Geek Culture! Summer Reading Recommendations

With vacation season upon us, many of you are preparing to go to destinations where it may a little cumbersome to lug around that PS3 on the beach or don’t want to get sand on your DSi. So, the perfect substitution is a book, which offers you a different kind of adventure and helps you with the change of pace that a vacation is supposed to be.

Keep in mind, these are purely my recommendations. If you have other ideas, leave a comment so you can share it with others. Here we go!

1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. If you haven’t read this, you MUST. A video game based on one aspect of the book is being developed and a movie is in the works, as well. Plus, there are quite a few books that focus around Ender that follow this one and can lead you down an interesting reading series. Card has even created a parallel series to go along with it. Start with Ender’s Game, keep on going, and you will have plenty to read for a long time.
2. Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel by Thomas Berger. Sadly, this book is out of print, but you can find it in the library and used on Amazon.com. I love this book because it offers a great novelization and twist on Arthurian legend. I will say that it is a slow read, but one to be savored.
3. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. This is Heinlein classic tale of what it means to become a soldier, politics, and what battles of the future may be. If you’ve read it before, read it again.
4. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. This book is the antithesis of everything Starship Troopers stands for, and that’s how Haldeman likes it. This book was written as a criticism of Heinlein’s novel. He writes to show a different side of war: the ugliness of battle and the alienation of soldiers, especially since Haldeman accounts for time passage differences in the book. It’s just been re-released with new material, so go read it.
5. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Finance, computers, geeks, treasure hunts, and van eck freeking. What more could you want?
6. The Ringworld Series by Larry Niven. Oh yeah…the original Halo! This is another series that will keep you busy all summer with a fascinating trilogy. And no, no Master Chief….but there is some lovely violence involved!
7. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Before I get any crap about this being on Oprah’s Book of the Month Club, don’t judge a book by its, erm, cover. This book just sucks you in and leaves you wanting more. Following the building of a cathedral in Middle Ages England, Follett writes a tale that left me in awe. I’m so glad he wrote a sequel, which I haven’t gotten to read yet.

This has at least given you some ideas for reading. I have a pile of books all over the house (literally) that I need to dig into and I keep coming across more, either buying them or people giving them to me. Believe me, I’m not complaining! Books are great! Take a break from games this summer and immerse yourself in a good novel. It’s a classic geek activity and there’s nothing wrong with being a bookworm.

Happy reading!