Books to read

[Valentas]

Hey fellow members of this forum,

I am looking for recommendations of books to read. I liked LotR, I started to read "Gardens of the Moon" but did not find it interesting. I mostly read non-fiction. I read many books from religion to philosophy, currently it's "7 habits of highly effective people" one. But I'm looking for fiction. My friend told me that read fiction relaxes his brain, an intp and math guy, and I'm interested in what you can recommend with my limited exposure to fiction literature.

 

[Jaffa]

Be more specific with your interests.

I don't read much fiction but I did really enjoy all of the Jack Reacher books as well as Game of Thrones. There's also a similar trilogy to Jack Reacher called Grey Resurrection.

 

[Cavallier]

I divide fiction into two categories: Fluff and the Heady. Okay, so maybe it's more a sliding scale.

Still, do you want amusing brain candy? Something that'll make you want to curl in upon yourself and bemoan all humanity? Something that will transport you to another place and time?

 

[NoID10ts]

Anything by Cormac McCarthy is good. He wrote No Country for Old Men and The Road. His border trilogy is fantastic as is Blood Meridian.

 

[Cavallier]

The Dresden novels by Jim Butcher are fun. I like Dashiell Hammet mystery novels. Anything by Terry Pratchett. I especially like his books for unwinding after a long day. Also, Ursula Le Guin writes books that are deeply interesting and thought provoking for me.

 

[Red myst]

The O.P. has not given enough info on his "taste" of fiction he preferrs. I am going to go out on a limb with a few suggestion.

Books by Douglas Adams like "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy".

Books by Robert Heinlein like "For Us The Living"

Books by Ayn Rand like "The Fountainhead"

These are not too modern, but they have many age old topics.

 

[Valentas]

I did not give a taste of fiction because I never read much of it so I'm open to anything. Thank you for recommendations above, I'll check them out.

 

[(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Currently am reading "The Dice Man" and enjoying it very much.

Synopsis:
The cult classic that can still change your life... Let the dice decide! This is the philosophy that changes the life of bored psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart -- and in some ways changes the world as well. Because once you hand over your life to the dice, anything can happen. Entertaining, humorous, scary, shocking, subversive, The Dice Man is one of the cult bestsellers of our time

Review that got me interested:

this book fundamentally changed my perspectives on decision making, our roles in society, and the whole idea of the individual self. Rhinehart suggests that the idea of the self is a crutch that pigeonholes us and prevents us from experiencing things that we would not experience if we were "being ourselves".

the premise of the book is that luke rhinehart, a psychologist, decides one day to make all his decisions based on the roll of the die. he writes down six options for what he might do, then rolls the die, and obeys its command unwaveringly. the events that unfold after this cannot be described in a book review. shit gets crazy to say the least.

anyway, i cant recommend this book enough. my life is so much more exiting when i embrace the ideas set forth in this novel. READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!

also, swedish metal band "at the gates" cites this book as a major influence for many songs on the album "slaughter of the soul". excerpts from the book are in some of the songs. this book - much like the music of at the gates - is fast paced and chaotic.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

A quick selection if you are not acquainted with the genre as you admit:
Philip K. Dick: Ubik, if you haven't tried Dick already.

William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy, one of the prominent pieces of sci-fi out there.

Homer's Iliad.

 

[Absurdity]

Labyrinths by Borges

Anything by Cormac McCarthy is good. He wrote No Country for Old Men and The Road. His border trilogy is fantastic as is Blood Meridian.

+1

 

[Red myst]

I did not give a taste of fiction because I never read much of it so I'm open to anything. Thank you for recommendations above, I'll check them out.

I dident phrase my statement as well as I could have. I was referring to you not mentioning a preferred gendra of fiction based on other forms of media like movies and television. For instance, sci-fi, crime, drama, mystery, horror, war, comedy, Romance, classic literature, etc....
This would help I think.

 

[Valentas]

I dident phrase my statement as well as I could have. I was referring to you not mentioning a preferred gendra of fiction based on other forms of media like movies and television. For instance, sci-fi, crime, drama, mystery, horror, war, comedy, Romance, classic literature, etc....
This would help I think.

