the book recommendation thread

Originally Posted by kat

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.

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:

Originally Posted by Arkhangelsk

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

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Gratch

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 second that. Highly. Extremely. AMAZING series.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.