Favorite books by genre

[TRF]

I won't pigeon-hole the genres, come up with your own. Here is a small list of mine.

Historical fiction/fantasy: Sherwood by Parke Godwin Great book. Set during and just after the Norman Invasion. A gritty and very realistic Robin Hood. No merry men, but a band of outlaws nonetheless.

Alternate History: Anything by Harry Turtledove, but specifically Guns of the South.

Espionage/Spy: The Odessa File. It got me hooked. I gobbled up everything I could by Frederick Forsythe and Robert Ludlum after reading it.

Sci fi/Fantasy Titan/Wizard/Demon - A trilogy set on Saturn's moon Titan. The moon is actually alive and thinks it is god. It also has a split personality.

Probably a lot more I could add. I'm hoping your responses give some ideas about something new to read.


woo hooo!!! this was my 7500th post!

[Screwball]

Fiction/Anthropomorphic fantasy: The classic Watership Down by Richard Adams. Love that book. You don't mess with Big Wig!

[bucksfan2]

Historical Fiction - Ordinary Heroes Its more fiction but takes place during WW2. One of my favorite books.

Spy/Espionage - The Faithful Spy is a book written by Alex Berenson about a CIA operative who infiltrates Al Queda but isn't heard from for years. Its the story about the spy's allegiance to the USA in thwarting a terrorist attack.

Law - The Client One of the first books I read and still one of my favorite Grisham.

Thriller - Anything by Vince Flynn. One of my favorite authors who is coming out with a new book Tuesday.

Sport Then Tress Said to Troy A book about OSU Football.

[TRF]

Fiction/Anthropomorphic fantasy: The classic Watership Down by Richard Adams. Love that book. You don't mess with Big Wig!

Watership Down is the first book I can remember reading. I read it in the third grade. I then scoured my schools library for any books with talking animals. Ben and Me and Paul Revere and I fell a little short.

[SunDeck]

Historical Fiction: O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. All 21 of them.

Fantasy: Tie- His Dark Materials, Chronicles of Narnia

Absurdist: Is this a genre? If not where to I put my Vonnegut books?

Futuristic Dystopia: Handmaid's Tale, The Giver

Nihilist: The Plague

Young Adult: Harry Potter series, Holes, Treasure Island, Hornblower.

[15fan]

Green Eggs & Ham:Literature::Johnny Bench:Catchers

There is one.

Then there is a tremendous chasm.

Then there are all others.

[IslandRed]

I could probably pick five of everything, but here are the few of the dog-eared tomes on my shelf that leap to mind:

Historical fiction -- North and South, John Jakes

Historical non-fiction -- Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson

Sports fiction -- You Gotta Play Hurt, Dan Jenkins

Sports non-fiction -- Ball Four, Jim Bouton

Comic collection -- pick a Calvin and Hobbes

Other fiction -- Tourist Season, Carl Hiaasen

Other non-fiction -- When I Get Back to Georgia I'm Gonna Nail My Feet To The Ground, Lewis Grizzard

[Raisor]

Historical Fiction: O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. All 21 of them.

.

I absolutly love the Aubrey/Maturin series. I read it through once a year or so.

[SunDeck]

I absolutly love the Aubrey/Maturin series. I read it through once a year or so.

It's tough to find any fiction written more soundly, let alone any in the same genre. After I read that series I decided to cover as many authors of the Napoleanic maritime era as I could find. There are surprisingly many, but none come close to O'Brian.

[OldRightHander]

It's tough to find any fiction written more soundly, let alone any in the same genre. After I read that series I decided to cover as many authors of the Napoleanic maritime era as I could find. There are surprisingly many, but none come close to O'Brian.

My absolute favorite fiction writer of all time, hands down. Did you read The Unknown Shore and The Golden Ocean as well? He wrote those about 20 years before he started the Aubrey/Maturin books. There are a couple characters in there that are pretty much templates for Jack and Stephen. They're pretty good in their own right as well. I started reading O'Brian when he was still alive and writing. I think when I started reading that series there were about 12 of the books out at the time and I got through those pretty quickly and then had to wait for the last few to be released. I was anxiously awaiting the 21st book when he died in 2000. I still re-read these about once a year and there are a few volumes I've read more than that because I just enjoy them. One of those is Desolation Island. I post here from time to time. http://www.wwnorton.com/pob/forum/ceilidh.htm#94296 You might find it interesting.

