Please help! Need book recommendations...

[Flaxbee]

for myself! I am searching for a few good books... the kind I can read to escape, and I escape into fiction. (I like nonfiction but for escapism prefer good fiction.) I'm kinda sick of the mysteries I've been reading, don't like scifi or romance -- anyone read anything good lately they could really recommend? Two caveats: I don't want anything that has anything to do with any animal in jeopardy or distress, I'm too freaking depressed about the Bush environmental record to handle anything sad about animals; and I read The Da Vinci Code and thought it was OK -- good story, weak characters, and I looove a book with good character...

Anybody want to, Santa-like, leave a few suggestions in this thread while I sleep? I'd be eternally grateful to discover a captivating book....

[durutti]

1. What about fantasy?

If you're interested in reading fantasy, I recommend Terry Pratchett. It's funny fantasy. My favorite is Guards! Guards!; The Colour of Magic is also good.

[toddzilla]

2. orson scott card

ender's game.

probably one of my fave fiction books ever. great characters and story.

[jimbo fett]

10. Orson Scott Card and Stephen R. Donaldson

Definitely Cards "Ender Saga" and his "Homecoming Saga" if you like to read series. For single books Card's "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" and "Lovelock" are great too.

Stephen R. Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" are fantastic. I have to read them every few years.

And anything by L.E. Modessitt.

[7th_Sephiroth]

47. how about

harry potter?

[Red State Rebel]

3. Anything by Maeve Binchy

Wonderful storyteller - great characters. Set in Ireland.

[KC]

4. How about

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

It's one you can't put down, can't wait to find out what happens, but you never want it to end.
At least it was that way for me

KC

[punpirate]

5. Characters?

As I often do, I recommend Richard Powers. If you can find his books used or in the library, I'd suggest _Galatea 2.2_ or _Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance_, for starters. _The Goldbug Variations_ is also excellent.

Cheers.

[southerngirlwriter]

6. Gladly! :-)

I've read two novels a week, sometimes more, for ten years. The following are my top five:

1. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
2. Fall On Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald
3. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
4. All five Harry Potter books, by J.K. Rowling (read them in the proper order)
5. The Stand, by Stephen King

Runners-up include A Widow For One Year, by John Irving; The American, by Henry James; The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Incumbent, by Brian McGrory (political thriller with a great surprise ending).

Hope you enjoy them! :-)

[Red State Rebel]

15. Excellent Choices....

Fall on Your Knees was fantastic! I also liked She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

[TNDemo]

16. Didn't you think the characters in Fall On Your Knees

REALLY needed some therapy? It was an interesting read but I just kept thinking all screwed up everyone was.

[TNDemo]

7. My personal favorite author

for intelligent, psyche delving books with in depth and interesting characters is Susan Howatch, a British author. Try Wheel of Fortune, which is a book spanning about 100 years of a Welsh family. Another one (if you don't mind some religion - i.e., the inner workings of the church and its clergy) would be Glittering Images, which is the first in a six book set on the Church of England. It has its share of lust and lots of human frailties and the way she can pick apart somebody's mind is amazing. My friends and I were climbing the walls waiting for the next book in the series to come out.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. I love Susan Howatch's Anglican books

They were eagerly passed around among the parishioners at my former church.

[oneighty]

8. Hiroshima Joe

By Martin Booth.

A very strange love story. If you can find it, read it, you will never forget it.

Promise.

180

[OldEurope]

9. Try this:

"Leo Africanus" by Amin Maalouf. Fascinated me, Maalouf is a great author.

:toast:

[jimbo fett]

11. If you like authors like Ursula K Leguin...

Read "The Sparrow" by Maria Doria Russell. On the face of it, it is just a fantasy book. But it is much deeper than that. It is the first novel written by a scientist who converted from Jesuit to Judaism. It deals with many issues of humanity and spirituality. There is a sequel as well called "Children of God."

[Mz Pip]

42. Agreed

I'm sort of partial to these books because I know the author and she is a good friend of mine. She has taken the journeys of the Jesuit explorers of early American history and transported it to the future.

