I've become a voracious reader in the last five years but true to my obsessive compulsive personality, I focus on the author. I read everything an author has written before moving on to the next one - more or less.

First, I read every Louis L'Mour book. I loved almost every one. Each time I'd finish a book, I'd say "I don't know how, but this one is better than the last one!"

Then I read all the books in Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series. LOVE that series! The next Reacher book comes out in October. Can't wait!

I've read all of John D, MacDonald's "Travis McGee' books. Awesome! i wish there were more, but I'm sure I'll re-read every one of them starting next year.

I'm now simoltaneously reading Elmore Leonard, Mickey Spillane (the "Mike Hammer" books) and Richard Stark (the "Parker" books).

In the past I read everything Dean Koontz and Stephen King wrote, although I quit reading King after "Gerald's Game" and I quit reading Koontz somewhere around the third Odd Thomas book.

The Alchemist will always be my favorite. Read it in both transalations, English & Arabic.

RodeoSchro said:

I'm now simoltaneously reading Elmore Leonard, Mickey Spillane (the "Mike Hammer" books) and Richard Stark (the "Parker" books).

elmore leonard and richard stark are my go to writers when i'm between comics and other books. i'm reading 'maximum bob' currently and recently finished '52 pick up' and 'out of sight'. i've read 15 or so leonard novels and maybe 6 parker books. they're so easy to read, and so well crafted and smart at the same time.

i've been thinking for a long time of trying some louis l'amour...maybe when i'm out of leonard...

peedub said:

RodeoSchro said:

I'm now simoltaneously reading Elmore Leonard, Mickey Spillane (the "Mike Hammer" books) and Richard Stark (the "Parker" books).

elmore leonard and richard stark are my go to writers when i'm between comics and other books. i'm reading 'maximum bob' currently and recently finished '52 pick up' and 'out of sight'. i've read 15 or so leonard novels and maybe 6 parker books. they're so easy to read, and so well crafted and smart at the same time.

i've been thinking for a long time of trying some louis l'amour...maybe when i'm out of leonard...

I just bought "Maximum Bob"! I'll start it after I finish "Raylon".

I usually can't find these books anywhere. I search old book stores, antique stores and Half Price Books. I hate to resort to eBay but that's what I had to do to get most of my Travis McGee books. And, I'm afraid that's how I'm going to acquire the "Parker" novels.

RodeoSchro said:

peedub said:

elmore leonard and richard stark are my go to writers when i'm between comics and other books. i'm reading 'maximum bob' currently and recently finished '52 pick up' and 'out of sight'. i've read 15 or so leonard novels and maybe 6 parker books. they're so easy to read, and so well crafted and smart at the same time.

i've been thinking for a long time of trying some louis l'amour...maybe when i'm out of leonard...

I just bought "Maximum Bob"! I'll start it after I finish "Raylon".

I usually can't find these books anywhere. I search old book stores, antique stores and Half Price Books. I hate to resort to eBay but that's what I had to do to get most of my Travis McGee books. And, I'm afraid that's how I'm going to acquire the "Parker" novels.

yeah, all of mine come from hpb and our library's used book store. the parker books are especially hard to come by.

you might dig george pelecanos...very much in the elmore leonard vein, ie recurring characters and settings. he was a writer/producer for 'the wire' in it's hey-day.

peedub said:

RodeoSchro said:

I just bought "Maximum Bob"! I'll start it after I finish "Raylon".

I usually can't find these books anywhere. I search old book stores, antique stores and Half Price Books. I hate to resort to eBay but that's what I had to do to get most of my Travis McGee books. And, I'm afraid that's how I'm going to acquire the "Parker" novels.

yeah, all of mine come from hpb and our library's used book store. the parker books are especially hard to come by.

you might dig george pelecanos...very much in the elmore leonard vein, ie recurring characters and settings. he was a writer/producer for 'the wire' in it's hey-day.

