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Any recommendations...fiction


john stones 1 - Moderator
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I have a Kindle Fire. My local Library group, three main libraries, have many many books available for free.

Working part time in a school, I have also raided their Library in the last four years.

Got into the huge back catalogue of the Terry Pratchett "Discworld" series via those routes.

I find Cussler very very formulaic, a potential issue in many book series, but not overcome by the writing style in his case. As already said, the stories all have a very very similar layout and plot. Each to their own!

Just reading "Flyboys", which is off topic as not fiction, but parts of the reality read as such!!!

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As already mentioned, anything by Iain Banks, all Brilliant!...
His sci-fi stuff Iain M. Banks are also amazing, the culture novels are a series but don't need to be read in order....
If you fancy a heavyweight but VERY entertaining try Umberto Eco's Foucaults Pendulum a fantastic tour of European Mysticism and conspiracy theory. Just finished it for the second time and enjoyed more than the first time!
CB
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I am surprised no one has mentioned Terry Pratchettt.

I also like - John Grisham, Linda Farstein, Tess Gerritsen, Linda LaPlant.

For Non fiction try Bill Bryson. Another good read is 'Fire Strike 7/9' by Damien Lewis

                   

 

Edited By Mowerman on 10/10/2014 09:32:04

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The Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith, starting with "Gorky Park", set in communist Russia, are a good read. Interestingly, I've just discovered there are 2 more which I haven't read yet - bonus!

Craig Thomas has written many good novels including one of the best ever "Firefox", although the sequel lets it down a bit, and don't even mention the film.....

Also recently got into Harlan Coben. Very american but the stories are well-written, often with an unexpected twist at the end.

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Mines a bog standard Kindle but SWMBO has a Kindle Paperwhite, its great especially at dusk or even at night, but just be aware the backlight does drain the battery more than a standard Kindle. Reading for several hours a day on our hols she was topping it up every 3rd or 4th day whereas mine lasted well over a week of pretty much constant use. It still outlasts a tablet by a long way though!
(by the way the manufacturers claim of an 8 week battery life is tosh!)
Cheers
Phil

 

 

 

Edited By Phil Green on 10/10/2014 11:48:08

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Useless??? Its one of the best things I've ever bought. Purpose designed to do one job, which it genuinely does very well. Ok, it needs charging occasionally but I think you're in a very small minority if you think a Kindle is useless!

Cheers
Phil

Edited By Phil Green on 10/10/2014 13:10:10

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  • 1 year later...

John, if your going for A Song of Ice & Fire (Game of Thrones) series be sure to read them in chronological order. I finished book 4 a couple of weeks ago but I like to read to a couple of books from different genre or author before going on to the next when I'm reading a series so read the second of Ken Follett's Century trilogy.

If you like historical novels I can also recommend Follett's The Pillars of the Earth & World Without End.

BTW I'm a cheapskate so get most novels I read either from the local library or from charity shops. If the latter I always hand them back for resale when I'm finished, then we both benefit.
For holiday reading I usually lash out on a couple of books for the Kindle but also I like to download some 19th & early 20th century stuff via the Project Gutenberg.

Currently I have Peppa Pig's My Grandpa as bedtime reading for my grandaughter. I'm also looking for the final trilogy of the series - Peppa Pig Goes to Market, Peppa Pig Visits the Abattoir & Sausages .

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For Fantasy you should try 'The wheel of Time' series by Robert Jordan. 14 of them! 'Magician' by Raymond E Feist is fantastic and has loads that follow it. For something a little different I really enjoyed the 'Temeraire' series by Naomi Novik. Set in the Napoleonic war but with a dragon air force! The 'Sword of Truth' series by Terry Goodkind are worth a look too....

Dave.

Edited By David Molineux on 04/03/2016 06:52:21

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For aviation fiction try John J. Nance. Blackout or Pandora's Clock would be a point to start. Also Imperial 109 by Richard Doyle, or Thomas H. Blocks Mayday or Forced Landing.

For sheer thrilling action Matthew Reilly is your man. Start with Ice Station, his first Scarecrow novel, or Contest.

In hard S/F space opera, Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, or a personal favorite, Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton. Or James P. Hogan, I particularly enjoyed The Proteus Operation.

If you like Fantasy and the Hunger Games, apart from the must J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Paolinis Inheritance Cycle, starting with Eragon, might be worth a try.

Lorenz

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I'm probably in a minority here but I'm a great fan of Jane Austen and have read all her novels at least once, some twice. For something more errr masculine? (and I use the term advisably) then Neville Shute is always worth a read for anyone interested in aeronautical engineering because he wrote whilst holding down a 'proper' job in engineering as his autobiography 'Slide Rule' reveals.

Other 'serious' novels I've enjoyed have been just about everything John Steinbeck wrote. In fact 'The Grapes of Wrath' affected me so deeply I find it impossible to reread.

On a lighter note give Biggles a try. I did, and found the early novels about WW1 flying far less jingoistic than I expected and W E Johns knew about WW1 form personal experience. Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (now I think expanded to 5 books? I forget) is always worth reading as are his other SF novels.

Geoff

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Following some recomendations in this thread some while ago I've been enjoying Terry Pratchett's Discworld series together with the Steven Saylor's Sub Rosa and Patrick O'Brain's Aubrey - Maturin books. I can recommend them all.

I bought every book on eBay and have been able to find some pretty good bargains. When I've read through my current stock, I will now try popping off to the charity shops with a list.

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If you like medieval murder mysteries try the Bernard Knight Crowner John series, I found them a good read, nothing heavy. Incidentally Bernard Knight was the Home Office pathologist who did all the gruesome stuff in the Fred and Rose West case. Read the last of the series last.

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