[dunneemagoo]

What books should I read?

I have never really read any in my life, not because I can't or I'm uneducated, but because I've never had much of a passion for imagination through reading. I'm going to University in september, and I think this is really a chance for me to excell myself. I honestly can remember only a handful of books I have read through school: Of mice and men, Blood brothers, and A mid summer nights dream; other than that no "story" books come to mind, just educational texts relating to specific topics for revision.

I spent 5 years after high school with no direction or motivation to forfill the potential I know I have, now I have matured I realise the benefits I have missed out on. I don't want to arrive at University with any disadvantages, I have plenty of time to improve my: vocabulary, communication, reading, writing, and overall intelligance; through reading.

As I have read so little in the form of books I don't really have any ideas as to what I would like, albeit I did like the three fictional books I read at school.

Can you please recommend me some good books to read, with a little opinion maybe or even a description as to what the book is about.

Ps. I don't like Harry Potter, and most Fantasy/Sci-fi style stories bore me; horror is a no go, complete bore.

Thank you x

[TheProdigy2k9]

inb4 twilight

[Spungo]

You don't like Harry Potter? Have you read it?

Something like this might highlight worthwhile books to read if you want to build cultural base: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

[Helsy]

Well, my type of books will probably not suit you then. But many of my friends like the books by Jodi Picoult. She's a bit like a grown up-ish version of Jacqueline Wilson, but she is a very good writer. After that I don't know.

But its always good when someone decides they want to read more, no matter what age they are.

[spazman21]

(Original post by dunneemagoo)

I spent 5 years after high school with no direction or motivation to forfill the potential I know I have,

lol

[dunneemagoo]

Yea typed it fast and it's like 3:30am, there is always one, grow up.

Not a fan of Harry Potter, obviously I have only seen the films; but it provides a difficult platform for imagination, when it has already been portrayed in a way I don't like lol.

[SatanIsAwesome]

If you don't like fantasy, scifi or horror then you may aswell go and read the Principia -.-
Obviously you'll only like non-fiction.

[dunneemagoo]

Not a very knowledgable person when it comes to books, what category does of mice and men and blood brothers come under? I did enjoy them. x

[Teacupcats]

Perhaps some of the classics? Like Anna Karenina or Tale of Two Cities? Try Charles Dickens. His work is both humorous and touching.

[dunneemagoo]

Will look into them, thank you just ordered a Kindle so looking for as many as possible, got four years of uni ahead of me x

[Preeka]

(Original post by dunneemagoo)
Yea typed it fast and it's like 3:30am, there is always one, grow up.

Not a fan of Harry Potter, obviously I have only seen the films; but it provides a difficult platform for imagination, when it has already been portrayed in a way I don't like lol.

Aw no .. This is why I hate the films. They really have nothing on the books but do seem to put off people who haven't read HP to not read it in the future either for one reason or another. For you, it's going to make harder to imagine things your own way and then there's others who think they know the story just by watching the films. Personally, I think there's so much that the films don't really portray. I'm not a massive HP fan but as a kid, I loved the books and how imaginative they let you be and I would have said it's a great way to get started.

Other than that, there's loads of books you could read but you have outruled quite a lot by the genres you don't want to delve into. What about mystery books and such? Or what kind of programs do you like? That might give an indication to the books you may enjoy. You could try some of the classics that feature on a lot of TOP 100 lists and etc. A quick google search will give you lots of hits. Or just go around a library, browse a bit and pick something at random that you like the sound of. Sorry I haven't been more specific with names and such. I've heard "The Book Thief" is a really good book and have meaning to read it for a while now. No idea what the genre is so apologies if it is one of the ones you wish to avoid.

edit: if you liked "Of Mice and Men", maybe you could give other John Steinbeck books a go? His books are mostly based on the themes such as the American Dream and other concepts (loneliness, aspirations for the future, etc) involved in 'Of Mice and Men' so you might like them and maybe that means you'd be into reading tragedies?

[mjeezy]

Anything and everything by Ayn Rand and Isaac Asimov!!!


Awaiting the negs lol

[lostforever64]

I would suggest Stephen Fry's fiction books, although they don't seem to be common reads. I am yet to find someone to talk to about any one of them :P
I can't tell you right off which are fiction and non-fiction, but I'm pretty sure The Hippopotamus is and Making History, which I quote as my favorite book.
And if you can't get to a library they're good because they're cheap in HMV (libraries also good places to get book recommendations)
Also realized I'm not sure if I want to be associated with recommending The Hippopotamus (and possibly some of his other books) to people, I remember really liking it but it has some pretty... interesting stuff in it.

