Welcome to Gaia! ::

I've been meaning to make this for months, I've just kept forgetting. Now's as good a time as any.

So, while I figure that everyone here loves fantasy books, I also figure that we all have to read other genres at some point. What are some good non-fantasy books you've read? Any genre counts, from sci-fi to non-fiction.

I quite liked Jurrassic Park (I hated the movie, though), and Raptor Red was good, too. I tried a couple of Dan Brown's books, and while they were fairly interesting, I can't read them again, which is how I judge how good a book is. Other than that... I'm drawing a blank at the moment, lthough I know I've liked some other ones. There was a sci-fi story in an anthology I read called Familiars, and it was my favorite story in that book. And this one book I read by Odell Shepard about unicorns (can't remember the exact title) was pretty interesting, too.

I like true crime and heist stories. I especially like ones where the criminal more-or-less gets away with it. Among the best of these are Hornung's "Raffles" stories (Raffles is kind of the opposite of Sherlock Holmes, a gentleman thief who always manages to confound his nemesis in Scotland Yard. Raffles even has an attentive, slightly befuddled sidekick, like Watson in his wastrel friend, Bunny.)

I am fond of science fiction as well. If you like swashbuckling naval stories, you may want to check out "Mission of Gravity" by Hal Clement. This first couple chapters are rather dry, but the main story tells of a group of centipede-like mariners on a high gravity planet. They have the high-gravity-equivalent of old timey sailing technology and a group of human scientists in orbit help the little bug guys circumnavigate the globe (and reach centipede-peoples' own pole.) It really becomes quite a gripping read.

Boat of a Million years by Poul Anderson is a pretty good sci fi story about immortals and Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague DeCamp tells of a man hurled back in time who tries to prevent the dark ages from coming about.

I am, afraid, outside of fantasy, however, that most of these books are rather male-oriented, but I think anyone can have fun with them.

Oh, yeah. I got into mystery a while back, and read a few that I liked, but I tired of mystery books quickly. Once in a while, I'll read some historical fiction, but I generally like it more when there's fantasy stuff added in.

i practically read anything but star wars, Tolkien, and star trek.

Man, I haven't thought of those books in years!
In fiction I've also read: The Lost World, Congo, several horse stories (Race the Wind, Black Beauty, etc), Jack London's works, Edgar Allan Poe's works.

I read a lot of animal behaviorism & psycology books: If You Tame Me, Pack of Two, The Cat Who Cried for Help, The Dog Who Loved too Much, When Elephants Weep, The Ten Trusts, Animals in Translation, it goes on (and on and on).

I read all of Marguerite Henry's books. She wrote about lots of different horses.

Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin is one of my all-time favorite books & is well worth reading. I recommed it to all the animal ppl I know (and non-animal ppl too). Some other good behavior books are:

The Cat Who Cried for Help & The Dog Who Loved Too Much both by Dr. Nicholas Dodman (The Cat Who Cried is really interesting because you never hear much about cat behavior problems)

The Secret Life of Dogs & Tribe of Tiger both by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas are about the social structures & complexities of cats & dogs.

If You Tame Me by Leslie Irvine and Marc Bekoff & Pack of Two by Caroline Knapp both discuss the role of animals in our lives & argue that animals are cognative beings.

When Elephants Weep by Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy is about the emotional lives of animals.

If you want any more titles let me know. I've got a huge list.

i have some sci-fi, especially if you include terry pratchett!

but also classics like Heinlein, Clark, and Asimov.

as well as Ursula K. LeGuin

and Andre Norton redface

i also have some horror, including Lovecraft and King.

sometimes this whole assortment is lumped together with fantasy as "speculative fiction"