A few I’m too lazy to look up authors for:
Undaunted Courage - story of Lewis & Clark
Black Mass - about the Mob and the FBI in Boston (nonfiction)
Most anything by Bill Bryson
An Instance of the Fingerpost - a literary mystery set in 1600s England, told from 4 different viewpoints. Favorably compared to the aforementioned In the Name of the Rose; I liked it better.
Shaky Jake
If you are up for Crichton, you might try “Timeline”, his most recent. Big dose of history, some quantum physics, etc.
Also recommend anything by Stephen Fry, particularly “Making History” and “The Liar”.
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
The Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
Crime stuff:
Any of the LA Quartet by James Ellroy - Black Dahlia, White Jazz, LA Confidential, and uh…I’m blanking out on the 4th book.
A Confederacy of Dunces is a must.
John Kennedy Toole’s one and only novel is one of the most inventively hilarious books I have ever read.
Stephen R. Donaldson -
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Likely out of order:
[ul]
[li]Lord Foul’s Bane[/li]li One Tree[/li][li]The Power That Preserves[/li]li Wounded Land[/li][li]Illearth War[/li][li]White Gold Wielder[/li][/ul]
Excellent series - read it in college, lo so many years ago.
“Through a Glass Darkly” was by Karleen Koen.
Or by Gilbert Morris
Or by Mary Jo Meadow
Or by Ronald Hoffman
Or by John C. Hawley
Or by John Mulryan
Or by James Auerbach
Which d’ja want?
Autobiographies - Just finished “Surely You Jest, Mr. Feynman” by Richard P. Feynman - short, but enjoyable stories from a physics genius/practical jokester.
Dammit, I forgot Confederacy of Dunces!
that ignatiusjreilly is the man!
My $.02
Anything by Peter Mayle I’ve found enjoyable. He started with A Year in Provence, and has done two sequels to this real life, first hand view of the south of France. Pure escapism, espesially if you like to eat and drink. He’s also written a number of novels, all of which take place in the south of France, that were also great.
Jimmy Buffett, believe it or not, is also a great writer. He’s got a few novels and a first rate, slightly nutty autobiography…again, all pure escapism.
All this escapism, I think I need a vacation…
Needs2Know, you’re thinking of Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Series (I think there are two). He has at least two other series: Mordant’s Need, which I’m currently rereading (consists of two volumes: The Mirror of Her Dreams (possibly the book you were trying to think of; “Through a glass darkly” could almost be a description of the series) and A Man Rides Through, and The Gap series, which consists of 5 books that I won’t list here. Mordant’s Need is definitely fantasy (although different from most other fantasy books I’ve read) while The Gap is SF. I’d recommend either; they’re all very fast-moving.
Needs2,
It’s cool but it did strike a wrong cord with me.
I will not avoid your threads…but next time you suffer the wrath of techchick hell. 
Stephen Ambrose
Ian Pears
Thanks guys…gonna print out today’s list.
Keep it coming I’ll put the list in my purse for next time I’m out looking. Which I’ll probably do this weekend since I’m sans boyfriend again. (Don’t even ask. Think I’ll read for the rest of my life.)
Thanks Goboy for the correction on McCammon. I used to read Koontz and Barker, and Saul, and Tom Harris, and so on and so on…I can’t even remember the ones I liked anymore let alone the ones I didn’t. Pretty bad huh?
Why I can’t seem to remember Donaldson’s name is a mystery to me. I think someone on this board gave it to me once before. Oh well, I don’t think fantasy will become my regular cup of tea anyway. I also don’t get into espionage that much so it kind of rules out Clancy. Although I have enjoyed Ken Follett, but then he kind of writes things like a woman would like them. Can’t explain it.
Truthfully I was thinking of trying to find something more along the lines of “literature” in the way of a novel. Don’t know how to explain it but “popular” writers are just that popular. They appeal to the masses. Anybody know of something really sterling that isn’t a formula or a genre? Something modern classic? In the mean time think I’ll check out a couple of these. If they’re good I can get through a couple of them in a week or so. (Might be why I forget.)