Thanks, I'll check him out! And I didn't think of libraries. Great tip, thank you!

other than essays and history:

(random order, several genres; not necessarily the books I consider the best, but books I admired-admire, that interested-interest me , and that always gave/give me pleasure even on repeat readings)

-Les Misérables, Hugo

-Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky

-Hamlet, Shakespeare

-MacBeth, Shakespeare

-King Lear, Shakespeare

-The Silmarillion, Tolkien

-The Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle

-Le Morte d'Arthur, Mallory

-Cyrano de Bergerac, Rostand

-Crónica de una muerte anunciada, García Márquez

-The Three Musketeers, Dumas

-Death Comes for the Archbishop, Cather

-Moby Dick, Melville

-Tom Jones, Fielding

-A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens

-Dracula, Stoker

-The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde

-Moll Flanders, Defoe

-The Odyssey, Homer

-Arabian Nights

-The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

-Tales, Poe

-Tales, Sophocles

(so many good books to read, so little time)

Should I try slogging my way through James Joyce's Ulysses for the 50th time? I've read all of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley novels... I see she has a new one out. My summer reading material!

Not an avid reader at all :/

A Song of Ice and Fire series

Outlander series

Harry Potter series

The Wicked Years series

Used to read Star Wars EU but it's boring now.

I want to start the Shannara series by Terry Brooks because the trailer for the TV adaption on MTV looked great.

DaveT said:

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis, and Dracula - Beam Stoker. Other than that a ton of autobiographies...Christopher Lee and Mick Foley, my two favourites. Novella wise Stephen King's Rage is genius!

I want to read Christopher Lee's autobiography after finding out what a total badass he was.

Right now I'm reading George (Funkadelic) Clinton's autobiography as well as the latest Ken Follet on audiobook.

Other favorites............

John Steinbeck's books

Charles Dickens' books

JRR Tolkein's books

Harry Potter Series

Autobiography of Malcolm X

Autobiography of a Yogi

The Color Purple

Devil In A Blue Dress

Alexandre Dumas' books

John Grisham's books

Isabel Allende's books

Amy Tan's books

Michael Connelly's books

Robert Ludlum's books (up until his death)

Jeffrey Archer's books...his last was booooring!

Ken Follet books

James Clavell books

Other recommended titles.....

Legacy of Ashes, history of the CIA

Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man

People's History Of The United States

Creature From Jekyll Island

Game Change

The Brothers, (Allen and John Foster Dulles)

Dreams For My Father

Malcolm X, A Life Of Reinvention

Authors that I've stopped reading.....Deepak, Clive Cussler, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, David Baldacci, Eric Von Lustbader, Anne Rice, Robin Cook, Patricia Cornwell, Dan Brown.

Books I loved as a kid....Ezra Jack Keats books, The Madeline series, Dr. Seuss, PD Eastman books.

JoeTyler said:

other than essays and history:

(random order, several genres; not necessarily the books I consider the best, but books I admired-admire, that interested-interest me , and that always gave/give me pleasure even on repeat readings)

-Les Misérables, Hugo

-Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky

-Hamlet, Shakespeare

-MacBeth, Shakespeare

-King Lear, Shakespeare

-The Silmarillion, Tolkien

-The Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle

-Le Morte d'Arthur, Mallory

-Cyrano de Bergerac, Rostand

-Crónica de una muerte anunciada, García Márquez

-The Three Musketeers, Dumas

-Death Comes for the Archbishop, Cather

-Moby Dick, Melville

-Tom Jones, Fielding

-A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens

-Dracula, Stoker

-The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde

-Moll Flanders, Defoe

-The Odyssey, Homer

-Arabian Nights

-The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

-Tales, Poe

-Tales, Sophocles

(so many good books to read, so little time)

Hey now.....great list,

I loved The Brother's Karamazov by Dostoyevksy too. I forgot to add Poe to my list.

I have not read Death Comes For The Archbishop....looks like something I would like.

Steven Pinker - The Better Angels of Our Nature

Robert Wright - The Moral Animal

Mark Moffett - The Livest of Ants

Edward Wilson - Journey to the Ants

Peter Singer - The Life You Can Save & The Ethics of What We Eat

Barbara Demick - Nothing to Envy

Michael Gazzaniga - Who's In Charge

Richard Adams - Watership Down

Dan Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow

Leonard Mlodinow - Subliminal - How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Robertson Davies - Fifth Business

Robertson Davies - The Manticore

Robertson Davies - World of Wonders

RodeoSchro said:

DaveT said:

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis, and Dracula - Beam Stoker. Other than that a ton of autobiographies...Christopher Lee and Mick Foley, my two favourites. Novella wise Stephen King's Rage is genius!

I want to read Christopher Lee's autobiography after finding out what a total badass he was.

His acting is just a small part of his life ... its incredible all the other stuff he did on top of that. Bloody good writer to if his autobiography is anything to go on!

My favorite (or favourite, to those across the pond and whatnot) are the ones with hardcocvers. They hurt more when you throw 'em at someone.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Re-reading this series at this time.

Bhagavad Gita: God Talks with Arjuna by Paramahansa Yogananda.

The Book by Alan Watts.

The Bible

Actually, too many books to name. But these are my main go to books.

The Book of Est - Luke Rhinehart.

A dramatisation of what it was like to be inside the Est training.

Right now I'm reading:

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Both were suggested by Bree Newsome on her twitter account.

Right now I'm reading:
This thread.

too many to list. i'm a binge reader and i basically read everything i can find by my favorite authors: mark twain, brothers grimm, edgar allen poe, j.r.r. tolkien, c.s. lewis, lloyd alexander, stephen king, charles dickens, william shakespeare, jane austen, robert crais, chelsea quinn yarbro, robert parker, hans christian andersen, elizabeth goudge, mary stewart, catherine coulter, r.a. macavoy, nevada barr, gillian roberts, kenneth robeson, louis l'amour, elizabeth peters/barbara michaels, laura ingalls wilder, wilbur smith, j.k. rowling, laurie king, voltaire, dianne day, suzanne collins, stieg larrson, robert heinlein, frances hodgson burnett, louisa may alcott, isaac asimov, robert asprin, bronte sisters, - the thing is no matter how hard i try unless i spend a day here i can't list them all.

.

right now i'm binge reading robert parker's spenser series.

[Edited 8/2/15 13:57pm]

Other than LOTF which is one of my favorite books ever, these are my favorite in the last year of reading.

[Edited 8/2/15 10:16am]

blixical, could you tell me a bit about each of those books?

domainator2010 said:

blixical, could you tell me a bit about each of those books?

1. Bed, a story about a family who live with the world's heaviest man. The strength of this book is not in the story, but in the prose. (it can also be its weakness in places)

2. The Martian - Sci-fi survival book about an astronaut who accidentally gets left behind on Mars, and how he has to figure out a way to make a base designed for 31 days of life stretch out to 4 years. Harrowing and gripping and constantly entertaining.

3. The Windup Girl - A sci-fi novel best described as "biopunk", but the strength of this book is not the sci-fi elements, but the descriptions of modern Bangkok along with really interesting characters and motivations behind them.

4. Kafka on the Shore - drama/metaphysical I can't really describe this one. It's a coming of age story with elements of Odepus Rex in the mix, a beautiful depiction of modern Japan along with really offbeat characters who find each other in a relatively indifferent world.

5. The White Tiger - brilliant depiction of modern Indian and the class divide told by a protagonist who claws his way out of the divide. The final paragraph is so good, I put the book down and said out loud, "damn."

6. The Tiger's Wife - A character is tracking down a fable told to her by her parents, and uncovers other fables. It's not a fairtale--it's a very real book. But, just good story telling.

7. Lullaby -- If you like Fightclub, you might like this. Completely different story, but same vibe.

8. Lord of the Flies - A classic book. A look at man, government, religion within a small condensed book that takes place on a tropical island with nothing but boys between the ages of 6 and 12.

9. Gods Behaving Badly - How do Athena, Apollo, Hermes, Artimes and a few other Greek gods react to liiving in a London flat trying to be unoticed by the rest of society, but also pissed off that they ARE unoticed and unadored by the masses?

10. The End of Faith -- It's really time to let go of religion, and Sam Harris makes his case.

Cool. Thanks. I might try one or 2 of them some time.