Dharma's recommended reading list....

from JoeUser Forums

For no particular reason (other than I was thinking about it), and in no particular order (just as they come to me) I proudly present my list of books and authors I highly recommend you read.  These are all things I have read or am reading:

Anything by Jack Kerouac, but particularly 'The Dharma Bums' and 'On The Road'.

'Slaughterhouse 5' - Kurt Vonnegut

'Plainsong' - Kent Haruf

'The Reader' - Bernhardt Schlink

'She's Come Undone' and 'I Know This Much Is True'  -  Wally Lamb

'Angela's Ashes' and 'Tis' - Frank McCourt

'Stones From The River' - Ursula Hegi

'Vinegar Hill' - A. Manette Mansay

Anything by Frank Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe or Ernest Hemingway

'The Canterbury Tales- - Chaucer (I personally think that everyone should at least give it a chance - it's actually very entertaining)

'Anna Karenina' - Leo Tolstoy (a hard read, but worth it)

'The Inferno' - Dante Aligheri (and if you're brave enough, The Paradisio and Purgatorio as well.  Again, a much talked about, seldom read book)

 

That's all I can think of for now....give me some of your recommendations, would you?  I'm running out of things to read (please, no Stephen King or Harlequin romances!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

misc
6,830 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I suppose it depends what you want Dharma. I mostly read for fun, so nothing too heavy, but read a lot and enjoy it. If you are in the mood for some good, creepy fun I would recommend "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux. It was really suspensful. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

If you don't mind some self-indulgent epic fantasy check out the trilogy "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" by Tad Williams. A wonderful read, I just finished re-reading them just a few weeks ago. A bit slower of pace, it builds a very rich and believable world. I love them. The first book is called "The Dragonbone Chair". I will try to think of some others.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Wow, well I have read nearly nothing on your list... I've read some Poe and parts of the Canterbury Tales.

As for what I recommend...

Well, anything by Robert Heinlein. I haven't read nearly as much by him as I wish. But, Stranger in a Strange Land is great. I also keep a copy of Starship Troopers on hand to reread at any time. It's a very short book and quick read and is very little like the movie. It's definetely a great take on a Soldier's life. Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I also keep a copy of Starship Troopers on hand to reread at any time.


I read Starship Troopers on my PocketPC during a particularly painful and boring few weeks of school about a year ago. It was a very good read.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Call me nitpicky (because I am), but I believe it's Franz Kafka, not Frank. And I think it's Alighieri, too.

If you're looking for other recommendations, I'd say you should check out this post here.... (Not to push my own posts too blatantly or anything )
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Call me nitpicky (because I am), but I believe it's Franz Kafka, not Frank. And I think it's Alighieri, too.

Leave it to cita......  I'll go check out your post in a second....

Chip: I've heard of Heinlen..I'll have to give him a shot.

Dev:  Yes!  The Phantom is an awesome read!  I had forgotten about that!

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Whatever happened to the proposed Joe U book club? Cheesy, but ussually good picks, andy book that is in Oprah's book club I have ussually found to be really good.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
I liked Cien Anos de Soledad (100 yrs. of solitude), but in Spanish. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky was actually pretty good. Russian novels are often entertainin if you like that sort of stuff. I'm currently trying to get through Catch--22 by Joseph Heller. Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison, was a very interesting book. So vivid. I've tried my hardest to get through A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, but I'm currently just lost. His writing style... I'm just LOST! Recently I read Atlas Shrugged which is SUCH a good novel (Ayn Rand) for any of you into objectivism or just love a read full of intelligence, suspense, that juicy sex stuff, it's absolutely fantastic.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

Catch--22 by Joseph Heller.

Yes, that's an awesome read......

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

I forgot about Fyodor....I find him a slow going, but worthwhile read.

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
If you like Kerouac, you'll love Robert Pirsig; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila My 2 all time favorites

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis is good

Awareness by Anthony DeMello is an eyeopener for damn sure. I promise it will change your view on the world

Memoirs of a Geishia-can't remember the author-but is a damn good book

Contact by Carl Sagan

Shogun and King Rat by James Clavell

Climbing Mount Improbable and The Selfish Gene , hell anything by Richard Dawkins for Great non fiction

All excellent thought provoking books that are NOT mind candy. Happy reading!
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top

mind candy.

Never heard that phrase before....but I like it!

Ya know, I'm making a list of all of these recommendations and I'm hitting up ebay and half.com ...

Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
but I believe it's Franz Kafka, not Frank.


Maybe the name underwent a metamorphisis.......heh heh (grins at own stupid joke)
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top

Maybe the name underwent a metamorphisis.......heh heh (grins at own stupid joke)


Hohoho......Pseudo made a funny!


It was a pretty good one, too...

Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Pseudo made a funny!


ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! what the hey is really goin on here? Am I not Spc Nobody Special? Am I not a man (looks down for a quick check, whewww) If you blog me by the wrong name will I not bleed all over the nice white carpet?
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
I swear I'm hallucinating....I swear I am...maybe it's the Percocet I took earlier....yeah, that's it, it's the narcotic.....I'm just going to go lay down now and wait until this passes....sorry, NBS.....sorry.....
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
For a bit of mindless afternoon reading, no serious thought required, I would recommend Christopher Moore's "Lamb, The gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". I had to read it because of the name....and he is pretty funny....

Also check out "The Other Boleyn Girl"...makes me appreciate the borring life I lead. I'm just glad to not be in that time or place........
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
I read short stories a lot. I suggest Junot Diaz ("The Sun, the Moon, the Stars"). He's a modern writer that writes like people talk, "Rule of the Bone" by Russell Banks (if you ever read "Catcher in the Rye" and liked it), Mary Shelley's "The Immortal" for some horror (another short story), Margaret Atwood ("Happy Endings" is another great read and a short story.), "Franny and Zoey" by J.D. Salinger and "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens.

"I Know This Much Is True" and "She's Come Undone" are the only ones on the Oprah book club that I read and I'm glad I did. However, I think Lamb's best work is the former. He created a character that is both likeable and flawed. Most of all, he's human.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hmmmm...I've like some sap, so anything by Nicholas Spark is good. I just finished reading "A Bend In the Road," and there isn't a book of his I haven't liked. If you want sex and sap, Danielle Steele is good...I've tried to steer away from her though.

Hmmmm...I have some Christian fiction about the Dakotas you might like, Karen. Lauraine Snelling has two series..."Red River of the North" and "Return to Red River" and they're about two families' journies across the Atlantic to settle in the US and the beginning of their lives here. I thought they were neat because I was living in Fargo, ND at the time, and it was just...neat to imagine these people in my town. They had just the right blend of personal, spiritual, and romantic flavors to make them worth the read. Anything by Lori Wick is really good too...I think you might like "Pretense"...it's about a military family...

I know this sounds goofy...I just can't get into a lot of classics. THey bore me. I read a lot of young adult fiction...I'm reading "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town" by Kimberly Willis Holt right now...it's pretty good. I'll have to post some more when I think of it. I was a reading freak this summer.