Off Game Book Club

[MiraclesHappen]

If you can't stomach the original--or any--of the books in the Ender universe, you require a literary intervention.

No way.

Its not even the top ten its genre let alone literature. Definitely something one can take or leave and not be wrong.

I am now very curious what your top ten Sci-fi books are that does not include Enders Game.

Okay my quick top of my head list....well I will start with ten books I liked more than Enders Game. Top Ten may be different after I give it more thought.

Mote in Gods Eye and its two spin offs - first one is possibly my favorite sci fi
Starship Trooper - favorite or second favorite
Forever War - third favorite
War of the Worlds - read Wells over and over as a kid, re-read few years back even. His other stuff was okay too
Footfall - fun disaster movie meets sci fi (Lucifers Hammer with Space Elephants)
Ringworld - first one mostly though recent Fleet of Worlds is nice look at puppeteers
Old Mans War - recent read. Nice twist on Starship Trooper concept
Dune - the first book
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (we dont need no stinking space elephants)
Lucifers Hammer - really a disaster movie but there are astronauts and an asteroid
Jurassic Park - a disaster movie with dinosaurs but theres DNA stuff in it.
Legacy of Heorot and its sequel - A monster book on a colony
Hammers Slammers series - Close but still more fun than reading about sibling rivalry between psychotics
Falkenberg’s Legion - West of Honor - Also close but more entertaining
Some book about a Generation Ship with internal warfare - Forget name. Also close, maybe should be On Par.

OKay its actually not that far from the top ten I guess. The Short Story would actually be up there. The brother sister family dynamic just dragged it down for me.

On Par with Enders (or a little better since I finished these)
Jules Verne - 20,000 leagues under the sea. Kids stuff but not bad kids stuff
World War Z - Kinda like ADHD meets War of the Worlds
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - not really sci fi but not really not. Enjoyed in school
Down Below Station - Or whatever its called. Not bad series
I Robot, the Foundation stuff - unduly something, words clever something. But it talked its way out of the top ten for me.

Worse than Enders
Stranger in a Strange Land - finished it only because I hadn't discovered intentionally not finishing a book yet. Might have been for school too.
Samuel Delaney's Babel 17, Triton and Nova - read them because I bought four books at once without reading much these were the first two.
Dahlgren - The Fourth book, Listed separately because its the first sci fi book I put down in disgust and didn't finish.
Friday - Heinlein's sexual fantasies should not be called sci fi, did not finish
Anything by Dick - yuk. The first book I actually destroyed was one of his. My Calc IV book was a contender though.
1984 - They call this sci fi, I dont, but to the extent it is, yawn. Nice concepts but the dreary of the world is too well conveyed
Battlefield Earth - I finished this but not sure why. At least it was better than the movie.
Contact - not sure I finished this one, if I did it was so bad I dont remember it.
Most Pre-1965 Sci Fi - A lot of popular sci fi is just too dated to read now, see The Lensmen, etc. Just too kiddy or passed by. Black Servants, Ashtrays on the Bridge, Sexism thats not explained away, extrapolations of world conditions that no longer exist etc. just make them passe.

[Nagel]

*beep*, I think the only one I have read is Ringworld. Time to update my book list.

[Wlerin]

I don't see Fire on the Deep or The Book of the New Sun in your list...

A Canticle for Liebowitz is p. good too.

I can't really rate them vs. Enders Game since I have never and likely will never read it but, they're in my personal Top 10.

[MiraclesHappen]

I've heard of the last one, think peaked at it. If so it wasnt my cup of tea or suited to my mood at the time.

Will look at the others next time Im shopping. Thanks.

[JigokuShoujo]

"Anathem is a speculative fiction novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 2008. Major themes include the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the philosophical debate between Platonic realism and nominalism."

also ~ Letters From Hades
by Jeffrey Thomas
"A man awakens in Hell where he is schooled in the ways of the damned. And once educated, he is released to wander Hell on his own. He journeys from one city to the next, dodging demon patrols and avenging angels hunting the damned for sport. Along the way to the city of Oblivion, he discovers a band of rebellious damned have left a tortured and beautiful demon to rot. He rescues her and sets in motion a series of events that could lead to the final battle between Heaven and Hell, angel and demon, demon and damned. Letters From Hades is a travelogue of Hell—a world not that far from the very world we live in now. It is a story of rebellion, a story of love and a story of hope and rebirth set in a beautifully dark and textured world brought to brilliant life by Jeffrey Thomas, the acclaimed author of Punktown."

[Nagel]

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Anyone read this?

[JigokuShoujo]

I prefer Danté's Inferno myself, ........

prefer it to what?

[JigokuShoujo]

I prefer the basic story to that of letters of hades

have you read Letters From Hades?

[JigokuShoujo]

No I will admit I have not

then how the .... do you know? have you even read Dante? or more relevant, have you read pournelle and niven's Inferno?

[Uncle Ben]

I've read this book recently, maybe you've heard of it, it's called "'The Bible". It's pretty damn awesome. It's filled to the brim with violence, and sex too! Even incest! Someone should make a movie outta that stuff or sumtin.

[Darius]

Anything by Jack London that doesn't involve wolves or ice.

[Skanno 9]

Harrold Robbins-Memories of Another Day
Gerald Seymour,Dean R Koontz,David Eddings,Michael W Gear and especially Robert James Waller with "Old songs in a New cafe"
I lost trend with books and reading how I miss my teenage years hanging out in a library

[Skanno 9]

A female writer I like is Bridget Woods her book "The Wolfking" was the pips!dark fanatasy stuff and a book I read I forgot the author is "Delcorso's Gallery" its about a war photographer:"Politicians lie war photographs don't..."And the last book I read was "Slumdog Millionaire"also watched the movie...

[Col. Caulker]

Shortlist:

Dan Simmons: Hyperion and Endymion Sagas (If you read nothing else on this list, read THESE FOUR BOOKS--Hyperion; The Fall of Hyperion; Endymion; The Rise of Endymion)
Dan Simmons' historical fiction: The Terror; Black Hills; Abominable; Drood
Peter F. Hamilton: Night's Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God)
Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space Saga (Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap, The Prefect)
Niven & Pournelle: Lucifer's Hammer (Already mentioned in this thread, somewhat dated and a bit racist in places, but still epic)
Stephen King: 11/22/63 and The Talisman (w/Peter Straub)
Orson Scott Card: Pastwatch--The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Probably one of his best works...yeah, you Ender fgts can get over it)


Other Guilty Pleasures:

Scalzi: Old Man's War Series (Previously mentioned, as well, in this thread)
David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (Duck the piece of *beep* film, but read the book twice...almost made the shortlist above)
E. Paul Wilson: The Keep
John DeChancie: The Skyway Series (Starrigger, Red Limit Freeway, Paradox Alley - Another than almost made the shortlist above)
Greg Bear: The Forge of God series (The Forge of God; Anvil of the Stars)
Stephen King: The Dark Tower (Sadly, the last 3 books are garbage), The Stand
Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi (yes, Mark *beep* Twain)
Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens: Star Trek: Federation (Non-Cannonical now, courtesy of that Paramount abortion ST: First Contact)
Peter F. Hamilton: The Void Trilogy (The Dreaming Void; The Temporal Void; The Evolutionary Void)
Alastair Reynolds: Terminal World; Pushing Ice
Cormac McCarthy: The Road (if you're in psychotherapy for depression, you might wanna duck this one)
Robert McCammon: Swan Song (A bit dated, supernatural post-apocalyptic yarn)
Whitley Strieber & James Kunetka: Warday (Reporters going cross-country detailing the impact of a limited nuclear war)
Stephen Coonts: Flight of the Intruder (Good ol' Aviation War novel set in 'Nam)
Eric Blehm: The Only Thing Worth Dying For (The non-fiction account of the ODA Team in Afghanistan who helped Karzi's southern army defeat the Taliban in 2001--The Horse Soldiers were supporting the Northern Alliance)

[margaspeak]

Kevin Kwan - Crazy Rich Asians
Jenny Han - Always and Forever Lara Jean