Shōgun

Shogun, after having watched the show. I also read the other books in Clavell's series, I thought Tai Pan and Gai Jin were interesting but not as much as Shogun. Gai Jin in particular felt like it had lots of filler.

Shogun's a milestone in my reading history - it's so extraordinarily engrossing. It deflated me more than any other book as I turned each of the final, waning pages because I didn't want to leave its world behind. I was briefly elated to see there are "sequels" but just as quickly disappointed to learn they're set centuries apart; it ended up feeling like I was clinging to the only album ever made by an amazing band. I've yet to read the other books in the saga, but I should circle back and fix that.

It's a very good book. I read the book and watched the 1970's TV series. I think it's a great candidate for a redo in the streaming era. It has adventure, political intrigue, romance, and on and on... It's definitely worth reading more than once.

James Clavell's Shogun: The contrast between the Japanese and European cultures in 1600 are delicious, the characters and plot both well developed. I've read it at least a dozen times over four decades. As I age, I find I experience it very differently.

There is a 70s TV mini series that did a good adaptation of the Shogun book. So I decided to read the book, it was well worth it. At 1000+ pages I wish it could have been longer. I loved it.

Shogun is such a great book. I like to escape to it every year or so.

I just finished Shogun and The Terror one after the other. The reason I liked these is that I found the dogged determination of the respective captains in the face of adversity (especially in The Terror) inspirational.

1) Shogun 2) Noble House 3) Excel by Que Publishing

I agree with you about Shogun. I think the transformative properties of that book relate to the Samurai mindset.

Curious, although not altogether unsurprising, to find so few fiction books being mentioned. :) For me, it would be a toss-up between James Clavell's «Shogun» (but I wouldn't really be able to explain how or why), and then perhaps «Waking Up» by Sam Harris (a bit more obvious).

Just finished reading this myself and would highly recommend it. Both Shogun and Tai Pan were thoroughly enjoyable reads. Deeply woven plots with rich characters and historical intrigue.

Yeah the Asian Saga includes King Rat, Shogun, Noble House, Taipan as well as Gai-gin, The Whirlwind. They're all pretty good books but I believe Taipan, Noble House and Shogun are considered Clavell's best work, in that order (personally I like Noble House best). Thanks for the recommendation though.

As has already been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, most of Neil Stephenson's work is just great. Cryptonomicon is my favorite, but The Baroque Cycle (three books) is very good as well. If you're into crime/mystery fiction, the recently deceased Elmore Leonard was one of the best. A few of his books have been made into movies (Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, The Big Bounce) with mixed results, but I do I highly recommend reading the books, which are numerous. For a different sort of fiction, James Clavell's Shogun, Taipan, and Noble House are great. In fact, Noble House very well be my favorite book. It's a long (~1400 page) book about business dealings, political intrigue, and more. All set in the context of 1963 Hong Kong. Those who like a touch of historical fiction could take a look at Conn Uggulden. One of his series, The Conqueror, which is about the rise and fall of the Mongol empire is pretty interesting. The books are a light read, and not particularly complicated, but it's entertaining and has some neat historical bits.

Shogun is a great read. It got me started on the whole historical fiction genre. The rest of the books in Clavell's Asian Saga are pretty good too except for maybe Gai-jin. I also enjoyed reading Gore Vidal's Lincoln and Burr from his Narratives of the Empire series - very entertaining and definitely not run-of-the-mill biographic portrayals.

I read 27 books in 2012. Here are some of the more interesting ones: Shogun - James Clavel. 'Epic' is the best word I can use to describe this historical fiction. I first read it in 2009 and have reread all 1100 pages multiple times since. The first English pilot to reach the Japans discovers a culture that, while strange, is in many ways far more advanced than his own. The fictional Lord Toranaga is based on the historical Tokugawa Ieyasu, a brilliant strategist who founded a dynasty that lasted 268 years. The book is full of the real Tokugawa's writings, which can be very profound. For anyone familiar with the 'marshmallow test' for determining how well 5 year olds will do later in life, Tokugawa had it figured out 370 years before Walter Mischel: "The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means restraining one's inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, grief, fear, and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient. I am not as strong as I might be, but I have long known and practiced patience. And if my descendants wish to be as I am, they must study patience."…

On the fiction side, I absolutely loved Shogun by Clavell. I didn't know what to expect, and I found an epic that was captivating in many ways. I also started Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I realize I'm about 10 years behind everyone else, and I've found it most deserving of all of the hubbub. With respect to nonfiction, I enjoyed Schroeder's recent biography of Warren Buffett, entitled the Snowball. It was much less of a hagiography than much of what you read on him. He's a fascinating, complex man.

Don Quixote by Cervantes, or Shogun by Clavell.

Likewise. Noble House was a good read, but Shogun was much better.

I've read only Noble House. It's quite rich on the culture--maybe not so much as Shogun--and captures the setting quite well, but I didn't find it nearly as entrancing as Shogun. Worth a read, still.

Indeed. After I finished it, I was sad for weeks. I just missed being in that world with those people. None of Clavell's other endeavors even comes close (though Tai-Pan was, relatively speaking, a fun modern romp).

I read that about 10 years ago. I need to revisit it again since I don't think I have ever managed to finish it without long periods of rest inbetween parts. That said I totally agree. Excellent book.

I finished this recently and could not agree more. I've just started the 1980's miniseries via Netflix (no streaming, unfortunately) - I'm only two hours in, but so far it is a great retelling.

+1 for Shogun and Tai Pan.

I am a total whore for historical fiction: 'Shogun' by James Clavell was the first book I read that had me glued to it for hours and hours at a time. Tai Pan is also a classic. I also found the original three Courtney books by Wilbur Smith (starting with 'The Sound of Thunder') were a guilty pleasure. They are pure trash, with thin characters and a predictable plot but epic adventure nonetheless. More recently I've topped off the 'Emperor' series (chronicling Julius Ceasars life) and have started the 'Conqueror' series (same thing, but its about Genghis Khan). Both by Conn Iggulden. Not quite at the same literary level as some of the other suggestions here but I was wondering if I was the only one.

Right now, Anathem by Neal Stephenson is my favorite. I read through the comments before adding my 2 cents. I saw a lot of my favorite books, including a few by Neal Stephenson. But I did not see Anathem. Hmmm... I also saw a few references to James Clavell's Shogan. Excellent book. But I liked Tai Pan more, and in fact, I would say that this is my second favorite. Just to add another title that nobody here is likely mention, the first book that I read that blew my mind (admittedly in my very young days) was "When the Lion feeds" by Wilbur Smith.

+1 for Shogun. It's one hell of a book.

Don Quixote Shogun

V. by Thomas Pynchon The Life of Pi by Yann Martel the McSweeney's Quarterly Concern (Not a book per se, but very enjoyable) Shakespeare (Everything, I'm surprised he's only been mentioned once so far) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe Shogun by James Clavell Then, of course, the regular hodgepodge of Card, Asimov, Adams, Gaiman, Pratchet, Stephenson, Feynman, and that LOTR guy, Tolkey or sommat. (In all seriousness, though, all of these authors are phenomenal, if well-known for being such)