What should I read if I had nothing to read?

[s.santa]

Hello everybody!!
I'm kinda desperate cause I've just realized I don't know what to read!!!! So write here if you have any book to advise, thank you!

[IrishMark]

do you realise that you r now gonna b swaped with suggestion??? for my part i recommend 1984

[Etienne]

That's shocking... I just counted how many books I have in my to-read pile... 94 books...

What are you looking for exactly?

[s.santa]

1984 it's a BIBLE, I mean who didn't read it??
About the enormous amount of answers, that's the point!!! I want a waterfall of ideas (is it right to say waterfall??? im afraid I'm making a lot of grammar-spelling-everything errors!! aaah! please forgive me, I'm not English!!).
To answer Etienne all I want is opinions, every kind of book you like (or dislike and inspires you an irresistible desire to kill the writer)...wow 94 book! I had my own usual 10-15 pile, but I'm reading the last now...so sad.....
thanx thanx thanx evrybody from a poor italian geek!!!


To answer Etienne

Im sorry I'm bloody stupid!!!!! I meant IrishMark!!!

[AimusSage]

Just walk into a book store or library and pick something at random.

[Alexei]

Hi, s. santa, welcome to the forum :wave:

I have a few ideas, but I will list authors:
Hermann Hesse
Marcel Proust
D.H.Lawrence
Virginia Woolf
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jean-Paul Sartre
Boris Vian

I think you will like at least one of them ;)

[IrishMark]

bartleby by herman melville have u read it?

[thelastmelon]

Here are some suggestions of books that I've enjoyed:
Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
Bright young things - Scarlett Thomas

[Etienne]

Boris Vian

Sweet, I thought no one beside me knew him on this forum. Are you French or do you read it in french? If you read it in english, I'd like some feedback on it as it would, no doubt be streange in english since he uses lots of word plays and creates new words. Anyways L'écume des jours is usually in the high school book corpus here in Quebec and everyone loves this book, he's very well known in Quebec.

[Joreads]

Oh dear I have never had that problem my pile of to reads seems to grow all on its own

You could try anything by E M Forster or anything by Geroge Orwell. You can not go past a classic

[Nico87]

Here's my list. Not gonna put authors names cos I'm too tired.

The Middle Parts of Fortune (a must-read if you like WW1)
1984
Animal Farm
The Radetzky March (a must-read if you're into WW1)
Brave New World
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Notes From Underground
A Sportman's Notebook
Dead Souls
100 Years of Solitude
Pnin (haven't read it through yet, but I really liked it)
The Maltese Falcon
Gogol - Short Stories
Darkness at Noon
If This is a Man/The Truce
Stalingrad (a must-read if you're into WW2)
Quartered Safe Out Here (a must-read if you're into WW2)
Any book from Richard van Emden (WW1)
Catch-22
Dead Souls

Books I haven't read but I know they're great;

The Brothers Karamazov
Crime & Punishment
The Double & The Gambler
War & Peace
Anna Karenina
Master & Margerita
Pale Fire

...and many others.

[Etienne]

If you haven't read it yet, read Don Quixote. If you have to read only one book in your life (but this shouldn't happen, or beware of yourself) it should be this one. It's genius from Idle to Farewell.

[mtpspur]

The Bible--at least once
Gone with the Wind--soap opera done right
Red Harvest--Dashiell Hammett--excellent example of the har-boiled detective story
Who Killed Roger Aceroyd--Agatha Chrisitie--murder mystery
Edgar Allan Poe--almost anything by him
Lord of the Rings--best fnatasy epic
Tarzan of the Apes--Edgar Rice Burroughs--best jungle adventure
Ivory Child--Lost race novel by Rider Haggard
David Copperfiled--best all around character book by Charles Dickens--Great Expectations a close second
The Old Man and the Sea--Hemingway--if you must
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis--insightful look in the methods of evil and temptation--and their remedies
Captain Blood--Rafael Sabatini--best pirate novel ever (because I say so--this is a hobby horse book of mine)
Any Quiller novel--spy stories by Adam Hall
Any Matt Helm novel--again with spies--Donald Hamilton
The Shadow--ANY 1938 novel -- there were 24 of them and not a loser in the year
Matthew Henry--best Bible commentator for the common man

Just saying--don't really know your likes dislikes
-- not even sure I want a reader clone of me wandering around--
but hope this helps

[B-Mental]

I recommend John Steinbecks Cannery Row, a compilation of short stories that was made into the movie by the same name. Its a shorter book. It would get you started, and you can find your way from there. Or try a collection of your favorite style/genre of stories. Many times when I draw a blank I go to collections with multiple authors, and then read something from those that I like. Not knowing your age, I think again that Watership Down by Richard Adams is a great story for young and old. Suspenseful story about a group of rabbits on the run that is simply wonderful to read.

[Nico87]

Red Harvest--Dashiell Hammett--excellent example of the har-boiled detective story


Hi, I've got http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375411259 and I've only read The Maltese Falcon, which I enjoyed alot. How are the two others compared to the first?

Also, have you read this http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Selected-Stories-Everymans-Library/dp/0307266699/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195130130&sr=1-2 ? Would like to know your opinion if you have.

[s.santa]

Wow! that's a lot of titles, I think I'm going to build a pyramid of to-read books!!!
Ok this is going to be long...Don Quixote...I read it once and it will do for a LIFE!
By Forster I read A Passage to India, and I liked it but I'm not sure I want to read Forster any more, I mean how does A Passage top India end? Where's the truth?...maybe I should read it again and again and again to get it....



Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë


Maybe I should read it for the 100th time....


Hi, s. santa, welcome to the forum :wave:

I have a few ideas, but I will list authors:
Hermann Hesse
Marcel Proust
D.H.Lawrence
Virginia Woolf
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jean-Paul Sartre
Boris Vian

I think you will like at least one of them ;)

OOOk, Virginia Woolf: I read Mrs Dalloway (actually just the first part:D ) and it's kinda complicated, maybe because I was reading page 150 and I was wondering what the book is about....the point is it doesn't have a plot so it's too hard to follow...Maybe To The Lighthouse is better??
DH Lawrence: I've just heard him.....any title?
M. Proust: same as above


Anyway thanxs for your suggestions!!!

[Nico87]

DH Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom is supposed to be pretty good. I've heard good things about Sons and Lovers aswell, but I haven't read any of these.

[livelaughlove]

If you want something more contemporary, I've heard that Isabel Allende is really good.

[manolia]

Try any Tom Robbins book. Very funny ;)

[Alexei]

Sweet, I thought no one beside me knew him on this forum. Are you French or do you read it in french? If you read it in english, I'd like some feedback on it as it would, no doubt be streange in english since he uses lots of word plays and creates new words. Anyways L'écume des jours is usually in the high school book corpus here in Quebec and everyone loves this book, he's very well known in Quebec.


Hey, I am glad too. When I join in i try starting a topic but it didn't work, may be next time. I am reading on Bulgarian, it's very hard to find an English edition not to mention a French one (I can't understand why but the French books in the bookstores here are almost endangered specie). So I am reading translations. It's very hard to find his works anyway, he is not so popular right now, but there was a period when obviously he was a sensation, I have seen a lot of old editions. It's they are so hard to find when it comes to buying one :lol:
His works are remarkable, I have stumbled on "L'Arrache-coeur" while I was on book hunting in the attic, I had already read "J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" and I was a bit disappointed from it, but a friend of mine had strongly recommended Vian's works and I decide to try once again. it was a good choice :p I liked it and it influenced me a lot.
I didn't know you can study his works at school, I would like it :D


Here's my list. Not gonna put authors names cos I'm too tired.

The Middle Parts of Fortune (a must-read if you like WW1)
1984
Animal Farm
The Radetzky March (a must-read if you're into WW1)
Brave New World
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Notes From Underground
A Sportman's Notebook
Dead Souls
100 Years of Solitude
Pnin (haven't read it through yet, but I really liked it)
The Maltese Falcon
Gogol - Short Stories
Darkness at Noon
If This is a Man/The Truce
Stalingrad (a must-read if you're into WW2)
Quartered Safe Out Here (a must-read if you're into WW2)
Any book from Richard van Emden (WW1)
Catch-22
Dead Souls

Books I haven't read but I know they're great;

The Brothers Karamazov
Crime & Punishment
The Double & The Gambler
War & Peace
Anna Karenina
Master & Margerita
Pale Fire

...and many others.

Wow, very good list, there are some of my favorite books there :) Anyway, I wonder about "Dead Souls". I finished it a week or two ago (I am not sure) and I didn't like it so much. Actually I like it in some ways (the book creates such a remarkable picture of Russia and the way Gogol describe the characters is incredibly vivid), but somehow it doesn't really fit in my idea of favorite book. I found it really hard to get through and till the end of the first part I was sure I am not really going to like it. Still, after finishing it I thought that reading it wasn't waste of time at all. Hmmm, may be I like it after all :lol: Why do you like it so much that you recommend it? I really want to hear the opinion of someone who really likes it :)


If you haven't read it yet, read Don Quixote. If you have to read only one book in your life (but this shouldn't happen, or beware of yourself) it should be this one. It's genius from Idle to Farewell.

One of my favorite books :) It is so rich on themes and ideas, you can find so much in it. And there are some very good essays on it, I am always trying to get to Meditations on Quixote by Ortega y Gasset, but I never menage to squeeze it in my reading list, I have read only a very little bits of it. If you decide to read it, I recommend this book on it, i think it will be an interesting and valuable addition.



The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis--insightful look in the methods of evil and temptation--and their remedies

Just saying--don't really know your likes dislikes
-- not even sure I want a reader clone of me wandering around--
but hope this helps

I want to read this book for a long time. I have read "Mere Christianity" and I was quite impressed, after it I read "The Chronicles of Narnia" and it was interesting to see some of the ideas in the light of a novel for children.


Wow! that's a lot of titles, I think I'm going to build a pyramid of to-read books!!!
Ok this is going to be long...Don Quixote...I read it once and it will do for a LIFE!
By Forster I read A Passage to India, and I liked it but I'm not sure I want to read Forster any more, I mean how does A Passage top India end? Where's the truth?...maybe I should read it again and again and again to get it....



Maybe I should read it for the 100th time....



OOOk, Virginia Woolf: I read Mrs Dalloway (actually just the first part:D ) and it's kinda complicated, maybe because I was reading page 150 and I was wondering what the book is about....the point is it doesn't have a plot so it's too hard to follow...Maybe To The Lighthouse is better??
DH Lawrence: I've just heard him.....any title?
M. Proust: same as above


Anyway thanxs for your suggestions!!!

V. Woolf is a very interesting, but hard for reading author. It's very concentrated on the details and sometimes it takes a lot of time to penetrate in the meaning, but it definitely worth it. I have recently finished "To The Lighthouse" and I liked it, I think that what I've said earlier is in this book as well, but it is a good reading. It somehow makes you relax and calm, there is something so delicate streaming from it and in the same time it present the ephemeral nature of life. If you decide on reading Woolf's books and you like them may be you will also like Michael Cunningham's. He is strongly influenced by V. Woolf, his writing style is somehow similar although may be a bit more direct and he even has a book more or less based on "Mrs. Dalloway", it's "The Hours" and I bought it a week a ago, so I haven't read it yet either, but I think it wouldn't be a disappointment ;)

I have recently started reading Lawrence's works, but I needed only a few chapters from "Women in Love" to start liking his style. I have read "Sons and Lovers" as well, and it is also a remarkable reading. I actually can't believe that someone can start reading Lawrence's works and not like them :lol:

[Etienne]

"Hey, I am glad too. When I join in i try starting a topic but it didn't work, may be next time. I am reading on Bulgarian, it's very hard to find an English edition not to mention a French one (I can't understand why but the French books in the bookstores here are almost endangered specie). So I am reading translations. It's very hard to find his works anyway, he is not so popular right now, but there was a period when obviously he was a sensation, I have seen a lot of old editions. It's they are so hard to find when it comes to buying one
His works are remarkable, I have stumbled on "L'Arrache-coeur" while I was on book hunting in the attic, I had already read "J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" and I was a bit disappointed from it, but a friend of mine had strongly recommended Vian's works and I decide to try once again. it was a good choice I liked it and it influenced me a lot.
I didn't know you can study his works at school, I would like it "

"J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" is not really Vian. I mean he wrote it (under a pseudonym however) and claimed it was a translation of an american novel (to avoid troubles). I did enjoy the novel (I don't think it's great though, just enjoyable) but it didn't feel like I was reading Vian. You should read "L'écume des jours" (probably his greatest work, but what a crazy job for a translator!) and "L'herbe rouge". I have "L'arrache-coeur" but it's still in my to-read pile.

[Janine]

DH Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom is supposed to be pretty good. I've heard good things about Sons and Lovers aswell, but I haven't read any of these.

Hi Nico, I am a D.H.Lawrence enthusiast, so I can tell you that "Sons and Lovers" is a great read. We have been discussing it, last month and continuing slowly now into this month; it is in it's own thread. Do check it out, anyone. Lots of good discussion going on there. "Women in Love" is also a very interesting book. A few months back we discussed that one, too. Discussion was great. In the spring we plan a group reading of "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and possibly "The Rainbow" - all great novels.

Hope this gives you some ideas as well, s.santa.

Also - Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" is a very good read. They were just discussing it in another thread. I can think of dozens more for you and will try to list some later on. You might try Forster's "Room with a View" - I got a real kick out of that book and it is very good and not too long to read, either. I read "Passage to India" and liked it very much. If you get a chance see the film starring Judy Davis. It is good and will help you understand the story I believe.

Yes, indeed, you will have a 'pyramid' of books, just like I do and others on Lit Net, I am sure of it. Ask Alexei, the speed-reader! :lol:

[LadyWentworth]

Also - Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" is a very good read. They were just discussing it in another thread. I can think of dozens more for you and will try to list some later on. You might try Forster's "Room with a View" - I got a real kick out of that book and it is very good and not too long to read, either. I read "Passage to India" and liked it very much. If you get a chance see the film starring Judy Davis. It is good and will help you understand the story I believe.

Well, if you end up liking Frankenstein, I would definitely recommend Shelly's The Last Man. That is if you are able to find it anywhere!! Right, Janine?? That was a very good book, though.

I agree with A Room With A View. Actually, I think any of Forster's novels would be fine choices.

[Alexei]

Thanks for the recommendation, Etienne. I am trying to find "L'écume des jours" for years, but without success :bawling: As for "L'herbe rouge" I think I saw in a bookstore a few months ago, I will buy it if I am lucky enough to find it :D

Janine you overestimate me :p
I agree with you about "Frankenstein":thumbs_up I love this book, it is one of my favorite. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier :lol:
I haven't read anything by Foster, do you think I will like it? Can you tell me something more, please, it seems interesting ;)

[Nico87]

Hi Nico, I am a D.H.Lawrence enthusiast, so I can tell you that "Sons and Lovers" is a great read. We have been discussing it, last month and continuing slowly now into this month; it is in it's own thread. Do check it out, anyone. Lots of good discussion going on there. "Women in Love" is also a very interesting book. A few months back we discussed that one, too. Discussion was great. In the spring we plan a group reading of "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and possibly "The Rainbow" - all great novels.


What actually got me into D.H. Lawrence was his words on the back cover of The Middle Parts of Fortune by F. Manning - "No praise can be too sheer for this book... It justifies every heat of praise. It's virtues will be recognized more and more as time goes on."

So, as Lawrence loved that book, I will recommend it to you. It's a great WW1 novel about life in the trenches in WW1. Hemingway said that the book is the finest and noblest book of men in war that he had ever read, and that he re-read it every year to remember how it was really like.

Anyway, I see that my favourite publisher has published both Sons and Lovers and Women in Love, so I might have a look. http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=lawrence

[grace86]

Just saying--don't really know your likes dislikes
-- not even sure I want a reader clone of me wandering around--
but hope this helps

What do you mean mtpspur?! You've already started your protege!!! ;)

I was going to suggest Lawrence titles, but Janine beat me to it, her and Virgil are the ones to recommend the Lawrence titles by far. :p

Do read some C.S. Lewis, the Screwtape Letters is a wonderful book along with anything else you will read by Lewis.

If you really still don't know what to read, I might add you pick up some philosophy, poetry or short stories...get a little cultured and thoughtful while figuring out what novels to read.

I took a world literature class and got immersed in greek and roman mythology/tragedies/epics, well worth the time to explore the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Or try some world literature, we are starting a book club in January on authors from specific countries. First country is Africa.

[Janine]

DH Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom is supposed to be pretty good. I've heard good things about Sons and Lovers aswell, but I haven't read any of these.

Nico - "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" was written by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and not D.H.Lawrence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Pillars_of_Wisdom

You made me do a double-take, because I know all of L's work, or believe I do, and I did not recognise that title. No doubt "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a fine read. I loved the film "Lawrence of Arabia" so who could go wrong with something written by that incredible man.

