# Recommend a Book For Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949 "2009-05-19T11:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/1 "2009-05-19T11:58:30Z")
I need a gripping page-turner. I like action, suspense, horror, and fantasy the best, but at this point I’m open to anything. Go nuts. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/2 "2009-05-19T12:22:43Z")
A couple of books that feel like a Big Mac and Fried in terms of easy readability but also have a bit of historic substance to them that makes them really cool and fun are: - \*\*Shogun \*\*by James Clavell - Explorer Europe meets feudal Japan - \*\*Aztec \*\*by Gary Jennings - a lowly Aztec ends up witness to the conquering of his people and relates his story. Lots of adventure and action, fighting and, IIRC, some decent sex scenes (Shogun is a bit more demure). ---
**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:** [May 19, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/3 "2009-05-19T12:24:17Z")
Stephen King’s The Stand (but you’ve read that, right?) Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan or The Ruins ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/4 "2009-05-19T12:47:10Z")
You’ve probably already read I Am Legend, but if not, then definitely give that a go. Ever read any Peter Straub? If not, I’d recommend Ghost Story. The ending’s a bit weak, but other than that it’s one of my favorite books. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/5 "2009-05-19T13:58:07Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Stephen King’s **The Stand** (but you’ve read that, right?) That’s exactly what I came in to recommend. The original version though, if you can find it, not the “uncut” version. That’s only, IMO, for fans who want some extra background and details. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/6 "2009-05-19T14:13:20Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > That’s exactly what I came in to recommend. > > The original version though, if you can find it, not the “uncut” version. That’s only, IMO, for fans who want some extra background and details. I thought I was the only one who preferred the edited version! I thought it was tighter. Of course, then you miss out on meeting The Kid, but you meet one murderous psychopath you’ve met ‘em all, right? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/7 "2009-05-19T14:21:52Z")
[The Death of the Necromancer](http://www.amazon.com/Death-Necromancer-Martha-Wells/dp/0380788144/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242742740&sr=1-5) by Martha Wells and [The High House](http://www.amazon.com/High-House-Aspect-Fantasy/dp/0446606790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242742866&sr=1-1) by James Stoddard. Both extraordinary fantasy novels by relatively obscure authors. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/8 "2009-05-19T14:33:08Z")
I picked up _The Butcher’s Boy_ by, uh, somebody Perry from one of those threads on good thrillers lately. It’s a great page-turner, an old-fashioned hitman thriller. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/9 "2009-05-19T15:08:09Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > …\*\*Aztec \*\*by Gary Jennings - a lowly Aztec ends up witness to the conquering of his people and relates his story. Lots of adventure and action, fighting and, IIRC, some decent sex scenes (Shogun is a bit more demure). Hey, another _Aztec_ fan - great! Love that book. Some other page-turners I’ve loved over the years: _Runaway Jury_ by John Grisham - A juror has a secret agenda in a high-stakes tobacco-company liability case. _Fevre Dream_ by George R.R. Martin - Vampires and steamboats along the Missisippi River before the Civil War. It’s the book Mark Twain and Bram Stoker would’ve written, if they’d ever collaborated. _Fatherland_ by Robert Harris - Brilliant, chilling alternative history set in Berlin, 20 years after Hitler won WW2. _Misery_ by Stephen King - An injured novelist is captured by his “number one fan.” _First Among Equals_ by Jeffrey Archer - Follows the careers of three British MPs as they rise through the parliamentary ranks and eventually vie to become Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/10 "2009-05-19T15:25:19Z")
Pick up Nick Harkaway’s book[The Gone Away World](http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Away-World-Nick-Harkaway/dp/0307268861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242746616&sr=8-1). It’s a post apocalyptic thriller with Kung fu, killer bees, mimes, ninjas and a really fun twist. I read it last winter, then immediately read it again. I can’t recommend it stongly enough. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-me/496949/11 "2009-05-20T04:24:11Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Stephen King’s The Stand (but you’ve read that, right?) I just finished a re-re-read of The Stand, and oh, my, it holds up. (I had read both the edited and longer version before.) I sat in the back yard Sunday and read and read and read until it was over. Still a page-turner.