What book should I read next?

Question

I've never been big on reading, but I've recently developed a love of books. I particularly like SciFi or Fantasy books. I loved Enders Game and Revenge of the Sith. I really liked Stranger in a strange Land until about half way through when the author started smoking crack. Can you recommend something good along those lines?

Answer 1

Allen Dean Foster- Especially his books featuring Flinx

Answer 2

Yes, and by the way it is "which book". What book makes no sense whatsoever.

HERE'S the TOP 100

Old Rank Author/Editor Title Year Amazon
1 1 Frank Herbert Dune [S1] 1965
2 2 Orson Scott Card Ender's Game [S1] 1985
3 3 Isaac Asimov Foundation [S1-3] 1951
4 4 Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy [S1] 1979
5 5 George Orwell 1984 1949
6 6 Robert A Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land 1961
7 7 Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932
9 8 Isaac Asimov [C] I, Robot 1950
8 9 Robert A Heinlein Starship Troopers 1959
10 10 Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 1954
12 11 William Gibson Neuromancer 1984
13 12 Larry Niven Ringworld 1970
11 13 Arthur C Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
14 14 Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968
15 15 H G Wells The Time Machine 1895
17 16 H G Wells The War of the Worlds 1898
16 17 Arthur C Clarke Rendezvous With Rama 1973
18 18 Robert A Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
19 19 Dan Simmons Hyperion [S1] 1989
20 20 Arthur C Clarke Childhood's End 1954
21 21 Joe Haldeman The Forever War 1974
23 22 Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five 1969
22 23 Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead [S2] 1986
24 24 Ray Bradbury [C] The Martian Chronicles 1950
26 25 Neal Stephenson Snow Crash 1992
25 26 Niven & Pournelle The Mote in God's Eye 1975
27 27 Ursula K Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness 1969
28 28 Orson Scott Card Ender's Shadow [S1] 1999
29 29 Isaac Asimov The Caves of Steel 1954
30 30 Roger Zelazny Lord of Light 1967
31 31 Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle In Time 1962
32 32 Frederik Pohl Gateway 1977
33 33 Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1870
34 34 Stanislaw Lem Solaris 1961
35 35 Philip K Dick The Man in the High Castle 1962
40 36 Michael Crichton Jurassic Park 1990
36 37 Robert A Heinlein Time Enough For Love 1973
37 38 Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange 1962
39 39 Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon 1999
38 40 Isaac Asimov The Gods Themselves 1972
42 41 Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination 1956
44 42 John Wyndham The Day of the Triffids 1951
41 43 Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon 1966
43 44 Kurt Vonnegut Cat's Cradle 1963
45 45 Philip K Dick UBIK 1969
46 46 Mary Shelley Frankenstein 1818
47 47 Walter M Miller A Canticle for Leibowitz 1959
48 48 Isaac Asimov The End Of Eternity 1955
49 49 Vernor Vinge A Fire Upon the Deep 1991
50 50 Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars [S1] 1992
52 51 Carl Sagan Contact 1985
51 52 Niven & Pournelle Lucifer's Hammer 1977
53 53 L Ron Hubbard Battlefield Earth 1982
54 54 Michael Crichton The Andromeda Strain 1969
56 55 Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth 1864
55 56 Ursula K Le Guin The Dispossessed 1974
58 57 Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens of Titan 1959
57 58 Neal Stephenson The Diamond Age 1995
59 59 Iain M Banks Player Of Games [S2] 1988
60 60 Harry Harrison The Stainless Steel Rat [S1] 1961
66 61 David Brin Startide Rising [S2] 1983
63 62 Alfred Bester The Demolished Man 1953
61 63 Gene Wolfe The Shadow of the Torturer [S1] 1980
62 64 Iain M Banks Use of Weapons [S3] 1990
64 65 Greg Bear Eon 1985
67 66 Peter F Hamilton The Reality Dysfunction [S1] 1996
65 67 Philip K Dick The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch 1964
70 68 Robert A Heinlein The Door Into Summer 1956
69 69 Robert A Heinlein The Puppet Masters 1951
68 70 Philip Jose Farmer To Your Scattered Bodies Go 1971
72 71 John Wyndham The Chrysalids 1955
73 72 Arthur C Clarke The City and the Stars 1956
71 73 Robert A Heinlein Have Space-Suit - Will Travel 1958
74 74 Connie Willis Doomsday Book 1992
75 75 Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale 1985
76 76 H G Wells The Invisible Man 1897
77 77 David Brin The Uplift War [S3] 1987
78 78 Robert A Heinlein Citizen Of the Galaxy 1957
79 79 William Gibson [C] Burning Chrome 1986
80 80 Ursula K Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven 1971
81 81 Mark Twain A Connecticut Yankee in KA's Court 1889
82 82 Robert A Heinlein [C] The Past Through Tomorrow 1967
84 83 Clifford Simak Way Station 1963
87 84 C S Lewis Out of the Silent Planet [S1] 1938
83 85 Dan Simmons Ilium 2003
86 86 Clifford Simak [C] City 1952
85 87 Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars [S1] 1912
89 88 David Brin The Postman 1985
88 89 Philip K Dick VALIS 1981
90 90 Theodore Sturgeon More Than Human 1953
94 91 Arthur C Clarke The Fountains of Paradise 1979
91 92 Greg Bear Blood Music 1985
96 93 John Brunner Stand on Zanzibar 1969
92 94 Lois McMaster Bujold Barrayar [S3] 1991
95 95 George R Stewart Earth Abides 1949
98 96 E E 'Doc' Smith Grey Lensman [S4] 1951
97 97 Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveler's Wife 2003
93 98 Stanislaw Lem [C] The Cyberiad 1974
99 99 John Varley Titan 1979
102 100 Julian May The Many-Colored Land [S1] 1981


