I need new books! help!

Cafe Society
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1.) Hyperion, by Dan Simmons.

2.) And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. I don’t get scared easily. I laugh at most horror novels and movies, even the classics. But this book is just…

3.) David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.

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At the moment…

  1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

  2. Lost by Gary Devon (House of Leaves is one of the least scary “horror” novels I’ve ever read, so be forwarned this isn’t at all like that one)

  3. The Talisman By Stephen King and Peter Straub.

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I’m assuming you’re looking for stuff in the sf/fantasy vein.

  1. The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith (This is actually a collection of short stories and novellas.) There’s also a companion novel, Norstrilia.

  2. I’m a sucker for weird fiction, so there’s a lot of choices. But try The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson.

  3. Time and the Gods by Lord Dunsany. This was published by Gollancz as part of their Fantasy Masterworks series, and collects several of Dunsany’s short story collections into a single volume. If you’re into high fantasy, I can’t recommend this enough.

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  1. Sci-Fi: Q-In-Law. Funniest Star Trek novel ever.

  2. Scary: Fast Food Nation. Earns every kudos it’s received.

  3. Must-read: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Because somebody has to bitch-slap Bernie Goldberg (and Ann Coulter, and Bill O’Reilly, and… :wink: ).

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I’ll second (or third, whatever) **Neuromancer **

Disturbing. (I’m not really recommending this) Memoirs of an SAS guy, I think it was called Joker. Some bits I just wish I’d never read. Fast Food Nation is eye-opening.

Must read Code Complete by Steve McConnell. But only if you’re a programmer (you’re reading SciFi so you are, aren’t you?).

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Short-ish stories:

“The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson

“The Monsters are due on Maple Street”, Rod Serling.

“Barn Burning”, William Hawthorne.

“Across the River and Into the trees”, Ernest Hemingway.

“Heart of Darkness”
Joseph Conrad

“Alas, they’re probably all banned”
Corbomite

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  1. Lullabye by Chuck Palahniuk. Not really science fiction, but I had to recommend it anyway. My favorite Palahniuk.

  2. We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell. This was probobly the best book I read last year. It is about what would really happen were the biblical tribulation to happen tommorrow, and Caldwell doesn’t candy-coat shit. This book is absolutely terriffying, and not preachy or skewed.

  3. Demon Haunted World - Science as a Candle In The Dark by Carl Sagan. Brilliant.

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“The Book of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe. Originally published as four books; now available in two – Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel.

Or, if you’re looking for something a little more conventionally SFnal, try The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which has the greatest opening of any novel ever.

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I won’t restrict myself to just one in each. I’ve read too many good ones. :wink:

[ul]
[li]Blood Music – Greg Bear[/li]In the Upper Room and Other Likely Stories – Terry Bisson (A collection of short fiction.)
The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF – Edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (A collection of short hard SF, from H. G. Wells to William Gibson and Ursula K. LeGuin.)
[li]Misery – Stephen King[/li]The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
[li]The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger[/li]Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds – Charles Mackay
The Advent of the Algorithm – David Berlinsky
A History of Pi – Petr Beckmann
[/ul]

Other books that don’t fit in your categories:
Another Roadside Attraction – Tom Robbins
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity – Max Born
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life – Jacques Barzun

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Sci-Fi: Dune by Frank Herbert. The Moon is a Harsh Mistressby Robert A. Heinlein would be my second choice

Scary: The Family: The Story of Charles Manson’s Dune Buggy Attack Battalion by Ed Sanders is non-fiction, but it scared the hell out of me.

Must Have: The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats

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Peyote Coyote, it takes my breath away to find other lovers of Yeats…

For an eery, unsettling book, my husband and I both liked Perfume* – first recommended by several people at SDMB.

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  1. The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson. Wait, what am I saying, everyone must have already read that, haven’t they?

  2. Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis will definately raise hackles as you reach the end (beggining?) of the book.

  3. Hmmm, too many, first one that pops to mind is something by Steinbeck, like Cannary Row?

P.S. I liked your selection G.B.H. Hornswoggler

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  1. Some not touched on yet:[ul][li]Gateway by Frederick Pohl. Along with the rest of the Heechee saga.[/li][li]City of Golden Shadow and the rest of the Otherland series. Cyberbook(s) like Neuromancer and Snow Crash. Very overdrawn though. Each book is about the length and breadth of many other author’s SERIES. There are 4 books.[/li][li]Anything (just about) by Heinlein[/li][/ul]2) Not much of a scary story fan. But I would have to go with H.P. Lovecraft

  2. The Bible…

What?

Okay. How about H.G. Wells.
Edgar Allen Poe.