# Looking for some new reading material **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth, movies\ **Created:** [November 22, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043 "2025-11-22T00:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DreamsOfACheetah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@DreamsOfACheetah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreamsOfACheetah)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/1 "2025-11-22T00:40:40Z")
I have been reading since I was about 3-4 years old, and it’s my favorite hobby. I’m looking for suggestions for new material to read. I have hundreds of books, and I took some pics of my shelves, but wasn’t allowed to post them here. So here’s a partial list of my “Doors to Other Worlds”: 1. Terry Pratchett - I am missing a few of the last discworld books, but I will remedy that soon. I think his writing - especially early on - has echoes of Douglas Adams in it, but it is very much his own cool style. 2. Douglas Adams - I’ve read every one of his books many times since high school (Thanks Todd!). 3. J.R.R. Tolkien - I have mostly everything, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unfinished Tales, and The Histories of Middle Earth 5 book box set. THE pioneer of fantasy! 4. Clive Barker - Hands down my favorite horror author. His writing style (to me) is in the stratosphere. Unlike S.K. there are no botched beginnings or endings, no constant repetition, and his eloquent writing flows almost like music to me. 5. Phillip Dick - I own 3 collections of his short stories and 7 of his novels. Love his work and it’s very sad that he didn’t become well-known until long after he passed away. They have made a number of his books and short stories into films, including Blade Runner, Paycheck, Minority Report, both versions of Total Recall, and more. 6. Issac Asimov - The Foundation series was a surprise gift last year and quickly became one of the (many) high points of my collection. I have some of his other single novels, but he put out a LOT of books over the years, and I want them all! 7. Neil Gaiman - Fantasy with modern twists for the most part. Became a favorite quickly. 8. older horror writers: Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft collections, Mary Shelly (Frankenstein). I’d like to pick up the original Bram Stoker Dracula book and any other old horror books. 9. Cyberpunk - I currently have just a handful. William Gibson, Neil Stephenson, Philip Palmer, and Richard K. Morgan books round this one out. Tad Williams also wrote a really cool Cyberpunk style series called Otherland. 10. older science fiction - Frederick Pohl (a lot of books), Stanislaw Lem (the Cyberiad and Solaris), Robert Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land), Ray Bradbury (Farenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles) and H.G. Wells (the Time Machine and a couple others).. 11. Dystopian future stories - George Orwell (1984 and Animal Farm), Walter M. Miller Jr (A Canticle for Leibowitz), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), Don DeLillo (White Noise), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), and a few historical books from Morris Berman (The Twilight of American Culture and The Reenchantment of the World). I also own both versions of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil movie (very similar in structure to 1984), and some similar movies 12. Classic Literature - too many to list, but Mark Twain, Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nickolai Gogol, Kurt Vonnegut, and William S. Burroughs are some of the high points. So, any recommendations for new material to exercise my mind? Anyone read and recommened Sir Walter Scott or Charles Dickens? What about way older books? The Lost Boys, Dante’s Inferno, others that are considered some of the foundations of literature? No poetry please, that’s not my thing. I’ve tried Shakespeare, Homer’s Odysey, and Beowulf, and had a hard time with those. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/2 "2025-11-22T02:55:03Z")
> **[The Monk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monk)** > > The Monk: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796 across three volumes. Written early in Lewis's career, it was published anonymously when he was 20. It tells the story of a virtuous Catholic monk who gives in to his lustful urges, setting off a chain of events that leave him damned. It is a prime example of the type of Gothic that specializes in horror. > Upon publication, the novel proved scandalous. Readers were shocked by its sexually explicit content, and t... WARNING: There are spoilers in the article. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/3 "2025-11-22T02:57:13Z")
I am noticing a lack of female writers mentioned in your OP. Is there a reason for that? ---
**Author:** ![DreamsOfACheetah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@DreamsOfACheetah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreamsOfACheetah)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/4 "2025-11-22T05:56:55Z")
Dropo: that sounds right up my alley, thank you! Czarcasm: Just a lack of knowledge I guess. I have enjoyed Barbara Hambly, J.V. Jones and a few others over the years, but it seems to me like a male dominated field. Please prove me wrong and recommend some good books with female authors. I’m always up for broadening my horizons. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/5 "2025-11-22T06:35:56Z")
Check out [Hyperion](https://www.amazon.com/Hyperion-Cantos-Dan-Simmons-1990-03-01/dp/B01NBOLD9I?crid=1CEDYHJHTWSYC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FuEpVQMIkwqa5EwTQGkGBxNCYfPSSQTWrgITrmpdx0yl_n5FLLcZg6DCOz5Oxx-V75TUBQjC2Xhrqm0orUmOvMJWDBSu9-YXyZ5xgwWI8s_-vbdICltR7RMhCYuV4T_0416b0C0KBTEMtmu8KZiTvIcjAcQMadOTtxuTPvWtxLu06JJeIYAUY3WC4Ki2kmJjBJWc4GZrXUrBxeqECwT1OoG5oGW3SEgwfkfeuX28lK8.Y9ail-fBL7mhGue1fOuTZgL58jSj6gNo55_HDVDcQPM&dib_tag=se&keywords=hyperion+dan+simmons&qid=1763793249&sprefix=hyperion%252Caps%252C141&sr=8-5) by Dan Simmons (several books in the series, the first is the best but the rest are good too). Won the Hugo Award. Great book! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/6 "2025-11-22T06:50:23Z")
