[andreas_g4]

I am looking for the next few books to read, and I thought I'd give it a try in the lounge. The most recent reads I enjoyed were: Nineteen-Eighty-Four, Dracula, American Psycho, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Moby Dick.

I think I had the most fun reading Dracula, since it was the most thrilling for me. The Twain novels are rather light weight, I loved picturing the boy's adventures. Moby Dick and Nineteen-Eighty-Four were quite heavy, Moby Dick being very difficult to read for me since English is not my mother language.

My own suggestion, to offer something, would clearly be Dracula, if you're into that kind of old fashioned language and some decent, witty writing. Ending spoiler:

 

I thought, although, that the ending was pretty lame, IMHO.

What do you like, that doesn't fall completely out of that frame? Or maybe that does offer something very different? Pre-20th century would be my preference, but I'd just like to hear some suggestions.

[Cold Warrior]

Anything by Tolstoy
- Anna Karenina was one of my favorites

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov.

[ApertureValue]

Well, it really depends on what genre you're interested in. I could list fifty books in several different genres that I've loved and read at least once.

I'd have to say, however, that some of my favorites are the Dune prequels (Dune itself was ok, but truthfully, I enjoyed the prequels more), and some of Stephen King's works such as The Tommyknockers, It, The Stand and Needful Things. I'm also a fan of quite a few of the Warcraft novels, R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms and I particularly liked The Red Planet by Heinlein.

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

Anything by Tolstoy
- Anna Karenina was one of my favorites

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov.

The Kingdom of God is Within You? Perhaps not your speed.

More in line with the OP, I'm a fan of The Once and Future King (T.H. White). It's one of the Arther stories, but my favorite of those.

[shiff]

I just finished reading The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly.

Pretty good book if you like a good mystery with a bit of technology thrown in.

[ghporter]

For a great story well told, Wicked is a great read. Sure, you know how it ends-basically-but you really don't know how it all got there. Great story telling and really involving.

I'm very attached to science fiction, and unfortunately I haven't been able to stay up with newer authors. But I have found some good stuff from established authors, even rather old stuff I'd never read. Larry Niven's Flatlander is a collection of stories about a particularly interesting character. They are science fiction but also detective stories (he's great at both), and this too is lots of good story telling.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by andreas_g4 

I think I had the most fun reading Dracula, since it was the most thrilling for me.

The first 4 chapters are great, but how did you manage to make it past all of the letters from Mina to Lucy? Talk about boring! Does it ever pick back up? If so, where? I would like to start back in again there.

Oh, and consider this the obligatory mention of Ender's Game as a fun, good book to read.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

For a great story well told, Wicked is a great read. Sure, you know how it ends-basically-but you really don't know how it all got there. Great story telling and really involving.

Wicked was a good one, but one question that was never answered is, what was the deal with her crotch? It was implied multiple times throughout the book that something weird was down there, but it was never explained what it was.

Anyway, carry on...

[Mrjinglesusa]

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Little World of Don Camillo" by Giovanni Guareschi

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

The first 4 chapters are great, but how did you manage to make it past all of the letters from Mina to Lucy? Talk about boring! Does it ever pick back up? If so, where? I would like to start back in again there.

Oh, and consider this the obligatory mention of Ender's Game as a fun, good book to read.

Considering that Dracula was written as the period's version of chick fiction, of course there's some slow parts with the letters and all. But it DOES pick up. It isn't a modern story, and you'll see that, especially in the ending, but it is worth getting through.

I am sorry to say that, even though I've even MET Orson, I haven't read Ender's Game. Gonna have to do that sometime.

Something else to think about, which comes to mind because I just perused the site last evening out of curiosity: Go look at what's offered on The Gutenberg Project's site. A LOT of good stuff, from ALL the Oz books through some interesting political stuff to some really good science fiction. For example, H. Beam Piper's works-I highly recommend "Little Fuzzy"; it's a great story that is in no way juvenile, yet it's highly accessible and extremely readable. And you can download the thing as text and read it at your leisure. Last night I downloaded Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary" and Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Colors of Space" as iTunes audiobooks. This is a great way to try out some really good stuff for free.

[WhaMe]

Since you seem to enjoy the classics, I would recommend Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises." It is my favorite novel. I read it every 2 or 3 years.

[ThinkInsane]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I'm very attached to science fiction, and unfortunately I haven't been able to stay up with newer authors. But I have found some good stuff from established authors, even rather old stuff I'd never read. Larry Niven's Flatlander is a collection of stories about a particularly interesting character. They are science fiction but also detective stories (he's great at both), and this too is lots of good story telling.

You'd probaby like Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and the sequels. Decent and fun Sci Fi noir. And maybe Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison.

