I recently read my first novel!

[unskilledgymrat]

I'm not a big reader (at all), but I told myself this summer (of 2009), that I was going to actually buy and read my first novel with a lengthy number of pages. I don't know how or why I went with the following book but I did. It was the book Christine by Stephen King. And you know what? I really enjoyed reading it! It was an exciting book, and it was exciting to myself knowing I actually read a full book, a lengthy novel.

I'm going to start reading some other books by King now as well. I heard John Grisham is pretty good as well. What books would you reccommend for a new time reader? (I am smart, can read well, comprehend well, just never really got into reading until now).

[JAA]

Welcome aboard! Reading is a wonderful thing. Since you enjoyed your first Stephen King experience, give Pet Semetary a shot (quite suspenseful). This would be even more powerful if you haven't seen the film.

Happy reading!

[mhg83]

Some great books for a new reader id recommend:

The Jack Daniels series by JA Konrath. They're murder mysteries mixed with some dark humor. Whiskey Sour is the first book.

Christopher Moore books. Very funny stories. He gets funnier with each book. Stupidest Angel, Coyote Blue, Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and A dirty job are highly recommended.

The Sookie Stackhouse books. I haven't read them but I've heard they're easy to get into and are fast paced.

[unskilledgymrat]

Thanks so much mhq83 and JAA. JAA, unfortunately I have seen Pet Semetary a few times :s. I'm watching True Blood right now mhq83, and really want to get into the Sookie Stackhouse books as well, thanks! :)

[solipsta]

I'm partial to Chuck Palahniuk. Some of his are better than nothing, but they're all pretty fun reads.

Congrats on starting out the path to becoming a reader. It's well worth your while. :)

[DJLinus]

My brother-in-law is not a reader at all. My sister (his wife) has bought books for him in the past and he just couldn't get into them. It got to be kind of joke in our family of readers.

Then earlier this year, for some reason, he picked up Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and absolutely devoured it. He then read several of Brown's other books, too, claiming he found "his author". I have the new book pre-ordered for him as a birthday present.

So, maybe Dan Brown's books? I've only read The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons and, his tinkering with history aside, they are fun and quick reads. They're fast-paced and the chapters are pretty short, with each one ending on a cliff-hanger. (It's like the book equivalent of an episode of "24".)

[movieking]

For anyone that enjoyed Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, I would recommend checking out Steve Berry. He uses the same formula as Dan Brown does, and it works well (except for his last two books, which have been real stinkers, IMO).

[boredsilly]

All I have to say is it is wonderful to see someone discover the joy of reading. I don't read as much as I would like, but I can't imagine life without it.

[unskilledgymrat]

Ok thanks everyone for the kind words and suggestions, reading really is something else!

[Wolf359]

If you read a Grisham make sure to pick up "The Partner". Probably one of my favorites. If you like books with twisty, surprise endings, you really can't go wrong with Harlan Coben.

[unskilledgymrat]

If you read a Grisham make sure to pick up "The Partner". Probably one of my favorites. If you like books with twisty, surprise endings, you really can't go wrong with Harlan Coben.

I've heard The Street Lawyer by Grisham is great as well. Have you heard of that one by chance?

[Wolf359]

I didn't really care for that one. My favorites are The Partner, Rainmaker, and Runaway Jury.

[Wolf359]

Since you mentioned King, you really should read Talisman. If you want to try some sci fi, you can't go wrong with Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

[Tommy Ceez]

Start Reading some Multi-part series

You have a good chance of falling off the wagon and getting back into old habits

But if your in the middle of a series you will have a better chance of returning and you will get into the 'reading habit'

If you like KING, start with THE GUNSLINGER

EDIT: from what you have said, you are coming relatively late to novel-reading. If you don't mind me asking, are you able to give the background to this? Enquiring minds need to know :)

[Dean Kousoulas]

You should also check out some non-fiction. What are your interests? Odds are, whatever it is, it'll be easy to find a couple great books to lose yourself in.

Something else I also recommend, is pick your favorite movies based off books, and read the novels they were based off of. I bet 9 out of 10 times you'll find the book to be better then the movie, or at the very least "enhance" the movie experience the next time you watch it.

That's kinda how I started getting into reading.

[Tommy Ceez]

:lol:

Mod edit of my completely poorly phrased question

[ChineseCheckers]

can't go too wrong with the late Michael Crichton

[maxfisher]

I'll disagree with two things mentioned above. First, I wouldn't recommend the Sookie Stackhouse novels to anyone. I really enjoy True Blood and a couple female coworkers went on and on about how great the books are, so I picked up a set of the first seven. I made it all the way through the first five and quit halfway through the sixth. The first two are alright, but they go to shit after that. Harris repeats things constantly, contradicts herself regularly and writes people so as to make them as irritating as possible. In sharing my opinions with the coworkers that recommended the books, they responded that they pretty much just think a couple of the vampire dudes are incredibly hot and sexy. Lame.

