The Great Book Alphabet Game

[bigdamnhero]

Enemy At The Gates by William Craig: the definite account of the battle of Stalingrad, bearing little/no resemblance to the movie of the same name.

 

Eagle Against The Sun by Ronald Spector: one of the best single-volume histories of WWII in the Pacific theater.

 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card: I'm not actually a fan, but it's certainly influential and I'm surprised no one else had mentioned it yet.

[Pariah]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card: I'm not actually a fan, but it's certainly influential and I'm surprised no one else had mentioned it yet.

 

Totally missed that one myself. Good call.

[mattingly]

Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus, written by a teenage girl almost two hundred years ago, and arguably launched both science fiction and horror as genres.

 

The Fault in Our Stars, a great tragic love story (the movie is also very good)

[Cancer]

The Feynman Lectures on Physics ... three volumes of his transcribed lectures in what would now be described as accelerated introductory physics. Bears re-reading long after you've got your advanced degrees.

[bigdamnhero]

Foundation, et al. by Isaac Asimov. If you haven't read this one, just turn in your Geek Card.

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Not my favorite Bradbury, but a great read.

 

The Face Of Battle by John Keegan. One of the best attempts to chronicle what battle was like to the people actually in it, from Agincourt to Waterloo to the Somme.

 

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. Autobiography of a young German soldier slogging his way through Eastern Front during WWII. One of the most depressing books I've ever read, but highly evocative.

 

And The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. No need to guess what the Founding Fathers intended: they told us.

[bigdamnhero]

Oh, back under D I missed one of my all-time favorite book recommendations: The Defense of Duffer's Drift by then-Captain, later Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton. This short book is told as a series of dreams in which the narrator is a novice Lieutenant on his first independent command during the Boer War. At first he makes some really glaring mistakes and they get their asses kicked, but then the dream repeats but he gets to learn from his previous mistakes until he eventually succeeds. It's honestly one of the best primers on military leadership and small unit tactics you'll ever find, not to mention entertaining as hell.

[Cancer]

From Defeat into Victory by Field Marshal Sir William Slim. Probably the best army commander memoir of WW2, though there's not much competition.

[death tribble]

A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin. The 'fourth' book of the Game of Thrones.

 

Firefox by Craig Thomas. How to best study a new Stealth jet ? Steal it ! The film was made with Clint Eastwood

 

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan. Book 5 of the Wheel of Time.

 

Echo Burning and The Enemy by Lee Child are more Jack Reacher books.

 

Domain by James Herbert. The third in the Rats books. Perfectly nasty.

 

Fluke, The Fog and '48 are all James Herbert books. The first is a dog who believes he is a man or a man who is a dog. The second is about a fog that causes people to kill or commit suicide and the last one is about a group of survivors in London after a German victory in the second World War.

[Pariah]

Foundation, et al. by Isaac Asimov. If you haven't read this one, just turn in your Geek Card.

Beat me to it. Excellent choice.

 

 

And The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. No need to guess what the Founding Fathers intended: they told us.

 

I haven't read this in a very long time. Maybe it's time for me to read it again. (Maybe I'll order copies for my Representative and Senators, too.)

[death tribble]

Gaming products include

 

Atomic Age Cthulhu, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, Blood Brothers, Coming Full Circle, Fatal Experiments and Fearful Passages which are all for Cthulhu.

 

City of Brass for D+D I must include as the company is the one where I first made my ID live.

 

Also Dieties and Demigods first edition which had Melnibone and Newhon stuff. I got this and good job I did as this was taken out in later editions. Also got me into Elric and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

 

The Fiend Folio First British AD+D book. Brought us the Githyanki and Githzerai, the Grell, Crabmen, Hook Horror and Princes of Elemental Evil. It had the Flumph as well. I love this book.

 

Back to fiction and a series from France Fantomas by Allain and Souvestre. This is a French version of Moriarty and he is really nasty. Set at the end of the 19th Century and the early 20th the books are good reads but start with the Fantomas

[bigdamnhero]

G is for...

 

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher. Third book in the Dresden Files, and the one where Butcher's narrative style comes together and the series really takes off. I usually recommend people skip the first two books and start here. Honorable mention to Ghost Story, the 13th book in the series and one of my favorites.

 

Give War A Chance by P.J. O'Rourke. One of O'Rourke's most hysterical books, collection of essays really, from the fall of the Berlin Wall through the Gulf War. The phrase "biting wit" probably wasn't invented specifically for O'Rourke, but it coulda/shoulda been.

 

Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond. An amazing and ambitious book that tries to understand and explain why human society is the way it is, why some cultures advanced more rapidly/differently than others, and how geography shapes everything. Brilliant.

[mattingly]

Games People Play by Dr. Eric Berne

It blends games, psychology, and economics. It invented the field of Transactional Analytics.

[death tribble]

Gangs of New York, Gangs of Chicago and Gangs of New Orleans by Herbert Asbury. The first of these is what was used as a basis for the film Gangs of New York. It is a lot of anecdotal stories but it is entertaining. As are the ones on New Orleans and Chicago

 

Two trilogies from Len Deighton, Game, Set and Match and Faith, Hope and Charity. This is spy stuff set in the 80s and involves one family.

 

Ghosts of Sleath by James Herbert. This is another of the Ash books where David Ash is investigating a village being haunted.

 

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. A different take on the Omen story is one way of putting this.

 

We missed two parts of the Riverworld series A Dark Design and The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer. All of humanity is reincarnated on a river on a world that is not earth. These books continue the story. 

 

The Firm by John Grisham. This is much better than the film with Tom Cruise.

 

Flag of Dishonor and Flag in Exile by David Weber. Honor Harrington clashes with her old enemy and gets rid of him and then spends time on the world of Grayson when another attempt to turn back change occurs.

 

Guns of Navarone  by Alistair Mclean. They made it into a film. Nuff said.

 

First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown and Fortune's Favourites by Coleen McCullough. This is a history of Rome from just before the birth of Julius Caeser and follows the careers of Gaius Marius and Sulla.

 

Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light by Mary Gentle. This is a two parter but you only need to read the first. A human ambassador tries to work out whether a planet can be developed.

Grunts is also by Mary Gentle and is life on the side of Evil viewed through the eyes of Orcs. Contains the definitive depiction of a halfling thief.

 

Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. These are the second and third books of a trilogy depicting the colonization and development of Mars. Brilliant

 

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. Book 2 of the Wheel of Time

 

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. This is the second book that started with Titus Groan. I would not read the last book Titus Alone. Peake was one of the people who went into the death camps and it really affected him

 

Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara. Michael Shaara was the father of Jeff and wrote The Killer Angels which dealt with the battle of Gettysburg. Gods and Generals deals with the start of the war.

 

The Godfather by Mario Puzo. If you know the film, need I say more ?

 

Gardens of the Moon by Stephen Erikson. The end of a seige leads to covert attempts to go after another city, This has Gods, Magic, shapechangers and Marines.

 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson. A reporter is asked to look into the disappearance of a girl several decades before and is assisted by a hacker. The second book deals with the hacker's father and an attempt by the government to put her on trial.

 

Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. The book that kick starts the series. Fun.

 

Missing from previous letters are

The Forever War by Haldemann which is a Sci Fi classic.

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. This is very entertaining.

A Fortunate Life by Robert Vaughn is his autobiography. It is very good.

[death tribble]

Gamingwise we have

 

The Black Widow Company, Fox's Teeth and Davion Guide are all Battletech books.

 

For the Scarred Lands campaign Blood Sea and Ghelspad hardcover are worth a look.

 

Grimtooth's Traps. Some of the most devious trap ideas ever either in its original format or as a hardcover fro D+D.

 

Gramercy Island is a prison setting for Heroes Unlimited. I like it a lot.

 

For the Greater Good is a Villains and Vigilantes module and is for mature gamers only.

 

Gestalt This is a book from Blackwyrm Games and has an interesting twist on how people get powers. It is great. The Blood Red King is in this book and Worldmaker was one of the ones here who raised awareness of it.

