Thread: Recommend a book!

Yann Martel's Life of Pi.

The Alchemist-if that's the only book you ever read, for god's sake, read that one!!! I think it's been instrumental in changing how i think about myself.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Watership Down, Anything Lovecraft.

Anyway, you've really hit the nail on the head with those. They're wonderful books.

This time I'll reccomend The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
It's very pretty....[/quote]

to kill a mockingbird

a black man accused of rape in 60s and a white lawyer takes his case against overwhelmin opposition

Originally posted by Krishna
to kill a mockingbird

a black man accused of rape in 60s and a white lawyer takes his case against overwhelmin opposition

An excellent book!!

Emma Brown, by Clare Boylan.
She took the first chapter of an unfinished manuscript by Charlotte Bronte and carried on with the story. I've not finished it yet, but it's still excellent.

Anything by Jilly cooper if you want to fill your head with trash.

Well I didn’t see anyone mention Kurt Vonnegut. I have to admit im a little shocked. A great author and I give my personal approval to the following:

Cats Cradle- A brilliant book that explores a fake religion and pokes fun at the end of the world.

God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian- Vonnegut has Dr. Kevorkian kill him and then resuscitate him over and over so that he can interview people that have been long deceased.

Slaughterhouse five- A tale of time travel tied in with a look back at WWII.

Originally posted by Levi1057
Well I didn’t see anyone mention Kurt Vonnegut. I have to admit im a little shocked. A great author and I give my personal approval to the following: *

Cats Cradle- A brilliant book that explores a fake religion and pokes fun at the end of the world.

God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian- Vonnegut has Dr. Kevorkian kill him and then resuscitate him over and over so that he can interview people that have been long deceased.

Slaughterhouse five- A tale of time travel tied in with a look back at WWII.

You are right. No one has mentioned poor old Vonnegut, whose books are hilarious. His book 'Dead Eye Dick' is great.

WINGED PHARAOH by Joan Grant
this book is so so exciting ,i just cant undestand why didnt i knew about the book before (first print 1937) and it containes real wisdom. Her are the words from back of book:
Sekhet -a-ra is the daughter of Pharaoh and is destined to become --- with her brother Neyah --- co-ruler of Kam,as Egypt was called thousands of years ago.As a child,she develops a strong love for the teachings of mystery schools.She also begins having psychic experiences.As a result she is sent to the temple to recieve special training to become a "winged pharaoh"---a ruler and a priest with clairvoyant abilitis.This training leads to a remarkable ordeal a fourday inintation into the inner mysteries.

I havent finished the book yet , but so far it gave me so big emotional shock i had to reveal that here in case somebody havent heard about it already.

Highly recommended by me is ANY Terry Pratchett Discworld Novel. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go find one and read it!

Terry Pratchett has written over 25 of these Discworld Novels, which all take place on a circular world that floats through the universe on the backs of four giant elephants supported by a giant turtle.

This world is inhabited by trolls, dwarfs, wizards, all those sorts of characters, with the gods messing around with all of their lives like a massive chess game.

Doesn't sound like you? The humour in these books is f***ing hilarious, and the plots this guy comes up with are classic to say the least.

Give these books a try, they might not be overly taxing or insightful to read, but a good book is a good book.

'Long way round' by Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor.
When i first heard about this book, i did a double take on Ewan McGregor. Two friends go across the world on motorbikes.
I've not finished it yet, but it's a very 'human' tale, if you know what i mean. something of that magnitude takes serious guts, faith and real friendship. Imagine spending twelve weeks of your life with your best friend. You'd have to get on pretty well...
I'm enjoying it anyway, and i'd recommend it to anyone.

The Alchemist of corse!

Originally posted by irishcream
'Long way round' by Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor.
When i first heard about this book, i did a double take on Ewan McGregor. *Two friends go across the world on motorbikes.
I've not finished it yet, but it's a very 'human' tale, if you know what i mean. *something of that magnitude takes serious guts, faith and real friendship. *Imagine spending twelve weeks of your life with your best friend. *You'd have to get on pretty well...
I'm enjoying it anyway, and i'd recommend it to anyone.

You know this was made into a TV programme? I watched it when it was on TV, so I guess I don't really need to read the book! Good fun though!

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr is a fun book to read, my mom bought it for me and I chose to read it for english class, t'was quite good.

Originally posted by Night Wolf
Highly recommended by me is ANY Terry Pratchett Discworld Novel. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go find one and read it!

Terry Pratchett has written over 25 of these Discworld Novels, which all take place on a circular world that floats through the universe on the backs of four giant elephants supported by a giant turtle.

This world is inhabited by trolls, dwarfs, wizards, all those sorts of characters, with the gods messing around with all of their lives like a massive chess game.

Doesn't sound like you? The humour in these books is f***ing hilarious, and the plots this guy comes up with are classic to say the least.

Give these books a try, they might not be overly taxing or insightful to read, but a good book is a good book.

That series does rock the socks.

However, I personally would discount The Light Fantastic and The Colour of Magic from that list. At the very least, they aren't the best books to start reading with.

From that series I would reccomend (for somebody who isn't going to go buy all 30) Nightwatch, Small Gods or Monstrous Regiment.

A lot of people don't like Small Gods as much as I do. It's true it's far from being the best story-wise, but it's a book with something to say about religion and that strikes a chord with me

Ok I'm a pretty big of the sci-fi stuff, and in this genre, these books are a must-read (in my opinion).

1984 - George Orwell

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

Faranheight 451 - Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
This book has some astouding poetry in it, had a heavy influence on my writing; "...some folks draw storms, like cats suck babie's breath" (The lightning rod salesman). Interestingly enough, I didn't really like Bradbury's poetic style in Faranheight 451, it seemed a little clumsy... it was certainly individual, but I guess he hadn't developed it yet.

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
This book really affected me. You definatley have to read it twice to get it properly... the second time you read it the subtle meanings jump out at you and cling to you and haunt you. I've read this book about four or five times now, love it. John Wyndham has some other nice stuff as well, but I'd say this is his best.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/ A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K Dick.
Ok, the former book is unbelievable, and so is the movie based on it (Bladerunner). The part towards the end where one of the androids pulls the leg off a spider before eventually crushing it sent shivers through me... really moving. Scanner Darkly is another good Sci-fi, really solid reading.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Well not really Sci-Fi, more kinda a horror, but a good read nonetheless. If you're into literary classics, and like to analyse a book then you'll like this. If you're more into a book just for a long, captivating read then probably not. I enjoyed it because I wanted to absorb some stuff for my own writing, and the whole split personality thing is quite interesting.

Well that's all for now. Those'd all be amongst my favs let me know if you've read em too and what you think.

Studies in Insignificance by Richard Krause is a great book of short stories. Actually, what drove me to read it was my English 101 teacher wrote it. I never told him I read it though. It was actually really great.

Cosmic Trigger Vol. 1: Final Secret of the Illuminati
by Rober Anton Wilson

One of the trippiest concepts you will ever come across. The Illuminati are supposed to be a secret organization that control the governments of the world, and Wilson talks about how they seem to have a strong connection to the Sirius start system aliens who created us. He talks about how we are evolving higher consciousness so we will learn how to contact our alien creators, one of whom appears to be Nuit, also known as the Virgin Mary. He relates this insane idea to the Kennedy assassination, the Bermuda Triangle, the drug culture, and common a common psychedelic drug hallucination named Mescalito, an elf being who has come to our world also in the form of various television and cartoon characters. The book is classified as "nonfiction," but I don't agree with the ideas in it. Wilson says early on in the book that he doesn't assert anything and that he is not really sure what to make of the crazy stuff he experienced. Whatever the deal really is, it's an incredibly fascinating book. Wilson was very good friends with Timothy Leary.

