Books...

[smarta5150]

Oh yes. John Grisham.

I dont read much at all but he is 1 author I read religiously.

 

[bobtheflob]

I think my favorite series is by George R. R. Martin called 'A Song of Fire and Ice.' It's a seven book series that's only up to book 4 at the moment.

Quoted for truth right there. An excellent series, I can't wait for the 5th one.

 

[JD_KaPow]

To connect this with football: Michael Lewis's new book, "The Blind Side", is very good and a very fast read.

Some of my favorites have already been mentioned; here are a few more.

"Pale Fire", Nabokov. Not as famous as "Lolita", but maybe his best (and funniest).

"Towing Jehovah", James Morrow.
"The Last Witchfinder", James Morrow. Best unknown writer around.

"The Gold Bug Variations", Richard Powers.
"Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance", Richard Powers. Was best unknown writer, but just won the National Book Award for his latest (which is on top of my pile).

Not a big non-fiction reader, but a few have blown me away:

"The Making of the Atomic Bomb", Richard Rhodes.
"Cadillac Desert", Marc Reisner. Should be required reading for anyone living in the American West.

 

[jem88]

"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville

"The Divine Comedies" by Dante Alighieri

"Man of La Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes

Anything by William Shakespeare. "Taming of the Shrew" is my favorite.

"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway (All of his a great.)

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

"Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry

Anything by Louis L'Amour. "Down the Long Hills" is my favorite.

"The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum

"The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton


Edit: Some I forgot that others reminded me of.

The Harry Potter series & "The Hobbit" & "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Absolutely great reading.

TwoDeep3 told me about "Shogun" by James Clavelle, and I did enjoy it very much.


Others not mentioned that I forgot.

"The Slave" by Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo

"Tom Sawyer" & "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain (How could I forget?)

"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe (Poe is a master.)

"The Brother Karamazov" by Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabakov

I'm done boring you.

You're not boring me, amigo. I live for these kinds of discussions.

 

[jem88]

The Strange Case of the Dog in the Night Time I forgot the author on here - a quick google search would do it, though.

Mark Haddon, and yes, a very good book.

 

[jem88]

London Fields by Martin Amis (lots of other great ones by him as well)

I'm up and down on Martin Amis. I really liked Time's Arrow and Other People; London Fields was impressive but I felt a bit too long; Dead Babies was disappointing. Any others by him that you recommend?

 

[AbeBeta]

I'm up and down on Martin Amis. I really liked Time's Arrow and Other People; London Fields was impressive but I felt a bit too long; Dead Babies was disappointing. Any others by him that you recommend?

I dug The Information -- I think I enjoyed Success as well. That's pretty much it for him though.

 

[royhitshard]

Papillion...not sure of the author.

 

[Kevinicus]

Some authors I like, Koontz, Grisham, King, some of Tom Clancy.

Shogun - James Clavell Have read this book so many times, but will continue to read it at LEAST once a year. Have tried to read some of his other books but I think he used all the magic on this one.

The Stand, It, The Talisman (but not the sequel The Black House) - Stephen King. Have read the first 4-5 books of the dark tower series but that was years ago and have not got the last few that finished it up.

Swan Song - Robert McCammon - Similar to The Stand by Stephen King and although King may be better with character interaction I have found that the ideas in this book were a little more creative.

Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling - Kids books or not these are very well written and interesting. I would actually say after the first two books in the series that the rest are not really kids books as I doubt many young kids could follow the other books. So many hidden stories and other information tied in with this series. I look forward to see what she writes after the Potter series.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkein - Great books and much better than the movies. The movies were movies, in other words they always leave stuff out of long books and add other stuff for dramatic effect but the books are just better and a joy to read.

True, the movies left some good things out, but thankfully they also got rid of some ridiculously corny and pointless material as well. Reading the first 150 pages or so of Fellowship, one would think a movie version would be a whimsical musical, rather than a epic fantasy adventure.

 

[SweCowboy]

I used to read alot of fantasy when I eas younger and are still read some authors books today, including Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan. The best ones in the genre are definately Tolkien, Feist and Jordan, but I have read numerous others as well. I didn't really like George R. R. Martins books I think I have two of them somewhere. I can't really remeber why though.

As for non fictional works my favourites are definately:

"Stalin: The court of the red tsar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore

and

"Gulag: A History" by Anne Applebaum

 

[locked&loaded]

the wheel of time-robert jordan (his series is good but drags on)

the icewind dale trilogy-r.a salvatore (great author, youll think drizzt is the man. because he is)

where the red fern grows-wilson rawls (everyone should read it

the darkness that comes before (the prince of nothing trilogy)-robert r. bakkar (just a good series)

i also have some rr martin laying around, didnt get into them.

many many more. im into fantasy novels.

 

[MapleLeaf]

...when it a poignant to me I came upon a book called the...

...the Velveteen Father.

I have read alot of books in my time, but none seem to have stuck to me like this one.