the book recommendation thread
 

I thought we could use a thread for book recommendations, since I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who enjoy reading, but just don't know which books or authors to go with for their next read. also if you want everyone to know about that great book you just read, then this is the perfect place to share.

include the title, the author, the genre, and a brief description/review of the book so that people will have a better idea of what kind of book it is and what it's about.




I recommend Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay if you're into science-fiction/fantasy type stories. it's a single volume epic, set in a land where the people are ruled by two opposing tyrant sorcerers. the backstory is that there was a war between Tigana and one of the sorcerers, and a Tiganan soldier killed the sorcerer's son. because of this, the sorcerer cast a spell that destroyed any knowledge of Tigana's name and existence from the minds of anyone who wasn't from Tigana and then used his forces to take over the land. a group of characters from Tigana then set out to try and overthrow the rule of both sorcerers using psychological warfare, so that they can finally free their people and restore their country's name and history.

there are a lot of really great characters that go through a lot of really terrible things, but it's a wonderful story and a good long read. definitely check it out if you get a chance to.

A pretty hot idea, in my opinion. I've been looking for places to find book recommendations and have been relying on www.mostlyfiction.net

My recommendation is: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The genre is difficult to place, but I'll put it as romantic fiction. Wait wait. Don't be put off. It's actually wonderfully touching and well written, else I wouldn't be recommending it here. The basic premise is that there is a couple composed of Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire, which fulfills the romance part. However, Henry has a problem. He randomly jumps forward and backward into time, without any control. He may be walking to the library where he works, and suddenly disappears for minutes or hours. Then he reappears just as suddenly. The sad thing is that Claire cannot follow. She must always wait for him, never knowing what will happen. This novel charts from Clarie's youth when she first meets Henry and beyond. It goes into how they both deal with this wayward love and the sudden vanishing of Harry. It's quite touching. A chick flick of a book, but many times better. Give it a looksie.

A book that I loved was "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's a fiction book that has a bit of everything: mystery, adventure, a love story. While it's not a horror book per se, some parts have kind of a gothic feel to them. The story is basically about this boy who is taken to a large secret library by his father (a bookseller) as kind of a right of passage, and he is allowed to take one book. He randomly chooses a book, reads it, loves it, and then looks into the author. It turns out, however, that all other books by this particular author are missing, and the boy may have the only remaining book. The rest of the plot deals with him trying to find out what the deal is.

It was given to me by a friend whose opinion I trust, and I have since given it to two other people who have both loved it. It's vaguely literary but still a fun pageturner.

Oh, this is my first post, by the way. Woo ha!

For fantasy lovers I'd recommend Eragon by Christopher Paolini, he's a fairly new writer but very tallented. I've read it over ten times and I still can't get over it. It starts out slow but you'll be compelled to keep reading because you know what eventually going to happen but have no idea where the story will go from there and when it gets there the story explodes and there is never a dull moment after that. The second book Eldest is just as good if not better.

I'd like to recommend that people NOT READ The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. This fantasy series is filled mostly with pages and pages of absolutely nothing happening. The series is on it's like 13th book now or something like that. Book five in the series was the most boring thing that I have ever read. It literally took me over a year to will myself through it. Avoid this series like the plague.

Currently I'm working through The Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton, but since it's one book in a series of six, I don't think many would want to take that up for casual reading material.

What I do recommend is Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. It is labeled as science fiction, but leans more towards drama than actual science. The plot is simple: it regards the life of a one Lazarus Long, who has lived for 2400 years, and the many 'lives' he has lived over the millenia. Most of the book regards him telling stories of his past so there is a definitive history of his life, plus drama concerning his future. It runs almost 600 pages, so it should keep most occupied for a few weeks.

Name: His Dark Materials Trilogy
Book I: The Golden Compass
Book II: The Subtle Knife
Book III: The Amber Spyglass

Author: Philip Pullman

Don't be fooled when it's categorized as "young adult" or "youth." It can definitely appeal to younger audiences, but it has some mature themes in it. It's sort of science fiction, sort of fantasy, set in modern day UK that's slightly different than the UK we know. It's easily and by far the best books I've read as they are very engrossing and never slow down. You'll love the characters and the development they go through throughout the trilogy. I highly suggest these books.

Name: "The Heritage of Shannara"
Book 1: The Scions of Shannara
Book 2: The Druid of Shannara
Book 3: The Elf Queen of Shannara
Book 4: The Talismans of Shannara

Author: Terry Brooks

This is fantasy at its absolute best. He has other books series dealing with this same land, which I hightly reccomend, but I believe this is the best. There are multiple relationships going on at all times and a very deep story line. The Elf Queen of Shannara is the only book that I have ever read to which I was emotionally distraught. Not to the point of tears, but close. I've never been so riveted in a book before. But anyway, the book starts out with two brothers. A mysterious old man meets them and requests that they visit a dead druid, who sends them on a quest to save The Four Lands from absolute destruction. Various other characters join in the quest, all of whom are very believable and three-dimensional. They have to stop an evil force...of unknown nature and origin...from consuming and "sickening" the land. These are books which I can sit down and read, and not have a worse experience than the last time - the "bored" experience. It's just as good a second, third...whatever read through. If I remember right each book is about 300 pages. It's a long but very worthwhile read.

The first book involves getting all the characters started out on their quests, the second is mostly about Walker Boh, a man who cast aside his life as a Druid and vehemently hates their entire order, but realizes he must make some sacrifices to save the land, The Elf Queen is about Wren...Ohmsford's quest to return the elves and their healing powers to the land of Shannara, and the last is a gripping resolution to the entire story where their various paths meet up for them to finally save The Four Lands.

The first series is almost as good, in fact, it is VERY difficult for me to say which is better.

Since I liked this book a lot, I think everyone else in the world should read it. Check out Life of Pi by Yann Martel. In a nutshell, it's about a boy surviving a shipwreck on a lifeboat with dangerous animals. The first section of the book introduces the boy's life in India with his family and the zoo that they run. Then the boy becomes simultaneously fascinated with several religions, which results in a cool dialogue between his mentors from each church when they realize he's been attending all of them. So the book is about zoo animals, religion, and survival at sea, which is a pretty good read. Then the last section reveals something that adds a new layer of thought-provoking goodness. Very cool. It's an easy read that's really satisfying, I think.

But you don't have to take my word for it!

For a break from books about dragons and an overrated Canadian hipster trend, I recommend The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson. Without a doubt one of, if not THE most important journalist of the 20th century, Shark Hunt compiles about 600 pages of Thompson's scathing, hilarious social and political criticisms from around 20 years of work. Starting with sports coverage for a military paper, where he went a little too in depth for some people's liking, and travelling through his work for Rolling Stone and The New York Times, among others, this is a must read. Highlights include "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent And Depraved", which can also be found in the special hardbound edition of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, and "The Scum Also Rises". Get a hold of this man's work, now.

I cannot suggest enough of any Haruki Murakami book. He's my favorite contemporary author, and I'm sure all the Japanophiles emos on this board will eat Norwegian Wood up.

Basically it tells the story of Toru, a college kid in Tokyo during the late 1960's. He falls in love with his dead best friend's girlfriend, a girl named Naoko who is as damaged as they come. Eventually she goes insane and moves in to a mental instuition and the rest of the book is Toru's balance between his lingering love for Naoko, a new girl named Midori and coming to grips with his own aimless lonely life in the big city. I particularily like it because Jay Rubin, who translated the book, did a really excellent job on it.

It's a good book and while Murakami has better work out there (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Windup Bird Chronicle), Norwegian Wood is a great starting point.

Ah, interesting to see that someone recommended that. I saw it awhile back at my local Barnes & Noble and considered getting it. It sounded interesting from the little blurb on the back of the book.


Also, kudos goes to Kat for suggesting my favorite author, Haruki Murakami!
Let me just throw a link in here, for anyone interested, to one of his earlier works: Pinball 1973.
It's very good, and gives a little insight as to what his full length novels are like.

I'm gonna recommend a book I read like 5 years ago, but I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

Tunnel Vision by Keith Lowe

It's about a guy who does some kind of odd pastime in London (I don't know if this is an actual activity or not) where he tries to visit every single subway station in a single day. Not only that but the day he chooses is the day before he is scheduled to get married and, to boot, he bets certain things (his honeymoon, if I remember) with a friend that he can do it.

The book covers his journey and flashes between him and what his fiancee is doing (involving a twist with the betting friend). The writer draws up a great deal of anxiety and the writing matches. It is probably the snappiest book I've ever read.

It was published by MTV, which gave me pause at first...I figured it either had to be awful or for young kids...but it turned out to be absolutely fantastic. I recommend it highly.

I have several books which are "must-reads" from my point of view, but here's the two which come to mind first:

Good Omens
Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman
Reprinted like, a bazillion times
http://www.bonsaidiscworld.com/images/news/gosfbc.jpg
This is one of the wittiest novels you will probably read. Look at the authors' names and you'll understand why. It is more 'British' humor (for obvious reasons), but it never failed to make me laugh. Basically, the book broadly parodies "The Omen" and the Book of Revelations, setting a demon and an angel in present-day England, trying to avert the Apocalypse. It's hilarious and wonderfully written.

The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
Four major translations/Reprinted many times
http://www.longitudebooks.com/images...arge/RUS44.jpg
Any Russians on the board don't really need to be told about this one, because MaM is one of the landmark classics of Russian literature. There are many levels one can read it on, especially taking into account that much of it is written as a criticism of Soviet policies. However, you can just as easily enjoy it as an amazing blend of three separate -- yet connected -- stories: one in 1930s Moscow, with Satan&co. wreaking havoc on the subbornly unbelieving populace; another at the time of Pontius Pilate, Jesus' condemnation and crucifixion; the last story being a romance/love between the Master and Margarita and how the title characters are brought into the previous two stories. It's a fantastic novel, full of supernatural elements as well as down-to-earth ones. Draws heavily on the Goethe's Faust.
If you don't want to buy it, read a free translation of the novel here.

Also, two classics of the literature that everyone should read once are The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Wonderful Romantic-period stories that are enduring for a reason.

Christ. that book. you can tell a woman wrote this. Henry's character is just so unbelievable. a librarian who goes on adventures, is smart and compassionate, is handsome, who likes punk, and has a really big penis.
seriously, the characters in this book were more thin than the paper it was printed on. Gomez is guilty of some of the worst dialogue I've read these days. it's just such a cliche of every woman's "perfect man" story.

I would recommend I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max. I'm a huge fan of satire, wit, and, especially, in your face male chauvinism. if you like the loud, obnoxious asshole hanging out in the corner of the party with the crowd around him, boasting about his latest vaginal conquest, then this book was written for you.

If you're a WarCraft 3 fanatic like me, get this book:

WarCraft: Lord of The Clan
By: Christie Golden
Genre: Video Game, Fantasy

Plot: This book entails the origin of Thrall, a hero character from the campaign missons in WarCraft 3. Warcraft 3 is a strategy based game by Blizzard. You build a town and create an army to kill the enemy, duh. Anyway, the story of this book tells of where Thrall comes from, how he grows up, and how he exacts his revenge for the loss of his parents by ironic means. I.E. a sort of twist as presented from the first Batman Movie: "You idiot! You made me! Remember?" -Joker.

And if you love science fiction:

Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy

Plot: This book is about Ender. I can't recall much of it since it has been so long I've read it, but it's about a brilliant (perhaps genius level) boy who grows up in some space academy. The setting is set sometime in the future when mankind can live on other planets and build colonies. As Ender grows up, he faces tons of obstacles in the academy. It's sort of a boys only academy where they train students to become the next bright minds for the military. Combat skills, thinking/strategy skills, team skills, etc, etc. At first, Ender is outcasted by the fact of the kind of kid he is. By the fact that he was born naturally brighter where as others work their butt off for the same goal. However, he slowly works his way up the ranks by forming ties and bonds with other students, slowly turning their hate and grudges into tools and teamwork for him to continue achieving his goals. One particular example is when Ender must part take in the mandatory battlefield excercise. 2 teams must battle each other and capture the opposing flag. Ender's team, despite how clever and skillful they are, faces a team of senior ranked students whom have more combat experience and strategy skills. It's like pitting a small white mouse versus an adult cat in a confined space. Ender's team being the mouse, the seniors being the cat. But with some brilliance and team work, Ender's team pulls off a stunning victory by using the rules applied by the battlefield:

1. When you are hit by a shot (from some space-like tech rifle) the body part shot will become frozen.

This rule is like gravity. When you jump, gravity must pull you down. Ender's team understand the rules, but only Ender was able to figure out a strategy to use them in other ways. Such as taking a team member, freezing his body in a certain position, and then putting a gunner on the frozen team member. This system acted as a armored vehicle. The battlefield has zero gravity and only the member's suits can keep them weighted down unless they are propelled somehow. Ender rides his frozen team mate using the already frozen body as a shield and guns down the entire senior team.

This is a great book for the witty mind. When all odds seem impossible, the desire to survive becomes so great that chances like this for Ender pop up like candy.

Something I just recently picked up for a short story class, but that I wasn't able to put down when I read it:

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. It's somewhat of a fiction book, somewhat of a memoir. Read it and you'll understand both what that means, and probably understand why all those critics were wrong about Jarhead being too many things at once. I'd be surprised if the Jarhead novel wasn't influenced by O'Brien himself.

It's about 250 pages, but chances are you'll breeze through it, because it reads more like an intriguing conversation you have with someone than a collective narrative.

As the blurb on the back claims, it's also good pulp material for those of you who are aspiring writers.

Dune: House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and Hoise Corrino. Easily some of the best and most complex sci-fi out there.

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is an action packed vampire thriller that brings the world of Dracula to life.

Philip K Dick - A Scanner Darkly

Easily the best novel I've ever read. Semi-scifi/crime novel.

Bob Arctor lives with a load of drug addict hippies who use a drug called D. Simultaneously, Bob is Agent Fred, an undercover narcotics agent working for the government. The addicts don't know that Bob is an undercover agent, and the police don't know that Fred is Bob. In order to pass as an addict, Bob has to become a user - As a result, he slowly succumbs to schizophrenia as Bob and Fred develop into two completely different personalities.

Plus, there's a film of it in July. The fact that it's rotoscoped makes up for Keanu Reeves' presence.

Also:

Phillip K Dick - Confessions of a Crap Artist

The best non-science fiction book he's ever written.

Jack Isidore is a "crap artist" - He creates completely outlandish and stupid ideas such as the Earth being hollow, and that sunlight has weight. He moves in with his sister's family. Her husband is a bitter, dominant misogynist and she's completely manipulative and great at creating misery. Jack joins an apocalypse cult, despite being relatively happy with his life.

I know, I suck at synopses.

Been meaning to get into Tolstoï and Dostoïevski, but I'm not sure where to start. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Definitely read Crime and Punishment. It's a great book, and a good example of how to use symbolism without being fucking annoying.

Haruki Murakami hosted a lecture last year at my university. I work for my campus bookstore so I got to run it, and stood next to him for three hours controlling the line of people trying to get his autograph. It was quite an experience. I've started reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but because of finals and such I haven't been able to finish it yet. It's third or fourth on my summer reading list. Kafka on the Shore is also on it, and...I forget which book it's in, but there's a story about a newly-wed couple that suddenly becomes so inexplicably hungry that they hold up a McDonald's, which I would be very interested in reading. :)

Double Post:
Here, here! I was going to recommend that one but you got to it first. I'm long overdue for a reread of Good Omens.

I don't know. The symbolism and theme was like a sledgehammer to my brain. It was in yo' face the entire book and I felt it was just too stifling at certain points.

The majority of Vonnegut's work pulls this off. I'd recommend just about anything he's written.

Well, maybe it was 'in yo face' (I guess; I read it some years ago, so I don't really remember the details), but that didn't bother me. What I meant by the symbolism not being annoying is that it was not used just to appear 'deep', like you'd see in some shitty anime -- it actually has a purpose, the whole book is built around it. I suppose you might not like it, but either way, I believe it's a great work that everyone should read.

I have a few recommendations that I really really hope you guys enjoy absorbing as much as I did.

Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...k/survivor.jpg

Survivor is my favorite book that Palahniuk has ever written. In fact, it's my favorite book, period. It's the story of the lone survivor of a religious cult that commits mass suicide and starts the book relating the story into the blackbox of a plane that he has just hijacked and is about to fly into the side of a mountain. The story is related in flashbacks and satirizes everything from pop culture to organized religion. Definitely one you all should read.

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../screwtape.jpg

While most of you may actually know Lewis from his Chronicles of Narnia books, not a lot of you may have read his books pertaining to his more allegorial religiously themed material. The book is written as a series of letters from an old devil (Screwtape) to his nephew (Wormwood) who is currently busy trying to capture the soul of a young man during WW II. I don't consider myself the most "spiritual" person on the planet, but Screwtape's commentaries on humans are piercingly painful and beautifully written. Definitely not just for the religious crowd.

Thanks to Minion for recommending this book and thanks to Alice who finally saw that I would have ignored Minion on his recommendation and force-fed sent it to me. :D

Re: Screwtape Letters

This book is infinitely better than the Narnia series, which I couldn't stand. As a non-christian, I can definitely say that this book is a genuinely inciteful piece of entertainment, and not bible-pushing as so many assume.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)

It's about a teenage boy with asperger's and his trifles and such.

...just go wiki or amazon it. ^__^"

I was debating whether or not I should recommend this book but then decided it was just too original, and strange not to. That book is “The House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Simply put, it is a book, about a book, about a documentary, that doesn’t really exist. Did you follow that? Anyway, Johnny Truant notices an elderly man from his apartment complex has not been seen in a while and when he goes to investigate, Johnny finds the man dead in his apartment with deep animal-like claw marks in the floor next to him. All the window’s and vents in the apartment were sealed shut. His name was Zampano, and in his apartment, Johnny discovers manuscripts Zampano had written about a documentary called “The Navidson Record”. This documentary was meant to depict a family’s journey from the city to the suburbs only there was something wrong with their house. It was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

“The House of Leaves” is basically “The Navidson Record” with the addition of lengthily footnotes from Johnny Truant about his reaction to the book and the strange things that start occurring to him. There are many appendices which include various correspondences, poems, pictures, etc.

Parts of the book are pure genius; other parts pure horror. Some parts, however, are just plain tedious to get through.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037...Fencoding=UTF8

The 'Song of Ice & Fire' series by George RR Martin is as good as fantasy gets. It steers away from your typical high-fantasy dragons, elves, and wizards nonsense and instead deals in an amazingly detailed landscape of power-struggles, political intrigue, backstabbing, deceit, and war. It's a pretty big time investment (currently at 4 books and counting), but it honestly doesn't get any better.

I'm currently reading 'The Once & Future King' by TS White, which is by far the best telling of the King Arthur legend I've ever read. It's not an easy read (his perspective of Arthurian Camelot through present day - well, 1940's anyways - eyes is sometimes a bit jarring), but well worth the effort.

I've seen this book recommended over and over again. I guess one of these days I'll actually have to break down and buy it.

I second that. Highly. Extremely. AMAZING series.

Most people probably wouldn't expect it to be any good, but Dreamspawn, the second book in the Nightmare on Elm Street novel series and written by Christa Faust, is actually a decent read. It's got its cliche characters (Goth, Punk, Jock, Princess, Crazy Bitch who Cuts Herself) and quite a few parts are pretty predictable, but rather than have Freddy out and about killing people for the whole book, he's only referenced in foreshadowing dream sequences and his appearance is more or less saved for a climactic bloodbath in the last 4/5 or so of the book, favoring character development for the rest. It also gives an interesting take on his past, before he was murdered by the Elm Street parents.

Right now I'm reading Gaijin, by Marc Olden. It's about an Englishman who defects to Japan and becomes a yakuza boss and an accomplished thief and his ex-CIA mother who try to defeat him. I also suck at synopses, so check it out on Amazon for better reviews. It's actually a lot more interesting than how I put it.

I have heard good things about almost all of their novels, especially Tolstoy's War and Peace and Dost.'s the Brothers Karamazov. This is all from my friend's word of mouth.

