Books I Must Read

[Arete]

I have decided to expand my horizons through reading. I have not been an avid reader up to now through lack of time due to work. I would like some recommendations of what books others would recommend to open myself up to the wonderful workld of books. I'm jumping right in by joining this forum.

[kathycf]

Hello, Arete. What types of books would you like to read? Classics, general, science fiction...ect ect If you aren't sure, then what kinds of movies do you like, or TV shows? You may like books that are in the same genre as the movies or shows you like. Or poke around the forum when you have a free moment and see if anything strikes you as being interesting.

[RJbibliophil]

Welcome! :wave:

[ElizabethBennet]

HI!
I'm a newcomer myself and I looooove to read. There are so many books I would love to recommend. For instance, my favourite author Charles Dickens deals with a lot of social issues like poverty and child abuse. If you have time for a good long read, I suggest A Tale of Two Cities or Nicholas Nickleby. If you like romance, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is also really good. George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss is very tragic, I think.
Welcome, and have fun!!!

[muhsin]

You are welcome Arete :wave:

[Chell53]

If you're into Classics you should read Wuthering Heights, all the Bronte's are cool, but try that one and then 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', Jane Austen is great (I'm going through all the women's stuff, sorry) If you want some male writers, Wilkie Collins, 'The Woman in White', anything by Dickens or maybe Alexandre Dumas.

[LazarusLong]

stupid comp :crash: Theres alway Edward Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang if you want a not so classic book, also there is L.Ron Hubbard, H.G. Welles, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Shakespeare, Marke Twain, Voltaire, and George Orwell

::D

[McGrain]

Read Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. It's got loads going on, but on the surface it's just a cracking good "coming of age story" with a whole load of magic and subtext thrown in for free. Ideal for your purposes!

[Stieg]

Two bibles of horror literature;

Great Tales of Terror and The Supernatural edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise (collection of classic suspense and horror)

The Dark Descent edited by David G Hartwell
(collection of classic and contemporary pure horror)

Between these two collections, you have over 50 shorts in each (over a 100 together) and only five stories overlap. Once you start on these two massive anthologies I promise you will be incapable of stopping.

Alone with The Horrors by Ramsey Campbell, the finest horror author since Lovecraft a short story compilation collected from 1961-1991.

[Scheherazade]

I'm jumping right in by joining this forum.Seems like Arete jumped in at the deep end and could not resurface! :p

(S/he hasn't posted since July)

[Stieg]

Seems like Arete jumped in at the deep end and could not resurface! :p

(S/he hasn't posted since July)

I did not notice that, a thread resurrection!

IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!

[McGrain]

Seems like Arete jumped in at the deep end and could not resurface! :p

(S/he hasn't posted since July)

Well spied! Quality advice everyone...for whoever...

[vjscadence]

I recommend Don Quixote by Cervantes (get the translation by Samuel Putnam). It's been voted the best novel. It looks intimidating, but it isn't. It's a beautiful book. I'd always envied people who had a "favorite book" - a book they would read when they were happy, sad, in good health, in bad health, whenever. It took me about 40 years to find "my book" - and without doubt that book is Don Quixote.

Also, anything by Mark Twain or John Steinbeck is worth reading.

[Stieg]

I recommend Don Quixote by Cervantes (get the translation by Samuel Putnam). It's been voted the best novel. It looks intimidating, but it isn't. It's a beautiful book. I'd always envied people who had a "favorite book" - a book they would read when they were happy, sad, in good health, in bad health, whenever. It took me about 40 years to find "my book" - and without doubt that book is Don Quixote.


The modern Rutherford translation is very nice. Not full of trying archaic outdated languages neither filled with anachronysms. Nicely balanced and the narrative flows excellently.

[Katie-Lou]

I very much reccomend The Killing Joke by Anthony Horowitz. I have seen teenagers and 50 year olds read that book and love it. Its so cunning but so fast paced. I love all of his books.

[Domer121]

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh...still haven't gotten to it.. also, East of Eden by John Steinbeck...