What's your favorite genre of book?

[Markanite]

I like History, sci-fi, adventure and fantasy books.

I hate romance novels and all that

[Caerthrage]

History,fantasy, and info

[New Augustgrad]

The genres that consistently rank as my favorites are probably philosophy, sci-fi, and spy-fiction. That being said, I've read books from a variety of genres.

[Echolilia]

Any particular philosophy you recommend?

[New Augustgrad]

May 14, 2010 18:26:58 GMT -5 Echolilia said:

Any particular philosophy you recommend?

My personal preference is the early writing on Existentialism, mainly Kierkegaard but also Nietzsche, though I do intend to eventually delve into the works of Heidegger and Sartre.

While Existentialism is my personal favorite, I can't say there's any single philosophy I'd recommend. My interest in philosophy isn't so much the conclusion as it is the process - I don't care what B is as much as I do how one gets from A to B. I've even read some of the philosophy of Karl Marx and while I by no means agree with his conclusions about Communism, I do see value in his criticisms of Capitalism, which is part of his process. The only recommendation I can really make is to read as much as possible, and to find one's own way. That being said, familiarization with as many of Plato and Aristotle's works as possible can never hurt.

I'm afraid I haven't really given your question a clear answer.

[Harperians]

Fiction, in any form.
As much as I enjoy history, can't read history books too much.
I do love me some historical fiction and sci-fi.
I also love my video game tie-ins (at least the RPG ones)

[larevolution]

Anything involving (left-wing) politics. Fiction, non-fiction, fictionalized history, scifi/fantasy/horror.

[Pompadoodle]

These days I read mainly Philosophy and Cognitive Science- all pretty academic stuff tbh. I also sometimes read History books, and less often read fiction.

I've read a great deal of sci-fi and fantasy, quite a bit of 'serious' literature and also a lot of stuff relating to left-wing politics, plus some Anthropology. Somewhat ironically, given that I'm an atheist, I've even read some Theology.

[CTALNH]

political ideological books and anything military

[jennifergovns]

Feb 25, 2010 11:43:41 GMT -5 Ananke II said:

Got any recommendations of good Sci-Fi? I tried Asimov's Foundation series, but didn't find it very interesting.

I like Asimov's books. My favourite is Robots series and I prefer above all "Robots and Empire" and "Foundation and Earth" (written from a historical perspective), "Foundation and Empire" and "Second Foundation" are also very good.

I love historical books and adventure novels are interesting for me.

[Xizor III]

Non-fiction

The last couple books I read were on economics, psychology, HTML , and diplomacy.

I'm sure they would all have very specific genres..meh.

[Lakenburgh]

Always the one I'm reading at the moment of the question.

[Ananke II]

Anyone know of some good romance novels? So far I've started reading Georgette Heyer, but being totally new to the genre trying to find the good stuff in between all the books getting published just makes me feel overwhelmed.

[Lakenburgh]

You could try one from Victoria Holt, they are usually a mixture between part thriller and part romance novel.
Although I have to admit it's been a few years since I read one from her, so I'm not quite sure if I'd still like them today.

[Takaram]

Mar 5, 2010 15:00:29 GMT -5 Ananke II said:

I haven't read Dune, no. I was warned that the later ones by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert are bad though.

The original works by Frank Herbert were classics of sci-fi literature. His son's and Kevin J. Anderson's works might be alright if we didn't have Frank Herbert's work to compare it to, but I don't think so.

[lowetania]

Sci-Fi for me. I have an extensive collection of books by the master himself, Isacc Asimov. His foundation series is definately well up among the classics. His combination of his knowledge of physics with his fantastic settings adds a level of believability to his mechanisation. I strongly recommend these books to all as a very worthy read.

Also, still in sci-fi, a book by F. Paul Wilson called simply 'Healer', it is not an especially long book but it is THE ONLY BOOK that has had me pick it up, begin reading, and then finish it before ever putting it down many hours later. It combines scientific future technologies with medieval worlds, psychic ability, hostile aliens and immortality. Superb read and I promise you that if you read it you will love it forever. It took me 20 years to find a copy, finally on eBay, that I could purchase and hold on to forever, as the previous time was from a lending library. It was initially released in the early 80's. Seriously ... read it!

[Pompadoodle]

Anyone else here like HP Lovecraft?

His complete works are available on-line here:

www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/

[Lakenburgh]

Oh thx for the link Pompadoodle. I have most of his books here, but looking at the list there are still some I don't know.

[Cartelle]

My absolute favorite style is Fantasy, although I love a good political story.

Aynd Rand is one of my favorite Authors, and her books are quite intellectually stimulating (which far and above my favorite style of written works). Anything that causes the mind to think, or presents a new political point of view is wonderful. The Da Vinci Code, even though it was fiction, was still a book that caused me to do a lot of personal research. Just the same way that Atlas Shrugged and the Fountain blew my mind, and caused me to to have one of the most intellectually stimulating breakthrough's of my life.

Fantasy may be my favorite when going for pure pleasure and enjoyment, as Dragons and Magic has always intrigued me, but Political and Intellectual reads have always been wonderful for me.

[Pompadoodle]

Ayn Rand.

I honestly don't know what people see in her stuff. As fiction, its not very well written or imaginative. Intellectually, it has as many holes in it as as swiss cheese.

We have a debate thread about her already; if anyone wants to discuss her stuff then feel free to revive it. I'll be happy to give the case against.

I've just finished The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson. Not as good as The Night Land, which is awesome, but still not bad. He was apparently a major influence on Lovecraft, and anyone who likes Lovecraft should consider checking him out.

[Pompadoodle]

Incidentally, if anyone wants to read a work of sci-fi/ fantasy that is also interesting from a philosophical standpoint then David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus is the book to go for. Its weird as anything (the main character grows new limbs and sensory organs) and jam-packed full of ideas. Imho its a masterpiece.

[Ananke II]

@ Pompadoodle;
Have you read anything by Charles Stross? His Laundry series is a mix of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and British spy thrillers. They're a lot of fun.

[Pompadoodle]

No, I hadn't heard of him, but he definitely sounds like the kinda thing I'd like.

Will go over to Amazon and see what there is.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[lowetania]

@ Cartelle: If you are into fantasy, then I would recommend some of the Dungeons and Dragons stories, especially The Dragonlance Chronicles. Its a huge thick beast but by god its a damned good read - granted I enjoyed it perhaps more than others having actually played through the Dragonlance campaign to its conclusion and felt an affinity with Sturm Brightblade the honour driven knight, it matched my own personality and it truly was easy to get into character, surprisingly easy. NO SURRENDER! CHARGE!!!!

[Iguru]

I have 4 main areas that i comprise 80 to 90% of my reading:
1. Science fiction (from Peter F. Hamilton to the simpler, and much gorier, Warhammer 40k books)
2. Classic fiction, mostly Russian and British, Tolstoy, Jane Austen, etc etc (have read War & Peace 3 or 4 times i think)
3. Non-fiction, focusing on medieval, 18th to 20th century, and some classical era focusing on Rome.
4. Plays, usually more well known ones like Ibsen, Shakespeare, or Chekhov.

I'll dabble in fantasy, but it is rare that i find one that suits my fancy.

[Pompadoodle]

I've just finished reading The Atrocity Archives, the first book in Charles Stross' 'Laundry' series. As Ananke said, its extremely entertaining- basically a spy novel with a heavy dose of Lovecraftian horror and a bit of cyber-geekery thrown in. Well worth reading.

[Ananke II]

I'm glad you liked it, Pompadoodle. I like most of his other books as well.

Iguru;

Peter F. Hamilton is great. I'll be buying his newest book The Evolutionary Void as soon as I get the time to visit one of the speciality bookstores which sell English books around here.

[Cerb]

Mystery, adventure, thrillers, psycological drama / fiction. Anything except educational books really

[Iguru]

Sept 3, 2010 12:15:08 GMT -5 Ananke II said:

Iguru;

Peter F. Hamilton is great. I'll be buying his newest book The Evolutionary Void as soon as I get the time to visit one of the speciality bookstores which sell English books around here.

That book is brilliant! finished reading it a few days ago, and loved it. by the way, what country do you live in where there has to be a specialty store for books like that? here in norway we just have them at all the book stores.

[Ananke II]

Well, it's usually only the bigger bookstores in Copenhagen, which tends to have decent selections of English books. Btw. is Ozzie in The Evolutionary Void? I love that guy.