I need some great book suggestions. Would you mind telling me your favorite and why?

I hope @Jeruba answers. She is a library.

I really liked The Wishing Game by Patrick Redmond. I think it was a very well written, solid full bodied book, the story was interesting and a bit eerie.

Thank you! I have never heard of that…

If you are interested in cultural literature I may be able to suggest a few. There are some fantastic Native American authors out there. One of my favorites is Louise Erdrich and two of my favorite books of hers are: Love Medicine and Tracks.

If you like light books then I might suggest Garden Spells by Sarah Addison.

Oh dang it is just so hard for me to remember what i’ve read. I enjoy so many.

What is the difference between this question and your previous one?

Many, many people like Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It takes the genre of “apocalypse + antichrist + angels + demons” and turns it on its head…very funny, tongue-in-cheek, and will surprise you (mainly because neither Gaiman nor Pratchett is big on cliches).

If you read that and like it, anything Neil has written is very good, especially Stardust and Neverwhere, for shorter books, and American Gods for a longer (but very very good) book. He’s also written The Sandman comic series, which is just as good as a (very long) novel, but with illustrations.

I’m not familiar with most of Terry Pratchett’s other work, but if you like tongue-in-cheek make-fun-of-the-genre books, you’ll probably like anything he’s written.

And because I feel obligated, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries are both good and satisfying: what could be better than an involved whodunnit?

If you haven’t read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), they are very good, very interesting, very satisfying reads, IF you keep an open mind. The author is an atheist, and that comes through very clearly in his works.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. :D

The World According to Garp-John Irving.
One of my all time favorite books and a very enjoyable and funny read.

Hi, What a great question.
I have a ” library in a folder ” of books that I should read and will have some more, from reading this post.
However, My favorite author for “conversation currency” is Platon. Yeah, the old Greek philosopher. This writer is not famous for his funny and awsome conversation few people amongst each other, but nonetheless, He usually takes up a seemingly simple question and makes a hole universe of possible answer to it, but it will end up being a soluton to it. His books is a Goldmine. Try it.

PS, May God forgive my grammar.

I pretty much like all of Stephen King’s old books, not so much his newer ones. The Stand would be my all time favorite book that he has written. It probably falls into the category of mystery.
Edit: This book is extremely long though, so it might not be something you would want to start right now.

The English Patient ~ Michael Ondaatje
forget the film, this is another experience altogether, one of my very favourite works of literature

My Antonia ~ Willa Cather
ordinary lives, extraordinarily described

Going West and Live Bodies ~ Maurice Gee
one of New Zealand’s finest writers, deserves to be read

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow ~ Peter Hoeg
as unusual and unique as its title might suggest, hugely readable

The Underground Man ~ Mick Jackson
fact and fiction interweave to tell the tale of the eccentric Duke of Portland’s last six months of life, read this and you are doing yourself a favour

The Poisonwood Bible and Animal Dreams ~ Barbara Kingsolver
an intelligent author worthy of investigation

Cider with Rosie ~ Laurie Lee
a classic autobiographical tale, beautifully told

excuse my lack of further explanation as to why I love these books; I find the enchantment of books beyond my power of description

Can you tell us what books you have enjoyed reading in the past so we can make better suggestions for you?
@evegrimm lurve for Neil Gaiman.

Any more info on the following books?

The Poisonwood Bible and Animal Dreams ~ Barbara Kingsolver
an intelligent author worthy of investigation

@larslines I second the Kingsolver books. They are fantastic. I’d add in Prodigal Summer and several other of hers. To look for book descriptions you could go to Amazon.com

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Anything by Stephen King (especially his short stories)

the tale of despereaux by kate dicamillo (the movie did not do it justice)
the miraculous journey of edward tulane by kate dicamillo (made me cry)
the princess bride by william goldman (excellent movie and book)
stardust by neil gaiman (loved both movie and book as well)
a series of unfortunate events by lemony snicket (all 13+ books were very fun to read)
the little prince by antoine de saint-exupery (absolutely lovely and heartbreaking)

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

Sure, I would be happy to point out some of my favorite books so you can get a better idea of what type of books I like… here are some of my faves:

1. The Glass Castle
2. The Secret Life of Bees
3. The Undomestic Goddess -not my FAVORITE, but really funny
4. To Kill a Mocking Bird
5. A Long Way Gone
6. Cry, The Beloved Country
7. Left to Tell

Books I THINK I want to read:
1. Three Cups of Tea
2. Life of Pi
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People
4. How to Talk to a Liberal, if you Must
5. Can you Keep a Secret?
6. The Gatecrasher

@wickedbetty I loved The Glass Castle

I love The Lord of the Rings, it is full of awesome.

I’ve been reading the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Great reads, all of them.

Thank you for all your great suggestions! I’m not much of a fantasy fan… I love mother/daughter books and also father/daughter books….anyone know any of those?

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is my favorite book of all time. It’s a cowboy story which I don’t usually care for, but it is awesome.

I’ve been sitting here contemplating this question and daughter/mother(father) books for the last 30 mins with my mom… and we were both a little astounded to realize it took us so long to name a daughter/mother book we had read. whew.
I’d recommend Amy Tan’s books. She’s a daughter/mother focuser.
do you have any favorite books from this genre you’ve read you’d recommend?

For a quick, fun read try Tick Tock by Dean Koontz. A lot of family involvement in that one. Also, it’s very unlike any other Dean Koontz I’ve ever read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, has an interesting relationship between the main character, a boy with Asperger’s, and his parents. The author does a great job of simulating being inside the mind of the boy.

Chocolat, by Joanne Harris, has an interesting setting and interaction between the main character and her mother.

Meg Wurlitzer – I love all her books and most recently read ‘the ten year nap’ contemporary story about motherhood, work, life. Smart writer.

Anything by David Sedaris – he is hilarious

The American Wife – by Curtis Sittenfeld as well as her earlier Prep and Man of my Dreams by

Chaim Pottock – extremely interesting books about a culture I previously knew very little about – the Haddisic parts of Brooklyn. All the books interconnect, but his most known book is My name is arthur Lev. Brilliant.

Swedish author Stieg Larsson – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
All very different and intelligent thriller/mystery with a smart and independent woman as the main charachter. Unfortunately the author passed away before he had a chance to see the success of his trilogy.

@evegrimm 10 points for suggesting The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Night Time, a wonderful book and another that loosely reminds me of that book is by a NZ author:

The 10 P.M. Question Kate De Goldie

My suggestion would be Sacajawea and Sea Biscuit….. What types of books do you like?

Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky- Brilliant work and groundbreaking in the introduction of the anti hero to literature.

I just finished and enjoyed very thoroughly “The Master and Margarita”, by Mikhail Bulgakov.

I’d also recommend anything Neil Gaiman sneezes on.

Just about anything by Connie Willis is worth reading. I especially liked ”Doomsday Book,” ”To Say Nothing of the Dog,” ”Remake,” and ”Bellwether.” ”Lincoln’s Dreams” is good too, but not quite as good as those first four. ”Passage” was the only book of hers that I can’t recommend; it was just so-so, and even a bit tedious at points. But that is a notable exception; the rest of her stuff seems to be consistently good.

@owenburnett I’m glad to hear that the movie wasn’t a good representation of “despereaux”, because I thought the movie was absolutely terrible. I lost track of the plot holes and stupid ideas about halfway through.

@knitfroggy I just finished “Lonesome Dove” for the first time a few days ago. I really liked it—especially the way McMurtry stayed true to the characters, rather then simply tying up all the loose ends in neat Hollywood style. Are the other three books in the “Lonesome Dove” series worth reading also?

I really liked “Geek Love”...it’s one of my favorites, actually.
Notions/views of beauty, normalcy, and love are problematized in unique and interesting ways. Great read.

Robert Rankin great author

Also for summer novel try anything by Mariane Keyes

Life of Pi, but you have to be persistent to get into it.

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There are so many great books to suggest, sigh….if I were taking care of a sick parent and needed the stress reliever of a book I would want light hearted and not to thought provoking. I may get crucified but have you read the Twilight books? I read alot and I picked one up at the library to see what the fuss was about and couldn’t put it down. I would also try anything by Dean Koontz, James Rollins, Jennifer Weenier, or Fanny Flagg.

@tracy_h81 I just adored the humour in Fanny Flagg’s Welcome to the World Baby Girl

all her books have that same great humor, my favorite from her is Fried Green Tomatoes. Adagio, you should pick it up sometime.

@tracy_h81 yes I have read Fried Green Tomatoes also, I loved the film but as far as books go, I preferred Welcome to the World Baby Girl having said that, Fried Green Tomatoes is a great book, I just happened to prefer the other

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is by for one of my favorites! Any of her books are great though! She writes very well…. awesome awesome books!