Good books?

Today i saw lord of the rings on my shelf and realized i havent leisurely read any books in over a year. Can someone please for the love of god recommend for me a book that inspires the same kinds of feelings that LOTR does? I usually enjoy deep fantasies like that (please, dont quote this line out of context).

I need something very well written and also with a fantastic original story, preferably something as close to the greatness of lotr as possible.

Thanks a million.

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Δύο άτομα. Μια μάχη. Κανένας συμβιβασμός.

I'm not much for fantasy. But John Connolly is a great author. Also, Robert McCammon wrote a book called Swan Song that kept me extremely interested.

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The totally awesome and soul consuming TFH One a Day Reviews.

For you, anything, Spidey.

Check this series out:

The Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin

It's like LotR, but I actually like it more, as I like Martin's historical fiction feel a lot more than Tolkein's digressive meandering style. I'm not knocking LotR, mind you. The guy created a seminal work that has yet to be topped in vision and scope. Alas, I just like Martin's writing more.

Anyway, certainly worth a read!

The first volume is called A Game of Thrones.

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you like lotr check out The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

You could read Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. But that's only if you are prepared to reject Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christmas as your personal Lord and Savior. These books are E-V-I-L.



But if you're aren't prepared for the eternal tortures of the damned, give Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy a whirl.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Well, even though I didn't groove to it as hard as I thought I would, you'll probably enjoy Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. It's the first in a collection of books called "The Kingkiller Chronicles" and I'd definitely stack it up there with The Lord of the Rings series. It might be a little lighter read than you're looking for, but you should give it a shot.




And you could also try The Deed of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon. Good stuff.

I second His dark materials, I'm just finishing up The amber spyglass and it's bloody fantastic.

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http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

I second the two recommendations I gave.

I was going to recommend this, but I didn't for a couple of reasons, the first being that at about book 7 or so, the series drops in quality big time. The other is the fact that Mr. Jordan recently passed away, and the series is not finished.

This series was originally supposed to be six books, then 8, then 12.... Once it caught on, it seemed like Jordan, or perhaps his publishers decided to milk it for all it's worth, and the writing began to change. The first six books were tightly written with a clear forward moving story and a focus on character development, intrigue, and action. The first six books of the series are STELLAR. I can't say enough good things about them. All the more reason I was so disappointed in the volumes that followed, and Jordan digressed into three-page long descriptions of the characters clothing. He also pushed a few main characters to the side (Matt Cauthon, in book seven for instance) almost completely, while introducing literally dozens of bit part side characters that completely bogged down the story and sent the books off on literally dozens of tangents. Book 8 was worse, with even longer descriptions of the Aes Sedai clothing (yes, I got my user name from these books years ago).

Add to that the fact that the guy introduced the mechanic into the story of the villains not being able to die permanently, as well as some of the other characters, who had clearly already died, also somehow miraculously returning, and the story lost any sense of danger. I found myself losing interest in characters and events, because, in the end, none of it seemed to matter.

I would say books 1-6 are some of the best fantasy ever written, while the remaining volumes (the ones I got through, anyway) were pretty damn bad. I had to force myself to finish book 8, after a disappointing book 7, after which I just gave up.

And now.... poor Jordan passed on (RIP) after beginning this epic, and I guess the series will be completed by a different author. So far, eleven volumes have been published, and I am not sure if book 12 will mark the end of the series, or if they will need even MORE volumes afterwards.

12 books is quite a commitment.

RIP Robert Jordan.

Ah, Holden. Good call on LeGuin. A wonderful writer. Check out the Earthsea series, as Holden recommended (stay away from the dreadful TV adaptation though), but also check out some of her other stuff, as well. Specifically, The Dispossessed, and the brilliant The Left Hand of Darkness.

Yeah, Le Guin's seriously a flippin genius. She's also written some dynamite short stories that I feel are superior to her full-length stuff. The Wind's Twelve Quarters in particular is a pretty sweet collection. A few of the stories take place in the same universe as some of her novels and it's got one of my absolute favorite works of literature in "The Ones Walk Away From Omelas".

