# Doper Book Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909 "2004-04-02T16:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/1 "2004-04-02T16:01:55Z")
In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245450) thread, **Miller** recommeded that I read _Canticle for Liebowitz_. I just did. It was fantastic ! Thanks, Miller ! I also read _The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant_ on the recommendation of a Doper. There are probably a few others which slip my mind just now. Now I need to hit the library again. I’m going to pick up _Riddley Walker_, another one recommended in that thread, and I’m kind of tempted to give _Voltaire’s Bastards_ a shot after reading **Hamish** ’s current Canadian Authors thread. So, has anyone else had good book tips from this place? If so, share ! ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/2 "2004-04-02T16:11:14Z")
Based on a thread in which I was lurking earlier this week, I’ll be picking up a couple of books by Steve Martin. I enjoy Rakoff, Sedaris, Roach and Borowitz so I’m sure I’ll like Martin. I’ll post back to this thead, assuming it’s still active, once I’ve read a selection or two. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/3 "2004-04-02T17:18:21Z")
If you’re not familiar with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., you need to be. The best books for a beginner are _Slaughterhouse Five_ and _Breakfast of Champions_. My favorite author is Samuel Beckett. He wrote a bunch of fantastic books, but the only one that’s even remotely accessible is _Murphy_. If you like that, you might check out _Watt_, and the trilogy: _Molloy_, _Malone Dies_, and _The Unnameable_. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/4 "2004-04-02T18:34:39Z")
**ultrafilter** : the _Liebowitz_ suggestion actually came from my rhetorical question of ‘Is there a better post-apocalyptic novelist than Vonnegut?’ Well, you know what they say about great minds ! I’ll put Beckett on my list as well, thanks for the tip about the only accessible one. I just got _Voltaire’s Bastards_ out of the library. Heavy reading, man - the thing must weigh twenty pounds ! ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/5 "2004-04-02T18:49:01Z")
Funny, I’m currently reading Canadian author Atwood’s post apocalypitic novel Oryx and Crake right now. Can’t recommend it until I finish it. This is my third start on the novel. Its a little dark and intense for my current reading habits. Just finished Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I enjoyed it far more than I enjoyed Wicked. Also just reread Sense and Sensibility. Can you go wrong with Austen? Have you read The Sparrow? I despised the book and didn’t finish it, but the rest of my bookclub LOVED it. Something about what you are talking about makes me think you might like it. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/6 "2004-04-02T19:52:21Z")
I’ve been trying to get as many people as possible to read _Evolution_ by Stephen Baxter. Fictionalized history of humans from the death of the dinosaurs until the death of the earth. It was one of the most compelling things I’ve read in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/7 "2004-04-02T20:19:44Z")
**Dangerosa** : I was pretty disappointed with _Oryx and Crake_. (I started a thread to discuss it but it went nowhere.) It was good, but I expect greatness from Atwood. And at least one inspiring woman character. **Kaspar** : great screen name ! You seem to have learned to type very well in English … 😉 I will also add _Evolution_ to my list. I’m curious about how a novel can span the life and times of the Earth and still have plot/characters etc … but hey, _Liebowitz_ spans several thousand years as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/8 "2004-04-02T20:27:43Z")
I’m enjoying it so far (as much as you can enjoy a book like that - its depressing and disgusting with a sarcastic bite). And having read a lot of Atwood, I have no expectations other than wonderful use of language (which the book has in spades) when I pick it up. Her stuff has been all over for me. Some of it among my favorites, some I couldn’t get through. But she can use words. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-book-recommendations/237909/9 "2004-04-02T20:56:07Z")
The first author I usually start raving about (think I’ve already done so here) whenever someone asks me for a recommendation is Jorge Luis Borges, specifically _Labyrinths._ (Though three recent volumes, _Collected Fictions,_ _Selected Non-Fictions,_ and _Poems_ pretty much comprise the whole shootin’ match.) Borges wrote these amazingly concise, mind-bending short pieces that all dealt in some way with time and infinity. No writer excites me intellectually like this guy does.