whiski_sour | I need some help...I'm no good an knowing what I want

My Papa emailed me today, asking for a Christmas list. I usually don't have to do this until Thanksgiving and this year I was going to actually the time to compose an actual list (I say that every year...it never happens).

Unlike previous years, I know what I want for Christmas. I want books. I need more books. Even though I'm currently reading a Stephen King/Peter Straub novel and have another one waiting in the wings, I need more books.

I've already added a few of my wants to my Amazon wishlist.

Now, here comes the trouble: I need to branch out more from my typcial reads. I'm not nearly as well read as I should be or would like to be (and, frankly, even though I really like to read, I still don't read as much as I should). So I'm looking for recs here, babies.

Rec me some books you think I should read. Nevermind if you'll think I'll like them; rec them because YOU like them. I'm looking to broaden my horizons and Christmas is a great time to do that for free.

The only stipulation I'll place on the recs is NO ROMANCE. If the romance is the subplot, okay. That I have no trouble with. If the romance is the main plot, forget it. I can't hack it. I'm not wired to enjoy that sort of thing. Sorry.

Oh, and don't bother reccing Twilight or any of its sequels. I read the first book. I didn't like it. Reading any of the sequels will not change my mind. Usually, I'll give writers more than one chance to please me, but I just can't do it in this case.

Yes, I fail at being a girl.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well darn, I guess recommending "Pregnant by my Boss" and "Office Romances" from the sappy romance section isn't going to be a good idea.

Ok - in all fairness I only read the first one because I got it free and it had been collecting dust on my bookshelf for about 10 years.

My favorites in no particular order:

Angela's Ashes and 'Tis by Frank McCourt
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Anywhere But here by Mona Simpson
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (only one of her books I could stand)

Any of the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reichs!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Domain by Steve Alten
The Mermaids Singing by Lisa Carey
Before I Die by Jenny Downham (actually really good for a Y. Adult novel)
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
Emergency! True Stories From the Nation's ERs by Mark Brown
Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society by Lila Abu-Lughod
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan by Andrew Birkin
The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman by Bruce Robinson

The Master and Commander series of books by Patrick O'Brian
*ANYTHING* by P.G. Wodehouse

I could literally go on for about another hour listing books, but I think I'll stop here, lol.

Oh, I think I love just a little bit. Heh.

Not all of the titles are unknown to me (which is good...I'm somewhat paying attention). I actually came across both Stiff and Emergency before and told myself to put them on my wishlist. I'm lousy at listening to myself.

Thanks so much. You're getting two perverted ghosts in your Christmas card this year.

Yaaaaaaaaaay, perverted ghosts :D

I have such a wide taste in books. Dead people, corny "chick-lit", srs business political books and dead things.

I'm always looking for new reads too though ... you have any recommendations for ME on stuff you've read? I'm sorely lacking in new reading material and I'm afraid I may have to do something drastic and turn to Highlander romance novels *nods*

I can't offer you much, but I can offer you a few titles you might like to try (if you haven't already read them).

Deadhouse: Life in the Coroner's Office by John Temple
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson
Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg
The Fat Girl's Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Unwelcome Bodies by Jennifer Pelland
Midnight by Dean Koontz
Cell by Stephen King
Any of Stephen King's short story collections

The Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwall
The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
The Disc World Series by Terry Pratchett

Rummies by Peter Benchley

I am very much a non-fiction and genre ficion reader. Heh.

Oooh, thank you! I didn't know there was a book on the Body Farm, I'm gonna have to check it out.

You're very welcome!

There's actually a couple of Body Farm books, but I've only read that one.

Christopher Moore is probably my favorite author right now. His stuff is mainly comedy, and is brilliant. I recommend "Lamb" and "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove", because I have read those two, but I want to read all of his work eventually.:)

I also enjoyed Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, though I haven't read all of it yet, and I hear that in the latter half it falls into being just smut/romance. But the first 7 books or so are fantastic!

Also in the comedy vein, and in the "books about books" cateory, is Jasper Fforde. I've read the first book of the Thursday Next series, and both books from the Nursery Crimes series. I loved them!!

OH! And though it's geared towards young adults, I really loved "Evil Genius" by Catherine Jinks!

OK, I think that might be it for now. If I think of anythig else I'll tell you. :P

Thanks for the recs. I actually have a Christopher Moore book, "Practical Demon Keeping", and I really liked it. I'll definitely have to look into getting the books you recced that he wrote.

I think Moore is terribly underrated and underappreciated, since he writes comedy and I guess that's not the hip thing. There were many times in both books that I literally lol'd while reading. I also read some of "Coyote Blue" but couldn't get into it. I think it was the genera subject that didn't interest me, so the book as a whole didn't.

~~Twilight!~~

BWah - I have a partiality to the classics. Also like F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tender is the Night especially) and Roddy Doyle (The Commitments/The Snapper).

David Coppperfield by Charles Dickens is a delight but I think you'd get a charge out of Mark Twain.

Christopher Moore is great, HF is right.

Thanks for the recs. I tend to avoid books labeled as classics because of the horrors I endured in my Honors English class. But I may give the titles you recced a try. I can trust you.

*BOWS* I hope they don't dissapoint!

I need some help...I'm no good an knowing what I want

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