Now this is a topic that I have been needing! I am about 2 hours away from finishing the druid chronicles and being in a book hole! I am excited to get some ideas for my next audible credit
I love Brandon Sandersonâs books. They are incredibly long but he knows how to build a world. One of my favorites is the Emperors Soul! I would love to take some of the artwork and maps of the Cosmere and play with them on the Glowforge.
Like I said, I am just finishing up the last book in the Druid Chronicles. My favorite things about the books is that they are clever. The way he gets all the Gods, mythology, creatures, and monsters to fit into such a cohesive story line blows my mind. Oberon is also hilarious.
My list would include something along the following (I know most of these have been listed but Iâm going to throw these out anyway).
Brandon Sanderson (I love all his books, huge cosmere nerd)
I completely agree with this. Speaker For The Dead was pretty good, but the series jumped off a cliff after that. That is up until the last 3 books. I canât say anything about those. I literally started Shadows In Flight just tonight. Itâs a little weird being back in that universe again. Starts off talking about Antonâs Key and Iâm like âWow. Antonâs Key. I forgot all about that.â
Dune was a really great read. Incredibly detailed universe there with a rich history. I remember when I first read it how deep the political scene was and that I was a little lost in it. I havenât read the others in the series. Didnât Herbertâs son take over the series or something like that?
I enjoyed it as well. My list is just the last 3-4 years or so (very roughly.) I read the Mars trilogy what seems like ages ago (but then again, anything I did before having kids seems like ancient history now.)
I stopped looking for new books by Adams once he died. Plenty of others have managed the feat of not letting death stop their publishing. I should have known better of him. The salmon is on order.
I just found my copy of Enderâs Game in a box⌠I might have to re-read it. I really liked that one and later Enderâs Shadow. I wasnât really drawn in to the rest of the newer series. I think I read Shadow of the Hegemon, but I canât recall right now. I donât actually recall reading the second or third book from the original series.
I think that he did, but might have only published an additional book or two. I read Dune in college and was surprised at the large appendix in the back of the book. BTW, if you find a copy of âThe White Plaqueâ by Herbert, leave on the bookshelf. It doesnât compare well to Dune.
As a high school librarian I read mostly YAâthere is such good stuff being written for teens! I canât pick all-time favorites, but here are a few recent favorites:
Lewis, Stitching Snow
Nielsen, The False Prince
Meyer, Cinder (first of a series called the Lunar Chronicles)
Maas, Throne of Glass
Lee, A Spy in the House
Carter, Heist Society
Hale, Austenland
If youâre in the mood for non-fiction, anything by Steve Sheinkin is outstanding. Right now Iâm re-reading Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, one of my favorite writers that passed away recently (you probably saw her NY Times piece about finding a wife for her husband).
âReady Player Oneâ by Ernest Cline has become one of my favorite books ever. Iâve listened to the audiobook (with an excellent performance by Wil Wheaton) three times since I purchased it about 4 months ago.
Edit: Just realized I said âexcellence performanceâ instead of âexcellent performance.â I blame the scotch.
Many have mentioned audiobooks. Lately those are what fit my schedule the best. It is how I âreadâ Ready Player One and many others that I only recently learned about. My family listen to Artemis Fowl on car trips now.
So⌠for those of you who havenât mentioned specifically if you did audio-book⌠who is aware of their favorites being in audio format, and being worth a listen in that format?
My memory is too bad to recall anything not mentioned already on this list. Though I hadnât noticed anybody mention Enderâs Shadow along with Enderâs Game. I was impressed with that one, as it was the author returning to the same story, from a different (more mature) perspective. Writing with his own (30 years later) more mature perspective.
Was quite an interesting study in mechanics/style.
Thatâs actually really funny. Iâve been telling people how much I hated Wheatonâs performance in so many ways. Seemed overly-arrogant in places where it didnât feel right. And what was with his pronunciation of poseur?! Everybody knows itâs âpozerâ not âpoz-your.â Still, I got used to it and grew to enjoy it. All in all, excellent story!
I agree on the âpoz-yourâ pronunciation - especially when he said it several times within a few paragraphs. But I thought all-in-all he did a great job.
Iâve gone back and listened to a lot of my favorite books. For anyone that doesnât already know, the Overdrive App is AWESOME. You plug a library card into it and it lets you download audio books as a library rental saving a boat load of money. Highly recommend it. Series Iâve listened to that have awesome readers:
-Lightbringer series
-Mistborn series
-Codex Alera
Iâd like to find more and thatâs how I intend to chase these new recommendation