I had a birthday recently, and everyone gave me a book voucher. I’ve got about $50 worth of the buggers. What can I do with this pile of book vouchers that’s been building up? I haven’t seen anything in bookshops that looks appealing at first glance.
I could use recommendations from you guys of a book, any book that you’ve read and enjoyed. Any author, any style. Most of the books I’ve been reading lately have been sci-fi, and I’m getting kinda bored of that genre, but if you think a book is good I’m willing to look at it.
So……read any good books lately?
anything by iain banks or iain m banks. he uses his middle initial for his sci-fi only, and his writing is literally out of this world.
also ‘times arrow’ - sadly can’t recall the authors name right now, and that’s stupid because he’s very famous.
Well, let’s see…anything from Tolkein, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, some poetry from Robert Frost and/or Stephen Crane, anything form Dragonlance, Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey if you need financial help, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Simple Abundance if you’re a chick cough, errrm ‘woman’, Forrest Gump and Gump & Co. by Winston Groom (original, pre-movie)…can’t think of any others off the top of my head…
Have you tried The Company series by Kage Baker. Cool sci-fi stuff here–cyborgs, eternal life, time travel, conspiracies… The first book is In the Garden of Iden and there are four books so far in the series. Right now I’m reading a bunch of police procedurals by Reginald Hill. They’re funny, fast and interesting. There’s also a really cool sci-fi/mystery I read recently. A new book titled The Eyre Affair by Fford. It’s very similar to Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Laura
My favorite authors include John Irving (The World According to Garp) and Barbara Kingsolver (Prodigal Summer). Other good, meaty books I’d suggest are Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, The Stand by Stephen King or Roots by Alex Haley. And if I could get one person here to read Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, I could die a happy woman.
If you’re looking for something slightly weird, go for Jonathan Lethem’s Gun with Occaisional Music. Sci-fi noir mystery with sarcasm, mmm… In fact, I think it’s the only book I’ve read in which a gun-wielding talking kangaroo gets poked in the eye with a zero-gravity pen.
How about The Ultimate Rush? About a cracker/rollerblading-courier in San Francisco whose deliveries end up with him going against cops, the Chinese mafia, biking couriers, snakes, lesbians, and a small thing called love (or was it sex?).
I also throw my vote in behind Gun, With Occasional Music. Excellent and highly original.
Too lazy to get the author’s name right now, but the title is No One Thinks of Greenland . I checked it out of the public library just for the heck of it and found it quite entertaining.
If you want something more serious and somewhat painful, try Under the Skin , by Michel Faber. Beautifully written and rather disturbing.
If you are in the mood for adventure, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is fantastic. It is his first person account of the 1996 tragedy on Mt. Everest. Fascinating, well-written book.
The Straight Dope : A Compendium of Human Knowledge
More of the Straight Dope
Return of the Straight Dope
The Straight Dope Tells All
Triumph of the Straight Dope
Excellent and highly original.