 

For Mutants and Masterminds the following products are good.

Emerald City, Freedom City, Foes of Freedom all from Green Ronin and then the Algernon Files, Fires of War and Autumn Arbor. 

[Pariah]

I have two recommendations for the letter G, both by C.S. Lewis.

 

The Great Divorce is presented as a dream of a man who awakes to find himself in the suburbs of the City of Hell. Some time later, he meets some other people and learns about a bus that will take them on a day trip to Heaven. Furthermore, he is told that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven once they arrive will be allowed to do so. After arrival, he observes several of his fellow passengers and their experiences, and to his astonishment, most of them eventually get back on the bus for various reasons. The story is an interesting allegory about what Heaven really is, and the true price of admission.

 

A Grief Observed is a nonfictional account of Lewis' struggles with the illness and death of his wife. Taken from his journals of the period, the book chronicles his journey through anger, depression, and ultimate acceptance, all in the context of his Christian faith. He reveals so much of himself, it is both soul-rending and also life-affirming. It is perhaps the most courageous book I've ever read.

[Pariah]

Let's also take a moment to recognize The Giver by Lois Lowry. What would the world be like if there were no pain, no disease, no war, and no sadness? The book explores this question by presenting a community where these things don't exist--but neither does individuality, opportunity, or free will. Spoiler Alert: A world without pain and suffering would suck. As a Latter-day Saint, I find this book an interesting allegory for the question of why agency is the central facet of the human experience.

[mattingly]

Good choices, Pariah.

I haven't read the Lowry book, but it sounds good.

[bigdamnhero]

A few really obvious ones for H...

 

Harry Potter and the [insert your personal fave here] by J.K. Rawling. I'd go with Goblet Of Fire as my favorite, but frankly I enjoyed them all.

 

The Hobbit, a little-known book by some dude named Tolkein. (Honestly, I can't believe none of us thought of Fellowship Of The Ring for F!)

 

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. If I have to `splain this one to you, turn in your geek card.

[bigdamnhero]

OK, a few less-obvious ones:

 

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. A love letter to obsessive music geeks everywhere. (I'm not a music geek, but all geeks will recognize the humor.) The John Cusak movie was a blast, but the book is even better.

 

Heir To The Empire by Timothy Zahn. First of a trilogy by Zahn that started the whole Star Wars Extended Universe thing. A good read.

 

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. A true story about the day we almost had an Ebola outbreak in Washington DC. One of the scariest books I've ever read - I was washing my hands compulsively for month afterwards!

[Pariah]

One of my favorite thrillers, which was quite superior to the movie it inspired: Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October.

 

And then there's the book that helps me remember day to day that dealing with teenagers could be a whole lot worse: The Hunger Games.

[mattingly]

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

 

How to be Invisible by J. J. Luna, jam packed with tips on privacy and security

[Pariah]

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

 

This story is told as a first person narrative, and the protagonist (who has the same name as the author) is a time machine repairman. His story is, therefore, nonlinear. With numerous references to physics and language, he discusses the difficulties of living outside of time. He frequently mentions two companions: TAMMY, the melancholy computer operating system who runs his time machine, and a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog named Ed. He writes about receiving a book (which has the same name as the novel) from his future self, whom he then shoots, trapping himself in a time loop. Confusing? Yes, more than a bit so. Mostly, though, the book as about his efforts to find and connect with his family, especially his father, something he never managed to do in the past. I found it a challenging read, but worth the effort.

[death tribble]

The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. A family come to run a hotel and you follow their lives.

 

House of Chains by Steven Erikson. This is another of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and is good. Yu need to read the previous books to understand better what is going on.

 

The Histories by Herodotus. One of the great classics of literature.

 

Hawkmoon by Michael Moorcock. This is a collection of the Hawkmoon stories another of the manifestations of the Eternal Champion

 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. This is what Apocalypse Now is based on. Minus the helicopter attack obviously. 

[mattingly]

How to be Legendary by Johnny B Truant (free from the author), an entertaining look at life management skills.

 

[mattingly]

A G book I forgot...

 

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins