Well, I'm desparate for a decent book to read! I'm very selective about the books I read, and after hours and hours in bookstores I've about had it with the trash that's being published most of the time. I'd appreciate the help!

I don't like westerns, mysteries, horrors, or those serial romance novels. I do read sci-fi/fantasy, fiction, non-fiction, biography, just about any other genre, if the book is good! Some of my best books include: The Horse Whisperer, Memoirs of a Geisha, Memoirs of Cleopatra, Patriot Games, Jurassic Park, The Bridges of Madison County, the "Rama" series by Arthur C. Clarke (but I can't stand the 2001 series), and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, all 14-15 of them. Also Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, and some Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull, One, the Bridge Across Forever).

Hopefully, that will give you some idea of what I'm looking for... I don't want a sappy romance or anything to do with weddings and so forth (personal reasons), nor do I want anything to do with wars, owing to the events of late. So, with all that in mind (and I know that narrows the field considerably!) I'd welcome your suggestions!

I'm curious about Message in a Bottle, if anyone's read it -- any good? Any other titles would be helpful!

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Walk Beyond...

Here are a couple of suggestions: You said you read Scifi, but this might be considered a horror-scifi: Killer by David Drake. Another good one is Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. It has slow parts, but it is still good.

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"Well, I hate to be a snitch, but my neighbor Homer Simpson turned a radioactive ape loose in my house. Its taken over the whole top floor."~Ned Flanders

The Pact by Jodi Picoult is a great book. It's a very interesting novel. The way it was written, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. My mom read it in a bookclub and gave it to me to read during a long car ride on vacation. Lets just put it this way, I got it Friday afternoon in the car, didn't put it down once, and finished it by Saturday night.

There is a romance between two teens in the book, and the book centers around their relationship, but not so much how romantic and mushy it is. It tells you about their relationship in order for you to understand what happened in the beginning of the story, which is in fact near the end...oh it's confusing lol. It's not a romance story, although it is called The Pact: A Love Story. Things that happened in the book were driven by the strong relationship between the two main characters, but by all means the book isn't lovey dovey.

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*Evil*Princess*

The Autobiography of Malcolm X...my personal fav.

The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien.
Then read The Lord of the Rings by the same author.

They are my favorite books of all time.
They are really big, with The Lord of the Rings being three books, each 800 pages long, but worth every second.
It's a fantasy story, with elves, dragons, and the whole bit.
But it is literally "The greatest story ever told".
(The reason I say read the Hobbit first is that it's the prequel)
Read them, and you will not be dissapointed.
Then come Christmas, you'll be able to see how the movie for the first book compares to the real thing.

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MOTHERLAND ERROR TILT WOK

Try 1984, by George Orwell. It's one of my personal favorites. It's a classic Sci-fi novel, and although it takes a long time to get read and is really advanced, it's a great book. Some parts of it are really unsettling.

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Aaron Cedoras: Thrillnetwork Story Editor
"Dead men tell no tales..."

My two trusted authors are Douglas Adams and a great new upstart Bill Fitzhugh.

Douglas Adams created both "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency". Great for comedy/sci-fi blend.

Bill Fitzhugh is a spectacular young author. I don't read much, but whenever he comes out with a new book I get it and read it in a few days. Great stories, great comedy. Not as absurd as Adams and more down to earth. Look for "Pest Control", "Organ Grinders", and "Cross Dressing"

Also, consider "The Time Machine" by HG Wells for a good classic and for autobiographies, I loved "I Am Jackie Chan"

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"BECAUSE someone like you cared a whole afwul lot, this park is alive where before it was not." -The Street of the Lifted Lorax, IOA

If this helps, which I'm sure it won't since you don't care for horror, I have never gone wrong with a Dean Koontz book. My favorites are Watchers, Strangers, and Phantoms, but every one of his books IMO is very good.

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"Well, I hate to be a snitch, but my neighbor Homer Simpson turned a radioactive ape loose in my house. Its taken over the whole top floor."~Ned Flanders

You should read [b]The Great Gatsby[/b] by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's easily the best book I have ever read (I'm not much of a reader, but this book blew me away). I rarely read when I want to (with the exception of Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and all three books with Dr. Hannibal Lecter in them), but this book I can grab any day and just start reading it! You have got to read it!

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ThrillNetwork Editor Emeritus
Voyage is the best roller coaster ever.
2008 Raptor ride count - 126. Lifetime - 1,143.

If you like Tom Clancy I'd reccomend Debt of Honor followed by Executive Orders. Debt of Honor will get really slow as you make your way through the Clancy 500 (the massive chunck of the book where he sets everything up) but it has a really exciting finish.

-Tom

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Rock concert movement number 3: ready, go.

um, lessee....

The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
The Foundation Trilogy, by Issac Asimov
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
Dune, by Frank Herbert
The Republic, by Plato

can't think of any more off the bat.

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Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

I have to agree, 1984 was a good book. If you like Sci-Fi/fantasy I recommend Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. That is my absolute favorite series within the genre, and it is very gripping and in depth. I sit there and can read them for days on end, not stopping, not eating, and if I do sleep, I have dreams of the characters and the time and place of the novel...No I don't fantasize about the characters, but they are in my dreams, like I am in the book or something.

Also, if your bored with modern stuff, try some of the classics like Dante or Epic of Gilgamesh, or some feminist literature like Janette Winterson's "the passion" or something along those lines. Those are some of my fav's.

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Ich lebe deinen Traum!

I like all of the books from Michael Crichton, but my favorite one from him is Timeline. Timeline is a book abouttime travel to the middle ages (its a great book). And what Tom said about Debt of Honor is true. I'm on page 400 and nothing realy has happened. So if any of you guys decide to read that book, be prepared to read a while before anything happens.

If you liked Anne McCaffrey's Pern series (yes, I have them all), you'll also like the Rowan series and the Crystal Singer series of books. The Freedom series (Freedom's Challenge) is also excellent, as well as the Dreamship series. You may also like the Valdemar books.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/cplady.htm

read jurassic park by michael criton that was the best book i ever read i love it so much

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The less a man makes declarative statements, the less he's apt to look foolish in retrospect.