Any avid readers here?

[bobby]

I'm looking for new books to read. Of any genre, except maybe trashy romance novels. Something with substance or a wonderful tale (i.e. Les Miserables)

Any recommendations from avid SOFT readers?

 

[hecklerkoch]

Currently rereading some old stuff from Haruki Murakami and for light reading before sleeping, I like to turn to my thick Roald Dahl Treasury which is a gift from an ex-girlfriend.

 

[wren]

These are some of the most enjoyable reads I've come across. Perhaps you'd like to try:
Stephen King's The Dark Tower Series. Seven books in all, not really 'horror' but more of a fantasy-action-suspense-western tale.
Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon.
Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. I had to stop many times though, to look up its esoteric themes -- quite a lot but interesting to find out about.
Richard Matheson's Bid Time Return. It's a romance novel, but not thrashy. Somewhere In Time (the old movie) is based on this.

I think I can go on and on and on...

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Avid reader myself. Check out James Rollins 'Amazon'.

 

[amberhaze]

Have you tried Neil Gaiman?
"American Gods" and "neverwhere" are fantastic, and entertaining to boot.

If you like the much-maligned fantasy genre, "his dark materials" by Philip Pullman is beautiful. That awful Nicole Kidman movie really does not do justice to how inventive and thought-provoking the books are.

To Wren: yes! Foucault's Pendulum is quite unique. And you can see where Dan Brown "borrowed" a lot of ideas i think...

Cheers,
g
www.amberhaze.com

 

[wren]

To Wren: yes! Foucault's Pendulum is quite unique. And you can see where Dan Brown "borrowed" a lot of ideas i think...

hey amberhaze: true, I’ve read Dan Brown’s too, and though it does seem ‘influenced’ by Eco’s, quite fun to read still.

And I do agree, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Neverwhere are pretty good. I’ve also read his quirky Coraline, and his probably most pop, Stardust (forget about the movie versions).

Currently reading, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, maybe after this I might have a go at Philip Pullman’s, was just totally turned off by the movie hype then.

Talking of fantasy, Simon Green’s Blue Moon Rising (of the Forest Kingdom series) may not be that well-known but really worth reading for pleasure.

 

[Whitestrat]

Ever tried reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card? It's worth reading. It's become a cult book on psychology, and is used as literature text in some US Unis.

The best bit? it's a science fiction novel that spawned an amazing line of story which is still being expanded up to today.

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

For Fantasy, Raymond E Feist is always good. "Magician" should be the book anyone reads before reading the rest.

 

[metaldude]

I'm now reading this book titled 'Crusade'.its a story about 2 boys,one an arab muslim and another an english christian whose path crossed during the christian crusade of jurusalem.Stayed awake the whole night last night reading it.a great read dude!

 

[Stan_Kumar]

if you're a fan of the horror genre, Robert Bloch's the man.

Clive Barker's books of blood are decent stuff too. Much better than the movie adaption!

But when it comes to crime books, I'd highly suggest you check out Harlen Coben. Gone for Good, Tell No One and his Myron Bolitar series are brilliant!

 

[theliverevolution]

Crime books of my choice would be Ian Rankin's Detective Rebus series. It has this dark undertone to most of their books, although it sometimes portrays Scotland too much in a dark light. It has qutie a few underlying themes as well subtlely written into it as well

Another book that one should enjoy reading should be The Dark Materials trilogy. I read it as a piece of literature. Why read the book instead of the movie? The movie horrendously takes out the whole part about Lyra's development from a girl to a woman, which is THE core to the whole story