/en/

I have a some personal favorites I can recommend:

DS9's Terok Nor Trilogy

DS9's A Stitch in Time

TNG's The Romulan Prize

TNG's Imzadi

TNG's Kahless

I.K.S. Gorkon Trilogy

Note: I think all of these are available for the Kindle, which is handy because so many are out of print.

You are so sweet for doing this!

I would absolutely love it if I were to get the ebook A Song of Fire and Ice: A Game of Thrones. I have wanted to start reading the series and what better way than by ebook?

What ceci said, it's an older much darker and uniquely japanese take on the genre. I promise, no tentacles. They made a pretty good movie of it about 10 years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Novel-Koushun-Takami/dp/1421527723

Go here and click the book cover where it says "Look Inside." That will give you the prologue and a few chapters.

It'll give you a sampling of the text, writing style, and diction to be expected for the rest of the book and series. The text is simple to comprehend and his writing style is pretty easy to follow once you understand some of the less-common phrasing he employs.

That first map is a fan-made version inspired by HBO's map for the TV series.

The second map is the canon map designed by Jonathan Roberts for the books and approved by GRRM. It was first published in The Lands of Ice and Fire.

There are only 5 books, the editor of the set you posted above just chose to split a couple of them for, I reckon, ease of use. So yeah OP's set is complete! Amazon lists it with 5280 pages versus 5264 pages for yours.

They are from the official Lands of Ice and Fire map book, which you can buy on amazon https://www.amazon.com/Lands-Ice-Fire-Game-Thrones/dp/0345538544


I have this map pack and it's fantastic. I have a few of them framed up on the walls, I highly recommend buying them!

Your answer is very good, but I think you missed a part of it. Audible is far overpriced, in general. The audiobook market is overpriced. I don't know if it's an issue of not enough people interested in audiobooks, or what.

Case in Point: Game of Thrones book 1 on Audible: $31.50

Game of Thrones book 1 on Amazon: $11.56 on paperback and $6.99 on Kindle

Sorry, but these prices have nothing to do with the cost. You might argue that it's a lot of extra effort for a guy to sit there and read 1,000+ pages and give a decent performance with multiple voices and a good reading. But even if it takes the voice actor 1-2 months per book, a Hollywood movie takes far more people far longer working full time. And I can buy those for $10-$20. Even more damning... I can buy this guy's book for $5 on Kindle and add the complete Audible version for $2 more. It even has Whispersync, which means I can seamlessly switch between the Audible version and Kindle version and it will update to the latest location. And you don't need to have an Audible subscription to get that price. I only bought Game of Thrones on Kindle, but I buy all my BV Larson books with the Audible version and listen while driving or read when I'm at home or in public. It's freaking amazing and I would buy all my books like that if it were that cheap.

So the upshot is that Audible is overpriced like crazy unless the publisher wants reasonable prices. Why they do this, I don't know. Maybe to avoid audiobook prices cannibalizing sales numbers for the hardcopy? Maybe to force people to get Audible subscriptions, which is when prices start getting reasonable?

Edit: looks like you can get the Audible version of some of the Game of Thrones for $13 per book if you buy the Kindle version of that book. The later GoT books are $10, so if you combine them that's $23 to get both Kindle and Audible. However the Audible version for any of these books alone ranges from $35 to $55!!

Yeah I have seen these on Amazon, they are really small and chubby but covers look good.

https://www.amazon.ca/George-Martins-Thrones-Leather-Cloth-Boxed/dp/1101965487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481566320&sr=8-1&keywords=a+song+of+ice+and+fire+leather

It has a great title.

The rest might need some work. I don't think it's bad, it's just rough. Go back through, make every word earn its place. Cut any that don't need to be there.

If you're going to open on a dialog, commit to that. See open for A Clash Of Kings. Don't stuff exposition between the spoken lines. At every opportunity, turn that exposition into dialog.

On the subject of GRRM--it's fine to be inspired by his work, but think hard on what you can bring in addition.

I would say read Rise of the Horde then Lord of the Clans then Day of the Dragon then the War of the Ancients trilogy. Those are the best of the books in my opinion

I'm absolutely the right person to ask!

