# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/41 "2005-07-21T23:01:36Z")
The OP said that they had read Dean Kuntz. To that I have to say I am sorry about that. Anyways. I’ll chime in with two of my favorites Dostoevsky’s Notes From the Underground and Camu’s The Plague. Notes will grab you from the first line and leave you devastated and amazed. Camu in his novel just amazes me. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/42 "2005-07-22T00:50:59Z")
Some of these aren’t “classics” per se, but they’re books I love from a variety of genres. In no particular order: [ul] [li]_The Odyssey_ by Homer[/li][li]_Time Enough for Love_ by Robert Heinlein[/li][li]_The Call of the Wild_ by Jack London[/li][li]_The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_ by Mark Haddon[/li][li]_The Hobbit_ by J.R.R. Tolkien[/li][li]_Blind Your Ponies_ by Stanley Gordon West[/li][li]_Tough Trip Through Paradise_ by Andrew Garcia[/li][li]_Tom Sawyer_ by Mark Twain[/li][li]_A Thousand and One Arabian Nights_ (I like Burton’s translation)[/li][li]_The Devil and Daniel Webster_ by Stephen Vincent Benbet (short story)[/li][li]_Dune_ by Frank Herbert (caution: hard science fiction)[/li][li]_Tai-Pan_ by James Clavell (I thought it was better than _Shogun_[/li][li]_Crow Killer_ by James Welsh[/li][/ul] I’ll second the advice you received to toss aside anything you’re not enjoying. You’re getting lots of suggestions here, and you ought to be able to find some good books that you really like. With some of them, you need to give the book some time, though. I try to go 100 pages before I give up. With some stuff, like Shakespeare, it will seem totally opaque at first, but at some point the language will “click” and it will start making sense. ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/43 "2005-07-22T15:47:09Z")
**Beowulf**. Just kidding. Even non-Sci-fi fans seem to enjoy \*\*Enders Game \*\* by Orson Scott Card. It’s definitely a page turner. As mentioned previously, the \*\*Harry Potter \*\* series is actually quite entertaining. For non-Fiction, I thought \*\*Guns, Germs, and Steel \*\* by Jared Diamond was darn interesting. And although some of it gets pretty heavy, **The Elegant Universe** by Brian Greene has some great explanations of Relativity and Quantum Physics…if you’re into that kind of stuff. **Rise to Rebellion** by Jeff Shaara is pretty cool. It’s about the American revolution, but told from a personal POV from various key players. In reading this I gained a profound and deep admiration for George Washington. For semi-recent popular fiction, I thought the following were pretty decent reads: **The Lovely Bones** by Alice Sebold **The Poisonwood Bible** by Barbara Kingsolver is _very_ good. **Empire Falls** by Richard Russo Another vote for **Lonesome Dove** **Secret Life of Bees** by Sue Kidd ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/44 "2005-07-22T15:51:25Z")
I just re-read the OP and realized you were looking for “essentials”. I don’t know if I could say what I listed was essential, but they certainly are good reads. ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/45 "2005-07-22T20:05:19Z")
If you like “children’s” books, see this thread: [It’s just a kid’s book!! Well, so are these.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326079) Bunch of classics there. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296/46 "2005-07-22T20:49:35Z")
_The Wizard of Oz_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-book-recommendations-please/313296.md?page=2)