The "Must Read" Book List

[NMAmy]

I went out and bought the first Outlander book based on this thread (and a similar thread I read a few weeks ago).

Holy Moly that's a big book! I hope I like it, b/c that's a large investment of time! LOL.

It is big but I didn't want it to end. I was so happy that it became a series of books because I fell in love with the characters and missed them when the book ended.

 

[redlight]

Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (and everything else written by him)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Roots by Alex Haley
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I loved Roots and Hitchhiker's Guide.

 

[MinnieMe87]

The Last Summer (of You and Me)- Ann Brashares
The Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edwards
The Host- Stephanie Meyer
Any of Sarah Dessen , Nicholas Sparks, and Jodi Picoult's books. I love all of their books!

 

[wide awake]

Loved the Outlander series...have never understood the praise for "To Kill a Mockingbird"...only okay in my book. Love Jane Austen, don't love the "Lovely Bones" author...blah !!! "Gone With the Wind"..fabulous...read it 6 times in 5 months. The Twilight series...NO!!! The Victor Klemporer diaries for WWII, yes...the Oprah books before the last couple of years...woohoo!!! I hesitate to mention this...if you haven't read Jackie Susann...true gift of narrative...she was brilliant, you may not like her topics or her language, but she was one accomplished lady. Varied books..."The Seeing Glass"...."George and Sam"...the Ruth Reichl memoirs, "Charmed Lives", "Other Peoples Lives", Michael Korda...love his non-fiction."Sand and Fog", nothing better in the way of a true tragedy. If you want to cry..."Karen", "Red Shoes for Nancy", "Let Me Hear Your Voice", the Noah books. Yes, there is difference between true tragedy and fiction. A fiction book I LOVE..."Women of the Club". Have a sense there is a lot of truth in there, but it is labeled fiction. For cookbooks...love "Home Cooking" and "More Home Cooking"...stories AND recipes.

 

[Calrissian13]

there are going to be a bunch of repeats in my list, but here goes:

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon (I've read this three or four times)
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Emma by Jane Austen
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (the whole series really, but this is my favourite)
Pilgrim by Timothy Findley
The Stand by Stephen King
Watchers by Dean Koontz

and one of my all time favourites to read over and over:
The Velvetenn Rabbit by Margery Williams...I just LOVE this story!

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

YES! And the sequel, "Rasco and the Rats of NIMH"..not to be confused with Rats of NIMH 2, the movie. The movie was HORRIBLE, IMHO but the book isn't. The movie isn't anything like the book at all.

I had to read "Rebecca" in HS and I just..I dunno. It left me cold. I couldn't really get into it and we had to watch the movie as well which I didn't like either.

 

[rie'smom]

The Shack by William P Young
Anything by Amy Tan
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love by Lisa See
Sano Ichiro detective Novels (set in Feudal Japan) by Laura Joh Rowland
The detective series set in ancient Rome by Steven Saylor

See a pattern? I love to learn and if entertainment is part of the package-yippee!!!

 

[JoyG]

YES! And the sequel, "Rasco and the Rats of NIMH"..not to be confused with Rats of NIMH 2, the movie. The movie was HORRIBLE, IMHO but the book isn't. The movie isn't anything like the book at all.

I had to read "Rebecca" in HS and I just..I dunno. It left me cold. I couldn't really get into it and we had to watch the movie as well which I didn't like either.

I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh to my 3rd grade class every year. One year I made the mistake of watching the animated film. BLECH! It was awful and wasn't like the book at all.

I've heard of the sequel to the book (and read it once to find out which rats died at the end of #1).

I never knew they made a sequel to the movie too!

 

[Pakey]

Best book of all time: Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Honorable Mentions:

Paradise by Toni Morrison
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

One year I made the mistake of watching the animated film. BLECH! It was awful and wasn't like the book at all.

The movie version does deviate from the book quite a bit, but it's a wonderful film, IMO. One of my personal favorites. I think in the movie, they play up the character of Mrs. Frisby more than they did in the book and she's more of a strong, central character than she was in the book.

The second movie however, was one of the worst wastes of film and ink I've ever seen in my entire life. A sequel made just to make a sequel and the storyline was TERRIBLE, as I recall. I remember watching and going 'Well there's 90 min of my life I'll never get back." I think the only thing I've ever seen that was WORSE than that movie was the movie adaptation of the "Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events". I know they had to cut out a lot to make the movie..happens all the time. But it was some of the worst acting I've ever seen. Jim Carrey (who I normally like) was just terrible.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The best description for this book that I know of is, imagine the Book of Revelations rewritten by Monty Python. Laugh out loud hilarious.

The Guns of the South, by Harry Turtledove, is a great alternate history novel and one of his that's actually only one book instead of part of a series. If you like this one, then try some of his multibook series.

 

[mjantz]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffinger. It took me 3 tries to read it but once I did I could not put it down.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. A childhood favorite that I still love after all these years.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I'm a Christian & had a little tiny bit of guilt about reading a book that might be seen as sacreligious. About halfway through I decided I didn't care because it was so funny & in many ways moving.
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. I'm tempted to read the series again so I can spend more time with Roland, Suzanna & the others.

 

[redlight]

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The best description for this book that I know of is, imagine the Book of Revelations rewritten by Monty Python. Laugh out loud hilarious.

Yes! If you liked the movie Dogma, you'd love Good Omens.

 

[Shel]

Some of my picks are:
Marley & Me
Watchers (Dean Koontz)
The entire Baxter family series by Karen Kingsbury, with the first one being Redemption.

 

[Minnie's Pal]

Some of my picks are:
Marley & Me
Watchers (Dean Koontz)
The entire Baxter family series by Karen Kingsbury, with the first one being Redemption.

The first set is the best..

 

[Mamu]

I just finished The Host by Stephanie Meyer and enjoyed it very much.

 

[MizTink]

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan

and the Left Behind Series

 

[countrylady_j]

All the Janet Evanovich books..(not her beginning romance books but the numbered books..one for the money, two for the dough, etc.)

I got my teenage daughter reading them and after she finished one book, she ran across the room to grab the next one to see what happens!! LOL

 

[Pigeon]

I love mysteries.
Anything by:
Agatha Christie
Janet Evanovich
Alexander McCall Smith

Also the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the All Creatures series.

I'm currently reading Misquoting Jesus and can't put it down.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Those that immediately come to mind:

Daughters of a Coral Dawn
The Frontrunner
And the Band Played On
To Kill a Mockingbird
All the Kings Men
Jane Eyre
Little Women
The Borrowers
Things Fall Apart
The Savannah
The Sound and Fury
The Bard
Trinity
Native Son
The Color Purple
A Midsummer Night's Dream (ok, not a book but hey)
The Genetic Superiority of Women
Another Mother Tongue
Twilight Girls and Odd Lovers
anything by Adrienne Rich, Audra Lord, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou

for brain candy:
Jonathan Kellerman's books
Dean Koontz
Faye Kellerman's books... things along those lines.