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Putting aside for a moment the existing thread on people who are missing out on a large portion of life by not reading, I thought I'd start a thread to see what books people do read.

So, if you'd all be so kind as to recommend at least three books and a brief description of why you like it... (and Tomo, you can't use Northern Lights, The Amber Spyglass and Subtle Knife as your three )

So my three then:

Jennifer Government by Max Barry.
A book by an Australian who has a better grasp of American capitalism than a lot of Americans (the book was nearly called Capitalizm) and a wonderful satire on the way corporations run our lives.
Add in a "catch the killer" plot and you're on to a winner!

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
A book so large and epic that it should be simply absurd - but Gaiman is such a wonderful storyteller that he can take the themes head on and still make it believable. This is the book that got me into magic again (but I wont tell you why - I'll let you read it and try to figure that one out for yourself ). Knowledge of Mythology will be handy whislt reading this, but Gaiman will kindly fill in the main gaps for you along the way.

Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.
I'm not normally one for gung-ho American war novels particularly not ones written by patriotic card-carrying NRA members but this one was a fairly enjoyable read. It's over 600 pages long so it's not a quick read by any means but some of the descriptions of interactions between man and machine and how the most innocent thing can blow into a full scale war is worth digging through the Rambo-esque tank charge moments for.
Whilst not one of my favourite books ever, the rest of mine would probably be fairly boring to write about so I thought I'd go for this one

Just 3?? You evil man
One can try though...

1) Ugly Americans by Ben Mezrich

This comes from the author of "Bringing Down the House" on which the movie 21 is based. Its a true story about a graduate who heads to Japan to trade Nikkei futures. Naturally, dirty dealings begin to unfold in an enviornment packed full of sex drugs and deciet. I read this in 2 days

2) The End of Mr. Y Scarlett Thomas

Cant say much about this without giving a lot away but if you have any interest in the great minds of recent years (Heidegger, Derrida etc) then youll love this. Enjoyable plot and gives you plenty to think about.

3) The Road

A perfect read for this time of year. It will easily dispell that god-awful Christmas cheer you are no doubt being subjected to by now. A man and a boy struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Soon to be a movie with Vigo Morttenson.

Any of the Discworld series by Terry Prattchet (start with monstrous regiment or guards guards). All wickedly funny and the closest thing to the truth in the subject of magic and witchcraft of old. The whole series is a satirical look at both our society as it is now and our society as it was back then.

Good Omens By Terry Prattchet and Neil Gaiman combines Neils insane knowledge of the occult and heavy writing with Terry's incredible humor and human insight. To bring the story of the Antichrists rise to power in a small English village.

And I know its not a book, but Watchmen by Alan Moor has to be read before the movie comes out. (so far I've converted five non comic book readers with his work alone). And frankly Watchmen doesn't belong in the other section (easy to read books) its not easy, its so complex I've gone through it multiple times and keep finding things I missed before.

And I'm recommending a fourth one because its so balls to the wall complex that you will read through it and not understand half of it.
Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson talks about hypothesis around god, aliens, human evolution, karma, reincarnation, Timothy Leary, the 23 conspiracy, reality tunnels, magick, synchronization, and story's from his own life. Although this is a non magic thread I think its fair to say that anyone here is interested in magic and no mater what style you use you will find something here to use for effect.

Stone Junction by Jim Dodge. This book is generally fantastic, it involves secret societies, drug-fuelled adventures and special abilities, but without straying into the realms of unreal characters you can't relate to.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Turned into a trilogy (or saga, I can't remember how many more there were) with Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead, but this is the one that's seriously worth reading. Technically sci-fi I suppose, but doesn't follow the formula of painstakingly creating another world - it focuses on one boy's life, his relationships and struggles etc, and has one of the biggest *gasp* moments of any book I've read. Couldn't put it down.

The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. Not a novel, but a series of collected essays, experiences and experiments, some written from scratch, many grown from columns and articles from when the author was food critic for Vogue. A real must for anyone who loves food; also very funny.



That was really hard to narrow down! So I'll end by saying, read anything by Italo Calvino or Kurt Vonnegut.

I can do it in three, easy - a dictionary, an encylopedia, and a telephone directory..combine them up a la Burroughs, and you'd have many interesting novels to read...

my other choices would be:

The Damnation Game - Clive Barker at his very, very best.

Biography of Peter Hurkos - don't just wikipedia his name, cos thats biased, get the book written in the late 60s about him. Very interesting, and plenty of ideas for mentalism effects too!

