Recommendations

[Oldposts]

Topic suggested by Ramanan (jramanmbt@hotmail.com) on Wed Aug 26 12:07:27 .


we the people who read a lot will have our favourite ones.

How about listing them irrespective of what category the book falls into and if possible state why you liked the book ? Ofcourse for Science Fiction and Fantasy, we go to the SF & F (/SF/) forum.

The idea is to get to know good books so that the next time we go to a library or bookshop we know what to look for.

[Oldposts]

I'm a big fan of Latin American writers.
My favorite short-story writer is Jorges Louis Borges. I cannot explain his writing other than say that he plays with Time and History as we know it. His works are mulitfaceted: science fiction, suspense, irony, history, philosophy, humor all are present in a potent blend.

Other phenomenal Latin American writers:
-Gabriel Garcia Marquez (nobel laureate)
-Mario Vargas Llosa
-Jorge Amado

More later. . .

[Oldposts]

I always recommend

Catcher In the Rye - J D Salinger
Franny & Zooey - "

East Of Eden - John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath - "

Fountainhead - AynRand
Anthem - "

Roald Dahl's Short Stories

Uncle Dynamite - P G Wodehouse
[Also psmith (p silent) stories:-) ]

The Word - Irwing Wallace

God Of Small Things - Arundathi Roy

More Later..

[Oldposts]

I second Gokul's recommendation of Roald Dahl's short stories. Presently I am reading a collection of essays by J. B. Priestly, fifty years of essays. I just coudln't help grinning throughout some of the pieces. I recommend it for days you aren't in the mood for a long read. :-).

[Oldposts]

My recommendations:

The Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess - I can't describe the impact this book made on me. It's too personal. Read it and u will know.

The Second Lady - Irving Wallace - For sheer entertainment and u will get a lot of lowdown on cloak-and-dagger stuff.

Foundation - Isaac Asimov - Seminal work . I loved the lead character Hari Seldon. u will get to know about pshchohistory.

The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth. To paraphrase the blurb, it's unputdownable ! Thriller of the highest order.

More to follow........

[Oldposts]

Krishnan - Second Lady? :-)))))))))))))))))))

Glad you enjoyed the book as much as I did. But it's full of coincidences, cliches and a worn-out ending. But I enjoyed it all the same, wondering whether Kamal was going to make it a Tamil movie. It certainly has the basics - the double act, I mean. :-))

[Oldposts]

NOV - The Second Lady was one of the first novels I read. Probably it might be the reason why I chose it. Of course, Irving Wallace's The Prize, The Almighty, The Word were equally good.

[Oldposts]

My Recommendations.
Roots by Alex Haley
Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance & Lila
both by Robert.M.Pirsig.
Short stories/stories by Jack London.
The fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
J.Livingston Seagull & Illusions by Richard Bach.
To Kill a Mocking bird by Harper.J.Lee
The spy who came in from the cold by John Le carre. His novels are a refreshing change from the usual run of the mill spy novels.

In the above mentioned, Zen and the... and J.L.Seagull are more like a bible to me.

More to come............

[Oldposts]

Ramanan: I was moved by Alex Haley's Roots. The way he traces his roots to a obscure village in Gambia,Africa ...and the agony suffered by the African slaves.....immensely moving experience.
Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is another fine work.
I will also suggest books by Stanislaw Lem. He's a great Polish SF writer. His works has been described as a kind of cross between Jorge Luis Borges and Douglas Adams. Try his "The Fururological Congress". Incidentally, the great master Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" was based on a work by Lem.

[Oldposts]

Sorry for the typos :

It should be Futurological Congress .

[Oldposts]

The Upanishads [in English]

Shashi Tharoor--The Great Indian Novel
Shashi Tharoor--From Midnight to Millenium

Gita Mehta--Snakes & Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India

Arundhati Roy--The God of Small Things

R.K.Narayan--My Malgudi Days
R.K.Narayan--Painter of Signs & other stories

Ayn Rand--Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand--Fountainhead

Fyodor Dostoevsky--Brothers Karamazov (Vol 1 & 2) [quite depressing!]