[remdog]

In the 'Mystery' catagorie I think that the finest writer today is Michael Connelly, hands down. Connelly is the fomer crime reporter for the L.A. Times and he has the scenes down pat. He weaves a good tale and his verbal painting of L.A. compares to a modern version of Micky Spillane. He has a new book out now.

Robert Crais may be my best backup in this genre. His writing is dark but taut. It's easy to get into the 'skin' of his 'heros', flawed though they may be.

Rem

[Raisor]

I was anxiously awaiting the 21st book when he died in 2000. .

Did you read the unfinished version of 21?

[SunDeck]

My absolute favorite fiction writer of all time, hands down. Did you read The Unknown Shore and The Golden Ocean as well? He wrote those about 20 years before he started the Aubrey/Maturin books. There are a couple characters in there that are pretty much templates for Jack and Stephen. They're pretty good in their own right as well.

I did read them, and I agree. And I also read the unfinished one- well most of it (it just didn't seem right to read something he hadn't finished.)
If O'Brian wrote chick lit, I'd probably have read it, too.

[OldRightHander]

Did you read the unfinished version of 21?

Yeah, I've got that one. It's interesting to see the handwritten pages they put in there. That guy not only wrote about a different century, he pretty much lived in one. How many writers nowadays would do every thing by hand and have their wives edit the manuscripts?

[OldRightHander]

If O'Brian wrote chick lit, I'd probably have read it, too.

This one comes close. He wrote it in the 50s, about an Englishman who goes into the Welsh countryside to get away from it all and his interactions with a local family there. Still worth reading though, just for the absolutely beauty of the writing. I can't say more about the story without giving away too much.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JHQQJ5NNL._SL500_BO2,204,203,200_AA219_PIsitb-sticker-dp-arrow,TopRight,-24,-23_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[TRF]

A fun read is Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality. Death is the best one (On a Pale Horse), but all are pretty good.

[Raisor]

. And I also read the unfinished one- well most of it (it just didn't seem right to read something he hadn't finished.)



I felt the same way.

[chicoruiz]

Amazed to find so many RZers share my love for O'Brian. I've worked my way through the Canon several times, even the last few, when his powers seem to be waning (I believe he was never the same after the death of his wife).

Other historical fiction- George Macdonald Fraser's hilarious "Flashman" series. Rollicking adventure and you might learn some British history if you're not careful.

Crime fiction- Parker's "Spenser" series, or any of Harlan Coben's stuff.

Military fiction- "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson.

Unclassifiable- "The Quincunx" by Charles Palliser. It's like Dickens on steroids- 800 pages of dense Victorian plot, but boy does it suck you in.

Humor- Anything by Robert Benchley, Stephen Leacock, or the great S.J. Perelman.

[Spitball]

JP Dunleavy isn't a genre but maybe he should be. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murarakami is a favorite fantasy. Really, I have a ton of realistic fiction favorites. Non-fiction vote goes to anything about baseball from the 1950's through the 1970's.

[remdog]

Non-fiction vote goes to anything about baseball from the 1950's through the 1970's.


Jim Brosnan for 'The Long Season' and 'Pennant Race'. Heck, I even learned how to shoot those little matchstick missiles made with chewing gum tinfoil! :) Of course, anyone here under 45 has no idea what I'm talking about. :D

Rem

[Scrap Irony]

Fantasy Satire/ Parody: Any Terry Pratchett novel, particularly Night Watch. Truly mind-bending allusions and utterly fascinating. Piers Anthony with a much sharper edge.

"Straight" Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read them as a boy and read them each year around Christmas. The definitive tome on mythology and a turning point personally.

"Straight" Science Fiction: Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut or possibly Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. My second and third favorite books of all time and both are dystopian future-style novels, but with wildly different endings.

[RichRed]

Jim Brosnan for 'The Long Season' and 'Pennant Race'. Heck, I even learned how to shoot those little matchstick missiles made with chewing gum tinfoil! :) Of course, anyone here under 45 has no idea what I'm talking about. :D

Rem

:wave:

I love those books and I've read Pennant Race probably ten times.

[redsfandan]

not sure if it would be considered military history but i liked "In Harms Way".

a true spy book i liked was "The Falcon and the Snowman".