What should I read?

Joebits

I'm not a reader but am looking for something to get me into reading. I read Harry Potter and the likes and really enjoyed them when I was younger. But that was years ago.

I'm looking for an easy EXCITING read. A real page turner.
Genres I am interested in are, Fantasy, General, Humor,
Romance, Sci-Fi and Thriller.


Thanks

Callan57

Joebits wrote: »

I'm not a reader but am looking for something to get me into reading. I read Harry Potter and the likes and really enjoyed them when I was younger. But that was years ago.

I'm looking for an easy EXCITING read. A real page turner.
Genres I am interested in are, Fantasy, General, Humor,
Romance, Sci-Fi and Thriller.


Thanks

I'm reading James Patterson's 'Youve Been Warned' at the moment ... any of his books are good page turners also quick & easy reads.

storm2811

I read Q&A by Vikas Swarup (The book Slumdog Millionaire is based on) a few weeks ago and I found it fantastic, finished it a couple of days!

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's about an Austalia bank robber who escapes jail in Oz to travel to India and ends up working for the Mumbai mafia amongst other things. The writer comes across as a bit of a toss but there's plaenty there to keep you interested. Lots of action and it's hugely interesting

Denerick

I read Lord of the Rings when I was young and became a complete bookworm after that.

Ease yourself in with the occasional blockbuster thriller, maybe something by Jeffrey Archer. Kane and Abel and As the Crow Flies aren't bad.

metrovelvet

Oh no no. Not LOTR. That was more boring than my algebra II textbook.

Phillip Pullman way better.

Danae1

If you like HP you might like these...regular debate between a few of us re. which particular author is the best !
Terry Brooks, the Shanara series; Eddings, start with the Belgarid series; Raymond E.Feist & Issac Assimov seem to be preferrred by many of the male members of our debates

I agree with the poster who also recommended Jeffrey Archer (totally different genre of course), start with Kane and Abel...big book but its a great read and hs books that continue with the characters lives and descendants...

Bill2673

Dickens

Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities

Nody

Sci Fi
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan; you also have Marked Forces by him which is a new take on how financial firms compete in the future (and his fantasy book is unusual but I'd not recommend it yet as the series is not completed)

Ender series by Orson Scott (it gets a bit slower towards the end but the first is a true page turner, Ender's Game which can be read as stand alone)

Orphan's X series by Robert Buettner (very quick read through type of books but I like 'em)

Fantasy
Eddings Belgarion series (12 books if you include all relevant including Polgara and Belgarath's books) is never wrong as a starting point and can be bought cheaply

I'd also recommend the The deed of Paksenarrion series by Elizabeth Moon

If you're into hack and slash you could look at picking up the Felix & Gorthek series (Warhammer novels, a Wood Elf and a Dwarf berzerker goes out slaughtering all over the Warhammer world)

For the out of the left wing suggestions there are:
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies - Jane Austen ; Seth Grahame-Smith - It is a hilarity in how the ladies of the day had to balance slaying zombies and figure out how to best charm a man; laughts promised

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction (several variations available) - Contains short stories which can give you further leads

Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose - Saw the series? Now read the person who gathered the notes from everyone

Dorcha

I know some people on here don't like him, but most Terry Pratchett books are a good read, with their own twisted humour. Another thing in their favour for someone who wants to get reading is that they are readily available in book shops and most large newsagents.

Revolution9

Try out some Stephen King.
Great story teller

Dades

Another thumbs up for Pullman.

Read His Dark Materials.

First book reads fairly light to begin (to get you going) but they become more layered and adult themed in the second and third. They really are amazing books.

(Buy them separate though so you can carry it!)

mikhail

Douglas Adams. Absolutely anything of his (which sadly only amounts to about 8 books), but The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is his most famous book.

Terry Pratchett is great light comic fantasy. Start with something like Guards! Guards! and if you like it, look up the various threads running through the 25+ Discworld books and go exploring.

Snow Crash or Zodiac by Neil Stephenson. Most of the rest of his stuff is longer and more convoluted, but these are clever, well written, fast paced books.

Denerick

Hearing good things about Pullman. I enjoyed The Good Man Jesus, the Scoundral Christ, will check the rest out.

Boo Radley

Forget the film but the book 'I am legend' is a great, exciting, plausible (in a pseudo-scientific way) sci-fi read.

Bodhisopha

River Calm Steak wrote: »

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's about an Austalia bank robber who escapes jail in Oz to travel to India and ends up working for the Mumbai mafia amongst other things. The writer comes across as a bit of a toss but there's plaenty there to keep you interested. Lots of action and it's hugely interesting

Avoid this book.

Vim Fuego

The Hobbit is out-of-this-world good, and an easier read than the LOTR trilogy. I think anyone from children to pensioners could enjoy this one.

Fatherland by Robert Harris is a great read. It's a fast-paced thriller but it also has an alternate history - what if the Nazis had won the war. Terrifying and gripping.

Finally, The Player of Games by Iain M banks is probably my favourite sci-fi novel I have read so far (reasonably new to the genre). It is a stand-alone book - I know he has a lot of books set within the same universe - but you can just pick this one up and have a great time. I also think it is banks' best sci-fi work (that I have read so far).

Dades

^^ Big thumbs up for all three of the above!

Am planning on reading the Hobbit again soon before the moooovie gets going.
(I only read it 100 times when I was younger!)

Oh, and don't avoid Shantaram. Read it.

metrovelvet

Denerick wrote: »

Hearing good things about Pullman. I enjoyed The Good Man Jesus, the Scoundral Christ, will check the rest out.

"His Dark Materials] is amazing. One of the best things I have ever read. [Might be a a good book club project because there is soooo much to talk about in it].

Paddy Samurai

Joebits wrote: »

I'm not a reader but am looking for something to get me into reading. I read Harry Potter and the likes and really enjoyed them when I was younger. But that was years ago.

I'm looking for an easy EXCITING read. A real page turner.
Genres I am interested in are, Fantasy, General, Humor,
Romance, Sci-Fi and Thriller.


Thanks

Based on your criteria........."easy EXCITING read. A real page turner"

Fantasy...............definitely David Gemmell, start with Legend
Thriller...............Robert Ludnum, start with The Matarese Circle

tim_holsters

The OP should check out The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas a simple if harrowing read.

DazMarz

Infected by Scott Sigler; a mysterious alien race (we're never told what they are, where they're from etc.) attempts to take over the world (what else) by infecting human hosts with spores. These spores will eventually grow into the alien creatures and hatch from the human hosts (a concept that is very similar to the Black Oil virus from "The X-Files").

The story flips between an unsuspecting and increasingly unhinged human host, a former NFL player called Perry Dawsey, and attempts by the U.S. Government to find and contain this 'infection'. The story whips along at a tremendous pace, and can be incredibly gruesome at times, but it is well worth a look. A neat blend of action, thriller, sci-fi and horror.

Contagious by Scott Sigler; the first sequel (apparently another is being planned) to the above. The scheming aliens from the first novel are back, and are attempting to re-invent the spores so that they can be more successful.

Most of the key players from the first novel return, but not all of them.

The story again whips along at a breakneck pace, as the US government and military struggles to find and contain the infection of the aliens, but the US have a secret weapon this time... The conclusion is harrowing and moving and leaves the reader hanging and yearning for more.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; the book that spawned the film that shook the world. Dinosaurs are brought to life using sophisticated DNA cloning techniques and the creators attempt to use these creatures as living attractions in an exclusive amusement park for the mega-rich.

While the film was somewhat family-friendly (most violence was implied, off-screen or relatively bloodless), this is an out and out gore-fest, with many characters getting killed in the most gory of fashions by the resurrected beasts. There are several key differences from the film, but the tension and thrills remain firmly in place as man attempts to evade a predator that they should never have been forced to evade.

Last Light by Alex Scarrow; global oil production is halted - within days the implications of this are devastating. Society collapses with alarming speed, as food riots, looting, rape and murder plunge Britain into utter chaos. The police, the army and ordinary civilians are unable to cope as the loss of power forces pure Darwinism to the front.

The depictions of how quickly basic supplies and necessities (food, water, electicity, transport) all falter and fail once the West's supply of oil is cut off are frightening and disturbingly realistic. This is a fictional thriller, but with a definite "this-could-actually-happen" edge to it. People may scoff at this, but if you sit back and think about it, if those little bastards who drive their boy racer cars and hurl abuse at you as you walk past them were suddenly free to do as they want, what do you think they would do? Much worse than simply hurl abuse...

Chilling and devastatingly good.

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry; in this, another modern techno-thriller, the United States' Counter Terrorism units are thrown into confusion when terrorist previously thought dead re-appear on their radar. Their corpses are re-animated... corpses that are almost impossible to stop. Corpses with an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

As daft as it may sound (terrorists using zombies as a new bio-weapon against the United States) it is pulled off with such panache and skill that you do buy into the plot and the story and its characters without much trouble. The tension as the DMS (Department of Military Sciences; a new and incredibly well equipped black-ops agency) attempts to save the day from the mad terrorists and their undead army is palpable and the hero of the piece, Joe Ledger, is a likeable and strong leading character.

Think "28 Days Later" meets "24" and you won't be far off.

A Thousand Suns by Alex Scarrow; What would have happened if the Nazis had managed to develop an atomic bomb? What if they had managed this in the dying days of the Second World War? What if they decided to wield this weapon against the Western Allies, in order to force them to surrender and join in a fight against the Red Menace of the Soviets?

This is precisely the plot of this fiction-based-loosely-upon-fact thriller. It is no secret that the Nazis had some brilliant scientific minds at their disposal (rocket scientists, geneticists, etc.) and that they were, up until the final collapse of the Third Reich, deploying more and more experimental weapons in the field in a vain attempt to stop the Allies. In this novel, the Nazis finally develop and finalise an atomic bomb. They will deploy this weapon against not the Soviets, but against the Western Allies and more specifically the United States, in order to force the US to join forces with Nazi leaders to fight the Soviets.

Crackpot, but entertaining and thrilling.




all I can think of off the top of my head for the moment. Happy hunting!