Manly Summer Reads
|
ENTERTAINMENT
|
|
TV is in reruns and gas is ridiculously expensive, so it might be time to give your library card a workout. These are books guaranteed to put some hair on your…brain.
|
|
|
|
NONFICTION | CLASSICS | CRIME/MYSTERY/ADVENTURE | FANTASY/SCI-FI/OTHER NERDERY | WAR
FANTASY/SCI-FI/OTHER NERDERY
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
For a guy with such a seemingly bleak outlook for the future, Orson Scott Card never seems to be afraid of innovation. The original version of Ender's Game was published online for free in 1984 (yes, the Internet existed back then) before it was even available for purchase. The story, which follows a 6-year-old military genius over the course of an epic war fought against aliens called buggers, is widely regarded as the best sci-fi has to offer. As an added bonus, Marvel has announced that they're turning the tale into a graphic novel sometime in 2008, and a video game is in the works as well. Unfortunately, according to IMDB, production on the movie seems to be more dysfunctional than a space station toilet.
Click to buy
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Stephen King
Before Stephen King filled his brain to capacity with cocaine and started cranking out books faster than we could read them, he put together this story of an otherworldly cowboy. There's plenty of action to keep you entertained, so much so that you might want to pick up the other six books in the series.
Click to buy
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
You've probably seen the campy '90s version starring Casper Van Dien and Dina Meyer's breasts, but the book is far different. Heinlein's super soldiers were equipped with Iron Man–like robotic armor that helped them dish out all kinds of Bug punishment. When it was first released, it stirred up tons of controversy about the military practices of the U.S., but still remains on the reading list of four of the five U.S. military academies.
Click to buy
Dune, Frank Herbert
Dune sometimes gets a bad rap, but it's due mainly to the fact that the 1984 movie and the 2000 TV miniseries both sucked worse than getting sand in your shorts. But the story is amazing, painting an intense picture of life on a desert planet, where if you don't die of dehydration, you'll probably be eaten by a giant sand worm like the ones that tried to eat Kevin Bacon in Tremors.
Click to buy
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Reading about history can get pretty boring, unless of course you're reading an alternate history of what life would be like if the Nazis and the Japanese had won WWII and divided up America between them. Philip K. Dick's novel veers off into an alternate universe Back to the Future II–style, and is extremely entertaining, even if it is a little scary. In Dick's view, though, American culture gets completely subjugated, but, hey, pot's legal!
Click to buy
A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
Martin is not even halfway done with the series this book kicks off, but the rights have already been picked up by HBO, who are hoping to make it a hit with people who like fantasy but don't dress up like elves for extended LARPing sessions in the woods. Just don't get too attached to any of the main characters, because the author likes to kill or maim them without warning. Think a medieval Oz with more swordplay and less rape.
Click to buy
NONFICTION | CLASSICS | CRIME/MYSTERY/ADVENTURE | FANTASY/SCI-FI/OTHER NERDERY | WAR
|
|
|
|
![](http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/maxim.dart/entertainment;kw=entertainment;pgs=back;tile=3;sz=300x250;ord="+cachebreaker+"?)
|
|
|