Like Fantasy/Sci-Fi? Need to figure out what next to read?

[BiblioRook]

Because I'm always lamenting the lack of a good book thread around here (despite clearly no end of readers), when I was shown this I though it was the golden opportunity to make a thread and share.
Basically, after a survey was done for the most popular Sci-Fi and Fantasy books, someone went and made a nifty flowchart for convenient access and to help you hone in n what should be a good book for you to read (provided you haven't already done so)

I'm pretty bemused that one part of the chart is basically just Discwold

[Ilorin Lorati]

I love how Neil Gaiman's three best books (in my opinion) are on the list.

Of course, I'm surprised that The Princess Bride is on the list at all; it is the singularly most boring fantasy book I've ever read, and one of a handful of examples of movies adaptions that are better than the book they're based on.

[Knaight]

Of course, I'm surprised that The Princess Bride is on the list at all; it is the singularly most boring fantasy book I've ever read, and one of a handful of examples of movies adaptions that are better than the book they're based on.

The movie predates the book actually. So its one of many book adaptations of films that sucked horribly.

[Ilorin Lorati]

The movie predates the book actually. So its one of many book adaptations of films that sucked horribly.

Shows how much before my time they actually are. All I know is that I loved the movie, hated the book.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride It seems that the book does predate the movie. I had to look it up. XD

[Eldan]

Ech. Whenever I go along a path that sounds interesting, I end up at books I've already read. And a few I also disliked.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Well, what kind of book are you looking for? I'm sure we can make some recommendations here.

[BiblioRook]

What? I loved the Princess Bride book just as much (if not more) then the movie. I mean, not only did it have alot of extra parts the movie didn't cover (Fezzik's backstory and the whole Zoo of Death part which was my favorite scene of the book) but it was also an amazing hoax. People out there still think Princess bride is based of different book (and are likewise probably trying to hunt down a copy of the 'original book')

How it was put on the chart (along with Stardust) kinda annoyed me though. Yes, but technically involved pirates, but in nether book were the fact pirates were involved really part of the story (Stardust even moreso as the 'pirates' were actually additions to the movie where in the book they were legitimate farmers who were barely in the book for more then half a chapter!)

[Phishfood]

I hate how scifi/fantasy seems to have become scifi/fantasy/horror in the local book stores. This has lead to twilight being promoted right next to good books. Its not right.

Anyhoo, I think I'm going to take that chart and read ALL the things!

[Sanguine]

I hate how scifi/fantasy seems to have become scifi/fantasy/horror in the local book stores. This has lead to twilight being promoted right next to good books. Its not right.

Anyhoo, I think I'm going to take that chart and read ALL the things!

Wait. Twilight is horror?

[Eldan]

Well, what kind of book are you looking for? I'm sure we can make some recommendations here.

Heck, if I knew what I wanted, I'd get it myself. Well-written really isn't a good answer. But lately, I've been getting a bit jaded with books. Haven't found anything that really excited me.

[Serpentine]

Of course, I'm surprised that The Princess Bride is on the list at all; it is the singularly most boring fantasy book I've ever read, and one of a handful of examples of movies adaptions that are better than the book they're based on.

I loved it, and I think the book and movie are one of a handful of examples of a writer who knows how to write both a book and a film.

The movie predates the book actually. So its one of many book adaptations of films that sucked horribly.

You are very wrong - in my opinion, on two counts, but that's just opinion. The book was around long before the film. Moreover, the script for the film was written by the author of the book.

[Feytalist]

Well, it might help to narrow it down a bit. What genres do you enjoy? What books did you find good? Modern or slightly older releases?

That flowchart irritates me. The choices are so inane.

[Phishfood]

Wait. Twilight is horror?

It horrifies me, therefore it is horror.

and now the word horror has lost all meaning in my head. Natch.

[Eldan]

Well, it might help to narrow it down a bit. What genres do you enjoy? What books did you find good? Modern or slightly older releases?

That flowchart irritates me. The choices are so inane.

See, that's the problem. Not only the choices. The Genres. I like Urban Fantasy and sword and Sorcery just as much as Epic Fantasy. I like Hard SciFi and Space Opera. I also read historical novels. I like the grittiness and idealism. I like grand scales and small scales. Short stories and twenty-book series of doorstoppers. Transhumanism and dystopias and the post-apocalypse. Drama I dislike if I think it comes over as cheap (when I can imagine the author sitting down and saying "and now, something terrible has to happen to this character"), but I also like it when well-done. I like humour. I don't care how old a book is. I like dragons and vampires and fairies, cheesy aliens and starfish aliens and books that only have humans. I like detailed science and cities that float because a god made them so.


So, short version? I have tried, but I can't really find any significant differences between books I like and those I don't.

[Feytalist]

Heh. Not much we can do then, except to suggest "read all the things"

I pretty much tend to read everything, but if I find I don't like the writing style I'll dump it. I think I enjoy the older stuff more than modern writers, the prominent exception being Richard Morgan, who is also glaringly absent from the flowchart :/

[Ravens_cry]

Wait. Twilight is horror?

In a meta way, sure.

[Mewtarthio]

I hate how scifi/fantasy seems to have become scifi/fantasy/horror in the local book stores. This has lead to twilight being promoted right next to good books. Its not right.

To be fair, there's a lot of overlap. Horror is an emotion, while scifi/fantasy is a setting. One of mankind's greatest fears is fear of the unknown, so authors intending to evoke horror often pit the protagonists against some sort of alien, unknown threat, which usually makes the setting at least somewhat fantastical. The Shining is a horror novel, but the malevolent genius loci bound to the hotel makes it a fantasy setting. Nightmare on Elm Street is horror, but a guy who can murder you in your dreams is clearly not of the world as we know it. Now, this isn't a rule by any means (and I find that horror stories with no fantastic elements at all can be more disturbing than fantasy/horror ones), but the fact is that a lot of books could fall into either category.

Re: Twilight: Genre has nothing to do with quality. Twilight is most definitely a fantasy story, even if it's not very well-written. Besides, if it means that a Twilight fan is that much more likely to get exposed to good fantasy, I have no problems with that arrangement.

[H Birchgrove]

I hate how scifi/fantasy seems to have become scifi/fantasy/horror in the local book stores. This has lead to twilight being promoted right next to good books. Its not right.

Anyhoo, I think I'm going to take that chart and read ALL the things!

It makes more sense to combine horror with SF than combining fantasy with SF, IMO. When there are SF-elements in horror stories, the SF parts are usually treated in a serious, if not believable manner. (Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells etc.) SF elements in fantasy stories are usually handwaves. (Star Wars.) Exception of the latter would be John Wood Campbell Jr's too short run of Unknown Worlds, with authors like Robert Heinlein (treated magic like it was science) and A.E. van Vogt (Neil Gaiman wasn't first with "Gods need prayers badly").

Then again, I'm generalizing...

BTW, I want to move all dystopian novels and Magical Realism books to the Speculative Fiction department. 1st because it makes sense, 2nd because I want to irk the "serious" book readers who don't want to think that "Nineteen-Eighty-Four" is SF.

[Starwulf]

Re: Twilight: Genre has nothing to do with quality. Twilight is most definitely a fantasy story, even if it's not very well-written. Besides, if it means that a Twilight fan is that much more likely to get exposed to good fantasy, I have no problems with that arrangement.

Ya know, I'll be honest, I'm never going to understand the general publics absurd fascination with hating on Twilight. I've read and enjoyed most of all the classic Fantasy books, and I have a collection of about 500(and I used to have about 2,000 when I was younger) Fantasy books, and yet, I've still read AND ENJOYED Twilight. It's actually a pretty well-written series, that is fairly interesting(once you get past the "Vampires sparkle" bit, which doesn't even bother me, but I know that's many peoples complaint), and certainly gripping.

I think the real issue, is all of the haters of Twilight, have just gone by a few peoples input, and haven't actually read the series themselves. Be honest! How many of you on this forum have actually read ALL FOUR TWILIGHT BOOKS? Seriously, how many of you have? How many of you have even read the first? I'm willing to bet it's not very many. On the other hand, how many of you have relied on second hand testimonials, which likely come from other second-hand testimonials, which they themselves almost surely come from second-hand testimonials? How many of you have read synopsis on Wiki, WHICH might I add, can be edited by any jack-off with the desire to do so? You can't rely on a website that anyone can edit, or people who haven't even read the book, as reliable testimony to judge an entire book series on.

