Book Reading Suggestions

[GGKoul]

Hello

I'm looking for a new book to read.  As I just finished "Angels and Demon's" last weekend and Muhammed Ali's "Soul of a Butterfly" a few weeks ago.  And now I'm stumped on what book to read next.

I read "The Davinci Code" awhile ago and I'm looking for something similar but I'm not sure whatelse is out there that is like the Davinci Code. 

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Hoagie_one]

Are you into fantasy \ Scifi?

[GGKoul]

Are you into fantasy \ Scifi?

I can't say I've ever read a Fantasy / Scifi book.

[Jabba]

I was cleaning up the basement a few weeks ago and came across a box of paperbacks from my teenage years. I just finished reading a Sci-Fi called "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. This was an Excellent, Excellent read even if you have not read Sci-Fi.

Two authors teaming together to work on a very well-though out book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671741926/104-0252320-5689502

I am reading Lucifer's Hammer now by the same two authors. I can't put it down!

[shmokes]

The two best books I've read recently are The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (he won a pulitzer for it - Also the guy who wrote Wonder Boys, the movie with Michael Douglas and Toby McGuire) and The World According to Garp by John Irving.

Also, Life of Pi was an excellent book that was written recently.  M. Knight Shamayalan (or whatever his name is) is currently making this into a movie.

[GGKoul]

The two best books I've read recently are The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (he won a pulitzer for it - Also the guy who wrote Wonder Boys, the movie with Michael Douglas and Toby McGuire) and The World According to Garp by John Irving.

Also, Life of Pi was an excellent book that was written recently.

[SirPeale]

I think I'm going to get Life of Pi and 5 people you meet in Heaven or The Twin Travellers Wife.

Do you mean The Time Travellers Wife?

[Hoagie_one]

just for fun reading, i recomend the harry potter books.  far from difficult reading though.

[lokki]

If you like conspiracy theories like Da vinci code, Check out Foucault's Pendulum.
Amazon.Com Link

umberto Eco also wrote Name of the rose which was made into a movie by Sean Connery a while ago. also a pretty good read.

Fantasy I recently read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel. Excellent book.

Amazon.Com Link

Scifi. One of my favorites still is cryptonomicon (huge book) by neal stephenson. I could never really get into the whole The Baroque Cycle series that just came out. but have read the cryptonomicon a couple of times.

[fredster]

Start with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.

Then pick up a copy of Rainbow Six.

Then pick up the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Harry Potter books are really fun to read, I agree.

There are a series of old books called the Stainless Steel Rat, the Stainless Steel Rat saves the world, etc, those are good too.

[GGKoul]

I think I'm going to get Life of Pi and 5 people you meet in Heaven or The Twin Travellers Wife.

Do you mean The Time Travellers Wife?

Yep.. thanks!!

[SirPeale]

I think I'm going to get Life of Pi and 5 people you meet in Heaven or The Twin Travellers Wife.

Do you mean The Time Travellers Wife?

Yep.. thanks!!  Have you read it?  Is it good?

I did.  I'm facinated with time travel, so when I saw it @ the library I took a chance.  It was awesome!  Very sad at the end, though.  I admit, I cried.

[Luxury]

After getting bored with fantasy/sci-fi, I just switched over to horror.  I got a book of H.P. Lovecraft, and after reading it, bought everything he has done.  Very cool stuff.  But all short stories...not "a good read" like a whole weekend kind of thing, but nonetheless I recommend. 

[DrewKaree]

The Photoshop Bible

You Have More Than You Think - The Motley Fool (The Gardner Brothers)

The Real America - Glenn Beck

The PreHistory of The Far Side - Larson

The Case For Christ - Lee Strobel

Small Engine Repar - Chilton or Haynes version, whichever you can get

The Dictionary - Webster's

Take Dead Aim - Harvey Penick

Payne Stewart - Biography

[danny_galaga]

if you like time travel, then i recommend 'timescape' by gregory benford.

i love old school science fiction- none of this stuff they have in the bookshops now. that's for girls! gimme robert silverberg, ray bradbury etc. the pinnacle of that age i reckon would be 'neuromancer' - by william gibson. was a pretty good guess at the future of the world wide web and hacking etc.

on h.p lovecraft i think he is to horror what l.ron.hubbard is to science fiction, read into that what you will...

on popular science- 'in search of schroedingers cat'- by john gribbin is great as is the older 'relativity simply explained'-by martin gardner

on original works BY scientists (that you can actually follow) you can't go past 'on the origin of species'- by charles darwin and michael faradays book (or collocted notes, i can't remember now).

the five books of the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy trilogy is good although the last book seems like a contractual obligation

oh, and drew- you mean OXFORD, don't you? 

