Sometimes you do not want to invest in an entire book series. (Yes, I'm looking at you Wheel of Time). You just want one good book to carry you through a weekend. Please give me your best suggestion. I don’t mind if it is part of a series as long as that single book can stand on its own without any other reading required.
I’ll give you two of my Favorite quick reads:
The Descent by Jeff Long – This book took me by surprise and would make an awesome summer blockbuster. Tom Hardy as Elias Branch anyone?
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – A sci-fi philosophy book about Pilgrims in space, first contact and god. Unbelievable read that will have you head spinning once finished.
Boom bang done. One book, one weekend. I need suggestions
-MD
A Canticle for Leibowitz.
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The Descent by Jeff Long – This book took me by surprise and would make an awesome summer blockbuster.
There's already like 3 movies by that name though, it'd be kinda awkward. =p
"The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers is a standalone novel packed with a whole series' worth of ideas. It's got Lovecraftian horror, magical time travel, ancient Egyptian sorcerers, a body-switching werewolf, beggars' guilds, artificial life-forms, a woman disguised as a man, and a couple of incredible plot twists you'll never forget. And that description doesn't even scratch the surface.
Arthur C. Clarke hadn't planned any sequels when he wrote "Rendezvous With Rama". I would suggest reading that one as a standalone. Don't bother with the sequels (except, maybe, to look at the cover picture of "Rama II".)
Rendezvous with Rama looks great. You can't go wrong with a Hugo award winner.
I was pretty geeked when the 2005 movie the Decent was released. I thought it was going to be based of Jeff Longs book. And while the movie was fun it was certainly not related in any way to Jeff's novel.
-MD
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*I recently read "warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson, and I consider it a GREAT standalone. Might be a bit too long for a single weekend, though.
* Any Terry Pratchett book ever would fit the bill handsomely.
* Same goes for many of the early-to-mid Stephen King novels, and to the two GRRM novels I read outside of SoIaF - The Armaggedon Rag and Fever Dream.
* The two best Pathfinder Fiction novels I read so far are also recommendable - "Death's Heretic" by James Sutter and Nightglass by Liane Merciel.
* Peeps by Scott Westerfeld works great as a stand alone novel, despite the existence of a sequel.
* Micheal Marhsall Smith's books are great for this purpose as well.