What do you recommend?

Question

I have a 50$ gift card to use at chapters. Can anyone recommend some good fiction books to read. It doesn't really matter what genre....but if you've read an excellent love story I'd like to know about it. (no, not romance novels...lol)

I also like Mystery.

Answer 1

You've got to check out "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. It's long and moves a little slowly, but it really captures love from beginning to end- you'll understand exactly what I mean after you've read it. It's powerful and moving and definitely NOT a romance novel. I read it about 6 months aho and it still brings me to tears to think of it. Truly remarkable.

Also, to dig back into high school literature, try "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston. It's another powerful love story.

If you haven't read it yet, check out "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd and I LOVED "Five Quarters of the Orange" by Joanne Harris, author of "Chocolat."

Good luck!

Answer 2

Try “Twilight” ($20) by Stephanie Meyer. It is a love story/thriller and it is very good. The sequel is called “New Moon”. Also there are several Meg Cabot books like “How to be Popular” ($16) or “Queen of Babble”. You could also try “Bras and Broomsticks” ($10) by Sarah Mlyonisky (I'm not sure of the spelling of her last name). That book is very funny; the sequel is “Frogs and French Kissing”($15). Another humorous series is the confessions of Georgia Nicolson. The first book is called “Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging” ($7). Sarah Dessen has written some amazing books about teenage love. One of my personal favorites is called “The Truth About Forever” ($10). “A Great and Terrible Beauty” ($9) is more of a mystery than a romance, but the next book, “Rebel Angels” ($15) is more romantic. Out of all of these books though, I recommend the books by Stephanie Meyer. I have never read better books. They have everything you would want in a book; suspense/thriller, romance (but not too over the top), and humor.

Answer 3

There's a gothic novel from long ago which I don't even know the current availability of, but it was excellent: Green Darkness by Anya Seton. As I recall, it was a romance, a thriller, a mystery and just a damn good book! Oh wait, here's a site on it.

http://www.triviumpublishing.com/articles/greendarkness.html

I never realized that it was historical, also. There's a synopsis of the book there, and pictures of the places she wrote about. She was a popular and accomplished writer in her day, but is largely forgotten. Her parents were writers also, and her father is remembered as a famous conservationsist, and a co-founder of the boy scouts. But I digress... I LOVED this book when I read it!

Answer 4

DreamLand by Sarah Dessen
Twilight by Stephenie Meyers(best book EVER!)
Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
New Moon by Stephenie Meyers(sequel to Twilight)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Daughters of the Moon series by Lynn Ewing
Sisterhood of the traveling pants by Ann Bradshares
Avalon High by Meg Cabot (if you like King Arthur)
and many more so browse around.

Answer 5

I definitely recommend Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It is a YA book...but not your typical YA book...Bella Swan is a junior in high school who happens to fall in love with the ever-handsome but always mysterious Edward who it turns out is keeping a big secret...he's a vampire! The romance is great...and it is very exciting :)

Answer 6

Luanne Rice- Summer of Roses & Summers Child,
Karen Kingsbury--Oceans Apart, Tuesday Morning &
Beyond Tuesday Morning,
Anita Shreve--White Snow
Debbie McComber-- Cedar Cove series (6 books)
PS I am a Librarian, and have read all of the above. Best Picks at my library this season .

Answer 7

Barbara Delinsky, Elizabeth Berg, "The Kite Runner", "The Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama, all of the quilt books by Jennifer Gianverinni...happy reading!

Answer 8

Here's a SciFi story that doesn't require tons of Technospeak:

DUNE by Frank Herbert

some of the sequels were a bit thick, but the ORIGINAL book won the Hugo (SciFi's Greatest Award) - beating Lord of the Rings to do it (personally, I think they should have declared a TIE)...

Answer 9

I really enjoyed reading "The Historian" recently. It's got some romance, some mystery.

Answer 10

I'm going to have to agree with BNB. Although I've never read any Anya Seton, many people have recommended her books to me over the years. Your plot interests seem to be the same as mine. I think I'll pick up a couple of her books and check it out....you should too.