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or have a real blast and go to this website which lists the greatest SciFi books of all time.


http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/index.html

Answer 3

Read the Black Company by Glen Cook.

Ender's Game is awesome. The other books in the series are more philosophical in nature, but still excellent.

Stay away from Philip K Dick, if you don't like authors who are "smoking crack".

More good stuff:

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (movie coming out soon)

Doomsday Book, Connie Willis

Snow Queen, Joan Vinge

Timothy Zahn Star Wars novels are awesome, start with Heir to the Empire.

Check out either the internet SciFi/Fantasy top 100 (even though it is several years old), or lists of Hugo and Nebula Winners.

Answer 4

I loved this series written by Piers Anthony, had 7 books in it. I want to say the series is "Incantations of Immortality" The first book is called On a Pale Horse. It is about the person who holds the office of "death or the grim reaper" Very exciting how he gets his office and goes through each day judging souls. He interacts with others who have similar jobs like Time, Fate, Nature etc etc. I am not a religious person so I was not going to read them. The way they interact and their relationships are interwoven is just incredible. "Bearing an Hourglass" which is the book about the character "time" is really good because he takes office as an older person and lives backward. When he leaves office he is just a toddler.

Answer 5

I am totally in agreement with you on Stranger in a Strange Land. If you really like SciFi and Fantasy, I suggest Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga (Magician, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon, although Magician is usually split into two books, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master, because when they tried to make it a paperback book it was too big and split in half). I would also recommend the Amber chronicles.

Answer 6

If you liked Ender's Game (my fave!) Orson Scott Card has lots of other good titles in the same vein. Songmaster, the rest of the Ender series, his latest book, Empire.

I recently read a really wicked on called The Thief Of Time by John Boyle (not sure of the author but the title is correct).

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas series is also good - very easy read but still very intriguing.

Answer 7

For humor and sci-fi check out the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams.
1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury are good thought provoking books. Ray Bradbury also has some really good short stories.
One of my favorite series is a young adult series but I still love them and that is Tripods series by John Christopher (they start with White Mountains). This series is War of the Worlds for teenagers but is really good.

Answer 8

Harry Potter(series):
Chamber of Secrets, Socerer Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows.

Answer 9

Stephen King books are always a good read! The Gunslinger series is great science fiction too!

Answer 10

Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer