posted on August 11, 2000 05:29:08 PM new
Okay I have 3 more weeks left of the summer and have finished reading all the things I planned on reading. Any suggestions for good books I may not have heard of.
I read mysteries and all that Oprah book club crap, historical fiction, GOOD science fiction, horror and I'm really kind of open for anything that might be a really good book. (OOps, no romance, I prefer not to be a spectator but a participant in that)
Any suggestions?
posted on August 11, 2000 05:59:11 PM new
Lousiana Power and Light by John Dufresne...freaky small town Southern stuff with curious twists and turns. Very funny too. One of my favorites.
Once a Warrior King by David Donovan. Vietnam. Very real language about a guy's experience there and not a technical book.
Mortal Fear by Greg Iles. Chat room stalking.
The Chamber by John Grisham.
Nightwatcher by Charles Wilson. (I stayed up all night.) About a murder and a mental hospital.
I could make a LONG list but those are a few that might appeal to you and that I really liked. Not new ones but good ones.
I have also read some of the Left Behind series. (End times.) They are really good for a while and then...it gets a little old before you get to the 6th one or so.
posted on August 11, 2000 06:00:44 PM new
Anything by Anne Rice...the Lestat books are good...so is the Witching Hour series. Also my favorite is SWAN SONG by Robert McGammon. If you liked The Stand, then youre going to LOVE Swan Song.
posted on August 11, 2000 06:01:59 PM newAnything by Jorge Luis Borges! Great short stories.
I just finished a novel that I really enjoyed called A Trip to the Stars by Nicholas Christopher. Magical realism.
The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. A really interesting examination of fundamentalism in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
I forgot The Brothers Karamazov!
[ edited by snowyegret on Aug 11, 2000 06:05 PM ]
posted on August 11, 2000 07:40:53 PM new
If you're in the mood for a good laugh, any of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books is a good bet. The latest, The Fifth Elephant, is hilarious!
----
Smile. It makes people wonder what you\'ve been up to.
Not "cybercat".
posted on August 11, 2000 07:56:36 PM newDon't read Hannibal, Thomas Harris's sequel to Silence of the Lambs. It was awful. No wonder Jodie Foster declined to reprise her role as Clarice Starling for the movie.
posted on August 11, 2000 08:21:03 PM new
Both, Maui. I'd read somewhere that Harris never wanted to write the dang thing, but they offered him ALOT of money. He had the last laugh. Terrible book!
I recommend any of Greg Iles or John Katzenbach. My absolute favorite are the "Mallory" books by Carol O'Connell, and also "The Judas Child" which is not a "Mallory" title, but will take your breath away. Beautiful book.
Maui, did you read "A Boy's Life"? I think it was also by Robert McCammon. Excellent book.
posted on August 11, 2000 08:24:05 PM newMaui: "Awful" as in Harris attempted to explain away Lecter's behavior. He also rewrote Clarice so that she would behave in a way that was completely opposite of how she behaved in "Silence of the Lambs". The book was a great disappointment, almost like Harris was writing it just to make those who clamored for more Lecter happy.
posted on August 11, 2000 08:41:36 PM new
Maui, I have heard you say "Swan Song" about...ummm...several times now. I was somewhere else the other day and someone has a ummm...thing called "Swan Song" going. Do you work under that name anywhere? If so do you admit it? LOL I thought of you anyway.
Where are Jim's 20 lbs of rocks btw? Just checking.
T
posted on August 11, 2000 10:38:21 PM new
Ditto on Hannibal. What a pile of muck. I am still kicking myself for rushing out and buying that in hardcover. Hell, it isn't even worth the price of a paperback.
If you are a John Sandford fan, and want to remain one, stay clear of his latest, Easy Prey. He is most definitely losing his edge, which is hard to watch...
posted on August 11, 2000 10:41:43 PM newHannibal was just an abysmal failure all the way around. I read it simply because it was the next installment in what has become a series. Not even a very good series. That'll learn me.
All the great horror writers have gone away. Stephen King hasn't written anything worthwhile since Pet Sematary: Peter Straub, not since Ghost Story ... Anne Rice (sorry, Maui, LOL) has become a caricature of herself -- I think the only reason she puts out books anymore is so that her husband's lousy poems get printed somewhere ...
One of my favorite horror novels, if you can find an old used copy of it, is The Elementals by Michael McDowell. Came out in the '80s. Worth the search.
ubb
[ edited by spazmodeus on Aug 11, 2000 10:46 PM ]
posted on August 11, 2000 10:44:23 PM new
Ack, Julesy, don't ever pay retail for a hardcover bestseller. Wait a month till after it comes out, then pick it up on eBay for $3-5, since there are usually so many copies of bestsellers for sale.
posted on August 11, 2000 10:54:18 PM new
Does anyone know of anymore Internet oriented thrillers besides Mortal Fear? (I am sort of into that.)
I love reading. I always hate the endings. It's not THAT they end. The endings always just go to muck. It's like the writer gets tired 3/4 of the way through and spits out some really sorry junk. I hate that. Sometime s I actually read 3/4 love it and throw it away when it gets crappy...just once in a while.
T
posted on August 12, 2000 07:31:25 AM new
"Anne Rice (sorry, Maui, LOL) has become a caricature of herself -- I think the only reason she puts out books anymore is so that her husband's lousy poems get printed somewhere ..."
LOL! Im glad Im not the only one who thought that...and no, I wont buy Hannibal now, because Silence of the Lambs was awesome and I dont want to ruin it (similar to the Gone With The Wind, part two...leave well enough alone, you know?)...Terri, I push Swan Song because its an excellent book and I re-read it often, just as I do The Stand. I dont know what your talking about pertaining to whatever it is you said about someone else doing something(?), lol. Your rocks are still at the beach..lots of stuff going on and havent had a chance. Will go soon, I promise...Yes KatyD, I have read Boys Life...I have read ALL McGammons books. Trust me folks...gotta read Swan Song.
I hear that King and Straub are teaming up for another PART TWO book for The Talisman...another awesome book. Hear theres going to be a movie too. Check out Kings website for info...www.stephenking.com.
posted on August 12, 2000 08:06:36 AM new
Seconding Julesy's comment about John Sandford. This last Prey book was more concerned with Davenport's high school level love life than the mystery, which was actually quite pedestrian compared to the rest of the series.
Is it my imagination or are a lot of the big name authors, especially authors of series, in a creative dry spell? I've read a lot of books lately that simply don't have the same "can't put it down" factor as the earlier books. You know it's bad when you start rooting for the bad guy, just so things will liven up in the book.
posted on August 12, 2000 09:08:44 AM new
Shadowcat,
I think success destroys them. Hungry no more, they stop writing from the heart and instead start contemplating their belly buttons. Maybe all they ever really had was two or three good books in them, but multi-book contracts and the allure of huge paychecks induce them to keep producing even after the well runs dry. Since the authors themselves don't know when to stop, it's up to the readers to know when to say enough. I haven't bought a Stephen King novel in years. I couldn't even be bothered to check his last few out of the library. Now he's caught up in the gimmick of internet publishing. This may sound terrible, but I was hoping that his near-death encounter with a van would have put him back in touch with his mortality and shown him that despite all he has gained, he is just one twist of fate away from losing everything. Thought maybe it would jolt him back to basics.
As for the collaboration with Straub, yuck. Two has-beens trying to squeeze some more bucks out of a mediocre novel they did twenty years ago (guess all the years they spent saying they would not do a sequel was just a means of getting the publishers to up the ante).
Believe me, I wish I wasn't so cynical about these two. They used to be heroes of mine.
posted on August 12, 2000 10:54:34 AM newSpaz: What's sad about that is there are writers out there who have probably written the "can't put it down" books a lot of us crave but can't get published or are published in an extremely limited manner because most of the publisher's money goes to the big name authors who keep churning out less and less satisfying books.
