Holiday reading

[Rachy]

Someone has probably started one of these threads and I'm sorry if they have, but in two weeks I'm going to Florida, and the book that my mum bought for me to read I read in two days, Oops! I'm going to need a few books because I'm going to be there for 3 weeks! Has anyone got any goood suggestions?
Thanks, Rach xxx

[Jack_Aubrey]

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
My Friend Leonard by James Frey (read the first suggestion before the second)
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (nice and long for you too)
The Catcher in the Ry by J.D. Salinger
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (good and American for your stay here)
Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut

That should be enough for now, I'll think of some others later. I tried to give some variety. There's some I think.

[mister_noel_y2k]

variety? there were no female writers nor any writers outside of russia, and america.

[Scheherazade]

I think what Jack meant was that he tried to give variety in genre and classic/modern choices.

[Nightshade]

I noticed in my library yesterday a new shelf called holiday reading... Most of it is chick-flick things though Like the Shopholic series and things like that :D

[Jack_Aubrey]

I think what Jack meant was that he tried to give variety in genre and classic/modern choices.
That's what I meant. I should have been more clear.

[Jack_Aubrey]

variety? there were no female writers nor any writers outside of russia, and america.
Well then why don't you pleasure us all and suggest some female authors and authors from around the world.

[Fango]

The Very Bloody History of Britain, by John Farman. It's a humorous history book with funny sketches strewn on each page. Comical and educational. No more than 160 pages.

[Mark F.]

Well, I can tell you what I'm planning to read this Summer, it might give you some ideas
Crime and Punishment and The Idiot by Dostoyevski
L.A. Confidential by Ellroy (if you haven't read any of his novels, The Black Dahlia's a good place to start)
Different Seasons by King
Chronicles by Dylan
The Rhum Diaries and Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas is definately worth a read)
The Immoralist by Gide
and I'm already through with Heart of Darkness by Conrad and Man's Fate by Malraux which are both good.

[Morten]

I'd recommend a big, long book. Something classic. I am about to begin reading The Brothers Karamazov myself. Why not something like Moby Dick, The Magic Mountain or, if you prefer something more modern, how about Ian McEwan's Atonement? That's a modern classic.

[mono]

I think it really depends on your taste in literature, Rachy.
Could you give us some examples of your favorite genres or favorite books, to begin, that will give us an idea?

[Beaumains]

I'll do what Mark F. did and just list several of the books I plan on reading or have read over the course of this summer:

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Basically, this is just the complete Hitchhiker's series. It was entertaining, don't get me wrong, but I reccommend you read it in small doses if you choose to do so.

Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
- I have yet to start on this one, but from what I do know I can say that it is probably anti-communist for the Soviet government banned it, which led to it being published elsewhere in the world.

The Illiad and The Odyssey, by Homer (unproven)
- I've read them before, but epics like this are always good for a read, and they can take a bit of time to go through. I prefer the original English translation by Chapman.

In addition to those, I also plan on going over as much poetry by Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Yeats, and others as possible. I plan on reading a good many political philosophy pieces as well. You can find a wide variety of those if that happens to be of interest to you.

Cheers

[Snukes]

Me too me too! I love making booklists! Besides, with all my work officially behind me, I'm back in voracious reading mode. In the last week, I've polished off all the books I brought with me after my last visit in the States (The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket, Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore, and Treasure Box - Orson Scott Card; okay, not exactly a challanging pile o' books, but it was nice to plow through some things that had nothing to do with ancient dead people. :D)

And today I went book shopping! I found a used book store that has a big section of English language books. I spent an hour and went through all of them. Came away with (in the order they are stacked up on my desk):

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
Rendezvous With Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Star Gate, Andre Norton
The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl
The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse
Short Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson (Jekyll & Hyde +)
The Stand, Stephen King
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Blackberry Wine, Joanne Harris
Selected Stories of Rudyard Kipling
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift

Mmmm! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Where to start, oh where to start??

[Rachy]

I think it really depends on your taste in literature, Rachy.
Could you give us some examples of your favorite genres or favorite books, to begin, that will give us an idea?

I pretty much read anything to be honest! My favourite books are The Iliad, Lord of the Rings, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Papillon, Rebecca, Treasure Island, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre! So it's really a mixture of things!

[mono]

I pretty much read anything to be honest! My favourite books are The Iliad, Lord of the Rings, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Papillon, Rebecca, Treasure Island, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre! So it's really a mixture of things!
Wow, quite a diversity! :nod:
Hmmm, it seems you have an affinity for the classics, so here goes:

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo,
anything by Charles Dickens (especially Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, or Hard Times),
the short stories of O. Henry, Ambrose Bierce, Guy de Maupassant, Washington Irving, and Mark Twain,
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence,
The Ænid by Virgil,
The Odyssey by Homer,
Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans),
Villette by Charlotte Brontë.

[shortysweetp]

i would also suggest any of the Jane Austen novels if you like the Brontes

villette was great i just finished reading it.
I will be reading
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte
several Stephen King books
Gulliver's Travels- Swift
and whatever i borrow from my family once i run out of my own

[arabian night]

i recommend Uncle Tom's cabin...I've just finished reading it :) good luck