NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm surprised this wasn't already a topic. Besides Jennifer Government (which is great of course), what other fiction books from the past couple of years have totally blown you away?

Here's a couple of mine,

Filth by Irving Welsh
Perv a Love Story by Jerry Stahl
Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (I can't remember the author's name, but it's a cool book)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

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Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

It's not that recent (1970) but Illuminatus by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea is a whole ton better than Angels and Demons on the same subject. Also, Schrodinger's Cat by Robert Anton Wilson (1975).

Angels and Demons, awesome one no-matter when it was created. :D

Hitch-hiker's Guied To The Galexy seies. hands down.

Hitch-hiker's Guied To The Galexy seies. hands down.

On that note, also Terry Pratchette?

Well, my suggestion is not so recent either, but damn near anything by Robert A. Heinlein.

Starship Troopers, Friday, Stranger In A Strange Land, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Just to name a few.

Girl With a Pearl Earring

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Challenges your whole views about religion, God and consciousness,while also being a rollicking good fantasy and adventure story. I can't understand how a few people class it as a kids book - I would say young-adult at the least! Most of the issues raised would go right over the head of the average 10-year old.

It was voted the third best-loved novel of all time in Britain in the BBC's Big Read (first was Lord of The Rings, second Pride and Prejudice).
The first novel in the trilogy is called "Northern Lights", although in America it was released as "The Golden Compass".

So much more grown-up and thought-provoking than JK Rowling, I would really recommend it.

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (I can't remember the author's name, but it's a cool book)


Mil Millington.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

'Nuff said. :D

And while Gundam itself is not that recent, Gundam SEED sure is.

My Life-Bill Clinton

The Scar by China Mieville.

I was pretty fond of Forever by Pete Hamill.

Irishman comes to the US in the colonial era (I believe), settles in New York. Given the gift of immortality, he watches New York through it's development to present day megalopalis.

Book was set to go to the publisher on September 12, 2001. Guess what catastrophic event prompted a major rewrite (Which was integrated gorgeously into the book, I might add) that put it back a full year more.

Good read, thoughtfully done.

Go pick it up all ready, you heathens! :D

The Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (2003)
Spartan by Valario Massimo Manfredi (2002)
Street Boys by Lorzenzo Carcaterra (2002)

But, My Life by Clinton was excellent fiction, though a little dry.

Has anyone else read the newly published book by Heinlein called For Us the Living or something like that? Basically a series of lectures, but I loved it. It the basis of laws within the Uplift borders.

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Baudolino by Umberto Eco
Q by "Luther Blissett"
Under the Skin by Michel Faber
Space by Stephen Baxter

<chants>Life of Pi! Life of Pi! Life of Pi....</chants>

<chants>Life of Pi! Life of Pi! Life of Pi....</chants>
I've heard about it; it's supposed to be really good.

*glazed over eye look*

Oh, it is! :)

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Challenges your whole views about religion, God and consciousness,while also being a rollicking good fantasy and adventure story. I can't understand how a few people class it as a kids book - I would say young-adult at the least! Most of the issues raised would go right over the head of the average 10-year old.

It was voted the third best-loved novel of all time in Britain in the BBC's Big Read (first was Lord of The Rings, second Pride and Prejudice).
The first novel in the trilogy is called "Northern Lights", although in America it was released as "The Golden Compass".

So much more grown-up and thought-provoking than JK Rowling, I would really recommend it.

couldn't agree more cracking books

i tink its a kids book coz you can take it at face value with a good guy and a bad guy with the good guy winning because love, compassion and open mindedness will triumh over greed a meglomania. simple as that good v evil

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick.

My Life-Bill Clinton
My Successful Presidency - George W. Bush (Sr./Jr.)

triple by ken follet.

"Mars Series" by Kim S. Robinson.

the doomsday book by connie willis. (every time im in a bookstore i look to see if she has written a new book. is there some way of FORCING authors to write faster?)

plague of angels by sherri tepper

good omens by terry pratchet AND neil gaiman.

i read the life of pi, it was OK and it gave me insights into the psychology of animals but i dont see where it is so life changing.

ive become addicted to real life adventure books. "the long walk" really captured my imagination even though i doubt how true it is. its probably in your local library, give it a try some time. its about a group of men walking out of a gulag in siberia all the way down to india. yes they went over the himalayas.

The single BEST novel to be published in a long long time, hands down, is A Prayer for Dawn by Nathan Singer. You need a bent sense of humour to appreciate it (and a strong stomach for a few bits--its dark, twisted satire), but its GENIUS. There is a website for it www.aprayerfordawn.com HIGHLY recommended!!!!

If we're allowing Heinlein... Then Have Spacesuit, Will Travel should be near the top of anybody's list. Yes, it's a Juvenille, but re-reading it on a car trip once I was 18 and old enough to "get" Kip's dad's jokes & follow the math, I realized it's fair competition with his Job, A Comedy of Justice, which is one more thing that every person should read at least once in their life.
Oh, and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, if you pay attention & remember the early parts well, has the best ending I've ever seen in a book.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" by Mark Haddon
Magnificent; it's written from the perspective of a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome (mild autism).
It's a couple of years old, but "The Gun Seller" by Hugh Laurie is superb.
And if we're allowed stuff as old as Heinlein, then nearly every short story Philip K. Dick wrote is blindingly good.

Birds Without Wings or anything else by him.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.


What do you think of Umberto Eco?

triple by ken follet.
Speaking of Follet, anyone here read Eye of the Needle? Great book!

Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer
Twist In The Tale by Jeffery Archer
All the Harry Potter books are alright.
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Exodus by Leon Uris.

<chants>Life of Pi! Life of Pi! Life of Pi....</chants>

Very well written, but it gets a little too unrealistic near the end. The last section, once he gets to Mexico is good and makes the rest more reasonable, but the whole living island with the meercats or whatever (I honestly can't remember) was too out there for me.

Very well written, but it gets a little too unrealistic near the end. The last section, once he gets to Mexico is good and makes the rest more reasonable, but the whole living island with the meercats or whatever (I honestly can't remember) was too out there for me.

I don’t know, I really enjoyed the surrealistic element of the book. Not quite fantasy, not quite reality.

Chuck
Palahniuk



You will never be the same again.

<chants>Life of Pi! Life of Pi! Life of Pi....</chants>
Its OK but Yann Martel is just ripping off Salman Rushdies style. Go for the original instead. Midnights Children or The Moors Last Sigh are both excellent.

Its OK but Yann Martel is just ripping off Salman Rushdies style. Go for the original instead. Midnights Children or The Moors Last Sigh are both excellent.

Oh man... Salman Rushdie... *Bows head*

I've just finished reading Mavis Belfrage by Alasdair Gray, a short novella with five other short stories. Jesus, the man can write. I suppose I should mention his major novel Lanark as well, although I haven't read that in ages. If you haven't read Gray's stuff before it might be a little intimidating to jump straight into Lanark. I'd recommend trying his short story collection Unlikely Stories, Mostly first.

Anyone ever read "Last Call" by Tim Powers?

I dunno if it really counts as recent, but I must say I enjoy Murakami's work quite a lot. Dance Dance Dance was rather good, and kept me pretty hooked the entire time.

Haven't come across anyone else who's read it, but A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson is probably my favourite book...Also, the Nights Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton...

i've really got into Stephen King books now. Reading Cujo at the moment

The Sword of Truth Series

Just about anything by William Gibson, especially Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive.