What shall I read?

Published on July 6, 2005 By dharmagrl In Misc

Alright, Joeusers, I need your help.

I'm amassing a library of books to read during my hospital stay and subsequent recuperation. It's going to be a long haul, according to my surgeon, so I'm trying to line up as many books as I can. My Amazon account has seen a fair bit of activity in the past couple of weeks...but I'd like it to see more.

Thus far I have in my possession: The Historian, Snow Falling Upon Cedars, The Grapes Of Wrath, and a collection of Faulkner's short stories. I'm also considering getting Thomas Friedman's 'The World Is Flat' - from what I hear it's an excellent primer in global economics. I'm about halfway through Falkner already, and The Grapes won't take me but a day or so to complete. So, I'm looking for reccomendations.

Give me your 'must read' books. You don't even have to tell me what they're about or why you like them if you don't want to, I can do the research by myself.....but I do need some ideas about what to read.

Thanks!

Comments (Page 2)

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on Jul 06, 2005

Try:

Timeship by Stephen Baxter, it is very long...it is a sequel to the time machine.

anything by john jakes...or Harry Turtledove....or Stephen R. Hawking's (no relation to the physicist) Sirius (don't know if it was released to book stores, or only via internet...met him online at a writing website called fanstory.com) also, another author i met at the website, who released a murder/mystery novel called "The Nightmare in Alice Springs" , i think currently it is only available in Austrailia and online... not sure though...or Time and again by jack finney...or the Area 51 series by Robert Doherty...(not as good as the previous novels, but still interesting...good luck...

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on Jul 06, 2005

oh and Tigers child by torey hayden, also her other book called: One child...both are awesome books, read on child first, then tigers child, so that they makes sense, as tigers child is about the same child in one child, only years later...

bakerstreet

on Jul 06, 2005

Anything by Unberto Eco. If I had to hand pick one for you, I'd say Baudolino. Also 100 Years of Solitude by G.G. Marquez.

zweihander01

on Jul 06, 2005

I havent read as much as I'd like to lately, but I recently finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman. The tagline is something like "A grown-up fairy tale", which it is. He's written a few other books and graphic novels / comics and is fairly well known for his work. Terry Pratchett writes good SF-humor, similar to Douglas Adams but with a more fantasy feel than SF.

If you would like something different, try finding some trade paperbacks of certain comics. You might think of them as kids' stuff, but a lot of it isn't. Which reflects that comic readers are getting older, or kids are getting more jaded. Hellboy is a safe bet. Hopeless Savages is extremely entertaining, since it's so far off from most comics and is like a well written sitcom in comic form. Runaways is getting very good. Global Frequency is killer, as is the TV pilot if you can find the torrent on the Internet. Preacher is weird, weird, NC-17 stuff, but very well known. Marvel and DC's runs are so huge that I can't even touch on it at all...

I'd recommend more comics, but there's so many... If you're lucky enough to live near a real comic store, or at least a book store with a good selection of them (I know B&N's online store has plenty) you can ask some people there. If the staff doesn't help you, I'd bet some customers would

Oh, I almost forgot. If you're in a learning mood, try finding some books written by Richard Feynman. He's a famous physicist and professor, and while his books often touch on some science, it remains very accessible.

drmiler

on Jul 07, 2005

What genre of books do you prefer Karen?

drmiler

on Jul 07, 2005

Oh yeah, anything by Larry McMurtry. Did I tell ya I met him once? He doesn't live far from me, BTW.

I'll remember that Shovel. The next time I lay my hnads on one of Larry's books, I'll send it to you so's you can get me his autograph.

Kannon7

on Jul 07, 2005

Hi try these books out. For a really good economic book that covers the whole world try The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto. I heard him speak and he conveys his thoughts in a way the general public can understand. For some lighter but thought provoking reading go Cat's Craddle by Kurt Vonnegut.
Kannon

citahellion

on Jul 07, 2005

I'll second the recommendation for "Gormenghast", and for Harry Turtledove (though his "World at War" series is just ridiculously huge), and for anything by Neil Gaiman (can't believe I forgot him the first time around!), and specifically for the trade paperbacks of "The Sandman" series (by Neil Gaiman, as a matter of fact). Another fantastic trade paperback comic book series to get is "The Watchmen". And, for a fascinating look into medieval Japan, try the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series. And now that I'm at home and in front of my books, I'll make a few more recommendations...

"Lord of the Flies" by Willaim Golding
The complete works of Lewis Carroll
"Watership Down" by Richard Adams
"Steppenwolf" and "Demian" by Herman Hesse
"The Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson, and then the "System of the World" trilogy ("Quicksilver", "Confusion", and "The System of the World").
Just about anything by Dave Duncan
Just about anything by Patricia McKillip, but her "Riddlemaster of Hed" trilogy is her best-known work. (Everything else of hers is a single book, though, if you want to keep it shorter.)

If you're feeling REALLY geeky, you could check out "The Story of sqrt(-1)", "Fermat's Enigma", "e: The Story of a Number", "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea", and "Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics". (Yes, I'm a math dork. Can you tell?)

Oh yeah, and one more on the lighter side (Well, the darker side of the lighter side, anyway): "Red Meat", "More Red Meat", and the third "Red Meat" collection whose title I don't know, by Max Cannon. If you're not reading these comic strips already, you should be. http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/current/index.html

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on Jul 08, 2005

oh and Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials series...and Dorian Gray (Title) its a classic...

Brenda Holiday

on Jul 08, 2005

I can see I am a little late giving you a suggestion on what books to read but I will name some anyways.

"Getting Over It", "Running in Heels", "Behaving Like Adults." --All by Anna Maxted. She is a great author. One of my favorties. Her stories are funny and easy to read. They are hard to put down too, so you will finish them quickly. I love her stuff.

Also try, " The God of Small Things." By Arundati Roy. Words can't describe how beautiful that book is.

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