Suggestions for a good read...

I like fantasy, so not sure if that will work for you.

Three series you could start that I enjoy.

1. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Very long but very amazing series

2. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Three book series that is a lot of fun

3. Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. I'm in the second to last book of this 6 book series. Builds very well and gets better as you get into the later books.

I was in the airport last week and ended up buying Michael Crichton's last published novel Pirate Latitudes and I'm really enjoying it. I read 189 pages the day I bought it (lots of airport/travel time) and will finish it, most likely today when I head to the airport again.

It's neither NF or SBR related, but I just finished Horns, by Joe Hill. I LOVED it. He has great prose, and a knack for creating flawed, yet sympathetic characters...good "heroes" and "villains." I can't wait to read more of his stuff.

(I also really liked his debut novel, Heart Shaped Box)

I have read several of his books.  I liked them.  Thanks.

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Fiction:
- "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester -- science fiction/thriller, winner of the first Hugo award. Takes place in a future where psychic cops prevent all premeditated crimes and there hasn't been a murder in 80 years... then there's a murder... then someone seems to be out to kill the murderer even as he tries to cover his tracks. Great fun and not at all hokey.
- "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck -- yeah yeah yeah I know all his other books are relentlessly depressing. This one isn't. 
- Anything by Terry Pratchett -- humor/fantasy. Like Piers Anthony, but funnier. They're all well-written and hilarious, and you don't have to read them in any particular order. "The Color of Magic" is the first; "Guards! Guards!" is my personal favorite.


Nonfiction:
- "Stiff" by Mary Roach -- I recommended this in another thread recently, I think. If you've got the stomach for it, it's all about the different things that we do with bodies after people die -- from the mundane/typical (burials, cremations) to the far-out (donating to forensic pathology schools, research projects into potential re-use of bodies). Roach is good at keeping the subject matter fairly lighthearted without being disrespectful.
- "A Treasury of Great American Scandals" by Michael Farquhar -- Stories of political scandals going all the way back to the founding fathers. Just like modern ones, some are jaw-dropping and terrifying, and some are entirely trite and silly. 
- "The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester. Tells the true story of the founder of the Oxford English Dictionary and the (highly educated) mental patient who contributed immensely to the book. It's not so much about the dictionary as it is about the two men, and it really makes you think about the lines between sanity and madness, devotion and obsession, and success and failure.

Nice.  I also have Universe in a Nutshell open on my coffee table right now.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 

I'll see you and raise you with The Road to Serfdom - Hayek and Capitalisim and Freedon - Milton Friedman

I'm not big into fantasy, but I will second the recommendation of the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher.  A really great series, and a "quick" read at only six novels.

I always, always, always recommend Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Neuromancer by William Gibson.  Two of the best books of all time.

You should give Dennis Lehane a try. He wrote Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island. I thought all three books were better than the movies.

Darkness Take My Hand is really good, but his newest book, The Given Day, which is a really interesting historical fiction novel (takes place in Boston in the late 19thC), is terrific.

Bill Bryson's "The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid"-- a memoir of growing up in the 50's in Des Moines. VERY funny, very informative and really captures the era well. There's a reason this guy has sold a bagillion books in his career.

 just to second born to run ,, the author had a book signing here and told even more of the back story,  But that was the first book in a while that I just couldn't put down.

If you are into the super secret military kill with a toothpick kind of book. Read Vince Flynns series with Mitch Rapp. I have read the series three times and he comes out with a new book every october time. I also just started reading a "smart" book. Achilles in Vietnam. Its a comparison of Vietnam vets to Achilles in Homers Illiad. Its different but good when you know the service and the way PTSD makes people work. It also uses real stories of Vietnam vets and the author is a Veteran Affairs therapist.

Oooh, fun! I love reading suggestions (to give and to receive):

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I refuse to tell you what it's about, because that would ruin it. But it's a great ride. It's got about every genre within one book that's really like, 6 stories, that's REALLY only one story. That is all I'll say about it.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Just finished this one last week. Highly entertaining. Sort of sci-fi, future-istic, 1984, comic, action adventure journey. The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. Intricate weaving together of several characters living in India during the Opium Wars--and how they all end up on one ship heading to the Mauritius. Beautifully written.

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. But only if you are/want to feel suicidal. Will make you cry for sure. My bf loved it and then told me he felt weird that I had recommended it to him. It's that kind of book.

if you like "The Wire," then read anything by george pelecanos, one of the writers for the show.

Just finished reading Rich brother, Rich sister.  Written by the same people that did the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, but nowhere the same level of 'you need to get rich'.  Rather the story of Rob Kiyosaki and his sister who is a buddhist monk and how they got to where they are and found their connections between money and spirituality.

Pretty quick read but left me with a bit to think about.

Also a big fan of Tom Clancy having read all of them (Rainbow six was my fav) and just starting on Dan Brown.  Can also recommend Robert Ludlum, in particular the matarese circle, damn good author when he didn't try to write comedy.

'The Fabric of the Cosmos', an outstanding read that breaks down complex physics into layman's terms.

An older book, but one of my all-time favorites is "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It is set around the 1200s, and has a "historical fiction" feel to it. Really a great book.

Another one that is a must-read if you haven't already is "The Charm School" by Nelson DeMille. More of a spy/thriller/suspense/espionage sort of book. Ridiculously good.

Edited by MLJ 2010-03-11 12:42 PM

Hi all, i am reviving this thread as my life has just gotten a little less crazy and i can think about reading again.  Looking for all suggestions - i like fiction and non-fiction.

I am currently reading the Cellist of Sarajevo which I am totally engrossed in and although it's not the kind of book i would normally pick up I am enjoying it but I will be done soon!

Any recommendations, anything new and interesting?

I just finished “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen. It’s not usually the kind of thing I like, and I wasn’t crazy about “The Corrections”, but “Freedom” was one of the best books I’ve ever read in any genre. I really can’t say enough about it.