# Book Recommendations, Por Favor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140 "2004-11-05T05:09:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/1 "2004-11-05T05:09:53Z")
Hidey-ho, Dopers. I am once again _sans_ reading material and looking for some recommendations from the most diverse and widely read group on Planet Earth, which clearly is the lot of you. So please answer the following: 1. What is your favorite book of all time? 2. What is the title of the last good book you read? 3. What book would you recommend to others? 4. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? Thanks ever so! šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/2 "2004-11-05T05:12:05Z")
1. _Ulysses_ 2. _Lolita_ 3. _Lolita_ 4. _Finnegans Wake_ (I canā€™t help it, Iā€™m a Joyce geek.) ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/3 "2004-11-05T05:16:35Z")
\*Vanity Fair A Tale of Two Cities The Truth\*, by Terry Pratchett. Iā€™ve heard great things about an author named R. A. Lafferty, but I havenā€™t been able to get any of his stuff yet. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/4 "2004-11-05T05:28:17Z")
1. What is your favorite book of all time? As a ā€œgreat workā€, Thomas Pynchonā€™s ā€œGravityā€™s Rainbow.ā€ As a personally lifechanging novel, Douglas Couplandā€™s ā€œLife After God.ā€ 2. What is the title of the last good book you read? ā€œOther voices, other roomsā€ by Truman Capote. 3. What book would you recommend to others? Any of the aforementioned; in addition, Haruki Murakamiā€™s ā€œThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.ā€ 1. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? Tom Robbinsā€™ ā€œJitterbug Perfume.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/5 "2004-11-05T13:05:35Z")
1. Favorite of all time ā€“ Iā€™m 49 and have been an avid reader since I was 4. I could possibly get it down to a top 10. Maybe. 2. Last good ā€“ I canā€™t even narrow this down below two! I was reading Kim Stanley Robinsonā€™s _Years of Rice and Salt_, which is wonderful, but paused when I was about 100 pages from the end to blast through Mark Haddonā€™s _Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_, which is also wonderful in a completely different way. 3. Random recommendation ā€“ let me give you something no one else will mention: \*[Lady Audleyā€™s Secret\*](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1551113570/qid=1099660207/sr=8-9/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i9_xgl14/104-9170475-5286341?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I like a good 19th-century novel. 4. Heard is good, havenā€™t read: Nothing comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/6 "2004-11-05T13:15:05Z")
1. Favorite - To Kill a Mockingbird 2. Last Good - The October Horse, the last in _The Masters of Rome_ series by Colleen McCullough; a fictional (but strongly based on fact) history of Rome through the death of Caesar. 3. Book to Recommend - typical ā€œAce in the Holeā€ books to recommend include _Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World_ by Haruki Murakami, _Enderā€™s Game_ by O.S. Card (to non-sci-fi folks), _Babbitt_ by Sinclair Lewis. 4. Books to Read - So many. Pepysā€™ Diaries, Montaigneā€™s Essays, Aureliusā€™ Diaries, Herodotus, Thucydides - basically a ton of classics, up through books by Henry James and Virginia Woolf. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/7 "2004-11-05T14:24:53Z")
1. Villette by Charlotte Bronte 2. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann 3. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 4. Middlemarch by George Eliot ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/8 "2004-11-05T14:38:34Z")
1. What is your favorite book of all time? _The Canterbury Tales_ 1. What is the title of the last good book you read? _The Best Poems of the English Language_, selected & with commentary by Harold Bloom 1. What book would you recommend to others? _The Best Poems of the English Language_ 1. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? _You Remind Me of Me_ by Dan Chaon ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/9 "2004-11-05T14:51:35Z")
1. What is your favorite book of all time? Donā€™t have one, actually, but lately Iā€™ve been pushing Don Robertson ā€“ The Ideal Genuine Man in particular. Itā€™s a bit bleak (an aging couple in Houston in the 70ā€™s) but very compelling 1. What is the title of the last good book you read? Still reading it ā€“ Ilium by Dan Simmons ā€“ very imaginative, exceptional character development 1. What book would you recommend to others? Anything by Don Robertson, especially Paradise Falls 1. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any) I have some books by David Richards Adams in the TBR, heā€™s Canadian, and Iā€™ve been really happy with the Canadians Iā€™ve read lately. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/10 "2004-11-05T14:59:33Z")
1. What is your favorite book of all time? Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Possession 1. What is the title of the last good book you read? Reading Lolita in Tehran. My bookclub just read it. We prepped for it (which I think was a really good idea) by reading Lolita, Great Gatsby, Washington Square, and Pride and Prejudice. Really a facinating book. 1. What book would you recommend to others? I try not to make blanket recommendations. Fiction? Non-Fiction? Tragic? Comic? Both? Need strong women characters? Popcorn or do you need to feel youā€™ve read something worthwhile? Iā€™d recommend any of the above books, but I need to know you - the only one nearly universally accessible is To Kill a Mockingbird. (Knowing you a little, I think youā€™d like Reading Lolita in Tehran and wouldnā€™t find Possession unaccessible. And youā€™ve probably read Austen and Lee). 1. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? Iā€™ve just started ā€œAngry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons.ā€ I have ā€œGuns Germs and Steelā€ in my car. Heard good things about both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/11 "2004-11-05T15:02:38Z")
Not too highbrow in my choices, Iā€™m afraidā€¦ Fave: The Stand by S. King Last read: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - loved it! Recommend: The above, and Kingā€™s Dark Tower Series, Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, plenty more, but I canā€™t think right now. To read: None jumps out at me, but I might try Anna Kareninaā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/12 "2004-11-05T15:28:52Z")
Fave: LOTR is up there somewhere, but not sure of fav. Last Read: Dark Tower by S King Recommend: Have to go with **Dangerosa** on this one _I try not to make blanket recommendations_ but its really good to see Murakami getting a mention. + anything by Philip K Dick To Read: too many to list. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/13 "2004-11-05T15:42:12Z")
_1. What is your favorite book of all time?_ Urk. Probably either _The Iliad_ or _Gaudy Night_ by Dorothy L. Sayers 2. What is the title of the last good book you read? _The Flower War_, by Tad Williams. 3. What book would you recommend to others? _The Hidden Land_, by Pamela Dean. 4. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? Susanna Clarkeā€™s _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/14 "2004-11-05T15:44:15Z")
1. Favorite - _East of Eden_. 2. Last good book - Platoā€™s _Republic_. 3. Recommend to others - like Iā€™ve been doing for the past few months, Iā€™m going to go ahead and tell everyone that they need (_need_) to read Micahel Chabonā€™s _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_. 4. Heard good things - Thomas Wolfeā€™s books (Iā€™ve only read _The Right Stuff_). Also on my docket are \*Arrowsmith, Vanity Fair,\*the _Purgatorio, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Life of Piā€¦_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/15 "2004-11-05T15:53:20Z")
Favorite: Probably **The Sot-Weed Factor** by John Barth I read only good books. šŸ™‚ But Iā€™d say either Terry Pratchettā€™s **Going Postal** or Christopher Mooreā€™s **The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror** or **Coraline** by Neil Gaiman. Recommend: All of the above, plus any of the Thursday Next novels by Jasper fforde or **One Hundred Years of Solitude** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I havenā€™t gotten to **The Well of Lost Plots** or **Something Rotten** by Jasper fforde yet. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/16 "2004-11-05T18:20:14Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Hidey-ho, Dopers. Hi-de-ho!! 1. What is your favorite book of all time? LotR. (JRRT) 1. What is the title of the last good book you read? The curious case of the dog in the night-time. (Mark Haddon) 1. What book would you recommend to others? Neuromancer (William Gibson) 1. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? The seventh book of lost swords. (Fred Saberhagen) ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/17 "2004-11-05T19:09:33Z")
1. What is your favorite book of all time? Narrowing it to one is tough. Rushdieā€™s _Midnightā€™s Children_, Lowryā€™s _Under the Volcano_ and _Room with a View_ are all up thereā€¦ 2. What is the title of the last good book you read? _The Patron Saint of Liars_ by Ann Patchett 3. What book would you recommend to others? My standard answer is _Atonement_ by Ian McEwan. Several good titles by Murakami have already been mentioned. _Baltasar and Blimunda_ by Saramago 4. What book have you heard good things about but not yet read (if any)? Although heā€™s one of my favorite authors, Iā€™ve never read Russell Banksā€™ \* The Sweet Hereafter\*. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/18 "2004-11-05T19:19:29Z")
1. The [Rolling Thunder series](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Mark%20Berent/103-5102539-9755811) - Mark Berent 2. No idea. The last book I read was Mostly Harmless but it wasnā€™t all that good. šŸ˜› 3. Rolling Thunder, if the person asking likes military fiction. 4. Iā€™ve been meaning to get [My Fatherā€™s Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452279240/qid=1099682817/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-5102539-9755811). ---
**Author:** ![Peligro\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Peligro\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peligro_1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/19 "2004-11-05T19:32:42Z")
This is actually hard to answerā€¦too many good ones 1. The Illuminatus! Trilogy (Robert Anton Wilson) One of the few Iā€™ve read more than once. Itā€™s kind of eerie how it predicts certain events of historical consequence. Plus I know Iā€™ve met a potential friend when I mention to an aquaintance that Iā€™ve seen the fnords 2. Baudolino (Umberto Eco) It wasnā€™t what I expected, and was a little zany (can you say ā€œzanyā€ when talking about Eco?) 3. Enderā€™s Game (Orson Scott Card) ā€“ if they like Sci Fi HHGTTG (Douglas Adams) ā€“ if they donā€™t like Sci Fi - because it will make them like it šŸ˜‰ 4. Gravityā€™s Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon) Bought it, tried to read it (got about 30% through), got too many headaches, gave up :(. Itā€™s next on my list howeverā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140/20 "2004-11-05T19:39:47Z")
> [@glee](#): > > 1. What is the title of the last good book you read? > > The curious case of the dog in the night-time. (Mark Haddon) Actually itā€™s _ **Incident** _, not _ **Case** _. Just so no one has trouble finding it or anything. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-por-favor/273140.md?page=2)