Two summers ago, I bought a Kobo. I read every Sherlock Holmes novel ever written, having previously never touched any of them. Then I read a Deep Space Nine book on a whim, and the posters here were kind enough to introduce me to the DS9 Extended Universe. It was great: then they cancelled it.
Then they sorta bridged it with the Typhon pact books, which IMO are kinda boring, but I’m reading anyway. I’m halfway through the last one, and I need something else to sink my teeth into. But not Star Trek.
I read “Around the World in Eighty Days” and really liked it, in between these two series. The only common element between Holmes and Star Trek seems to be that they’re very digestible, adventurey type books. Can anyone recommend a book I can download and take on vacation with me, in a similar vein? Maybe a Jules Vernes, or some other fin-de-siecle author?
I know I haven’t given you all much to work with, but I get the best ideas for TV shows from here (working on Avatar: Legend of Korra :D), so I thought I’d ask about a book!
The Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell might suit. Fast reads, military adventure, and well-researched. They get a bit repetitive after the first dozen or so, however.
Star Wars? Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy is particularly good, as are the X-wing books. And there are many, many Star Wars books out there. Enough to keep you well supplied with trash for a while.
May I recommend you wander over to feedbooks? they have a bunch of free stuff. Webscriptions.net [Baen] has a free library in multiple formats. Hm, Project Gutenberg is the classic go to for stuff prior to 1923 so you should find plenty of Jules Verne over there, and some HG Wells.
There’s plenty more Jules Verne out there. I’m reading his [i\]North and South* right now, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
If you can, get more recent translations of Verne. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is great, but the Louis Mercier/Mercier Lewis translation not only botches the translation miserably (He writes “the disagreeable country of South Dakota” when the text has “The Dakota badlands”), it also leaves out big hunks of the story. Read Michael Strogoff, or The Mysterious Island or any of the obscure ones, like Captain Antifer (A treeasure hunt story with really odd clues and a bizarre ending).
There’s plenty of easy-to-read fiction out there. I highly recommend C.S. Forester’s Horation Hornblower series – naval captain from the Napoleonic era, but not as weighty as Patrick O’Brien. Or read Frederick Forsyth’s books, especially his early thrillers, Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War.
Read Fredric Brown’s mysteries. Or his science fiction/fantasy. Read Robert E Howard fantasy, or Clark Ashton Smith. Or J.P. Lovecraft.
Anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Tarzan novels are quite fun, and far better than any of the films or comics based on them. His Barsroom, Caspak, and Venus series are also pretty enjoyable. And the Barsroom books have had quite an influence in the genre with Star Wars and Avatar owing an incredible amount to them. Most of his material is public domain, so it’s free if you have an e-reader or don’t mind reading on the computer.
I tried reading the mysterious island, but that didn’t really do anything for me. Plus I got some spoilers and felt stupid for not reading 20,000 leagues first; sorta ruined it for me.
Wouldn’t mind trying one of the other ones, though! Will look into that.
I knew about P.G. From my Sherlock bender, but not the other two. Thanks!
