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Recommend a Book

How could anyone not mention Dune by Frank Herbert? Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award for Best Novel. Ok, it's sci fi but it is fantastic sci fi. Remains one of my favorite books. There is a series of these books written by Frank Herbert and then taken over by his son...some good and some eh. There were two movie versions of Dune also and neither did the book justice. Get this book and remember, "the pictures are in your head".:D Cheers
 
I forgot about 'The Catcher In The Rye' by J.D. Salinger, thats awesome too, not too long either.
 
The Death of Ivan Ilych put a lot of things in perspective for me when I was younger. I really enjoyed the book and try to live a more satisfying life because of it.
 
darklyt said:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, then the rest of the series (including the Bean storyline).
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Second this, a fun and easy-reading set of books if I ever found one. Which reminds me that I still have 1 more awaiting me once I get out from under this pile of schoolwork
 
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I never read it for a class, so I could be very wrong about this, but I think it's a great book to point out the absurdity of war and people's behavior toward one another in general. It's definitely one of my favorite books.

Edit: If you're looking for non-fiction, you should take a look at Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. (Amazon). Even for a book about World War II, it can be a bit gruesome, but this book made me really think about what drives people to do what they do. This is did read for a class, and I am very grateful I did.
 
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Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand - by James Barron

It's fascinating. The writing draws you in whether or not you know anything about woodworking or mechanical engineering or pianos... In that respect it reminds me of Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine. Couldn't stop reading that one either!
 
Fahrenheit 451 was a good read and no too long either. And Bradbury can write. Maybe Carrie as well as it is relatively short for a Stephen King.
 
twistedlegato said:
The Kite Runner :)
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Absolutely. To elaborate, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is an amazing work of modern literature that is as educational as it is riveting, but also an easy and enjoyable read. I cannot recommend it enough, and neither will you once you've finished. ;)

And don't watch the movie, not until you're finished!
 
zagato27 said:
How could anyone not mention Dune by Frank Herbert? Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award for Best Novel. Ok, it's sci fi but it is fantastic sci fi. Remains one of my favorite books. There is a series of these books written by Frank Herbert and then taken over by his son...some good and some eh. There were two movie versions of Dune also and neither did the book justice. Get this book and remember, "the pictures are in your head".:D Cheers
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My favorite book ever. My avatar is supposed to be Arrakis. :D
I liked the first six books, but read the first one that came out written by Kevin J. Anderson and his son (House Atreides) and... well, let's just say I avoided the other ones.

I would also recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Really funny and witty book, I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

If you would like to read one of "the classics", another one of my favorites is Alexandre Dumas père's The Count of Monte Cristo. His Three Musketeers books are also very good and entertaining (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask).
 
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Difficult challenge, this.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a book you probably should read, it's short, and an easy read.

Don DeLillo's White Noise is one of those (post)modern classics. I personally don't like DeLillo, but a lot of people do.

Or for something a bit more out there, how about Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
 
Thank you for all the replies!

I forgot to mention that I have actually read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and a couple of the sequels a few years ago. Marvin (the robot) is hilarious.

I've also read The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (twice) and iCon. Great books!

Thank you to everyone who has posted replies. I will investigate them all.

It is my goal to take maybe 4 - 5 books with me on holiday, so I'll probably make a list and order them off of Amazon in the next couple of weeks.

I especially like the idea of books that are not too long. That is why I read Animal Farm. It's short, a classic and has an important idea behind it.


Badandy said:
The original post makes me sad :(
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To Badandy, I do not understand why my original post makes you sad, was it not Steve Jobs (regarding Amazon Kindle) who said:

"It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is [Amazon Kindle], the fact is that people don’t read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore."​

If it helps, I am currently in the middle of my degree studying maths at university, just in case I come across uneducated because I don't read. Reading books is something that has never appealed to me, but as mentioned in my original post I do occasionally have impulses to read books especially when on holiday.
 
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

A friend made me read this and wow it changed my life.
 
i would suggest
grapes of wrath- john steinbeck
nineteen-eighty four- george orwell( i see u mentioned animal farm)
the cat in the hat - dr. seuss
 
Brave New World...comparable to 1984 (I loved both)


Catcher in the Rye
The Giver
Death of a Salemen
The Watchmen
V for Vendetta


(Last two are graphic novel, but the plot is just stellar)
 
Benguitar said:
MacBook or iBook both very good books.


;)



This one was one of my favorites-

saveme.jpg
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and don't forget PowerBook :D
 
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (must read, short but extremely good)

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (classic)

Saigon by Anthony Grey (historical)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (random good read)
 
Hi again,

I am going on holiday a week on Thursday. I am heading to the library tomrorow hoping to get the following books:

The Catcher in the Rye
Catch-22
Fahrenheit 451
The Kite Runner
The Great Gatsby
Stephen King - It, The Stand, The Long Walk & On Writing.

I hope there isn't a 4 book maximum rule or something!
 
ShaunPriest said:
...If you could recommend me one book, just one, out of every book you've ever read, what would it be?...
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Given the books you've already read, I do not know whether to recommend you The Historian, or The shadow of the wind, both belong in my top 5 books of all time, and I'm sure you'll really enjoy them. But, given that you seem to dislike really big books, I think you'll prefer the shadow of the wind.

P.S. I suppose you only read english, am I right?
 
The time machine hg wells
three men in a boat jerome k jerome
Down and out in Paris and London George Orwell
Stalingrad
 
Agree with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Animal Farm, 1984, The Princess Bride and Harry Potter as selections. All great reads. The Kite Runner is lying on my desk, awaiting my attention.

I read Captain Corelli's Mandolin over a decade ago and I loved it. One of my personal favourites is a wonderful book by the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh called The Glass Palace.

Reading is a personal matter; however, I must say that I detested The Catcher in The Rye when I came across it, but I suspect that it is a superb book for teenagers; I read it in my twenties, and rather than empathising with Holden Caulfield, I simply wished to kick him out of his self-obsession. Had I read it a decade earlier, no doubt it would have spoken to me at a fundamental level of meaning.

Cheers and good luck
 
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