Recommended
Posted: December 18, 2008 Filed under: Book of Sand 2 CommentsI can’t remember why I first started this list, but if I’m asked for books I would recommend, this is usually what I give people.
Classic that won’t take 3 years to read: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orzcy
Fiction you can analyze to death: Watership Down by Richard Adams (but it really is just about rabbits)
Everyone should probably read: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Children’s to make you swear never to have kids: The Wouldbegoods by E. Nesbit (obviously it didn’t work for me)
Non-fiction you can use for trivia: The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
Children’s read-aloud: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
Excessively surreal and obscure: Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson
One of my favorites: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
YA fiction to make you appreciate teenage hormones: Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
YA fantasy: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (and then read Inkspell)
After you read Hamlet again: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Underappreciated classic: Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Complete emotional drain: Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip
Bestseller: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (recommended with hesitation, see my blog post about it)
Science fiction, I suppose: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
If you’ve never read C.S. Lewis: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
One of my other favorites: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (recommended with caution that there is a bit of swearing)
On a grouchy day: Judy Moody by Megan McDonald
Movie adaptation: K-PAX by Gene Brewer (it’s ok to see the movie first)
Because I don’t know what genre you like: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
…and there you have it. The world according to me.
Jarom
Mika
hilleries 
First: I’ve half-read your left behind copy of The Language Instinct. I plan to read lots more linguistic stuff- when I have time. Second: You liked Phantom of the Opera and Dorian Gray? I haven’t read Dorian, but I’m definitely surprised at Phantom. I hated it. Third: Isn’t Song for the Basilisk a fantasy? What exactly is emotionally draining about it? Inquiring minds want to know. Fourth: I love R&G to death. That’s about it.
First: it’s fun huh? I think I probably skimmed a few parts, but…I have a habit of doing that when non-fiction gets too non-fiction…
Second: hmm. I thought Phantom was great. And Dorian is fantastic, you NEED to read it. It took me a while to get through the first time, but then, it wasn’t written for someone with a short attention span like I have.
Third: good question. The first time I read it I was exhausted afterwards.
Fourth: still one of the best books I’ve ever had to read for a class!