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Ok, confession time. I have read 3 Chuck Palahniuk books in the past month; Choke, Lullaby, and Survivor. They are not well written, and I feel like I am getting dumber by reading them. I am trying to find some books that have “more substance” than Palahniuk’s. A friend recommended that I read House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, I am starting into it and it already seems like the kind of Pseudo-Intellectual crap that fills Palahniuk books. Fake scholarly works inserted into a rewriting of “the classic haunted house story” do not make it scholarly. Lots of Latin and Greek references do not make it intellectual. Wow…now I am just on a rant…anyways any suggestions on some books to read? Anyone been in my situations with trying to find good books?

"Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Micahel Chabon. Very well written.

Wow, Taylor is right.

Yeah, I like the book. But especially after reading your post, I think you'll REALLY appreciate this one.

Have a dictionary near by. He uses fun new words. You can figure them out by context, but fun to have the dictionary.

Yeah, and Pseudo intellectual this guy is NOT.

Have fun.

I am not a dedicated reader. I read a book once in a while but I started to read The Davinci Code one day and dam near read the hole book that day it is a very easy read.

I know it is a little controversial
I don’t want to start a debate about it and definatly do not want to affend any one, I just thought it was interesting

I felt I could relate a little because I have been to a lot of the places in the book

I am the same way as you I find it intimidating to try and find a good book to get into because there is so much selection and me not being a scholar am not familiar with authors and such

Krakauer books.

Read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. Quite possibly one of the best books I have read.

Wonder Boys, by Micahel Chabon is also amazing and somewhat of an esier read than Kav and Clay.

How familiar are you with the classics?

I read Choke when I was 18 and though that it was brilliant, but then after reading Fight Club and Survivor I began to feel sorry for Chuck Palahniuk, because he actually thinks that he is suprising his readers with the same old rehashed "It turns out it was him the whole time!" thing

I've been very hard on Palahniuk when I've discussed him in the past. When you're a young male in college, it's inevitable that there are going to be people worshipping him around you, I guess, but I don't have to like it.

If you want something that is somewhat less pseudo, and a little more genuinely intellectual, I really recommend books by Herman Hesse. Instead of being some sort of parasite of eastern philosophic/religious texts (like ol' Chuck), I think he does interesting and valuable things with books like Siddhartha, which is a great introduction to him. I'm also quite partial to Demian and The Glass Bead Game. Now I'm really wanting to read him, but am still wading through a few pages of the pseudo-intellectual Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a week, as it's the school year.

As someone else said, it's hard to go too terribly wrong with the classics. This list is a good starting point. Look at summaries on Amazon, and give some a whirl.

Siddartha made me want to gouge my eyes out. Some say it's uplifting. Bushwah. But it certainly has inspired many.

D

Atlas, i was the same with the da vinci code. i read it on one plane trip from LA to Syd. Just couldnt put it down. But i have heard some people say they had trouble getting into it in the begining.

I've heard the other book by the author of da vinci code is really good, too...Angels & Demons is it?

I agree with Kav&Clay. It is a big one, but awesome.

There is a book called "The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien. He's a Vietnam vet, and it is a "fiction" book about Vietname, but the whole time I though there is no way the mind can make that stuff up. Brilliant, heartbreaking, and eyeopening.

Oh, and for the traveler in you..."And They Shall Know Our Velocity" by David Eggers.

Ok here are some of my favourite books and writers: (note that I wasn't reading most books in English but in some other language so I don't know if my translations of the titles are absolutely correct, read: "something like that)
- Hesse definitely but not Siddharta (in compare to Steppenwolf-however you would translate that into English, Siddharta is cheesy zen-budizm-wannabe novel) Steppenwolf-defintely an impressing mixture of philosophy and style
- Albert Camus: Stranger, and The first man
- Aldous Huxley: apart from the famous Brave New World, Point Counter Point is great, makes you think but doesn't make your head explode
- F.M. Dostojevski (I know most english speaking people dread his literature, but he's a classic for a reason): I would recommend Crime and Punisment and Brothers Karamazov
- if you have read all noted above you need relaxation, try anything from Charles Bukowski, or a bit of humor: Tibor Fisher: Don't read this book if you're stupid - this is the title
- some more: Midnight's children (a relaxed although massive novel, with a pretty good idea, no theory of relativity but a pleasurable story and style), J.P.Sartre: Behind the closed door (philosophy of free will in a drama),E. Ionesco; The bald singer (drama of absurd, try reading with a friend perhaps a bit drunk or high for the first time, before you start thinking of the idea, absurd is funny ) Nikos Kazantakis; Zorba the Greek and The last temptation, J.D. Sallinger (everything, I'm in love with him)
- in the end i have to list at least one Slovene author : Vladimir Bartol : Alamut (easy reading not too deep but still not stupid, plus for this one i know it's translated into english)

Hope you'll like at least some of these.

thanks everyone, keep them comming

For stuff that is entertaining that will make you a faster reader...

Try some books by Clive Cussler... Shockwave was my favorite, followed closely by Inca Gold.

Pretty good reads... more the stories of what he has done/where he has been put to fiction!

Tom Clancy has some pretty decent stuff... I like a series that has his name, but wasnt written by him. Series was called "Net Force."

With either of those (particularly netforce...) when you get to the end of the series it'll draw a tear to your eye. Just SO very well put together that its like losing a friend.

I've read a few to many unabridged books that its out of my system... Give me something entertaining that lets you leave the here and now and enter the world of the character of the books.

Whenever I read a tough-reading book, and want to go back to something more "normal" and easy/fun to read, I always read David Sedaris.