> [@DreamsOfACheetah](#): > > Cyberpunk - I currently have just a handful. William Gibson, Neil Stephenson, Philip Palmer, and Richard K. Morgan books round this one out. Tad Williams also wrote a really cool Cyberpunk style series called Otherland. If you like cyberpunk, [_Hardwired_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwired_(novel)) and [_Voice of the Whirlwind_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_the_Whirlwind) by Walter Jon Williams are two of my old favorites. He also wrote the Drake Maijstral series; a sci-fi/comedy of manners trilogy that I really enjoyed. If you’re looking for older good authors, I recommend trying [James H. Schmitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Schmitz). Also some of his work is available [legally for free online](https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/James%20H._Schmitz.html) as a bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/7 "2025-11-22T09:23:42Z")
Based on your list and your request for female authors, I suggest you check out the “Wayfarer” series by Becky Chambers, starting with _The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet._ The first book is pretty good, and then the second, _A Closed and Common Orbit,_ is one of my favorite pieces of SF in the modern era. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/8 "2025-11-22T09:49:43Z")
Have you read Iain M Banks’ sci-fi novels? ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/9 "2025-11-22T09:51:54Z")
Everyone should get a dose of magic realism, a literary style best created with an eloquent flow by Jorge Luis Borges, THE master of short story. Usually 4-20 pages tops, a few in the 30-40 page range, all sprinkled with unusual twists and turns, the spices of magic realism. Trust me, you’ll love these ❤️‍🔥 😎 > **[Jorge Luis Borges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges#)** > > Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (/ˈbɔːrhɛs/ BOR-hess; .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Spanish: \[ˈxoɾxe ˈlwis ˈboɾxes\] ⓘ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones (t > **[Ficciones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficciones#)** > > Ficciones (in English: "Fictions") is a collection of short stories by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, originally written and published in Spanish between 1941 and 1956. Thirteen stories from Ficciones were first published by New Directions in the English-language anthology Labyrinths (1962). In the same year, Grove Press published the entirety of the book in English using the same title as in the original language. "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" originally appeared published in A His... ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/10 "2025-11-22T13:53:41Z")
I like most of your authors in the OP, so I think you’ll enjoy this diversion: [Amazon.co.uk : hornblower books](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=hornblower+books&adgrpid=1175378829855875&hvadid=73461454299181&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=69217&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-73461316283305%3Aloc-188&hydadcr=24402_2423373&mcid=0e564f68b359372c9d6ced6b1cc6346b&msclkid=5c41d21770ab19a0e688bb36cf44ca48&tag=mh0a9-21&ref=pd_sl_10sslg5dw2_e) These are a series of books about a British sailor in Napoleonic times. Think wooden sailing vessels armed with cannons… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/11 "2025-11-22T14:14:50Z")
> [@DreamsOfACheetah](#): > > Please prove me wrong and recommend some good books with female authors. There’s currently an ongoing thread about Lois McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan saga. > [@About the Vorkosigan books](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-vorkosigan-books/1024913): > > Recently, in a different thread, several Dopers recommended that I try out the Vorkosigan books, by Lois McMaster Bujold, starting with Shards of Honor: Well, I’ve finished the first book, and yup, that’s definitely a romance novel in a science-fiction setting. It’s less than a day from when the Heroine meets the Hero to when she starts admiring his manly musculature, and two days after that that he proposes to her. Honestly, I’d like to see a lot more development of relationship over ti… ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/12 "2025-11-22T14:20:52Z")
> [@DreamsOfACheetah](#): > > Anyone read and recommened Sir Walter Scott or Charles Dickens? Charles Dickens has some great books; David Copperfield and The Pickwick Papers are my favourites (The Old Curiosity Shop and Our Mutual Friend, not so much). For Walter Scott, Ivanhoe is great, and Waverley and Rob Roy were fine; I think I stopped reading his books after that. My personal favourite older writers: - Tobias Smollett. His books are quite funny and move quickly; not sententious in the least. - William Thackeray. Also very funny; Vanity Fair is an all-time classic and The Newcomes is one of my personal favourites. - Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are justly famous. Kidnapped is very good too. Try the short story collection New Arabian Nights, it’s great! - Emile Zola. I’ve only read his books in translation, but it’s great stuff – deep dives into different aspects of society. Some of my favourites are Germinal, The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) and The Drinking Den (L’Assomoir). - Jane Austen. Very popular for a reason, you can’t go wrong with any of her books. One of my favourite 19th-century books is Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Funny, moving, sad, heart-warming: it’s got it all. (I read all of these authors via e-book from Project Gutenberg. Not sure where to get dead tree versions.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/13 "2025-11-22T14:31:57Z")
Somebody on this board once recommended Robert Charles Wilson to me and I’ll pass it to you. He’s a Canadian-American SF author. If you’re looking for a specific recommendation, I’ll suggest _Spin_, which won him a Hugo. _Spin_ is admittedly the first book in a three book series. If you want to try a stand-alone work, I’ll suggest _The Harvest_. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/14 "2025-11-22T14:41:42Z")
The _Matador_ series by Steve Perry is good, as is his other books. If you’ve ever noticed the [Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2025-edition/1024462), the Khadaji in the title is a deceased poster who named himself after one of the main protagonists. Martial arts, guerilla war, intrigue, and a fair amount of philosophizing. For female scifi authors you can’t really go wrong with [CJ Cherryh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Cherryh). Perhaps the best writer of aliens I’ve run across, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/15 "2025-11-22T15:06:46Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Based on your list and your request for female authors… … MURDERBOT. I rarely re-read a book (there’s so much I haven’t read yet!), but I’m currently on my fourth time through this series. Do read the first two slim books, the second introduces a great character. As the author, Martha Wells, says > Come for the _pew-pew,_ stay for the soap opera. There’s some nicely-plotted action, but the part I love is how a cyborg views humans (and snarkily comments on them). Having recently hacked its Governor Module, this former assassin finds itself with free will and a hefty dose of PTSD. The future society Wells has built is believable, and chilling: corporations lay claim to new planets rather than governments. The “good guys” are University research teams of scientists, required by powerful insurance companies to take Security 'Bots along on their expeditions. Even ones that are secretly not obligated to follow orders… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/16 "2025-11-22T15:40:12Z")
_The Avenue_ (two volumes, _The Dreaming Suburb_ and _The Avenue at War_), by R F Delderfield – about the families who live along an avenue in an unnamed London suburb, from 1918 to shortly after the end of WW II. _Metzger’s Dog_, by Thomas Perry – a very humourous story about a trio of small-time crooks and their leader’s girlfriend, who get tangled up with a local drug boss and a top-secret CIA project. I second the recommendations for Bujold and Cherryh. _Star Rangers_ (aka _The Last Planet_) and _Dark Piper_, my two favourites by Andre Norton. She’s written dozens of other books, but those two are my favourites. _Killer_, by David Drake and Karl Edward Wagner – an intelligent, vicious alien beast is loose in ancient Rome. _The Keep_ and _The Tomb_, by F Paul Wilson – the first (and in my opinion the best) two horror novels.s in the Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack series. More humour? _Illegal Aliens_, by Nick Pollotta and Phil Foglio – aliens meet a NYC street gang. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/17 "2025-11-22T17:19:51Z")
Yes, Wells, Bujold (who is prolific, though Vorkosigan is her SF series), Le Guin. I’m also a fan of Robert Charles Wilson. Cory Doctorow. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/18 "2025-11-22T17:34:08Z")
The Hugo Awards (named for Hugo Gernsback, who produced the first all science fiction magazine) appear annually, voted on by fans attending the World Science Fiction convention. The awards started in 1953 and have been retro-ed into the 1940s, giving a sort of canon to the top works in the field. (As with any award, the selections are often controversial for what they include as well as what got omitted.) [The Hugo Award for Best Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel) page contains the winners and nominees, nearly 400 books. One advantage they have is a listing of newer books, since the ones mentioned above are mostly a generation or two old, and often harder to find unless you search used books. In a field of fanatical fans, awards proliferate, given out for every subgenre and interest. The Hugos are just the most famous. The [Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards](https://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/) goes up through 2012 and was superseded by Mark Kelly’s [Science Fiction Awards+ Database](https://www.sfadb.com/) which runs from 2003 to the present. Mark tries - or used to - read every story published in the field every year and most of the novels, editing his own series of Best of the Year anthologies. Nobody knew how he managed that. With the rise of fantasies and young adult and paranormal romance and horror and cli-fi and other dystopias overtaking old fashioned sf, the sheer variety of award subjects might be a way of cutting through the clutter. ---
**Author:** ![DreamsOfACheetah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@DreamsOfACheetah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreamsOfACheetah)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/19 "2025-11-22T20:59:00Z")
Thank you everyone for your responses! I also thought I would mention that I’ve always been a straight white guy raised in a Catholic school, but I’ve had some really nice LGBT+ friends, co-workers, and a few family members. I’d be receptive to fiction by authors in that group as well. Clive Barker is bi and is one of my favorite authors. Chuck Palahniuk writes in a very unusual and unconventional style that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But he did an interesting book with a transgender main character. I forget the name of the book at the moment. No issues with fiction involving religion either. Barker’s Imajica was a great read and second only to Weaveworld, but most people in my family are Catholic/Christian. If I even gave an outline of the plot their heads would explode. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043/20 "2025-11-22T21:51:17Z")
Susanna Clarke’s _Piranesi_ is pretty fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-some-new-reading-material/1025043.md?page=2)