Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Anyone like to suggest some holiday books for me (probably fantasy/sci-fi or non fiction)

42 replies

Takver · 03/08/2014 22:27

Looking for some good suggestions for taking on holiday. My taste in novels is pretty light-weight and biased to fantasy/sci-fi (tend to read quite a bit of YA fantasy, though largely because I get them from dd). Recent books I've enjoyed & would be just the sort of thing: the Parasol Protectorate series, the Divergent trilogy, the most recent Tales of the city book, various books by China Mieville, the Rivers of London series.

Alternatively non-fiction is also good - history / economics / feminism / biography up to a point (but probably not popular science). Don't mind more 'serious' books for non-fic as I find them much easier to read in bits and pieces (whereas with literary novels if I can't read uninterrupted I tend to lose the thread).

All suggestions welcome - thanks!

OP posts:
Original poster
Takver · 04/08/2014 16:48

RiverTam, I've got A Place of Greater Safety lined up for winter - I need a long dark evening (or a long train journey) to get into more substantial novels.

OP posts:
RiverTam · 04/08/2014 16:25

not exactly what you've asked for but a fantastic read is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - about Thomas Cromwell.

Original poster
Takver · 04/08/2014 16:22

This is all great, many thanks! Real books not kindle atm, and ideally things I can get from the library (most stuff as we have free online ordering across the county)

Not too keen on overly dark/violent fantasy (wasn't keen on the Farseer books, though I did quite like the Robin hobb dragon seriesor). Felix Castor definitely sounds like the kind of light reading I like.

mynameisred - Among Muslims sounds really interesting, have read Nothing to Envy & found it fascinating, will also look out for the Tour de france one (did you read my bike comments on the practical vs romantic dh thread?? Grin )

Cote, agree it is funny going back & re-reading sci-fi esp some of the early cyberpunk stuff & seeing how many things we now do have for real.

OP posts:
HopefulHamster · 04/08/2014 15:04

Oooh well my first recommendation is to join GoodReads where you can track what you read and easily join book groups or find recommendation lists (there's even a Mumsnet-based group, the Book Vipers, but I'm a member of some SF/F ones too).

Do you like the grim-dark fantasy that's out there? Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy is good.

More standard epic fantasy is the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb (she's written many more but these start the other series off). You've probably read this if reading fantasy for a while though. Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles series is enjoyable but he hasn't finished the last one yet. These would be good devour on holiday books, I think.

Urban fantasy: Felix Castor series by Mike Carey. Felix is an exorcist in London - basically present day except everyone knows ghosts/demons exist etc.

YA: The first two in Chuck Wendig's Empyrean trilogy are out, bit Hunger Games-ish dystopian world but much better some of the YA copycats out there.

SF: Wool by Hugh Howey is good, though the author is a bit of a dick. Humans live in a massive silo - can't go outside because the air will kill them. Nice fat book for hols - are you reading physical books or ebooks?

Ready Player One is one for the geeks - set largely in a futuristic world all around an immersive MMO but packed to the gills with 80s references.

What about zombie SF? Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is good. Focus is more on world where people blog about zombies than actually flesh-eating zombie stuff.

Non-fic, best ones I've read in recent years are No Envy: Real Lives in North Korea and The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France. Very different subjects but utterly compelling.

mynameisred · 04/08/2014 12:25

non-fiction: I just read 'Among Muslims - Meeting at the Frontiers of Pakistan' by Kathleen Jamie, it is an account of her travels as a young woman in that area in the early 90s. Well written and very interesting to read.

ShanghaiDiva · 04/08/2014 12:20

Ya suggestions:
Slated trilogy
Blood red road - the dust lands trilogy
Delirium trilogy
The fear Charlie higson
Knife of never letting go - Patrick ness

2kidsintow · 04/08/2014 12:09

The Ilona Andrews books Magic Bites etc are a must.

One damned thing after another is the start of a cracking series of books too.

CoteDAzur · 04/08/2014 12:02

Btw, Brilliance is £0.99 on Kindle at the moment.

CoteDAzur · 04/08/2014 11:55

When reading Snow Crash, promise me that you will persevere until about page 200 - that is when you understand what is going on Smile It is an absolute classic, selected into Time magazine's list of "100 best English-language books of all time".

The Diamond Age is equally brilliant imho. It is amazing how some of the predictions of these books have already come true - The program "Earth" in Snow Crash now exists as Google Earth, the interactive 'book' in The Diamond Age is pretty much here, with an iPad in every child's hand.

Original poster
Takver · 04/08/2014 11:49

Have read William Gibson, though a long while ago, not read Snow Crash for some reason (not sure why), but must get around to it. In fact, DH I'm pretty sure has a copy, so that'd be another good holiday one!

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 04/08/2014 11:43

Have you read anything by Neal Stephenson? He has written some amazing books. Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are my favourites.

I'll add Hyperion by Dan Simmons to the list above. Call it 'medium' - not hard sci-fi but not light, either. Very good.

Have you read any William Gibson books? His latter books (since and including All Tomorrow's parties) are rubbish imho but his earlier stuff is very good.

Original poster
Takver · 04/08/2014 11:20

Definitely would like your hard sci-fi recommends too, Cote, thanks

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 04/08/2014 10:49

I have read some brilliant contemporary light sci-fi recently:

Brilliance - Marcus Sakey
.. and its sequel A Better World - Marcus Sakey

Lexicon - Max Barry

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

I'm an avid reader of "hard" sci-fi (more scientific than the above) and can give recommendations in that sub-genre, too, if you are interested.

LauraChant · 03/08/2014 22:33

I just finished and enjoyed The Magicians by Lev Grossman, very readable

Original poster
Takver · 03/08/2014 22:31

Oh, the Dr Johnson one is a good idea, I think my dad even has a copy, had forgotten about that. I think Martin Amis is too literary for me, I'm afraid Grin

OP posts:
joanofarchitrave · 03/08/2014 22:30

Dr Johnson's London by Liza Picard
Experience by Martin Amis

Original poster
Takver · 03/08/2014 22:29

Oh, and if anyone wants to suggest some fun reads that dd would enjoy, those would also be welcome - she's pretty catholic in her tastes, reads lots of YA dystopian stuff but not too fussy.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread