Reading Recommendations

Silvio

Administrator

Posts: 656

Location: Grisons

Occupation: Student

1

Tuesday, December 8th 2009, 2:28pm

Perhaps it's interesting what the other guys out there like - because of recommendations from foreigner I read books I never would read otherwise... so what do you read?

I adore all books from Ken Follett, George Orwell and of course the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Actually I'm reading "1984" by George Orwell - pretty intriguing!

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels. - Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

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Virus

Unregistered

2

Tuesday, December 15th 2009, 7:04pm

merle

If you read "1984" perhaps you'll like Protected men by Robert Merle...I've read it and really liked it. Let's give it a try..

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zatimi

Trainee

Posts: 71

Location: Malaysia

Occupation: English Language Instructor/Teacher in College

3

Wednesday, December 16th 2009, 4:59am

Tuesdays with morrie

hi there silvio and the gang, since i'm a teacher i need to suggest you to read Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Morrie". It's an interesting short novel about how we view things in this world with a lot of appreciation if we know we we're gonna die and use the time left to really live. It is a great motivation for us young people. When we are healthy we do not know how to appreciate that well, this book will take you to whole another dimension when you understand the writer's point of view. It is not expensive, i guess you should grab a copy! Enjoy!

cheers, zatimi
Malaysia

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Silvio

Administrator

Posts: 656

Location: Grisons

Occupation: Student

4

Wednesday, December 16th 2009, 7:51am

Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Morrie"? "Protected Men" written by Robert Merle? So I have to look for these books... I haven't heard about these before - quite interesting! So thanks for your recommendations!

Does somebody know Ken Follett or John Grisham? I have a couple of books from these two authors and they are really good in my eyes. I think both are quite famous nowadays... at least here in Europe.

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels. - Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

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Nike

Moderator

Posts: 611

Location: the Netherlands

Occupation: Student

5

Wednesday, December 16th 2009, 9:08am

I have World without end, and pillars of the earth by Follet, but couldn't find the time yet to read those

Atm I'm quite into action/archaeo/eco-thrillers, while before I was more into historical fiction.

A literature book I always recommend is 'Beyond Sleep' ('Nooit meer slapen') by the Dutch author Willem Frederik Hermans. It's a very interesting book, about a slightly paranoia geologists who has to go to Scandinavia for his thesis, but everything works against him and he sees conspiracies everywhere xD

Another book I can recommend is Deception Point by Dan Brown, it's one of the less known books. I can't appreciate the fact that the Da Vinci Code is extremely overhyped and most people say his other books are derived from that one, while DVC was actually the forth book of his xD. About Deception Point: Action, conspiracies and plot-twists, that's enough said

Besides these books there are a lot of other ones recommendable, but I'll di that another time

"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero

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arianne_nl

Moderator

Posts: 714

Location: The Netherlands

Occupation: Student/Mailwoman

6

Tuesday, December 22nd 2009, 3:26pm

The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch (over a 1000 pages but I loved it) originally it's Dutch, called: de Ontdekking van de Hemel.

Just be yourself, there are enough 'others'!

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And most probably got my BA degree!! yaaaay!

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Sairelia

Beginner

Posts: 1

Location: Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Occupation: full-time student

7

Tuesday, December 22nd 2009, 8:48pm

My favorite book is "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind... It's quite short but a very interesting one.
It really depends on the genre...
For an autobiography, "The Autobiography of Malcolm-X" is great.
Fantasy, "A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray will have you reading the trilogy of the story that begins with this book...
"Wicked Lovely" is cool for fans of fantasy also...

I am currently reading the autobiography of Carl Jung... very good indeed!

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Sara

Intermediate

Posts: 119

Location: Switzerland

Occupation: Student

8

Tuesday, December 22nd 2009, 9:27pm

I'm reading The Witcher books from Andrzej Sapkowski. There are about 7 books with the witcher Geralt as protagonist. Two books with shortstories and 5 with a really complex fantasy story. It's not fully translated in English and German, they're still doing it. If you like fantasy, I really recommend it to you. It has a really interesting protagonist, Geralt isn't really the typical hero. The story is dark, sometimes really bloody, and the author has a great humor (in my opinion). It's not really for children, and there is also a computer game about Geralt (but another story).

I also recommend Terry Pratchett who also has a very nice sense of humor!

声が枯れるまで。。。歌おう。

Let's sing until our voices die out...

-Amber- dir en grey

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Silvio

Administrator

Posts: 656

Location: Grisons

Occupation: Student

9

Thursday, May 27th 2010, 10:26am

I've just read books from James Clavell and he's an excellent author! Look out for 'Noble House' and 'Shogun'. The books are quite heavy and you'll read for ages, but it's totally worth it. You should just love to read otherwise you won't manage it.

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels. - Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

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arianne_nl

Moderator

Posts: 714

Location: The Netherlands

Occupation: Student/Mailwoman

10

Thursday, May 27th 2010, 3:02pm

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

Just be yourself, there are enough 'others'!

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And most probably got my BA degree!! yaaaay!

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Nike

Moderator

Posts: 611

Location: the Netherlands

Occupation: Student

11

Saturday, May 29th 2010, 12:30pm

^You can't walk into a bookshop without seeing that one haha, though I still haven't read it. Why is it a must-read?

This week I started in Pillars of the Earth, but didn't manage it further that page 30 or so, I will read it sometime, but at the moment I have some other books in the waitinglist

Other recommendable books.. (well, ofcourse depends on your own taste

)
- Der Schwarm/The Swarm by Frank Schätzing; an eco-thriller in which earth takes its revenge on humanity by nature-attacks. Sounds a bit weird, but the book is really cool. Tho you should have some time to read, because it's 700-900 pages long and it has some slightly boring passages, but most of the time it's quite an entertaining story.

