Thursday, September 5, 2013

The first book


Most of us who are new to the world of books often start our wonderful journey to this awesome world getting to know about various authors via various sources.
People always get confused & tend to skip or take a pass when it comes to choosing the first  book written by a specific author. Even I had this dilemma  , so I used to do a lot of research & stuffs on the internet , used to visit a couple of blogs but still if I couldn’t decide the first book to read then I would just go with the ratings. Sometimes it worked & sometimes it didn’t .
If you don’t choose the first book of the author that you always wanted to read wisely , then that could really deprive you of the better work of that same author & you happen to regret about it  later after many years.
So I felt like composing a list of 10 authors with at least two options for starters from each …I have provided 2 books for almost every author in the list just inorder for you guys to have a back- up if someone ends up not agreeing to the first choice.
And i’ve added a couple of bonus books that you oughta read if you get a chance to in the near future…
So the first question that pops up in your mind is how would I narrow down a list to 10  when we have so many great authors to check out sooner or later…There are some authors who’s best work is known to many…like everyone knows Tolkien for writing “The Lord Of the Rings “ or J.K.Rowling who created Harry Potter…so why to state the obvious right…so I decided to put up a list of authors who had a lot of bestselling books..the authors in the list  may/may not be classic writers…may or may not be genre specific but they are definitely worth checking out..or let say this is a random list of certain authors that you stumbled upon & found something worthwhile…
The following list is made on personal choice & after a lot of research on the net.. I respect & appreciate everybody’s individual choice ..have tried my level best to not be biased here on personal favorites basis..So I’ve restricted my list to genres like Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers, Sci-fi as these are the widely read ones …. So the list goes as follows :

Stephen King –The world’s greatest living  suspense, science fiction, horror and fantasy fiction writer, with well over 500 million copies of his books being sold worldwide. Plenty of his novels have been made into movies .That being said , his  best work till date is considered to be “The Stand “ …& the other option that you can check out for starters is “Different Seasons “ which is a combination of 4 stories , so everyone can start with ”different seasons” thinking that they would atleast like 2 or 3 out of the 4 or all the 4..depending on the respective tastes..

Ray Bradbury – “ Fahrenheit 451 “ ..this one is definitely the best book to get in touch with the writing style of Mr. Bradbury…& the other option for starters can be “The Martian Chronicles “…it depicts his beautiful way of writing combined with a sense of poetry… both books complement the writing style of Ray Bradbury.

James Patterson – “Along came a spider “…this has to be the first book of his that you pick up ‘coz it is the first book of the series featuring the character that made Patterson famous:Alex Cross….Other option being “1st to die “ is equally thrilling for a James Patterson ‘s first book..i felt you do ‘ve so many options to choose from on the basis of genre..can choose “The Angel Experiment ” if you like young adult fiction or can pick up “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas “ if you like  romantic & melancholous stuffs.

Jeffrey Archer – I personally could never choose which is his best work…some may say “Kane & Abel”..some may say “A  Prisoner of Birth “…but for starters I’d say “A Prisoner of Birth”..it being a stand-alone  novel & it truly keeps you wanting to read more from the very author…”Kane & Abel” is considered to be his best work by many.. a great book to start ..it is the first book of a trilogy..u ought to check out the trilogy as well..gr8 author indeed…

Agatha Christie – Often referred  as “The Queen of Mystery “ has so many great works to choose from..So “And then there were none” being a stand-alone novel plus one of her best works known becomes an easy 1st choice…other option can be obviously the first in the series of  her widely known character Hercules Poirot  “The Mysterious affairs at  Styles”….Her Miss Marple series are also widely known to readers across the world.

John Grisham –…One’s who are into thrilling courtroom dramas tend to prefer John Grisham(I personally don’t lyk this genre )..Many of his works are adapted into Movies..many of us must ‘ve heard about “The Firm” starring Tom Cruise or “A time to kill” starring McConaughey..as these movies indeed did do justice to the books so it is ok to have watched the movie first ..u don’t ‘ve to regret about it..So a good book to pick up not adapted to a movie is “The Street Lawyer” (made into a TV movie but who counts that as a movie & it is not that good too so.. :p :p) . Not considering this as his best work but u would know about Grisham’s way of writing.

Harlan Coben  – His books are widely known for suspense & the twist factor. His books no matter how long are always considered a quick read. To start with you can read “ Tell No One ”…gr8 story..nice plot & keeps you guessing  throughout… Another good book to start with is  “Gone for Good”.

Isaac Asimov  - I decided to read this writer’s work ‘coz I loved the movie I-Robot ..He is famous for his foundation series . His “Robot” series are nice & intriguing too. So for starters it is good to start with “Foundation” the first book in the foundation trilogy.

Michael Crichton  – The creator of Jurassic Park . Need i say more!..Seen the movie Jurassic park ( everyone has ) ,so i started with “The Andromeda Strain” . So that would be my suggestion as the
first book to the ones who don’t prefer reading a  book  after seeing a movie adaptation of the same.

Dean Koontz  – Known to most of us as one of the most popular & successful suspense writers alive .His tales of horror , mystery , adventure has earned him the praise of critics & readers worldwide. So for a dog-lover the first book ought to be “Watchers” & for the ones otherwise checkout  ”Intensity”. His “Odd Thomas” series  are the best for people who wanna start a series right away.Trust me you won’t regret it.
So that concludes the list…

Bonus books as promised with the cover that I own .. These are some of the awesomest books that I ‘ve come across lately!!! :

City Of Thieves by David Benioff – Definitely in my top 10 favorites. Highly recommended.






















The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss – Once u start with this , I am pretty sure you can’t stop yourself from continuing the series.Reads like a wind indeed.





















The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards, #1) by Scott Lynch – Same goes with this , the first book of the trilogy would urge you to continue. A superb read.


 

P.S. – I will keep updating the above lists  as I continue reading …

11 comments:

  1. I'd share this on my blog if you are okay with that :)

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    1. Go ahead Sugandha , no issues. I'm just glad you think this post's worth sharing :):)

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  2. Nice post :) That's a pretty useful list

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  3. Thanks Adarsh :)
    Really appreciate it.

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  4. Pretty Nice List Nikhil.. :)

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  5. Replies
    1. I'm happy that you like it. :)
      Thanks for stopping by Anil!

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  6. WOW ! So cool..Can I reblog it on my blog ?

    ReplyDelete