Gotta recommend The Screwtape Letters. It's a series of letters from an elder demon to a "Junior Tempter," instructing the latter on the ways to influence men's thinking.

High concept, humorous, and it has some remarkable insights into the way people think. Probably my favorite book of all-time.



It's all too easy to look for the craziest version of an argument and dismiss it based on that. Call it The Daily Show approach. I get why people do it, because it's considerably harder to address the best arguments the opposing view has to offer. Requires effort and all that...but it's the only reasonable way to take a meaningful stance on something controversial, to my mind. Anyway, if you want to make a serious contribution to this particular debate, we have a couple threads on it already.

That said, if you like fantasy, Eq, you'll probably like The Golden Compass/Northern Lights) (which is the only one I've read so far). Just know going in that, yes, it has an agenda, and yes, it's an explicitly anti-religious one. If that doesn't bother you, or if you can look past it and appreciate its other aspects, then I expect you'll enjoy it. I wasn't blown away, myself (I'd rather read Perelandra again), but it was still reasonably enjoyable.

I am going to have to track that short story collection down, for sure.

The thing about The Left Hand of Darkness is, a lot of sci-fi from the era in which that was written has a hard time holding water these days. Not the case with this book. It's as timeless as you can get in the genre, methinks.

the His Dark Materials trilogy is brilliant. If you want something a little quirky try Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke, it's reminiscent of old English folk stories, deliciously humorous and lovely and fat!

what she said! if you liked LoTR, you'd like that one. though the guy is dead now and i think he has a ghost writer or something. i don't actually read the books, [though i did read the first one--which was very good] so i don't know how many there are or anything.

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letterboxd

i got about halfway through the first one and gave up but I didn't like LOTR so it wasnt really for me

Great topic, I've spoken a bit about Stephen R. Donaldson before and for my money I would actually rate this series a bit higher than LOTR. Blasphemy perhaps, but I say true. For me anyway.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever are spectacular. Here's the first three:



And here's the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever:



Currently he is working on four more books to complete the last chronicles of Thomas Covenant, he already has two done (I'm reading the second book now) with two more to follow in the years to come.

Here is his web site if you're interested in checking out some of his other stuff. The Gap series is also fantastic but it is a Sci-fi series, not fantasy, but I highly recommend all of them.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

I agree with The Wheel of Time and I definetly agree with The chronicles of thomas covenant... both are amazing and deserve endless praise (sedai was right about the quality of the WoT series as the continued (i knew that was where you got your name from))...but IMHO I think that no fantasy series can match that of the Sword of Truth series... I have read all the books/series listed thus far (and still many many more) and I can honestly say for some reason i love terry Goodkind's series the best... I thinks its not really a for "children" type of fantasy novel. it goes into detail of the horrors that people are capable of and how one can stay true to themselves while making sacrifices... It introduced me to many different philosophies that hold true today (got me through gr. 12 philosophy class)and has some stong social and political commentary. Its a different fantasy then "evil approaches, lets quest"

There are eleven books and all are out now... i highly recommend reading this series

PLUS there have been recent talks of turning this into a live action miniseries directed by sam raimi *nerdgasm*

you may also want to try the dragonlance series (go with the original three)
or the dragonriders of pern
and you say you have read LotR but have you read the Hobbit? that is a must aswell
or the Shannara series

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One day you will ask me, what's more important...me or your life. I will answer my life and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life

This isn't really similar to LOTR at all, so I hesitate to mention it, but sometimes I feel left out of the reading threads, so I'll just mention my favorite novel, period, One Hundred Years of Solitude, perhaps the benchmark of "magical realism".



It's not the easiest book to read, but it certainly rewards every reader who opens it. It definitely has my favorite final paragraph of all-time (all two pages), but it also has one of my favorite opening sentences: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

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Wow. You guys (and ladies) are awesome.

I wound up (upon reading the suggestions) ordering the following books from Amazon.com:

First 2 books of Wheel of Time
The Golden Compass
His Dark Materials Trilogy
The screwtape letters
The sword of Truth
and The Song of Ice and Fire

I typically read a book in a matter of a week if im committed to it. So I shall let you guys know what i think!

Thanks again so much.