The Road by Cormac McCarthy Moneyball by Michael Lewis Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
I just read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and just started the sequel Catching Fire. They've been really good so far.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was forced in it's humor, would not recommend personally. If you are willing to go past the fact that it's a comic, I loved 100 Bullets. Non Fiction Books: When Genius Fails Money Ball 48 Laws of Power I've actually been reading stuff that I haven't read but been around for a while like the entire Dune series. I also like Brett Easton Ellis stuff in small doses (Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Informers, and etc.).
You're very welcome. It's a personal mission of mine to get as many people to read that book as I can. I have to warn you that the prequel was a bit disappointing compared to the masterpiece of Shadow of the Wind. Now, if they would just get around to translating his first four books... You should definitely check out Robert McCammon's latest works: Speaks the Nightbird, Queen of Bedlam, and Mister Slaughter (coming out in January). Steven King raved about those works as well.
Don't know if anyone has mentioned the Tales of the Otori series. Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book. It's about ninjas and samurai. Non Fiction I like Gang Leader for a Day and The Art of the Beautiful Game. For essays I thought my Father was God was really good.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society These 2 are the best I've read this year. Guernsey might be one the best ever...
I just finished reading Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. Holy freaking great books. The last book is supposed to be translated and published next year. There are also Swedish movies for both of these books and I can't wait until they are released here in the US with English subtitles. It is a shame the author died so young. I read that he intended on making this a 10 book series.
I'm about wrapping up The Girl who Played with Fire, its not as good as Tattoo, but still good. And agreed, I'd have liked to read more stuff by the Swedish writer, its tragic.
I CANT BELIEVE NOBODY HAS MENTIONED THE GREATEST NOVEL FROM THE GREATEST WRITER OF OUR GENERATION! listen to this audio clip of bill reading from his book - NSFW http://undercoverblackman.vox.com/library/audio/6a00cd970f81104cd50109814e9151000d.html
That bummed me out. I had planned on picking up these works and am waiting until the third is out before going through them all at once. I would have loved to see the entire breadth of what he intended to write. According to wikipedia: Maybe they'll cobble together the fourth book somehow or get someone to write off his notes ala Brandon Sanderson for Robert Jordan. I'm paranoid about something happening to Robert McCammon before he finishes his Matthew Corbett series which is also supposed to go 10 books. It doesn't help that he's now writing another unrelated book between each of his main series. Every 5 years or so I swear off reading any incomplete series due to being snakebit by Jordan and others, but I find myself getting drawn back every time...
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest comes out May 25, 2010. I'll probably re-read both books right before this one comes out. As HeyDude said, Salander is one of the best characters that I've read about in a while.
Listened to this one on Cassette. It was pretty interesting. The ending was a bit expected. Overall pretty good. Rocket River
Can't believe nobody's mentioned Palin's "Going Rouge"! Some good suggestions here on the fiction side. People have already talked about Vonnegut. Right now, I'm working on "Breakfast of Champions" which is both hilarious and disturbing. Great book. Just finish Bruce Feldman's "Meat Market" about Ole Miss recruiting. Any college football fan will love that one. If you haven't read "The Blind Side" yet, then do that as well. Of course, "Friday Night Lights" is a must read, but the social commentary on West Texas culture can a bit too detailed.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen - fascinating story about a US mountain climber who builds schools for the impoverished in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Highly relevant to current events. Mortensen should have won the Nobel Prize. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Micheal Pollan- all about food and the military/industrial food complex and the locavore movement in the US. Again, highly relevant to your daily life and your health. You can afford to eat healthy local food. Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson. A quick and entertaining read in which everything we thought we knew about Wm Shksper vanishes into thin air.
That's a great book and a very inspirational story. Of course it makes me feel like I haven't accomplished anything in my life.
