I have a $50 gift card from Barnes & Noble. I need suggestions on what book to get.

[BeachBaby]

I've already got "The God Delusion" on my list, so that's the other book I'm getting tonight.

With the rest of the gift card money, I would like to get a novel. I'm not into sci-fi, or Harry Potter/fantasy kind of stuff. If it helps to know this, I'm a huge fan of James Patterson and Alice Sebold. I like realistic novels - nothing too fantastical.

TIA. :)

[TZ]

1. How about...

Dune!!! :P
Actually, I would suggest something else by Richard Dawkins if you like his style. Its all biology related but you might find it interesting..The Selfish Gene about the evolution of behavior.

[Zomby Woof]

2. Throw in "The Blind Watchmaker" for the trifecta

Thatw was actually the first Dawkins book I read.

[BeachBaby]

4. I don't want to get two books of intense, informative reading.

That's why I want to get a novel. Something that's more light-reading in style. Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are intense, so I want to balance it out a little bit. :P

[MrCoffee]

3. Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

[BeachBaby]

9. Haven't heard of that one. I'll look it up. Thanks.

[Kaleva]

5. King James Version Bible

[BeachBaby]

6. LOL.

[Yavin4]

7. My Pet Goat

It was so good that a president could not put it down to respond to a national crisis.

It must be a really great read.

[BeachBaby]

8. Already read that one.....

about 35 years ago, right around the time I read "Dick and Jane". :P

[Yavin4]

11. Don't Spoil It For Me

I haven't read it yet.

[geardaddy]

10. Anything by Vonnegut.

[MissMillie]

16. +1... or John Irving

:hi:

[geardaddy]

19. Agreed.

:hi:

[arbusto_baboso]

12. Any of Bill Bryson's travel books.

I particularly like Notes From a Small Island, because it rings so true. His stuff is laugh-out-loud-funny.

[MorningGlow]

18. +1

I love his stuff!

[lost-in-nj]

13. James Patterson has a new detective book out

and it's not Cross.
Book is called Worst Case...
He has a few new ones out

Haven't started to read it yet....
I love Cross....


lost

[BeachBaby]

14. Me, too.

I think that Morgan Freeman is the PERFECT Alex Cross in the movies they've made. :)

[Dr. Strange]

15. God Emperor of Dune

You're welcome.

[TZ]

17. Dude...

I already suggested Dune...:rofl:

[Dr. Strange]

20. You Bene Gesserit witch!

[TZ]

21. Hey now my OVAL face takes that as an insult!

:rofl:

[gmoney]

22. Brush up on your Salinger?

I'd suggest in order of accessibility, Nine Stories, Franny & Zooey, then Raise High/Seymour. There's a lot of spirituality content in there, but more in the sense of finding common ground and simplicity, rather than punishment and rapture and dogma.

FWIW, I identify as an athiest, but I find Salinger's spirituality agrees with me somehow. It's basically about common decency and humanity.

[BurtWorm]

23. Do you like mysteries or thrillers?

Patricia Highsmith is a writer who gets deep under the skin. She wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley's Game, Strangers on a Train, and, my favorite, Deep Water.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

24. If you like

well written interesting things, try anything by John McPhee. Great writer.
:)

[YankeyMCC]

25. "Last Days of the Incas" Kim MacQuarrie

isn't a novel but it reads very much like one, interesting historical story.

The John Adams Biography is also like that.

Also, "The Heart of the sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick based on the story of the wreck of the Whaler Essex, which was part of the inspiration for Moby Dick is also another good historical book that reads very much like a Novel.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

26. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Still Matters

a bit scholarly, but a good read nonetheless

[LanternWaste]

27. I recently read Sharpe's Rifle's and Sharpe's Waterloo...

I recently read Sharpe's Rifle's and Sharpe's Waterloo...

There's a series of app. 12 or 15 books by Bernard Cornwell (I think I have the author's name correct) about an English soldier during the Napoleonic wars in Europe.

The basic premise of the lead character is that he, as an enlisted man, saved the life of Gen. Wellington who then gave him an officer's commission on the spot. The other officer's don't like him because he's not a gentleman, and the rank and file soldiers don't like him because he's not a proper officer (by dint of not being a gentleman too).

Most of the interpersonal character development comes from this plot device, but the author works it really well.

