This section seemed the most obvious one for this...

And I have an ulterior motive for putting it up: I realized recently that the one genre I would really say I'm lacking a background in is science fiction. I've read quite a bit of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov (not really my thing) and, like most everyone on the planet, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and various sequels, but that's about it. (Not counting classics -- HG Wells, Jules Verne, that sort of thing; I've read those too.) So... if anyone could recommend me some science fiction, I would appreciate it. Particularly stuff that is not too heavy on technobabble. (I liked the anthropological angle to Speaker for the Dead, if anyone knows others like that!)

Otherwise, at the moment, I'm reading Sarah Wise's The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum, because Victorian London fascinates me; Wuthering Heights for about the 15th time, because I adore it (such wonderfully psychopathic characters...); and I'm re-reading all of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' in the continued hope that the new book might come out sometime in the next decade -- I've made it about halfway through A Clash of Kings. I love political fantasy. I re-read a lot.

Ignore the rambling: what are you reading?

For Science Fiction, I'd heavily recommend Hyperion, and to a slightly lesser degree, the sequel The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. Hyperion is something of a sci-fi Canterbury Tales, with the pilgrims telling their individual stories and so on. Very low on technobabble, covers a lot of diverse issues, etc. Unfortunately, Fall of Hyperion is a slightly more standard story, and really falls apart near the end with one of the characters - who I really liked up until that point - having a revelation about... how love was the force that holds the universe together. Which is bad enough. But he put it across as... well, an actual force. He compared it to gravity. I have no idea why Simmons felt the need to do this, but he played it damn straight. It was not very amusing.
I could only die a little inside then go out and purchase the sequels, Endymion and the Rise of Endymion, which is possibly the worst mistake I have ever made in my life. Avoid them at all costs. Please.
Anyway, despite that, Hyperion is a great book, probably the best sci-fi story I've read and one of my overall favourites. Not really that well-versed in the genre, however.

Reading material at the moment is A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, for English. Actually a pretty damn good book.

Is that the same Dan Simmons that writes the occasional horror? Any idea? (I'd look him up, but I'm about to get kicked off.) I really enjoyed Summer of Night a few years ago.

...Just had a look on the library system; they have Hyperion, so I can check that out right now. Thanks!

Wikipedia says he does, Summer of Night being one of them, so it seems to be the same guy. I haven't checked out any of his non-Hyperion/Endymion work, since, well, the sequels gave me the impression Hyperion was something of a fluke. Ilium and Olympos sound interesting, though...

Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Great book so far, unfortunately I don't have as much leisure time as I'd like these days, so I'm still fairly early in the book.

Here is the blurb: "This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge, they're nearly impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them. A rallying cry to ignore the "experts", The Black Swan shows us how to stop trying to predict everything and take advantage of uncertainty."

The author is from Lebanon, and uses issues from his life to describe how arrogant society is, and how these events (like 9/11) were not predicted before they happened, and anyone who did predict it and tell everyone would be considered mad, and therefore we should stop trying to predict what happens, pretty much because we CAN'T accurately predict because we don't know much more than things than we know. And actually thinking about situations in advance, rather than assuming things will go a certain way, and then looking BACK and trying to blame something for them happening when something goes wrong.

Currently reading IT by Stephen King and I really like it, and I'm finally beginning to make progress in it too. It probably doesn't fall under what you're looking for though.

Aelph wrote:

(I liked the anthropological angle to Speaker for the Dead, if anyone knows others like that!)

Hmm, I've yet to read Speaker for the Dead, though I loved Ender's Game, but World War Z by Max Brooks may offer what you're looking for. I love the way the book treats a zombie outbreak in a faux historical manner, focusing on the "oral history" of the zombie wars through various invented interviews between Max Brooks and survivors of "World War Z". It's probably my favorite treatment of zombies in book form ever.

I should also probably mention that Max Brooks is also the writer of The Zombie Survival Guide, which I also found to be extremely entertaining but not exactly what you're looking for.

I'd also like to bring up The Stand by Stephen King, as it is probably one of my favorite books ever. I'd summarize it, but I'm afraid I might not do it justice despite the seemingly simple basis behind the plot. If you haven't read it, I recommend checking it out. I'll just mention now that, unlike most of his books, it is not a horror book and falls more under sci-fi than horror, though I wouldn't call it that either.

Oh, and check out some H.P. Lovecraft too. Definitely check out some Lovecraft.

Ugh, I hate the main Ender series after Ender's Game.

I have found the Bean spinoff series pretty good though, but I rarely read anymore so I've been "reading" Shadow of the Giant for uh...

3 years?

I've been reading The Outsiders...for about the 10,000th time. I just...love it. I don't even really know what I love about it. The characters maybe...? Either way, I adore this book. <3

Also this book called The Keeper by Sarah Langan. It's alright, very strange and touches on the idea of incest (creepiest part in the book by far...)I wouldn't recommend it, though...

Saw Ender's Game the other day. Should I get it?

Also, A Streetcar Named Desire. I really haven't been reading any I can recommend...

Let's see Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's essentially about a utopic society where the utopia is the dystopia.

Well, I just finished reading "The Impressionist" by Hari Kunzru. I really found it funny as well as interesting to see what will the main character end up as next during his voyage.

Also, yes I would suggest getting Ender's Game. There's an obvious sci-fi theme but it isn't anything huge or so nonsensical and pretentious (IE the books after it) that it makes up the whole story, its more of a setting thing.

Anything that isnt twilight.

@DoubleL: Stephen king books are awesome! My favourite is Misery though.

I don't read much, but I had to read Lord of the Flies for school this year and found it pretty damn great. Except for the ending.

Bet you've read that already, though. <_<

I love the book Lord of the flies! It was made of awesome.