The Playboy compendium - now then! back off lomster! no kicking me...this is actually a very fine book, not for those reasons! lots of crazy 60s articles, covering politics, history, rock bands, and all kinds of nonsense..but some of the illustrations are magnificent...

IAIN wrote:The Playboy compendium - some of the illustrations are magnificent...

Iain! This was a thread for those who read, not those who self-gratify

well, you lot should leave this thread too then!

1) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

This was the first of Mitchell's novels i read and it blew me away. Stuck with me for months after, especially the last line, you need a good kicker at the end.

2) The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I'm fascinated with all things time travel, be they outrageous chunks of fiction or factual works from seriously intelligent people. While this is a romance fundamentally, i thought it stunning in scope and even though I'm a bloke, there was something of a lump in my throat. Must learn to chew more thoroughly.

3) Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

A book that works it's way backwards. Not in the sense of flashback, i mean it starts at the end and runs backwards. People shave beards on, regurgatate food into their mouths and chew it on to forks, then place it on their plates, don't even ask what happens in the toilet. Brilliant brilliant stuff.

There's so many more, these are what jumped out at me from the shelves. I like this thread, more recommendations please!

You can recommend more than three books!

I only said at least three books! Bring them on

I'll throw a fourth into the fray as well:

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.
The first in a series of three (well four actually but until someone gets around to translating the fourth one I'll pretend there are only three) of which they fairly recently made films.
Fantastic Russian sci-fi ish material.
It's all about wizards and witches, but not long beards and pointy hats - cool neo-Communist ones.
The obvious parallel between the battle of the Day Watch and the Night Watch to the Cold War is worth the price of the book alone.
Beautifully written and leaves you thirsting for more.
Not the best of the three (that honour goes to the third) but the best place to start.

If you're buying Playboy then get the braille version, it's a much better feel

dat8962 wrote:If you're buying Playboy then get the braille version, it's a much better feel

i have the pop-up, scratch and sniff edition...

Ecko Zero, Judging by some of your posts i couldn't recommend Good Omens (Prattchet, Gaiman) and Discworld (Pratchett) enough. Gods, wizards and magic will never be the same again.

Also if we're able to recomend more, look into the memory of running by Karl Allen. Not without its flaws, but the story is so powerful and written with such subtle, wickedly dark humor, that you will feel like you've lived a whole lifetime after reading it.

I don't get to do much "casual" reading in that I do so much of it for articles and a few book projects I'm working on (non-magic related). For an example I'm researching the whole Holy Grail & Arthurian lore presently along side the early history of Christianity and its evolution between the first and 7th centuries (c.e.) On the other hand I'm diving back into some of the more "occult" oriented fields of study for another project.

Given my penchant towards politics and human rights there have been a few other points of view that I've weighed over the past year...

The Essential Ken Wilber -- Shambhala
Wait! Don't Move to Canada -- Bill Scher
Good Business -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Republican War on Science -- Chris Mooney
AMERICA: the book -- Jon Stewart

Needless to say there are others but I've found this handful to be rather interesting from various points of view.

I must add that one of our members here sent me a wonderful present about a year or so back The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I'd highly recommend it for those holding to a more metaphysical sense of spiritual perspective.

There are some odds & ends that I will invest time with via on-line books that are available to anyone by way of certain "Library" groups; mostly classics but some of it is more "experimental" so to speak.

Reading -- LEARNING -- is the one thing we must do if we are to survive in life. The minute we stop doing it, we die!

I can only think of one at the moment, but I shall be back later when I've given it more thought. Anyway, here's my recommendation...

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Not much to say about this, really; I'm sure absolutely everyone is familiar with the plot of this book. Dracula is up there in my top ten favourite books of all time. Click the link above for a lovely, hardback edition of this classic.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel: a stunning read. It's about two magicians in an alternate Victorian England who revive English magic. It's worth reading just for the footnotes alone!

Sandman: yes, I know it's a comic but it is a rich, complex and beautiful work of genius.

Bodhicaryavatara (Santideva): A guide to the Bodhisattva's path. This text, written by a Buddhist monk in 8CE (common era, the same as AD but for those of us who are not Christian) is one of the most sublime books in existence. I imagine if you're not a Buddhist you won't have heard of it. It covers generosity, ethics, vigour, patience, samadhi (meditative ansorbtion) and wisdom. It is by turns beautiful and extremely hardcore; Santideva has some rather harsh things to say about the nature of sexual relationships. If you want to live your life for the sole purpose of benefiting other beings, then this book will teach you how. Don't expect it to be easy, though.

See my sig, for a small taster!