Just to give everyone an idea of what I'm interested in I'll list my favorite books.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
The Catcher in the Rye
I like Danielle Steel but that's another story all together.
The Client by John Grisham

Did you ever read the Danielle Steele book about her son Nick Traina?

By Dr. Asimov (And sherpafish, the Good Doctor himself specifically stated that it should be spelled like that, regardless of how the name transliterates from the Russian tongue)...

The Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire

My all-time favourite is The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, following closely by Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry. Anything Alice Munro is good, though admittedly I prefer her older writing to her more recent stuff. Audrey Thomas has a novel called Intertidal Life that I really liked.

I hated both Ondaatje's The English Patient and Anne Michael's Fugitive Pieces but the rest of the world disagreed with me and you might as well.

quote:

---

Is 1984 the one with the all knowing all seeing "big brother"? I think I read it. I think I liked it...

---

If you liked 1984, you've gotta read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

By themselves, I don't find 1984 or Brave New World all that prophetic. When read as a pair, on the other hand, they are a blueprint on where the world seems to be headed.

Based on your age and expressed interests, I'd suggest "The Virgin Suicides". On one hand, it is set in the time I grew up in, but that doesn't really figure into it, other than I'll tell you that there really was a dutch elm disease, and we really did loose tree after tree.

The title implies it's a book about girls, but it isn't. It's a book about how boy-men see girls.

quote:

---

By themselves, I don't find 1984 or Brave New World all that prophetic

---

In the Introduction he says: "In 1931 when Brave New World was being written, I was convinced that there was still plenty of time... Twenty-seven years later, in this third quarter of the twentieth century ... I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did when I was writing Brave New World."

The book is excellent, it is worth looking into.

'The Bean Trees' and 'Pigs in Heaven' by Barbara Kingsolver; Prodigal Summer is pretty good, too, if a bit too preachy for my taste.

'Memoirs of a Geisha' (author's name escapes me)

'Humans' surprisingly by Donald Westlake, who is much funnier, but less profound in earlier books.

danerin, I don't know how to classify it, but there is a magical little novel called
Grendel, by the American writer John Gardner, that I think you might like. It is the Beowulf story retold from the monster's point of view, and it is utterly charming ... and sad and profound too. It's also splendidly written -- Gardner invents a bit of language for Grendel, although that's no kind of barrier.

And, really, I was just kidding about all that crying. Some of my best friends haven't read my book yet. I'm fine, really.

quote:

---

Grendel, by the American writer John Gardner, that I think you might like. It is the Beowulf story retold from the monster's point of view, and it is utterly charming

---

A wonderful book! Can be enjoyed on many levels. Also, an easy and smooth read for someone like darinerin who seems to be at loose ends as to what to pick up next. (I'm not suggesting you need easy books, it's just that some books are good logjam breakers for when you're stuck)

I just finished "Kits Law" by Donna Morrisy. Really good, especially if you liked the atmosphere of "Shipping News".

The Jane review. (skdadl, you've already read this!)

Darinerin, stick around here and you'll never be bored again, ever.