69 Books Like Gnomon

This entire series was amazing. Okay, a few of the books were a bit slow, but overall, it was great. The new worlds, the political intrigue, everything about this story was great. There were histories that drove the characters that were only hinted at or mentioned in passing, but they brought life to them. Just like we are all shaped by our past, our countries, and our places in society, so are all the characters in this book.

My favorite character wasn’t Paul, though; it was Duncan Idaho. I was so sad when he was killed, but I was fascinated when they brought him back from the dead in the second book and others because Herbert made it so interesting. The bodyguard programmed, created even, to kill the one he once died to protect. Now, that’s some drama right there. 😊 

The twists, turns, and world-building were amazing. I learned… show more.

What a weird and wonderful book. I've read and reread it several times now, and it always casts its spell. I've never been so willing—so eager—to suspend disbelief. It's Murakami's special gift.

The novel creates its own wondrous world out of what seems to be the stuff of this one—a young runaway, Colonel Sanders, alley cats, a beautiful librarian, a seashore painting, a demented old man—but the result is more magical than any fairy kingdom. I was completely carried along by the experience of an understanding beyond sense.

Banks is a freak of nature: he wrote sci-fi of the pinkest blood as well as prize-winning literary fare; all it took to indulge this duality was the use of a spare initial. The Business is one of the subtler interlopers: a minimalist, monochrome cover and a tale of corporate greed. Banks dials what could have been a staid techno-thriller up to 11 with killer prose, a razor-sharp protagonist, and outrageous flirting with the edges of possibility: magnates who get their jollies beaching cruise liners, hollowed-out mountain lairs, revving supercars to the destruction around the Swiss mountains. This is a novel that pops with the wit and flair of a writer at the height of his powers and determined to have a blast.

I love this book for its Matroyska doll-style structure: The first five sections tell stories in different periods— from the mid-19th century to the 22nd—loosely connected by repeating characters and media, each ending abruptly and without resolution. The sixth section, set in the 24th century, is the spine of the novel, told in its entirety. Then Mitchell revisits the time periods in reverse chronological order, resolving each story, ending where we began in the mid-19th century.

It was a highly satisfying experience that changed my view of how a story could be told. It is widely considered one of the finest novels of the 21st century. It covers ideas I would normally balk at, like reincarnation and the existence of eternal consciousness. Still, the storytelling is so powerful that it all came across as believable to me. I loved the way Mitchell demonstrated how an idea in one time period… show more.

It’s not often that I rave about a Stephen King novel, but I really loved this one.

It's long, but it does keep you interested. And you almost believe it could happen. The fact that it is about missing and mentally mistreated children lends a contemporary and a futuristic feel to the tale. 

Fans will love it, and it will bring a few more to the fold. Recommended.

I have given copies of the Galactic Milieu Trilogy as gifts more than any other book. This is the bravest near-future sci-fi series I have ever read. Intervention, published in 1987, follows events from 1945 through to 2013 when the five races of the Galactic Milieu embrace humanity. I love the merger of historical events with future possibilities in a story centred around a dynasty of ‘operant’ human beings.

As a teenager, I was fascinated by stories of telepathy, etc., but I found most books that dealt with ‘higher mind powers’ were in the fantasy or horror market. But this series is perfect sci-fi, technically plausible while politically powerful—and again, with a large, diverse cast.

For me personally, this is one of the best works on spontaneous psychical and extrasensory experiences. The accounts are drawn from rural Finland, and the expertise of the late Professor Emerita Leea Virtanen is brought to bear upon the narratives. I love how Virtanen connects the modern accounts to the old beliefs and traditions in her country and makes comparisons between her sample and others much further afield.

This work is a much-needed bridge between psychical research and folklore. It is full of apparitions, visions, dreams, and other supernatural occurrences that happen simultaneously with a distant event—what Virtanen calls “simultaneous informatory experiences.” I absolutely recommend this for any student of psychical research, folklore, or ordinary human experiences in general.

I read this book at sixteen and fell in love with it.

A romance written in 1912, it’s a story of adventure, action, and love. The sun has died; humanity dwells in an enormous pyramid surrounded by Forces of Evil, awaiting its force field to die, so they can feed on both the inhabitants’ bodies and souls. The hero’s long-lost love has been reborn in another, dying pyramid across the Night Land. He must travel to rescue her.

One of the Great Books, it’s marred by the archaic language the writer chose to employ. But it’s beautiful, awesome, and magnificent.

I loved it so much, I rewrote it in more modern language years ago. Mine’s available, but if you can get through the original, I highly recommend it.

As much as I love complex, dark protagonists, I adore a lighter side now and then. I found it in this book with the main character, Shelby Nichols. She just makes me laugh.

I even found myself reading sections out loud to my husband, who laughed right along with me. Shelby is a wife and mother, and after being shot in the head, she develops the ability to read people’s minds. Her sudden awareness of what her teenage children and husband are thinking takes the plot up to a whole new level.

This is one ability I’m glad I don’t have. I think I’d rather not know.

This fun story from the 1990s revived my youthful joy in reading at a time when the busy-ness of adulthood had stolen it away. Siri has forgotten who she is and is swept into multiple space adventures as she tries to reconstruct her lost memories and regain the power and place she once held with her people. In the process, she finds friendships (the Drapsk!) and romance (Morgan!), and comes to understand herself better.

In reading this book, I realized that the science fiction stories I like best are ones that deal with relationships, mystery, and discovery and not just complicated technologies and their implications for society. I realized that I could have fun reading again if I had some fun science fiction with adventure, romance, and exploration!