What book should I read next?

[thestatusquo]

I need a good book to read...I know that DU will provide some good recommendations!

[Doug Decker]

1. Have you read...

The DaVinci Code? I just finished it and I was unable to put it down.

:hi:

[thestatusquo]

2. I have read it

I thought that it was decent, thanks for the recommendation doug!

[Doug Decker]

6. The Girl with the Pearl Earring?

It's the story of the Dutch painter, Vermeer and I found it very interesting. A movie came out about it in January and it was great, also.

On edit, welcome to DU!!

[thestatusquo]

29. I have read that also

You and I must have the same taste :) P.S. Did you see the movie?

[frogbison]

3. Stuart O'Nan

A Prayer For The Dying

[Bertha Venation]

4. Hi, erbeargirl

Welcome to DU! :hi:

I suggest one of my favorite authors, Rita Mae Brown. She writes ribald feminist fiction and light murder mysteries (in which there are several animal characters, all of whom talk to one another -- but not to humans. As I said, light mysteries :)).

If you want more serious fare, but still fiction, try Pat Conroy. Beach Music is my favorite.

For non-fiction (how much time you got?) I recommend my favorite biography: Truman by David McCullough. A quicker but no less enjoyable read is Katharine Graham's autobiography, Personal History. Both authors won the Pulitzer for biography.

Och: how could I forget some classics of American literature? Shame on me. Three suggestions:

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith

Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (a very heavy work)

Happy reading!

[thestatusquo]

5. This summer I'm gonna catch up

right now I'm in the middle of finals week at College, but i can't sleep if I don't read first. Thanks for the tips (animals that talk? Wonderful!) Thanks for welcoming me! I love this place.

[Bertha Venation]

9. some titles

I don't know how a loudmouth liberal feminist lesbian educated in New York wound up as a master of foxhounds in Central Virginia, but Rita Mae Brown's murder mysteries are all set there.* She has a series in which a main character is a cat named Mrs. Murphy. Wish You Were Here was the first; a few other titles are Rest In Pieces, Murder At Monticello, and The Tale of the Tip-Off. There are two whodunits, not "Mrs. Murphy Mysteries," in which fox hunting is central to the plot: Outfoxed and Hotspur. The horses, barn mice, owls, foxes, hounds -- everybody talks in these stories.

They're all entertaining, but I really should first suggest two of her earlier novels: Six of One and Bingo. They are hilarious.

* American fox hunters do not seek to kill the fox on their hunts. Having read The Well of Loneliness, I was appalled when Brown introduced fox hunting to her novels, but I read on and was surprised.

[DemoTex]

15. Rita Mae Brown

I like Rita Mae Brown too! Is she from Montgomery, Alabama? I particularly liked Ruby-fruit Jungle. It fits for us. We have so many Lesbian/Gay friends and family that we enjoy someone like Rita Mae. Straight people reading gay authors make for much better understanding of alternate lifestyles. And I certainly don't imply that Rita Mae Browns readership is all gay. She, like Erica Jong, turns on all enlightened minds.

[Bertha Venation]

16. IIRC, Brown was born in PA, "unfortunately, NORTH of the M/D line"

I think that's how she put it in her memoir, Rita Will. She grew up in Florida and now lives in Central Virginia.

Rubyfruit Jungle was entertaining and revealing, and very enjoyable. You must check out Six of One, Bingo, and Southern Discomfort, all from the '80s. A more recent one that reveals her outrageous sense of humor and her feminism is Venus Envy.

:bounce: So much fun to find other RMB fans.

[Bertha Venation]

17. oh, yeah: want an inside view of her relationship w/ Martina Navratilova?

I don't usually traffic in gossip but I'll pass along one more title: Sudden Death. ;)

edit: To be fair I have no idea if this book is autobiographical in the least. But a tennis star and an educator . . . curious.

[toddzilla]

7. if you like sci-fi, or don't mind it, i'd reccommend "ender's game"

orson scott card. fantastic book!

[truizm]

19. Great book. Speaker for the Dead is also a good read.

[reprehensor]

8. Get some Gore Vidal.

Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace

or

Norman Mailer

Why Are We at War?

[Demonaut]

26. have you read "Lincoln" by Gore Vidal, I have it in my collection but

have avoided it for some reason

[DemoTex]

10. You need to tell us more about your reading habits ...

Light? Heavy? Modern? Classic? American? British/European? Yada-yada-yada!

I always, as a starter, recommend Faulkner, especially his wonderful Light in August. I am a Faulkner freak, though.

[thestatusquo]

30. Books I have recently read

Demo, here's some books i have recently read and enjoyed, to give you an idea:
1984-George Orwell (I'm a big Orwell fan and have read alot fo his books)
Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen (Also an Austen fan)
Under the Banner of Heaven-Jon Krakauer
The Good Earth-Pearl S. Buck

[foxy]

11. The Stolen Locket

[thestatusquo]

31. Who wrote that?

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

12. how about some astrology...or New Age crap...

About par for the course here.

[Bertha Venation]

18. Oh?

How do you get that impression?

And -- crap? To each his own, no, Waverley?

[JanMichael]

13. A couple

"Beautiful Joe" by Marshall Saunders

"The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton

[thestatusquo]

32. Thanks Jan!

[SnowGoose]

14. William Kotzwinkle: Fan Man

Kurt Vonnegut loved it, if that has any weight for you. Bonus: you won't hate the world when you're done.

R. W. Emerson: either book of essays. Bonus: you can read a single essay - get a complete train of thought in one sitting, and then pass right out.

How about Tom Robbins: Still Life with Woodpecker. Bonus: bomb recipies including the ever-popular Fruitloop & Batshit bomb.

Of course, you will want to have read Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" before spending another day on this planet.

[thestatusquo]

33. Thanks, Ill get right on it

Everyone keeps telling my to read Vonnegut, I geuss I should

[Kazak]

39. If you're an Orwell fan, then...

you're in for a treat. Vonnegut it is then?

[truizm]

20. The Great Gatsby

[thestatusquo]

34. I have read that

I thought it was good, thanks for the tip truzim!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. The Painted Bird - Jerzy Kosinski

semi autobiographical novel about a Jewish-looking boy in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe

or

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. LeGuin

insightful and original political philosophy in a science fiction novel

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

a classic of literature for a reason. I can't say enough about it.

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

modern science fiction classic

The Human Factor - Graham Greene

Graham Greene does a spy novel without the cliches.

Japanese Inn - Oliver Statler

a Japanese inn, through the centuries

[thestatusquo]

35. Thanks!

Thanks alot Fean. Have you read 'The Left side of Darkness' by Ursula K LeGuin. There's alot fo politics in it, and also alot of Aliens!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

42. Oh yes

I like her a lot, another of hers that is a fave is called 'Always Coming Home' where she describes a future culture reminiscent of Native American culture.

[lucidmadman]

22. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE by B. Traven

also his THE DEATH SHIP or THE COTTON PICKERS.
Some old stand-bys of mine are Steinbeck's CANNERY ROW and SWEET THURSDAY. Sweet and life-affirming and working class...
TTOTSM is really guite extraordinary. The John Huston film from '48 is very good also. I don't think anyone ever made so many good movies from good books as John Huston. Don't miss the book though. 'Google' B. Traven. A true man of mystery...

[thestatusquo]

36. If you like working class lit...

you might try Geroge Orwell's "down and out in paris and london" and "keep the aspidistra flying". Orwell is great, he started out writing for a socialist review and ended up getting kicked out for writing things that were anti-socialist.
Thanks Lucid!

[chaska]

23. non fiction recommendation

Check out Eckhart Tolle. Excellent stuff.

[Redleg]

24. "Against all Enemies" by Richard Clarke.

Clarke really cleared-up some things for me.

[thestatusquo]

37. that's quite the hot book right now

isn't it? I love it when FAUXnews people call him a bush basher for presenting the facts.

[Demonaut]

25. Another Roadside Attraction, author escapes me but it's a good read

[neverborn]

27. "A Game of Thrones", George R. R. Martin

[mvd]

28. The Last Juror by John Grisham

It did him good to get back to where he started - with Clanton. He seems rejuvenated.

[Kazak]

38. The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

I adore that book!!!

[Bossy Monkey]

40. Cancer Ward, Solzhenitsyn; Island, Huxley

Ought to hold you for a week or so.:)

[devilgrrl]

41. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

A frighteningly prophetic and timeless classic.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451524934/qid=1084048127/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-4833102-1408700

[thestatusquo]

45. one of my favorites, devilgrrl

if you liked that, you might try "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, it's similar and very good.

[southpaw]

43. James Morrow... Towing Jehovah

If you like that one, there are two sequels

Blameless in Abaddon
and
The Eternal Footman

http://www.sff.net/people/Jim.Morrow/

[Cursive_Knives512]

44. "Pope Joan" and "The Lake of Dead Languages"

"Pope Joan" by Donna Woolfolk Cross is a good book, kinda long, but interesting... obviously it's about a female pope. "The Lake" is by Carol Goodman and it's my new favorite book--but be prepared for some dark non-Leave it to Beaver subjects.

[Guy_Montag]

46. Death & the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

It's quite a nice heart-warming (ish) book. A bit weird, but not too heavy, and you can read it quickly.

And it's got a penguin in it!