The Dresden Files
 

The series I can never recommend enough is The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

A friend of mine forced our whole group to read the series and we've all been fans ever since. The story revolves around Harry Dresden, Chicago's only wizard detective in the phone book. Normally he deals in finding lost possessions, but occasionally he helps the police with... less than normal cases. And it's when the 'less than normal' gets involved that things get FUN.

Harry narrates his own story, and he's hilariously sarcastic in his observations. I can't tell you how many times I've laughed out loud at some new wisecrack of his. (Like despite meeting the most dangerous woman in the Fae Kingdom... and being unable to resist noticing she has a fantastic rear end. XD) His smart mouth often gets him in hotter water, but you still can't help laughing.

Finally, the best thing about this series? Each book just gets better than the last.

Must Reads...
 

0_Kam_0, I've merged your thread with our Book Recommendations sticky at the top of the forum. I'm sure that everyone here would be happy to give you the name of some great books. :yes:

I mostly read fantasy, high or urban. I love a good alternate history or Sci-Fi when I'm in the mood, though. I've read piles and piles of good books over the years, but there are a few that really stick out in my mind:

Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
If I Pay Thee Not in Gold, by Mercedes Lackey and Piers Anthony
Acorna and it's sequels, by Anne McCaffery et al.
Oathbound, Oathbreakers, and Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey
I, Jedi, by Micheal A. Stackpole
The Wheel of Time (series), by Robert Jordan
Alice Borchardt's Wolf series
The Probable Future, by Alice Hoffman

Fantasy

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake.

It is the best book I've ever read, and I've read many. The Dark Elf Trilogy and a few other Salvatore ones are also amazing, but the Gormenghast Trilogy has to be the best for me.

The world and characters he creates are so in depth and fun to read about. It's quite a dark book, I think it was written in the 50's, but its Fantasy alright, and good fantasy - not typical same-old fantasy. It was classed as gothic in it's day, because of it's sincerity.

If anyone else has read it, care to share how you feel about it?

For fans of Stephen King, get some James Herbert novels!

Especially 'The Dark', It's brilliant, keeping you on edge from page 1 - 438! I loved every page, no lie! :)

I have always enjoyed Patricia A Mckillip- the Riddle Master of Hed is my person favorite- however her writing is always phenomenal.
Lois McMaster Bujold has one series I particularly enjoy- I believe it's simply called "Chalion".
I am currently getting into some of Sharon Shinn's books. (So far I enjoy them immensely).
Charles deLint is an excellent Urban Fantasy writer (his books are based on a sort of alternate Ottowa).
Tanya Huff and Tamora Pierce for easy reading but well writen fantasy.

Ebony: I've read the Dresden files! They're a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying seeing them instead of the somewhat formulaic: "Girl versus supernatural. Girl gains unexpected powers and sparkly/sexy/supernaturla boyfreind. Girl saves world. Girl gets it on with boyfreind. Yay. The end." I mean say what you like but I've seen that everywhere for a while, and it's a little wearing, though a few authors still pull it off very well, like Kat Richardson. Although that does sort of break formula because while the MC does have powers, she spends most of the books -without- getting it on with someone. And she has a ferret, which is random but highly entertaining.

I'm also enjoying reading some older books, the kind you're not usually lucky enough to read in school. I'm reading H.P. Lovecraft, and some Chandler. (The Big Sleep), and I've also read several of Howards stories on Conan, which you would really think would be as cheezy and terrible as some of the old comics, but actually aren't.
You do have to take with a grain of salt that the only woman he (Howard) ever liked was his mother, (He comitted suiside when she died.) but his writing style, like Chandlers and Lovecrafts, is actually very powerful and very descriptive. I've enjoyed it a lot.
And Chandler sets a mood and a character type with Marlowe which really set the trend for years of Detective stories after, but I can't really name a character that hit the same mix of brawler and philosopher as Philip Marlowe. Some have tried, like the character from Parkers 'Spencer' novels, but I don't see them hitting the same mark.

I am a huge fan of The Sword of Truth series. It even had a good ending. I don't, however, like what they did with the TV series based off the books. It made me angry.

the Host by Stephanie Meyer.The twilight series is good too but people have said that

@Claribel, I have been at such a loss to find a new book to read, I should go back to Agatha Christie.

Poirot is so fun. Even the Christmas book is neat -- if a little predictable. Unfortunately I watched the Mystery versions too much, so it's hard for me to separate them from the books.

I had a stack of mystery magazines last week (The Strand and Mystery Scene) and nearly every author they interviewed couldn't wait to mention that Agatha Christie was a bad writer. And I was all ??? Jealous much? How could that be? But then they acknowledged that she was a peerless plotter. Really, what more would you want for a mystery writer?

I do understand what they meant, but it seems silly to say that when she's the most recognizable writer for your genre. How in the world would that help you? Lol ...

The Word For World Is Forest . . . A strange and beautiful science-fiction dystopia by Ursula K. LeGuin which criticizes collonialism, and takes a good hard look at cultural collision and environmental issues.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit . . . by Jeanette Winterson. An oddly creative girl grows up in small-town England amongst her born-again Christian community, conflicted about what she is told she should be, and what she is discovering she is really. Quirkiness and heartbreak and very here-is-my-life. Perfection is not flawlessness.

Fire and Hemlock . . . by Diana Wynne Jones. What would you do if you realized one day that you have two sets of memories? That the reality you live in may not always have been the way it is now, that people you once knew have been papered-over by false (or real?) memories? Did they ever exist? What is real? Polly Whittaker doesn't know, and there are some powerful forces who would like to keep it that way . . .

Modern Fantasy:

The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko. I fell head over heels in love with this series a few years back, and I still squeal like a giddy freak whenever I find out he's put out a new volume. :boogie:

Whats a good book series?
 

I've already read Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and so much more, and ever since HP ended, i havent found a good series.

any suggestions?

and please no Twilight. :)

You might want to give the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko a shot. It's a magic and mystical meets modern day Russia series. Lots of twists, great writing and engaging characters.

Or there's always Simon Greene, he's a fast read and has a nice series of books about a detective in a part of London called The Nightside. Very nifty stuff there too. :D

Oh, also! If you want humor, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is a ton of fun. :D

Of course, now that the threads are merged, it makes me look like a Night Watch nut.

...but I am, so that's cool. XD

The Otherland series from Tad Williams is awesome if you like really long books. It's very technical and has an extremely interesting plot line.
Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman made a fantastic series of books called the Death Gate Cycle, about a Demi God named Haplo who travels to different worlds created by another race of Demi Gods, who they are at war with, in order to find a weakness, and a way to escape their dreadful prison. Along the way he runs into a whole bunch of awesome characters, and gets caught up in stories, and stuff. You'd have to read it to really get it. But they explain the magic and how it works in great detail at the end of each of the books, and even include the music to go along with the songs in the books. :)
There's also The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Always a good pick. It's a western with a dark epic spin that only King can create. It also ties in with most of the other books that he's written, and writes today. Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, The Stand, It, are just a few that tie into the story.
Douglas Adams series The Hitchhikers Guide is hilarious. I read most of it underway on the Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell. I would bread out laughing, and people would wonder what was wrong with me. There's so much more to the book series than the movie, so those of you lazy people who watch the movie, and base a book on that, don't. Also included in that (somewhat, anyway.) is the Salmon of Doubt, and Starship Titanic. Not written directly by Adams, but all part of the same story. Excellent pieces of literary work.

werewolf::
Moon Called (& the other mercy tompson novals)~ patricia briggs

vampire::
Glass House -morgan ville vampires-
A Girl's Guide To Vampires~ Katie MacAlister
Anne Rice Novals

comedy::
doing it~ Melvin Burgess

fantasy::
Ink Heart~ Cornelia Funke
looking glass wars~ Frank Beddor
Greywalker~ Kat Richardson
wicked~ Gregory Maguire

german fantasy::
die fliessende koenigin~ kai mayer

very easy read::
star girl

other::
ugly girl big mouth boy~ Joyce Carol Oates
uglies~ scott westerfield
Bad Monkeys~ Matt Ruff