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Good Books Suggestions/Input

dreamcetcher3

New Member
Hi. It seems that many people on this forum have read many more books than me, so I was wondering if anyone could help me out and let me know some good books to read. I'm basically a depressed, lost, going-to-be college freshman. I read a lot (but again not as much as the people on this forum..I just joined) and some favorites: The Giver, Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, Wuthering Heights, Harry Potter(s), Dreamcatcher, Catcher in the Rye, Ordinary People, and more that I'm not thinking of. I like Steven King and want to read more of his books. I've read two Chuck Palahnuik books (Choke and Diary), and they were good too. So basically anything will help...
 
If you enjoyed adventure/fantasy like The Hobbit and junior fiction like Harry Potter, you may enjoy the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. Reviews can be found here
 
Get your hands on some early Stephen King novels, such as Salems' Lot, The Shining, The Stand, and how about Watership Down by Mr. Adams? If you like King, you may like Peter Straub. If you want some strange/experimental stuff to read, check out David Mitchell's Ghostwritten, number9dream, and Cloud Atlas. I could recommend about a thousand other books, but that would boring.
 
I heartily second the recommendation of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. They are surprisingly sophisticated and complex books, though they needn't be read that way in order to be enjoyable.
 
Sounds like you and I have similar tastes! Try anything by Orson Scott Card, but Ender's Game is the best. Great science fiction, it's considered a classic.

If you're more in the mood for a thriller, try something by Jeffrey Deaver (the guy who wrote The Bone Collector). The Coffin Dancer is one of the first Lincoln Rhyme novels, it's very intense and has interesting forensic/scientific themes.
 
hi,
Fahrenheit 451 by RAY BRADBURY.
I love this book
and Gordon Korman: Losing Joe's Place
i laughed so hard i cried lol it's great
and The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
one of my favourite sci-fi novels
oh and you're missing so much if you haven't read
a painted house by John Grisham
 
bookwarm said:
hi,
Fahrenheit 451 by RAY BRADBURY.
I love this book

I actually got so bored with this book that I stopped reading half way through. I know that it is considered a classic and that it is in the top few books of most people's favourite book lists, but I just found it a struggle rather than a joy to read. The main character was just so dull and lifeless that I lost interest very quickly.
 
Hey dreamcetcher,
I have only read 3 of the books you’ve mentioned, plus started on one that I haven’t finished, but still I’ll try my best to give you a few recommendations:
I think you should try out Haruki Murakami. And the best way, in my opinion to know what he is all about, would be to start on his remarkable short story collection “The Elephant Vanishes”. I would describe it (them) as surreal. I personally don’t think you’ll regret. You can read “The Second Bakery Attack” (one of the short stories) here and see if it’s something for you: http://ctina.com/bakeryattack.html

Maybe you should try Sarah Kane too. She is a playwright. Pick one of her plays; you’ll get through it within a few minutes, so no loss of time. ;) She doesn’t write about pretty things, to put it mildly, but rather… I don’t know… ugly sides of humanity? This description would only be fit for her first 3 plays however; “Blasted”, “Phaedra’s Love” and “Cleansed”.
“Crave” is a little out of the ordinary, here you meet 4 people: A, B, C and D, related to one another. It’s pretty much a “conversation” between them. Not sure if conversation is the right word though, since it seems as though they are talking to themselves rather than each other. I found it to be quite interesting.
“4:48 Psychosis”, Kane finished up writing a short while before committing suicide, so it’s very disturbing, because it’s as though you’re witnessing the whole “process”.

Anyways, I have only read two by Saramago, but I’m thinking he might be something for you. A little difficult writing style, but you get used to it eventually. “Blindness” by him is pretty “famous” around here. :)
And try “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. I started on “The Plague” by him, but haven’t got the chance to finish it yet, he makes dull things interesting to read, if you get what I mean? At least that was the case with the latter.

Hope this helped you out a little. There’s a huge chance you might not like any of these, so keep in mind that they’re just a few suggestions of books I like. ;)
Good luck with your reading!
 
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