Also, King is a great place for a new casual reader to start, but I wouldn't recommend delving into The Gunslinger/Dark Tower series at the beginning. Try some of his earlier stuff first, like Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, It and Carrie. Those were pretty much the first 'adult' novels I read and I've read them all multiple times over the years.

To add another recommendation, the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher are great entertaining reads. They're kind of like the Sookie books, but by a writer with talent and without all the nonsensical 'Now, I'm a good Christian girl, but when I saw his perfect bottom bent over in front of me, I felt a tremor go through my thighs as I knew I had to feel it' crap.

I'd also recommend the book I'm currently reading, The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I'm 3/4 of the way in and it's an easy read and creepy as hell. It's almost like a police/medical procedural on how things would go down if vampires were discovered. World War Z is another great, easy read that's a 'documentary' looking back at when zombies rose up and nearly killed off all of mankind.

Alright, that's probably enough from me. Congrats on reading that first novel. I love a good story in any medium, but nothing compares to immersing yourself in a damned-fine book.

[mhg83]

I'll disagree with two things mentioned above. First, I wouldn't recommend the Sookie Stackhouse novels to anyone. I really enjoy True Blood and a couple female coworkers went on and on about how great the books are, so I picked up a set of the first seven. I made it all the way through the first five and quit halfway through the sixth. The first two are alright, but they go to shit after that. Harris repeats things constantly, contradicts herself regularly and writes people so as to make them as irritating as possible. In sharing my opinions with the coworkers that recommended the books, they responded that they pretty much just think a couple of the vampire dudes are incredibly hot and sexy. Lame.



I was actually thinking about picking up the set but now you've given me second thoughts. I really like the show but it's only in it's second season so if you say book 3 is bad I wonder how season 3 will turn out. Do they at least expand on the mythology of vampires in the later books? It seems like the series could have potential but it sounds like the author wants to have it be a romance series.

[Rob V]

if you like king, start with the gunslinger

+1

[12thmonkey]

All great suggestions so far, so I'll add one that hasn't been mentioned:

Afraid by Jack Kilborn (the alter ego of the aforementioned JA Konrath)

It's been a looong time since I've read a novel as quickly as I did this one. Literally could not put it down. Violent, suspenseful, twisted. Great stuff!

[maxfisher]

I was actually thinking about picking up the set but now you've given me second thoughts. I really like the show but it's only in it's second season so if you say book 3 is bad I wonder how season 3 will turn out. Do they at least expand on the mythology of vampires in the later books? It seems like the series could have potential but it sounds like the author wants to have it be a romance series.

I don't have HBO, so I've only seen the first season on Blu-Ray. It was quite a bit different from the book. Characters, their relationships and fairly large elements of plot were changed quite a bit. From what I understand of season two, they made the maenad a fairly large character, though her presence is very minimal in the book she appears in. I'm guessing Alan Ball is just picking and choosing ideas he like from the books and then going in his own direction.

As for Harris, she's just a shit writer. Some examples that jump to mind:
- After the first book or two, it feels like every chapter has a paragraph explaining that werewolves and vampires don't get along.
- Ditto on having a paragraph where Sookie complains about how reading minds makes it hard to be around people.
- Pretty much every male that encounters Sookie wants to fuck her and she wants to fuck most of them back. Her thoughts are usually preceded by some acknowledgment that she's a good Christian girl, BUT...
- Characters are very inconsistent. e.g. Sookie might be very bright at one point, an idiot a couple pages later and then a relative genius again in the next chapter.
- Continuity sucks. As in, _________ will happen and then a hundred or so pages down the road, Sookie will be thinking how nothing like _______ has ever happened. It's just sloppy as hell and Harris even says on her website that she's had to hire a continuity editor to get it under control.
- Sex is everywhere in these books, which could be fine, except for the fact that it's like reading a horny 15-year-old boy's version of it. Seriously, reading the books makes me wonder if Harris has never been laid and just has a sex life that consists of laying around masturbating to celebrity magazines.

And two big ones that really pissed me off, that I'll spoiler tag because they're a bit more plot specific:
- Bill cheats on Sookie and rapes her in the same book. She ditches him because of the cheating and talks about it all the time in her monologues, but hardly ever references the rape. When she does bring the rape up, she always excuses it and says that he couldn't help himself because he'd been injured and they were shoved in a trunk together. And it's not like we're supposed to feel bad for her being in denial, as the book just presents the rape as sometimes not being a big deal. It pisses me off both because it's ridiculously and unrealistically written and because I know teen girls read these things and I can just picture them thinking, 'yeah, it wasn't really rape when so-and-so forced me, because he just didn't know what he was doing.'
- There's a scene where a group of werewolves and vampires are attacked. Characters are killed during it and there's all this carnage and gore afterwards. Despite worrying about her friends and being hurt herself, when Sookie's laying there injured and bleeding, she sees one of the werewolves change back into a naked guy and she thinks, "I'll have to file that image away for a private fantasy during my alone time." That scene perfectly describes how Harris constantly has to throw sex into every part of the book she can force it, no matter how absurd.

[mlemmond]

I have a friend that is a really smart guy an engineer no less and his mantra has always been "I read a book a year whether I need it or not". Last year he read 2 books so this year he's taking the year off, he doesn't believe in budget surplus.

[auto]

Man, Book Talk sure is a nice place. I could have sworn after reading the first post that you were going to rip this kid apart. :lol:

Let me suggest Paul Auster has a writer to sample.

[dtcarson]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the written word. (Though I won't deny there's lots of crap out there.)

I loved Stephen King but did not like the Dark Tower series. Shining, IT, Carrie, the classics.

Some great suggestions here. Card, Moore, Dresden files, I've read all them and they're great. Most are very fast reads. Not quite as good as Butcher's Dresden are Simon R' Green's Nightside and Shaman Bond stories.

Two of my favorite novels of all time, that are "one hit wonders" (as far as I'm concerned) are
Youth in Revolt (though it's about a horny 15 year old boy, so there's plenty of sexual references in it--but I found it hilarious) and
Replay by Ken Grimwood (middle aged guy has a heart attack, dies--wakes up in college, as a college kid, with his memories intact.)
Those are two of the few novels I've read more than once. And neither is really "heavy" (I tried revisiting Ayn Rand this summer - not summer reading.)

Feel free to browse the Books I've Read links in my sig if you'd like :)

[Ghostbuster]

I read Needful Things this summer, and I thought it was good. My favorite Stephen King book is IT.

[MinLShaw]

I second the notion of reading books upon which your favorite films are based. For instance, I really enjoyed The Tailor of Panama as a movie and was thrilled when I read the original John le Carre novel. There's quite a lot of backstory and character insights that weren't carried over to the film, so when I finished the novel I felt like I'd finally gotten the complete story.

Other favorites that have been turned into movies:

Christopher Buckley's Thank You for Smoking
Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Story (adapted into Eyes Wide Shut)
Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World (the latter being almost entirely different from the Spielberg film...and much better for it)

I just bought Rex Pickett's Sideways, but I'm currently reading George Jones's memoirs, I Lived to Tell It All. Which reminds me of another suggestion, actually. I've found that my favorite genre is actually autobiography/memoirs. It's taken over the majority of my reading, just hearing about interesting lives from the people who've lived them. Start with favorite singers or actors, and before long you find yourself hip deep in all kinds of things that you would have previously ignored.

[The Bus]

Out of the popular, mainstream authors, Michael Crichton is a consistent favorite: I read even his not-so-good books (i.e. his last ones).

You can't go wrong with Jurassic Park, Sphere, Airframe, or Disclosure. (I would only stay away from Eaters of the Dead).

King is much more hit-or-miss but he has a lot of classics. My favorite is The Dark Half.

[Suprmallet]

I'm not a fan of King, but I adore the Dark Tower series. I think it's safe to dive into those, as long as you're willing to commit to a seven book series.

Also, I cannot recommend Ender's Game enough. That's a whole series unto itself, but you can read the first as a standalone.

And anything by Neil Gaiman is great, especially American Gods and Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett).

If you're looking for something British and humorous, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a classic for a reason. And when you feel ready to tackle headier material, I strongly suggest Frank Herbert's Dune.

[MinLShaw]

If you're looking for something British and humorous, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a classic for a reason.

Maybe it was a case of having heard entirely too much hype from everyone I'd talked to before I got around to reading it, but I was greatly disappointed by Hitchhiker's Guide. It was mildly amusing, but it struck me as little more than an anti-religious rant vaguely disguised as a comedy. I'll give it another read at some point and see if maybe it was just my state of mind at the time, though.

[Suprmallet]

I tried to read it back in high school and found it impenetrable. I read it again last year and couldn't have been more delighted.

[movieking]

I read it when I was pretty young, and really enjoyed the whole series until my sister took the book away from me while I was reading the last book :(