Fiction Novels

Does anybody read stuff that isn't either [a] a tech book or [b] a news/rss feed?

I'm running out of interesting novels to read and am looking for suggestions. I figure all you fellow tech-y people might have similar interests...

I've enjoyed books like Chuck Palaniuk's Fight Club and Survivor (I plan to continue reading his work), as well as William Gibson's Neuromancer and Orwell's 1984.

I don't really have any interest in Harry Potter or LOTR.

How do you all compare to this?
Any recommendations?

You should try reading the sword of truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's fantasy fiction but written wonderfully. there are a total of 10 books, I'm listening to them on audio book because i dont have much time for reading with school and work, but they're great. I'm on book 5 now and cant keep listening to it.

Titles:

Prequel - Debt of Bones
Book 1 - Wizard's first rule
Book 2 - Stone of Tears
Book 3 - Blood of the Fold
Book 4 - Temple of the Winds
Book 5 - Soul of the fire
Book 6 - Faith of the Fallen
Book 7 - The pillars of creation
Book 8 - Naked Empire
Book 9 - Chainfire

It's not cheesy kiddy type fantasy either it's kind of dark, kind of gothic in some sense. The first book has torture in it, really great read with wonderful descriptive writing.

I could give you a whole list of authors, let alone books. What genres are you most interested in?

Indeed. I've got the better part of a wall in my room covered with fiction (and the other half with non-fiction). What do you like?

I read mostly Scifi/fan, children's literature (gotta know what my kids are reading) and non-fiction-- Science, mathematics, history, computers... usually in combination.

I haven't read a book of my interest for almost a year now. After reading this thread I think that I should start my reading hobby to refresh my mind.

I found I was so discouraged in high school as I hated reading the books they forced us to... then I just didn't have time in University and the beginnings of my career. Now I feel settled and have a little bit of spare time, so I'm interested in picking up a book.

nicat23, how do you find audio books? I've read a few articles about how busy people still manage to "read" 5 to 10 books a month while in a car, plane or public transportation. [yes, I read articles about reading]

I don't think I have a favourite genre yet. As a kid I liked reading movie novelizations because I was comfortable with the characters and found it easier to imagine the scenes. Nowadays I've tried stuff like I mentioned above (Palahnuik and Gibson)... I quite liked Fight Club and Survivor, probably because it was written in first person. They made it easy for me to get back into reading. Now I'm looking for something new.

If you liked Gibson, then Neil Stephenson should be right up your alley. Snow Crash is an excellent cyberpunk novel, while The Diamond Age defines post-cyberpunk. His Cryptonomicon is historical fiction split between World War II and modern-day and centered on cryptography (as hinted in the title).

William Gibson did a collaborative historical fiction called The Difference Engine, which is based on the premise of Charles Babbage actually completing the work on the titled analog computing machine.

You might also take a read of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. You'll quickly recognize his influence on modern science fiction.

I've been told that you can find them on certain torrent sites, but I usually get mine from the local library or I even purchase them from amazon or barnes & noble. I've been able to put away about 20+ books since I've started doing the audio book thing.. I'm on book 11 of the Terry Goodkind series. It's wonderful I can put my headphones on and listen while driving to the university (about an hour each way) and knock out a book in no time.

I was just randomly picking an audio book from the library when I stumbled upon the Terry Goodkind stuff and of course I listened to the Harry Potter books, which were MUCH MUCH better than some of the movie bits but I digress..

The university library has started doing online downloads of audio books that are good for 3 plays through before they automatically delete themselves. It's pretty sweet

As I recall, Project Gutenberg does audio books as well as text. Their material is 100% free and perfectly legal, as they deal with public domain works.

Thanks for the link. I have bookmarked it and soon start reading ebooks as it does help a lot to keep your mind fresh which gets tired due to the routine work. and also increases your grasping power.

I always forget about Project Guttenberg... awesome reminder... thanks!