What happens when you come as an observer to an established culture and cannot justify or except the rules of that culture? What do you do?


MzPip
:dem:

[Interrobang]

12. I'll give you a few from my bookshelf spectrum.

A Painted House by John Grisham (no lawyers anywhere -- this one's a Southern Gothic, almost)

The Devil's Carousel by Jeff Torrington

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

Everything's Eventual by Stephen King (I think his best collection of short stories, fairly evenly split between the "lit'ry" ones and the screamers)

Icefire by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens

The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg

Mefisto In Onyx by Harlan Ellison (in Slippage) (read back-to-back with The Green Mile by Stephen King if you're a fan!)

Other Americas by Norman Spinrad

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccacio

[nostamj]

13. if you've never read THE MISTS OF AVALON

do yourself a favor and get lost in it...

it's about the Arthur legend, BUT... told from the women's POV.

lush, magical, and one of the top ten books i've EVER read.

(and I read a LOT)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0345350499.01._PE30_PIdp-schmooS,TopRight,7,-26_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

author is Marion Zimmer Bradley

[LWolf]

48. A favorite of mine, as well.

An interesting contrast to T.H. White's "Once and Future King."

I reread "Mists" every couple of years.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. MZB's Darkover series

I have loved this series since I was a teen: Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels

[bobbieinok]

27. The Darkover series is NOT upbeat.......

Many of the novels are very depressing.

I like the series, though.

[Bertha Venation]

17. Two light & hilarious books by a favorite author

I've just re-read two hilarious books by Rita Mae Brown: Six Of One and Bingo. The latter's something of a sequel to the former, so read Six first.

The main characters are Julia and Louise Hunsenmeier, sisters born at the turn of the 20th Century, and the people in and surrounding their lives. The stories span 80 years. The sisters love and hate each other, fight & bicker constantly but would kill for one another, and they're just absolutely hilarious.

[Iverson]

18. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

It's strange and absorbing fiction that ties your brain in a knot in between giggles.

[omshanti]

19. have you read the Didius Falco mystery series?

By Lindsay Davis?
Strong characters, great plots, hilarious sarcastic humor. Great escapist mysteries! I strongly recommend them - each book is funnier than the last.
The first book in the series is Silver Pigs, but I like that one the least.

[Flaxbee]

20. Thanks, everyone!

I just got to the computer and it was a treat to see all these wonderful books listed; I've never heard of many of them and am looking forward to reading all of them... I'm going to make a list and go straight to powells.com

I appreciate it! I cannot go anywhere without a book in hand, I practically panic if I don't have something good to read.

Two I've read recently that I can recommend are "My Dream of You" by Nuala O'Faolin, about a woman coming to terms with turning 50 and her Irish childhood, and "The Third Rumpole Omnibus" by John Mortimer -- any story by Mortimer featuring Rumpole is a gem.

[AlienGirl]

21. Up The Walls of the World

by James Tiptree, Jr. Good plot, excellent character development, no animals in distress, and everything works out for the best good of all concerned.

You can probably find it at a used bookstore for a buck fifty.

Tucker

[LuCifer]

22. "It's STILL the Economy, STUPID!" by Paul Begala

It's about a year old, but it's still got some damn good stuff to it. Plus, it's certainly NOT a boring read!

Lu Cifer

[jobycom]

23. The unabridged "Les Miserables"

1600 pages, and every one worth it.

All of the abridged versions are weaker, as are the movies and plays. They either turn it into a romance, a revolutionary tale, a chase story, or some such element of it.

But for characters, moral compass, and one hell of a defense of liberalism, it is the best book ever written. With all due respect to Alice Walker and Harper Lee.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

44. Riveting

This was, by far, the best book I have ever read.
I had to read it in high school (the abridged version) and I couldn't put it down.
Years later, I bought the unabridged version and it was such a difference-a book that was so incredible before has suddenly become much richer.

