discussion Good reads - share your favourite novels

[Vidilo]

After my thread about favourite poems got some traction, I'm now interested in book recommendations. So please share your favourite novels. Can be lewd, but don't have to be.

I'm quite mainstream. My absolute favourite novel of all time is "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien!

Followed by "Winnie the Pooh", by Milne

And "Persuasion" by Jane Austen - now that novel actually is lewd, if you consider the time when it was written. She heavily implies an incestuous relationship between a baronet and his daughter, who 'succeeded her mother's duties and rights in all respects'.

 

[TheMC]

I like crime novels and currently my favourite one is:
Five Decembers by James Kestrel

Such a wild ride! Crime, Mystery, Film Noir feeling and all that very well woven into 20-th century history. There are lots of novels about the second world war, but not so many are set in the Pacific theater. Well, this one is, with the story spanning from Hawai'i to Honkong and Japan. It is awesome! If you like crime novels or thrillers or history, do read this!

 

[Poldek]

We

After my thread about favourite poems got some traction, I'm now interested in book recommendations. So please share your favourite novels. Can be lewd, but don't have to be.

I'm quite mainstream. My absolute favourite novel of all time is "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien!

Followed by "Winnie the Pooh", by Milne

And "Persuasion" by Jane Austen - now that novel actually is lewd, if you consider the time when it was written. She heavily implies an incestuous relationship between a baronet and his daughter, who 'succeeded her mother's duties and rights in all respects'.

I don't think Austen thought about "that" when she wrote the line. But, of course, I can be wrong or even, its not important if I'm wrong or right.
I also like Jane Austen, but I go even more mainstream than you because my favourite book from her is "Pride and prejudice".

I also like to read science fiction, mainly from the 50's to the 80's, but modern too. The three body problem or the expanse series were great.

I read a lot of different books from different times, light and less light novels and theatre.

And yes, Tolkien too.

 

[ghostmaster]

I found myself consumed by asian webnovels - they are a perfect fit for a relaxed reading. Important trick is to recognize which way writing is trending and abandon bad books before sinking too deep into them.
As for recommendations...

Global Game: AFK In The Zombie Apocalypse Game -

You must be registered to see links

Shadow Slave - Guiltythree​

 

[Vidilo]

I also like to read science fiction, mainly from the 50's to the 80's, but modern too. The three body problem or the expanse series were great.

True. Both were great and I even liked the Netflix series of both. (apart from Season 6 for The Expanse). The Three Body Problem is off to a good start, we'll see how it develops.

 

[MicoJive]

Babel by R.F. Kuang changed me.

 

[Poldek]

True. Both were great and I even liked the Netflix series of both. (apart from Season 6 for The Expanse). The Three Body Problem is off to a good start, we'll see how it develops.

I didn't like the netflix adaptation of "the three body problem". I couldn't go beyond the second episode. "The expanse", on the contrary, was great.
Did you read "The Silmarillion"? I did once, a long time ago. Now I'm thinking about re-reading it.

 

[Gamer X]

My favorite is the book thief by Markus Zusak.

 

[Petermax77]

I love the main Dragonlance novels by Wies and Hickman. after the first four books though it kind of went off the deep end.

 

[Vidilo]

Did you read "The Silmarillion"? I did once, a long time ago. Now I'm thinking about re-reading it.

Yes, I did and I liked it very much. I also read Unfinished Tales, which is interesting too, if you like the world. But the stories are, as the title says, unfinished.

 

[dpocky]

Jane Austen is pretty awesome, I enjoyed Pride & Prejudice.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson -- the entire Stormlight Archive has been amazing, I'm almost to the last book.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a guilty pleasure of mine.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne, which probably inspired my fear of the ocean lol

 

[AlBetGam]

I didn't like the netflix adaptation of "the three body problem". I couldn't go beyond the second episode. "The expanse", on the contrary, was great.
Did you read "The Silmarillion"? I did once, a long time ago. Now I'm thinking about re-reading it.

Always a good reread. Lord of the Rings is also one of my all-time favorites but I'm one of those weirdos who gets a bigger kick out of The Silmarillion.

In general I tend to like stuff that takes a sort of historical or mythological approach to sci-fi and to a lesser extent fantasy. Love Dune (it's such a shame there were never any more books after Frank Herbert died), loved Foundation and as a result of it read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which I also loved (even if the history isn't really considered accurate anymore).

 

[Poldek]

Always a good reread. Lord of the Rings is also one of my all-time favorites but I'm one of those weirdos who gets a bigger kick out of The Silmarillion.

In general I tend to like stuff that takes a sort of historical or mythological approach to sci-fi and to a lesser extent fantasy. Love Dune (it's such a shame there were never any more books after Frank Herbert died), loved Foundation and as a result of it read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which I also loved (even if the history isn't really considered accurate anymore).

I also love Dune. I read the first book like three times... the second and the third one time, and never read the rest.
If you like historical and mythological... have you tried to read the Roman and Greek classics? They are great.

 

[vandura]

I enjoyed "Door to December" by Dean Koontz, "Abduction" by Robin Cook, "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, and anything by Michael Crichton.

 

[AlBetGam]

I also love Dune. I read the first book like three times... the second and the third one time, and never read the rest.
If you like historical and mythological... have you tried to read the Roman and Greek classics? They are great.

Not a whole lot- I finished Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War a while back (which was honestly hilarious at points), followed by a modern analysis, and I picked up a copy of Plutarch's Lives but haven't got far in it due to distraction from other books. Think I may have a copy of Anabasis around that I never finished too.

 

[Vidilo]

Oh, and if you are into Cyberpunk or want to get into it, the novels that started it all are actually quite good. I.e. the "Neuromancer" novels and the "Snow Crash" novels.

 

[Poldek]

Oh, and if you are into Cyberpunk or want to get into it, the novels that started it all are actually quite good. I.e. the "Neuromancer" novels and the "Snow Crash" novels.

Neuromance is one of my favourites... well, I think I have like hundreds of favourites books.
I will look up "Snow Crash".

Usually I'm reading three books simultaneously. I have one easy to read, usually science fiction (my favourite author is Le Guin). A second one, with more 'normal' books like the ones from Garcia Marquez or Cortazar or Dostoyevski. And a third category, which is Shakespeare and Greek and Roman classics. This third category I only read when I'm in the mood.

Of course this is not an iron rule, and some books fly from one category to other.

 

[User_147592]

I find I like a bit of comedy to go with my fantasy or sci-fi. I have readily enjoyed the following multiple times and highly recommend:
- Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
- The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons series By Virlyce
- The Godking's Legacy series by Virlyce
- Everybody Loves Large Chests series by Neven Iliev
- Hard Luck Hank series by Steven Campbell

 

[IFF01]

I would have to go with the ghost walker series by Christine Feehan

 

[rocketsheep]

I think there is too much excellent general literature, and too much diversity in taste, for general recommendations to make much sense here. So I will only provide two pornographic recommendations, both originally written in French:

1. History of my Life by Giacomo Casanova. Large parts of this very long book/series are non-pornographic adventure stories and very much worth reading as such. If you buy a random edition, it will likely be heavily edited and contain little else. If you can find a non-censored version, you will see that this is basically the 18th century version of Eternum. It's full of suspense, it's funny, and sometimes it's pornographic, often all at the same time. But even the standard censored edition is great fun to read and contains worthwhile erotic stories. (Also, it's written as a supposed autobiography with Casanova himself acting like a typical MC of an AVN. This is the standard male wish fulfillment stuff, including porn logic, that we expect from an AVN.)
2. Everything by the Marquis de Sade. While Casanova is Games level, de Sade is Games+ level. This guy was seriously sick to the point that at a time when it was easy for nobility to get away with all sorts of depravity, they finally locked him away in prison for over 20 years. Being in prison made it hard for him to live out his tendencies, and so he wrote about them instead. My problem with his writing is that it is often too extreme. I don't like gore in games, and I don't want to read about it, either. It's disturbing, especially when you consider that he likely did some of these things in real life. (You can find a few less extreme snippets interspersed in Sisterly Lust, illustrating the book that the MC's mother is reading.)

Casanova is still quite readable by today's standards, roughly on the same level as Alexandre Dumas (such as The Three Musketeers). De Sade's works have philosophical passages that I find quite boring, so I just skip them. It's overall a harder read. Unlike Casanova, de Sade was driven by the hardest forms of pornography far more than by general literary ambitions.

Casanova's work is so good that it was first published by a very reputable, conservative publisher, who felt the need to censor it to make it more palatable to a general audience. De Sade's works are so extreme that they were actually illegal and for a long time no publisher wanted to be associated with them, so I think they were published uncensored.

If you don't want to read 18th century literature, Pasolini's movie "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom" is based on de Sade's unfinished "The 120 Days of Sodom" and gives a very good idea of how extreme that is. Among the myriads of films inspired by Casanova or de Sade, this is the only one I know that isn't boring sexploitation but really does the original justice. Which is why this is one of the most controversial 'mainstream' films in history. (It is only 'mainstream' because it came out in 1975 and was by Pasolini. I think in most countries it would never be shown in a regular cinema today.)