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Can anyone recommend a good book?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by jared2, Apr 3, 2006.

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  1. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    Can anyone recommend a book they have read for those (few) times when they are not posting on Prius Chat? I will start with Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett. An entertaining police thriller with sex, violence, Buddhism, CIA and tatoos - what more could you want?
     
    #1 jared2, Apr 3, 2006
  2. imntacrook

    imntacrook New Member

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    Read anything by Alan Watts - The wisdom of insecurity, would be a good place to start!
     
    #2 imntacrook, Apr 3, 2006
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Best book I've read in over 10 years recently:

    The Kite Runner by Khalad Hosseini

    Fantastic writing, offers an amazing insight into the culture of Afganistan and the desire for many to come to America while still packed with some dramatic interpersonal relationships and a little action and suspense.



    If you've never read the Prince of Tides you should do so if you're a serious reader.



    I also just finished Steven King's "Cell"...a little different for him, but still clearly King and plenty of fun.
     
    #3 efusco, Apr 3, 2006
  4. koa

    koa Active Member

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    Try the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith or his Sunday Philosophy Club series.
     
    #4 koa, Apr 3, 2006
  5. ScottY

    ScottY New Member

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    "America (The Book)" by Jon Stewart or the up and coming book by Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report" (I got the title from an imaginary fake news website :D :lol: :D )
     
    #5 ScottY, Apr 3, 2006
  6. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    The Complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

    The Complete works of Edgar Allan Poe



    Two of my all time favs... :D



    Some honorable mentions:


    Blue Blood by Ed Conlon (life as a NYC cop (guy graduated from Harvard and chose to be a NYC cop))

    The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule (true crime, her book about Ted Bundy, who she actually knew personally prior to him getting caught! Couldn't put it down)

    The Preacher - 9 or 10 book COMIC series (spectacular story if you want to break away from "reality")

    The Dirt - Story of Motley Crue (great read if you want to peer into the lives of interesting rock starts, to say the least)
     
    #6 Mystery Squid, Apr 3, 2006
  7. muskrat

    muskrat New Member

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    Currently reading Adventure Capitalist for an odd hybrid financial/travel/adventure non-fiction book.
     
    #7 muskrat, Apr 3, 2006
  8. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    It depend on my mood. I read true crime (Ann Rule is a great author), but sometime I read Harry Potter.

    Upon occasion I re-read the Tom Swift Sr. (one story is about an Electric Runabout) or Tom Swift Jr. adventure series.

    Right now I'm reading the Mrs. Murphy mystery series.
     
    #8 aaf709, Apr 3, 2006
  9. gilahiker

    gilahiker New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 3 2006, 03:34 PM) [snapback]234319[/snapback]</div>
    I agree with Evan...The Kite Runner is excellent. I understand his most recent novel will be available in hardback in May...also about Afganistan.


    I just finished The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry. Berry's books (The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophesy) are all well written and just plain great to read. He uses a bit of true historical fact and spins a great tale from that.

    I also enjoy the books written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. One of my all time favorites is The Cabinet of Curosities. A great book that combines the history of museums with archaeology (right up my alley).
     
    #9 gilahiker, Apr 3, 2006
  10. FourOhFour

    FourOhFour Member

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    Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
     
    #10 FourOhFour, Apr 3, 2006
  11. ckbarnard

    ckbarnard New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gilahiker @ Apr 3 2006, 03:17 PM) [snapback]234347[/snapback]</div>
    I third the nomination of The Kite Runner. Excellent.
    Also, one of my favorites is an autobiographical book about a Christian family in Amsterdam who hid Jews from the Nazis, called The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. It is older but still available bacause it's a classic. Great!
     
    #11 ckbarnard, Apr 3, 2006
  12. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ Apr 3 2006, 01:53 PM) [snapback]234296[/snapback]</div>
    The book I've ordered the most copies for friends for (more than 10 at last count) is "Complications" by Atul Gawande. Evan Fusco, MD should read this book if he hasn't already. It should be required reading for anyone in the medical field, or anyone about to become a "customer" of the medical profession - in short, EVERYBODY. An early chapter was included in Best Essays of 2002, where I first encountered Dr. Gawande's extraordinary narrative on a flight to New Zealand. Hooked, I sought and found the book for sale in New Zealand and devoured it on the return flight home. I could have gotten it cheaper in the US, but I couldn't wait.