There are 5 books in the series, out of a planned 7:

1. A Game of Thrones (1996)
   
2. A Clash of Kings (1998)
   
3. A Storm of Swords (2000)
   
4. A Feast for Crows (2005)
   
5. A Dance With Dragons (2011)
   
   Fair warning, each book seems to take more and more years to be published. The 5th book came out in 2011 and ends on a huge cliffhanger! There are number of fans who are seriously concerned that the 6th book may never come out, or that it may not come out until the author George R R Martin dies and it is then published by another author.
   
   If you get through these and want more, George RR Martin has also published a short story collection about some tertiary characters called Dunk and Egg in 2015 (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), as well as an encyclopedia for the entire history of the world in which that the series takes place (A World of Ice and Fire).
   
   Some fans of the television show therefore may argue that it's not worth reading the books until the series is finished, or ever. I personally recommend them, they add a lot of depth to the show, and are just well-written pieces of prose on their own. The Dunk and Egg collection is also fun. I've not read the encyclopedia yet but I'll get to it some day.

Here are the books listed on amazon.

I got it myself, it's great. All 7 volumes for quite a cheap price plus you get a free map of Westeros, what's there to lose?

Since 2008. The author took a lot of liberties, though, and anything he added should not be considered canon.

Edit: ACTUALLY, I just remembered, there was a novelization of Metal Gear made way back in 1990. Snake was referred to as "Marine Captain Justin Halley" most of the time for some reason. I own a copy, got it at a book fair in elementary.

1. A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
   
   
2. Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
   
   
3. Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
   
   
4. All the Sweet Promises - Elizabeth Elgin

These are books which I have read twice or more and would read again and again on the topic of post-collapse:

Alas Babylon

On the Beach

The Postman - not like the movie with Kevin Costner (just based upon and quite different)

One Second After - currently the most realistic and scariest of the bunch I think.

Earth Abides

Lucifer's Hammer - this one I wouldn't read without many years between as the start is sooooo slow but the second half is good.

I haven't gotten to read the books. I'm disappointed in myself.

I need the first one, so i can start. Used paperback is more than okay. My Nook no longer works, so no digital for me. D:

And those two kids are adorable! I love his little knight costume. <3

If a side character leaves you wanting more, then the writers and actor did their jobs perfectly.

If you want more, Andrew Robinson did write a book focusing on Garak

At end of each book there is a list of all the characters involved in the books, and their brief one-sentence descriptions. I think in the later books the list is like 20~30 pages.

There is an actual atlas of Westeros and The Known World, that was published back in 2012, The Lands of Ice and Fire.

The Wikipedia article about the world's geography is quite extensive and interesting too

I would ask for their the Warcraft archive or War of the Ancients Trilogy.

That ends up being 7 books for around $10-15 total, so it wouldn't eat up the whole budget, and all of them are great.

If you love maps and GoT, you need this http://www.amazon.com/The-Lands-Fire-Game-Thrones/dp/0345538544

These pics don't do them justice and I think its worth the buy, heres a couple that are included (the OP is too)
Braavos
Kings Landing

I would highly recommend the two Guild Wars 2 novels, Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny, if you are interested in lore.

Ghosts of Ascalon is first and it serves as a primer on the races, basic interests, and relevant history of Tyria. You are introduced to some notable characters, and it is an entertaining read.

Edge of Destiny is the second book and it deals more with a cast of characters that features a prominent role in-game and is more focused on the current situation of Tyria. It is also a very fun read.

There is a third book currently being written, Sea of Sorrows, that was supposed to be released before launch but was delayed.

Ghosts of Ascalon

Edge of Destiny

Awesome contest!
would read game of thrones, and watch alot of movies

map book called, The Lands of Ice and Fire.... make sure you frame your favorite before it rips into a million pieces

https://www.amazon.com/Lands-Ice-Fire-Game-Thrones/dp/0345538544

But you can just copy them; I'm sure the original artist wouldn't mind the loss of income!

AFAIK, this map is from the media of which we do not speak, as evidenced by the eastern portion which isn’t canon since the release of the TLOIAF maps. The Lands of Ice and Fire is what you’re looking for if you want beautiful and accurate maps.

Here’s a reddit post of the HQ world map from TLOIAF.

After watching the first Season, I was looking for a book to read. I decided to go for GOT after reading this review on Amazon.

It's still the best description I've encountered. It lists both the strengths/weaknesses of the series, applies for both the books and the show.

Yeah it's more coming of age CIA story much satisfying.
https://www.amazon.com/Jumper-Novel-Steven-Gould/dp/0765357690

This is the listing I purchased from on Amazon. And here is what they look like in real life. I like them, my only complaint is that they're smaller than I anticipated. Like, short and kinda stubby books idk.

silver linings playbook: ebook i loved the movie so much!

A Song of Ice and Fire, if she hasn't checked it out yet. I haven't actually read the series, but my friends reccomend it to me a lot.

I haven't read it, but EY recommended the novel Jumper in a recent post.

Some of the (non-technical) books I've recently read:

• Infinite Atonement
  
• Infinite in All Directions
  
• Abundance
  
• Contact
  
• A Christmas Carol (re-reading this one with my son)
  
  Though, a lot of these quotes are from journals of mine. But many of the above books are great spring boards to other readings (especially the "Infinite in All Directions" book).

I might be a little late, but Battle Royale by Koushun Takami is so much like the Hunger Games, but it's way gorier. But it is a really excellent read.

Yes, Amazon offers a Kindle Edition for all three books.

Dr. Bashir: Of all the stories you've told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?

Garak: My dear doctor, they are all true

Dr. Bashir: Even the lies?

Garak: Especially the lies




Apparently Andrew J Robinson wrote a novel from Garak's view that fills in a lot of the back-story on him and shows events from his point of view. It got plenty of good reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Time-Star-Trek-Space/dp/0671038850

And furthermore that it is based on an amazing book.
by William Goldman

I had this translation of Battle Royale and thought it was fantastic. I could not put the book down. I highly recommend it.

Did you read the Garak backstory book written by Andrew Robinson, A Stitch in Time? It's excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553573403

If you're not used to the large cast of characters, keep in mind it may feel a little slow. Keep reading, once you get used to it you'll be very impressed. And the superfluous details here and there usually are for a reason, they'll come back at later books to make you want to reread again.

Yes. I strongly encourage reading it. The film is good, but it had a few shortcomings that weren't in the book.

1. Done.
   
2. Ooh I'm burning through the sky yeah! Two hundred degrees -- That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
   
3. 3? 3. 3!
   
4. A Night of Queen
   
5. 3 again?
   
6. This has a queen -- Daenerys, of course.
   
   ^^^^^Bee!

Worringly, the theme and storyline to the original book (that the films and in turn the gaming genre is based on) is similar...

For the curious:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Royale-Novel-Koushun-Takami/dp/1421527723

The Lands of Ice and Fire. Highly recommended if you like Game of Thrones. and maps.

I also have this one with 7 books, it's nice.
The one without split ADWD has in fact smaller sized books (so I supposed there is smaller font). Its on the amazon page:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Ice-Fire-Volumes/dp/0007477163
The dimension of the box set is 178mm x111mm.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Ice-Fire-Volumes/dp/0007477155
The dimension of the box set is 197mm x 130mm.

YA Horror/Fantasy - Anything by Darren Shan

YA Drama/Literary - 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

YA Romance/Mystery/Paranormal - 1-800-Where-R-U Series by Meg Cabot

YA Fantasy - The Ranger's Apprentice Series by John Flanagan

Urban Fantasy - The Kate Daniel's Series by Ilona Andrews

Urban Fantasy - Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

Mystery - Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie

Mystery/Western - Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith

Fantasy - Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

Romance - Wedding Survivor by Julia London

Historical/Paranormal - Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger

Zombie/Romance - Living with the Dead Series by Jesse Petersen

Zombie - Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Horror - Whispers by Dean Koontz

Nonfiction - And the Band Played on by Randy Shilts

Manga - Library Wars

Manga - Future Diary

Sorry...got carried away. I read a lot and couldn't pick just one to recommend. What are some of your favorite books?

You should check out Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon this book deals with the events that took place to create the treaty between the Charr and the Humans. Pretty fun read, I liked reading Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny a little better, it tells the story of Destiny's Edge, and I can't think of anything else to say that wouldn't include spoilers.

Edit: Oh I see now you said in game content... Well I don't want to spoil too much but after reading both of those books I've found references to things from them in game.

Your post violates the sub's rules on piracy. That map is from The Lands of Ice and Fire and is protected like the other books. Please read the posting policy.