Question 1

[butterfly]

What are a few books you think everyone should read/you wish more people would read?

I think that everyone should try Terry Pratchett. He's funny, smart, and interesting. Almost all of his books are on my own personal favorites list. And he has the most amusing footnotes that have ever been written. Discworld is the name of his huge series and there's something in it for everyone, whether you end up loving Death or the Witches or Rincewind or the Watch.

The Giver is one of my own personal message books. I re-read it when I need to center myself. It has more levels every time that I read it.

I personally adore Xanth but I know that not everyone enjoys puns as much as I do.

Everyone should read at least one trashy romance novel, if only to make fun of it.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is something that everyone should read. Anne is remarkably perceptive and intelligent, while fully remaining a young girl. It's fascinating and tragic.

Comments

[therisingmoon.livejournal.com]

I loved the Giver.

My personal favorites are Queen of the Damned, Feeling Sorry for Celia, The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Romeo and Juliet, Anthem, Fight Club, The Screwtape Letters, and this Irish novel that I forgot the name of that I read a few years ago.

I love classics. I also read three of the Harry Potter books.

I also read half of these listed novels as part of my English class.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Excuse me while I write down some of those titles.

Thanks.

[raquelitah.livejournal.com]

Butterfly, read Like Water for Chocolate. Seriously, you would love this book so much. I'm seriously about to mail it to you, I want you to read it so bad.

The Great Gatsby is probably my favorite book of all time.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hee! Will write that down. This topic will be good for me.

[saava.livejournal.com]

1) The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. It's just beautiful and moving, and everyone I know who's read it loves it.

2) Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Excellent book, and I usually don't like Sci-Fi. It's got a lot of deeper themes to it.

3) The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. I adore her writing, and this book is just, wow.

(Oh, and not all romances are bad! Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon is quite good. But most of them aren't worth the paper they're printed on.)

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hence the qualifier. It has to be trashy for you to make fun of it.

And dude, I love Ender's Game. Did you read the sequel?

[saava.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't! But I did read The Worthing Saga, with is also very good.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I can't tell if I love Speaker For the Dead (the sequel) more than I love Ender's Game, or not. They're very different books, but Card really finds the heart of what he's trying to say, in both of them.

OTOH, I can't say that the other sequels are worth reading.

Stuff I recommend... Diane Duane, The Door Into Fire (and the two sequels). It's all fantasy and random dragons, but it's also dealing with bisexuality and discovering new parts of yourself and all that sort of stuff. Mmm, self-realization.

Uh. Everything Douglas Adams ever wrote. Just as funny as Pratchett, only in SF.

Yeah, there's more, but my head hurts.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yes, I want to read Douglas Adams but cannot decide where to staaaaart.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ooo. Another book I must read!

*sigh*

[krossed-karma.livejournal.com]

I'm such a geek. A bunch of my faves came from AP English reading lists: A Tale of Two Cities, Rebecca, & Uncle Tom's Cabin are the most memorable.

And Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl has always been one of my personal faves. I have this wierd habit of reading it once a year .. even though I can probably recite it by heart now. It just never lsoes its appeal.

~J

Re: *sigh*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Word. It's one of those books that never gets old.

[dine.livejournal.com]

I mostly read SF/Fantasy and mysteries, which narrows my recs somewhat.

SF/F: I highly recommend all of Lynn Flewelling's books, and those of Jane Fancher. Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, the first book by Fiona Patton Stone Prince and most of the works of Tanya Huff.

Mysteries: My fave is probably Georgette Heyer, who wrote (mostly) lovely 1930s/40s mysteries as well as the best Regency romances ever. Lots of lovely language, clever dialogue and truly interesting characters. Carola Dunn writes amazingly entertaining 1920s-era books; of the "classics" Agatha Christie is good, though Dorothy L. Sayers is more to my taste.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Dude, I love this. Y'all are giving me new things to read.

*twirls*

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Some of those sound interesting. Thank you.

[dine.livejournal.com]

All of the first batch (SF/F) feature a lot of gay/bi male protagonists. Tanya Huff has a more varied cast of main characters, but her books are always gay positive/friendly.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ooooo. That's very cool.

[kittykatz.livejournal.com]

[I think that everyone should try Terry Pratchett. He's funny, smart, and interesting. Almost all of his books are on my own personal favorites list. And he has the most amusing footnotes that have ever been written. Discworld is the name of his huge series and there's something in it for everyone, whether you end up loving Death or the Witches or Rincewind or the Watch.]

I agree with you, he's so funny.. and you have good taste. LOL. Which is your favorite book? Oh and what other sci fi writers do you read?

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thanks! My favorite book of All Time? Eee. That's tough. Probably Small Gods. The philosophy and theology in it is fascinating.

And I also read... Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, what'shername the Pern lady and others that I can't remember at the moment.

[cicelian.livejournal.com]

Connie Willis is one of these people I envy insanely, because she's infinitely knowledgable on any possible subject. She writes really great books, too. There's a very strong difference in style between the light, funny and fun novels and the darker, more serious and tragic ones. The first group includes To Say Nothing of the Dog and Bellwether, the second - Doomsday Book and Passage.

I'm also a big fan of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. It articulates what being obsessed with pop culture (or certain aspects of it, anyway) means. It's also really funny.

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I love this thread for giving me so many good books to read.

And you!

*hugs*

[cicelian.livejournal.com]

I love this thread for giving me so many good books to read.

I do, too. There are just so many books out there, it seems unlikely that I'll be able to find the great ones on my own. Reccommendations are nice.

And you!

*hugs*

The love is totally mutual

Re:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Whee!

Mutual love!

*hugs*

[anchors-ashore.livejournal.com]

My recommendations go to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (and it's much better than the movie), as well as Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov.