Give me books!

[Colleen Thomas]

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a fun read for a classic and most libraries have it.

Also Dumas three Musketeers, Doyle's Sherlock Homes, And Ivanhoe

 

[Hooper_X]

Any of John Irving's books

 

[sophia jane]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Of all of them, I've only read the Evanovich series, so there were lots of possibilities here. Unfortunately, my local library had less than half of them listed on their website, but at least it's a start.

I'd be glad to get more recommendations, too.


SJ

 

[neonlyte]

Any of John Irving's books

Agreed - except Owen Meenie - could not resist not reading it!

Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

And if you are having trouble sleeping, My Little Friend - Donna Tartt should do the trick.

 

[Hooper_X]

Agreed - except Owen Meenie - could not resist not reading it!

Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

And if you are having trouble sleeping, My Little Friend - Donna Tartt should do the trick.

I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany. I can't say the same for the movie Simon Birch.

 

[Guest]

 

[ElizabethWest]

I tend to prefer mysteries that are light reading:


The Ballad novels by Sharyn McCrumb

anything by Diane Mott Davidson

The Aunt Dimity books by Nancy Atherton

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'll list some of those "anything" books too-
Terry Pratchett, first and foremost. (And that makes reccs now, doesn't it- what we tell you three times is true)
If you like Agatha Christie type English mysteries, you might like Margary Allingham, and if you like really well -written English mysteries, you might like Dorothy Sayers.

If you like Barbarian Heroes fantasy, you might like the rogues named Fafrd and The Grey Mouser, in the "Swords and Sorcery' series, by Fritz Leiber and (sometimes) Jerry Pournelle

Neil Gaiman writes marvellous new fantasy fiction- when I read "Neverwhere", I finished it, opened it and started from the beginning all over again.

If you like post-modern magical realism for twisted teenaged girls, I highly recommend the "Weetzie Bat" stories by Francesca Lia Block- It will make you cry, I promise.

If you like female-phobic homoerotic Beat poetry with a LOT of anal action- Wiliam Burroughs is your guy (but he won't be in your library, I bet).

and if you like heavy action fem-lib-sep-dyke porn, it's Pat Califia (who often sits RIGHT NEXT to Bill on a bookstore's shelves, I love that).

For just plain old regular wimmins fiction- Anne Tyler, and Barbara Kingsolver are two excellent writers.

Mostly what I do is walk into the shelves, pull out a book and read a couple pages somewhere near the middle. If the style doesn't piss me off, I figure it's worth a try...

 

[Dar~]

The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind:

Wizard's First Rule
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of the Winds
Soul of the Fire
Pillars of Creation
Naked Empire
Chainfire​

 

[Weird Harold]

JV Jones does some funky fantasy too, very character driven, compelling. More edge of your seat than depressing. Very empowering. I recommend "The barbed coil" by her especially.

J.V. Jones is definitely a good author, but I prefer her Book of Words trilogy (Baker's Boy, A Man Betrayed, and Master and Fool).

David Eddings is another of those "Anything" authors, except much of what he's written is in series form and the series have to be read in sequence. Any crdited to "David & Leigh Eddings" is a newer work and involves fewer volumes to get the complete story.

A book that is probably currently hard to get from your library because of the current PBS series based on it is Guns, Germs and Steel. It's non-fiction, but an interesting take on why some civilizations came to dominate the world while others stalled in the stone age.

If you're interested in Science Fiction, David Weber's Honor Harrington Series is a rather long series with lots of space battles and interstellar politics as well as interesting charcters.

Elizabeth Moon is an author with both an outstanding fantasy series that begins with The Deed Of Paksenarian and an outstanding SF series that begins with Hunting Party. Both series are mostly character driven but have a lot of action/adventure elements as well.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is combination of Romance, Historical Fiction and SF/Fantasy that is a good read on many levels.

Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down was mentioned. I think his best work is Maia and/or Sharduk -- Two semi-independent novels set in the same fictional world at different times. (both are huge books that run 1,000+ pages)

I don't know how much reading you need, but just my recommendations run to around 100,000 pages or so and should keep you busy for a week or two at least.

 

[Hooper_X]

Any of Chuck Palahniuks books.