-Temple by Matthew Reilly: Fast paced action thriller with enough plot-twists and some conspiracy-ish scenes. No time to be bored during the story

. Nice fact is that the story intertwines 2 storylines, 1 from the time of conquistadores in South America and 1 set in 'present' time, 1999, so if your a bit fed up with the weaponry etc. of the present story line, you have some intermezzos that have a bit more story

"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero

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arianne_nl

Moderator

Posts: 714

Location: The Netherlands

Occupation: Student/Mailwoman

12

Saturday, May 29th 2010, 2:54pm

because it's a quick read, it has a good message and it drags you into the story in a simple way. That's why you just have to read it ;-)

Just be yourself, there are enough 'others'!

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And most probably got my BA degree!! yaaaay!

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Silvio

Administrator

Posts: 656

Location: Grisons

Occupation: Student

13

Saturday, May 29th 2010, 3:02pm

Pillars of the Earth? That's just an amazing book! Take your time and read it! You have to... at least it's one of my favourite books. And don't forget the sequel: 'World without End'. I haven't read it though... it's in front of my but first I have to finish 'Shogun' by James Clavell. But at least it sounds pretty interesting... it'll be my next one.

I've heard of 'The Alchemist' but I haven't managed to read it. It sounds like my book list is getting longer and longer.

And... no idea about your recommendations Nike. 'Fast paced action thriller' sounds pretty good though!

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels. - Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

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Nike

Moderator

Posts: 611

Location: the Netherlands

Occupation: Student

14

Saturday, May 29th 2010, 10:57pm

We also have Shogun on our shelf (my parents have a huge amount of books, let's say slightly more then the common household

). My mom also recommended it to me. But as you stated your list is getting longer and longer, so is mine

Waitinglist for the moment (the frist one heas most priority

, order of therest of the list can be changed) :
- Five Greatest Warriors - Matthew Reilly (3/3 of the Jack West Jr. series. The 2nd one ended with a major cliff-hanger, tho I finished it in september, and now still have to wait for the book to come out in the Netherlands

)
- Area 7 - Matthew Reilly (2/3)
- Scarecrow - MR (3/3)
- Pillars - Ken Follet
- Limit - Frank Schätzing
- Korona - Thomas Thiemeyer (but it'll be released in October, so I still have some time in between

)

And with Pillars counting 1000 pages and Limit 1300, I think I won't have to be bored for some time

@ Silvio: Those books can be a nice change of genre, but if you read too many of the genre, some books are getting predictable, tho, be prepared for also some unexpected scenes

"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero

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local_lad

Beginner

Posts: 2

15

Wednesday, June 9th 2010, 12:09pm

A Girly book - but well worth a read

I can recommend "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks,
Okay - so its a romance novel, but its well worth the read, there is a movie out called the same name and its based on the book (for those of you who want a "readers digest" version!)

Tissues may well be required! (You're warned!)

:thumbsup:

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arianne_nl

Moderator

Posts: 714

Location: The Netherlands

Occupation: Student/Mailwoman

16

Wednesday, June 9th 2010, 12:10pm

I'm definitely going to try it

Saw the movie and really liked it!

Thanks for posting it here!

Just be yourself, there are enough 'others'!

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And most probably got my BA degree!! yaaaay!

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Nike

Moderator

Posts: 611

Location: the Netherlands

Occupation: Student

17

Wednesday, June 9th 2010, 6:40pm

Sounds good! Haven't even seen the film yet... Perhaps a good opportunity to have a temporary change of genre

Have you also read A walk to remember, also by NS? I have seen the movie of that one (man, sad movie :O ), but haven't read the book yet, but plan to.

"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero

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samir88

Intermediate

Posts: 187

Location: Here !

18

Saturday, June 12th 2010, 9:05pm

"A Tale of Two Cities" is a novel by Charles Dickens
Allllllll Dan Brown books ( I didn't read his last novel yet "The lost symbol" )

They are really amazing ( Special "Angels and demons" )

He has his own official site, Check it and u will like his games

http://www.danbrown.com

Keep your friends close, you will always need them

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Sara

Intermediate

Posts: 119

Location: Switzerland

Occupation: Student

19

Saturday, June 12th 2010, 9:52pm

If you like psychothrillers, trashy and bloody books, I would recommend you "in the miso soup" from Murakami Ryu. I read it because I heard about some people who felt nauseous when they read some scenes. It really is not something for poeple with weak nerves. But well, it is just one scene in the whole book which is like this (the other thing is, I was somehow afraid of one character, he was just so scary, even if he didn't do anything at the beginning...>_>).
The other book which goes into this category (I'd say so) is "the face of the death" from Cody Mcfayden. I couldn't stop reading it, it was so addictive. I'm not really a person who can't stand much, but this book was really really hard to handle it. But I liked it!

声が枯れるまで。。。歌おう。

Let's sing until our voices die out...

-Amber- dir en grey

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Nike

Moderator

Posts: 611

Location: the Netherlands

Occupation: Student

20

Monday, July 26th 2010, 3:03pm

Recommendation for Silvio

:
Have you heard of "Cathedral of the Sea" by the Spanish author Ildefonso Falcones? I think it's like The Pillars of the Earth, at least the same genre etc., so it might be an option for you

. I'm going to read it

"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero

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