Reading Recomendations.
I used to to love reading books as a child. I want to get back into that, but am totally out of touch with what's good and don't know where to start. I don't like romance or olden days novels. I love thrillers (I have a lot of Stephen King) and fantasy.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Martha Grimes is a great author. She writes about Richard Jury and his friends. You can find her in the used book stores.
Thrillers Dean Koontz.
Bones by Jan Burke This one really got to me. The plot was excellent.
I buy all of my books second hand, so a lot of them are out of print and hard to find.
Do you have a local book club you could join?... That's often a good way of picking up books you might never do otherwise. You say you don't like 'olden day novels', for example, but you can't really compare something like Mary Shelley's gothic horror classic Frankenstein with, say, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Pays to keep an open mind!
If you like fantasy, have a crack at Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'... excellent trilogy of books
If you like fantasy, try Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. It's sold as a YA book in the US, but in a lot of countries it's marketed as adult--you definitely don't have to be young to enjoy it.
As far as thrillers go, one of the best books I read last year was Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. There's a sequel called Sweetheart, but I haven't read it yet so I can't say if it's as good.
The Harry Potter series. They're actually just good mystery novels. The first three books are sort of an introduction, but each book gets "heavier" as you go.
The Drizzt books (by R. A. Salvatore)
I really love Nelson DeMille's thrillers, I have read Gold Coast (there is a sequel out now, called The Gate House), Plum Island and The Lion's Game.
Brett Easton Ellis is good, too (American Psycho, Less Than Zero, Glamorama...) but his novels are pretty violent.
Maybe you'd like Lee Child's Jack Reacher series if you're looking for a page turner :)
For fantasy, Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is awesome. There's 11 books, and he finished the series in 2007.
Singaporean author Catherine Lim is my all-time favourite. Her works are usually used in Asian literature textbooks. Check out The Serpent's Tooth - that book is a huge hit.
While not thrillers, I recommend any of Wally Lambs 3 fiction works. Currently reading "The Hour I first believed" -- loving it.
Original Post by vanexxag:
The Harry Potter series. They're actually just good mystery novels. The first three books are sort of an introduction, but each book gets "heavier" as you go.
totally second that...the harry potter series will get anyone interested in reading again...especially someone who is already interested in fantasy and wants to get back into reading. Plus you get the added bonus of not having to wait for all the books to come out before finding out what happens.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries - Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
The Twilight Series and The Host by Stephenie Meyers.
Here is a site I belong to www.yareads.com
its pretty good it has young adult books and adult novels too. It has a great selection of books on there.
Have you seen any Patricia Cornwell books? Her lead character is a forensic pathologist so there are plenty of killers and suspense along with a good bit of controled gore.
How far back do you consider "olden days"? I just started rereading "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov, it's a Russian novel with a lot of fantasy elements, but it was written in the 1920's. Some may consider that early modern era (post industrial), but it might be old-timey, depending on your point of view.
If you like fantasy novels then I'd recommend anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Some of her titles are The Mists of Avalon, Firebrand, The Lady of Avalon and The Fall of Atlantis.
Original Post by gem86:
The Twilight Series and The Host by Stephenie Meyers.
As much as I LOVE the Twilight series, the Host is amazing. I really hope Stephanie Meyers writes more soon!Confederacy of Dunces (I can't remeber the author's name) is strange dry humor, I'm almost done and hooked, but not sure if I like it, I just feel compelled to read it.
Dolores Claiborne is probably my favourite Steven King novel, the Stand is good too, but gruesome.
For more passionate books:
Memoirs of a Geisha is a great story
Atonement by Ian McEwan is even better than the movie.
For comedy:
Lamb by Christopher Moore is the story of Jesus aged 0-30, and is hilarious (and ties surprisingly well with the bible's story...)
Anything by Augusten Burroughs
"Olden days?" What's that mean?
Terry Pratchett is the best living fantasy author, hands down.
I recently finsished 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. If you haven't read that yet, I highly recommend it.
Also you might want to check out Terry Goodkind. He has a brilliant series called "The Sword of Truth" that is all about fantasy, action, and adventure. They are some of my favorite books of all time, I definitely also recommend those. Just be sure you pick out the first book in the series and not one from somewhere in the middle like I did!
Have you read Stephen King's Dark Tower series?
I am also a very avid reader, inhaling books at a rate of about 1 each week. Libraries can't keep enough new stock for me, and our nearest large bookstore is a Borders two towns over. So, I end up doing a lot of my book shopping on Amazon. I recommend going to www.amazon.com, clicking the Books link on the left, then searching by category (listed on the left again). You can read summaries and excerpts on a HUGE selection of books to find out what genres and authors inspire you... because if you haven't read for a while it may have changed. My interests have definitely changed over the years.
Anyway, I wanted to issue one warning about the Twilight series recommendations from previous posts. While I personally enjoyed the books, I found them to be misrepresented in the fantasy genre. They may deal in vampires, but the plots are totally typical, syrupy sweet, young adult romance all the way. If you don't like romance, you will not like these books.
I second the Dean Koontz recommendation; his books are real page-turners. Oh, and I do think everyone should read the Harry Potter series, Rowling has an amazing imagination. My personal favorite author is Nora Roberts/JD Robb because she writes great series and trilogy novels; but you have to be careful with her books too, as she often crosses genres from Mystery to Fantasy to Romance.
Good luck in your reading endeavors!
Peter Straub wrote "The Talisman" with Stephen King and I thought it was brilliant. I also liked "Floating Dragon". (I wasn't that impressed with "Bleak House", however).
He's just come out with another book, "A Dark Matter", but I haven't read it (really freaky keeps me from sleeping these days, I'm sad to say).
And if you haven't read Anne Rice (both her Vampire series and her Mayfair witches series) I highly recommend them.
Brandon Sanderson is a great author, read all of his books, but start with Elantris. On his website, he has sample chapters, so you can see how you liked him. brandonsanderson.com
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