Reading Recommendations?

[teenagebambam]

Going on a 2-week road trip this weekend - going to the library this week and looking for some recommendations! Not necessarily spiritual in nature, but I am interested in any recommendations people may have about "alternative" views of history, religion, society, etc.....

[SheilaT]

1. Well, this may not be exactly

what you were hoping, but can I suggest some Alternate History novels? They are usually considered science fiction, and if that simply doesn't interest you, let me know. Otherwise I can make some recommendations.

[teenagebambam]

5. Sure! Suggest away!

[SheilaT]

10. Okay, here's a few.

Replay by Ken Grimwood. A man finds himself reliving the last twenty-five years of his life over and over again. Makes you really think about the "what would you do different" question.

Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove. Some not very nice guys go from about 2020 back to 1862 or 63 (I forget exactly when) and arm the South with AK-47's. Things are very different as a consequence.

The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. Very good time travel novels.

This one is not science fiction: Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon. They were the two people who went with President and Mrs. Lincoln that fatal night in April, 1865. They had grown up together, step-brother and step-sister, fell in love, and were finally engaged to be married by the end of the Civil War. What their lives had been before, and how being present at the assassination haunted them ever after is the bulk of the story. The last twenty pages or so you find out what eventually happened to them, how the end of their lives played out. It's fascinating.

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. I really liked Replay.

:hi:

[SheilaT]

12. Oh, good, I'm glad.

It's not as well known as I think it should be, although it's remained in print since it first came out.

I'd like to see a movie made of it. Not one that would go for the cheap thrills, but one that would explore the existential aspects of it.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Not sure if this would be something of interest

The Fourth Awakening

Your Life Will Change Forever

A group of top scientists, lead by a legendary Nobel Prize winning physicist, has made a discovery so startling and with such deep religious implications that it sends shockwaves through the corridors of power around the world. As the federal government moves to suppress the research, all of those involved vanish without a trace.

A mysterious call from the editor of The Washington Post starts Penelope Drayton Spence off in search of the missing scientists. After she crosses paths with enigmatic industrialist Michael Walker, Penelope becomes a fugitive in a wild, hold on tight to the edge of your seat race to expose the truth about the Hermes Project before the government can cover it up.

While a work of fiction, The Fourth Awakening is grounded in cutting edge science and an emerging spiritual reality. It offers readers a glimpse of our shared future.


http://fourthawakening.com/

I still highly recommend this book. You can still download a free copy from the link, however, you have to create an account to do so. This book captivated my attention from beginning to end.


The other books I'm reading are mystical type books. If you might be interested then let me know.

Hope you have a great time on your vacation :hi:

[teenagebambam]

6. Thanks, I will check it out

[Kookaburra]

3. Well if you want something entertaining

try "Lamb" by Christopher Moore. Very funny, unusual take on the life of Jesus.

In fact, I've yet to read any of his books that don't make me laugh out loud.

[kentauros]

4. "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson

I don't know how "alternative" it is, but it is unique and inspiring. He's building peace in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan (even among the Taliban and warlords) by building schools for girls. It's been out for a few years, so you should be able to find it easily.

If you like biographies, I recently finished reading Denise Linn's book "If I Can Forgive, So Can You" and it's a good read, fascinating story of her life :)

[MorningGlow]

7. Good Omens

One of my all-time favorite books about the antichrist and the apocalypse. Seriously--it's a laugh-out-loud read!

Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Gaiman (of Sandman fame) may seem an unlikely combination, but the topic (Armageddon) of this fast-paced novel is old hat to both. Pratchett's wackiness collaborates with Gaiman's morbid humor; the result is a humanist delight to be savored and reread again and again. You see, there was a bit of a mixup when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them. The minor characters along the way (Famine makes an appearance as diet crazes, no-calorie food and anorexia epidemics) are as much fun as the story as a whole, which adds up to one of those rare books which is enormous fun to read the first time, and the second time, and the third time...
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Omens-Accurate-Prophecies-Nutter/dp/0060853972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273608323&sr=1-1

I also like the three installments of Kathleen McGowan's "Magdalene Line" series--The Expected One, The Boook of Love, and The Poet Prince--the first book is kind of a Magdalene-centric Da Vince Code, then settles into an account of the divine feminine/hieros gamos throughout history in the subsequent two books.

[Kookaburra]

8. That's one of my favorites

Love that book -- I've read it at least 5 times.

[teenagebambam]

13. OooH! I love Gaiman

but I've never heard of this one. Of course, based on your other thread I want to find a book like YOU'RE reading ; )

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. "Chaos: Making a New Science".

This is an account of how a new scientific principle appeared, and how it was found in several divergent systems and orders, and how it helped to bridge them.

This is real-life, okay for laymen in regard to understanding, and at least to me, was totally intriguing.

http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Making-Science-James-Gleick/dp/0140092501

Have a great vacation!