Need Book Recommendations

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Ok, here's the deal. I have 2,000 miscellaneous books in my garage in boxes that I inherited. About 95% of them aren't things I have any interest in reading, mostly because they're pulpy romance and mystery (blech!), BUT, I can trade them in at the local HUGE used bookstore, and get quite a bit of credit towards books that I will read. The problem is that whenever I go into this particular bookstore, I always manage to go blank on figuring out things I want, and I end up walking away with credit left over (which I can spend later, of course).

So, what I need from you:
Titles of books that you think everyone should read. Titles of books you think I might actually be able to find in a used bookstore. Hardcover, softcover, mass market, doesn't matter. I want to make a list that I can carry with me each time I go and check off as I find stuff.

Here's what I like:
SciFi, especially dystopian and cyberpunk.
Lit, almost everything except Chick Lit and the popular best sellers like the Oprah books.
I would consider mystery if it was very good.
I might consider romance if it was truly exquisite.
Idon't read horror. I get too freaked out.
In non-fiction I really enjoy social sciences, gardening, some history (usually European), some religion.

Got any titles for me? The more the merrier.

― Caenis (Caenis), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Lit, almost everything except Chick Lit and the popular best sellers like the Oprah books.

You know, I was looking through the Oprah list the other day, and must adimt that I found it to be pretty good. A lot of the good stuff was pretty "obvious", but hey, I've always had the impression that she just picked total trash (but then... I love Steinbeck and such, which I'm sure many consider to be trash anyways)

The Iain M Banks' scifi books are pretty cool, particularly the first three or four Culture books. Of course, there's a couple of SF threads on this board with some good lists, so just hop there. Haldeman's Forever War is worth looking out for, as is Flowers For Algernon. Neither of those are cyber nor dystopian though.
But for that, try to find Eugene Zamiatin's "We", which is an anti-Soviet thing disguised as scifi. Worth it if you're into 1984 and Brave New World. Aldous Huxley in general is pretty dang neat, as far as I'm concerned.
I've had PD James' The CHildren Of Men recommended as another good dystopia novel... Dunno how it is yet, she's usually a mystery writer though.

For the sake of getting it out of the way, Borges Borges Borges. Possibly the most popular author around on ILX-territory? Or maybe it just seems that way.

Brrpph... I dunno... I usually add interesting-sounding books to a list that I keep on the computer, that way I always have a ton of books I want to check out. I highly recommend doing so while browsing sites like this. Yes, I AM fond of saying obvious things.

― Øystein H-O (Øystein H-O), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I should amend my comment about the Oprah books. I have read a handful of them, the ones that I would enjoy, and did enjoy them. (The Poisonwood Bible, in particular, was quite good.) In general, though, the book club type stuff doesn't appeal to me. I'm looking for the kind of literature that has cult followings, dedicated passionate fans, and that might be slightly obscure (though obviously not so obscure that I couldn't find it in a used bookstore).

― Caenis (Caenis), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, you can always go with the Illuminatus! trilogy... Of course, most people seem to think that's something you can't read after turning 17, so I dunno if it's a good idea. I found it to be a hoot. Some of the fans are scary though, but in a cute way.

― Øystein H-O (Øystein H-O), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Gardening: The Michael Pollan books. They're all good, and I love his style of writing.

― Jessa (Jessa), Friday, 27 August 2004 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"SciFi, especially dystopian and cyberpunk"

For dystopian novels, apart from the obvious - Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World" - I'd recommend the following:

Sinclair Lewis, "It Can't Happen Here"
Ray Bradbury, "Fahrenheit 451"
Anthony Burgess "A Clockwork Orange" (also see his "Wanting Seed" and "1985")
Margaret Atwood, "The Handmaid's Tale"

― Mark Klobas, Saturday, 28 August 2004 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't read horror. I get too freaked out.
I wish I got too freaked out reading horror so I could enjoy it more, but sigh!

― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 28 August 2004 09:18 (twenty-one years ago)

In non-fiction I really enjoy...some religion.
I'm reading the selections from the complete works of Swami Vivekananda and I would definitely recommend it.

― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 28 August 2004 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Alasdair Gray: Lanark
Jonathan Coe: The House of Sleep
Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy
Keri Hulme: the bone people
Anything by Arturo Perez-Reverte

― Tinka, Saturday, 28 August 2004 09:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Unless you are speaking to classic literature, I am not sure there are any books EVERYONE should read, but I would recommend the following, and most should be available in a big used book store.

In non-fiction
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, by Thomas Cahill
Great Books, by David Denby
Crocket’s Victory Garden
Encyclopedia of New York City
Merriam Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
The American Century, by Norman Cantor
Books by Garry Wills, Richard Hofstadter,

In fiction
Lake Wobegon Days, by Garrison Keillor
Therapy, by David Lodge
Little Drummer Girl, by John LeCarre’
Little Green Men, by Christopher Buckley
Waterworks, E.L. Doctorow
The Third Man, by Graham Greene
Raise High the Roof-Beam Carpenter & Seymour, an Introduction, by J. D Salinger

In mysteries,
Any of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels
Any of Lawrence Block’s Burglar Who novels

― Mr. Jaggers, Saturday, 28 August 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, some John LeCarre. (How do you pronounce his last name?)

"In Patagonia," by Bruce Chatwin.

Some Peter Taylor.

― mte (mte), Monday, 30 August 2004 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Some Amelie Nothomb and Daniel Pennac

― Bed (Bed), Monday, 30 August 2004 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

In gardening books, anything by Henry Mitchell. He was the gardening columnist for 20 years at The Washington Post and his essays have been gathered in several collections: The Essential Earthman (my favorite), One Man's Garden, Henry Mitchell on Gardening. Easy, effortless prose, self-deprecating humor, practical advice, jaundiced view of the follies of human nature, enormously addicting.

― Gail S, Monday, 30 August 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Might be far too obvious, but the best cyberpunk I read so far was from William Gibson. The Sprawl-triology "Neuromancer - Biochips - Mona Lisa Overdrive" and also "Burning Chrome" is something I still enjoy rereading the 10th time.

― Docolero (Docolero), Monday, 6 September 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Time Traveler's Wife (a romance, but it's incredible!)
House of the Scorpion (Young Adult Lit., but quite cyber-punkish and dystopian, looking at cloning and drugs and the U.S. and Mexican border)
Time and Again (by Jack Finney, maybe? Sci-fi history time-travel - quite entertaining)
Crimson Petal and the White (kind of a romance, but much, much more)
The Ventriloquist's Tale (hard to describe, with beautiful writing)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 07:01 (twenty-one years ago)

J.G Ballard starter pack:

High Rise
Crash
Cocaine Night

― wtin, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't forget the collected short stories. Ballard's probably my favourite short story writer, after Borges.

― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and Kafka.

― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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