Storytime

Not really, but I thought I'd touch on some of the type of books I like to read and maybe I can get some suggestions for other books I'd like based on what I write here.

For the most part I really enjoy sci fi books (go figure), and fantasy to a certain extent. Through middle school and most of high school I stuck exclusively to the Star Wars novels that were created as sort of a continuation of stories to go in the Star Wars universe. Some of the novels took place before the movies, some during or in between movies, but most are set to take place after the last movie and while they are written by different authors, the authors read each others' books and make sure the stories don't contradict each other. It's pretty interesting what kind of stuff they come up with, and you get to know various characters much more intimately, but I pretty much finished all I wanted from those. Once it strayed from the main characters and started focusing on Han and Leia's kids I lost interest, but I read almost every single one up to that point.

A must for sci fi fans is Ender's Game, and while it is a great book on it's own, there are sequels that are great as well that continue the story of not only Ender, but of some of the other children he competes with in his training.

Another great series is the Otherland books, a four book series that should not be read by anyone with a bad short term memory because it follows so many different storylines that it's easy to lose track. It incorporates not only sci fi elements such as advanced computers and virtual reality, but the author also uses his great knowledge of various other literature to create worlds that the main characters have to travel through on their way to find out the answers they seek.

I have of course read the Lord of the Rings books, no surprise there, but it is worth it to state that these are a must.

I have been recommended to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin and the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. I also plan to read another series by Tad Williams (author of the Otherland series) called Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Right now I have a pretty good idea of what I will be reading for a while, but I would like to get some other recommendations for the future, so suggest anything you think I might like based on what I have listed and I will look into anything that sounds interesting. And for those of you who enjoy sci fi books and have not read something that I listed above, I would highly recommend anything up there.