# Recommend me some good books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527 "2003-05-02T01:43:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/21 "2003-05-03T01:55:00Z")
_A Confederacy of Dunces_ is a classic. I believe it was published posthumously after the author’s suicide. Bill Bryson’s _Walk Across America_ is naturally funny – nothing is forced. _The Tracker_ by Tom Brown changed the way I _look_ at things. Easy reading but awesome! _Perfume_ – Creepy, unusual, extremely well-crafted. Don’t let the title fool you. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/22 "2003-05-03T02:46:42Z")
For non-fiction, I’d suggest _Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman_ and _The Pleasure of Finding Things Out_, both by Richard P. Feynman. He was very smart and very, very funny. (YMMV) I’ll also second Diamond’s _GG&S_. For fiction, I’ll second the Aubrey and Maturin series. Anything by P.G. Wodehouse would be good (especially the Jeeves and Wooster books) if you like British humour about upper-class twits and their friends. I also admire a sadly-neglected SF writer called Cordwainer Smith; there are few writers who can pull you into a strange and surreal world like he can. ---
**Author:** ![Govindha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@Govindha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Govindha)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/23 "2003-05-03T02:47:52Z")
try these… survivor chuck palahniuk (he wrote fight club, anything by this guy is a sweel read) if you liked on the road try more of kerouacs work the acid house Irvine welsh 1984 orwell siddartha hermann hesse walden henry david thoreau I also just finished a book called jarhead…it is a first hand account of desert storm written by a sniper. It was a nice quick read…its fairly new so it should be in your library… ---
**Author:** ![Anyanka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@Anyanka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anyanka)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/24 "2003-05-03T17:43:57Z")
Lamb-the Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal. By Christopher Moore. Verry, very funny. As For sci/fi, The Rainbow Cadenza, by J. Neill Schullman. This is out of print, but well worth the effort of tracking it down. And I second Jitterbug Perfume. An ex bought that for me on our first date. That book is now in tatters, and marinated in patchoulli. It’s even been overseas. Oh, and the Vlad Taltos series, by Steven Brust. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/25 "2003-05-04T01:44:40Z")
I went to the downtown Phoenix library today (not my usual library.) _Guns, Germs, and Steel_, along with just about everything by Neil Gaiman was sadly checked out, but I got a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman called _Orchid_. Anybody read that? Hopefully I’ll finish that tonight and hit my regular library up tomorrow for more GGaS, more Neil Gaiman (if this one is good) and Treasure Island :). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/26 "2003-05-04T03:03:53Z")
Sorry, that’s _Black_ Orchid. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/27 "2003-05-04T03:56:55Z")
Read **One Hundred Years of Solitude** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Absolutely amazing. Also read **Dune**. I’m on the third book, and I’m addicted. And if you’ve seen the movies, but have yet to read the books, go out and buy **Lord of the Rings**. You owe it to yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/28 "2003-05-04T04:05:44Z")
I’ve read Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion :D. Another favorite of mine is **Shogun** but I haven’t had much luck getting into the rest of that series. I think the very next book takes place something like 260 years later if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![jaimeshawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jaimeshawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimeshawn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/29 "2003-05-04T04:13:57Z")
In the \*\*20,000 Leagues \*\* Jules Verne first person dramatic action vein - maybe try **East of the Sun, West of the Moon** by Teddy Roosevelt - also **Sand, Sea, and the Stars** by St Exupery. A negative vote for **Guns, Germs, and Steel** : Like a history of Ireland that doesn’t mention the potato, it could have used a critical editor. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/30 "2003-05-04T16:55:00Z")
Another vote for **Shogun** , which will keep you busy for a while. I just finished **Gai-Jin** (I believe the third book in the Japanese saga), and it is equally involving. Clavell is one of the truly great storytellers. Michael Chrichton’s recent **Disclosure** is a fascinating story of corporate intrigue in the computer industry with lots of high-tech (but not too much for the low-tech mind – mine). My pick in the sci-fi genre is **Ringworld** by Larry Niven. Imagine a man-made habitat in space, an impossibly immense ring scribing a solid orbit around a sun. And it’s dying. If you like biography, David McCullough’s **Truman** is one of the best. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527/31 "2003-05-04T21:24:38Z")
Here’s a seconding for _A Confederacy of Dunces_ by John Kennedy Toole. The writer was a New Orleans English professor, who was a semi-reclusive man and lived with his mother. He committed suicide at the age of 31 in 1969, which was also the year he finished his sole novel. His mother found the manuscript under his bed, and spent years traversing New Orleans publishers and universities seeking publication, until finally it was published in 1980, and consequently won the Pulitzer. It’s a great read, btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books/172527.md?page=1)