book list?

Question

i love to read and i have over 980 books in my tiny apartment. I would love to hear some book list ideas from everyone preferably with a bit of a description.

Answer 1

If you like mysteries, check out http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/
Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. They list over 2,100 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 24,000 titles), both series and non-series.
Check out http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ReadAlikes/index.html if you like certain themes.

Answer 2

Of course, your own personal taste will dictate what books you do and do not like to read. Some of my favorite book lists are the banned book lists. The lists are issued from some official entity to determine what books have content society is not capable of handling. Naturally, I disagree with such practices. However, by reviewing these lists you can find some very worthwhile books.

The article of banned books on Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) has a brief intro to banned book lists and has quite a list of its own generated by those who use Wikipedia. Also, inside the article it references the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. That list was the official list of books banned by the Catholic Church. All of the books listed there are by no means recent, but I am certain some are worth a look.

Answer 3

Ooh, I love to make book recommendations! In my excitement to get these down, please excuse my "summary" paragraphs which I guarantee will be grossly inadequate.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A surreal, non-linear story of a WWII veteran troubled by flashbacks. Sounds simple to say it like that but it's an amazing book and one you can finish in a day, which is nice sometimes. A modern classic.

Atonement by Ian McEwan
Amazingly constructed book that examines themes of human motivation and the haphazardness of "fate".

Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
Okay, you've almost certainly read this already, but just in case...it's more than just a simple "good novel" as people often assert. Life led astray by obsession masquerading as love is universal theme that is so so poorly recognized by our society hypnotized by the notion of romance "like in the movies".

The short story collection of Breece Pancake
He died before young and this was all he left us. Stories of life in rural West Virginia that reveal a world that is alien to most of us (and thereby very interesting, IMO), yet still touch on the same emotions and circumstances we all experience.

The Education of Robert Nifkin by Daniel Pinkwater
A fun little book in minimalist style. You can read it in a sitting and its worth it. I think anyone clever enough to read for pleasure will love the characters and humor.

Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The funniest book I've ever read. I probably laughed out loud 20 times.

Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
This book is not for everyone. It is dark, pessimistic, perverted, and nasty. It is also tremendously REAL. The author doesn't shy away from those thoughts that pop into our heads, the ones we are ashamed of and try to push away. It is considered one of the first ventures into "black comedy" and is indeed good for plenty of LOLs. Also, if you have ever struggled adapting from the school-to-work transition, you will probably get a kick out of the parts that address the protagonist's ventures in that area.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Perhaps the first true crime novel and certainly the best. The quality of the writing and his character building is amazing. Reveals both sides of a hideous, senseless crime. Shows where the criminals were coming from, what in the world could bring them to murder an entire family, and does so without sympathizing with them.

Don Quixote by Cervantes
It's hilarious. Perhaps 10 LOLs for me, including a few that made me laugh until I cried. It has perhaps influenced modern humor more than any other work of art (my opinion). And there's A LOT more to it than that; a lot of it examines Cervantes' opinion on war (which he experienced first hand) and other social issues, and does so in a way that is not heavy handed. Some modern authors could take note!


Well, I think that's enough for now. I think I might post a question like this myself sometime! Thanks for posting this!