Novel-Fi

[jonathanjong]

Who are your favourite novelists, and what book(s) would you recommend?

 

[digger945]

Does Sci-Fi count?

 

[jonathanjong]

Sure, why not?

 

[feh1325]

the sound and the fury by william faulkner

its a hard read and you'll have to do some pre-reading to understand it

 

[digger945]

The Foundation Series, by Isaac Asimov.
Only ones I have read are Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation(I bought the now out-of-print Foundation Trilogy), but he authored many more after those. I like his imagination and story telling. As one reviewer put it, they demand to be read quickly.

 

[myinitialsaredac]

Orwell - 1984

 

[appophylite]

A handful of my favorite novelists and books I'd recommend from each:

Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park, Lost Word, State Of Fear, Airframe, Disclosure
Orson Scott Card: Ender/Bean Series
Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker's Guide Series, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Frank Herbert: Dune (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children Of Dune, God Emperor Of Dune, Heretics Of Dune, Chapterhouse: Dune)
Alan Moore: (if we can include graphic novels): Watchmen, The Killing Joke

 

[Crikey]

Are we pertaining to only english authors? If not i'll put in some authors I like in other languages

金庸 (Jin Rong): Author who writes martial arts novels (ala Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but only better). He's the best there is in that genre imho.
倪匡 (Ngai Hong): Chinese author who writes SF novels (Wisely Series)
Orwell - 1984
Huxley - Brave New World
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Michael Crichton
Frank Herbert
Douglas Adams
Isaac Assimov - Not just his Foundation series, but his Robot series are good as well

 

[SiriuslyCold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digger945 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Foundation Series, by Isaac Asimov. Only ones I have read are Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation(I bought the now out-of-print Foundation Trilogy), but he authored many more after those. I like his imagination and story telling. As one reviewer put it, they demand to be read quickly.

I'll second that Foundation

Actually, at the start there are the 3 or 4 Robot novels, which continues into the 3 Galactic Empire novels. The Foundation series picks up after the downturn of the Galactic Empire; effectively the whole body of work loosely tied together telling the future history of humanity over a period of 50,000 years (iirc).

for something newer, I'd recommend the Culture series by Iain M Banks.

I've also gotten into Repairman Jack - awesome character & stories.

Now here's a novel I picked up purely on the basis of the title: The Neutronium Alchemist - and fortunately found the series - Night's Dawn Trilogy (by Peter F Hamilton) to be good ;D

Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon
Richard Bach - Illusions: the adventures of a reluctant Messiah
Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh


second appophylite's list as well

 

[Calexico]

The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
1984 by George Orwell

I second Watchmen by Alan Moore, it's the only comic book/graphic novel I've finished, and it really is amazing

 

[andrewsvt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crikey /img/forum/go_quote.gif Orwell - 1984 Huxley - Brave New World William Golding - Lord of the Flies Isaac Assimov - Not just his Foundation series, but his Robot series are good as well

Those writers/books are a must.

My 2 cents:

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Animal Farm - George Orwell (Orwell again)
The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller (it is NOT p*rn

)
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Some Stephen King

I won't mention other languages authors... The list would go on and on and would be kinda pointless.

 

[zotjen]

Some of my favorite authors are Stephen King, Clive Barker, John Irving, Elizabeth Hand, J.G. Ballard, and Dan Simmons.

 

[The Actual]

Quote:

Originally Posted by feh1325 /img/forum/go_quote.gif the sound and the fury by william faulkner its a hard read and you'll have to do some pre-reading to understand it

best novel ever written.
pre reading isn't necessary, depends on your reading style. Repeated readings are highly rewarding.


Favorite novelists of mine:
William Gibson, Jonathan Lethem, Yukio Mishima and John Steinbeck. Recently been getting into Haruki Murakami too, not sure if he will be one of my favorites though.



I will limit myself to 3 recommendations:
Sound and the Fury, Faulkner. Can be difficult to read, but so great.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Cyberpunk, techno sci fi, genre work. Accessible, hints at Gibson's genius which permeates his entire body of work.
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. Also pretty accessible, fascinating work on ultra nationalism and youth in Japan.

 

[younglee200]

Atlas Shrugged

Brave New World (read it once as a high school and read it again few months ago and it set off as a completely different tone)

To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[Calexico]

I think I'm going to check out Brave New World, generally find those type of books interesting.