[dana_b]

28. Threshold by Thom Hartmann, Bright Sided by

Barbara Ehrenreich or anything by Steinbeck.

[Midlodemocrat]

29. I know this much is true by Wally Lamb.

Best fiction I ever read. Truly.

[TZ]

31. How about a copy of your biography

"Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck".....:hide:

[Jade Fox]

30. This one.......

http://www.amazon.com/Chrysalis-Effect-Metamorphosis-Global-Culture/dp/1845193113/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267232086&sr=1-2

[applegrove]

32. Life Of Pie by Yann Martel. What a ride that book was. Won the Booker Prize.

[av8rdave]

35. +1 for Life of Pie...Great read.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

33. "The Darling" by Russell Banks.

Historical fiction dealing with a former Weather Underground member with a second life in Charles Taylor's Liberia. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Or if you're into crime novels, Scott Smith's "A Simple Plan" is amazing.

[Debi]

34. Just a thought ;-)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Robert-Pattinson-Album/Paul-Stenning/e/9780859654388/?itm=3

[jobycom]

36. The Art Thief, by Noah Charney.

Cool little mystery, with intriguing background details of the world of museums and art theft. Fascinating, educated, but completely readable and engaging. It's a slightly more educated James Patterson or Dan Brown. Keeps you guessing, and while you are guessing it throws in a minor art history course. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Thief-Novel-Noah-Charney/dp/1416550305

[Biker13]

39. Wow!

Thanks! I was just checking out this thread for suggestions, and this sounds amazing!

Any others?

Biker's Old lady

[struggle4progress]

37. Michael Foucault's History of Madness is available in paperback for about $25

Katsuki Sekida's translation/commentary on Gateless Gate and Blue Cliff Record set me back about $25; you can get The Bhagavad-Gita According to Gandhi for under $20; similarly for Soren Kierkegaard's Works of Love. I'm pretty sure I paid under $50 for Ernst Bloch's Atheism in Christianity

Dover reprinted Stefan Banach's Theory of Linear Operators around $15 a couple of years ago. Understanding the Linux Kernel (O'Reilly) set me back an even $50. I saw David Hilbert's Theory of Algebraic Number Fields on sale a few months ago around $50

If you like Portuguese or Spanish literature, try a Jorge Amado paperback -- say Tenda dos Milagres (Tent of Miracles) or Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) -- or something by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

[Inspired]

38. The Devil in the White City

I loved this book.

[lost-in-nj]

40. sooo

what did you end up getting???



lost

[MiddleFingerMom]

42. 10 white chocolate mochas? n/t

[BeachBaby]

44. I ended up with three books!

"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
"The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold (you should give her books a try - she's originally from Philly metro and writes about it often)

AND......

you'll like this one, lost......


wait for it......



































"Double Cross" by James Patterson :woohoo:

[MiddleFingerMom]

41. Steinbeck... Toole... Sabbag... Brunner

.
"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. Probably my favorite book -- a short, QUICK
read. Fun and funny -- a real palate-cleanser between "serious" books. Prime
example of how he makes the commoner noble (movie is one of my favorites also,
with Nick Nolte and Debra Winger).
.
"Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. A mad ROMP through 1960's New
Orleans with one of the most unforgettable main characters ever -- Ignatius
J. Reilly. From union organizing to hotdog vending to the stripper with a
heart of gold and a brain of lead who aspires to greatness with an act that
portrays a Southern belle with a parrot ("sure were a lot of balls at that
belle") -- a book I've probably read 4-5 times and enjoyed it immensely
each time.
.
"Snowblind" by Robert Sabbag. An extremely richly-written "bio-novel" about
a middle-aged businessman who becomes a coke-smuggler before the age of
terrorists and security checks. Hard-to-find... worth the search.
.
"The Sheep Look Up" OR "Stand on Zanzibar" by John Brunner. Science/Social
fiction written in (I believe) the early '70s about the times we're living
in. Disturbingly prophetic. A writing style I really like, some of his
paragraphs go on for a page -- some follow each other rapidfire with just
a word or so each. GREAT stories -- GREAT writing.
.

[NNadir]

43. The Elements.

http://www.periodictable.com/theelements/index.html

My 10 year old bought this book as a birthday present for a friend, and wants it for his birthday. (The kid loved it; said it was his favorite gift.)

I want to get it for him, so I can look at it myself. You can know all the chemistry of the elements, but there's nothing quite like looking at them.