Any suggested reads?

[Ligi]

Im always looking for new books to read. What are your favorite books/authors?

Favorite books of mine:
The JoyLuck Club, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan

A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry
White Oleander-Janet Finch
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
To Kill a Mockingbird
Da Vinci Code

I just finished : The Atonement Child.

[Rue Saint-Denis]

The Stranger by Albert Camus is a nice short read and perfectly embodies the concept of existentialism.

[happy2bhere]

You gotta read the travellers wife - its been a while since i read it last, but plan to re-read it soon. Brilliant, moving story from what i remember.

Just coming to the end of 'How i live now' - nice, easy to read book.

Maybe theres scope for an eskimo book club....

[srahman24]

Favorite books:
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (I think it's written brilliantly)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (ironic, funny, absurd... and yet... sadly truthful)
Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger (I've read it so many times I've lost count!)

Just finished the first two "Dexter" books by Jeff Lindsay - pretty interesting perspective (first person, serial killer - but he's a good guy!) Both were nice, light summer-fiction reads

[Rai]

Its a long list, I'm a big reader...

Salman Rushdie: The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Rock&Roll meets India and Greek mythology)
Alessandro Baricco: Ocean Sea, An Iliad (pure beauty)
James Joyce: Ulysses (Joyce )
Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera (not much can be said about them. The have to be read by everyone)
Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Insulted and Humiliated (not his best, but here are parts which really blow you away)
Antal Szerb: Journey by the Moonlight (possibly the best Hungarian novel)
Jaroslav Hašek: The Good Soldier Švejk (WWI madness without tha actual war)
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (brilliant Russian magical realism)
Umberro Eco: Baudolino (A book about the funny side of the Middle Ages, especially religion and other beliefs)

My last one was Salmon Fishing in Yemen by Paul Torday, which I really liked.

[ZachC]

"choke" by chuck palahniuk (sp?)

[Ligi]

Originally Posted by srahman24

Favorite books:
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (I think it's written brilliantly)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (ironic, funny, absurd... and yet... sadly truthful)
Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger (I've read it so many times I've lost count!)

Just finished the first two "Dexter" books by Jeff Lindsay - pretty interesting perspective (first person, serial killer - but he's a good guy!) Both were nice, light summer-fiction reads

Omgosh, Im totally going to read Catch-22, I've heard loads about it. Catcher in the Rye is a classic, I read it in school. I L<3ve it!

[borneoman]

My fav book ever is PAULA by Isabel Allende. In fact all her books are amazing (The house of the spirits, Eva Luna, Portrait in sepia, Daughter of fortune,...) and I heard her translator from Spanish to English is pretty good. I'm mostly into South American literature and I really like Gabriel Garcia Marquez a lot (100 Years of Solitude).

My fav English author is NEIL GAIMAN. He's the person with most imagination in the world, ever. He has a bunch of amazing books (Stardust, Neverwhere, American gods, Anansi boys), short stories, and the Sandman comics, of course.

I also like Tracy Chevallier (The girl with the pearl earing, The virgin blue...).

Recently, I enjoyed a lot this book The Historian, can't remember the author. Also The Kite Runner, cannot remember the author either. Right now, I'm reading Abundance, the book about Marie Antoinette and is pretty good.

[Constanze]

Originally Posted by Ligi

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb

I love that one.. have you read the other one, too ?( I Think he only wrote two books yet)

I`d recommend: Heinrich Boell- The Clown
Astrid Lindgren- The Brothers Lionheart
Max Frisch- Homo Faber
Irmgard Keun- The Artificial Silk Girl (I`m not sure if this is a
good translation)

.. to be continued

[Lin@]

My all-time-favorite:
Patrick Süskind - Perfume
I don't know if the English translation is any good, but the original is absolutely breathtaking. Best novel I've ever read. Brilliantly written!

Other favorites:
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Dostoyevsky (don't know the English spelling...) - Crime & Punishment
Shakespeare - Othello
and about everything by Paul Auster and Ian McEwan

[Topspin047]

The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
On The Road-Jack Kerouac
You Shall Know Our Velocity-Dave Eggers
anything by Chuck Palahniuk
In Cold Blood-Truman Capote

[Ligi]

Originally Posted by Constanze

I love that one.. have you read the other one, too ?( I Think he only wrote two books yet)

I`d recommend: Heinrich Boell- The Clown
Astrid Lindgren- The Brothers Lionheart
Max Frisch- Homo Faber
Irmgard Keun- The Artificial Silk Girl (I`m not sure if this is a
good translation)

.. to be continued

No I havent.. but its something about twins or something, right? I need to read it for sure.

[Rue Saint-Denis]

Originally Posted by Lin@

My all-time-favorite:
Patrick Süskind - Perfume
I don't know if the English translation is any good, but the original is absolutely breathtaking. Best novel I've ever read. Brilliantly written!

Other favorites:
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Dostoyevsky (don't know the English spelling...) - Crime & Punishment
Shakespeare - Othello
and about everything by Paul Auster and Ian McEwan

I second Perfume, I loved it. Have you seen the movie? I'm too afraid I'll lose my perspective of the book and adapt the movie one. I'm against the movie because how can a film make us smell what he describes as good as the book? Not possible.

[Five Leaves Left]

for the loneliness you foster i suggest paul auster a book called timbuktu

that and auster's new york trilogy are pretty good

and Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Shelby, Jr.

[Timeé]

ive ordered 1984 and catcher in the rye today.

[srahman24]

Originally Posted by Timeé

ive ordered 1984 and catcher in the rye today.

Great choices! It's kind of amazing how many 1984 references you notice in pop culture after you read it...


Ligi, hope you enjoy Catch-22!

The Kite Runner's by Khaled Hosseini - also an amazing book.

[Lin@]

Originally Posted by Rue Saint-Denis

I second Perfume, I loved it. Have you seen the movie? I'm too afraid I'll lose my perspective of the book and adapt the movie one. I'm against the movie because how can a film make us smell what he describes as good as the book? Not possible.

I've seen it. And I LOVED it! I really did. They made some changes I didn't always approve of, but most of them were just necessary. And the most important thing was that they really captured the essence of the story and the characters - so beautifully that I actually almost cried during the movie when I saw it last year. I was truly touched. Ben Whishaw is just such an excellent actor! And the camera work was simply amazing! Personally, I really had the feeling to smell things... But now that I think of it: Maybe that was just the bloke sitting next to me.

Originally Posted by Five Leaves Left

for the loneliness you foster i suggest paul auster a book called timbuktu

that and auster's new york trilogy are pretty good

Yeah, "Timbuktu" is really sweet. Even if it's not his best.
The NY trilogy probably IS his best but not for everyone...
I really like "Leviathan". And "The Music of Chance". And "Moon Palace"! Ah... I love them all.

[Constanze]

Originally Posted by Ligi

No I havent.. but its something about twins or something, right? I need to read it for sure.

yes, it`s abiout twins.. you will find a lot of similarities to "she`s come undone" but it`s also very special.

[PenguinBoy]

The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers is amazing.

Highly recomended by me, it's melancholly but just beautifully written.

[buddy]

i've been reading a lot of bukowski lately.