Take a Recommendation, Leave a Recommendation!

[solicitr]

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt. Eyeopening applications of economic theory to things you didn't think it applied to.

The Quincunx, Charles Palliser. A perfectly rendered Victorian novel (from 1990!) - except not quite: there's a fascinating postmodern subversion going on as well. One of the best novels of the last twenty years bar none.

Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy. Genuine Victorian novel. I advise strongly against reading this while listening to Mahler, which can lead to suicide. Recommended for connoiseurs of the Massively Depressing.

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco. This multilayered tome, only on the surface level a whodunnit in a medieval monastery, is Eco's masterpiece: worth a second reading just to pick up the scholarly allusions. Try hard to forget the abysmal movie.

Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut, P. J. O'Rourke. A quasi-memoir by America's funniest living writer; a sort of bildungsroman in which a onetime hippie realizes he's been sold a bill of goods.

House to House, David Bellavia. Sgt Bellavia's stark firsthand account of the reality of combat in Iraq, not the clueless media version.

The Lord of the Rings: The Novelization, Timothy Zahn, Terry Brooks, Michael Martinez and David Salo. A portable version of Peter Jackson's epic tale, with additional information on vital backstory like Arwen's warrior training, the Pratfall School of Erebor and the flammability of Stewards' robes. Charmingly retro, each copy contains actual ink on paper. Ages 21 and above (some big words, graphic flatulence).

[Lurker]

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt. Eyeopening applications of economic theory to things you didn't think it applied to.

Thanks for recommending this Soli. I will look for it, sounds interesting. I business type books (fiction and non-fiction).

[Frelga]

Can't believe this thread was allowed to fall so low.

Need help.

Given - a spring-break vacation, week-long. A bookaholic Frelga. A bookstore across the road that sent a 30% off coupon, but which doesn't have any Pratchett books I haven't yet read.

Question - what book should I bring?

It should be pleasantly escapist, not too heavy, but still substantial enough to get me through a plane ride (there are few books I can't finish in five hours). No chick lit. And please to Heaven, don't let it be depressing.

Recommendations?

Actually, soli's post above reminded me that I found Name of the Rose at the book swap, and meant to reread it, so I'll probably bring that. What else?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Didn't you just get a book in the mail that needs reading?

[Frelga]

Of course, but I'll be gone a week! Two books won't do it.

[Teremia]

But V, she said EXPRESSLY 'no chick lit.'

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And for that matter, she also said "don't let it be depressing."

[WampusCat]

How about either "The Fourth Bear" or "The Jane Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde? Amusing, with many literary and/or nursery rhyme references.

Or "The Other Boleyn Girl" or "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory? Quite readable historical fiction, with intelligence and good characters, not just bodice ripping. Although there's a good bit of that, too.

I find all of Laurie King's mysteries worthwhile. I read one of hers on the plane to San Francisco for the m00t.

[Lalaith]

Alison Weir's two fiction books, Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey and The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel were very good, too. I liked the one on Lady Jane better, though.

I don't read a lot of fiction, however, so I'm probably not the best one to give advice. Oooh, how about London by Edward Rutherfurd. I enjoyed that very much.