I swear, I'm so sick and tired of people trashing on Twilight. I have multiple friends in real life who do it, and I've stopped every last one of them from doing it. want to know why? Because I stood up to them, asked them if they even read the damn books, and every last one of them said no. You can't judge something, if you haven't experienced it for yourself. ><

/end rant

Edit: And before anyone replies "I hate on it because the whole concept sounds stupid, and I know I wouldn't like it" I ask them: Are you sure? 100% Positive? Think carefully! And I can say that with certainty, because two years ago, I was right there alongside the rest of you, screaming to the heavens of Twilight's stupidity, of how ridiculous the entire series was, and how only idiots/morons could ever enjoy those trite pieces of trash. Then me and my wife watched the first movie one night. We thought "Ehh, it wasn't awful, not nearly as bad as everyone said". Then my wife got the first book, and read through the entire thing in two freaking days. My wife isn't much of a reader, not like I am, so for her to sit down, and read an entire book in two days, well, I was impressed. Then she begged me to get her the other 3 books for christmas. So I did. Then after christmas, I picked up the first book(she was already on the third by the time I started the first). It started somewhat slowly, but within an hour, I was hooked. I blazed through the first two books, and snagged the third book the moment she put it down. I was done the third book by the time she was halfway through the fourth(and keep in mind, she was still reading at the same pace as she did the first!), and I kept bugging her to hurry the hell up and finish the fourth so I could. It took me a matter of hours to finish the fourth! My entire attitude changed towards the series. it does NOT deserve the hate and ridicule it receives from everyone, and I'm living proof that a twi-hater can become a twihard. (not literally, I'm not obsessive like some of those idiotic fangirls who post shrieking videos when they hear about the new movie coming out. They give normal twihards a bad name ><).

[Sanguine]

I have read all four Twilight books. I don't hate them. They are far from the greatest pieces of literature I've ever read. However if you have time to kill they aren't a bad way to do it. They would hardly be my first choice for such, but they are decent.

[Starwulf]

I have read all four Twilight books. I don't hate them. They are far from the greatest pieces of literature I've ever read. However if you have time to kill they aren't a bad way to do it. They would hardly my first choice for such, but they are decent.

:) I'll certainly agree with you there. Plenty of other series I'd much rather have on a deserted Island. I just get sick and tired of so many people hating on the Twilight series, without having ever even picked up and read the first book. I don't care if you haven't read all four, but you need to at least read the first book before you form a concrete opinion.

I have a steadfast rule: No matter how boring or annoying, or trite a book seems, if I bought it for whatever reason, or if I want to diss it, I have to read at least 100 pages before I call it quits. It's a rule that I think everyone should adopt. You never know if a book is going to start slow, but pick up pace and really pull you in(and I've had a LOT of books do so), around page 75-100, and then keep you hooked for the rest of the book. I'd have missed out on a LOT of good books if I just judged them on the first 75 or so pages.

[BiblioRook]

Hey now, none of that. 100 of the some of the most popular sci-fi and fantasy books and people are getting side-tracked by one not even on the list. How you or your grandmother feel about the series, I really couldn't care, just it doesn't belong here in this thread.

That being said, would you mind terribly spoilering that rant? Nothing trying to censer your views or anything, just frankly it's an eyesore and largely about a topic 'm both tired of hearing about and (as I mentioned) that this isn't the place for it.



Back to the actual thread, I have to wonder if the Hitchhiker trilogy is really considered to be the five books that make it up. I mean, I can't really remember the last time I saw it in non-omnibus form as individual books, expect occasionally the first one.
(Which was annoying because I've been looking for a copy of just 'Restaurant at the End of the Universe for one of my teachers for the 'meet the meat' scene but haven't had any luck finding it)

[The_Snark]

BTW, I want to move all dystopian novels and Magical Realism books to the Speculative Fiction department. 1st because it makes sense, 2nd because I want to irk the "serious" book readers who don't want to think that "Nineteen-Eighty-Four" is SF.

At this point, we could probably file it under Alternate History, too.

[Knaight]

I think the real issue, is all of the haters of Twilight, have just gone by a few peoples input, and haven't actually read the series themselves. Be honest! How many of you on this forum have actually read ALL FOUR TWILIGHT BOOKS? Seriously, how many of you have? How many of you have even read the first? I'm willing to bet it's not very many. On the other hand, how many of you have relied on second hand testimonials, which likely come from other second-hand testimonials, which they themselves almost surely come from second-hand testimonials? How many of you have read synopsis on Wiki, WHICH might I add, can be edited by any jack-off with the desire to do so? You can't rely on a website that anyone can edit, or people who haven't even read the book, as reliable testimony to judge an entire book series on.

I read the first one, and it was awful. So I didn't read any more. Sure, it is by no means the bottom of the barrel - I could point out books that are worse than Twilight all day long, including a few that have comparable numbers of fans, but Twilight was pretty bad. As for the rest, it may have improved immensely. I somehow doubt it.