I have also read the House of Leaves, and would recommend it to those interested in "thriller" mind fucking type novels. It was lent to me by, literally, the guy everyone thought was a freak when I was a senior in high school. I was a chatter in class, and my teacher had to sit me in one side of the room alone with him (since he also can't keep his mouth shut, but not because he talked to his friends). He had this rather large book with him, and curiousity took a hold of me as he lent it to me. It's mind tripping and rather psychologically disturbing at times.

As usual, I recommend The Count of Monte Cristo. Such a brilliant classic and tome to read. I would recommend either the Penguin publisher since I've heard good things about the more modern translation. But the version I read was Modern Library, which uses the traditional and classic translation that's been in print for over 100 years. I would recommend this to those who enjoy an older approach (but still love my copy scrawled with underlined passages of sheer poetic brilliance!). I never had the liberty to read this in high school, but then again, I'm glad I was not forced to because then I probably would not have understood a lot of themes that go on in this book. Despite the swashbuckling amateur appearance, this book has some mature themes and heartbreaking moments.

'Sphere' by Micheal Crichton. It really opens your eyes to how limited the human imagination is. He makes several interesting points in the novel apart from the VERY good and riveting story. The characters aren't terribly cliche...mayble cliche compared to his other novels, IDK. But its definitely a good read.

I'd also recommend reading Jurassic Park, by the same. The book explains so much more than the movie, and you just understand a LOT more of what is going on both up front and behind the scenes during the movie. It's just more interesting having a clearer picture of how things work.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman.

I'm not really sure what the genre would be. I'd prolly just clasify it as fiction, but you could make a case for taking that extra step towards fantasy, I suppose.

It's probably one of the best books I've read in the last few years. Basically, it asks the question "What happened to all the Gods people brought with them to America and then (more or less) forgot about?" An incarnation of Odin is one of the main characters. He was brought over with the Norse when they came to North America and has been here ever since, losing power as his believers dwindle. So, you have all these old Gods and folk heroes, non-human entities (Odin, Kali, Wisekejac, etc.) from old belief and religion. But now there are new Gods being born, like the Gods of Internet and TV, and there's a power struggle going on between the old and the new. In the middle of all this is a man named Shadow, an ex-con whose wife just died. He joins Odin and tries to gather the old Gods to help fight the new ones. The ending is a bit of a surprise, and the plot is really good, with a few side-stories that are pretty great. One of my favourite aspects of the book was trying to guess who all the old Gods were, because you're not really told outright for a lot of them. Also Shadow, like Neil Gaiman, is very sexy. :)

Also, kudos to whoever recommended Good Omens; it was the second one on my list, after AG. <3

Honestly, I'd recommend anything by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett. I'm completely in love with them. Gaiman's fiction tends to be darker, but every bit as good as Pratchett's. The Discworld series (Pratchett) has become a part-time obsession for me, and there are enough books in it (30+) to keep you involved for a long without ever getting bored. There are several different series' that take place within the Discworld, so you don't have to feel like you need to get and read all 30 odd books in order. There's a Witches series, City Watch, Rincewind, and lots of stand-alones, as well as really good Children's books like The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky. Honestly, there's a little something for everyone.

my current recommendation would be a series of books by neal stephenson. it's called the baroque cycle (quicksilver, the confusion, and the system of the world) and it's so much different from anything else i've read. on the surface it looks like a plain historical fiction taking place mostly in the 17th century. but then there is so much wit and comic moments that surprisingly don't ruin the books' sociological, political, economical, philosophical, and even scientific events. a series that uses such "characters" as isaac newton, gottfried wilhelm von leibniz, and even king louis xiv himself takes a risk and stephenson goes for the gold by making the characters truly his own. some points can be blatantly gruesome but they were gruesome times. in short, if you have lots of time (they aren't small books) it's worth a read.

also just about anything by vonnegut and palahniuk is pretty damn good. vonnegut for people who like absurdity and laughing and palahniuk for anyone who likes twisted weirdness.

i'm also a shakespeare fan.

include the title, the author, the genre, and a brief description/review of the book so that people will have a better idea of what kind of book it is and what it's about.

Title: Native Tongues
Author: Charles Berlitz
Genre: Facts
Description: This book is a collection of interesting linguistic facts that have been compiled worldwide. Facts such as the absence of an official language for the US, and the creation of simpler global languages such as esperanto, are provided tidbits of info that one probably would not normally have known. If you are into Linguistics or interesting facts, then Native Tongues is a combination of the two.

The last three books I read (for recreation) were...

Title: Watchmen
Author: Alan Moore
Genre Graphic Novel
Description: Watchmen is drama that incorporates moral philosophy, popular culture, history, art, and science. It is set in 1985 in an alternative history America where costumed adventurers are real and the U.S. is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It follows the story of the last remaining superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own.

Watchmen presents superheroes as real people who must confront moral as well as personal issues. It is one of the first superhero comic books to present itself as serious literature, and also popularized the more adult-oriented "graphic novel" format.

Title: V.
Author: Thomas Pynchon
Genre: Post-Modern
Description: V. is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Whole Sick Crew, and the quest of an aging traveller named Herbert Stencil to identify and locate the mysterious entity he knows only as "V."

Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Genre: Great American Novel
Description: The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925. The novel would prove to be Fitzgerald's most accomplished novel, and was an immediate critical success. Despite the favorable reviews, the sales for the novel were disappointing.

Within the novel, Fitzgerald uses the character of Nick Carraway as the first-person narrator. It is through Carraway's eyes that we see the other characters and the world they live in. Carraway is the only character in the novel to exhibit, and hold onto, a sense of morals and decency throughout the novel. Symbolism is heavily used, and can be found in both the characters actions and the physical objects.

Through the novel, Fitzgerald puts across the idea that the American dream has been corrupted by the desire for materialism. We see that Gatsby had a pure dream, but became corrupt in his quest towards that dream.

First off, let it be said that nothing beats "The Great Gatsby." Nothing. That being said...

"Vurt" by Jeff Noon. It could fall into the cyber-punk genre I guess, but it's more fantasy than science. It's set in the near-future where the drug of choice is Vurt, which causes a VR-like experience. Except with a twist: the Vurt world is some sort of alternate dimension, an actual place you can go to, and not just some sort of technological virtual reality. The main character's sister gets stuck in the Vurt world during a freakish trip and he tries to rescue her throughout the novel.

The thing that really sets this book apart isn't the setting or story, though, it's the language. The kind of language that makes you stop and re-read the same sentence over again, not because you didn't understand what the reader was trying to convey but because you can't believe you've witness such a finely crafted piece of narrative or dialogue.

"Sometimes it seems like the whole world is smeared in Vaz..."

I can think of hundreds of things that beat The Great Gatsby. Most overrated novel/author of all time (if we don't count Hemingway).

Amen to that. Very awesome books with an amazing story and some very well created characters. It's one of those stories in which no matter how old or young you are you can really enjoy it and no matter who you are you can connect to and relate to it in some way or another, and it's probably safe to say it's the most original modern sci-fi/fantasy story out there. There were so many ideas in that thing, particularily the daemons, that I really haven't seen elsewhere.
The story starts out with a young girl, Lyra, who stumbles across some information she really wasn't supposed to see and one thing leads to another and she ends up in the middle of a conspiracy that threatens quite literally all heaven and earth. It's one of the memorable books I've ever read, as there are very few parts with little in the way of memorability.
And aside from being an awesome sci-fi/fantasy story, it's also got it's fair share of tragedy, romance, and comedy. There are times when you'll want to drop the book because you're laughing so hard, have to dry tears from the pages, and other times when the sheer scale and scope of the opposition is realized you want to read on just to see how something so seemingly hopeless and beyond any control can be accomplished.
I really can't compare it to much of anything, and the few comparison to be made didn't come into existence until a while after these books were published. If nothing else, the sheer uniqueness of it warrants giving it a chance.
It's of an epic scope the proportions of which have not been seen in literature since Lord of the Rings and if you're any sort of a fantasy or adventure fan not giving His Dark Materials a chance is one of the biggest mistakes you could ever make in your book reading life.