Erich Fromm--Escape from Freedom

Anthony Burgess--The Clockwork Orange

Albert Camus--Resistance, Rebellion & Death

Frederik Nietzsche--Thus Spake Zarathustra

Franz Kafka--The Castle

O'Henry--Short Stories

Gore Vidal--Live from Golgotha

Isaac Isimov--The Foundation Trilogy [SF]

Alduous Huxley--The Brave New World

Ray Bradbury--Fahrenheit 451 [SF]

Arthur C. Clarke--Childhood's End [SF]
Arthur C. Clarke--2001: Space Odyssey, 2010, 2064 series [SF]
Arthur C. Clarke--Fountains of Paradise [SF]

Carl Sagan--Cosmos [SF]

[Oldposts]

Here are my recommendations on travelogues :

Paul Theroux's The Great Patagonian Express
Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster
Peter Mathiessen's The Snow Leopard ....lots of Buddhist philosophy..riveting..
Dervla Murphy's On a Shoestring to Coorg .This Irish woman has also written about her adventures in the Andes,Ethiopia.
Norman Lewis's The Goddess in the Stones
Geoffrey Moorhouse's OM - An Indian Pilgrimage ....writes about our own Madras,Pondicherry..
Other great travelogue writers are Bruce Chatwin,Jonathan Raban,Eric Newby.
Rushdie has written about his travels in the Central American country of Nicaragua. I think it's titled "Jaguar's Smile".
Check them out.

[Oldposts]

Hello
Those are excellent reco's,to add a few more
Strongly recommend
KMMunshi's Krishnaavatara(Vol 1 to Vol 7) available at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan bookstores and several big bookstores all over india.It's an amazing narration of Lord Krishna's life and the life and times of all others in a really human point of view.I have learnt a lot about diplomacy and decision-making from these volumes.
2."magnificient obsession" by Lloyd C Douglas

[Oldposts]

More recommendations:
-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (one of the best literary stylists)
-Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (a collection of short stories that prove one doesn't need a narcotic to travel unknown territory)
-One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (a mindblowing tour-de-force in magical realism)
-A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (never been a big fan of his for all the bad writers he influenced, but this novel is one of the best romances I have read. What I most like about Hemingway is what he doesn't tell the reader. His short stories set the trend that everybody apes today)
-The Stranger by Albert Camus (I came onto Camus after having read many existential imitators, so his subject matter was nothing new, but his precisive language and spare style were hypnotic)
-Exile and The Kingdom and other stories by Albert Camus (I almost prefer his short stories more than his novels since his style suits shorts much better)
-As I lay Dying by William Faulkner (Considered the father of the now bastardized magical realism movement, Faulkner lyrically portrays the glory and curse of the American South and life itself. This novel hooked me and influenced my own novel's structure in that each chapter in the book assumes a character's voice which propels the story on. A phenomenal read)
-Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Doestoyevski (Empathy thy name is Russian)
-Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (Just when I thought Doestoyevski was the best Russian writer...)
-The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (brought honor to pulp crime novels, great in characterization. His other popular works are "After Dark My Sweet" and "Grifters", both made excellent movies)

more later

[Oldposts]

Udhaya, great selection!
Krishnan/ Kanchana:
I remember seeing a famed Kubrick film titled "Clockwork Orange"? Is it based on the same story?

Anyone for Thurber? or Somerset Maugham?

Travelogues: Have u read William Darlymple's "City of Djinns"? a quite amusing view of how Delhi does (or does not) work!

[Oldposts]

hi
looking at the amount of talk on magic realism, the most magic realism i have seen is in gabriel's
"The Autumn of the Patriarch"
Highly recommended

[Oldposts]

Hi all,

Glad to see there are other Roald Dahl fans
around !!
I love his works; so imaginative !

I was very thrilled when I got a chance to
work on a movie based on one of his (short) novels...( Ok, so I am a showoff :-) )

[Oldposts]

I see kanchana has mentioned carl sagan's Cosmos.
I have read read that book atleast two times - A very good one. A few other carl sagan's work worth reading

Dragons of Eden
Braco's brain

[Oldposts]

What about "On Human Bondage - Somerset Maugham ? the title itself deserves credit and none of the novel I have read describes unrequited love and intense obsessions with such passion.
Vikram Seth's novel "The suitable Boy" is the best book I have read, its huge some 1300 pages but I have read it in full four times and in parts a zillion times. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND EVERYBODY TO READ IT.
Arundhati's God of Small Things is brilliant of course ( in spite of certain unacceptable elements in the end ), but compared to vikram she pales. I would like to talk to someone who has read the book.
The Seven Minutes- Irving Wallace
The Three Sirens - Irving Wallace
...
more later
more later ...

[Oldposts]

babu: i have read god of small things...
and i wouldn't recommend a suitable boy.. humlog or buniyaad is much better:-))

[Oldposts]

bb, Thats a good joke, but sadly inaccurate. IMO

[Oldposts]

i didn't finish a suitable boy, but in my opinion, its not exactly hum log. it seems to be a sort of middle-class point of view allegory of partition more on the lines of midnight's children.

kalli

[Oldposts]

my humble recommendations....

(1)Franny and Zooey
-will make you realise that there are people who think like you

(2)Autumn of the Patriarch - Marquez-
if One hundred.... is his tour de force in magic realism what do you call this? Half way through I got so submerged in the intense "magic realism"
that for a week or so i was thinking like the Patriarch...

(3) To Build a Fire and other stories - Jack London, just when I was wondering if any author rather than taking you into his world to explain his ideas , would sit with you and explain the brutality of existence, I read this book.
Extremely short stories, deep impact....

(4) Anna Karenina - this book is life , down-to-earth life and all its forms and emotions
it takes a month to wade through this book....

(5) The Book of Laughter and Forgetting -
In my opinion, Kundera's most intricate book, So many concepts, so many images.... I think this book has least of Kundera's normal self-obsessed rambling....

5 is all I have now.....

[Oldposts]

though most of you have suggested Arundathi Roy's
GOST (ghost!! heh) I still dont find it amusing cos as far as every asian goes, it is the story of his grandparents or great grand parents in their village!!!
It may have fascinated the Europeans and Americans as this story is something new to them. I personally feel that 'The God of small things' is commendable only for its excellent use of the English language written by a good interpreter of Indian lifestyle!!!
I'm a fan of Ayn Rand too : I suggest 'We the living' by her. It is a pessimistic point of view of life

[Oldposts]

Hi Friends!!

I would also like to add to the list of "must-reads". I am not including those already repeated like Steinbeck, Hemingway, Pirsig, etc.

I would highly recommend these following novels-

Siddhartha - Herman Hesse - amazing portrayal-
very "Indian" - if I might say so..

The good Earth, Come, my beloved - Pearl S. Buck
- again oreintal thought- and hence much more closer to heart.

I saw someone mention R.K Narayan -the book " Waiting for the Mahatma"- on another plane- much unlike his other writings.

Remains of the Day - Ishiguro- the meaning of life- ideals and beliefs.

Wonderful classics-

three men on a boat - Jerome K Jerome

far from the Madding Crowd - Hardy

Wuthering Heights - Bronte - one of the few books that leave you with a feeling of eerie and uneasiness- all about the feelings of evil and jealousy in the otherwise innocent human mind- lovely protrayal.

Catch- 22 - Joseph Hellerr- much unlike the aforementioned novels- amazingly written -every line has so much pun in it that you can sit on every sentence for minutes together.

The Golden Gate _ vikram seth- beautifullywritten book- construction and story is very good.


SO many titles come to my mind now... but I guess I would have bored most by now...

namaskaram,

anil.

[Oldposts]

Hi all.
To me the books that affected me pretty deeply are ;
- The Razors Edge - Sommerset Maughman
excuse me fro the spelling
- Unbearbale Lightness of being - Milan Kundera
Damn good book. Must read
- Sidhartha - Herman Hesse....another brilliant stuff....

But for satire and comedy I love Kurt Vonnegut Jr....amazing stories.....Like the Sirens of the Titans for example.....

vk

[Oldposts]

Would you give me addresses of suitable english literary magazines? I would like to send my short stories to them.

[Oldposts]

u might want to try,
http://www.sulekha.com/ (http://www.sulekha.com/
)
http://www.monsoonmag.com/

[Oldposts]

A look at some major players in African American Literature:

Toni Morrison
Morrison is a must read for any serious fan of literature. This winner of the Nobel prize a few years ago is worth celebrating. Though her writings stem from her background as an African American matriarch, the tales she weaves, the array of characters with which she manages to peel humanity layer by layer and the exquisite language she uses put her on top as the best American writer alive in my esteem.

I have her books,Sula, Song of Solomon and Tar Baby. I have read Sula and am still rejoicing that experience. The other two I'll save to savor when I'm totally out of good stuff to read.

John Edgar Wideman
Wideman is another African American writer who writes blazing, elegiac fiction. I've also read some of his essays and articles. The man is a giant in expressing the indignant frustration of common lives wronged by the machinations of class, culture, race, and government.

Key books of his:
Damballah(a marvelous story-cycle that weaves in the story of a whole neighborhood)
Philadelphia Fire(based on the mysterious bombing of a black ghetto),
Brothers and Keepers(this one is autobiographical, based on John being a celebrated writer and his brother Robbie spending time in prison for murder)

James Baldwin
In many ways the trailblazer of African American fiction. Baldwin was voicing outright hatred for the injustices of society's racism and took to task the white majority with his explosive essays, short stories and fiction. Even in his own black community Baldwin wasn't embraced totally due to his homosexuality. He nevertheless endured as a pioneer in lucid, acrid prose that doesn't let the reader duck the issues being raised.

Key works:
Go Tell It On The Mountain(this is Baldwin first novel which launched him with applause and uproar. For some reason I'm still saving this as a surefire treat in waiting.)
Another Country(a potent mix of gender, race, love, sexuality all dealt with dignity and aplomb in the classic Baldwin style. The novel takes place in New York and France.
Giovanni's Room(set in Paris and dealing with the tug of war between sexuality and convention, but it's a lot more honest and affecting than the average issue-laden work. This was the first casual account of homosexuality I read by an American.)

[Oldposts]

udhaya, maya angelou padichchirukkeengaLA?

[Oldposts]

bb,
I've read some of Angelou's poems, they're simple and elegant. I especially remember the one she wrote about a black boxer becoming the first heavy weight champion of the world(Joe Lewis I think) it is memorable. Some of her narrative poems were refreshingly personal and feminine. She has this nourishing quality about her writing that I love.

In the above list I forgot a very important person!
I can't believe I forgot him!

Ralph Ellison
Ellison was a literal unknown when he published his seminal novel Invisible Man in the 50s. The novel eventually won the National Book award and has become the testament to the social irrelevance many blacks feel in America. Even beyond race and class, the novel exquisitely articulates the displacement of man in his search for meaning, relevance and a sense of belonging. Definitely one to reflect upon, the novel makes its point with gentle grace.

[Oldposts]

Thanks Udhaya....
I'm going to try them

Do you have any recommendations for books of the genre of Salinger (whatever it's called) ...
Does jean Paul sartre fall in this category for I found a striking similarity in their works...?

Vijay

[Oldposts]

vj, salingerllaam padikkaadhE, the assassin of john lennon, after killing, sat and read catcher in the rye till police came:))))
another interesting thing about salinger is that he is an ardent devotee of ramakrishna paramahamsar.
what is his genre? hmmm...i guess, close to mark twain, but with a more nihilistic view. he is not as much a philosopher as sartre...

[Oldposts]

Another of Toni Morrison's good book is "Beloved" which was recently made as a movie.

Nithya

[Oldposts]

that reading "catcher in the rye" story about Mark Chapman is so much hyped up that people associate Chapman with Holdfield (is that is name?) ....
and actually one of Sartre's story called Erostratus comes very close to Salinger's prototype protaganist.... and Salinger I agree was not as much of a philosopher as Sartre but they I believe thought on similar lines....
Mark Twain and Salinger? Clarify bb..

Vijay

[Oldposts]

Catcher in the Rye's protagonist is Holden Caulfield.

[Oldposts]

Ralph ellison's new book, juneteenth is out!

[Oldposts]

i recommend "an equal music" by vikram seth. have reviewed it in the book reviews thread.

[Oldposts]

bb: I read the review of "an equal music" in the Newyorker magazine. From the review the book
does not sound to be very promising.

[Oldposts]

I'd like to recommend "Possession" by A.S.Byatt. Excellent book with complex gripping characters. Supposedly a romance (the title itself says so) but I'd like to call it a literary romance.

[Oldposts]

Check out this article on Borges.
http://www.salonmagazine.com/books/feature/1999/12/06/borges/index.html (http://www.salonmagazine.com/books/feature/1999/12/06/borges/index.html
)

Very interesting.

[Oldposts]

Just completed reading Yasunari Kawabata's 'Snow Country' and 'The House of Sleeping Beauties'. The first is a wonderful haiku-in-prose novel. The second one can be termed esoteric - a subject never handled by any author. The translation from Japaneese is excellent.

(Kawabata was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1968.)

Half way thru Guntar Grass's 'Tin Drum' (this year Nobel award winner). Magical realism at its best - a shade better than even my all time favorite Gabu (Marquez)

[Oldposts]

era murugan,

appadip pOdungka. tin drum is a worthy of a dissertation. enjoy the reminder.

[Oldposts]

Yes Arul, with Grass's drumming pnome Oskar, I can walk along into his fascinating world. With Gabu, it is sort of getting swept off the feet and flying along.

[Oldposts]

typo regretted - Gnome instead of pnome

[Oldposts]

a bit late... 'the beach' by Alex Garland
the film out soon

[Oldposts]

Talking of morrison (I'm a big fan of her's) check this one out

http://forumhub.com/elit/27626.02.03.50.html (http://forumhub.com/elit/27626.02.03.50.html
)

Literature - It's Connection with History as captured in the Black American Literary Tradition - Case: Morrison's "Beloved"

[Oldposts]

Atlas Shrugged is great too.

[Oldposts]

I don think Vikram seth's The Golden Gate that much interesting.If Anil can help me , of that amazing aspects I'll be grateful.
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[Surya]

I am in love with this thread.

[Surya]

Here's a few...
English, Fiction:
Shutter Island - Dennis LeHane.
A Drink Before the War - Dennis LeHane
When the Wind Blows - James Patterson
Kiss the Girls - James Patterson
The Monkey's Raincoat - Robert Crais
Lulluby Town - Robert Crais
LA Requiem - Robert Crais
The Pelican Brief - John Grisham
Bless Me Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
Gun Monkeys - Victor Guishzler (I can never spell his last name)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy & The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
There Is No Darkness - forgot the author's name.
Post more up later.

Biographies/Auto
Shivaji, The Great Guerilla
Wings of Fire (Abdul Kalam)
Malcom X
Swami Vivekananda
Think of more later.


Religious:
The Gita.
Jeya Jeya Shankarar (I think you can get them in English)
Nyana Yogam (Same here)
The Sages of India

The Forevever War - Joe Haldemen
The Jungle - Upton Sinchlair
The Queen's Gambit - Walter Trevis
Staling the Angel - Robert Crais
The Last Detective - Robert Crais
Indigo Slam - Rober Crais
Sunset Express - Robert Crais
Voodo River - Robert Crais
A game of Thrones - GRR Martin
Freezer Burn - Joe R Lansdale.
Rumble Tumble - Joe R Lansdale
Night Drive (Short Story) - Joe R Lansdale.

Non Fiction:
Practical Knife Fighting
The Lethal art of Filipino Knife Fighting
Blankets.
Ayodhya.
In The Shadow of No Towers.
Palestine.
Holy War Inc.
Perspolis - Stories of a Childhood.
Sonia Gandhin Maru Uruvam.
Hindhu Rashtra Endrall..



Robert Crais series are just great, Robert Crais's Elvis Cole Series! They are in the Action Adventure/ Humor Genre. Hilarious, @ the same time Serious.

Listing from previous posts:
The Monkey's Raincoat
LA Requiem
Stalking the Angel.
The Last Detective.
Lullyby Town.
Indigo Slam.
Sunset Express.
Voodo River.



I've posted all my favs, kind of. :D

Regards. 8)

[Querida]

Hey Surya, :D
can you do us all a fav and please pick out atleast one of those and give us a small synopsis or even what you liked about the book...that will help alot since i really read books based on what their about rather than the title however catchy it sounds...im not asking for a polished review or anything i dont have the talent for it and i doubt i have the time for it either...

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel was really good it was the first time i read something written from a non-indian perspective that was actually accurate sounding...the tale that is told is utterly unbelievable yet at times you can do nothing else but read on in awe of what more is to come...even the attempts at religion and science are enjoyable as well as the character sketches scattered through the work...

[Surya]

Ok Sure. :)

All of the Elvis Cole series are about a PI in LA. For ex: In The Monkey's Raincoat, A woman called Ellen Lang shows up at Elvis's office asking him to find her husband. At first it just looks like a normal case, but later on takes drastic turns. Has Action and Humor. Like that in each one he gets a different case, and each one has tons of humor and action.

One of the most favortie novels that I've read is Shutter Island. Teddy Daniels goes to Shutter Island (a huge mental institute for the Criminally insane) with his partner Chuck to investigate the dissappearance of a mental patient who killed her children. Nothing @ SI is what it seems. The Book has the most shocking ending. I always read it at night because it also gets quite scary towards the end.

Kiss The Girls is part of the Alex Cross Series by James Patterson. Alex Cross is a Detective. Also has a PHD in Psychology. And In Kiss the Girls he goes to DUKE to investigate a series of Kidnappings & killings of College girls by a Psyco who calls himself Casanova (The Great Lover.) Was also made into a movie, but the movie isn't even nearly as good as to book. The only similarity that I can see is that the charecters have the same names and the killer is the same guy or girl. :wink: Once you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down. :) Also has a very shocking ending. One thing I'd like to say to people who want to read the book is, REMEMBER EVERY PERSON THAT IS MENTIONED THROUGHOUT THE BOOK AS YOU READ IT!!!

Gotta go now. Post more later.
Regards. 8)

[Nitai]

The esoteric teachings of the Vedas: about reincarnation, different types of yogas, great sages, Krishna's (God's) direct teachings about spiritual knowledge in the Bhagavad gita with excellent purports of Swami Prabuhpada. All online and downloadable.

Books
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/

Lectures
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/

Enjoy.
Life is short. Don't miss to read these books at least once.

Nitai

[Querida]

I recommend "The Cripple and His Talismans" by Anosh Irani...he grabs your attention at the prologue at times gruesome, cruel, and funny he makes you believe the impossible with his pitiful yet unapologetic protagonist...a jumbling journey with peculiar and candid observations worth a read for sure...

[pooja.shankar]

THE DIGITAL FORTRESS BY DAN BROWN

[pooja.shankar]

new release

CHILL FACTOR by Sandra Brown ..

is she related to dan brown ?

[mohanraman]

I just finished "seven ancient wonders" by maththew reilly....a sort of indiana jones/clive cussler/dan brown "aviyal"....but was great and informative too. Strongly advocate it for those who like light but pacy stuff.....I had made a similar posting in the dan brown section without knowing that such a thread for recomendations exists.
In brief the plot is a treasure hunt leading through the seven ancient wonders( only the giza pyramid is still there) - the treasure, the power to destroy/ save the world.
Happy reading. :) :)

[Surya]

Mr. Majestyke by Elmore Leonard.....MAN! NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF THE BOOKS I READ! :oops:

Anywayz,
It's a fairly short read, I read it on a flight. It's got a bit of everything. Action, Comedy etc.

Basically, a guy is out on his farm picking Squashes, and something happens that changes the rest of his life. 8-)

[Ghlli]

omg i need to update my reading log cos my teacher asked for it...just remembered! i havnt been reading and GOOD books for the past few months! sum1 plzzzzzzzz give me a list of 5 books that a year 8 gal would read! BTW I WANT A LIST OF GOOD BOOKS PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Ghlli]

Noughts and crosses is an awesome book :thumbsup:

[ramky]

1. "The Pelican Brief", "The Client" - by John Grisham.

2. "Jurassic Park", "Disclosure", "Congo", "Rising Sun" - all by Michael Crichton.

3. "A Sparrow Falls", "Rage", "Men Of Men", "Power Of The Sword" -
all by Wilbur Smith.

4. "Exodus" - Leon Uris.

5. "Dogs Of War", "The Odessa File"l, "Icon" - Frederick Forsyth.

[Zimmermann]

Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qu'ran
and Oscar and the lady in pink
are two good works of Emmanuel Schmitt . Worth reading them if you haven't yet.

[VENKIRAJA]

how abt robert ludlum?

[thilak4life]

Hapworth 16, 1924
Short story by J.D.Salinger

:? Don't know whether to recommend this or not!

[s ramaswamy]

I recommend Mila 18 of Leon Uris, a heart-touching novel about the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, HMS Ulysses of Alistair McLean, his first and best (according to me) book which describes succintly in bone-chilling details about the dangers the allied navies faced in north Atlantic from German U-Boats in World War II, another war novel which remains etched in memory - Run Silent Run Deep - about submarine warfare. Somehow World War II novels remain my favourites among war novels.

Other authors I can recommend for crime thrillers are Stuart Woods, John Sandford and Michael Connelly while I strongly recommend Steve Martini for novels dealing with lawyers and court room dramas. He outshines even Grisham.

Ramaswamy

[Sid_316]

Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini

[Wibha]

you guys can you recommend a good book with good vocab? hopefully not a science fiction :)

[Sinthiya]

wibhs, try reading Michael Ondaatje's novels - Anil's Ghost, The English Patient, and more :) ...rich vocab for you :P...

[Wibha]

thanks sinthi will check it out :D

[Balagur2010]

Cool

[raniraja]

Does anyone here read James Clavell?? The Asian Saga (series of 3-4 books). Jian, Nobel House etc.. Been a long time since I did any serious reading but just being here gets one in the mood :)