[Sixstrings]

Well this is on my mind lately.. hard for me to find a good novel to read anymore.

I'd gotten out of the habit of reading for probably the last six odd years to be honest. Browsing the bookstore and finding something I like used to be regular activity for me.. got busier with life in general plus bookstores began changing, the selection just gone gone gone.

I can't seem to find anything on Amazon I like.

Somebody recommended Windup Girl on this forum, thanks for that.. was worth reading but still flawed.

So this thread is an opportunity for everyone to share some random suggestions, doesn't have to be dystopic or doom related, just GOOD solid novels. Try to avoid the classics we've all probably read or stuff too old.

I'll start it off with some suggestions:


http://www.amazon.com/Continental-Drift-P-S-Russell-Banks/dp/0060854944/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305403361&sr=1-1-fkmr0
Just a novel about an out of work boiler repairman in Pennsylvania who moves to Florida to work for his brother in law's chain of liquor stores, and a poor Haitian woman and her journey to Florida, the two characters eventually meeting up in tragedy. Sounds boring but it's not, a solid novel from a very good writer. I tried some of Russell Banks other stuff and it didn't grab me but this book I can recommend.


http://www.amazon.com/First-Man-Rome-Colleen-Mccullough/dp/0061582417/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305402563&sr=8-1

If you love history and / or warfare novels with good battle scenes, the first three in this series are splendid. First Man, Grass Crown, Fortune's Favorites, the fourth one "Caesars's Women" was solid, then as I recall the rest of the series is not so good. But the first three at least I can highly recommend.

McCullough is a good writer overall.. her "A Creed for the Third Millenium" was pretty good, sort of dystopic -- a future America dealing with a new Ice Age.

Some of Harry Turtledove's alternate history fiction is a good read:


http://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Harry-Turtledove/dp/0345384687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305403016&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Two-Georges-Novel-Alternate-America/dp/0812544595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305403116&sr=1-1

And lastly.. pretty much every James Michener novel, but I assume everyone's either read him or figured out you don't like him. "Poland" is especially good, but they're all great.. Alaska is another good one, also Mexico, Carib.

I'd like to read some good doomer fiction, but it has to stand on its own as a good novel.. I have a feeling Kunstler's novels may disappoint, but I may have to finally give them a try.

[Ferretlover]

As for Kunstler: World made by hand is rather boring. Parts of it made me think it was a "poor cousin" to Alas, Babylon.

[Quinny]

So many but I'm currently enjoying Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. Scaringly predictive!

[truecougarblue]

The entire 25 volumes of the Master and Commander series by O'Brian. If you even mildly enjoyed the movie you will love these books. A masterpiece of historical fiction.

[Pops]

"City of Thieves" by Benioff is a pretty good story set in Leningrad during the German siege. It isn't light reading but it is engrossing, I wish my library had more of his books.

[ColossalContrarian]

For Entertainment purposes I suggest "World War Z" by Max Brooks

This is a good book to enjoy with a glass of whiskey.

[drgoodword]

Some of these are a little older, but imo make for good reading if you haven't come across them yet (in no particular order):

1) Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
This masterpiece by a Canadian literary great is widely proscribed in Canadian high schools but it's not dry. And if you like it, it's the first book of a trilogy, so you've got two more almost as good novels to read (The Manticore & World Of Wonders).

2) Bonfire Of The Vanities - Tom Wolfe
One of the best novels of the 80's, which was unfortunately made into a terrible movie.

3) Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInernay
The other great New York novel of the 80's (the other being Bonfire). A genius use of second person narrative.

4) Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A beautiful work by the master of South American magic realism.

5) The Unbearable Lightness Of Being - Milan Kundera
A masterwork of metafiction set in the Prague Spring.

6) The Remains Of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
A little slow-paced and introspective for some, but a wonderful meditation on Englishness, butlering and coming to terms with misplaced trust and mistaken assumptions.

7) Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow
Turow's best and one of the best courtroom dramas ever written.

[Crazy_Dad]

I am a Scf-Fi Fan, in no particular order:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen
Probably my favorite

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

All of Clarke and Asimov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon
Anything by this Author is good

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
Any of these are good.

[SFDukie]

[SFDukie]