Recommend me some books

[Abcinthia]

I want to read some new books, especially as I'm doing a reading challenge for this year (I mentioned it on another thread but I'm trying to read 70 books by the end of the year). I've got a list of books I've always wanted to read but never gotten around to but I want to expand it. I'll read absolutely any book on any subject - fiction or non-fiction. The only author I really dislike is Ian McEwan.

The title + author's name and a brief comment about it (eg fiction/non-fiction + genre) would be handy.

 

[pjbleek]

Assuming you have read the classics? (Shakespeare, Dickens,etc) and the like...what kind of subject are you not to keen on?

 

[Peter Parka]

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series. (fantasy fiction, comedy) Thats over 30 books to keep you busy.:thumbup

 

[Kyle B]

Baily - The American Pageant

I've read it twice!:thumbup

 

[Abcinthia]

Assuming you have read the classics? (Shakespeare, Dickens,etc) and the like...what kind of subject are you not to keen on?

I'e read quite a few Shakespeare plays and started but never finished most Dickens books :surrender I don't like Dicken's circumlocution style of writing (tis why I dislike Ian McEwan). Other Victorian authors do itl and I'll read the books but I'll have to be in the right mood for it. But I love classics like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and I've read all of Jane Austen's books except Emma (which is on my reading list).

Off the top of my head, I can't really think of a subject I wouldn't be happy to read. Most of the books on my shelves are thriller/horror/crime type novels but I'd happily read anything

 

[Abcinthia]

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series. (fantasy fiction, comedy) Thats over 30 books to keep you busy.:thumbup

Do they go in any particular order? Or doesn't it matter?

Baily - The American Pageant

I've read it twice!:thumbup

ooo thanks. Been added to my list of books.

 

[HK]

A challenge! I have a lot of books

The Wind On Fire Trilogy - William Nicholson
These are technically young adult books I guess, but I love them. The first book stands alone so you don't need to read all three to get a satisfactory ending, but the other two continue the story well.

The Sookie Stackhouse Books - Charlaine Harris
If you haven't already read these and you like vampires, these are a bit of fun plus there's 8 or 9 of them at the moment.

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes
I've got everything Marian Keyes has written but this is a good place to start as any - it's a comedy, but the underlying story is about drug addiction. Sad and funny.

One Day - David Nicholls
My mum lent me this book, every chapter is the same date over several years, following the lives of two people.

What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
I really enjoyed this, it's about a woman who wakes up after hitting her head and has forgotten the last 10 years of her life. She remembers being newly married and pregnant, and now her marriage is teetering on divorce and she's had kids she doesn't remember.

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
Non-fiction, not usually my type but it's all about the myths and BS surrounding science in the media and it's fascinating.

 

[Peter Parka]

Do they go in any particular order? Or doesn't it matter?

They do go in a kind of order but it dosent really matter too much. Some of the books are mainly about certain characters and some about others, they can cross over a bit too.
This explains it better than I can.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld

 

[Abcinthia]

A challenge! I have a lot of books

The Wind On Fire Trilogy - William Nicholson
These are technically young adult books I guess, but I love them. The first book stands alone so you don't need to read all three to get a satisfactory ending, but the other two continue the story well.

The Sookie Stackhouse Books - Charlaine Harris
If you haven't already read these and you like vampires, these are a bit of fun plus there's 8 or 9 of them at the moment.

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes
I've got everything Marian Keyes has written but this is a good place to start as any - it's a comedy, but the underlying story is about drug addiction. Sad and funny.

One Day - David Nicholls
My mum lent me this book, every chapter is the same date over several years, following the lives of two people.

What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
I really enjoyed this, it's about a woman who wakes up after hitting her head and has forgotten the last 10 years of her life. She remembers being newly married and pregnant, and now her marriage is teetering on divorce and she's had kids she doesn't remember.

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
Non-fiction, not usually my type but it's all about the myths and BS surrounding science in the media and it's fascinating.

I've read all the Sookie Stackhouse books apart from Dead In the Family.

And thanks! I'm going to the library tomorrow morning so I'll have a look then at what they have. I have my own list of about 15 books I want to read so I'll mix it with everyone's recommendations.

