# Random Recommended Book Lists are Useless to Me. Please Dopers, Recommend Me a Book. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080 "2016-10-19T22:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/1 "2016-10-19T22:16:32Z")
I’ve been trying for a while to find books to read through Google, and the results have been disappointing to say the least. I recently called up a list of “25 Books that will Change Your Life”, for example, and of those twenty-five: Seven were classic books that anyone with a decent education should have read already. And I have. Well, except for _The Picture of Dorian Gray_. Not wanting to read that though. Sorry Oscar. Eight were kids’ books. Goddammit, I’m in my fifties. Don’t hand me Lunchables when I ask for Steak Tartare. Three were about Nazis. Hiding people from the Nazis. Escaping from the Nazis. Dealing with your guilt about your Nazi history. I get it. Nazis are SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT AND OPPOSING THEM IS ALL DEEP AND LIFE AFFIRMING AND SHIT. I am just sick to death of Nazis in my Pop Culture. Okay? Find something else to obsess about in print. Or movies. Or anywhere. WE MUST NEVER FORGET. Fine, I won’t forget about Nazis, I promise. Now shut the fuck up about them. PLEASE! Four were Young Adult novels. One was about delinquent rebellious teens. One was about bi-racial teens dealing with racism. One was about teens dying in a cancer ward. And one was about teen friendships…IN NAZI GERMANY. I give up. One book is _Bridget Jones’ Diary_. Ick. I guess what I’m saying is, please recommend me something to read. Something nice for a person in their mid-fifties. And I’d rather not read about Nazis, thank you, just in case I didn’t state that clearly enough. I’ll recommend books in return: Easy to find: _One Summer_ by Bill Bryson. His take on 1927 is fascinating, especially about the eugenics movement. Harder to find: _Down the Common_ by Ann Baer. Describes a single year in the life of a medieval woman. So convincing, you’ll think you’ve time traveled. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/2 "2016-10-19T22:19:56Z")
_Watership Down_ It’s about bunny rabbits. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/3 "2016-10-19T22:27:16Z")
Don’t ask me, I love **The Picture of Dorian Gray**. 😉 Since I don’t have a clear sense of what you like besides being transported into other times and places, I’ll just name a couple of favorites. They take you there. Mary Doria Russell \*\* The Sparrow\*\* Katherine Dunn **Geek Love** ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/4 "2016-10-19T22:57:18Z")
Guns of the Gods: A Story of Yasmini’s Youth, by Talbot Mundy. Available free at Project Gutenberg. Kiplingesque intrigue in colonial India, with a mystery and a treasure. Can’t beat a mystery and a treasure! ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/5 "2016-10-19T23:20:37Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > _Watership Down_ > > It’s about bunny rabbits. It totally is. And it’s amazing. Everyone should read it. I have no idea what you like based on your post so I’ll just recommend my favorite books in various genre. All are fun and pretty easy to read. All were important to me at some point in my life. All display that I have fairly particular taste. I feel like all transcend their genre and would be liked even by people who don’t like that genre. I really like Bill Bryson so I’m also trying to list books that have sort of his tone. 1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being 2. 100 years of Solitude 3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - read the whole trilogy… All five 4. Good Omens 5. Enders Game 6)The Warriors Apprentice 6. Star Tide Rising 7. The Big Sleep 8. Lamb by Christopher Moore 9. The Hotel New Hampshire ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/6 "2016-10-19T23:30:33Z")
John Fowles’ “The Magus” ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/7 "2016-10-19T23:32:11Z")
TWA 800-The Crash, The Cover-up, and the Conspiracy by Jack Cashill is an eye opener. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/8 "2016-10-19T23:35:01Z")
Mark Berent’s books if you can find them. He wrote a fictionalized account of the Vietnam War so definitely no Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/9 "2016-10-19T23:39:52Z")
My favorite recent reads: \*Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction \*by Elizabeth Vargas. A really good alcoholism memoir that was harrowing and readable at the same time. \*On the Bottom: The Raising of the Submarine S-51 \*by Edward Ellsberg. Recommended in another SDMB reading thread a few weeks ago. Written in 1929 about a submarine-raising mission in 1926. Everything you ever wanted to know about pre-scuba diving (the kind with the big metal globe on your head). _The Worst Journey in the World_ by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Written in 1922 about Robert Scott’s 1911 expedition to Antarctica. You are there. _The Martian_ by Andy Weir. Life alone on Mars in the not-to-distant future. I like both the movie and the book, but the book is definitely heavier on the science involved. _River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West_ by Rebecca Solnit. Muybridge was a photographer who lived from 1830-1904, did pioneering work in photography that lead to the development of motion pictures, traveled extensively, and also shot his wife’s lover. If it was a movie, it would seem too melodramatic. I’m in the same age range as you, and also try to avoid reading about Nazis. If there are any other specifics you’re looking for, let us know and I’ll try to recommend something. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/10 "2016-10-20T00:20:06Z")
**The Hustler** by Walter Tevis. It’s what the famous Paul Newman movie is based on. Here is the thread I started explaining why: [Excellent Book - The Hustler (yes, the basis for the Paul Newman movie) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524025) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/11 "2016-10-20T02:54:37Z")
Let’s see…of my person picks that aren’t either completely esoteric or horrifying? [The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger](https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy/dp/0691170819/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RVC0DB0QJCXC97Q9PNAS) A fascinating, and tragically underappreciated subject—logistics, and the Intermodal Shipping Container! [Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America’s First Nuclear Accident](https://www.amazon.com/Idaho-Falls-Americas-Nuclear-Accident/dp/1550225626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476927555&sr=1-1&keywords=idaho+falls) The title is slightly inaccurate, but it’s still an in-depth and intriguing look at a lesser-known and somewhat mysterious nuclear reactor accident. [The Vinland Sagas](https://www.amazon.com/The-Vinland-Sagas-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447768) Erik the Red, et all. If you’re into historical accounts, this will probably do the trick. Not to be confused with [Vinland Saga](https://www.amazon.com/Vinland-Saga-1-Makoto-Yukimura/dp/1612624200/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476931319&sr=1-1&keywords=vinland+saga), which is a manga, although by all accounts I’ve heard a very good one. [Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture](https://www.amazon.com/Nazisploitation-Image-Low-Brow-Cinema-Culture/dp/1441183590/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476927687&sr=1-1&keywords=nazisploitation) …just kidding. Sorry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/12 "2016-10-20T03:17:51Z")
_Lovecraft Country_. I don’t normally enjoy anything remotely sci-fi but the hubby insisted I give it a shot. The characters and the historical/cultural angle hooked me. > **[Lovecraft Country (Lovecraft Country, #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25109947-lovecraft-country)** > > The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral t… ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/13 "2016-10-20T08:52:56Z")
If you’re interested in being transported into other times and places, you may like **Jean-Christophe Rufin** ’s [Brazil Red](https://www.amazon.com/Brazil-Red-Jean-Christophe-Rufin/dp/0393052079/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476953027&sr=1-1&keywords=rufin+brazil+red). It’s centered around a little-known but real attempt by the French to set up a colony in Brazil in 1555. The endeavour ends in failure as it’s plagued with conflict, both external (against the local Indians and the already entrenched Portuguese) and internal (the group is split between Catholics and Protestants and distrust runs high). I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece but it’s definitely a good read. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/14 "2016-10-20T14:23:37Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Mark Berent’s books if you can find them. He wrote a fictionalized account of the Vietnam War so definitely no Nazis. If you want non-fiction, I highly recommend _Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam_ by Fredrik Logevall, which is a history of how the United States became involved in Vietnam. It won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/15 "2016-10-20T15:40:01Z")
Hi. Me again. Thank you for all the suggestions. I guess I spent more time in my original post describing what I didn’t want to read, rather than what I would actually like to read. Frustration at Google, et al. I read a wide spectrum actually. I love history, current events, pop culture, comedy. Mostly, I read non-fiction, but now, I would love to read a really good novel. Or a novelization of true events, like historical fiction. Something like _The Emancipator’s Wife_ by Barbara Hambly which portrays Mary Todd Lincoln. Or _I, Claudius_, or _The Red Tent_. By the way, I’ve read those already, and recommend them. More recommendations from me to you: _Eliot Ness: the Rise and Fall of an American Hero_ by Douglas Perry. The best biography I’ve read for a while. This guy Ness was more than just an ax wielding show-off, as he’s been dismissed as in recent years. _Gone with the Wind_ I don’t care if it’s politically incorrect. It is far more than a romance. It’s about survival, and it sees the Civil War through Confederate women’s eyes. It’s great literature. _Steel Boats, Iron Hearts_ by Hans Goebeler and John Vanzo. If you’ve ever been to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and seen the U505, this is the story of one of the crewman who served on that boat. Hans Goebeler moved to Chicago to be near his beloved submarine, and often gave tours before he died. AND HE WAS A NAZI. Sorry. Any more suggestions? Keep them coming. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/16 "2016-10-20T16:21:20Z")
