27 replies to this topic

[Jason08]

As you may know, summer holidays for North American students are in one week (for me). I really want to get back to my habit of reading books. Are there any good novels or series to go after? I really open to any genre of novels... So just fire away with any novel that you think is good

Thanks

[Aboo]

It depends on your interest? I like Law so I like the law-themed novels by John Grisham. Personally, I can't put them down. Check out The Broker, The Testament and the Rainmaker.

Angels and Demons is also pretty decent. Then there's Michael Crichton's books. I liked Timeline but there are more. I haven't read his books in about 5 years.

And if you're a real beginner, may I suggest: Famous Five and Secret Seven by Enid Blyton

I could read Roald Dahl's books again and again, no matter how old I get. Charlie and the Chocolate factory is always a winner.

[crcrcr165]

I thought these were pretty decent (mostly sci-fi / dystopian):

- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- 1984 by George Orwell
- World War Z by Max Brooks
- Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer

[Caustica]

I LOVE dystopian, so:

• 1984 - George Orwell
  
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
  
• Island - Aldous Huxley (this is utopian, but I like it more than BNW actually)
  
• Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut
  
• Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler
  
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (I don't really like this one, but a lot of other people do)
  
• The Iron Heel - Jack London
  
• The Chrysalids - John Wyndham (amazing beginning, crappy ending)

Some other non-dystopian goodies:

• Candide - Voltaire (yeah I know, IB text. But it's pretty amazing)
  
• Zadig - Voltaire (awesome protagonist)
  
• East of Eden - John Steinbeck
  
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
  
• Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (I LOVELOVELOVE this book, but the beginning is a bit bleh. It gets a lot better. Trust me)

Some non-fiction goodies:

• Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman (fits in w/the dystopian theme)
  
• Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner; and its sequel
  
• Superfreakonomics - same authors

Um yea. A lot of good books out there

[Austin Glau]

War of the Worlds, 1982 or whatever - Wells
Halo: Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund
Tale of Two Cities - Charles ****ens

All these books should get an award they are so high up there

[Mahuta ♥]

Didn't read the ones above, but:

1- Davinci code
2- Angels and Demons: loved the movie..lol
3-Across the nightingale floor : amazing
4- The 3 book serie: The princess- Daughters of Arabia- Desert Royal: quite interesting
5- No one listened: Love that book.

[Jason08]

THANKS a lot everyone, i really like some of the books you guys recommend.

[Daedalus]

Here are some classics/semi-classics that are probably useful for IB English but also (hopefully) interesting and (maybe) rewarding:

Johnny Got His Gun, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Stranger, Catch-22, As I Lay Dying, The Outsiders. All Quiet on the Western Front especially was amazing for me, the best war book I've ever read even though I read it in translation. You seriously can't miss it out.

[yellowleo]

A Tale of Two Cities is a classic that's always a good read.

The Constant Princess is beautiful, about King Henry VIII's wife but it reads like fiction

If you haven't read Lord of the Flies, it's pretty good although somewhat gruesome when you actually understand how horrible it is.

Edited by yellowleo, Jul 16, 2010 - 10:17.

[Center Field]

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and maybe the three musketeers too
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (If you have time it is well worth it)
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (also pretty long)
The Sea Wolf by Jack London
The Leather stocking tales by James Fenimore cooper
Everybodies already said a Tale of Two Cities but I agree with their assertions

I really like The Lord of the Rings, and everything written by Tolkien

The Old man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

[Tilia]

I'm currently reading Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg. It's rather messy, but I like it this far. I can also recommend Herta Müller, I've read Herztier, Heart Animal (?), and it was very interesting, and is probably even better if read in a language one actually understands

[JacobSewell]

I really enjoyed Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It has a great message.

Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr are excellent as well..

I'm also currently on something called "The Madman's Tale", by John Katzenbach..It's pretty interesting, although a little depressing as well.

[~vola]

We read Ishmael in environmental systems! I loved that book.

If you like sci-fi/fantasy and politics, read Dune by Frank Herbert.

[JacobSewell]

I hope we read that whenever I take Environmental Systems next year! It's such an awesome book!

[Daedalus]

this guy is a spammer. ban?

[Tilia]

~vola, on Jul 22, 2010 - 20:57, said:

We read Ishmael in environmental systems! I loved that book.

If you like sci-fi/fantasy and politics, read Dune by Frank Herbert.

You read fiction in ESS?

[Globe]

Caustica, on Jun 17, 2010 - 12:54, said:

I LOVE dystopian, so:

• 1984 - George Orwell
  
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
  
• Island - Aldous Huxley (this is utopian, but I like it more than BNW actually)
  
• Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut
  
• Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler
  
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (I don't really like this one, but a lot of other people do)
  
• The Iron Heel - Jack London
  
• The Chrysalids - John Wyndham (amazing beginning, crappy ending)

Um yea. A lot of good books out there

With the exception of leaving out We by Zamyatin, and Animal Farm, you just named my 8 favorite books.

[Center Field]

We is a good book.

I forgot to put a book called Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West

By Cormac McCarthy

[Windstorm G-man]

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
Everything Is Illuminated - Jonothan Safran Foer
Bee Season - Myla Goldberg
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Portrait of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Therese Raquin - Emile Zola

I'd suggest, if you are an IB student, to read books that will help you become more culturally aware. Immerse yourself in the unknown social and geopolitical backgrounds of various places, but make it easy to do by reading some simply beautiful literature.

Expand your horizons when it comes to reading. Pick up something new that seems interesting, or that you may of heard of once before in the long-long ago and never bothered to follow up on. Turn going out to buy books into an adventure; books are still, by far, the best platform in exploring the world from home.

[CeciliaL]

Read this on the beach this summer:

The God of Small Things - Arundahti Roy

It was amazing, you should definately check it out sometime!