Books To Read: Master List

[timepiececlock]

I got all the books from the entires from my LJ "books" tag and compiled them into a single reading list. It's big.



Books to Read - close your eyes and pick one


Ann Maxwell - Fire Dancer

Diana Gladaban - Outlander

Labyrinths
100 Years of Solitude

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

The Essential Bordertown - Terry Windling and Delia Sherman

Finder - Emma Bull

Watership Down - Richard Adams

Great And Secret Show - Clive Barker

The Song Reader - Lisa Tucker

The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson

The Wizard of Oz & Patchwork Girl of Oz - Frank Baum

Idlewild - Nick Sagan

Smilla's Sense of Snow - by Peter Høeg

Silver Kiss - Annette Curtis Klaus

Anything by Sherri S Tepper but my favorite is The Gates to Womens Country.

Margaret Atwood

Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman

Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

Daughter of the Forest- Juliet Marillier

Maybe the Moon - Armistead Maupin

Beach Music - Pat Conroy

The Loop - Nicholas Evans

The Mermaids Singing and (especially) In The Country of the Young - Lisa Carey

Also The Sparrow - Maria Doria Russel

Life Isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee by Meera Syal

The Scarlet Pimpernel - one of my favorites

Vurt by Jeff Noon

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein

Strangers, Dragon Tears, or False Memory- Dean Koontz

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye (It's an unconventional fairytale.)

After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell

Little, Big (by John Crowley)

Black Wine (by Candas Jane Dorsey)

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Brave New World - Huxley

Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff

Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin

Regina's Song by David and Leigh Eddings

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower", "Song of Solomon", & all Harry Dresden

Borders of Inifinity - Lois McMasters Bujold

Michael Moorcock

Ringworld - Poul Anderson

Lord Foul's Bane - Stephen R. Donaldson

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Catch 22 - Joseph L Heller

A Christmas Carol - Chars Dickens

Emma - Jane Austen

Holes - Louis Sacher

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Written On The Body

The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

The Magus - John Fowles

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Perfume - Patrick Suskind

Persuasion - Jane Austen

The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

The Shell Seekers - Rosamund Pilcher

The Stand - Stephen King

The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson

Ulysses - James Joyce

Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte



Also, the correct order of the Steven Brust series:
Jhereg
Yendi
Teckla
Taltos
Pheonix
Athyra
Orca
Dragon
Issola

That's for reference later.

Comments

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Brave New World - Huxley

I have mixed feelings about that novel, to the point where trying to keep an opinion frustrates me. On one hand, the dystopia Huxley visualized was fascinating and sort of amazing, and the warped sexuality of that projected world was very realistic, albeit morbid - what a great observation, that the more artificial everything became, sexuality would become so by a hundredfold. But I HATED this instance toward the end that involved Lilah (the female lead, methinks), and I can't say more about it than that, but I hated it; maybe we were supposed to, and I understand that it's portrayed in the most negative light possible, but I still hated the fact that that scene was even WRITTEN. If you ever read the novel, you will know exactly what I am talking about when you get there.

It is incredibly dark, by the way. It starts off pretty sick-minded, and it just gets worse and worse, and it only gets better to get worse. Not for the faint of heart, certainly - not that you're any kind of faint at all, but someone should've warned me, gosh. (I'd have still read it, though...)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I appreciate warnings like that. Most of the books listed here are ones I know next to nothing about.

Any recs for Margaret Atwood? I prefer stories that end well. Not have to be happy, but not ones that make me want to give up on the world totally. (strangely, I adored 1984)

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, it won't make you give up on the world, per se... but it comes close. You'll never think of contraceptives the same way, seriously. I can't recall a genuinely happy moment from that novel, actually, just a lot of fascinatingly disturbing ones (and one that's just disturbing period).

I haven't read anything by Margaret Atwood, but I'd really like to, particularly this one: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Odysseus' Penelope, and feminist touches... considering how she epotimizes the waiting wife, I need to see how this works. It also sounds fairy tale-ish, especially the twelve hanged maids bit, even in a sort of mystery form. Don't read too much from that Wikipedia page, though; there's one question that's supposed to be "What if...?" but it's pretty obvious that this "hypothetical" situation is exactly what happens, or close. *grumbles*

Ends well, ends well... oh man, have you read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett? That was the happiest-while-not-too-saccharine ending I've read recently, even if almost the entire novel is satire. That bit was genuine, at least; it's a tremendously funny book, and it involves (anti?)-religious sentiments I think you and I might share. OH, but if you have read the novel, DID YOU KNOW THERE'S A MOVIE COMING OUT? I... don't know what to think, actually. If they ruin the script, I'll *never* forgive them, ever.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the movie, no.

I liked G.O. I thought it was a genuinely funny, cute book about the apocalypse. It was a good read, but I wouldn't have called it an OMG SO FANTASTICAL BEST EVER book like most of my flist does. I've enjoyed other books by both those authors more than G.O. I kind of shrug when my flist goes ga-ga over it; I liked it but it didn't rock my universe.

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Good Omens was one of the first humor novels that I'd ever read that was so funny, so it did rock my world but more as a great intro to that genre than as any epic story. But barring that, I really loved it. I just hope the writers for the movie do a good job with the script because the dialogue was just great. You could really tell that the authors had a blast writing it.

Can you give me a few recs for humorous novels of that (or of higher) caliber? I already put down Jonathan Strange because your recommendation for it was awesome. I also put down Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's names as well, but I know their works lean toward lightweight science fiction and fantasy and I have no guarantee that they've written anything else that's primarily humor.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Pratchett is famous for a reason. His books are light entertainment: crack-dialogue in a shiny package of all things super, bizarre, absurd, and British. It's almost always fantasy and you can pick up any of his books and you'll enjoy them, whatever order. I've tried reading the Discworld books in order, but that's almost pointless since there's like 2 dozen and they have different groups of characters... there might be 5 or six novels about Death, and 7 novels about wizards, and another 6 about witches... but they all overlap and are great. Great for when you want something light, or when you're stuck on a plain or a long drive.

Neil Gaiman is touch and go, but mostly positive. I liked Stardust (a fairy tale) and I LOVED Neverwhere (a modern urban fantasy), but I couldn't make it through American Gods (which apparently many people loved). He's certainly a talented writer and an imaginative storyteller, but his style doesn't always mesh with my tastes. I do recommend him, though. Start with Neverwhere; it's my favorite and its a highly entertaining story.

Will reply again with more recs!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I am just going to assume you've read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; if you haven't, then you might as well cease all communication with me until you do so. That should be first on your reading list; its sequels are very fun as well. I quote that book so often, and it's had a dramatic effect on my style of writing humor and parody. These books are great in novel form or audiobook form; I was first exposed to them via the audiobook as read by the author, who reads everything with the appropriate British accent and pauses. I don't know if half the jokes in it sound as funny to Brits as they do to Americans, but I can tell you that the British accent makes all the difference. But if you just pick it up then you can imagine it being read by The Doctor or something, and paperbacks have the advantage of being able to flip back to your favorite parts. WHICH YOU WILL DO OFTEN. Very few books have made me laugh out loud in public places; this is one. Reading this will also mean you'll suddenly be privy to an entire world of inside jokes that you never knew existed, both in fandom and in regular conversation. My ear can pick out a Douglas Adams reference, quote, or homage from three blocks away with headphones on. Every British humor novel I ever read was shaped by the fact that I read tHHGttG at a young age.

David Sedaris writes long-essay style books that are quite funny, full of social/life/world commentary.

Janet Evanovich [http://www.evanovich.com/] writes humorous romantic adventure mysteries, with her character Stephanie Plum as an inept but perky bounty hunter. The series is long-running (12 books) and I've only read a couple, mostly audiobook, but she has a humorous writing style. I'd say mostly like cop-adventure-romance, but the narrative is very sarcastic and funny. Lots of odd-ball descriptions and whacky characters. Doesn't do anything dramatic to break gender spheres in terms of romance--- the men are sexy and the main character is ditsy-- but I expect that of most romance novels because there's usually a working formula and it seems you have to follow it to get published. These are funny, cute, coffe--table books. These are like shoujo but with guns and explosing cars and pastries.

To be honest, I don't read a lot of humor. Most of the humorous stuff I read is genre-humor; either romantic or sci-fi like described above. But there's a few others I can name:

Christopher Moore - Fluke
A funny, odd book about whale watching scientists and paranormal stuff (to say any more would be spoilers). It's plot was quite unlike any book I'd read before; an original idea that he ran with full-tilt. I also love whales. I know he's written other humorous books as well.

Dean Koontz - Ticktock
He usually writes thriller/horror, and there's a bit of the creepy factor in this, but mostly this is screwball comedy adventure. If there's such a thing as screwball horror, this is it. My second-fav Dean Koontz book (after The Watchers-- amazingly good book), this one strays from his formula quite a bit. It's about a Vietnamese hero, for one, and is much more light-hearted and goofy. Still a bit scary in places, but nothing like Stephen King scary. Very enjoyable.

I just discovered Bill Bryson, who writes nonfiction books based around travel, language, and history. I've been listening to Made In America on audio, and its amazing. His books aren't exactly humor, but they're written in a very open, often funny style. He examines places and cultures with a humorous, educated, respectful sense of admiration. If you like language, which I do, then his books are great for the amateur linguist. Not too heavy, but full of interesting trivia about the histories of places, names, words, and people.

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the recs! I have studiously marked these down on my Neverending Book List and will get to them as soon as I can get my hands on them. Lately I've been reading a lot of serious historical and contemporary fiction (lot of agriculture involved) for both leisure and school, and it begins to wear on one after a while no matter how many personal or social issues are visited. You start to miss snark and gratuitously witty dialogue and worldbuilding with animals. (It means something when one starts missing bad fantasy...)

Actually, you'd be surprised by how much essential children's and fantasy lit I haven't read. I know I was when I first stepped into a world that was conscious of literature. This might sound a little personal, but I had grown up as a fairly sheltered child to immigrants, and I didn't have any older friends (except that one teenager who traumatized me with excerpts from Dracula), so titles like The Last Unicorn (*sob*) and The Neverending Story (*sob*) and The Phantom Tollbooth escaped me. (Thankfully, I did read Tollbooth in elementary school.) Nowadays I still feel like I have to play catch-up, and it's strange - the only reading list that feels mandatory to me is the one I should've had during my childhood, rather than a list of classics. (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was another book that I felt like I almost missed - fortunately, the reality is that I can find it anytime.)

Ahhh, thank you for these, again. I don't quite know what I was thinking of when I asked for recs of humorous books, but I probably wasn't thinking of humor-only novels. Wouldn't that sort of thing get tiring? I love the variety of these recs, by the way, and I especially look forward to Bill Bryson because I love linguistics and culture and it's just a bonus if his books are as funny as they are informative.

[melodiee.livejournal.com]

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's another dystopia where population is dwindling and women are valued for their ability to bear children. Barren women who've been affected by radiation poisoning work as laborers, and fertile women are pretty much prisoners of "Commanders," with whom they need to fornicate with to prove their worth. They're called Handmaids, and the story centers around Offred. It has really beautiful, lyrical writing. The whole story is a push for feminism.

I didn't like Catch 22 at all. It has its humorous moments, but the plot was really convoluted, characters seemed to get dropped off, and it was really just a blur to me. Maybe it's just too dense for me to understand.

Why is Persuasion on your list? I think it was written posthumously and is nowhere near as enjoyable as some of her other books. Basically just a Cinderella story.

I did like Holes and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I just grabbed the titles from all the posts I'd saved in my memories, things people on LJ had told me to read. Many of the books I've never heard of, or know nothing about yet. They're books *I* need to read, not books I think everyone else should.

The only book on the list that I have read was Wuthering Heights, a long long time ago.