# Need book recommendations, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296 "2005-07-20T15:16:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/21 "2005-07-20T17:51:14Z")
I also wanted to say, if you are not enjoying whatever it is I’ve (or other people) have recommended, stop reading it immediately and move on to something else. I find that sometimes I will read a book because it is “good for me,” not because I like it, and that quickly leads to dislike of the book and maybe even that entire branch of literature 😉 Nothing is more likely to turn you off of the classics than reluctantly slogging through _Jane Eyre_ or suchlike. I know some people like Aristotle but I’ll never be able to fully appreciate him, having been forced to read his treatises on how to write plays. Anyhow, a little advice. (But please do read The Scarlet Pimpernel, because it’s a superhero book before Superheros came about officially.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/22 "2005-07-20T19:17:10Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > My favorite of the uberclassics: _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Be warned that at first it may be slow going, as you accustom yourself to the verbosity of nineteenth-century writing; but once you get into it, the story is absolutely gripping. > > Daniel Anything, anything, by Alexander Dumas, but yes, start with the Count. The best revenge story ever. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/23 "2005-07-20T19:25:35Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > I also wanted to say, if you are not enjoying whatever it is I’ve (or other people) have recommended, stop reading it immediately and move on to something else. Very true! We seem to be throwing \*\*Silver Fire \*\* in at the deep end. **SF** , you will probably enjoy the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams, and they are very popular on this board. I also recommend Watership Down by Richard Adams. I’ll try to come up with more… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/24 "2005-07-20T20:37:39Z")
• _The Epic of Gilgamesh_, which sounds intimidating, but is not at all. It’s the oldest narrative poem in existance (circa 2000 B.C.). The translation I read by David Ferry (recommended) was 99 pages and could be read in one day. If you like action-adventure, with a little sex thrown in, the royal hellraiser Gilgamesh is your man. A recent translation by [Stephen Mitchell](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074326164X/qid=1121890969/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1910303-2680626?v=glance&s=books) has also been well received. The [SparkNotes](http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/) study guide. • Henry David Thoreau, _Walden_, one of my two favorite non-fiction books of all time. The edition annotated by [Philip Van Doren Stern](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0880299312/qid=1121891455/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-1910303-2680626?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is highly recommended; it includes the essay _Civil Disobedience_. • Jane Austen, _Pride and Prejudice_. As a writer, Austen is charming, sensible, rational, ironical — and funny. The [SparkNotes](http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pride/). • F. Scott Fitzgerald, _The Great Gatsby_. Search no further for the great American novel; this is it. One of my two favorite fiction books. The [SparkNotes](http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/25 "2005-07-20T21:15:01Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Very true! We seem to be throwing \*\*Silver Fire \*\* in at the deep end. **SF** , you will probably enjoy the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams, and they are very popular on this board. And then move onto Joseph Heller’s **Catch-22**. (I love Milo Minderbender’s scheme to by eggs for seven cents and sell them for five cents, making a profit for everyone involved.) > [@](#): > > I also recommend Watership Down by Richard Adams. I’ll try to come up with more… And if you like that, try **The Plague Dogs** , and the much harder going **Shardik** by the same author. I like Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, and Twain (especially **The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn** and **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** ). Graham Greene is good for short, yet deeply perceptive novels ( **Our Man In Havana** and **The Quiet American** are some recommendations, plus his short stories), and since I haven’t already seen it mentioned, **A Thousand And One Arabian Nights** is a classic that (with the right translation) is a nice light read. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/26 "2005-07-21T01:16:04Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Is that the Welsh version? **AYE! Tw Cities!** Are ye daft mun? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/27 "2005-07-21T01:21:40Z")
Another vote for pretty much anything by Terry Pratchett. Nominally it’s science fiction, but it’s mostly just satirical humor. For “harder” science fiction, I’d recommend “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress,” by Robert Heinlein - it’s not near as much science fiction as political commentary - but done up in a setting where it’s easier to explore some wilder ideas. (Sort of like the Straight Dope website -!) Follow it up with “Stranger In A Strange Land” by the same author. Again, more political / social commentary than science - okay, maybe getting a little dated for that - but good. And classic. Anyone want to suggest “Ulysees” by James Joyce? No? (Anyone care to explain it in fifteen words or less?) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/28 "2005-07-21T01:38:23Z")
**The Age of Innocence** by Edith Wharton. I can’t recommend it enough, and I’m not romantic. I haven’t even finished it, but I’m actually rationing it out by chapter because it’s so damned good. It should be required reading in high school, especially all girl’s schools. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/29 "2005-07-21T01:48:58Z")
> [@Civil Guy](#): > > (Anyone care to explain it in fifteen words or less?) I could make up something. Who could contradict me? 🙂 What’s funny is how beautiful and readable Joyce is in _The Dubliners_. Then you get to _Ulysses_ and it’s sheer torture. I’ve read excerpts and have never had the desire to read more. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/30 "2005-07-21T04:21:55Z")
> [@Civil Guy](#): > > Anyone want to suggest “Ulysees” by James Joyce? No? (Anyone care to explain it in fifteen words or less?) Impressions of an ad writer, his wife, and a young artist one day in Dublin. Ta da! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/31 "2005-07-21T11:47:04Z")
I’m going to go with _War and Peace_ (Tolstoy). I’m not just saying that to sound intellectual, I genuinely adore that book. But then I got my copy from a friend because she couldn’t get through it no matter how hard she tried so YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/32 "2005-07-21T12:51:11Z")
Any works by Al Franken, Tom Bodett or P.J.O’Rourke are good. Maybe not so ‘classic’, but certainly fun authors… ---
**Author:** ![Zog\_10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c57346/32.png) [@Zog\_10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zog_10)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/33 "2005-07-21T13:08:06Z")
> [@Originally Posted by Civil Guy](#): > > (Anyone care to explain it in fifteen words or less?) > > > [@jsgoddess](#): > > > > I could make up something. Who could contradict me? > > > > What’s funny is how beautiful and readable Joyce is in The Dubliners. Then you get to Ulysses and it’s sheer torture. I’ve read excerpts and have never had the desire to read more. > > > [@Walloon](#): > > > > Impressions of an ad writer, his wife, and a young artist one day in Dublin. > > > > Ta da! 🙂 Feh. I can explain all James Joyce in two words: “It sucks”. I had to read _Dubliners_ and my friends had to read _A Potrait of the artist as a young man_ and only three of us survived. The rest were found buried under a pile of epiphanies. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/34 "2005-07-21T13:15:18Z")
Here are some of my favorite books: • I always recommend **Lonesome Dove**. Even if you saw the television miniseries, read the book! It’s funny and heartbreaking. I’ve read it several times and enjoy it every time I do! • \*\*Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil \*\* by John Berendt. True tale of society murder and assorted oddball characters in Savannah, Ga. • \*\*The World According to Garp \*\* by John Irving. Anything by John Irving is good; he used to be my favorite author, but I sort of have tired of him over the years. Some other titles are \*\*The Hotel New Hampshire \*\* and \*\*A Prayer for Owen Meany \*\*, which is excellent. He has a new one out, I read recently. • \*\*The Journeyer \*\* by Gary Jennings. Tells the “true story” of the adventures of Marco Polo from Italy to the empire of Ghengis Khan in the 1200s. Hilarious. I’ve read all his books and they’re at times depressing and shocking. (I’ve seen people on these boards accuse him of being a pedophile, I think.) But in terms of quantity of sheer entertainment, he can keep you going for _months_. Other titles are Spangle, Aztec and Raptor. • \*\*Jitterbug Perfume \*\* by Tom Robbins. Also odd but also funny. The strange story of a bottle of perfume, sort of. • **A Confederacy of Dunces** , John Kennedy Toole. This gets recommended a lot here at SD. It won a Pulitzer Prize, awarded posthumously. The story of Ignatius, a super-neurotic mama’s boy intellectual who eventually finds a happiness as a hot-dog vendor in New Orleans’ French Quarter. • \*\*The Executioner’s Song \*\* by Norman Mailer. This is one of my all-time favorite books. It tells the story of Gary Gilmore, the man who challenged the ruling on executions and was put to death in Utah in the late ’70s for killing two men. It looks at the crime and all the legal battles, protests, etc. as well as his personal story and the stories of his family. Also his relationship with Nicole, a real trashy slut who is also quite fascinating! His brother is Mikal Gilmore, who used to be, and might still be, a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. • **Woman on the Edge of Time** , Marge Piercy. Tale of a possible future Utopian society whose fate depends on an inner-city black woman who may be crazy. We know she’s not, but what will her decision be? • **Gone With the Wind** by Margaret Mitchell. It is a good book. I was suprised by its depth when I re-read it a couple years ago. • **Roots** by Alex Haley. I always feel obligated to read it after reading GWTW; uplifting story of a family. • **Sophie’s Choice** by William Styron. The horrors of the Holocaust, personalized for us. • **The Good Earth** by Pearl Buck. Chinese farmer goes from poverty to wealth. • **The Color Purple** by Alice Walker. Rural southern black woman triumphs over the men who try to rob her of self-worth. • **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** by Maggie Smith. Girlhood classic, which I adored, along with **Anne of Green Gables**. YMMV So many of these I’d love to be reading for the first time! Have fun! ---
**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:** [July 21, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/35 "2005-07-21T13:51:58Z")
> [@Zog\_10](#): > > Feh. I can explain all James Joyce in two words: “It sucks”. Oh, I disagree. For example, I think “The Dead” is one of the finest short stories ever written. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/36 "2005-07-21T18:22:35Z")
War and Peace well… you sounded like you had some time on your hands!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/37 "2005-07-21T18:34:16Z")
I second Joyce’s “The Dead” and anything by Vonnegut. “The Sun Also Rises” Ernest Hemmingway “As I Lay Dying” William Faulkner “Farenheit 451” Ray Bradbury “2001” Arthur C. Clarke “Foucault’s Pendulum” Umberto Eco "QB VII " Leon Uris “Handmaids Tale” Margaret Atwood and I’ve always been partial to anything by J.D. Salinger and Robert Anton Wilson Just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/38 "2005-07-21T20:41:30Z")
Harry Potter Books are a cracking good read. (If not addictive.) ---
**Author:** ![Pez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Pez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pez)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/39 "2005-07-21T21:14:55Z")
> [@Ellen Cherry](#): > > Here are some of my favorite books: > • **A Confederacy of Dunces** , John Kennedy Toole. This gets recommended a lot here at SD. It won a Pulitzer Prize, awarded posthumously. The story of Ignatius, a super-neurotic mama’s boy intellectual who eventually finds a happiness as a hot-dog vendor in New Orleans’ French Quarter. I second that and also: “Foucault’s Pendulum” Umberto Eco and of course the Name of the rose If you’re going the russian way: Mikhail Lermontov’s **A hero of our times** is good, but even better are: **Dead souls** by Nikolai Gogol and my fav: **Oblomov** by Ivan Goncharov. If you think you’re lazy and no good read about that fella. Sci-fi: Orson Scott Card William Gibson Neal Stephenson Neil Gaimon Robert Rankin for surreal humor crime: Michaal Connelly ---
**Author:** ![VegemiteMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/40 "2005-07-21T22:51:10Z")
I’ll second **Ellen Cherry**. How did I forget to mention **Jitterbug Perfume** by Tom Robbins? Also by the same author: **Even Cowgirls get the Blues** and **Still Life with Woodpecker**. This author, like Vonnegut, usually falls into the “either love em or hate em” category. And arguably the best [book](http://www.redyak.com/rants/EP/EPMain.htm) ever written. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296.md?page=3)