What book should I read next?

Question

I think want something current. I like to read many different types of books: Stephen King, Nicolas Sparks, Tolkien, McCrumb, MacGammon, Jan Karon, Fannie Flagg, Rowling, etc. (Just naming a few authors) - lol I have a very eclectic book taste.

I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and I loved The Dark Tower Series. If it is good - I'll read it!:)

Please tell me a little about the book you recommend. Thanks so much!:)

WOW - I am seeing a lot of books I would like to read!!!!!! Ya'll are dong great!

I am so sorry that I was unable to pick a best answer - if I had time I would have read a lot of the books suggested - and picked the best answer. That is impossible for me - I can read quickly - but not that quickly. All of your recs sound wonderful - and I plan on reading several of these books suggested. Thank you for your time!!!!! I will now put this to a vote!:)

Answer 1

I just finished Eragon and have already started Eldest. Eragon is being made into a movie, but the book was fantastic!! The boy that wrote them started the book when he was fifteen...what a great imagination!!!
Good luck and have fun!

Answer 2

My first recommendation would be Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. It's a thriller that weaves together modern day and ancient France in a more original way than Da Vinci Code or similar. Here are some reviews:

Labyrinth - Anthony Sattin, SUNDAY TIMES
'a gripping holy grail quest ... the story line runs on knowledge and fun - Carcassonne never looked so good.'

Professor Jonathon Phillips
'Combines a compelling storyline with a genuinely evocative sense of place.'

South Coast Magazine
'Labyrinth, a thrilling quest novel and rattling good read, is destined for the bestseller list!'

Chichester Observer
'Wonderful! Page turning medieval history and adventure - sure to give Dan Brown a run for his money.'

My second recommendation a "The Blue Nowhere" by Jeffery Deaver. All his books are really great (he wrote the Lincoln Rhymes series) but this one is unputdownable. If you like cyberspace and suspense and serial murder stories, this one has it all.

Finally, for when you're feeling a bit more pensive and reflective, "Beach Music" by Pat Conroy is an absolutely beautiful read. He has such a magical way with words and I had to read passages a few times simply because i found them so beautifully written and moving. (Which reminds me - if you like love stories with a difference - then you'd love "White" by Rosie Thomas.)

Happy reading.

Answer 3

I too have very eclectic taste!
Here are some of my suggestions:
1)Pilgrim by Timothy Findley (shortlisted for the Giller) - I enjoy his writing style and mixture of philosophy, mystery, religion etc. A very well written book!

2)Club Dumas - Arturo Perez-Reverte - A dark mystery, full of books and the occult. Made into a movie by Roman Polanski, which was unusually well done as well. I have also enjoyed the Flanders Panel by the same author and it too was a mystery. This time however the setting is amongst artists and chess players!

3)Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Series) - Robert Jordan
At first I had my doubts about this one!
I worked at a book store in university and a few of my co-workers read a lot of fantasy! I was a snob, even though I loved the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit. Well I finally caved in and began the series and I am hooked, I chip away at the series and read other things in between.

Answer 4

Wow ... you DO have eclectic tastes ... but I think that's good; there's no reason why readers should stagnate in one genre ... or even feel obliged to stay within a certain target age-range. Judging from the books you've said you like, I'd recommend "Justin Thyme". Like the Harry Potter series and the Dark Materials trilogy, it's aimed at kids but has a cross-over adult appeal too, (at least, for those who enjoy the likes of Pullman or Rowling). It's a fantasy book - but without magic, (the chapters are interspersed with time travel theories). It's a tightly plotted adventure - but also a kind of intriguing whodunit with puzzling clues and hidden messages. It includes: the Loch Ness Monster, a teenage billionaire, a mercurial Scottish Laird, a celebrity cryptozoologist, a computer-literate gorilla, a Shakespearean gardener, a gigantic bald woman, and an eight-legged cat, (so pretty eclectic too!) Well, I enjoyed it anyway; in fact, I'm still searching for some of the hidden clues! Here's a link to it on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/justin-thyme-tar...

Answer 5

I really enjoy books that make your imagination run so I'll recommend:
The Eight by Katherine Neville. Its a little tought to explain, and I think you should atleast consider it, so here is what the back cover says (some of what it says) In the midst of the French Revolution, a young novice discovers that her abbey is the hiding place of a chess set, once owned by the great Charlemagne, which allows those who play it to tap into incredible powers beyond the imagination. She eventually comes into contact with the major historical figures of the day, from Robespierre to Napoleon, each of whom has an agenda. Adventure and puzzles. Fiction

Also recommend The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. This book is also fiction but tells the story of a real book that has historians and others babeled for over 500 years. In Amazon.com you can get better details than mine but its a really good book if you like adventure and puzzles.

Answer 6

I would suggest anything by Neil Gaiman. His latest book is titled Fragile Things. It's a collection of his short stories interspersed with poems. If you want an actual novel though, I would suggest Good Omens by Neil Gaimn and Terry Pratchett. Check it out.
Here are some quotes from it to spark your interests:
DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.

God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.

Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide.

Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home.

Answer 7

I'd suggest the starvation video games sequence by way of Susan Collins. I'm obsessive about the ones books on the second and they've equivalent style/issues to the books you have got recounted above. Its additionally being made right into a movie that is due for liberate this March!

Answer 8

Phillip Pullman Dark Materials Trilogy - about a girl called Lyra who inhabits a parallel world in Oxford. It's an excellent tale and will keep you hooked. Currently being made into a movie - Daniel Craig is in movie - should be as big as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings when it comes out

Answer 9

Truman Capote's short stories. He writes in a similar style to Harper Lee the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Answer 10

Terry Pratchett is a brilliant humorous author. His books are intelligent, funny, and profound, which is a rare combination these days.

My favorite of his is "Small Gods" but I also love "Witches Abroad". If you've seen Phantom of the opera you'd love "Maskerade", and "Hogfather" has a Christmas theme.

Some sample quotes:

A day ago the future had looked aching and desolate, and now it looked full of surprises and terror and bad things happening to people... If she had anything to do with it anyway.
-- Granny Weatherwax commits optimism (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

"Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."
-- Bursar 1 - Hex 0 (Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

Bad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Yabi was cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered.
(Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)


His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools -- the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans -- and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, "You can't trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink."

-- We meet Dydactylos the philosopher (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

Answer 11

I love 90% of the books/authors you listed; here are some series I truly enjoyed:

Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas & Forever Odd
Dean Koontz's Life Expectancy (probably one of my favorite books of all time)
James Patterson's Alex Cross series (READ THEM IN ORDER!)

I love most of Dean Koontz's books (even a little more than Stephen King's sometimes...)

Enjoy!