Best three books of your favourite genre.
January 24, 2008 1:58 PM   Subscribe

What are the top three books (IYHO) in your favourite genre. Yes, I'm looking for good stuff to read.

Here's the rub, pick one genre or sub genre, and pick the top 3 in your opinion. Genre can be romance, fantasy, military, sci fi, literary fiction, or be even more specific to literary fiction from Indian authors, steam punk, hard sci fi involving alternate history.

For example, best satirical fantasy (where I define fantasy as Stuff Happens Just Cuz):
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Good Omens
Going Postal
posted by eurasian to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: This is straight-up chatfilter. If you're just looking for books to read with no specific target or constraints, there are a lot of existing threads you can check out. -- cortex

 
Everyone's answers are equally valid. I'll go first.
posted by box at 2:03 PM on January 24, 2008


Historical mystery for me

An instance of a fingerpost
The name of the rose
The Quincunx
posted by ilike at 2:07 PM on January 24, 2008


The Civil War: Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy.
posted by caddis at 2:08 PM on January 24, 2008


Magic Realism (actually this is a 'mode' as defined my alot of critics but i think their wrong, :P)

Midnights Children (Salman Rushdie)
Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)
100 Nights of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

I may or may not be writing my thesis on this particular topic and writers and although its not everyones cup of tea, its a really great genre, and you probably will like it if you like fantasy, even though its a bit...even if i do say myself...high brow. Its all about the struggle between the old and the new...innit.

Enjoy your books!
posted by Neonshock at 2:10 PM on January 24, 2008


Science fiction, my favourite book from my three favourite authors:

Larry Niven World of Ptavvs
Iain M Banks The Player of Games
Isaac Asimov The Robots of Dawn

I could have filled the list with just Larry Niven titles, but thought a selection of authors would be more useful to you.
posted by happyturtle at 2:10 PM on January 24, 2008


Memoirs with a ton of political history

The Private Life of Chairman Mao
The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Defies category but if you don't read this book you're a shell of a man:
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Fiction with trenchant, socially relevant, subversive and sometimes comedic commentary
1984
White Boy Shuffle
A Clergyman's Daughter
posted by sneakin at 2:11 PM on January 24, 2008


Also, you might want to look at ReadMe on the wiki.
posted by box at 2:12 PM on January 24, 2008


short stories:

- the secret lives of people in love (simon van booy)

- golden apples of the sun (ray bradbury)

- you are not a stranger here (adam haslett)


contemporary fiction/cool if you like different/eclectic stuff:

- extremely loud and incredibly close (jonathan safran foer)

- everything is illuminated (jonathan safran foer)

- the history of love (nicole krauss)
posted by gursky at 2:15 PM on January 24, 2008


Buddhist Studies:
Principle Teachings of Buddhism (Hard to find, but you can get free copies online. MefiMail me if intersted).
Creation and Completion
The Way of the Bodhisattva
posted by milarepa at 2:17 PM on January 24, 2008


Travel books:

Travels with Myself and Another by Martha Gellhorn

In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin

Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart

Journalism books:

Journalism: Truth or Dare by Ian Hargreaves

It's a Mad World, My Master by John Simpson

In Search of History by Edward O. White
posted by parmanparman at 2:19 PM on January 24, 2008


Sci-Fi:

Isaac Asimov - Foundation
Isaac Asimov - Foundation And Empire
Isaac Asimov - Second Foundation

Basically where George Lucas and every other modern sci-fi author stole their ideas from.
posted by afx114 at 2:32 PM on January 24, 2008


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