The book I am reading currently

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I am building a simple no nonsense site which recommends one good book everyday. You just visit the site and homepage has book title and little info. No other bullshit. And also maintains list of good books. How do you like this idea? Recommend me some domain names ;)

The First Man - Albert Camus. One of my favourite authors.
It's Albert's final & unfinished novel :(

On January 4, 1960, at the age of forty-six, Camus was killed in a car accident in the Luberon area in southern France. The incomplete manuscript of The First Man, the autobiographical novel Camus was working on at the time of his death, was found in the mud at the accident site. Camus' daughter, Catherine Camus, later transcribed the handwritten manuscript to type press, and published the book in 1994. Camus hoped that it would be his masterpiece and some critics agreed with his view, even in its unfinished state - largely citing the physical intensity and uninhibited psychology of boyhood as removed from the reservedness of Camus' other novels.

But great book nevertheless. Watch the film also - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1349457/ (if you find a good copy)
 
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I've heard Neal Stephenson's (sci-fi authour) books are very well written.

However, I've refrained from purchasing as I already have shelf full of books that I've bought but haven't opened once. :dead: Gotta finish them first .

Anyway, link to his GoodReads page.
 
Started The Lost Symbol. If reviews are to be believed, this is the most disappointing Dan Brown work, and 50 pages into the book, I tend to agree.
Totally skipped that. Read all the others.

Finished Richard Morgan Takeshi Kovacs series and Peter Hamilton's Nights Dawn trilogy. Both epics. This is my first foray into Sci-Fi.
Takeshi Kovacs series is more of a sci-fi noir. Its very fast paced and a thoroughly entertaining read. I would rate them 8.5/10.
Peter Hamilton meanwhile is a Space Opera. 1 Book split into 3. Its a mammoth 3500 pages. Superbly written. I would rate it 9/10.
Any recommendations for similar Sci-Fi books?
 
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Read "Mightier than the Sword : Clifton Chronicles Book #5"- Archer - a so-so read. I am reading the series for the sake of completing it and it's not finished yet. :(
 
Already finished
Digital Fortress (1998)
Deception Point (2001)
The Da Vinci Code (2003)

Planning to finish his works once and for all, before moving on to Dystopia

Read Digital fortress and Deception Point long time back. The only thing i recall about Digital fortress is about that Uranium isotope. Dan Brown dragged that mystery for pages when i myself could identify it immediately(think it was U238). Deception Point is much better. The book i really liked was Angels & Demons.

Read Papillon a dozen years back i think. Don't remember a thing.

Also finished The Plantagenet Vendetta by John Paul David. Liked it.
 
Read Digital fortress and Deception Point long time back. The only thing i recall about Digital fortress is about that Uranium isotope. Dan Brown dragged that mystery for pages when i myself could identify it immediately(think it was U238). Deception Point is much better. The book i really liked was Angels & Demons.


Read Papillon a dozen years back i think. Don't remember a thing.

Also finished The Plantagenet Vendetta by John Paul David. Liked it.


Wasn't digital fortress about an unhackable code?
 
Any good sci-fi series suggestion?

Player of Games by Iain M Banks. From one of the greatest recent Sci-Fi universes, the Culture series. The books aren't a "series" so to speak, but have a shared universe.

The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks. The stories center on the Culture, a utopian society of humanoids, aliens, and very advanced artificial intelligences living in semi-anarchist habitats spread across the post-material-scarcity Milky Way galaxy. The main theme of the novels is the dilemmas that an idealistic hyperpower faces in dealing with civilisations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviour it sometimes finds repulsive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series

If you want a more standalone read, try Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge

Thanks to advances in medical technology, Robert Gu is slowly recovering from Alzheimer's disease. As his faculties return, Robert (who always has been technophobic) must adapt to a different world, where almost every object is networked and mediated-reality technology is commonplace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End

If you want something more action oriented, this is another recent series that I really like.

Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan (The Takeshi Kovacs series)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon

Edit: Looks like @killmastern3 has already recommended the Kovacs books.

@killmastern3 - Try the Culture series if you like Space Operas with multiple civilizations on a large scale. Try Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds for something more similar to Altered Carbon.

Edit2: Wanted to add another of my New Favourites - The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

The trilogy is complete and a great read with lots of high concept sci-fi ideas.

The novel is set in a post-human future solar system. Jean le Flambeur is a legendary thief who has been imprisoned in a Dilemma Prison, a virtual jail of the Sobornost created by the Archons, themselves the creation of the Engineer-of-Souls. During an unsuccessful encounter with the All-Defector, he is sprung from his prison in the Neptunian Trojan belt by Mieli, a warrior from the Oort cloud, and taken to her ship, Perhonen. There, he finds out that his freedom comes at a price: he must return to his old criminal ways to steal something for Mieli's employer, the pellegrini. First, however, he has to retrieve his previous memories, which he had meticulously hidden in the Oubliette, one of the Moving Cities of Mars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quantum_Thief
 
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@whatsinaname, Thanks for the detailed post
Player of Games by Iain M Banks. From one of the greatest recent Sci-Fi universes, the Culture series. The books aren't a "series" so to speak, but have a shared universe.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series

If you want a more standalone read, try Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End

If you want something more action oriented, this is another recent series that I really like.

Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan (The Takeshi Kovacs series)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon

Edit: Looks like @killmastern3 has already recommended the Kovacs books.

@killmastern3 - Try the Culture series if you like Space Operas with multiple civilizations on a large scale. Try Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds for something more similar to Altered Carbon.

Edit2: Wanted to add another of my New Favourites - The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

The trilogy is complete and a great read with lots of high concept sci-fi ideas.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quantum_Thief
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Any pointers to websites/blogs who do book reviews regularly?
https://www.goodreads.com/
 
Currently reading Aftermath by Donovan Webster.

Really fascinating book about whats left of the battlefields of some of the worst fighting in the last 100 years. From guys who pull up unexploded WW1 shells in France near Verdun (they lose a person every month or so trying to do this, a 400 sq mile part of the country is literally cordoned off limits still today because of leftover shells from WW1) to the bone-fields of Stalingrad where you can still occasionally find German corpses etc. Amazing read so far.
 
The Martian - 5/5. Read this before watching the movie. This is such a refreshing book to read. Focuses on the positive side of human nature. Really really enjoyed it..
David Weber - On Basilisk Station - 4/5.
Stephen Hunter - Point of impact - 4/5. "Shooter" movie is based on this book. Book is much better, of course.
Trevanian - Shibumi - 4/5.
Jason Hough - The Darwin Elevator - 3.5/5.
Jeff Edwards - Sea Of Shadows - 4/5,
Jeff Edwards - The Seventh Angel - 4/5,
Jeff Edwards - Sword OF Shiva - 4/5 (Its about USN interfering(as usual) in a war between India and China),
James H Cobb - Sea Strike - 4/5,
Nelson Demille - Plum Island and the Lions's Game - 3.5/5,
John Ringo - Ghost - 3.5/5,
Eric Thomson - No Honour in Death - 4/5 (Excellent Sci-fi),
Matthew Reilly - Great Zoo Of Chine - 4/5 (Love all of his books esp. Shane Schofield),
James Rollins - Order of The Sanguines series(3 books) - 3.5/5,
Blake Russell - Jet - 3.5/5.

Read these and lots more i cant remember in the past few months.