[cambio wechsel]

It's not the case that the world of books splits into novels and textbooks with nothing between. If you've really not been inclined to pick up a work of fiction in your whole life then it might very well be that this simply isn't your kind of thing. There are all kinds of other books that will meet the requirement of improving vocabulary and comprehension and so on. For popular science see Stephen Jay Gould or (the science works of) Richard Dawkins. For popular social science try Malcolm Gladwell or Tim Harford. If you like football, for example, try Simon Kuper or David Conn. If there are particular individuals you like, try biographies.

[Angela_Beth]

Read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's fantastic - check out the reviews on amazon!

I'd also recommend 1984 and Catcher in the Rye if you're looking to read a few modern classics.

And if you ever change your mind about science fiction, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is definitely, definitely worth a go.

[Paper Moon]

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Death of a Salesman (Similar theme to Of Mice and Men)

East of Eden (Also by Steinbeck, I haven't read this one personally, but my brother told me all about it, and he loved it)

Animal Farm

The Chocolate War

The Giver

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Things They Carried

Night

Can't Buy My Love (An amazing book about Advertising and it's pervasive effect on culture)

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

We All Fall Down

I am the Cheese

Long Days Journey into Night (Has a fairly similar "feel" to Of Mice and Men)

The Glass Menagerie

Huckleberry Finn (The slang might be hard to get used to)

Letters from the Earth

A Clockwork Orange (though the slang can be strange to get used to at first... maybe it would be easier for a British person?)

Freakonomics

Ethan Frome

Pride and Prejudice

Emma

The Sun Also Rises (I did not really enjoy reading this book, I must admit, BUT the themes in it are interesting and it's considered a classic)

The Good Earth

The Joyluck Club

The Judgement (A Thai book... because there are probably many books called "The Judgement")

The Jungle

Inherit the Wind

A Raisin in the Sun

Touch (by Toni Press-Koffman) This play might be difficult to find (My teacher made copies of his copy to share with our class) but it is worth it! This is probably one of the best plays that I've ever read.

(Original post by Angela_Beth)
Read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's fantastic - check out the reviews on amazon!

I'd also recommend 1984 and Catcher in the Rye if you're looking to read a few modern classics.

And if you ever change your mind about science fiction, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is definitely, definitely worth a go.

These are all excellent recommendations too!

[dunneemagoo]

Thank you

I really am interested, I've probably just been caught up in the lazy way of watching hundreds of films with pre-determined imagination. I didn't buy a kindle because I'm not interested .
Just bought the adventures of huckleberry finn, looking through all the other suggestions. Made a nice text document and plonked them all in there for now. Really appreciate the responses x

[dunneemagoo]

By the way, a few other books I have read but a long long time ago have come back to me since making this thread. I read the bolivian diaries and a book about someone in witness protection that gets moved to an Amish community? (I don't know)... and roald dahl books, but obviously that was a long time ago lol. Can't say I've never enjoyed any of them. x

[OMG TOOTHBRUSH]

[ChessMister]

I've seen some terrible suggestions in here; seriously, Charles Dickens, for someone who finds reading often quite "a bore"?

*Glances at bookcase, types in curt third person

If this is a Man- If This Is a Man (United States title Survival in Auschwitz) is a work by the Italian writer, Primo Levi, describing his 11 months—from February 21, 1944 until liberation on January 27, 1945—in the German concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, during the Second World War. The book is described as a memoir, but it goes beyond mere recollection by seeking to consider in narrative form the human condition in all its extremes.

Invisible Man- The novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. Not to be confused with "The Invisible Man".

The Graduate- The Graduate is a novel by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. It tells the story of Benjamin Braddock, who, while pondering his future after his graduation, has an affair with the older Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner. (This is what most who love Catcher in the Rye will love for a period when they are at uni or have graduated- similar, directionless, though not altogether depressing feel)

Scoop (satire/comedy)- Written by Evelyn Waugh. William Boot, a young man who lives in genteel poverty far from the iniquities of London, is contributor of nature notes to Lord Copper's Beast, a national newspaper. He is dragooned into becoming a foreign correspondent when the editors of the aptly named Daily Beast mistake him for a novelist who shares his surname.



They eschew ornate language and are easy reads in that sense, though the points addressed (possibly in the first two more than the others) are thoroughly adult and important. Parts of Scoop are hilarious.