Unfortunately, the publishers keep paying the authors because the books do keep selling, regardless of whether they're any good or not.
I know what you mean about King. You'd think he'd have got some mileage out of his accident but it doesn't seem that way. I haven't bought any King in years and don't remember if I've ever read any Straub(If I have, it certainly didn't leave an impression, did it?).
posted on August 12, 2000 11:23:13 AM new
I have to agree about King...he just doesnt do good ones anymore, although The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption were two excellent ones and also great movies. The Gunslinger books are "out of site, out of mind" and he sorta let them ride off into the sunset, which was a bit disappointing. I havent read a good "cant put it down" book in a LONG time. Im afraid to watch the Talisman movie, because they will ruin it like they did IT, which is another one that I really liked. I was in "The Barrens" along with all the other kids when Pennywise was terrorizing them...the scenes he portrayed. Sadly, King just doesnt do that anymore. I havent bought any of his books in years. Anne Rice is shoving out the Vampire series and to me, they are BORING. I get the idea she is on a time limit also. Bummer.
posted on August 12, 2000 11:51:19 AM new
Thanks for all the great ideas. I go to the book store tomorrow and now have lots of options.
I agree about Anne Rice. I used to love her books , Steven Kings too.I think they both need a vacation.
Poor Anne just seemed angry at God in the last book of hers I read.I felt like I was reading the work of someone more dysfunctional than the characters.It wasn't always like that in her books.And her husband's poetry ...don't get me started. Maybe once you reach that kind of status you forget that every word you write is not golden.
Thanks guys I got some really great ideas. I spent the first part of the summer reading and rereading a lot of the classics. Now it is time for sheer fun.(Not that the classics are not fun, just a bit heavy sometimes)
posted on August 12, 2000 12:07:53 PM new
Okay, I spent the last few posts crabbing about authors who disappoint me, so this time I'll focus on a couple whose books always leave me feeling like I got my money's worth:
Andrew Vachss: His series of Burke novels is incredible. In real life, Vachss is a an attorney specializing in fighting the sexual victimization of children. He is perhaps the nation's number one foe of pedophiles and child pornographers. (Visit his website at http://www.vachss.com) In his novels, Flood, Strega, Blue Belle, Hard Candy, Down In the Zero, Shadow of the Hawk, Safe House, etc., his character Burke, a New York City mercenary, takes on the creeps who sexually molest and exploit children. What's scariest about the books is that Vachss is writing from real life experience. He knows better than anyone exactly what is going on behind closed doors and that it's happening everywhere from the wealthiest suburbs to the worst inner city slums. It's sometimes hard stuff to read, but so well written and expertly paced that it's almost impossible not to.
Michael Slade: Michael Slade started out as the pseudonym of three or four Vancouver attorneys who specialize in crimes of homicide and violence. They all got together and started writing novels together about fifteen years ago. Their books focus on a special crime unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and its chief investigators. The cases frequently interweave sexual psychopaths, bizarre homicides, history, technology, and high adventure. Novels include Headhunter, Ghoul, Ripper, Cutthroat, Evil Eye, and a couple others whose titles elude me at the moment. Slade's an acquired taste. The first few novels in the series are occasionally hard to follow. But by the third or fourth book he really picks up steam. Part of the reason may be that over the years the writing became less a group effort and is now in the hands of just one of the original three, so maybe that's why the books are now more cohesive. Despite the drawbacks early on, I'd still say go and read the Slade books. They make Thomas Harris and Hannibal look like Humpty Dumpty.
posted on August 12, 2000 12:29:40 PM new
Oooh. I always like new authors to try. Thanks, Spaz. I think you and I have similar reading tastes(although I'll read just about anything.).
Anything by Jorge Luis Borges! Great short stories.
