Narnia was good for kids, but rereading it as a teen it felt really rushed and toned down, I guess I liked it but not as much as other stuff (don’t hate me)
I did not like the Michael Vey books but still read them all because I needed something to read
I do not like Rick Riordan’s stuff, don’t ask why because I know most people here will disagree with my opinions.
I believe that the Mysterious Benedict society books are the best kids books ever.
I read Harry Potter, I don’t want to say that I’m a fan because then I would get tossed into that group of people.
I used to read comic books (60s-90s stuff) liked Flash, Firestorm, Green Lantern, all that, realized it was weird and found yoyoing (which is just a teenie-weenie less cringe-worthy.
I haven’t picked up Fire and Blood yet, though, from what I understand, a portion of the information comes from The World of Ice and Fire book, which I have read. I’ve also been meaning to check out the Wild Cards series, just haven’t quite got around to it. Want to read all about the Great and Powerful Turtle lol. And Mistborn was pretty solid. I think there is another series for it that is set like 1000 years later or something, haven’t checked it out yet though.
Yeah The Silmarillion can be a bit dense, especially in the beginning when you’re getting bombarded with unfamiliar and hard to remember names. It’s worth it though once you work your way through it - a lot of cool stories in there. Kingkiller is probably my favorite series, and I’ve been (so patiently) anticipating the third book. There’s a couple other shorter stories from Rothfuss set in the same universe. One is “A Slow Regard of Silent Things,” and it’s about Auri (the girl in the sewers) - it’s a little bit different and unconventional in the way that it is written, but I actually really enjoyed it. Another is centered around Bast, called “The Lightning Tree.” This was okay, but I actually enjoyed the other more. You can find this as a part of the “Rogues” collection compiled/edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois.
Unpopular opinion: LOTR is one of the only instances where I actually enjoyed the movies more than the books lol
Asimov sparked my love for scifi when I read The Bicentennial Man for a book report. And I think it was something like 9 years between the 1st and 2nd book, and I imagine this 3rd book is going to be tough to tie up this amazing story lol. I almost feel like there has to be a 4th book that’s going to happen, just feels like there is still so much to cover. But who knows. I heard there is a TV series in the pipeline, and there are currently writers working on scripts. Though we’ll probably end up with another instance like with Game of Thrones where the show can’t wait for the rest of the source material, and declines in quality as a result.
Agreed!!! I have a lot of love for Tolkein’s writing—there’s a beauty to it that the movies don’t convey IMO—but the man needed a copy editor lol. The cuts in the movies were smart (though I agree with everyone that the Extended Editions are the best).
Currently, I’m reading through The Stormlight Archives series by Brandon Sanderson (currently on Oathbringer, which I think is the most recent) as well as working through the audiobook of American Nations: A History Of The Eleven Rival Regional Cultures Of North America by Colin Woodard.
I’m also about to restart and hopefully finish the Sandman graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman, and the next book on my list is Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich.
Some favorites are:
The Hobbit and the LotR trilogy
A Bridge Too Far; The Longest Day: June 6, 1944; and The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
World War Z by Max Brooks
Redshirts by John Scalzi
With The Old Breed by E.B. Sledge
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
A prequel in what kind of way though? Like WAAAY back in time? Or before the books take place, becauset he books are almost a prequel of themselves, in the sense that he’s telling his whole story, if that makes sense lol.
If you like Sanderson, might I recommend checking out The Mistborn Trilogy if you haven’t already.
Some really great stuff in here. You’d probably really enjoy The Red Rising trilogy. There’s a 4th book to it, but I haven’t gotten around to it. It wasn’t originally meant to be more than a trilogy, but I think with the success of it he wanted to try and milk that cow some more if he could lol.
In the last couple years I’ve also become a big fan of audiobooks. It gets harder and harder to find time to read, but I can always pop in an earbud and listen to a book while I’m driving or working. Some of these narrators are absolutely amazing, and my personal favorite, Tim Gerard Reynolds, narrates The Red Rising trilogy, which could be part of why I enjoy it so much.
