I've read Lord of The Rings, the Lensman series, Caesar's Commentaries and the Civil War, Tacitus, Herodotus, Thucydides. The Valley of The Dolls, The Mightiest Machine, The Incredible Planet, The Infinite Atom, The Moon is Hell, All, Marooned, The Space Beyond, The Right Stuff, I Am Charlotte Simmons, Pompeii, Imperium, Lustrum/Conspirata, Sidewise in Time, Mysterium Cosmographicum, Sic et Non, The Divine Comedy, The Pilgrim's Progress, etc many times over and lots else.

Life is boring, I can't sleep, and I need a good, engrossing book or series to read or download. Any suggestions?

Read:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamont

The Riftwar Series by Raymond Feist and Jenny Wurst

The Belgariad and The Mallorean series by David and Leigh Eddings

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Road Less Traveled and The People of the Lie by DR. M. Scott Peck

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Any comic strips collections by Bill Watterson, Berkely Breathed, and Gary Larson.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2011 11:46PM by Itzpapalotl.

"Bossypants" by Tina Fey.
Mystery? "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie", Books by Tony Hillerman.

Animal? "Oogie" (dog hero) or "Dewey," about a cat who rescued a library

Deep? "The Origins of Satan," Elaine Pagels. Anything by Elaine Pagels. Can't put hers down, fascinating.

Adult funny? Chelsea Lately, Lies that Chelsea Handler told me or Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang.

Random: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother or Cinderella ate My Daughter. Biographies.

Changed my life philosophy deep? "The Cry and the Covenant." about the first doctor who proved that washing hands between treating patients prevents disease.

Gary Larson and Berk Breathed cause me to put on out adult undergarments before reading. They are that funny. Opus the Penguin rules.

Sorry Itzpotl..lotzle. well you chose the screen name, dude!

I have much love for comics of every field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itzpapalotl



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2011 12:24AM by Itzpapalotl.

He has written three:

She's Come Undone;

I Know This Much is True;

and the one I'm reading now and can't put down:

The Hour I First Believed which is set against the background of the Columbine Shootings.

Other Suggestions:
The Prince of Tides
Middlesex
Father Melancholy's Daughter

I'm impressed! I like his stuff too. His style isn't very good, but his ideas were brilliant. If you liked Lord of the Rings, you might check out the Silmarillion. It was hard going the first time I read it, but once I was familiar with the basics it became very engrossing.

I'm reading Bram Stoker's Dracula right now. It's a better book than I remember. If you like horror, you might check out Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (10 books) or the Mayfair Witches books. H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard are good reading. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books are entertaining.

Hope you find something you enjoy.

MayFair Witches is one of the best series in the history of....well us!

Not all that long but good. Just finished Queen of the Damned (for about the 20th time) last night. I am going to go dig around and load up the EReader again :). Oh I know! It is about time for Cry to Heaven by Rice again. Historic fiction and nothing about vamps or ghosts.

And if you have not read them, give the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series a try. They are HYSTERICAL!

not noticing posters names just what they are recommending and I start to read this one and I say to myself: Self I know who wrote this post. ;-)

I only recognize 'The Lord of the Rings' (which I haven't read) from your selection.... so, grain of salt for my recommendations. ;-)

I'm currently reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' - Bill Bryson and I love it - informative, funny and interesting.

I also just read 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' which was very much a page turner... not too demanding but entertaining as hell.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Or Bryson's book?

Both are very good, IMO.

I mostly read non-fiction and have the attention span of a goldfish so the girl with the tattoo one keeping my up until 4am was a surprise for me.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've heard it's hard to get involved for the first 100 pages and then you can't put it down.

Longout, you're too funny. You can just call me Itz. I love mythology.

I think for some reason the author (or prehaps translator) forgot how important the intial hook is. I started reading and gave up on it.

Then a few months later I tried again, finally got to the hook and could not stop reading. And had to immediately go out and buy the other books.

Ender's Game if you are into science fiction. If you like older science fiction I would recommend some Heinlein.

Otherwise, I would recommend The Years of Rice and Salt.

Good luck!

I'm reading Ender's game now. +1

The Idiot - Dostoyevsky
House of Spirits - Isabelle Allende
The Iliad - Homer
Metamorphoses - Ovid
Animal Farm & 1984 - George Orwell
War & Peace - Tolstoy

Just for starters. Should keep you busy for a while. If you're after something really difficult, try Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce.

I like your style. Classic Russian literature is definitely an enjoyable pursuit.

If you want to think, I've been reading Edith Wharton's novels. If you like historical fiction, they're great reads, even though they were set in her contemporary world.

Last year I read Victorian-era horror fiction. Dracula, Frankenstein, and Drs. Jeckyll and Moreau are much more interesting than the many pop-culture takeoffs have rendered them. Those authors had a lot to say about difficult and complex social problems.

For sheer entertainment I recommend Janet Evanovich. The Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series is fast-food literature, but really funny. Even funnier if you know Italian families.

If you can't sleep, I hesitantly recommend "Go the F**K to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach. A grown-up parody of a child's bedtime story. Best for stressed-out parents.

And Captains Couragous. Katherine Porter (Ship of Fools) spins a great tale.

sorry Itpolotlz, Can I just think Clawed Butterfly?

My Mayan sucks. Spanish pretty bad. Thanks for the link! You do have great taste.

And here's the thing about James Joyce -I did not truly appreciate his work until after I read the nuances in the Harry Potter series. JK Rowling taught me a lot about literature and depth, long after I read Joyce in college. It was analogies about colors, temperature, nomenclature, and word roots that I realized that Joyce was a literary genius. Plus, it was required reading. Don't throw me out for Harry Potter. If you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, AZ/NM and that's what you get to read, it's awesome.

Older books but with solid science in them about life on a neutron star. Entertaining AND informative. :)

And another older book, very fun especially if you've ever gotten into D&D is: Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2011 02:12AM by Rebeckah.

How to Talk Dirty and Influence People - Lenny Bruce
The Hunger Games Trilogy

http://bethatwriter.blogspot.com/2011/07/kindle-reader-and-kindle-books-for-free.html

They have some really keen stuff over at Amazon. For free. ;o))



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2011 09:31AM by matt.

She is better than most. A real forensic anthropologist, in her professional life.

I'm about halfway through it and it's incredible.

It's an "adults only" read, because of the violence and sex, but George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" is an extraordinary series, set in a fantasy world (actually based on the War of Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster). Book One is "Game of Thrones" (now being made into a series by HBO). The second and third books in the series are even better than the first. Read some of the reviews at Amazon Books first, to see if this series would interest you. Most people either love it or hate it..

"The Hunger Games" is another book, that if you can accept the premise, is just impossible to put down once you get to the third chapter. Like "Game of Thrones" (but without the sex) it takes place in a very ruthless world in which there is danger at every turn.

Thanks to all of you for all of your suggestions...I've read all of the classic SF from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to the 1930's/40's/40's "Doc" Smith and John W. Campbell, Jr, Issac Asimov, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Capt. S.P. Meek, Jack Williamson, Hal Clement (I met him once), Murray Leinster, et al. I'm always looking for more books to read :0)

I met Orson Scott Card too once but that's another story. He was travelling incognito and was suprised when I recognised him.

Robert Silverberg - Kingdoms of the Wall

G.J.Ballard - Concrete Island

Gordon R. Dickinson - The Dragon and the George

Michael Crichton - Sphere (the movie ruined this excellent story)

That is why I often turn to the classic mysteries by Agatha Christie, for one.
She has 80 to choose from! :-) I've read all of them several times. Still enjoy them!