Out of Pod Experience

After Christmas i finally broke down and bought my self a Kindle, after having spent an unknown about of time being convinced that i was going to hate it because it just cant beat holding an actual book!

Well, im the kind of person that dread anything new when it comes to books. I have some authors i like, and trying to make me read something made by someone else... No chance!
Well at least thats how it used to be...

Bored out of my mind, not feeling in the mood to read one of my other books for the **** time i looked around for something new.
And to my surprise... I have found an author that may very well compete with the one of my favorite authors Stephen King.

James Hankins

Brothers and Bones was the first book i gave a try, and the clock was getting close to 4 in the morning before i could finally put it down and accept that i would have to finish it the next day.

But, all authors can be lucky and just happen to write a good book, but i decided to give Drawn a chance.
Again the author really surprised me! I found my self sitting fighting to not scream at some of the characters in the book, while finding my self feeling amazed over how.. real the characters felt and how much emotion they expressed.
Even more surprising was the fact that the two books where really very different, and if i hadent known i doubt i would have guessed it was the same author.

Which of course made me get the last book, Jack of Spades.
I wont lie, for the first two pages or so i was thinking "Oh no.. Please dont tell me this is going to be a bad attempt at writing Sci - fi". However, two pages later i realized that i had been wrong, and i was hooked on yet another book.
Again its a bit different, and again i felt my self feeling with the characters. Sometimes freaked out, sometimes sad. and sometimes shame and embarrassment.

Maybe i just have a weird taste in books, and maybe i just dont look the right places, but until i stumbled over the first book i had never heard about the author, or any of his books.

So if your looking for something new to read, i would highly suggest giving this author a try.
However, if you are squirmish you might want to avoid these books since some of the scenes are mentally disturbing and very violent.

That being said...

Im now out of books, again. So suggestions appreciated!

Stephen King is obviously on my list
Christopher Paolini
Tolkien
Yes, im a fan of horror and fantasy

I gave Game of Thrones a try but the English made it very difficult for me to read, so please keep in mind that the English should be "easy".

Any suggestions appreciated!

Try Isaac Asimov - The Edge of Tomorrow. It is a collection of short stories. The story called "The Last Question" will knock you out of your seat.

Edit: That book is not on Kindle, but it is very, very good (there's even a short story about how they figured out the speed of light).

Have you read The Andromeda Strain? It's very easy to get through.. it's like "junk food for the brain", and it's a pretty good story.

I kinda like Feist & Eddings

The Deverry cycle by Kerr is pretty good, though it's been a long while since I last read them.

also Sonja Blue




[edit]

its sci-fi .. but it's quite good
Lost Fleet series
the physics is believable, as is the politicking

I love those Deverry novels and how the books combine so many stories together. I have read them as they have been released since Daggerspell, so my memory of the series is a bit fuzzy. Kerr also lives in San Francisco and I have met her on a couple of occasions!

I'm currently in the process of rereading all of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire novels in internal chronological order. These are perhaps the closest books to Eve online (or perhaps Bujold's Vorkosigan books) that I have read. The basis of the series is that humanity was divided long ago which was followed by a major technological crash. When humans rediscovered space travel they encountered each other and formed four very distinct empires. The rather tribal Skolians, those directly from Earth, and the slave empire called the Eubians. The main characters tend to be pilots who use ships accompanied by drones and cybernetic implants. Great stuff, although the style of the series varies drastically between books and a couple of them are more romance novels than SF.

If you like Stephen King, you might like Neil Gaiman. Horrific horror stories, very, very cleverly told. I didn't know it until just now when I was looking for a link, but he's also a film actor.

Another horror one: "The Imago Sequence" by Laird Barron. Where Gaiman is evilly charming, Barron's novella is just weirdly horrible. It creeped me out for a while-- enough that I wondered what kind of psychological state could even conceive of the story. Highly recommended.

For some fun, the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber. Sword and sorcery adventures, with lots of laughs throughout. I was very sad when I finished the last book and had to say so long to the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd.

The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem.

CosmicVAC lives

Scott G. Gier's "Genellan" series is worth a read.

David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series is definitely worth the read.

David Weber and Scott White's series of "In death ground" "insurrection" "The Shiva option" and "Crusade". So good.

Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series and prequels... very very good.

I haven't read much fiction, after I got spoiled by Piers Anthony. Nothing else really has much color anymore. Or maybe it never did.

So I read this series called Bio of a Space Tyrant. It was brutal, suspenseful, gripping, intelligent, thoughtful, thought-provoking, delicious, twisted, brilliant, tragic, dramatic, sexual, tasteful, and very much full of exciting content. The book takes you through the life and trials, and the mind, of a general genius who was born in poverty and persecution, but rose up through life's "ranks" and became the most known and feared person in all of human civilization. The funny thing is, he's a really nice guy and he fights for the little people. His title of Tyrant that he gets at some point is more a symbol of respect that people have for him.

The best part of the book is that it's believable. Every single bit, from start to finish. It's written like it were a personal account of something that really happened. I don't know about most of you, but when I read or watch sci-fi, I generally spend a lot of time picking apart the science and physics errors instead of reading the story. Heck, I do that with any book or movie. So for me, it's really nice to come across something that doesn't stretch my suspension of disbelief.

I did not expect so many responses! A lot to respond to so will do my best.

There is definitely some books that has been listed that is going on my "must read" list, so thank you for that everyone!

Also a special thanks to DaReaper for a very detailed list! Much appreciated and there was quite a few books in there i know.

Harry Potter of course, i actually started to read The Cuckoo's Calling last night which is written by the same author even tho she used a different name (Robert Galbraith).

The Red Pyramid is actually also one i know, a received it as a gift some years back, and while the story was "ok" its not a book i will ever re-read i think.

And living in the same house as a teenager i have also read most of the Twlight series, even tho i never finished them. But i will admit they helped me pass the time on some long and boring flights traveling between America and Norway a few years back

For the sci-fi books that have been listed.. While i do play EVE and enjoy it, i have never really managed to enjoy reading sci-fi. Its a constant battle between my better half and my self because he wont read anything but sci-fi, while i read fantasy/horror and were constantly nagging on each other to read each others books.
Bought him The Talisman about 5 years ago... He still have not had time to open it

I should also explain something.. By easy to read i mean books where the English is not... overly difficult for a non native English speaker. While my English is improving, there is still words and phrases that catch me off guard, and when you have to use google translate 5 times for every page it gets a bit frustrating. Of course you also have books like Game of Thrones where the English used seems to be a bit more... older style of English which was really difficult for me. I imagine i would have the same issue with Lord of the Rings which i still have not dared to read the English version.

For those that have read anything by H. P. Lovecraft.. I had the same issue there. Really want to be able to read the stories, but the style of English and the wording is simply to hard for me to easily translate at this point. Maybe in some years when im more comfortable with the language.

But, please keep the suggestions coming! My list is growing fast