Even more unpopular opinion: the writing in LOTR has not aged well and is rather boring. I appreciate the groundbreaking nature of the book, and the incredible amount of worldbuilding and lore, but the actual reading experience not so much.
I also have been enjoying The Stormlight Archives as well as pretty much anything Sanderson. Still going to have to wait more than a year for the 4th book.
As for my love of sci-fi, mine probably started with the Jurassic Park and Starship Troopers movies I grew up watching as a kid. Read the books, delved deeper. Here are some of my favs:
Bobiverse Series - Dennis Taylor
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Starmaker - Olaf Stapledon
City - Clifford Simak
Way Station - Clifford Simak
The City and the Stars - Arthur Clarke
The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur Clarke
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur Clarke
Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
Robot Series - Isaac Asimov
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card * (only this book out of the Ender series)
Agreed. It’s certainly pretty and poetic but man, it’s a slog.
Thanks for the recommendation! Been thinking about it. My wife really likes this series and we own it already. I’m not generally a huge YA fan but at the same time I’m really liking Sanderson so I should give it a go. Also from what I hear, Mistborn and Stormlight Archives’ worlds are linked in some way and I’d really like to explore that.
Just read the blurb on Amazon and downloaded the Kindle sample. This looks really cool! Appreciate the recommendation!
I feel you on this. I usually read a chapter or two in bed at night, though lately I’ll be awoken by my Kindle hitting my face before getting through a chapter haha. Still, it’s steady progress.
^^ I have a Kindle and enjoy it to some extent, but I find myself longing for a nice paperback or hardcover. More expensive, but nothing beats reading a quality made book. Though id rather read a kindle version over a mass market paperback.
Ah yes, audiobooks. Found Audible a few years ago and listen all the time now. So many good narrators out there. Sometimes ill get so into the voice of a narrator that ill pick up other books he has read. I never would have got through the Wheel of Time without audiobooks, great narrator and heck, who has the time to read that many pages? Would have taken me years instead of months.
Before the books take place (or maybe similar time to some of the stories from the books). It’s supposed to be about Kvothe traveling with the Edema Ruh. So borrowing things that happened in the books but not trying to tell the same story the way Game of Thrones did.
It took me some time to track down all the books in the Wild Cards series but if you wait a while they should catch up with getting them in E book form. Turtle is awesome, but dont sleep on The Sleeper, lol. He is my favorite.
I prefer Kindle personally, but I’ll snag hardcover editions of books we really like (esp if my wife likes them, like House of Leaves). We live in a small-ish apartment (good sized for where we are but small by national standards I think) and my wife has a rather extensive paperback collection from her childhood & college days so shelf space and space in general is at a premium for us.
Gotta say, though, some books are just made to be experienced in physical form. S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst is super meta and kinda a love letter to library books from what I’ve heard/seen from my wife; no clue how that would translate into e-book form since even the spine of the book is part of the meta narrative.
My biggest vote for books that most be read on paper is Dracula by Bram Stoker. It is basically written in the style of random diary entries, news articles, and letters. Love this book, definitely an all time favorite that is better than you would expect if you haven’t read it.
Also quirkier books like Stephen Colbert’s “I Am America, And So Can You” that use a lot of footnotes and margin space. (Though the audiobook version of that is read by Colbert and is AMAZING.)
Well, they aren’t cringy for everyone, if I was an adult then I don’t think it would be as bad because they grew up with them, but now I don’t know any teens who read comic-books and nerding out about who is the most powerful DC hero isn’t really something that makes people like you more. I wanted to be more social and comics didn’t really feel like something that would help me. With yoyo, people will see it and think “Oh wow he is really good at that.” They won’t think that if I’m reading comic books. Plus I like the yoyo community much more than the DC Wikia lmao.
Well, I still read Get Fuzzy all the time, I just don’t read comic books anymore. I do realize that there are other types of them, but I was never in to anime or star wars enough to buy the comics.