[Bridget Burke]

24. Two off the top of my head...

1) "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis. Time travel set in the not-so-far future, going back to the Victorian age & the Blitz. Canterbury Cathedral is being reconstructed in Oxford since there's a time travel lab at the great university. Screamingly funny depiction of upper-class Victorian life & academic life in the near future (hasn't changed much). Animals SEEMINGLY in peril, but trust me! (Willis also wrote "Doomsday Book" about Oxonians time-travelling back to the Black Plague; an excellent book but not as amusing.)

2) "The List of Seven" by Mark Frost. Young Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle becomes embroiled in an occult mystery. He assists Jack Sparks, an amazing character with a dark past and huge detecting skills, who inspires his future writings. Truly a ripping yarn. (The author also co-wrote "Twin Peaks". His later "The Six Messiahs" seemed to promise a series that, unfortunately, did not continue.)

Both of these are still in print.

[harper]

31. love Connie Willis

"To Say Nothing of the Dog" was the first thing by her I read and I was immediately hooked. "Passages" is also very good. Its about a women who is doing research into near death experiences. Excellent book.

[neuvocat]

25. Elmore Leonard.

Anything by him is excellent and animal safe.

:)

[Blue Gardener]

26. Ann Rule Books

They are true crime non-fiction, but always interesting. Just read one, if you like it you'll probably want to read them all. She likes to delve into the backgrounds of the criminals in her books, kind of interesting if you want to try and figure out how a sociopath gets that way. Nature or nurture?

[bobbieinok]

28. some short stories

James Thurber - in Thurber Carnival

...The Night the Bed Fell

...The Day the Dam Broke

[bobbieinok]

29. P G Wodehouse

Some people think he's hilarious; others he leaves cold.

My son and his wife (in their 30s) have dumped the TV and even the internet at home.

They're reading these together.

A great Wodehouse short story 'Uncle Fred Flits By'

[myrna minx]

30. I love Jeeves and Wooster.

I am re-reading the Code of the Woosters, which is just hilarious. Great choice.

[Mikimouse]

32. If you have the time,...

try the Stephen King Dark Tower series. The newest addition (book #5) is currently out in hardcover. It is a thoroughly absorbing series and you will probably love it as I do. The newest one is The Wolves of Calla. The first was The Gunslinger, then The Drawing of the Three, then The Wastelands, and Wizard and Glass. Fantastic series.

[TheZoo]

33. Harry Turtledove

He writes a LOT of alternate-history books. I just finished his "World War" series - there is some science fiction however; during WW II, an alien race comes down to conquer the earth. It's a pretty good series.

I'm also trying to find a copy of "Guns of the South" - where the Confederacy gets AK-47s.

You might also want to pick up the novelization of the movie version of "M*A*S*H*" by Richard Hooker. That definitely has a lot of great character development, not just the main characters, but also the minor ones.

[freesqueeze]

35. Elmore Leonard

I know you said you were sick of mysteries but Elmore does more than that and as a detective writer he is in a class by himself. I first got turned onto Elmore while reading what Molly Ivins had to say about him in the forward to one of her books. That set me off on about a 3 year binge when I read everything by Elmore I could find at the used book store.

Among his best:

Escape from Five Shadows (Western)
Hombre (Western)
Split Images
Gold Coast
Freaky Deaky
Rum Punch
Unknown Man # 89
Killshot
Be Cool

The one book for the hypothetical stranded elevator:

Swag (A Masterpiece)

One of the most creative endings I've ever read.

Elmore to Avoid (sorry Elmore, I still love you, really):

Touch
Pagan Babies

[WindRavenX]

36. Lots!

Sorry, I forgot some of the authors..
Life of Pi- a WONDERFUL book. I cannot recommend it enough!
Only Begotten Daughter- hillarious/dark book about the sister of Jesus in New Jersey. Seriously, it's a brilliant book.
The Great Gatsby- shameless plug for my favourite book :)
The Elegant Universe- interesting book about the SST (super string theory); it's a science book, but it's wicked awesome.
The Otherworld Series- best sci fi series EVER. It's like the Matrix meets the mythology worlds..freakin' awesome.
Uhh..let me think some more.

