Good (paperback) book recommendations?

The Frog King by Adam Davies

It's my favorite book.. great for trips! 

Any of these books by T.C. Boyle are great for travel:

"Talk Talk" - A story about a deaf woman who has her identity stolen
"Tortilla Curtain" - A story about an Immigrant from Mexico living in Los Angeles
"Drop City" - A Story about a bunch of hippies who move to Alaska

I read each of these three books while on travel and they are prefect for this. All three of these books won literature awards and Boyle is a pretty talented story teller.

Ugh.  Not funny.  We've read Clifford Goes to Dog School more times than I'd care to admit.  But I'd read Clifford for days before I'd crack open a Berenstain Bears book.  Stan and Jan are seriously whackadoo.

Great suggestions (excluding this one!) so far... keep 'em coming!

Three books that are a little old, but are on my mind right now for some reason....

Into the Wild - I just watched the movie last night, so I want to read the book again

Into Thin Air - Story of the Mt. Everest tragedy in 1996

Bringing Down the House - Story of the MIT Blackjack team - I've read it 3 times now.

They are non-fiction, but so good.  Made movies out of all three BTW.

How trippy was the Double Bind? Everyone, all the reviews kept warning of the twist at the end...  I STILL didn't see it coming! (or hear it- -I listened to it on audio...)

I say go to a thrift shop and see what you see- Paperbacks are dirt cheap at the Goodwill, and since it will likely get trashed (or left at a shelter for someone else) you may as well not pay good money.

OTOH, 2 paperbacks I have enjoyed lately (non fiction, but that's weird bc usually I read fiction):

Eat Pray Love

American Shaolin

I like the action-thriller style.  If that at all interests you, the Bourne Identity series by robert ludlum is great.  I'm just in the middle of re-reading them.  They're originally from the 80s and absolutely nothing like the movies.  Any of Dan Brown's books (like Da Vinci code) are absolute page turners.  I usually end up reading them in two or three 2 hour sittings.  I don't have high literary standards though, just keep me guessing and don't let me get bored. 

If you like "Into Thin air" check out "Touching the Void" (credit: Chippy).  Paperback and DVD documentary are both eggcellent.

"The Perfect Mile" is a great book about Bannister's quest for the 4-min. mile. 

"Shutter Island" by (Dennis?) Lehane is great fiction.

"The Island" by Richard Laymon if you want "uber-trashy-stupid-but-you-can't-put-it-down-anyway" sorta reading. 

I can't help you on recs for vacation reads, as I'm knee-deep in three different non-fiction books, one about compost.

But have you guys seen the Paperback Swap?  I've already found new homes for about 9 of my books.  And, more importantly, received 5 new books!

Yeah, I'm kinda useless too. Even if the books are short, they're almost never just plain old fluff.

I also like to keep all the books I read. I want to be one of those cool older people who has an entire wall of books in their home. I have a pretty formidable collection already (3 ikea bookshelves full, and then some). I do consider my collection a lending library, though. Any of my friends are welcome to borrow my books - they just have to return them, unless I REALLY hated the book, in which case, I'd be happy to part with it.

This suggestion might sound odd coming from a pastor, but I just reread The Golden Compass... it is a really fun read.  Well written, good story...  I even went and bought Paradise Lost since Pullman draws stuff out of it for the trilogy.

Also... I just started reading Brian Herbert's Dune companion novel, The Butlerian Jihad... if you have ever read Dune... this book is incredibly fascinating.

-Brian 

Nah, that's not odd. It's refreshing, actually. Don't even get me started on church-folk who won't read Harry Potter, etc b/c it's "the work of the Devil". Fiction is fiction.

Have fun with the Milton, though...snore.

French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France

I really liked this story about an Englishman who rode the entire TdF course in the month before the race itself.  He rode (largely) unsupported and this is the story of his adventure.