Can anyone reccomend a good book?

Question

I really need a good book to start reading. I loved Angels and Demons and The daVinci Code because of their European settings and art themes. I love Harry Potter books because of their elements of fantasy. I loved reading the Poisonwood Bible because it was a really touching book. So, there are some of my interests... any recommendations?

Answer 1

To kill a mockingbird or a tale of two cities

Answer 2

A Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
It has a lot of the same themes about corruption and a definite element of fantasy that is integrated flawlessly into the book. This isn't an easy read though. My favorite of all time.

The Pilgrim - Timothy Findley
If you like the history that has been manipulated or looked at in a different way.

YOUR BEST BET:

Maximum Ride -James Patterson
It's for younger audiences like Harry Potter. It has the same fast pace as DaVinci Code, elements of fantasy due to genetic experiments and hidden agendas and corruption. It's the first of a series.

Answer 3

I would actually reccomend two authors, multiple books.
First off, I'd say pick up ANYTHING by an English author named China Mievielle; probably starting with Perdido Street Station which is the first book in a trilogy that doesn't have to be read in order. The following books are The Scar and Iron Council. These are fantasy novels, but at times they seem a bit more like science fiction, and at other times just deliciously weird and a bit dark.

I would also suggest M. John Harrison's collection called Viriconium. It's actually his entire Viriconium cycle put into one volume. This book represents the first real appearance that anything involving Viriconium has made in the USA and it was just recently released.

I cannot promise that these novels would be to your taste, but if you like great prose and fantastic, grab-you-in-the-gut story telling and even a bit of true literary guts, Viriconium might be a book to look into. Again, it's not a single story, but rather a compilation of the entire Viriconium cycle to date...it's short novels and novellas and short stories, most of which cover repititions of the same theme but they're great stories, if a bit disturbing.

As for more science fictional stuff, I'd suggest Ursula K. LeGuinn's The Telling. As with all of her work, the prose is brilliant, the story is compelling, and the characters are quite well drawn.

For something more on this side of reality, I'd suggest Maxine Hong-Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book. It's funny. It's profound. It's funny. It's beautifully written. It's funny. It's an exploration of Chinese-American culture. It's funny. It's deleriously creative. It's funny. It has important points to make about being Human, and parts of it are funny.

I would also suggest Master and Margarita by Mihail Bulgakov: it's hilarious and profound and a brilliant example of Russian satire among other things. If that's up your alley, then Bulgakov's short novel The Fatal Eggs is a sure bet...but anything by Bulgakov is good!

Also I second TMH on the suggestion of anything by Sherri S. Tepper...Grass is my particular favorite, but Six Moon Dance was kinda cool too. Anything by Samuel R. Delany (my favorite author) and Octavia E. Butler would be worth it as well...as would William Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

There's another novel, but I haven't finished writing it yet, so you'll just have to wait.

Answer 4

For novel: Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It's an international best seller. If you have read Da Vinci Code and like fast pace novel, try novels by James Patterson such as The Big Bad Wolf or Along Came the Spider.
For non-fictions: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It's one of the classical self-motivation book. Or for current self-motivation book, try Awaken the Giant within by Anthony Robbins. The author becomes a millionaire at the age of 30++.

Answer 5

I highly recommend a book by Kevin Baker called "Dreamland", a novel based on a somewhat fictional retelling of New York's Coney Island at the turn of the 20th century. The Washington Post called it "Mesmerizing", the Wall Street Journal called it "remarkable" and the Houston Chronicle called it "magical". I can honestly call it one of the few books I've read lately that made me sad to turn the final page.

Another book that deserves a look is Michael Chabon's "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay". It's a great summer read - long enough to take along on vacation, but a real page-turner, again, a book you won't want to put down.

My all-time favorite book - but you'll either love it or hate it - is John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces". Even the story behind the publication of the book is interesting - and it won a Pulitzer Prize, too.

If you read and like any (or all) of these books, the greatest thanks you can give me is to recommend them to other people.

Happy reading!

Answer 6

The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

Any book by Sheri Tepper except Gibbons Decline and Fall (didn't care for that one)

The Club Dumas or The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Six Messiahs or List of 7 by Mark Frost

Answer 7

Arthur and the Seeing Stone Trilogy - Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Messenger - Lois Lowry
The Lost Years of Merlin Epic (5 books) - T. A. Barron
The Tree of Avalon Trilogy (only 2 books written so far) - T. A. Barron
*Anything written by Lois Lowry or T.A. Barron

Answer 8

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Or any of Anne Rice's books for that matter. She's fantastic. I've also always like R.L. Stine. Not the Goosebumps books, they're more for kids, but the Fear Street books are great! He's so unpredictable and writes really captivating stories. I'm 20 and still love Fear Street.

Answer 9

If you liked Poisonwood Bible I would suggest reading Keeping Faith, by Jodi Picoult. Its very good and kind of in the same vein.

The Plot Against America and The Kite Runner are also very good, though I can't remember the name of their authors.

And 1984 by George Orwell is AMAZING and should always be recommended.

Answer 10

Eating Chinese Food Naked, by Mei Ng

This book is about an Asian American girl coming to terms with her parent's traditional Chinese marriage and relationship-and how that bears its mark in her contemporary American mixed-race relationships.

The book is great at examining relationships across cultures and between parents and their children on a human level.

It's my favourite book of all time!

My second favourite is

The Karma Hotel, by Samineh Izedi Shaheem

This book is about 4 people who are struggling with conficts in their lives that are not resolving through everyday human capabilities of exploration or coping. These four seemingly unrelated people are mysteriously called to for a stay at a mystical hotel, where its staff welcomes them. The reader is activly involved by the author to help the four discover the true roots of their problems and how to overcome them.

Answer 11

A sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell
Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn-can't remember author, but VERY good