I'm looking for something new to read. I've read most of my books at least enough times to remeber the endings a little too well sometimes. I've done the Twilight series and the mary higgins clark and carol higgins clark series as well to name a couple. I just need a new book to read. So what would you recommend?
Well, you're not giving us a whole lot to work with, but if you liked Twilight you might want to try some other vampire fiction. I enjoy the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, starting with
Dead Until Dark. It's urban fantasy, but has a much lighter tone. If you want more traditional urban fantasy (which is much darker), you could try Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series which starts with Guilty Pleasures.
Since you seem to like the Clarks who I believe write mysteries/thrillers, you could try an author who writes similar material such as Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, J.D. Robb, Harlan Coben, or John Sandford. If you want a little less mystery and a little more horror, try Dean Koontz or Stephen King.
You also seem to enjoy fantasy and young adult fiction, so I would personally recommend one of my favorites, the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence by
Scott Lynch. The first book is
The Lies of Locke Lamora and there are only two out at the moment (the third one will hopefully be coming out soon and it's supposed to be a series of I believe seven books). It's not a traditional fantasy and it's more on the adult end of young adult fiction, but it's fantastic.
I hope I helped just a little bit! :P
Message edited by its author, Jul 19, 2009, 11:06pm.
If you just want my top five favorite books, here you go!
Gone With The Wind - my all-time favorite.
Mistborn - this is a fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. He's a genius. Read anything by him.
The Hunger Games - young adult fiction. Probably the very best thing I read last year.
Outlander - a huge epic historical romance series. I love 'em.
The Tea Rose - another epic romantic tale. So good.
I don't know if our tastes are similar, but these are what I'm always recommending to customers at the bookstore where I work.
Maybe you'd also enjoy the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman, if you like a little bit of fantasy and mystery.
Those are my favorite books!
Message edited by its author, Jul 22, 2009, 12:49pm.
Hmmmm, tricky things, recommendations. It's so hard to make any unless you know someone well, so I'll settle for giving you MY top 5 and if any of them sound good to you, well, so much the better!
1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - a witty, flamboyant, yet darkly gothic tale of excess... the movie's coming out soon too so if you'll be seeing it, read it first!
2)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt - a group of brilliant misfits let their obsessions get out of hand until they end up guilty of murder.
3)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Books and Barcelona and literary mystery all rolled into one delicious novel.
4)
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman - a magical book about an icy woman who has been struck by lightning, who meets with another lightning victim, a burning man, and how they reawaken each other.
5)
A Book Addict's Treasury by Lynda Murphy and Julie Rugg - a delicious little anthology or commonplace book of well chosen paragraphs and quotes and book extracts, all on the joys of books and reading.
I have noticed that many previous posts mentioned C. Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries. I too was a lover of Twilight and searched to fill a void after my completion of Breaking Dawn. Dead Until Dark the first book in the series definately helped me move on from Twilight.
Other books I would recommend would be Honeymoon by James Patterson, The Eight by Katherine Neville, Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice, and Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz. All either great thriller, mystery, or supernatural reads. Good Luck!
I highly recommend
The China Garden by Liz Berry if you haven't already picked it up. If you liked the Twilight series you'll definitely enjoy this book. It has the romance in an Edward/Bella meant for each other kind of way, a slight supernatural feel along with mystery and suspense.
Timeline by Michael Crichton is a great read. I don't know if that will fit your tastes though, I'm an Archaeology major and find the book fascinating as well as extremely suspenseful.
I know it's already been mentioned but I also picked up
Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris and recommend that series as well.
I'm guessing most people have but, if you haven't ever read
The Count of Monte Cristo in school or otherwise I would suggest picking that up as well. It's one of my all time favorites, it doesn't quite match your description of what you like, but I feel we similar tastes.
Lastly, if you're a fan of
Pride and Prejudice,
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is highly amusing and a puts a nice twist on a beloved classic.
and to recap:
1.
The China Garden by Liz Berry
2.
Timeline by Michael Crichton
3.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
4.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen
5.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
I read
The China Garden from my school library, and although I can't remember anything about it - character, plot, nothing - I get such a happy, fuzzy feeling when I think of it that I know I must have loved it. I should find it again!
ETA: OK, that made it sound like a forgettable book, so I should add, that was about eight years ago!
Message edited by its author, Aug 3, 2009, 5:03am.
If you like Twilight you should try Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. It's a series there are 4 books out right now and two more on the way. If you like the author is planning on doing a spin off with more books. You could also try the Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine. The Darkest Power series by Kelley Armstrong is also good.
In no particular order...
-
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin---A severely underrated book. The NYTimes reviewer wrote that this book made him feel nervous, in a way he'd never felt before, of inadequately displaying the brilliance of this story. Me too, so I'll leave it at that.
-
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy---Maybe my favorite McCarthy novel. It's suitably bleak, but not depressing. Nor is it nearly as violent as most of his other stuff. It's a truly fascinating portrait of dirt-poor Knoxville, TN
-
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges---There's really nothing else quite like Borges. Some of the best short fiction anybody has ever written.
-
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien---This one's probably the least accessible of the 5. It's about an author whose characters rebel against him, among other things.
-
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner---Maybe my favorite Faulkner. I will note that some people find this novel really hard, but I found it remarkably easy for Faulkner. In place of chapter numbers, each chapter begins with one of the characters' names and is told entirely in that character's 'brain voice.'
These aren't my absolute favorite books necessarily, although I do love them all.
My top five at the moment is in no particular order:
The little mermaid. The original version, not the disneyfied one. The ending is so beautiful in the original.
The will of the empress. My favourite of all the books by Tamora Pierce
Where rainbows end by
Cecelia Ahern. My favourite chicklit book. Love her book, because they are never just straight romance. There are always something that sets them apart in that genre.
Watchmen. Best comic book ever
The reader, because it really got me thinking.
Top 5 as of right now:
1. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
5. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
The History of Love by nicole Krauss (cheesy title, but awesome book)
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (funny travel writing about australia)
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (gothic, beautiful, haunting, book lover type of story.. i dont really know how to describe it)
City of Theives by David Benioff (story about two boys who are surviving the war in russia by finding eggs for a general's daughters' wedding)
Dancing...what else have you read by Bill Bryson? I just finished In a Sunburned Country and loved it. My next Bryson book is A Short History of Nearly Everything...have you read it? I love how can he can write such educational books in such an entertaining way. Definitely one of my favorite authors.
Yea I actually started with
In a Sunburned Country and then worked my way through all the rest of his books. My second favorite is
A walk in the woods which is great. I also really liked
A Short History of Nearly Everything although damn, get ready for a load of info! And
Life and Times of a Thunderbolt Kid was a lot of fun. The rest of his books after that are only OK (in my opinion), a couple of his other travel ones are kind of.. endless bitching about being cold or lost etc without the humor, so he just sounds sort of unhappy and bitter. That was a sad experience for me, I think he was in a better place when he wrote the Sunburned one. Anyway, thats my two cents!! I hope you enjoy them!
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