Niners (io9) discussion

I just added the group shelf "Must read" and is hoping that people feel like adding at least one book they feel is book everyone must have read.

So, ehum. Go and do that. :D

Daniel wrote: "Nearly been a year since this shelf was created and not one recommendation. This shall not be. I gladly take this shelf's virginity by insisting that every person alive reads anything and everythin..."

Funny you should say that :)
I recently started re-reading the whole Discworld series. I'm just about finished Equal Rites, should finish that tonight, then it's on with Mort.
From reading everything in the series when I was a teenager, he kept writing them faster than I could read them, so I've actually only read about two thirds of them.
I was planning on interspersing them with other books so I wouldn't get burned out on Discword, but so far I've just torn through the first few books without a break.

Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire 1) by Mark Lawrence

Utter brutal and beautiful at the same time - a great fantasy read, the second book is even better.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. The whole series, in fact. It's fucking awesome.

Michael Moorcocks, Elric. I'm sure most people are familiar with Robert E. Howards, Conan. Elric is epic fantasy but with a character who is flawed not superhuman like Conan.

Anything from William Gibson, but especially Neuromancer. Also anything from M. John Harrison. I'd add Gravity's Rainbow as well, but that's a slog for some people. I love it, but I get the problem people have.

I don't actually find this "Must Read" group shelf, but I would add Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. One of my favorite books ever.

It might have gotten lost at some point. I added it back in though, feel free to add books to it.

Foundation. I read Prelude to Foundation first so it really blew my mind but the book is incredible anyways to me.

Also, sorry for not noticing this board before, Tomb! My bad!

Beth wrote: "I don't actually find this "Must Read" group shelf, but I would add Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. One of my favorite books ever."

Loved Doomsday Book. Though my favorite Connie Willis has to be To Say Nothing of the Dog; I would also add Passage to her must-reads.

I just read all of the Discworld books to help me survive my mum's passing from liver cancer. Thank you Mr. Pratchett. Also agree with anything written by Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog is my favourite. Other must reads? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Hitchhiker's Guide, and just the first Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon.

re: Temeraire

So you would recommend forgetting the rest of the series happened? I've read the first three but only liked the first one; I was hoping they would improve.

re: Temeraire
Absolutely, forget the others. The first was charming, the rest slowly get worse and start to feel like a cash grab. Although you may be like me and feel you just have to compulsively read to the end just to finish the thing. Wish there had only been one.

I'm not sure about the whole concept of a book "everyone must read,"--I lean pretty Post-Modernist. Regardless, those like myself who like to see academic types cast in an heroic role--along with probably any type of Trekkie--should thoroughly enjoy C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series. The main character is both the best and more or less the only human diplomat in a part of space where humans are few and highly insular, prone to sparking conflicts with locals who greatly outnumber them and sometimes outgun them. The Paidhi is tasked with understanding the locals as deeply as a human can and maintaining the peace from both sides of the biological and cultural divide.

In case anyone missed it, io9 had a great article of books that are being turned into movies in the near future. All of the books on the list I haven't read yet have jumped to the top of my "must read soon" list.

http://io9.com/all-the-books-getting-...