What books do you recomend to read?

Question

Im 20yrs old, I read loads of different things I just cant find anything that interests me at the moment so i want some input. Thanks for the answers, im slowly reading through them for inspiration as to what to read.

Answer 1

All of Edward Rutherford's books.
All of Leon Uris.
All of James Lee Burke.
All of Dan Brown.

Answer 2

If you're looking for something classic then I would advise Pride and Prejudice or Wuthering Heights, Wuthering Heights in particular is pretty dark for a classic, Pride and Prejudice is just a good story.

If you're looking for something to stretch your imagination you may like to try Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series... there are 12 books in the ongoing series and a prequel. Also Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series will allow your imagination to work overtime. Obviously Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is another one which is worth a read.

I personally find autobiography and biography pretty interesting - if you have an area which interests you reading about a prominent figure in that area can be interesting.

For something a bit different, try Harry Potter, although its a children's book it's some good writing.

I recently read the book called Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, this one is good if you like Grail stories, there's another writer called Bernard Cornwell who has written a range of books including a Trilogy which deals with a Grail Quest, the first part is called Harlequin, the second Vagabond, the third Heretic - this is set during the middle ages - mainly when the English and French were fighting each other constantly...

I hope this helps you find something new to try out...

Answer 3

Wow, that is an open question :) Here are recommendations for various categories.

Literature - Arturo Perez-Reverte, Matthew Pearl, Umberto Eco
Fantasy - Guy Gavriel Kay, Neil Gaiman
Science Fiction - Sheri Tepper, David Brin, Dan Simmons
European Historical Romance - Julia Quinn, Mary Jo Putney, Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary Romance - Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts
Paranormal/Fantasy Romance - Laurell K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan, Maggie Shayne
Mystery - J.A. Jance
Adventure - Ken Follet, Robert Ludlum
Non-Fiction - Carl Sagan

Those are just some of the authors that I've read and enjoyed.

Answer 4

I read a lot, no really a lot.
I used to be really into some types of books and not others.
I've read every terry Pratchett book and they're all great.
If you just want random books then anything will do, but it's always more fun and a greater reward if you have a reason for choosing a book.
I read a book a long time ago about Capt james Cook and found it very informative, I went to the local bookstore / amazon and got as many others as I could, even thought they overlapped they were all worth reading. While reading them their were other people mentioned in the stories, so I found and read books about them, also because of his travels there was mention of cultures and places so again I got books about those places, this led to a book about the mercator map and the printing press, this trail eventually led my to books about science in Asia, which led me to read about culture in Japan, where I found Haruki Murakami's works, reading them introduced me to Doestoesky, Flaubert, Zola and some of the classics. So I suppose what im trying to say is that there are no bad books, just books you will not like. The act of reading is one of the best ways to pass your time, be it in the search for knowledge or entertainment. What is some good advice is if you're reading a book and an idea or piece of information in it piques you, make a note of it and try to look more into it, that way the world will make a lot more sense and some of the "classics" won't be too daunting. Remember that artist write for either love or money, if they're good enough they will get both in their lifetime. Also read biographies about people you don't admire, it can be interesting.

Answer 5

If you fancy something a little different I would recommend trying a comic. Some good ones are :
Akira
Lone Wolf and cub
Maus
Anything by Tezuka Osamu!
Barefoot Gen

Or if you only want novels, these are some very entertaining reads:
Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Trilogy (Malloy, Malone and The Unnameable) by Samuel Beckett
Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift
The Odyssey by Homer
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling

That should keep you going for a while!

EDIT: I read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1984 by George Orwell and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens when I was 20 and really enjoyed them all! I'm sure between everyone's answers you could make a long list of things you will like.

That's a thought, you could take an actual list of our suggestions to your library or bookshop and look at the back covers of each of them to see if they sound like your sort of thing, then you'll be sure to find some new favorite reads!

HAPPY READING!

Answer 6

It does depend on your taste and interest.
I absolutely love all of Paulo Coelho's books coz they have different levels. If you're up for a good story, that's the book and if you want to have something deeper and more profound, once again that's the book. The writing is amazing and it helps and invites you to make a journey within yourself if you're willing to as much as you can just sit back and enjoy a good story.
His books have also covered so many different topics which have all the time made me think about society in a deeper way. And what I really like it makes you dvelve in depth in a nice and entertaining way which is not heavy reading material.
My favourites are The Valkyries, The Alchemist 11 minutes and The Zahir (though I must admit they are all extremely powerful and it is hard to choose a favourite)
Hope you enjoy those books if you read them.

Answer 7

This very much depends of your taste: do you like detective stories? Some of the best are by Patricia Wentworth, Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie.
Science Fiction, Bradbury, Asimov, two of the best.
Historical novels, I believe Jean Plaidy is good.
Love stories, try Barbara Taylor Bradford.
If you have a public library you'll find the librarian will be very helpful if you give her some idea what you enjoy: the best way of telling her this, is to make a list of those books you have already read and which ones you enjoyed the most.

Answer 8

Here is a start:


Anything by Anais Nin
Anything by Charles Bukowski
Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse
Siddartha by Herman Hesse
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
The Dwarf by Per Lagerkvist
The Clown by Heinrich Boll
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Answer 9

If you never read it at school, then Pride and Prejudice has got to be one of the best classics.

If you like horror stories you can't go wrong with Stephen King, and also Anne Rice's "Interview With the Vampire." If you want a recent vampire series try Darren Shan. It's in the kids section but Im 25 and I enjoyed it. :o)

If you're a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, and want something a bit silly, a bit original and quite funny then check out this book-

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists - Gideon Defoe

You can find it on Amazon. I bought it for a friend and she loved it!

Answer 10

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Cider House Rules - John Irving
The Sound of Blue - Holly Payne
The Green Mile - Stephen King
Animal Farm - Greorge Orwell

Marion Zimmer-Bradley and Jean Auel are excellant historical fiction writers.

All in publication of The Bard: William Shakespeare
Classics are essential to a basic understanding of literature.

Answer 11

If you like travelling, read The Beach by Alex Garland. I like how it deals with the things that people think about when they leave home to go exploring the unknown and how it develops the characters. It just captures the whole romanticism of travelling on a showstring for young people (often a bit naive but hungry for experience and a bit of danger) A real page turner, especially if you haven't already seen the film and therefore know the storyline roughly. Even if you have, it's alot better than the film anyway!