If you want a highly amusing immersive novel try out [The one hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared](https://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Year-Old-Climbed-Window-Disappeared-ebook/dp/B009EHDU7U) by Jonas Jonasson or any of his other books. Also, if you have an absurdist bent to your humour, [The Stupidest Angel](https://www.amazon.com/Stupidest-Angel-v2-0-Heartwarming-Christmas-ebook/dp/B006O0I3ZO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1476980248&sr=1-1&keywords=the+stupidest+angel) by Christopher Moore or [Let’s Pretend This Never Happened](https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Pretend-This-Never-Happened-ebook/dp/B0065S8R38/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1476980285&sr=1-3&keywords=jenny+lawson) by Jenny Lawson Anything by Bill Bryson, but I particularly like [A Walk In the Woods](https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Bill-Bryson-ebook/dp/B005PRF5G2/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1476980389&sr=1-9&keywords=bill+bryson) or [At Home](https://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Short-History-Private/dp/B0045XYQAS/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1476980389&sr=1-7&keywords=bill+bryson) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/17 "2016-10-20T16:28:47Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Hi. Me again. Thank you for all the suggestions. > > I guess I spent more time in my original post describing what I didn’t want to read, rather than what I would actually like to read. Frustration at Google, et al. > > I read a wide spectrum actually. I love history, current events, pop culture, comedy. > > Mostly, I read non-fiction, but now, I would love to read a really good novel. Or a novelization of true events, like historical fiction. Something like _The Emancipator’s Wife_ by Barbara Hambly which portrays Mary Todd Lincoln. Or _I, Claudius_, or _The Red Tent_. By the way, I’ve read those already, and recommend them. > > More recommendations from me to you: > > _Eliot Ness: the Rise and Fall of an American Hero_ by Douglas Perry. The best biography I’ve read for a while. This guy Ness was more than just an ax wielding show-off, as he’s been dismissed as in recent years. > > _Gone with the Wind_ I don’t care if it’s politically incorrect. It is far more than a romance. It’s about survival, and it sees the Civil War through Confederate women’s eyes. It’s great literature. > > _Steel Boats, Iron Hearts_ by Hans Goebeler and John Vanzo. If you’ve ever been to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and seen the U505, this is the story of one of the crewman who served on that boat. Hans Goebeler moved to Chicago to be near his beloved submarine, and often gave tours before he died. AND HE WAS A NAZI. Sorry. > Any more suggestions? Keep them coming. Try **The Masters of Rome** series by Colleen McCullough. A lightly-fictionalized telling of Roman history from about 50 prior to Caesar through Augustus. First book is the **The First Man in Rome**. Praised often here on the 'Dope. Another would be **Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield** - a fictionalized telling of the Spartan stand at Thermopylae. A bit more historically accurate vs. 300 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/18 "2016-10-20T16:44:55Z")
If you like non-fiction, read _The Professor and the Madman_, the best work about crazy people and dictionaries that you will read this year. How about detective novels? If you haven’t yet, read _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_, the best English drawing room mystery. You will not guess whodunit. You will see all the clues, they will make sense, but you will not guess.Or _The Maltese Falcon_, which is truly great literature about moral ambiguity and people’s determination that life has to make sense. It doesn’t. Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [October 20, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/19 "2016-10-20T16:50:45Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Mostly, I read non-fiction, but now, I would love to read a really good novel. Or a novelization of true events, like historical fiction. Then try to find those Berent books. He was there and wrote the series (five, IIRC, starting with Rolling Thunder) to help with his PTSD. Pretty much the only book series I’ve read other than The Green Mile, which I have in one big paperback, All Creatures, Zelazny’s Amber, and Fleming’s Bond. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/20 "2016-10-20T16:53:03Z")
_Of Human Bondage_, by Somerset Maugham. It is not historical fiction but it described a fictionalized version of the author’s life and it is far enough in the past that it reads like historical fiction. If you like that one, _Liza of Lambeth_, by the same author is the story of a young girl from a poor family going about her life in turn of the century London. _A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich_, by Solzhenitsyn. A short book about the day in the life of a prisoner in Stalin’s gulag. Surprisingly happy book. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080.md?page=2)