I think s.santa might be confusing the two authors as well, or are you referring, ss, in your last post, to one of DHL's books. Which book did you just read? I am a bit confused. Also, when you referred to Manning and "Fortune" - is "Fortune" a novel or series of novels? I know that Olivia Manning wrote the trilogies - "The Balkin Trilogy" and the "The Levant Trilogy" and the TV miniseries that was based on these two books was called "Fortunes of War". As the title indicates they take place during wartime so it sounded like it was what you were referring to. Am I doing some mixing and matching myself now and confusing two things? Obviously, I am a bit boggled... at this point, sorry.:eek:


Lady Wenthworth, I do want to read "The Last Man", but so far have not found it anywhere. I will look on Amazon tonight. It seems sort of rare.:(

[Nico87]

Haha, Janine, you got me there! Now I'm embarrassed.

[Dori]

Here's a few recommendations:

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Candide by Voltaire
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
Utopia by Thomas More
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Dr. Zhivago and Quo Vadis are both on my TBR pile, but I've heard they are good.

[Scheherazade]

Hello S.Santa,

If you go through the threads in our Book Reviews section, maybe you might come across a book that pique your interest:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6877

[Janine]

Haha, Janine, you got me there! Now I'm embarrassed.

Nico, no, don't be. I think that many people mix these two authors up, which is understandable - their names are so similar. I just know 'my Lawrence' and his work and wondered how I missed that book, so I looked it up in Wiki. Now I know more about what 'Lawrence of Arabia', wrote so I am grateful to you. I have always been fascinated with his life story. I would like to read that book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". It has my curiosity. So I thank you for pointing it out.

If you have not read DH Lawrence I highly recommend him to you. His books are great. I just finishing up "Sons and Lovers" for the second time and I loved it! It is a very good read.:thumbs_up

[LadyWentworth]

Lady Wenthworth, I do want to read "The Last Man", but so far have not found it anywhere. I will look on Amazon tonight. It seems sort of rare.:(

It is on Amazon. I know it is! :) It isn't too much of a shock if a library doesn't have it. I just think it is kind of unbelievable that no stores carry it. I know this is a fact because I haven't honestly seen it in a store since I bought it! That was, I'd say, about 15 years ago now. Maybe I bought the last known copy of The Last Man that physically existed in a store anywhere!! :p

[Janine]

It is on Amazon. I know it is! :) It isn't too much of a shock if a library doesn't have it. I just think it is kind of unbelievable that no stores carry it. I know this is a fact because I haven't honestly seen it in a store since I bought it! That was, I'd say, about 15 years ago now. Maybe I bought the last known copy of The Last Man that physically existed in a store anywhere!! :p

Hi LW, I will go and check. I know what you mean about bookstores and rare! I get totally frustrated but there always is my beloved Amazon! I am totally addicted to that - you know it! If it is there I will locate it. I just forgot to look earlier when I was on the site. My 'to read' list is 100 miles long! :( :lol:

PS: you did get my email reply? no rush.:D

[s.santa]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and forgive me for my absence!!!
I don't remember who told me to walk in a bookstore and pick books at random (?) but I DID IT! and I bought a kinda good collection of Poems by Prevèrt..."Poems about Love and Freedom"...it sounds sooo bohemian (has anyone seen "The Moulin Rouge"?)!!!
Anyway I think I'll read Lawrence first and maybe Forster....then again I'm almost obsessed with Oriana Fallaci ryt now so I think I'll buy something by her too...btw can anyone tell me if Goethe's "Werther" is a good book??
thanks guys!!!

[Etienne]

btw can anyone tell me if Goethe's "Werther" is a good book??
thanks guys!!!

It's very good.

[bazarov]

Agree!

[baibai]

It depends on your mood ,right?

[samg3008]

oh definately Life of Pi - Yan martel, it's brilliant! read it!
oh and heart of darkness - joseph conrad, takes a while to get into and is a bit miserable but once into it, its pretty good. Look to references to sexuality, it comes up a lot but not unless your looking for it.
x

[spookymulder93]

Ham on Rye

[Propter W.]

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
The Dogs of Winter - Kem Nunn
The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

[breathtest]

Any book by cormac mccarthy. If you want a quick entertaining read, 'No Country For Old Men', if you want a longer deeper one 'Suttree'.

[Alexander III]

I must say read Hugo's Les Miserables !

As Rimbaud said "there is a novel which is not a novel, it is a long poem, poesy from start to finish, the greatest poem of our times"