Thanks
Needs2know
It’s Literature you want, eh?
Try “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translator). As I’m on the Japanese thing, I’ll throw in “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro.
A little closer to home, “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson is excellent.
Not quite literature, but if you haven’t read James Halperin (“The Truth Machine” and “The First Immortal”) and you like semi sci-fi, they’re great.
Haven’t read much fiction in the last few years myself, though I did recently enjoy my first foray into the works of Tom Sharpe, The Great Pursuit, which was a wickedly funny send-up of the publishing world of twenty-five or so years ago. And I’ve nearly finished with the unabridged audiobook versions of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series of novels (I’m currently on the nineteenth of twenty books in the series), which are wonderfully well done historical novels of the Royal Navy in the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
There was a recent thread on non-fiction books in which I gave my current favorites, and in which a number of other books I’ve liked were recommended by other posters.
I also contributed a few suggestions to thread on recommendations of funny books some time ago.
There was also a “books-to-read-by-the-pool” thread a while back (to which I did not contribute, not having had the leisure to read by a pool for quite some time now.
Of course, there’s always the mother of all book recommendation threads, in which UncleBeer promised all and sundry that Ukulele Ike would recommend books for them.
Needs2Know, I will third the recommendation of Instance of the Fingerpost. It’s definitely a step up from your normal mystery. And, while we’re on the topic of mysteries, you might want to check our Paul Auster’s City of Glass. It’s a collection of a couple short mysteries, but done in an extremely literary way.
As far as a “modern classic” goes, it depends. In my experience, there tend to be two types of serious literature readers out there right now. There are the “mainstream” fiction folks, who disdain genre fiction, but read stuff that can be found in Oprah’s Book Club. And then there are the people who read the more serious stuff. Which one are you? If the former, then I probably can’t help you. If the latter, pick up a list of the latest Booker Prize winners. You should find some excellent ones in there. A good starter would be something like Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha or Amsterdam by a gent I can’t recall the name of right now. Or for a bit of magical realism, I really enjoyed Ben Okri’s A Famished Road. I’ll post more suggestions, not necessarily on the Booker Prize list, if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.
vix said:
Into Thin Air is an awesome book. I just finished it for the third time about 3 weeks ago.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be up there in the best of conditions let alone under such horrific conditions. Living in Colorado and skiing in semi-blizzard conditions is tough enough with groomed trails and a warm place to rest…
I’m not basing these suggestions on the genres you said you liked – but here’s what I’ve read recently.
Note: All the above are (or will be) movies. I’m in the habit of “reading” movies I’ve seen lately. Dunno why…
Needs2know, all the stuff I recommended - Reservation Blues, Winter’s Tale, Rule of the Bone DO NOT fit a formula. They are not mass market crap.
Also recommend:
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Oh fine, go and clarify what you’re looking for just after I post.
Alright, if you’ve never read Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, go get it. Now. As Ukulele Ike told Mullinator, “It’ll change your ****ing life, man. You’ll be running naked through the streets of Moscow.” Satan himself comes to visit Moscow in the 1920s, with naked female vampires, an enormous black cat who packs (and knows how to use) an automatic pistol, and a variety of other undead assistants in tow. Brilliantly satirizes Soviet society of the time.
If you aren’t familiar with Machado de Assis, you might look into The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, aka Epitaph of a Small Winner. Written as the autobiography of the titular character after his death, and probably the best book by one of the giants of Brazilian literature.
If you want to buy American, and are looking for something a little off the beaten path but likely to garner approving looks from other literary types while hanging out in the coffeehouse, you could delve into the novels of Dawn Powell, who had something of Dorothy Parker’s acid wit and treated the artsy and literary scene of New York at midcentury mercilessly. The Wicked Pavilion is probably the consensus favorite, Turn, Magic Wheel has its proponents (including, I believe, Powell herself), The Locusts Have No King is good, there are those who swear by Dance Night and A Time to Be Born, and I enjoyed Angels on Toast.
Anne McCaffery(sp?)–Tea With The Black Dragon
A bit of delicate whimsy.