Looking for a couple of books.

[TheVitaleMob]

Alright. So business first; I know a couple of people who are starting to get into cigars, and wanted to know of any books that I can recommend to them. I myself started out with The Idiots Guide to cigars. I would like a book of this nature, except not outdated (IGtC was published in 1997) and not quite as hokey. I thought of Pearlman's(sp?), but haven't looked inside the covers to see if there is any general information besides the descriptions of individual cigars.

Now for the pleasure...

I have been reading fantasy (not SciFi) novels/series all of my life, and have read mainstream fiction only when required by school. I read The Scarlet Letter in school, and fell asleep every seven pages or so, and I just can't seem to get through Dickens, so it's safe to say that "the great american" novel is not for me. Political novels/NF are not a very good choice either because anytime I am faced with politics or religion through the radio or TV, I turn very cynical and eventually start cursing at the current broadcaster for not having any common sense. So my question is: Is there any mainstream fiction or non-fiction that you well-read people can recommend me to read?

 

[Kingantz]

Not sure what the main stream means, however my all time favorite fantasy would be Piers Anthony's The Incarnations of Immortality series. There's also his Robot Adept series along with a couple of others. Shoot, I think I might pull one out and give it a read. It's been a while....

 

[g-smoke]

Personally, I get a lot of mileage out of recommendation engines like on Amazon, and Netflix for movies. Another cool possiblity is a site like GoodReads -- this is an interesting way to see what books other people are reading, particularly those who have the same tastes as you.

 

[SteveA]

For fiction, anything by Cormac McCarthy.

Nonfiction, anything by David Halberstam.

That should keep you busy for a while.

 

[grateful1]

Not sure what the main stream means, however my all time favorite fantasy would be Piers Anthony's The Incarnations of Immortality series. There's also his Robot Adept series along with a couple of others. Shoot, I think I might pull one out and give it a read. It's been a while....

These are two great series...worth a read.

 

[The Green Monkey]

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (and Cryptonomicon, a companion book you can read before or after the Baroque Cycle--after might be better I suppose) is a great way to wile away a lot of reading time. Don't be put off by the length of the books. If you're used to reading drawn out fantasy epics, you'll have no problem handling it. When you're closing in on finishing the series you'll be wishing it were longer.

Chuck Palahniuk is an engaging author but I haven't read any of his stuff for a few years. I'd recommend Fight Club, Choke, and Survivor, and recommend that you avoid Invisible Monsters. I put it down after reading most of it. I can't remember anything about it other than that I thought it totally sucked. As a matter of fact, I haven't read anything by him since now that I think about it.

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus is a great book although it's pretty depressing.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is possibly my favorite stand-alone book. Buy your copy and make notes in it (particularly on the family tree) because it can get confusing. It's a great book for re-reading.

If you're looking for SciFi, 2001 by Arthur C. Clark is a good mind humper. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card are great but I didn't care for much of the later series that developed from those two.

My absolute favorite series of all time is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I've read the first four books countless times while waiting for the last three to come out, and I've read the whole shebang start to finish a few times as well.

 

[Putz Mulligan]

On the epic side of things:

James Clavell's Asia Saga
George R.R. Martin Ice and Fire series
Wilbur Smith's Courtney and Ballentine Series
Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant Chronicles
Anything by James Michner, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Edward Rutherford, Nelson DeMille, Leon Uris, Paul Theroux, John Jakes, Patrick O'Brian......

 

[MX]

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (and Cryptonomicon, a companion book you can read before or after the Baroque Cycle--after might be better I suppose) is a great way to wile away a lot of reading time. Don't be put off by the length of the books. If you're used to reading drawn out fantasy epics, you'll have no problem handling it. When you're closing in on finishing the series you'll be wishing it were longer.

The Diamond Age and Snow Crash are good books by Neal as well.

Also anything by William Gibson is great IMHO.

Tim

 

[Kingantz]

Oh oh oh....Imajica by Clive Barker! Or, Weaveworld.

That's trippin.

 

[mjolnir01]

Alright. So business first; I know a couple of people who are starting to get into cigars, and wanted to know of any books that I can recommend to them. I myself started out with The Idiots Guide to cigars. I would like a book of this nature, except not outdated (IGtC was published in 1997) and not quite as hokey. I thought of Pearlman's(sp?), but haven't looked inside the covers to see if there is any general information besides the descriptions of individual cigars.

Now for the pleasure...

I have been reading fantasy (not SciFi) novels/series all of my life, and have read mainstream fiction only when required by school. I read The Scarlet Letter in school, and fell asleep every seven pages or so, and I just can't seem to get through Dickens, so it's safe to say that "the great american" novel is not for me. Political novels/NF are not a very good choice either because anytime I am faced with politics or religion through the radio or TV, I turn very cynical and eventually start cursing at the current broadcaster for not having any common sense. So my question is: Is there any mainstream fiction or non-fiction that you well-read people can recommend me to read?

Gage released the updated second edition of The Idiot's Guide to Cigars in 2007. Linky to Amazon. I too started with the first edition and can't overstate how helpful it was to me.

As for the fiction, x2 on Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club was excellent. I'm a huge Heinlein fan (hence my avatar) but he's pretty solidly SciFi. He's worth reading though for his incredible ideas and commentaries on society, government, and the human condition.

Barry

 

[Strayvector]

If you're a fan of scifi/fantasy give anything by Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, or William Gibson a try. If you want non-scifi fiction, try Angels And Demons and The Da Vince Code by Dan Brown, but stay away from his other books.

 

[SyrLinus]

I'll 2nd Neal Stephenson, George R.R. Martin and Gibson. I'd also suggest Larry Niven, particularly his Ringworld series or single novels (Destiny's Road is real old fashioned sci-fi, IMO. Very imaginative.)

For non-fiction, I read a variety of readers but on specific topics. Lately it's been stuff like politics (Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope, Samatha Power's Problem from Hell, Tim Wise's White Like Me), religious (Lama Durya Las and others), long distance cycling books (Cleopatra's Needle) and general historical stuff.

And I'm with you in trying to find a book that is the next level of IGtC. I haven't found that as there seems to be far and few between that are even written about cigars (unless it's the yearly review books and for reviews, I'd rather read the average person's review over an "expert's" any day).

 

[jstrat]

For fiction, anything by Cormac McCarthy.

Nonfiction, anything by David Halberstam.

That should keep you busy for a while.

Cormac McCarthy is indeed a master American novelist! Also, anything by James Lee Burke (especially the Dave Robicheaux novels) for a more casual read.