Sci fi is obviously fine, I don't read drama or love stories. Crime & mystery? I got tired of Sherlock Holmes when I was young. I know some books like War and Peace and Crime and Punishment that I should read but they are big and it is a bit intimidating

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

it's difficult to recommend books when you don't know a person's taste...if you like pessimistic and absurdist black humour try journey to the end of the night by louis-ferdinand celine

I know some books like War and Peace and Crime and Punishment that I should read but they are big and it is a bit intimidating

crime and punishment is definately worth the 'effort' in my opinion.

Currently am reading "The Dice Man" and enjoying it very much.

have you started allowing the dice to decide for you yet?

 

[Valentas]

Wow, tried those Dresden novels. I bought audiobooks and started with the first one. Sounded really interesting. I'll stay with Jon Butcher I think :}

 

[Fortuna]

The Malazan books (both Erikson and Esselmont) aren't good choices for a first fantasy read. Or a second. Or a third. The editing is poor and the depth of the world is what attracts most people. It took me a few books to really get into it.

I'd suggest something with a lot more polish. A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) is good if you're already interested, but I would lean more towards one of these:

The Black Company books by Glen Cook
First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
King Killer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards books are a fun read as well. Avoid Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time until you've exhausted the other options.

 

[Coolydudey]

Short stories by philip k. dick as a different suggestion. Enjoyed reading them very very much.

 

[xbox]

Calvin n hobbes. So many great snowman ideas.

 

[Missfortune]

Journey into the night - Celine

Faulkner short stories, intruder in the dust, the sound and the fury, sartoris

Moby Dick

Jude the obscure

Not fiction but great: storm of steel

Gulag archipelago

August 1914

The palace walk trilogy

Hemingway is alright

The death of Ivan illych

Invitation to a beheading

Pnin

The brothers karamazov

Ulysses- James Joyce

Pride and prejudice

And of course Kafka

Dr. Zhivago

Seven pillars of wisdom

Things are only boring if you don't find something interesting.

 

[subwayrider]

I have one I think would appeal to INTPs, perhaps because it is written by one.

It's called House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski. It's quite brilliant.

I'm also reading Peter Pan, currently. PP might not seem like much (Disney movie comes to mind), but the original J.M. Barrie deals with topics as maturation and refusal to embrace the process thereof...I'd imagine many of you could relate.

 

[Missfortune]

I have one I think would appeal to INTPs, perhaps because it is written by one.

How does one fit a book to a personality type? I'm definitely not contesting that it's doable and maybe it's even easy. But I don't get it.... I'm an INTP and can find pretty much anything to be interesting, except that im biased against fantasy stuff like the Otherlands and vampire books. However, if really well written I'd almost certainly enjoy such books.

Maybe I just partially answered myself? I think I'm probably really confused now.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

Metro 2033 was pretty damn awesome.

 

[Polaris]

Ursula Le Guin - Left hand of darkness (not quite sci-fi, but close)

Donna Tartt - The secret history (I suspect the main character may be INTP, although it's a long time since I read it)

Hermann Hesse - Steppenwolf (a dark journey into the lonely mind of a man who is torn between the highly spiritual and refined, and the animalistic nature of himself -- it's a philosophical and slightly rebellious commentary on human society and civility, as well as an interesting psychological analysis of seemingly Jungian origins -- a revolutionary work of it's time, in my view).

In that same line of writing I would also recommend anything by Thomas Mann.

 

[subwayrider]

How does one fit a book to a personality type? I'm definitely not contesting that it's doable and maybe it's even easy. But I don't get it.... I'm an INTP and can find pretty much anything to be interesting, except that im biased against fantasy stuff like the Otherlands and vampire books. However, if really well written I'd almost certainly enjoy such books.

Maybe I just partially answered myself? I think I'm probably really confused now.

It's hard to say...if you read it, you'll see exactly what I mean. It's totally an INTP book. I can't imagine a personality type that would get off on it more or more effortlessly.

 

[INsTeP]

Scifi/fantasy books i have read and enjoyed:
Foundation series (asimov)
Dune series (herbert)
Skolian empire series (asaro)
Vorkosigan series
Bartimaeus trilogy
Artemis Fowl series