Title: The Alchemist
Author: Paolo Coehlo
Genre: Religious/spiritual fiction

I loved this book so much. It's a very short read, but I found it to be thought-provoking and a generally feel-good story. It made me look at the world and what's been happpening in my life lately in a completely different light. Honestly, I feel like a better person for having read it. The Fifth Mountain, also by Coehlo, is along the same lines. I loved that book as well, but not as much as The Alchemist.

If anyone posting here has already read those two, can you recommend any other titles that might have the same effect? I haven't read anything lately that I've been able to really get lost in. Nothing I've found life-changing or thought-provoking. I've been told to try Chasing Rumi and The Lovely Bones (which I heard is Peter Jackson's next project). I plan to read those two, but I figured I'd post here first and ask for some more recommendations before I take my trip to Barnes and Noble.

The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut
Science Fiction (but it's a classic author)

Basically, the trials and mistakes of a shallow, good-for-nothing guy who is bounced across the solar system and used as a pawn in a bigger picture he isn't aware of of. Like all of Vonnegut's books, it's based on the failures of the human race and redemption. Also recommend Galapagos and Cat's Cradle.

The Eden Express
Mark Vonnegut
True Story, autobigoraphy?

Story of Mark Vonnegut, and his descent into manic-depression. Very in-depth, very detailed look inside the mind of a mentally ill person. Fantastic read.

American Gods
Neil Gaiman
Science Fiction

A man named Shadow is released from prison, only to find that he no longer has a life waiting for him or a home to return to. He is then met by a mysterious manwho calls himself Wednesday, and is hired to be a bodyguard. The book goes across quite a bit of North America and gives iteresting historical anecdotes. Excellent descriptions and a fascinating dramatic story.

Out of curiosity, has anyone here read 'Interstellar Pig'? I forget the author.

Double Post:
Honestly, I found this to be the second worst of the Vonnegut books I've read (the worst being Breakfast of Champions). I wouldn't recommend that to someone who's never read Vonnegut.

I think I recommended some books on another thread some time ago (or maybe it was on another forum), but I'll reiterate for this one:

Gates of Fire
by: Steven Pressfield
genre: Historical Fiction

This is an amazingly well written book that tells the tale of Three Hundred Spartans who stood against the multitudes of Persians at Thermopylae. Putting real faces to a historical story, Steven Pressfield makes you believe that this is how it really happened, and these characters where the ones that were there.

Jumper
by: Steven Gould
genre: Modern Fiction

What if you discovered that you were the only one in the world that had an amazing power? Would you use it for good or evil? Gould tells a classic "boy grows into a man" tale with a new sort of twist; a young adult discovers he can "jump" to places that he's been before, instantaneously, and how hard it really is to be a "superhero".

A Song of Ice and Fire series
by: George R. R. Martin
genre: Epic Fantasy

This is Epic Fantasy at it's pinacle. Magic and myth takes a back seat to character and story in this epic tale of warring kingdoms. Martin has begun a series that dwarfs all other fantasy stories in scope and character. His characters are believable, his world you breath, his history seems like it truly happened. Tolkein, Jordan, Williams, all other fantasy writers pale in comparison. Book 4 is out, and it is rumored to actually stop at 7 (unlike a few others, there is an end in sight! :) ). Seriously though, if you like fantasy, this is the series to get.

This Present Darkness/Piercing the Darkness
by: Frank E. Peretti
genre: Modern Biblical Fiction

This is an odd recommendation from me. I normally don't recommend a book (or two in this case, as it comes in a two-book volume) if it is steeped in a religious point of view, as many will either love it or hate it not by how it's written, but by the denomination that it follows. This is a well-written exception. It is almost fantasy-like in how it's written, so if you are not a follower of Christianity, it probably won't kill you ;). What if demons and angels were real, and warring constantly for your life all the time? How are you affected by something that you cannot sense? How can you affect them? A well written duo about the war between heaven and hell where angels and devils fight in modern times on a plane that cannot be seen by normal people, and how their fight affects how we live. I cannot recommend it enough.

There's a few to get you started.

my favorite author is Harlan Coben
my favorite book by him is Tell No One...it's the best book i have ever read and i think that if you read, you will not regret it... it is suspense material, heavy suspense, full of surprises and feels like you are closer to the protagonist then any other book i read...