    Another book I recently sent several copies of to friends is "The End Of Faith" by Sam Harris. This is not a book the devout will do anything with except try to burn it; unfortunately it is the devout who should most give it heed. The contemporary view these days is that our greatest threats are religious extremism. Not so, says Harris. It is religious moderation that is the far greater threat. Reading his book, I have to agree.

    But get "Complications" first.
     
    #12 airportkid, Apr 3, 2006
  13. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    It's not many, Squid, who appreciate the lighter works of Poe. We are taught in school that Poe is pure evil. And that's what attracted me; finding quite the opposite kept me. I found it hard to believe that the same man who wrote such dark tales could write such beautiful and emotional poetry.

    Personally, I fell in love with John Sandford's Prey series - not to be confused with Crighton's book Prey. In order to fully appreciate the series, though, you really have to start with the first one, Rulles of Prey and work your way chronologically through the series.

    Two books I try to reread every year:
    The Millionaire Next Door
    Awaken the Giant Within
     
    #13 TonyPSchaefer, Apr 3, 2006
  14. marjflowers

    marjflowers New Member

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    #14 marjflowers, Apr 3, 2006
  15. marjflowers

    marjflowers New Member

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    #15 marjflowers, Apr 3, 2006
  16. routeonedog

    routeonedog New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 3 2006, 05:34 PM) [snapback]234319[/snapback]</div>
    Absolutely loved the Kite Runner.

    I then followed it with the "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. A fantastic voyage.
     
    #16 routeonedog, Apr 3, 2006
  17. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Apr 3 2006, 09:22 PM) [snapback]234436[/snapback]</div>
    This is true... However, I'm your inverse on this. Not only do I love him far more for his dark tales, but above that, his style of writing is nothing short of spectacular. IMHO, of course.

    I LOVE the bleakness, woe, irony, "twistedness", and just plain character of his work. Although I didn't mention it, amongst these lines, on another level though, is Edward Gorey. Famous, more or less, for his "Gashly Crumb Tinies" (or the intro. on "Mystery"). I'd highly suggest the works of Edward Gorey, but it's not for everyone, to say the least...
     
    #17 Mystery Squid, Apr 3, 2006
  18. AuntBee

    AuntBee New Member

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    I recommend The Secret Life of Bees, first novel by Sue Monk Kidd. She also wrote The Mermaid Chair, but didn't like it as well.
     
    #18 AuntBee, Apr 4, 2006
  19. floydenheimer

    floydenheimer Junior Member

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    The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
     
    #19 floydenheimer, Apr 4, 2006
  20. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    Thanks, everyone for the many suggestions. It seems I have no choice;I will have to start with The Kite Runner

    In case anyone is interested, a little more information about Bangkok Tattoo:

    The New Yorker
    Bangkok’s red-light districts, perhaps the most infamous in the world, have inspired their share of breathless prose. Here, however, the tone is mordant, thanks to the serene narration of Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the Thai police detective who steered readers through Burdett’s previous novel, “Bangkok 8.†A devout Buddhist, Sonchai makes complex karmic calculations to justify his roles as law-bending cop and part-time papasan at his mother’s go-go bar. When the bar’s biggest moneymaker is suspected of killing her john, who turns out to be C.I.A., Sonchai initiates a coverup that eventually involves Muslim separatists in southern Thailand and American operatives eager to exploit post-9/11 paranoia for career advancement. The plot showcases Burdett’s sly riffs on Third World stereotypes, Buddhism, and the gustatory pleasures of fried grasshoppers. It’s a giddy, occasionally over-the-top performance, but mesmerizing: a comic tour of the underbelly of Bangkok in pursuit of both a murderer and the sublime.
     
    #20 jared2, Apr 4, 2006
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