Right now I am reading... The unbearable lightness of being of Milan Kundera. So far I've been liking it.

Oh, the" Night Watch" and the "Day Watch" by Sergej Luk'Janenko.. I've read them without any stops.. fatasy.. quite dark.. great!

Read Stephen King's 'IT'

 

it's phenomenal.

I saw the movie first, so I already love the story,

but the book is so good.

so much good stuff left out of the movie!

I definitely suggest The Kite Runner also.

 

Some others are:

- A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving I actually didn't mind having to read this in high school. I loved it.

"In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys -— best friends -— are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying."

"Owen Meany is a dwarfish boy with a strange voice who accidentally kills his best friend's mom with a baseball and believes--accurately--that he is an instrument of God, to be redeemed by martyrdom."

 

- Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

" In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy." Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature."

 

- The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

"Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coelho introduces Santiago, an Andalucian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream. Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.""

A couple of the 16 year olds that I teach just read "The Outsider" by Albert Camus (its original title is L'Etranger - it was first published in French) and loved it.

 

I warn you - it's dark. The opening line is "Mother died today"

 

Maybe it depends on what stage of adolescence you're in - they're enjoying going through a rather black, gloomy mood at the moment

 

I believe it's actually The Stranger by Albert Camus. This is still on my books-to-read list...which keeps on growing lol

The Things They Carried (forget the author) is pretty good too, I forgot that one the first time around.

No way I'm read The Count of Monte Cristo as well! Do you like it so far?

 

Hmm recommendations...The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie is fantastic! It's action/adventure, lots of fun and really funny.

The Things They Carried (forget the author) is pretty good too, I forgot that one the first time around.

 

Tim O' Brien.

Another one that I didn't mind having to read during high school and one of my favorites :)

Yeah, like other son this thread, I have a taste for dystopian fiction...

 

I suggest "The Giver"

 

but other's in that genre (some of which have already been mentioned):

 

1984

Brave New World

Fahrenheit 451

Lord of the flies?

The analyst - John Katzenbach

 

Plot.

Frederick Starks is a psychoanalyst who is burned out on his profession, a vaguely unpleasant widower who is just going through the motions of his profession and who derives few pleasures from his life other than the predictability of his routine. This all changes, however, on his 53rd birthday when he receives an anonymous, and fateful, warning.

 

The warning is quite to the point. The sender advises Starks that Starks, somewhere, somehow, in the past, ruined his life, and now he is going to ruin Starks's life. Starks is given 15 days to determine the identity of the sender. If he is unsuccessful, he must take his own life, or the life of one of his relatives --- most of whom he has not maintained contact with --- will be forfeit.

 

 

I absolutely :heart:d it!

please do me a favour and read "Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer.

 

i'm not gonna lie, but it's the best book i've read in the last couple of years.

 

it's about a boy, Oskar, who lost his dad on 9/11 and he finds this key in a vase in his dad's closet and on the vase there's a note that says,"Black". so he tries to find which lock in new york the key would open and who "Black" is.

 

it's a wonderful, beautiful book. i love the thoughts that little 9-year-old brings up and that he's actually quite intelligent.

you'll love it.

 

it became my favourite book right away.

Where's Wally! (Waldo if you're american :rolleyes:)

 

short AND fun

^ and "Walter" in german!

loved it.

probably my favourite book when i was about 4 :laugh3:

Where's Wally! (Waldo if you're american :rolleyes:)

 

short AND fun

 

LMAO I love how when you are looking for him you can see in the scene some really weird kinky stuff...like a naked man or a guy humping someone.... :laugh3:

These might have already mentioned but they are great:

 

Enders Game series by Orson Scott Card, if you like Harry Potter I think you might like this one, even though its scifi. ( if you get into the first book and like it, then I suggest reading Enders Shadow next)

 

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

 

The World According to Garp by John Irving

I think you'd really, really like Ordinary People by Judith Guest, if you haven't already been required to read it in school.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Or Arudhati Roy's An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire

No way I'm read The Count of Monte Cristo as well! Do you like it so far?

I love it, it is so well written. Have you seen the movie? I would highly recommend it.

 

I suggest "The Giver"

 

 

 

Lord of the flies?

Read both of these, you're getting closer to stuff I like;)

 

 

Where's Wally! (Waldo if you're american :rolleyes:)

 

short AND fun

And Im sure my English teacher would be so pleased:rolleyes:

 

 

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I may read this:thinking:

 

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

 

The World According to Garp by John Irving

 

Yes and yes.

 

Also:

 

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

The story is set in New Orleans in the early 1960s. The central character is Ignatius J. (Jacques) Reilly, an intelligent but slothful man still living with his mother at age 30 in the city's Uptown neighborhood, who, because of family circumstances, must set out to get a job. In his quest for employment he has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters.

 

"Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn

The narrator of this extraordinary tale is a man in search for truth. He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "You are the teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell, one that no other human being has ever heard. It is a story that extends backward and forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth of time to a future there is still time save. Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever imagined?

 

Along the lines of a "series" similar to Twilight or Harry Potter, you might like to try the works of Anne Rice. If you have seen "Interview With the Vampire," well, that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of that series. The entire "Vampire Chronicles" works are terribly interesting. Mrs. Rice tends to be quite verbose and detailed, but I can guarantee you this gift truly allows the reader to "be there." The other series by Anne Rice that you may enjoy is the "Mayfair Witches" chronicles. This particular series is my favorite. There are officially three books to the series including The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos. Just as with the "Vampire Chronicles" (which sometimes overlaps with the Mayfair Witch saga), there are several ancillary works written about main characters and secondary characters in later stories.

"A Word Without End" - Ken Follett

 

I liked a lot! :)

I love it, it is so well written. Have you seen the movie? I would highly recommend it.

 

I know! I love Dumas' style of writing. And the story itself is so interesting! No, I haven't seen the movie. It was on TV the other day, but I didn't want to watch until I finished the book. :D So it lives up to the book?

Twilight~ Stephenie Meyer

 

An amazon review:

"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."

 

As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.

 

If you read Twilight and like it the sequels are wonderful! New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn (which comes out tomorrow!!)

If you're looking for teenage books similar to Harry Potter/Twilight, thenyou could try some of these (note: for some reason, most of the ones which spring to mind are series!)

 

Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. Starts with Sabriel, then Lirael, then Abhorsen. Its set in a place called the Old Kingdom, which is filled with magic. Its currently being used by evil beings and the trilogy shows them trying to reclaim the kingdom for good magic. I love this trilogy.

 

Cornelia Funke's trilogy. Only Inkheart & Inkspell have been published yet. Its about a girl and her Dad who can read things out of books when they read out loud. The second one finds them having read themselves inside a book to follow on the events of the first book.

 

Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori. (Across the Nightingale Floor; Grass For His Pillow; Brilliance of the Moon; Harsh Cry Of THe Heron; Heaven's Net Is Wide) They're set in an ancient China, and follow Takeo who belongs to a community called the Hidden. Lots of historical references, battles, and a bit of a romance going on.

 

Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. Starts with City of Masks (City of Stars; City of Flowers; City of Secrets) and is a time-travelling series. Children from modern UK find that when they go to sleep they are in an alternative medieval Italy, where there are subtle differences to our Italy. Each book follows a different child, although they do mingle between each others books.

 

Malorie Blackman. Noughts & Crosses; Knife Edge; Checkmate. The fourth one is due ot be publised in the autumn. The series is set where people are divided between Noughts & Crosses, a rical divide similar to that between blacks & whites. Follows some central characters but highlights racial tensions & divides, and shows how people can become involved in terrorism.

I know! I love Dumas' style of writing. And the story itself is so interesting! No, I haven't seen the movie. It was on TV the other day, but I didn't want to watch until I finished the book. :D So it lives up to the book?

They're very different but equally good in my opinion. I didnt finish the book though cuz I have to read two books in the next few weeks so Im reading shorter ones.

I had to pause reading that book for a little bit because I have to read another book for school. :sad: Boooooo.