 

[HK]

Cool also if you like crime, have you read any Jodi Picoult? She does mainly moral dilemmas but there's often an element of 'who did it?' mixed in.

 

[Abcinthia]

Cool also if you like crime, have you read any Jodi Picoult? She does mainly moral dilemmas but there's often an element of 'who did it?' mixed in.

I've only read My Sister's Keeper but I did like it.

 

[jassilem]

Cool also if you like crime, have you read any Jodi Picoult? She does mainly moral dilemmas but there's often an element of 'who did it?' mixed in.

I just watched a movie that was made about one of her books last night.. I was so interested that it's my next book I want as soon as I get to the book store...

The name of the book is Plain Truth!

 

[pjbleek]

Kafka was great. Dante was good too...Odyssey?

 

[satinbutterfly]

The Kushiel Series by Jacqueline Carey - my personal favorite. It's a fantasy fiction series, though not your standard fantasy type book. Quite large and very descriptive so take your time and enjoy.

 

[JanieDough]

I agree with Satin

Also:

Jane Hamilton - she has written three or four books. Map of the World - about a family who watches their neighbor's children and one of them drowns. The book is about how they deal in the community, etc. after it happens. The Book of Ruth - about a woman who is a little slow, and lives in an abusive home with her mother, and then with her husband - it's very strange, but very different and a good book. The Short History of a Prince - about a boy who wants to be/is a professional ballet dancer.

I LOVE Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and if you start to like his writing he has written a shit ton of books. He wrote Love in the Time of Cholera which sounds stiff, but is just lovely lovely lovely!! I would avoid 100 years of solitude like the plague though!

I also LOVE Albert Camus - The Stranger, The Plague - they are very dry and not very exciting - similar to Hemmingway. However, the message is very subtle and they just are a pleasure to read.

One of my favorite ALL TIME books is Socrates in Love - it's the number one selling novel in Japan, or was. It's about two teenagers who fall in love. The language is beautiful, I can only imagine what it would be to read it in Japanese. Made me cry my soul out, but in a lovely way.

If you love Science Fiction or Fantasy, you MUST read Orson Scott Card - he has written a shit ton of books - a lot of which are related, but not in the dumb way that Dune keeps going and going.


Another favorite book is God of Small Things - by some chick with the last name of Roy. It's about a family living in India in the 1940's I think? I love the unique way she tells the story, but it's kind of like reading an ee cummings poem. If that makes sense??! So it's not for everyone.

Anyways - I read A LOT. I read probably a book a week. I enjoy deep thick hard to read classics as well as junk books like Twilight and Vampire Diaries. My favorites are usually in between those two categories. I've read science fiction and non fiction and fantasy - so ask away!

 

[JanieDough]

Kafka was great. Dante was good too...Odyssey?

ok - really? You liked Kafka? Which one? The Metamorphosis?

I've heard people say this over and over, and I have read it like three times. I don't get what there is to like?

Dante and The Odyssey are super awesome, but not that fun to read alone.

 

[JanieDough]

Oh! and these are "kids" books, but I read them in college and still liked them - The Sally Lockhart books by Phillip Pullman who also wrote The Golden Compass, etc. (which all of those are good too) but The Sally Lockhart books are detective novels from the 20's? in London?

There's four or five of them - Ruby in the Smoke, Tiger in the Well, Shadow in the North and The Tin Princess - speaking of, I need to re read these! I feel in love with them.

 

[darkangel]

I love Stephen King books and I think the next one I'm going to read is called "Under the Dome". If you're into Stephen King you might like it.

 

[HK]

They adapted the Ruby In The Smoke for TV over here I didn't see it but it had Billie Piper in it!


Ooh... I like 'Wake' by Robert J. Sawyer. It's scifi, about a blind girl who discovers she can 'see' the internet and that there's something alive in there. There are meant to be two other books but I haven't read them yet.

 

[HK]

I love Stephen King books and I think the next one I'm going to read is called "Under the Dome". If you're into Stephen King you might like it.

I adore Stephen King and Under The Dome was great! It's huge, but it's worth it