Books to Recommend

[BlackButterfly]

I read "The Picture of Dorian Grey", and I concur--that is an AWESOME story... I think that's one of the few books where I would tell people to shut up while I'm reading...

...and since I am a cornucopia of randomness when it comes to reading, I shall also recommend:
::rummages through bookshelf::
::books go a-flyin'::

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Windmaster's Bane by Tom Deitz (it has faeries!)
The Green Mile by Stephen King (better than the movie!)
The Death Gate Cycle (7-book series) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Wizard of the Grove by Tanya Huff
Beowulf (and subsequently, Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead)
The Odyssey by Homer
any collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works

...and if you're into manga at all, I highly recommend xxxholic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles (two excellent series that are independent of each other but have places where the storylines cross over)

[Splintered]

Of Mice and Men. I know it's really short, but it went by really fast, and at the end, it just made me think. And not just, "Oh, I'm thinking about the world", but it really brought up some specific events in my mind, that revolve around my friends, and who I've betrayed, and the things I've had to do, that I didn't want to, but were for the best. It's just, an amazing book.

Anyway, my favorites:
Paradise Lost I and II by John Milton, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric. S. Raymond.

[Toni]

Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Redemption by Wayne Sharrocks and The Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite are all pretty good reads.

[Paper_Wings]

One really good book I just finished not to long ago was "Dancing on the edge." I loved it. when I first started reading it I wasn't to sure about whether I would like it or not, but later on I began to get sucked into it more and more. I highly recommend it.

[MollyMac]

"To a God Unknown" by John Steinbeck. Rather, the entirety of Steinbeck is to be recommended.

Thomas Ligotti's "Nightmare Factory", RIchard Matheson's "I am Legend"; Hurstons' "Their Eyes were Watching God"; Anne Sexton's "Transformations", Tennyson's "Idylls of the KIng"

[Godslayer Jillian]

Care to indulge me in a description of "To a God Unknown" and "Their Eyes were Watching God"?
They intrigue me.

[MollyMac]

"Their Eyes were watching God" is Hurston's best work, detailing the life of a black woman in Florida early in the twentieh century. It is not so much the story itself, which is heartwrenching, and the quest for love, it is Hurston's career as an anthropologist that lets the setting and the culture shine.

"To a God Unknown" is more emotive Steinbeck than usual. Man versus land, man becomes land, man is land.... This Steinbeck is more about reaction than about action, and finding God where you can because God is never where you expect him to be. Not that it is a religious book, just themed with diety

[MollyMac]

Sorry to double-post, but I just picked up CHarles deLint's "Widdershins"- three pages in, and I am hooked, as in all of deLint's work. He's a light read and has created a beautiful universe of blended mythology, cultures and magic. Very modern fantasy, extremely well done. His book, "The Little Country" is among the best fantasy ever written.

[Morphia]

Here are a few books/writers that I've enjoyed, only a few because there really are so many. I've spent most of my life with a book in my hand, spend all your time like that and you get through a lot of books.

Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice - not such a big fan of the others in the series but I really liked this one.

Transformation, Carol Berg - new writer and this is her first book, its really good. Fantasy, but not with a usual plot and enough angst and darkness to make me very happy.

The Dark Elf series, R.A. Salvatadore - these books have been mentioned already, they're very simply written and are really bog standerd fantasy with dwarfs, monsters etc. but the main charector is genuis and because he's in it I love these books.

The Reliquary Ring, Cheryl ....- brilliant book, half sci-fi and half fantasy and set in Venice. Amazing.

There's deffinently a ton more books that I could recommend but I just can't think of any. Typical !

[Toni]

Classics from George Orwell, Patrick Suskind, E.A. Poe, Bram Stoker & Mary Shelley are well worth checking out at some point.
As for more contemporary writers with a passion for dark prose-check out Poppy Z.Brite, Anne Rice, Wayne Sharrocks or Charlaine Harris.

[bleedingheart344]

Stereotypical, I know, but I am currently reading the Necronomicon, it's very cool, it's like a form of mythology, really.

[MollyMac]

"Grania" by Morgan Llewellyn, one of my favorite Historical Fiction authors. A re-telling of one of my heroes.. Grainuaile or Grainne Mhaol or Grace O'Malley...

[bleedingheart344]

You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? Super spright, I'm not caught up in any sort of label. And besides, look who's talking. That being said, if you consider what I am doing such a disgrace, look around you, does anyone care? No. You're the only person giving me crap for what I do. You're just pathetic and I really am unsure why I am responding to your nonsensical insults.

[the_ink_bleeds_faster]

House of leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a good one. A little confusing, but a good one.

[Momerath]

Originally Posted by WitchHunter

As much as my friends tend to diss it, Alice in Wonderland is a great book. *before Disney got ahold of it of course

Alice in Wonderland is my most favorite book, ever!



I really liked the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding. But I don't know if that is good literature or not. I don't read much outside of school.