Book recommendations needed

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

...more Discworld. Lots more Discworld. Never stray from the greatness of Discworld books.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Historical fiction is a tricky category, always. Actually I would not recommend taking Clavell to Japan -- I have heard that his material is fine for a gaijin, but not terribly accurate for the Japanese.

Yeah, the more I think about it, Tai-Pan might go over okay, but Noble House is set in the early 1960's and a couple subplots revolve around survivors of Japanese prison camps. Probably not the most diplomatic choice for residents of Japan. Pity though, as Noble House is one of favorite books of all time - all 1200+ pages of it.

 

[hubris]

Suggestions

For light fantasty I'll back up the Asprin recommendations, and should also mention his Phule's company books as well though they are scifi. You might also want to give Peter David's _Sir Apropos of Nothing_ a try.

For horror I can only suggest a couple of books that are really more urban fantasy. The Anita Blake books by Laurell Hamilton and the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher.

Historical Fiction isn't really what I read, but there are a couple of good alternate history books out there such as the books by SM Stirling.

 

[Mog Elffoe]

For historical fiction I'd have to recommend George McDonald Fraser's Flashman books. I think that if they enjoy Discworld books that they ought to enjoy these as well. The Flashman character is an outright scoundrel, lecher, and coward who keeps finding himself in historical wars and meeting historically important people. Somehow he always weasels his way out of any situation and somehow comes up smelling like a rose. Very fun books.

 

[Maraxle]

Where do you get the impression that Wizards First Rule is light fantasy? :\
It is NOTHING like Pratchett or Asprin (not that Pratchett is always light, but he is always funny), and I'd never even consider calling it light fantasy, by any stretch of the imagination.

Maybe you should look at the link I provided. It is all about how awful everyone on here thinks WFR/Terry Goodkind is. I was being sarcastic.

 

[Volaran]

Thanks for all the recommendations!

I've stocked up on books, and head out at 8am tomorrow. Thankfully, it looks like I'll enjoy several of these titles as well. Between time in the air and in airports, I probably have a full day to kill on the way.

Coming back? Well, that's what iPods, Gameboy Advances and laptops are for. I should be able to kill their batteries one by one.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Maybe you should look at the link I provided. It is all about how awful everyone on here thinks WFR/Terry Goodkind is. I was being sarcastic.

Um, I participated in that thread, so I've already read it and kept up with it. Maybe your sarcasm needs some work.

 

[Desdichado]

Depends on what you mean by light. Goodkind is hard to take seriously, so he's light in that respect, at least.