What should I read next?

[schnapps]

I'm almost finished with my current book and would like suggestions on what to read next.

At the top of my TBR pile are

The Stand by Stephen King
Rebecca by Daphne Dumaurier
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Thanks for the suggestions!

[blazeofglory]

I suggest the Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. This is a masterpiece, an incomparably beautiful book, psychologically, philosophically a very matchless work. I have read a couple of times and feel like reading it again. Another book if you have the patience given the size I can suggest is War & Peace. Russian writers are unbeatable and unmatchable. You can enjoy them. They are full of wonder and you will find something really different, the extraordinaire.

Another book that I love reading is the Prophet. If you have a hunger for spirituality, this is an insuperable book. I have read it ten times but I still read some of it a times. This is one of the books that transformed me in life.

[ktr]

blaze of glory, is russian your first language? you speak american kinda weirdly. {EDIT}

[Modest Proposal]

Of the ones you mention, I've only read the Dickens and the Card book, both of which I liked for very different reasons. Obviously Dickens is a fine writer, but there is also something nice about reading a 'classic'. Sort of like seeing a famous building, it is not just the artistry that made it famous which impresses us, but the famousness itself lends a sort of aura. For this reason, there is something extra-special--beyond intrinsic value--in reading classics.

As to Card, it is a good SF read and raises some semi-new issues, or at least deals with them in an interesting way. One nice thing about reading 'Ender's Game' is that you can move on to read the sequel, which in my mind is better all around. But then again, I like SF classics myself.

The King book is not really on my list, he seems to attract readers I disagree with on books and to turn off those readers with whom I tend to agree. I have heard however that 'The Stand' is his finest work.

I've heard 'Rebecca' sited as a classic romance novel but, again, I've never read anything by the author. I just realized something. You seem to have some genre 'classics' on the list--Rebecca (romance), The Stand (horror), Ender's Game (SF)--and the only one I like is Card because SF is the only genre of those I like. I guess on that note, if you like the other mentioned genres these two other works may be equivalent.

I saw the, awful, movie of the Niffenegger book and if the two are close, I wouldn't read it. Actually, if you like romance as a genre it might be fine. It seems to me the type of book that is pretty standard, and one which someone looking for a great book would not necessarily pick up.

I know 'Middlesex' won the Pulitzer, but everytime I read a synopsis of it, I can't help but feel it is just... typical, you know? It's like a workshopped story that has ALL the 'necessary' elements for 'literary' fiction and hits all the popular issues with banal and expected sympathies.

Honestly, I could be wrong about all the ones I haven't read (and all the ones I have for that matter) but I hope my subjective opinions help a bit. Have fun reading.

[Modest Proposal]

blaze of glory, is russian your first language? you speak american kinda weirdly. {EDIT}

American is not a language.

[ktr]

American is not a language.

orly genius?

[blazeofglory]

blaze of glory, is russian your first language? you speak american kinda weirdly. {EDIT}

No. I am a Nepali. I wanted to write unbeatable. It just slipped.

[ktr]

i figured something like that, did you read them in the original? when recommending russian writers it's imperative to offer suggestions for good translations, bad translations are literary abortions.

[dfloyd]

These are the only two on your list which are true classics. Rebecca is not a romance. It is more of a mystery, but unique. No reading of Rebecca should gp without viewing the Hitchcock movie of the same name starring Laurence Olivia and Joan Fontaine. It won the academy award in 1940 for best picture and follows the book fairly well.

Great Expectations is one of Dickens' best, perhaps the best. Along with reading the book, view the classic film made by David Lean in 1946. It stars very young John Mills and Alwc Guiness.

Both of these movies are excwellent adaptations and are available on dvd. They will help you understand and appreciate the novels better.

[janesmith]

I'd suggest Great Expectations too. You'll love it.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Rebecca certainly, and then reluctantly, I suppose Great Expectations. I have no time for King. I've seen extracts of Time Traveller's Wife and the prose looked cliché and awful. I actually picked up and read the back of Middlesex today, but didn't buy it, I don't know about that one or the Orson Scott Card, though I don't think he'd be for me. Rebecca hands down - a wonderful little book and yes a good Hitchcock film was made from it too.

[papayahed]

I loved The Stand when I read it years ago. So I would suggest that one first. I saw the movie Rebecca and had to run out an get the book but the book didn't not live up to the movie at all. This is one occasion where the movie was better. Great Expectations I thought was pretty dry. I haven't read any of the others.

[Dark Muse]

This is a tough choice, The Stand is thus far my favorite Stephen King work, and one of the best I have read by him up to this point. It is an excellent book and I loved it.

I am currently reading Rebecca right now and I think it is fabulous. The prose work is stunning and very poetic, and at times even haunting, and it really touches back to the old gothic style of writing in weaving a story of dark mystery.

Middlesex I absolutely loved and thought it was a brilliant book, thoroughly entertaining and a real page turner.

[Barbarous]

I saw the, awful, movie of the Niffenegger book and if the two are close, I wouldn't read it. Actually, if you like romance as a genre it might be fine. It seems to me the type of book that is pretty standard, and one which someone looking for a great book would not necessarily pick up.


This is one of my gal's favorite reads. From what she tells me (we both saw the movie together and thought the same as you), the book is totally different, as in it alludes to everyone from Patti Smith, Rilke to Laurence Sterne and Andrew Marvell, which sounds pretty interesting to me. Yet I can't help but feel as though Niffenegger has more interesting influences than work...

[Bastable]

I've only read the Stand and Middlesex. Of those i'd go for Middlesex, it had a decent story, was well written and gives you food for thought. The Stand had an interesting story, but was FAR too long and bloated. King's writing left me cold and made the book easy to put down. Not a terrible book, just not that good.

On a side note, all my friends who are into science fiction have highly recommended Enders Game to me, though i have not acted upon them, i trust their judgement.

[Babak Movahed]

{Edit}


Oh to answer your question, read "The Sun Also Rises" or "Lolita"

[hillwalker]

All of Dickens is worth reading - but quite difficult for some to get to grips with.
'The Quincunx' by Charles Palliser is a mystery thriller set in Dickensian England and written in a similar style. I would recommend it if you enjoy Dickens.

Other classic novels should include all of Thomas Hardy, 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot and 'Vanity Fair' by Thackery.

As far as the Russian classics are concerned Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' is a gripping but disturbing read.
Solzhenitsyn's 'Cancer Ward', 'The First Circle' and 'August 1914' are excellent (in translation, obviously).

If you are looking for more contemporary fiction then Steinbeck and John Updike are wonderful writers.
Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury' should be on everybody's list of favourite books.

More up-to-date I would recommend 'The Little Friend' by Donna Tart, 'Back Roads' by Tawni O'Dell and 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold.

As for King - his books have their place as they provide simple escapism to many - 'Firestarter' and 'The Shining' are good reads, as are 'Watchers' and 'Strangers' by Dean R Koontz. Unfortunately both writers have also churned out quite a bit of tosh.

I could go on and on and on.....

[schnapps]

Thanks for all the responses. Between this forum and another I'm on, I've gotten the most votes for Great Expectations so I'll go with that one for my next book.

[Candide]

Well schnapps, you listed a couple of my favorite books in your TBR pile so I have to suggest reading them next. These are The Stand, and Ender's Game.

Edit: I just realized you already made your decision above! Well, maybe my two suggestions can be 2 and 3 ;-) Also, I don't think you can go wrong with Great Expectations. I wouldn't know for sure because it is also currently in my TBR pile! :-p