Books

[Jmiland1]

Right now I am reading the first real, non-RPG book that I have read in months. It's Schultz & Peanuts, a biography of Charles Schultz, and it is fantastic. An extremely interesting book.
I used to be a very avid reader but as I get older it is harder for me.

*Stephen King. Yeah, I know, commercialist tripe, whatever. I still enjoy them, for the most part. Just because someone sells a bunch doesn't mean they are bad.
*Neil Gaiman. Particularly American Gods. Frac! Run to the library and get a copy of Anansi Boys, at least give it a try. It's not as mythology heavy as AG was, and in fact the tone and themes are completely different. It's not really a sequel and you might like it.
*David Sedaris. His essays are very humorous, but they are even better when you can hear him read them himself. His voice can be a bit off-putting at first but you get used to it.
*Chuck Palahniuk. I prefer his earlier stuff--Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Fight Club--to some of his middle works. But more recent books of his (Rant, Snuff, Pygmy) are also very good. I think Survivor is his best book, a great satire of fame and celebrity in America.
*William Gibson.
*Plays: Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Eugene O'Neill.
*Comics: Moore, Ennis (particularly his run on the Punisher), and sometimes Mark Millar.

In the last few years I've begun reading more nonfiction in an attempt to learn more. Biographies, history, etc. It's slow going.
Oh! And, of course, World War Z.

[DrDog]

Steven brust is getting towards having a shrine on my booskshelf. I've loved every book he's written, save to reign in hell, which i had personal religious difference with that prevented me from properly enjoying the book :(.

Terry Goodkind does have half a row for his books, I really do like them. Be warned, he is not gentle or subtle with the message bat, and some of the books (#4,5,and 7) drag. But all are good.

I've only done the american gods audiobook on a cross-country drive. I beleive that to be the only way to truly appreciate how much traveling is in that book, and to get a feel for some of the things they are talking about.

Christopher Anvil's Interstellar Patrol is kinda like Taltos, but with sci fi. Glenn cook also does good stuff.
Regrettably, college means you can't read as much as you want, so i'm still getting back into the reading business.

[West]

+1 for saberhagen, gibson, and mamet. also forgot to add Clive Barker.

My favorite comic will probably be:

The Dark Knight Returns - ok, it's a 4 issue series, but whatever. The way Miller shredded pop culture was amazing to me. It was like someone said "Hey, it's ok not to go along with the status quo." Pretty cool message to get when you're 13 or 14.

[Khalvin]

Robert Jorden Wheel fo Time (MindscrewFantasyPolitical,beat'em-up,scorcery-GO!!)
Dresden Files... Need I say more.

[Bo Albion]

Favorite books? Where do I begin?

Lately, I've been working my way through kind of a new genre, supernatural mystery/ action-hero. The books I think are the best of the lot include Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, and Kim Harrison's Hollows series featuring Rachel Morgan. Those both feature witches as the protagonist.

I also like Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire books quite a bit (the Sookie series), but I think I may have read her books in an ironic tone that maybe wasn't intended, because I find them hilarious, and when I picked up one of the books on CD, it wasn't narrated that way. At all! Plus, I don't think her sex scenes are very well-written. I got Dude Season 1 of Trueblood and I'm not catching the same humor in the shows that I (maybe mistakenly) picked up from the books, so my opinion on the tv series isn't as enthusiastic.

I like Jane Austen, and lots of the Victorian children's book authors- E. Nesbit, L.M Montgomery, George McDonald.

I'm also big into fairy tales, so Changeling was a natural venue for me. I remember my Dad reading Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Match Girl to me as a kid (which tells you a little something about the twisted dynamics of our little clan) and my favorite from the same book was about an evil man who murdered his sister's fiancee and put the severed head in a pot with a rosebush. I also have a turn-of the century fairytale book that was my grandfather's, and it has a story about a goblin whose favorite food is a salad garnished with human eyes. So the craziness goes back a couple of generations. Heh.

I'm looking forward to reading Terry Pratchett. I thoroughly enjoyed Good Omens, and I love most of Christopher Moore's stuff. I can't believe that Blood-Sucking Fiends hasn't been made into a movie, seems like a natural to me.

I also like David Sedaris, particularly "Santaland Diaries" which had me absolutely crying, I was laughing so hard.

Anyway, there's a start.

[BloodiedClaws]

i read a rediculous ammount, actually just picked up 4 new books today! for my picks i gotta say:

Dan Abbnett: Gaunt's Ghosts(Tanith First & Only)/Eisenhorn/many others
Lisa Smedman: almost all hers are good
Patricia Briggs: the whole Mercy werewolf books are awesome

MANY MANY MANY OTHERS that i just cant think of right now

[deltadream]

Wow! Looking at this thread I realize how much fantasy and sci-fi stuff I have not read.

Mind boggling isn't it?

Total bummer on hearing that Card is that way. That does indeed make me very sad. Some people...*shakes head*

As for a couple of my favorite books (and I will try and keep it to a couple hard as that may be.)

Tolkien-- duh.
Robert Jordan-- Another WoT fan here. I just found out that the release date on #12 is coming up super soon and am both beyond thrilled and terribly worried about how different the writting style is going to be. His death was a sore blow to the fantasy society.
Jaqueline Carey-- omg. This woman is amazing. If you are trying to play a Daeva this is an amazing auther that I highly recomend for reference purposes.
Anne McCaffery-- One of the first female sci-fi writers and I love majority of her stuff. Her Pern series is of course a classic but I really enjoy her Ship series- good sci fi right there.
Michael Swanwick-- As I told West, when you read his stuff you could swear you were on acid. He breaks laws left and right and it is beautiful. His Iron Dragon's Daughter novel is a bloody brilliant. He takes the traditional fey world and slams it together with steampunk, iron age, the future and stuff I don't even have a name for to get a masterpiece.

[West]

ah, another +1 for Feist. McCaffrey is good, too. I love Killashandra, she was the first female lead I had read -- I think I was 9 or 10, lol.

aaaaaaand speaking of female leads, I'm actuallly disappointed in myself for omitting S.M. Stirling and Shirley Meier. The Cage is simply fantabulous.

Douglas Adams and Peter Straub also need to be on my list.

Another odd duck for me is Stephen R. Donaldson. I absolutely adore his Mordan'ts Need (Mirror of Her Dreams + A Man Rides Through) books, but can't stand any of his Thomas Covenant series.

/me is mildly excited about having new authors to explore

[deltadream]

I have to say- I recently got a job at a book store and whenever I organize the sci-fi/fantasy section I am constantly going- 'oh, I want read that and that and that and that looks good...and wait, what was the first one I was going to read?' I probably did not make a good choice in accepting the job...it's like an alcoholic working in a liquor store.