Just finished "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Marquez.... Investment-related and Self-help books are welcome too.
2006-08-11 18:29:28 · 24 answers · asked by SCARLETT 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
"The Memoirs of cleopatra" by Margaret George.
Historic novel, very well documented, enjoyable read.
2006-08-11 18:33:21 · answer #1 · answered by avll 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cat's suggestions are great.
If you are into Gabriel Marquez and enjoy his "magic realism," I would highly recommend Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. I think it may be the best novel of the second half of the 20th century. It is set in India, focusing on children born after midnight on India's day of independence. A page-turning story with humor, pathos, subtlety, historical authenticity, great character development. Better than Rushdie's other novels, including the famous/infamous Satanic Verses, though I found that one fascinating, too.
His wife at the time of the controversy was Marianne Wiggins, and I also found her John Dollar an interesting book (the only time in my teaching career I have ever been threatened with censorship!). It's often described as a female counterpart to Lord of the Flies. Actually I think it's more subtle and more realistic, but not an exact parallel by any means.
My sentimental favorite is John Irving's Prayer for Owen Meany. I wish all his novels were this good, but I must admit my own personal enjoyment of his writing. OK, I know it doesn't always come up to the same level, and probably academic critics will not take him very seriously, but I find his books almost always "a good read." He is a populist, writing in the tradition of Charles Dickens. But serious too.
Happy reading!
2006-08-11 19:51:25 · answer #2 · answered by bfrank 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Haunted Fox has some great suggestions-
I would also reccommend:
Children of the Alley (dont remember author)
Cry, the Beloved Country (")
The Lovely Bones (alice seybold -sp?)
The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie
The Time Travelers Wife- Audrey Neiffeneger (sp?)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
2006-08-12 04:54:46 · answer #3 · answered by kermit 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Brothers Karamazov: Dostoyevsky
A good man is hard to find: Flannery OÇonnor
Lost in the Cosmos: The last self help book: Walker Percy
Searching for God knows what or Blue Like Jazz: Donald Miller
All fantastic
2006-08-11 18:46:28 · answer #4 · answered by I STILL love my Honda Civic 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cane river by Lalita Tademy, Gap Creek, Sleeep in Heavenly POeace, The Stand
2006-08-12 14:44:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You've probably already read it, but I recommend Fahrenheit 451......there be big parallels between the story and modern day America. "The Sun Also Rises" is a good read. At present, I'm reading "The Case for Democracy", it's educational and, so far, not total Zionist propaganda.
"Beyond Chutzpah" "The Baby Sitters' Club"
"The Turner Diaries" "Fear"(very trippy story)
"American Psycho"(The book is way better)
2006-08-11 21:03:47 · answer #6 · answered by solipsistic 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i !LOVE! to study books! heres greater advantageous than a million Lord of the rings The Hobbit The Simarillon babies of Hurin Eragon Eldest Harry Potter the Chronicles of Narnia the Farsala Trilogy the Books of Bayern (Goose lady, Enna Burning, River secrets and methods) the recent Jedi Order sequence the Pellior sequence the Redwall books A Countess under Stairs Island of the Aunts side on the Sword Heralds of Valdemar sequence Princess Academy (somewhat weird and wonderful call, yet somewhat solid e book) Jane Eyre in hassle-free terms some somewhat mind-blowing books.
2016-09-29 04:36:03 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here are a few I think you would be well-served adding to your reading list:
"Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse- a classic tale of a young man's journey is search of spirit, similar to "The Alchemist" but better written
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver- an extremely powerful book protraying the lives of 5 women and girls living under the roof of a missionary in the Congo during the 1950's
"the God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy- one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read; about a woman and her twins living in India, shortly after India's independence from Britain.
"The Aleph" by Jorge Loius Borges- magical realism of Marquez meets science fiction, and the stories of a parallel universe discovered through books, wriitngs, and a spot in the basement are beyond anything I can put into words
"Paula", "and "Daughter of Fortune" by Isabel Allende- one fiction, one non; they are both incredibly detailed and interesting; Paula deals with the death of Isabel's daughter, and in it Isabel recounts hers and her daughter's family history so that her daughter will get a memeory back when she awakens, after the disease left that portion of her brain beyond recovery
Daughter of Fortune is a great story set in Chile and San Fransisco during the time of the gold rush, and is superbly written
Finally, my favorite of all time: "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran; goes beyond any self-help book I have ever seen with tis common-sense and wisdom, and is so beautifully written I often cry when I read it. More poignant now that the author was Lebanese, writing to free his country from the grip of hatred that enslaved them even 100 years ago.
2006-08-12 02:35:16 · answer #8 · answered by Hauntedfox 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I loved the Red Tent! I don't know how old you are, but I'm well out of high school and still found this book helpful:
"Reviving Ophelia, saving the selves of adolescent girls" by Mary Pipher, PhD
2006-08-15 16:22:53 · answer #9 · answered by phattissimo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, you might like Isabel Allende. Try her "The House of the Spirits". I loved both. "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel might also interest you. I also recommend anything for adults by Gregory Maguire (I only mention adults because he also writes children's books) like "Wicked", "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister", and "Mirror, Mirror".
Some other books I recommend are: "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris, "As Above, So Below" by Rudy Rucker, and "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See
2006-08-11 18:54:53 · answer #10 · answered by Cat 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Book by Alan Watts
2006-08-11 18:33:56 · answer #11 · answered by unseen_force_22 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