Andreas, I second Cold Warrior's recommendation of The Master and Margarita. One of my all time favorites. Just curious, what is your native tongue? Would you prefer books originally published in your mother language?

[tooki]

Am I the only person who doesn't really like fiction? Some memorable reads:

• Car: A Drama of the American Workplace by Mary Walton — the story of the creation of the 1996 Ford Taurus
• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
• The World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crisis, and the Poverty of Nations by Sebastian Mallaby — an interesting look at the World Bank
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach — you'd never expect this book to be funny, but it is

[ApertureValue]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Am I the only person who doesn't really like fiction?

Apparently.

I've never actually known anybody who didn't like fiction in some form.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Am I the only person who doesn't really like fiction?

That depends. I understand someone preferring non-fiction (see: reality) to fiction, as a matter of being worth your time, but genuinely thinking its not entertaining would be a bit odd.

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Am I the only person who doesn't really like fiction?

No. I have only read fiction when it was assigned in school. I only read non-fiction.

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

That depends. I understand someone preferring non-fiction (see: reality) to fiction, as a matter of being worth your time, but genuinely thinking its not entertaining would be a bit odd.

A movie or miniseries is sufficient for me in terms of storytelling. I have too many things I'd like to learn to ever let a fiction book move up in my list of books I'd like to read (which is insanely long). My biggest problem is that I read a book, but in doing so find 10 more books that I'd like to read because they were referenced from the book I just read. The more I read, the bigger this problem gets.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Am I the only person who doesn't really like fiction?

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

No. I have only read fiction when it was assigned in school. I only read non-fiction.

I have spent so much time reading texts that I have only barely been able to get back into fiction. It's an escape in a lot of ways.

I've seen Stiffs on the shelf and thought to pick it up once or twice but never did. After Gross Anatomy, I can definitely see how it could be funny.

As for non-fiction, a book just popped into my head. Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks. Brilliant history of how British Intelligence eventually managed to put a really secure, really usable code into their agents' hands during WWII. Very well written too.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

The first 4 chapters are great, but how did you manage to make it past all of the letters from Mina to Lucy? Talk about boring! Does it ever pick back up? If so, where? I would like to start back in again there.

I am completely with you that it's quite slow, but, well, I guess that's just how they wrote those days. I enjoyed the chapters dealing with Renfield, van Helsing and The Count even more due to that slower passages, I guess.

Actually, and I really mean this, it is so well written, that the word Count looks somehow eerie to me since.

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

You'd probaby like Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and the sequels. Decent and fun Sci Fi noir. And maybe Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison.

Andreas, I second Cold Warrior's recommendation of The Master and Margarita. One of my all time favorites. Just curious, what is your native tongue? Would you prefer books originally published in your mother language?

Just ordered The Master and Margarita, it sounds quite like my taste, thank you.

My mother language is German, and while there is an over abundance of great German works, I just enjoy reading English books more, generally.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

You'd probaby like Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and the sequels. Decent and fun Sci Fi noir. And maybe Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison.

I'll have to take a look at those. Putting science fiction and noir together is a very interesting mix, maybe it's own sub-genre, (The Probability Broach by L. Niel Smith is probably the oddest of that bunch), and the noir tends to drive more concrete stories and solid writing.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

You'd probaby like Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and the sequels. Decent and fun Sci Fi noir. And maybe Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison.

Andreas, I second Cold Warrior's recommendation of The Master and Margarita. One of my all time favorites. Just curious, what is your native tongue? Would you prefer books originally published in your mother language?

I just bought "Altered Carbon" and the second book in the series for the Kindle ($1 and $2.99 respectively)... thanks for the recommendation! I'm excited to read them.

[andreas_g4]

I so fcking hate the European-Rollout-Delays™ in consumer tech. I'd so love to have a Kindle.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by andreas_g4 

I so fcking hate the European-Rollout-Delays™ in consumer tech. I'd so love to have a Kindle.

I actually just use the Kindle app on the iPod Touch. Same books and no ridiculously large reader hardware to purchase.

[lpkmckenna]

Aztec was a great read.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

I actually just use the Kindle app on the iPod Touch. Same books and no ridiculously large reader hardware to purchase.

European-Rollout-Delays™, again.

[smacintush]

If you like fantasy at all, try the "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind.

[mattyb]

I tried finding it last night but couldn't : there was a great thread about which books to read by one of the split personality types that seem to live in the Lounge that had some really really good recommendations. Tire-something-or-other (I think) started it. Would it be possible to somehow copy that thread into this one?

[olePigeon]

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Neuromancer - William Gibson
The Call of Cthulhu - H. P. Lovecraft
Frankenstein - Mary Shelly
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Short stories:

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka