[posix]

I like the style of michael crichton for example. and stephen king doesn't float my boat.

any recommendations?

[trubleshtr]

Personally, I enjoy Hemmingway. But then again I have a fondness for the Florida Keys/Cuban life styles.
I spend the rest of my time reading technical manuals. I just finished one on basic programming and cartesian robots.

[vacpress]

some of my favorite authors and their 'best' books, but they may not appeal to you

nabokov-lolita
safran foer-everything is illuminated
milan kundera-unbearable lightness of being
garcia marquez-100 years of solitude
albert camus- a happy death
faulkner-as i lay dying
dave eggers- heartbreaking work of staggering genius
oscar wilde- salome

etc.

unfortunately, i dont think these will appeal to most chrichton fans..

checkout chuck palahniuk(fight club) or jeffery eugenedies(virgin suicides). they are interesting writers. worth checking out if you dont like 'serious fiction' but want something a little different... and, of course, eugenedies won a pulitzer...

[vacpress]

if you want to read hemmingway, the sun also rises is extremely good.

[Geof]

I. M. Banks, a fellow countryman of yours.

[ZipSnipe]

Phillipe Jose Farmer and his series " The Fabulous River Boat" and the title does'nt even begin to describe what lies within.....

[Geof]

Phillipe Jose Farmer and his series " The Fabulous River Boat" and the title does'nt even begin to describe what lies within.....

Have you read the whole series? I did and found they were really good for the first two or three but toward the end they tailed off and didn't really come to a good ending.

[spalm]

Wow, you guys are serious. Let me try something different.

Definitely not up to the literary level of Hemmingway and Faulkner, but if you are looking for a light read….

If you want some whacked American Florida humor, try Carl Hiaasen.

If you like spy/intrigue stuff, try Robert Ludlum (The Bourne Identity guy).

For mystery (in her earlier books) try Patricia Cornwell.

[Geof]

Thought of another one; "Shadow Of The Wind". Very trendy it was even advertised on the walls of Tube Stations over there a few months ago.

[ZipSnipe]

Yeah Geof read the whole series and can agree with you on the end of the series, but overall fantastic reading.

[HayTay]

Just a few from off the top of one of my piles of books:

Jeffrey Deaver - The Blue Nowhere

David Morrell - Desperate Measures and others

John Case - The Genesis Code, The First Horseman and The Eighth Day

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - The Cabinet of Curiosities, Relic, Reliquary, The Ice Limit, and Mount Dragon

Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress

Michael Crighton - Timeline and others

Ian Caldwell - The Rule of Four

Dean Koontz - Watchers and others

Michael Palmer - Silent Treatment, Natural Causes and others (mostly medical thrillers)

Can you tell I love to read? Let me know what other Authors and topics you like and I can dig through some more piles, stacks, boxes and shelves for other recommendations.

HayTay

P.S. Does anyone else read the Destroyer series created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir? A trashy, far-fetched, and quick read, I got hooked on them in high school in the '70s and have read every one of them. I know they're silly, but, they have their moments. The author(s) poke fun at almost everything; politics, entertainment, religion, fads, thugs, medicine, etc. Some are better than others, but I usually get at least one chuckle per book. And whether we admit it (or not), after reading a couple of them we start to wish we could acquire the skills of the heroes, Remo & Chiun.

[WhiteTiger]

If you're gonna read Farmer, try the World of Tiers series.

Literally anything by Heinlein is worth reading too.


Tiger

[lwill]

Check this out-
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/michael-crichton/
Cool site. It suggests other authors searched for by people who searched for Michael Crichton

My personal favorite is William Gibson. Must read if you like Vitual Reality or Cyber Punk.
Also James P. Hogan, Ian M. Banks, David Webber, Elizabeth Moon, Lois McMaster Bujold, and of course Douglas Adams

By the way Geof, I am currently (re)reading Ian M. Banks Excession His books can be tough reads, a little depressing (everyone tends to die or live misserably ever after) but very good.

[vacpress]

haha...

as usual, my book suggestions, if anything, alienate people.

[Geof]

haha...

as usual, my book suggestions, if anything, alienate people.

I think you are just trying to impress people with your (implied) erudition. But what can you expect from someone who can tolerate sharing quarters with a physicist.

You should get hold of a copy of "Shadow Of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translated from Spanish by Lucia Graves. Based on your list I think you would find this a good read.

[wjbzone]

Some good choices here. I just finished Crichton's Timeline last month. Good read.

Don't forget about Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series.
Bill

[vacpress]

geof.

i actually really enjoy these authors. ive read most of their books. to proove i am no snob, i will make the following shocking declaration: I have attempted, and failed, to read Brothers Karzamov at least 3 times. I made it to page 60 once, and gave up.. I find it inexcusably dull. How is that for disqualifying myself for true pseudo-intellectual status?

I like books that might hold the possibility to change my life or my 'psyche'..

I also really adore unusual 'graphic novels. Stuff by Edward Gorey, Robert Crumb, Craig Thompson, etc. etc...

Is this Zafon book anything like Marquez or Borges? I really like them. Eventhough it is easy to argue they are even more dull than Brothers Karazamov...

Think this Lucia Graves is related to Robert Graves?

(Giggle) CNCzone book club.

[Geof]

geof.
Is this Zafon book anything like Marquez or Borges?

I have no idea never having read either of those. I normally read trashy science fiction and fantasy novels; reading the Zafon book was a momentary lapse into good taste.

[/QUOTE]Think this Lucia Graves is related to Robert Graves? [/QUOTE]

Again no idea. What did impress me about the book is that whether or not it was written in colloquial Spanish, I suspect it probably was, the translation was into colloquial English and it was very well done.

On the topic of dull dull dull try Joseph Conrad; or maybe not dull just turgid, or turbid, both apply to Lord Jim.

[posix]

I also enjoy reads like "short history of nearly everything", not to be confused by "a brief history of time" which is also excellent, btw. Sci without the fi.

Intelligent sci-fi anyone? Funny intelligent sci-fi is even better. If you know who's responsible for norwegian fjords then you'll know what I'm talking about. Yes they may be childish or whatever but lately I have noticed FAAAAR too many grays in my hair so I'm having to "pull the handbrake" as it were and go back to being 10.

[WhiteTiger]

Funny, intelligent sci-fi... Keith Laumer and Spider Robinson come to mind. Zelazny has a very subtle humor at times also.

Crighton's Timeline is so far about the only thing of his that has impressed me at all. (mostly because of the intro)

I just now finished a Clive Cussler book; struck me as pretty much an english language Bros Karmazov. Deadly boring, and I knew what was coming all the way through, at least two to four pages in advance of where I was reading.


Tiger