[LWolf]

37. Some favorite authors:

some light, funny mysteries, some more substantive stuff; all good:

Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Kingsolver
Ursula LeGuin
Janet Evanovich
Joanne Dobson
Carolyn Haines
Rita Mae Brown
Jane Smiley
Sharon McCrumb

I could go on, but that ought to get you started!

Come to think of it, I was supposed to go to the bookstore today myself; how could I have forgotten??

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. I'm not a sci fi fan, but I love

Jack Finney's Time and Again.

It's about a 1970s man who is tapped for a secret government project (he's not told its ultimate purpose) that requires him to travel back to the 1880s. He tells his girlfriend about the project, and she asks him to solve a family mystery.

The man solves the mystery, and when he finally learns the purpose of the time travel experiment, he deals with it in one of them most ingenious ways I've ever seen.

The portrayals of the man's reactions to the 1880s and other people's reactions to his being slightly "off" from what they're used to are well thought out and fascinating. Finney must have spent months on historical research while writing this book.

The book also deals with one of Finney's recurring themes: what we have lost as modern society has evolved.

[ornotna]

39. The Left Hand of Darkness

By Ursula K. Le Guin.
Read it in high school, still think it's one of the best books I've ever read.

[LWolf]

46. Great book.

I'm a fan of Ursula Le Guin, so I picked it up to read one day; for a few chapters I was disappointed. I just didn't relate. The further I went, the more engrossed I became. I spent days after I got done having philosophical debates with myself about the ideas in that book.

[FloridaJudy]

40. Just a few suggestions:

*The Life of Pi* - A marvellous book! It's all about religion,
ethics, psychology, and zoology. It also explains how to survive
being stranded on a life-boat with a Bengal Tiger.

*The Crimson Petal and the White* Charles Dickens would have written
this, had he been an outspoken twenty-first century woman. The
author is male, and speaks in the voice of a nineteenth
century prostitute. He's written an amazing novel.

*Girl with a Pearl Earring* I've heard that this was recently made
into a critically praised independent movie. Read it first.

*The DaVinci Code* - Shameless Brain Candy. Catherine Neville does romps through history better, Neal Stephenson is *way* more gifted at presenting challenging puzzles, and Elaine Pagels explains Gnostic Christianty more lucidly. I still recommend it for the sheer joy of announcing "Heck, I KNEW that!".

[FloridaJudy]

41. Louise McMaster Bujold's VorCosigan Novels

A colleague turned me on to those..

They're blooming marvellous! I can't even begin to explain why these novels ring my chimes. You have to be a Science Fiction fanatic from childhood to explain it. But Miles is so appealing that you'd have to be a hopeless skeptic not to fall in love with him.

[Flaxbee]

43. I think this is the longest thread I ever initiated...

and it's been one great big present for me! You guys are amazing, I feel like a kid in a candy store and I don't know where to start first! Many thanks again for all your suggestions. I am really looking forward to reading these books, they all sound terrific. I've been in a reading rut lately and this list is just what I needed to hoist myself out and diversify...

[Redneck Socialist]

45. Too many to mention. I'll try to keep this short.

Fiction: Riven Rock by T. C. Boyle. Published in 1998 it looks at the nature of sanity and insanity. One of his better ones and often overlooked

Rule of the Bone by Russel Banks 1995 A great coming of age story set in the late 90's. Captures the tenor of the decade perfectly.

A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson 1985. Life in a small southern town seen through the eyes of a young boy. Pee your pants funny. One of my all time favs.

Anything by Carl Hiaasen. Very funny and usually has an environmental themes. I know, I know you said no enviro stuff, but the good guys always win in his books.

Fantasy: Anything by Neil Gaiman. I would highly recomend Neverwhere or Stardust. Also good are Charles de Lint's books. He does a great job blending Celtic and Native American mythology in a contemporary urban setting.

Aaakk! Must stop...just read them all.

Nooo I can't! Just one more...

Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. At one time I went around saying this was the greatest american novel ever written. That may be a bit extreme but it is damn good.

PS you mentioned powells.com. Have you ever been to Powells in Portland OR? Awsome book store.