# Tell us about the books you most often find yourself recommending **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239 "2011-11-08T02:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/1 "2011-11-08T02:09:10Z")
A few things first: [ol] [li]I wrote _book_ rather than _novel_ on purpose. Novels are fine of course, but so are collections of short stories and poetry, non-fiction memoirs, pop science: in short, anything basically consisting primarily of great numbers of words in a row. List as many as you want, so long as they’re all books you recommend frequently.[/li][li]That said, I don’t mean graphic novels or trade paperbacks. Why? Well, partly because I’m a jerk, and partly because I expect someone will want to mention \*Maus \*and I don’t want to deny that person the opportunity to be rebellious. ;)[/li][li]Seriously, though, no DVDs or Blue-Rays. If you want to talk about movies or TV shows start your own fricking thread.[/li][li]Usually I pretend to have a fourth item in a list. I’m not gonna do that today though.[/li][li]:smack:[/li][/ol] Okay, now that the housekeeping’s over with, I’ll start with the first of four books I find myself urging people to read most often. It’s a collection of short stories by [Andre Dubus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Dubus), [Dancing After Hours](http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-After-Hours-Andre-Dubus/dp/0679751149/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320717816&sr=1-5). One of the constituent stories, “The Timing of Sin,” is so incredibly wonderful, pithy, wise, and heart-breaking that it makes me doubt my atheism. (Then I turn on the news and say, nope, no god hereabouts.) But that story, while the best of the lot, is hardly the only sublime work of beauty in that collection. In fact, it’s not the one you should read first, because it’s one of about four stories in the book (there’s about 15 total, I think) that share a connection and should be read in sequence to be appreciated. And no, I’m not going to tell you what those stories are or how they’re connected. Read the fricking book. Anywhere, that’s my first entry. Anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/2 "2011-11-08T03:24:36Z")
Well, in the current Heinlein thread, I and just about everyone else recommended _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. Though that’s maybe a bit too obvious. One that’s a bit difficult to recommend is _Watership Down_. “It’s a book about rabbits on an adventure. No, really, it’s really kick-ass! Take my word on it. Wait, where are you going?” And on the nonfiction front, any of Richard Feynman’s memoirs. The dude was like a real-life Heinlein character. Speaking of nonfiction, I’ve a hunch that textbooks will be underrepresented here, so I’ll also put in a good word for David Griffith’s particle physics book. All of his books are great, but his particle physics is so good you don’t really even need a teacher. And my copy’s autographed. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/3 "2011-11-08T03:33:51Z")
Bones of the Moon, a very cool fantasy book about…abortion, fantasy worlds, and so many other odd topics. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/4 "2011-11-08T03:36:33Z")
_Demon Haunted World_. Everyone should read it, some should just be smacked with it. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/5 "2011-11-08T03:37:56Z")
[A Confederacy of Dunces](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces). But it’s a family thing, everyone offers it, in the clan. Same for anything written by [Albert Cossery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Cossery). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/6 "2011-11-08T03:42:16Z")
The Thraxas series. Light murder-mystery fantasy fun. They’re ideal bath-time reading - that is, it doesn’t matter if you drop it in the bath. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/7 "2011-11-08T03:52:00Z")
I tend to recommend [The Science of Superheroes](http://www.robertweinberg.net/superheroes.htm) and its companion piece, [The Science of Supervillains](http://comicsworthreading.com/2006/01/13/the-science-of-supervillains/), both by Robert Weinberg and Lois Gresh. They’re pretty self-explanatory in terms of content and theme. Using the laws of physics, the authors examine various heroes and villains to see whether or not they could actually exist. ---
**Author:** ![Da\_Mikster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Da\_Mikster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Da_Mikster)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/8 "2011-11-08T03:53:39Z")
White’s The Once and Future King, Vidal’s Julian, Heller’s Catch-22, Stephen King’s Eyes of the Dragon, George Burns’ Gracie, a Love Story… any of Anne McCaffery’s “Pern” books ---
**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:** [November 8, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/9 "2011-11-08T04:26:59Z")
_After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection_ by James West Davidson and Mark Lytle. A book that has had a huge impact on my life. Its subject is about how historians can interpret evidence they have of the past. But the ideas it presents are universal. It showed me that listening to what a person is saying is barely a start to understanding. You also need to think about the words they’re using to say something, consider why they’re saying what they’re saying, look for what they aren’t saying, and compare what they’re saying to what other people are saying about the same subject. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/10 "2011-11-08T05:28:37Z")
I just recommended two books in one week to my online composition class: _The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant_ _Satanic Panic_ by Jeffrey S. Victor. It’s about the Satanic Ritual Abuse scares of the 1980’s. I’ve recommended _Bright-Sided_ by Barbara Eirenreich right here on the SDMB before this. It’s about the dangers of the positive thinking movement. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/11 "2011-11-08T05:58:47Z")
[Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre](http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178) by Keith Johnstone. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/12 "2011-11-08T06:01:59Z")
my favorites in their genre: 1. the caine mutiny - best war-fiction 2. shattered sword - best war docu 3. creatures of light and darkness - best sci-fi/fantasy 4. origin of species - simply required 5. the illiad - if you have only one epic book to read, this should be it 6. short stories by poe - detective/maccabre 7. the black marble - best police book 8. the prophet - best short story (edging out le petit prince) 9. sayings of the ayatollah khomeini (far easier reading than the koran) 10. diary of che guevara 11. moby dick ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/13 "2011-11-08T06:37:03Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > [Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre](http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178) by Keith Johnstone. Not bad. I used to work in an improv group for several years. One of our members eventually moved out to your wonderful city, but has since moved on to Chicago, and now acts and teaches with Second City. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/14 "2011-11-08T08:17:08Z")
_Replay_ by Ken Grimwood, which I know other dopers have also mentioned in the past. Love love love this book. It has many flaws, but there’s something about it which warms my heart. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/15 "2011-11-08T12:44:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And on the nonfiction front, any of Richard Feynman’s memoirs. The dude was like a real-life Heinlein character. Good one. Some of my most successfully loaned out books are the Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom. They are basically historical crime fiction, set in the reign of Henry VIII. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/16 "2011-11-08T13:37:50Z")
[Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Without-Limits-Inspiration-Ridiculously/dp/0307589730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320759324&sr=8-1) by Nick Vujicic. It has a Christian bent to it, but I recommend it to family and friends regardless of what religion they practice. I’m not religious myself, and this book has completely brightened my outlook on life and transformed my thinking. It’s written by a man who was born with no arms and legs, and it’s about how he grew up and maintained a positive outlook despite of the hardships he had to face. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/17 "2011-11-08T14:09:53Z")
**[The Sot-Weed Factor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sot-Weed_Factor)**, a prime candidate for the Great American Novel, and filled with all sorts of delights. **Replay** **The Fatal Shore** – One of the best history books ever. ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/18 "2011-11-08T14:12:36Z")
For a romantic series, I’d recommend [The Hollows](http://www.kimharrison.net/TheBooks.html). It’s an urban fantasy series featuring witches, demons, elves, vampires (both living and dead), fairies, pixies, werewolves and werefoxes, warlocks, nymphs, dryads, gargoyles, and ghosts. While the main story of each book focuses on a mystery, there’s also a larger secondary mystery that spreads throughout the entire series. Then there’s the whole romance thing between the main character and her female living vampire room mate. This series has made me laugh and cry. It’s not often that I can say that about a series. For humor, I’d recommend the [Nightside](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightside_%28book_series%29) series. It’s another urban fantasy series, that takes place in London’s hidden Nightside. The main character often spits into the eye of gods and demons alike, handles his enemies with quick wit and scary powers which he uses in entertaining ways, and has a love interest that once shot him in the back to keep him from leaving town. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/19 "2011-11-08T14:27:08Z")
The first 20 pages of _Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror_ by Richard A Clarke has the best pre 9/11 terrorism synopsis I’ve ever read. It’s laid out in a very fair matter-of-fact ‘this is what we thought, this is what they thought, this is what happened’. The rest of the book is ok, but the first 20 pages should be standard reading in poli-sci classes in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239/20 "2011-11-08T14:37:19Z")
Stephen King’s memoir On Writing, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The latter has the stupidest title and stupidest sounding plot of all of King’s books. It is also one of his top 5 IMHO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending/602239.md?page=2)