[DrewKaree]

oh, and drew- you mean OXFORD, don't you? 

Crap....my bad.  Colour me embarrassed. 

[Generic Eric]

G

[Bones]

on original works BY scientists (that you can actually follow) you can't go past 'on the origin of species'- by charles darwin

Man, did I struggle with that! I got maybe 1/4 into it and stopped. I was not enjoying it at all.



I would recommend The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, it's a brilliant piece of writing.

Currently reading Ayrton Senna (The whole story).

[shmokes]

I'll second Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance.  It is a book that will likely completely change the way you view the world......until a couple of years go by and you forget most of it.  Then you'll be like, "man, I've got to read that again." 

Great book, seriously.  Pontentially life-changing.

[GGKoul]

on original works BY scientists (that you can actually follow) you can't go past 'on the origin of species'- by charles darwin

Currently reading Ayrton Senna (The whole story).

There's a Ayrton Senna book??? What is it called?

[Bones]

There's a Ayrtin Senna book??? What is it called?

[GGKoul]

There's a Ayrtin Senna book??? What is it called?

[menace]

I read clive cussler (any of them) same sort of action just more cheesy, Jack Dubrul--really like his book so far, Jeff Long (enjoyed them as well) Lincoln Child and Douglas preston books (riptide, thunderhead, cabinet of curiosities etc.)  Typically I like the archaelogical/action books.

And yes Harry Potter's are a good read.  I'm reading the dark tower series but have been unimpressed so far--he has basically taken excerpts from his other books and tied them all into this one--seems like the same stories but with different characters--and of course cause its steven king it takes a character a page and a half to say yes or no...

[Samstag]

If you like conspiracy theories like Da vinci code, Check out Foucault's Pendulum.
Amazon.Com Link

Definitely a great book.

[Magnet_Eye]

Breakfast of Champions -  Kurt Vonnegut

Steppenwolf, Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Women - Charles Bukowski

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

SciFi/Futuristic stuff, check out William Gibson!

[fredster]

How to talk to a Liberal - If you must by Ann Coulter

Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich

[lokki]

Regarding popular sciences, I recently read a couple of books by  James Burke (he does the connections series and a few others for TLC )

I read circles and the day the universe change. Pretty interesting stuff. I'm looking for more of his stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=James%20Burke/102-3609187-9909764

[Daniel270]

[shmokes]

How to talk to a Liberal - If you must by Ann Coulter

Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich

The Gingrich one is likely good -- or at least factual.  He's a bright fellow.  I wouldn't trust Coulter as far as I could throw Gingrich.

Magnet_Eye's list is supurb.  Breakfast of Champions may be my all-time favorite book.  I've got a signed leatherbound copy.

[Shape D.]

Try the Imajica by Clive Barker, Its a two book series.
  Warning Books contain aldult subject matter 

[Daniel270]

Something that was just brought to my attention...

Today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday...

[fredster]

Shmokes,

That's for the unsolicited critique, again.  God you are so smart and witty.

[DrewKaree]

Playboy, Penthouse, Juggs, Swank.....you'd be surprised at the insightful stories they have.

(I have a smiley to go with this post, but it's WAY too graphic and inappropriate for a family forum  )

[GGKoul]

Playboy, Penthouse, Juggs, Swank.....you'd be surprised at the insightful stories they have.

(I have a smiley to go with this post, but it's WAY too graphic and inappropriate for a family forum

[DrewKaree]

I know PG-13.  They don't have bodily fluids in PG-13.

You're trying to get me kicked out!

Now I'll have to start my "I'm leaving cuz nobody loves me" thread and start the farewell tour.

 


*insert Fred Sanford voice and gestures*
Floyd......Floyd......ahm comin' ta join ya Floyd!