The Seven States of Consciousness
by Anthony Campbell

A book about higher states of consciousness and how they can supposedly be reached. Even if you don't agree with it, you should be fascinated by it as a fiction book.

The Book
by Alan Watts

Another Eastern philosophy book. It is about the oneness of everything. It talks at one point about the idea that God is everything that exists and that he is playing a game of hide and seek with himself, as we are all incarnations of God, and that we all will eventually have our minds blown when we each realize that we are that one guy.

The Unity of Nothing
by Spencer Powers

That is the book I have quoted in my sig line, combined from three poems in it. The Unity of Nothing is a poetry book about the oneness/nothingness of existence and the absurd nature of reality that is manifested from it, as well as a reductio ad absurdum of language. It is more of a spoof on reality type joke than a straight philosophy book. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but you can read some of the poems from it if you look up the writer's name on Google.

Angry Candy
by Harlan Ellison

A collection of bizarre short stories by a really good fiction writer. The best short story in it is called "The Region Between". It is crazy surrealism about a really strange journey a guy goes on in his own psychological universe.

Animal Farm
by George Orwell

An excellent allegory about political hypocrisy and corruption. Some have said it is about the rise and fall of communism, but it was written before the Soviet Union took the final moment of its fall.

The Da Vinci Code I have read, and overrated yet amusing has it found by me.

That text wasn't even joda-style lol

'Into the Wild' and 'Into thin air' both by John Krakauer. The first is a personal account of the everest disaster of the early nineties.

OMG.... I can't beleive- Especially you Fantasy Lovers- Havent mentioned " The Wheel of Time" series, By Robert Jordan!!

Im on book 4, but Im sure the rest are great. My Uncles read 1-10 twice, and reading the 11th.

Great story so far! Fantasy lovers, check it out.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche is one of my favorites

Also the Antichrist by Nietzsche is a wonderful book

If you like fantasy books, try Terry Brook's "Sword of Truth" series.. it's mind numbing.

Also check out some Ayn Rand if you want some novels fulled with amazing political ideas and other philosophies.

Also some Hegel will do well.

Someone on the first page of this discussion happened to mention the Belgariad and the Malloreon written by David Eddings. I would also like to recommend two other series of his: The Elenium and the Tamuli. They are set in a different world, and the story is a bit darker than the Belgariad, but in my opinion these books are just as enjoyable.

Also, I would recommend The Phantom of the Opera written by Gaston Leroux. But then, I'm a complete and utter "phan", so I would say something along those lines. Well, while I'm at it, I also recommend Phantom, a prequel to the previously mentioned book by one Susan Kay.

My last recommendation for now is Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

There's always the good old ones like His Dark Materials trilogy, all of the Hitchhikers Guides, Curious incident of the Dog in the Night. They are fantastic and well worth the read, all will very much suck you in until you can't put them down...

However!...

Read Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan. After reading it over fifteen times, it still makes me laugh out, nearly spat a mouthful of drink over it the other night it amused me so much!

Charlotte Grey is an amazing book which you may well find hard to put down, it just draws you in. Also, the Bourne Trilogy (you know, by Ludlum) are three of the best books that I have read in a long time. I can't get enough of them, and even though I want to finish it in a way I don't want to because I've enjoyed it that much. Altogether they take a good while to read, but it's a very pleasant bit of time spent.

Edit: How could I forget!? Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. This one is pretty twisted and disturbing but it keeps you going back for more for some reason. Also check out Espedair Street and The Bridge, both by Banks too. Such crazy mess-with-your-mind books that you have to read it to believe it.

It's a kids book , but an adult could still read it and enjoy it - Where the Red Fern Grows. The first book I ever read and it will always have a very special place in my heart. I was bawling at the end. First book I read and it makes me cry so hard I can't even see the words. I just bought this from Chapters a few months ago, I had to make it part of my collection.

Awww.....makes me feel all mushy inside just thinking about it.

Where the Red Fern Grows - !!!!