Book Recommendations

[artyartie]

Being home for the summer, I have lots of time to read. Lots. I have a slew of books on the way, mostly naval and maritime history, but I also want to get in some non-academic reading. I've already started the Discworld series (finally!) but what else should I read? Humor, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical fiction are my main interest, but I also like non-fiction as well. Point me in some good directions, oh literary friends!

Comments

[otahyoni.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Ooh! My favorite thing! Recommending books!

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. First book, The Eyre Affair. Mystery, fantasy, humor, and general wackiness, with a generous dose of classic literature fun. In The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next chases a villain into Jane Eyre, managing to muck it all up the process. In one of the later books (there's four so far), she has to take Hamlet into Witness Protection. Silly and fun and great for "spot the literary allusion!"

More serious but utterly amazing is Audrey Niffennegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, which I pimp constantly. Other literary options: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (short story collection).

Sci-fi: The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn. Like a Raymond Chandler novel in space! Ooh, read some Raymond Chandler, too. I love detective noir fiction.

Kay. Go! :)

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

Oooh, The Eyre Affair! I didn't read that when it came out but it looked oh so very tempting. And The Time Traveler's Wife also piqued my interest. And detective noir in space? You have me hooked. :)