Recommend me some books

[The Supreme Canuck]

I've been kind of a sad-sack around here lately, so let's talk about something I can be happy and cheerful about: books. I love me some books. And I'm looking to expand my horizons a bit, maybe read some things outside of what I usually read. Recently I've been sticking to classics, lit fic, sci-fi, and non-fiction (history and politics mostly). So hit me with something you like that isn't one of those things (or that is - I'm not picky). Read a good romance? Western? Near-future drug-addled gonzo journalism/horror anthology/picture-book? Let's hear it!

[pumpkinpi]

Stephen King's latest, and sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.
If you haven't read The Shining, what the hell is wrong with you? Pick that one up first.

[The Supreme Canuck]

You know, I actually haven't? I suppose I should, eh?

[geonuc]

Some books I've enjoyed recently:

Wild, Cheryl Strayed.
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Salem's Lot, Stephen King
The Passage, Justin Cronin
Th Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan
S. M. Stirling's Change series
Bloodsucking Fiends, Christopher Moore (this is humor, despite the title, and the first of a series)

I haven't read recently but recommend:

The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison (My favorite book of all time)
The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz
Any number of John McPhee's essays, such as:
The Control of Nature
Assembling California
Annals of the Former World (which contains Assembling California)

[The Supreme Canuck]

Ooh, I've never heard of any of those. Good sign.

The McPhee essays, The Long Walk, and The Worm Ouroboros look especially interesting. Hell, so does Bloodsucking Fiends, since it's so far out of my usual wheelhouse; I've never given a paranormal romance a look.

I'll definitely give them a read, thanks!

[Morrolan]

i always liked Stephen King's The Stand, and Clive Barker's Weaveworld.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Hm. Lots of love for King, I see. I've never really read him, since there's so much he's put out that it's hard to know where to start. Are the books mentioned here good starting points, do you think, or are they better to work up to?

[Cyborg Girl]

Hmm. How about Walter Mosley?

[The Supreme Canuck]

Sure. Got a specific title in mind?

[Cyborg Girl]

Any. The one I'm reading ATM though is a collection of linked short stories called Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.

[cid]

cm just sent me a goodie...Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi.
A comedy and a morality play all in one -- and it works.

Definitely worth tracking down (eBay?) and reading.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Any. The one I'm reading ATM though is a collection of linked short stories called Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.

Ah, gotcha. Maybe I'll give that one a try, too.

cm just sent me a goodie...Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi.
A comedy and a morality play all in one -- and it works.

Definitely worth tracking down (eBay?) and reading.

Ah-ha! Finally, one I've read! I quite enjoyed it, actually. Scalzi's consistently a pretty good read. It's nice to get a bit of levity from him as a break between some of the less lighthearted things I tend to read.

[cid]

Any. The one I'm reading ATM though is a collection of linked short stories called Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.

Ah, gotcha. Maybe I'll give that one a try, too.

cm just sent me a goodie...Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi.
A comedy and a morality play all in one -- and it works.

Definitely worth tracking down (eBay?) and reading.

Ah-ha! Finally, one I've read! I quite enjoyed it, actually. Scalzi's consistently a pretty good read. It's nice to get a bit of levity from him as a break between some of the less lighthearted things I tend to read.

...Oh yeah...she said the two of you had laughed about it...brain fade/senior moment/megaHuh?

...never mind...

[The Supreme Canuck]

Aw, heck, Charlie--don't you "never mind" me. You zeroed in on my tastes pretty exactly. Have you read anything else by Scalzi?

[Morrolan]

Scalzi: obviously Old Man's War. His latest book Red Shirts is very funny and a good read, even if completely different from the previous books. Main characters are, as you'd guess, the people wearing red shirts in a TV science fiction show...

[geonuc]

Agreed, Red Shirts is a pretty read.

[cid]

Aw, heck, Charlie--don't you "never mind" me. You zeroed in on my tastes pretty exactly. Have you read anything else by Scalzi?

Nope...but after I find another copy of The Aeneid (the one I have is literally falling apart in my hands), something else by Scalzi (as noted
in other posts) sounds like a good candidate for the "To Read" box...

[The Supreme Canuck]

Sounds about right. I'm going to agree with the guys up above--Redshirts is a great read. I also really enjoyed Fuzzy Nation. Give 'em a shot!