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I was wondering if any of you guys could recommend some books that you've read?

My grandparents refuse to give me anything else than books for christmas, and while i don't think it's neccesarily a bad thing, I must admit that I have not idea what to wish for, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated ;)

I don't have the slightest idea if any of you take time off to read a good book, but personaly I enjoy it a lot... I'm not doing it as much as I used to because of school, but I try.

A book I've just read is 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which is a story about, well, motorcycle maintenance and philosophy... mostly the latter. It's a story of a man who is traveling across the us (which isn't really an important part of the story), to visit the university where he was a teacher before he went insane because of some philosophical thoughts he had as a teacher in retorics... It's not a thriller or anything like that, but more a description of a person, trying to fing himself... in a non-thriller-like way.
but anyway, it's awesome :)

You like such books ? :)
Then you'll love "Man's Fate" by André Malraux.
And once you'll be done with this one, you can grab "The Hope", by the same author.

Personally I don't have much time to read these days ; the last "big" thing I read was Da Vinci Code, and I was very disappointed. It's a pageturner with short chapters and a fast story, with zero depth at all, which is a shame for a subject of such importance. IMO "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco is MUCH better.

The Hot Zone... altho a grusum story it is true and it is really really good book... but i don't know if you would be internested in it... also Peace Like A River was a decent Book but again i don't know if you would like it

I've only got five books to recomend : The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, a Trilogy in Five Parts, by Douglas Adams.

The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy
The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
Life, The Universe, and Everything
So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish, and
Mostly Harmless.

Quote:

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfasionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lays a small, unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is a small blue-green planet whos ape-decended lifeforms are so hideously backwards that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat thing.

This planet has, or rather had, a problem, which was this: Most of the people were mean and the majority were unhappy, even the ones with digital watches. Many problems for this had been suggested, but none were very effective, due to the fact that most were based around the movements of little green pieces of paper, which on the whole is strange because it wasn't the pieces of paper that were unhappy. People commonly agreed that leaving the trees had been a bad idea. Others were of the opinion that the trees had been a mistake, and life should never have left the ocean.

And then, nearly two thousand years after one guy had been nailed to a tree for saying how brilliant it would be to be nice to each other for a change, a girl sitting in a pavement cafe in Rickmansworth realised how it could all work, how it could all be so good. Noone would have to be nailed to anything. Unfortunatly, before she could get to a telephone to tell anyone about her marvellous idea, an astoundingly silly event happened. This is not her story. This is a story of a book. It is a book that had not even been heard of by the residents of the planet until this stupid event occured. This is its story. It starts very simply. It starts with a house.

P.S. I typed that from memory. Sorry for any mistakes.

TOP suggestion, Brainz! I was going to post that, too... there are so many hilarious passages inside... and Marvin alone is worth the read... ;)

May I recommend Dude, where's my country or Stupid White Men, both by Michael Moore? :D

[edit]The Name of The Rose rox!!![/edit]

heh, hitchhikers guide to tha galaxy is already on my list :)

That book is simply amazing... I can't believe how much nonsense douglas adams can come up with... it's almost as good as monty python :D

Discworld is too, btw. It's kinda like hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, as far as i understand, just in a fantasy universe. I've never read it though, but everytime i mention hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, that's always what people tell me to read next.

but please don't write only suggestions for my sake, I acutally meant it to be more of a general diskussion about books, although i can see that that wasn't really what i wrote up there ;)

Man's Fate and The hope is on the list now, but could you tell a bit more of what they about, pmb?

Biohazard, the books you wrote, what kind of books are they? Never heard of them.

I don't really like michael moore though... I find him extremely onesided, and even though i tend to agree with his point of view, i think he preaches it, instead of making people make their own jugdements.

but thanks for the ideas anyway :)

You don't want me to start with books 'cause I'll be very likely to mention a truckload of South American novels and short story collections of which I don't know if they've been translated at all and if so, if the translation is ok.

Dunno if you've read those already:

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (Pulitzer Prize, and a great read)

Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (I'm sure you know the story; this book is BRILLIANT)

Oh, and if you like novels with a WWII background, I can recommend
William Wharton - A Midnight Clear. The story takes place in the last years of WWII, when a small allied scout troop is sent into a forest in deepest winter to find out if a large mansion somewhere inside is still held by German troops or already deserted... this is not a typical war story (meaning that there's next to no fighting) , but pure suspense! I couldn't pull away from that book until I had read it to the last page.

All these books I mentioned here are books of the kind I like: They are real pageturners, but there's something much deeper to them than to any John Grisham "good lawyer vs. bad lawyer" mumbo-jumbo... they are the kind of books you just can't put back into their shelves after you read them, because for the next 20-30 minutes you'll be busy with your thoughts...

i am at school but when i get home i will tell you what kinda books they are=)

I actually read to kill a mockingbird in high school... and yeah, it was great :)

the title with the cuckoo seems familiar... can you give some clues about the story?

Never been fond of ww2... but A Midnight Clear sunds kinda interesting... might pick it up at the library. Btw you speak spanish? I'm trying hard to learn it, but I've only just started on second year, so I still have a lot to get through :/

I like a bit thought in books too... If a book doesn't make you think about it, it's about as unneccesary as a flamethrower in a firetruck... or a standup comedian at a funeral... or an airbag in a steam roler... I'm bored, but i guess I made my point.

A good writer that really makes me think is Jostein Gaarder. but that's more in a popphilosophical kind of way... don't read Sofie's world though, it's boring. His book 'Through a Glass, Darkly' on the other hand, is awesome... raises a lot of questions about life and death.