[Trimoor]

I like the classics.

1984 -- Very scary book.  Don't read it if you're prone to being paranoid.
Gone with the wind -- They loved each other, but never at the same time.
David Copperfield -- Very sad.
Encyclopedia -- Much better plot than the dictionary.

[GGKoul]

I know PG-13.

[Shape D.]

How come nobody reccomended this one?

http://xrl.us/this

[GGKoul]

How come nobody reccomended this one?

http://xrl.us/this

Already have it

[Luxury]

How come nobody reccomended this one?

http://xrl.us/this

suck up

[ErikRuud]

Here are my reccomendations.

SciFi
William Gibson - Anything
Kim Stanley Robinson - Anything
Greg Bear - Anything
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash

[Mameotron]

Try this one:

Amazon.Com Link

I read this book every single day!

[Daniel270]

My wife suggests the Jean Auel series..

Clan of the Cave Bear (the book the Darryl Hannah movie was based on)
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
Shelters of Stone

[TalkingOctopus]

Here are the books I've read most recently.

[GGKoul]

Here are the books I've read most recently.

[ErikRuud]

Ooh!, I forgot about Vernor Vinge.

What is wrong with 800 pages?  I average at least a 1000 pages a week.

[shmokes]

Hey...I thought you'd decided on Life of Pi.  I was all proud of myself for being the winner 

[GGKoul]

Ooh!, I forgot about Vernor Vinge.

What is wrong with 800 pages?

[javeryh]

I also just finished Angels & Demons a few days ago.  I thought it was way better than The DaVinci Code (which was also excellent) and I am curious as to why it didn't get as much recognition.  A lot of the controversial themes (christianity, symbology, etc.) are very similar. 

Anyway, I just started reading books for really the first time in my life and I can't believe I waited this long.  I guess all of that forced reading in school turned me off to it.  I'm reading The Sigma Protocol by Ludlum and I'm about 200 pages in and I love it...

[GGKoul]

I also just finished Angels & Demons a few days ago.

[TalkingOctopus]

Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a very long read and much different than DaVinci Code.  I think the first 2 reviews on amazon are pretty accurate so read them before picking it up.

This book is hard to describe. In terms of genre, it is both fantasy and well-researched historical fiction, which makes it a rather rare bird. The writing style falls somewhere between Austen and Gaiman and Dickens. The plot is somewhat rambling and disjoint, forsaking the standard quest narratives; in some ways it is a fantastic history of England, in some ways a tale of rescue

...

Unlike most of the better modern fantasy, this book is not a page-turner, and I mean that as a compliment; rather, it is a book to savor. Not that the plot isn't engaging - it is - but I frequently found myself comparing how many pages I'd read to how many I had left, deciding that I was burning through the book too quickly, and setting it down while I turned the passages I'd just read over in my head.

Vernor Vinge is one of my favorite authors.  "A Deepness in the Sky" and "A Fire Upon The Deep" are great books!

[RecycledPast]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

[shmokes]

Orson Scott Card is a mormon who went to school not far from where I live.  It's really weird cos if you read his books in the series, especially starting with Speaker for the Dead, but continuing up through Ender's Shadow, you would swear the guy is an atheist.  But I've listened to him in interviews and he still claims to be devout.

[ErikRuud]

Orson Scott Card is awsome. I don't think I have ever been disappointed in any of his books.

[Apollo]

At the moment I am reading

"A short history of Nearly Everything" Author Bill Bryson published by Black Swan

"The Natural History of the Rich, a Field Guide" Author Richard Conniff published by Arrow Books

"The Victorians" Author A.N.Wilson published by Arrow Books


I highly recommend all three, they are excellent.

[GGKoul]

Finished "Five people you meet in Heaven".. it was good quick read.

Starting "The Time Traveller's Wife" today.

[ErikRuud]

Neil Gaiman is another great author, be prepare though" the stories are all knd of twisted.

"Neverwhere" is my favorite, and the most twisted.  This was turned into a TV mini series by the BBC and is now available on DVD.  The production standards are rumored to rival Dr. Who.

"American Gods" is very good.  Especially if you have ever been to "Rock City".

"Stadust" is also good.

The "Sandman" graphic novels are very cool, probably not what you are looking for.

[IMMark]

I'll throw in my 2 cents....if you liked the Da Vinci Code

I would suggest The Rule of Four

Amazon.Com Link

Also I would throw out there Nelson DeMille, almost anything he wrote, very good reading, and the kind of sense of humor, that it seems a lot of "people" on the site could appreciate.
Happy reading

[GGKoul]

Ok.. I finished "The Time Travellers Wife" and I'm move on to the Life of Pie.

[DaveMMR]

[posting without reading entire thread - forgive repeats]

The Complete History of Video Games -- excellent read.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "Trilogy" - I found one that's complete and includes a short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe"

- and that's all I have right now. 

[fredster]

Try a spiderman graphic novel.

[danny_galaga]

just read 'fahrenheit 451'. what a profound book. there's a lesson in that for all of us.

now you'll have to excuse me, i'm just going to watch some oprah on my wide screen tv and then surf the internet...

[DrewKaree]

danny, I just picked up the audio book yesterday.  D'ya think it'll be the same?

[SirPeale]

Ok.. I finished "The Time Travellers Wife" and I'm move on to the Life of Pie.

And?  What did you think?

[GGKoul]

Ok.. I finished "The Time Travellers Wife" and I'm moving on to the Life of Pie.

And?

[shmokes]

You should read:

Memoirs of an Invisible Man (don't let the movie fool you)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Monkey Wrench Gang
The World According to Garp


Drew, Where'd you get that audiobook.  Audible.com doesn't have it do they?

[Mameotron]

Ok, I'll have to put in my recommendation, too.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks6/cookbook/index.html

Yes, it's a real book.

[danny_galaga]

danny, I just picked up the audio book yesterday.

[DrewKaree]

Drew, Where'd you get that audiobook.  Audible.com doesn't have it do they?

Actually got it from the local library!  Bradbury himself is the reader.  It's 6 CD's total, unabridged, and on the back, they give a website....www.harperaudio.com. 

Check your PM.

[lucindrea]

well my favorite stuff is all fantasy

The Eye of the World - robert jorden , but if you like it , your hooked and after 9? books he STILL hasnt finished this series

Magician: Apprentice - Raymond Feist , acctully anything by him

Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! - Terry Brooks - another "anything from this guy" author

codgerspace - Alan Dean Foster

and any of the issac asimov books

[CCM]

I have to agree with a few of the other posters that Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is excellent (even though I haven't finished the last few books).

Abarat by Clive Barker is a wonderful book, it's supposed to be geared toward young adults, but I'm 33 and loved it.   I highly recommend it! The second book in the series just came out, but I haven't had a chance to get it yet.

Amazon.Com Link


My wife is a fan of Dean Koontz, I've read Intensity and The Door to December and liked them both...

[danny_galaga]

dean koontz... groan

i once read about five pages of one of his books. i'll never get that time back...

[Jabba]

Dredging up an old but good thread.

If you are looking for a quick read, try Animal farm by George Orwell. All told, 100 pages, but very good. "All Animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

Preview:

"Mr. JONES of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-house for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himsef a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.

[FractalWalk]

Some of my all-time favorites list:

Real Science: 
Godel, Escher & Bach by Hofstader
In Search of Schodinger's Cat by Gribben
Six Easy Pieces by Feynman
Chaos by Gleick

Science Fiction:
Dune by Herbert
Foundation trilogy by Asimov
2001 by Clarke

Horror
Intensity by Koontz
It by King

True Story
In Cold Blood by Capote
Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil by Berendt
The Perfect Storm by Junger
Into Thin Air by Krakauer

Other
Mutiny On The Bounty by Nordhoff & Hall
The Auto-Biography of Malcolm X by Haley
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Greene
Red Storm Rising by Clancy
Ethnic America by Sowell

[JCL]

Orson Scott Card is a mormon who went to school not far from where I live.

[Jabba]

*Bump*

Another good book I just finished reading is "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. Depressing as hell, but very well written. It's hard to believe the Depression in the 30's was that bad. No sense of Government Help for those poor Oklahoma and mid-western farmers displaced from their farms because the "Bank" needed to make some coin!

I'm off the to the library now to pick another book. I've heard "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair is pretty good. I tried reading David Copperfield as a previous person in this thread suggested, but couldn't get into it. Perhaps I'll try it again later on...

[shmokes]

I just finished Fierce Invalids, Home From Hot Climates by  Tom Robbins.  It was fantastic -- a total ball to read.

Also Catch-22 shouldn't be missed.

[GGKoul]

Let me update my reading list...

Finished:
- Five people in Heaven
- Time Travellers Wife
- Deception Point - Dan Brown
- Facing Ali

Presently reading: The Kennedy Curse

[Buddabing]

I just finished Don Quixote - the Grossman translation. It was wonderful, the translation was so good you couldn't tell it was written four hundred years ago.

Many scholars claim that Don Quixote is the best novel ever written.

Link to a top 100 list

[shmokes]

I think lists like that are funny.  They're useful in their way, I guess.  But how can a definitive list really be made?  It's impossible.  The best you can do is get a bunch of people who supposedly have good taste and have them vote.  Obviously democracy doesn't always produce a high-quality result.  I've read only nine of the books on that list and of those there is at least one that I thought basically sucked.  I don't know how anyone would put The Count of Monte Cristo on the list but leave The Three Musketeers off it (both Alexandre Dumas).  Hell, the recent Hollywood Monte Cristo film was better than the book.

/rant

[Jabba]

I just finished Don Quixote - the Grossman translation. It was wonderful, the translation was so good you couldn't tell it was written four hundred years ago.

Many scholars claim that Don Quixote is the best novel ever written.

Link to a top 100 list

Thanks Buddabing....That looks like a good list to pick books from. I am always looking for good lists to read from. I'll have to try a few of those out.  I have not read Don Quixote yet. Sounds like the next book on my reading list...

[namzep]

The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged are both great by Ayn Rand but they are very long.

See, I agree with the Fountainhead  but for some reason have never been able to get into Atlas Shrugged.  I may have to read it again sometime.

Some Books That I'd Recommend:

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Hitler: The Pathology of Evil by George Victor

and I'm currently reading What If? 2 which is a collection of essays on historical events that reimagines something being changed (Socrates dying in battle before his philosophy passed on, Pontius Pilate sparing the life of Christ, Martin Luther being sentenced to death by the Diet of Wurms, etc..).  I found it at a Barnes and Noble store for like $5 (I dearly love their cheap displays up near the front).

[shmokes]

I haven't read The Fountainhead.  I thought Atlus Shrugged was really bad so I have a hard time convincing myself to give Fountainhead a chance.  I'm sure I will eventually cos a good friend always pesters me to read it.

[lokki]

I was never able to read Atlas Shrugged, tried a couple of times. Had no problems reading the fointainhead (I've actually read it a couple of times now).

[GGKoul]

and I'm currently reading What If? 2 which is a collection of essays on historical events that reimagines something being changed (Socrates dying in battle before his philosophy passed on, Pontius Pilate sparing the life of Christ, Martin Luther being sentenced to death by the Diet of Wurms, etc..).  I found it at a Barnes and Noble store for like $5 (I dearly love their cheap displays up near the front).

Thanks for reminding me... I saw it at the airport bookstore a few weeks ago and I forgot to pick it up when I got home..

[Zero_Hour]

I sense my orders to Amazon increasing in the very near future....

Here are some of my reccomendations -

Tales of Ordinary Madness - Bukowski (collection of shorts)

Junky - William S. Burroughs

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (Much better than the film adaptation)

Zeitgeist - Bruce Sterling

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot - John Callahan (Funniest Autobiography Ever)

[quarterback]

If you like conspiracy theories like Da vinci code, Check out Foucault's Pendulum.
Amazon.Com Link

I'll 2nd (or 3rd?) the vote for Foucault's Pendulum.

[quarterback]

I was never able to read Atlas Shrugged, tried a couple of times. Had no problems reading the fointainhead (I've actually read it a couple of times now).

I read the Fountainhead and liked it okay.  Never tried Atlas Shrugged.

[GGKoul]

I'll 2nd (or 3rd?) the vote for Foucault's Pendulum.

[FractalWalk]

I think the Fountainhead is more enjoyable, but Atlas Shrugged is a much deeper read.