Read any good books lately?

Question

Just looking for something fresh to read. I read just about anything from fiction to nonfiction but, prefer material within the last half century.

Answer 1

Oh, wow. I clicked on this thinking it would be an easy question, but its not!

Okay....lets see

Crime/Mystery:
Anything by Patricia Cornwell, Jonathon Kellerman, John Grisham, Tami Hoag or Elizabeth Peters

Fantasy
The Harry Potter Books, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Series of Unfortunate Events, The Dragonriders of Pern, anything by Gregory McGuire (specifically Wicked and Son of a Witch), the Neverending Story, the Little Prince

Thriller
Anything by Stephen King ( Lisey's story, a recent book, was WONDERFUL), anything by Dean Koontz (favorites are Fear Nothing, Seize the Night, Door to December, False Memory and Demon Seed), the Hannibal Lecter series by Thomas Harris

Philosophy,
The unbearable Lightness of being, Life of Pi

Romance
Anything by Linda Lael Miller (specifically the Corbins) Danielle Steele (Fine things), Johanna Lindsey (Silver Angel, Prisoner of my Desire), or Nora Roberts (the Quinn books)

Psychological
Faces of Eve, Fight Club, Virgin Suicides or Sybil

Ethnic
Anything by Amy Tan

Military
A Bridge Too Far


I am gonna stop...before i take the whole page!

if you need anymore or any other help, im me at concordias_hope!

Answer 2

Well, this is from the first half of the 20th century, but it's quite good. The title of the book is We, and it was written by Yevgeny Zamyatin; it's the first dystopian novel, and inspired such works as 1984 and Brave New World. Another book I like a lot is The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zwieg; it was written in the early 1940's, but it provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of people during the first and second world wars, and the author knew tons of famous people, such as Freud, Yeats, James Joyce, etc, which is neat to read about. I know these books are a little earlier than what you were looking for, but they are well worth reading.

Answer 3

I just finished the following:

Fast Food Nation - excellent book
Gone - also good (now I have to read Hide)
Good to Great (excellent business book)

The Anita Blake vampire hunter novels are good if you like science fiction, although I recommend the earlier books in the series over the later books (they get a little raunchy).

Answer 4

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy Mcdonough

Cantankerous and secretive, Neil Young has banished authors from his inner sanctum--until now. In Shakey, Jimmy McDonough distills more than 300 interviews (including guarded yet revealing interrogations of Young himself) into the definitive biography: the skyrocket success, willful disasters, health horrors and triumphs, stunning comebacks, and highly colorful scuffles with equally impossible characters like Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and the incompetent yet brilliant musicians of Crazy Horse. Young is not quite the noble soul some thought--he's an astounding control freak. But he is never less than fascinating. "As ruthless as I may seem to be," Young tells McDonough, "you gotta do what ya gotta do. Just like a f-----' vampire. Heh heh heh." --Tim Appelo

Answer 5

You shouldn't just read from the last half century, in case you haven't noticed, the last half century doesn't have many good authors who write well.

I would reccomend

Stephen's Kings

The Stand, and IT

The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy series

The Hannibal Books

Answer 6

Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer are good, and Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, also 24 Girls in Seven Days by Alex Bradly. Hmm, and Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
I haven't been reading much lately though...

Answer 7

Anything by James Patterson
Anything by Danielle Steel
Hannibal Lector series
Left Behind series

Answer 8

Ok this is a pretty diverse listing of books but they were all good.

* Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe
* Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich (mystery)
* Sookie Stackhouse Dead Series (Vampire and supernaturals)
* First 3 books of the Laurell K. Hamilton Vampire Series (vamp)
* Artemis Fowl Trilogy (is kid's books but still good)
* Running with Scissors was an interesting memoir.
* Dry (running with scissor's sequel)
* The secret life of bees
* John Adams Biography written by David McCullough (history)
* Don't let's go to the Dog's tonight by Alexandra Fuller (memoir)
* Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
* Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
* To Kill a Mockingbird
* I know why the Caged Bird Sings
* Uncle Tom's Cabin
* Bram Stoker's Dracula
* Ender Series by Orson Scott Card (Sci Fi/Fantasy)
* Wrinkle in Times Series by Madeleine L'Engle (Sci Fi/Fantasy)
* Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy (sci fi/fantasy)
* Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
* Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black
* The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

I have a lot more but it would take all day to post them

Answer 9

I have read some amazing books within the past four days.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen -- its about a circus that travels by train in the 1930s

Riding Lessons and its sequel, Flying Changes by Sara Gruen -- its about a woman who gets a divorce, and moves out to her family's horse farm with her troubled daughter

Freaks by Annette Curtis Klause -- its about a freak show, basically. there's a lot of fantasy in it.

Answer 10

I like Jonathan and Faye Kellerman's mysteries. The Ludlum books including the bourne identity series are excellent. (the books are much better than the movies) Another favourite of mine was the "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon.