DVDizzy Forum

hey all, I'm going on a vacation saterday, and have a 7 hour drive. I am in derparate need of reading material!! ...

I've recently read


To Kill A Mockingbird
1984
Count of Monte Cristo


And am now reading


Uncle Tom's Cabin


and soon to read afterwards


The Jungle


So, if you have any reccomendations, up to a twelfth grade reading level, please let me know, as I'll be greatly happy!

edit: oh, and i'm looking for titles, that I will remember down the road or that is a noteable classic.

Thanks!

My favorite Book that I have read recently is "The Painted House" By John Grisham, If you already saw the Hallmark movie of it on CBS last month read it anyhow they hardly scrape the surface in the movie the book is a very easy and enjoyable read. I could not put it down.

Anything by Grisham is fast and engaging. I've read all except A Painted House, and I'd recommend The Client, The Pelican Brief, A Time to Kill, Runaway Jury, heck...pretty much any of them, you can't go wrong. Except "Skipping Christmas", that was pretty bad.

In terms of "great" books, I'd recommend Lord of the Flies by William Golding, if you haven't read it already. Or Franz Kafkas' The Metamorphosis. I love To Kill a Mockingbird, so hopefully you'd like these ones.

No particular order, off the top of my head

The Stars My Destination- Alfred Bester
Treasure Island- RL Stephenson
Count of Monte Cristo- Dumas
Day of the Triffids- Wyndham
Farenheit 451- Bradbury
Stranger in a Strange Land- Heinlan
Exorcist- Blatty
Forever War- Haldeman
At the Mountains of Madness- Lovecraft
Pet Semetary- Stephen King
Best Ghost stories of Algernon Blackwood
Maltese Falcon- Dashiell Hammett
Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler
Double Indemnity - James M. Cain
A lot of philip K Dick's short stories are worth checking out
Day of the Jackal- Forsyth
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe- NB takes some getting used to the language in this, but persevere. This excels on the reread.

Heh.
I work in a library and the question I get asked most often (after 'Mate, can I use the email?') is 'Do you have any good books here?'.
My first reaction is to say, 'No, the librarians only buy the bad ones here. Go to the other library'. However, not wanting to lose my job, I give them a list of stuff I've read lately.

I've had my head buried in law textbooks for the last 2.5 years, so I haven't read as much as I used to. But stuff I usually recommend:

Chuck Palahniuk- anything. Most famous for 'Fight Club', I'd recommend either that or 'Survivor'. The latter is probably my fave of his.

Naomi Klein - No Logo. Truly frightening look at how far branding has gone. Scarier than anything Orwell wrote.

Yeah, I'd agree with maj. A lot of Philip K Dick is great.

Oh, and this is an odd addition for me, but Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. If you love music, or are obsessive about anything, you'll love this book.

But you seem to be keen on 'classic' books. Ok, in terms of 'classics' (and modern ones):

Dante's Divine Comedy. Took me years to plow through this, but worth it.
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Anything by Edgar Allen Poe. Used to read Poe daily in high school. I was such a freaky kid.
Aldus Huxley - Brave New World
T.H. White - Once and Future King
Malory - Le Morte D'Arthur (Death of King Arthur)
Cervantes - Don Quixote (Side note: Everyone go and see or rent the documentary Lost in La Mancha, about the failed Terry Gilliam project. it is brilliant).
Lots of H.P. Lovecraft
Kazantzakis - Last Temptation.
Tolkien - Lord of the Freakin' Rings, Hobbit etc.
Paul Auster - New York Trilogy (ok, not a classic, but good nonetheless).

Oh, god. This is so hard to narrow down.
I might have to post again later...

I've recently finished a fascinating fantasy series called "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper. They're meant for older children but they're so complex that I can't see children understanding every aspect of it. The books in the series are:

1. Over Sea, Under Stone
2. The Dark is Rising (even though the whole series is called this, the main story really starts in the 2nd book, hence the title of the entire series)
3. Greenwitch
4. The Grey King
5. Silver on the Tree

The first book is really the set up of everything, and actually has no fantasy in it whatsoever unlike the others; it's just a straight forward mystery, but it's a great read. Dark is Rising (the 2nd novel) is my personal favorite, though.

Catch Me If You Can - Frank W. Abagnale (great book for travelling, it'll entertain you for hours)

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (Can't beat this one)

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

You can also check out one of the books I've written if ya like.

I'm not sure you'd be able to get hold of it outside of the UK but "The Little Soldier" by Bernard Ashley is a really good book and so are "The Chronicles of Narnia" By C S Lewis.

good writers:

Steven King
Robin Cook

i do not know the english titles, sorry.
So you can look for the writers, it are thillers they write.
so you will stay awake.

jabroni, what did you wind up choosing to read and did you like it?


teiger, I too have liked the few Robin Cook books I've read.

well Luke i have them all off Robin Cook.
But i always have to wait a very long time to get them.
i have to wait for the translation in dutch.
So now i'm also waiting for a new book.
wath is the newest there?????

I haven't read any of his newer stuff, only a few of his older books. The newest one is apparently called "Seizure" and comes out in July here.

Seizure is already out i believe, unless I am wrong. I thought I read it about 6-7 months ago. Wansn't it about two girls that "donate" their eggs for reproduction?

Watcher in the Woods

poco wrote:Seizure is already out i believe, unless I am wrong. I thought I read it about 6-7 months ago. Wansn't it about two girls that "donate" their eggs for reproduction?

I think that's "Shock" just from reading the info at Amazon. Seems to have gotten lots of poor comments from readers.

^^^

well, I am still in a twist. I finished Harry Potter, and don't know what to read now. I'm going on another vacation from the first to fifth... with a nice flight... I'll probably get Lord of the Flies and maybe The Stand, even though it seem's pretty complicated!

jabroni76 wrote:^^^

well, I am still in a twist. I finished Harry Potter, and don't know what to read now. I'm going on another vacation from the first to fifth... with a nice flight... I'll probably get Lord of the Flies and maybe The Stand, even though it seem's pretty complicated!

My Stephen King recommendation would be "Different Seasons" - it's a collection of four novellas (each around 100 pages or so). Three of the four have been made into movies - Stand By Me (The Body), (Rita Hayworth and) the Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil. I've actually never read the fourth one, but the other three are all short and engaging and it's interesting to compare/contrast with the movies in the direction they take. The three I read aren't typical King horror, as you can tell from the films if you've seen or heard of them.

Well I liked them anyway. Might be easier to get into each one than a big book like "The Stand", which I haven't read, so I don't know what it's like.

yes it was shock, have that one already.

But i just finished steven kings, dreamcatcher, real good !!
so that's one to buy for jabroni.

Yep, your right. Cooks one line titles get confusing. it was Shock!!! Seizure isn't out yet then.

Sorry for the misinformation

ahh... so many books!

Luke -- how hard are those three/four short stories... Reading Level wise?

And now, I cannot wait to get started on Booksaf.com . The site would help me place all my books that I want to read...