If anybody wants to read a non-fiction book that will make you think in a different way, I recommend Philip Carlo's "Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss" .

Ok you bastards, I selected 4 very good, somewhat shorter, works from Lovecraft, for those who never read him before. No download required:


The Lurking Fear:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/2723/1/


The Alchemist:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/2735/1/



Dagon:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/2729/1/



The Doom that came to Sarnath:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/2728/1/




Everybody who never read Lovecraft, read those and you'll be enlightened.

Anybody who wants to read Algernon Blackwood, one of Lovecraft's biggest inspirations, read here. It's an incomplete list that doesn't include some of his signature work, but should still be a good introduction.


http://www.classicreader.com/author/323/

some book recommendations by me:

1. conan:
you basically need 3 books:
- the coming of conan the cimmerian
- the conquering sword of conan
- the bloody crown of conan
now you have everything robert e. howard wrote about conan, i love the writing styly, what i also like is that most of the stories are shortstories and there is a good mix of them, liek first you have a nice action story, then comes a whodunit crime, then something mystical, and so on

2. h.p. lovecraft
here too, you need like 3 books:
- bloodcurdling tales of horror and the macabre
- the road to madness
- dreams of terror and death
now you have well not a complete collection of lovecraft, but a good share of it, if you want truly complete it get those two too:
- the horror in the museum
- miscellanous writings
now you have lots of horror stories, lots of short stories, and they are CRAZY, the style is a bit similar to howard, but the storytelling is something else, most of the time you dont have something that makes really a story, but how its written is completely crazy

3.hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
just get all 5 books, the first 3 are the best and dont expect something that makes sense, just expect major fun and books you can read away like butter

How good is Cloud Atlas? The movie looks awesome, and the book sounds fascinating, but I would like a second opinion.

So many books I could recommend from manga, comic books and novels.

One of my fave novels is Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut...simply an amazing book. And a great introduction to Kurt's unique writing style.

There are literally thousands of books that can be recommended, but I can name a few in different genres which I would highly recommend to any readers.

Horror- The best classic horror experience a reader can have is an anthology of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. For more contemporary works, It by Stephen King is a very long but fast moving book that will instill the fear of clowns into readers. I read the book in less than a week despite it being over 1000 pages. Dean Koontz has also written some good ones (The Odd Thomas books are fantastic) but he has one weakness; his endings are usually weak.

Science Fiction- The original Dune by Frank Herbert is an all-time classic. Also, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke is an amazing book and a fun read. For contemporary SF, if you don't mind something with some length, Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is a Space Opera epic. It's like a SF version of some of the very long fantasy series out there. It's a bit slow at times, but it's also quite satisfying. I also recommend the works of Karen Traviss if you like Military SF. Whether in the Star Wars universe or in her original universe, Traviss always seems to write good military SF stories.

Fantasy- Lord Of The Rings of course, and, for me, the Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony. These books are fantasy but the world is also modern. Here's an example: In one book a couple in India are married in a magic castle, have a flying carpet, and enjoy mystic arts at home. They have to travel to the US, though, so, in order to stay safe, they only take their magic carpet to the capital where they board a 747 for the rest of the trip.

These are only a few examples, but there are literally thousands more I can think of at this time. Currently I'm working on another two-book set by Peter Hamilton featuring the novel Judas Unchained. Of course for Hamilton, two books still means 2000+ pages.

Hope that helps!

That is helpful. I've always been interested in looking into the Steven King books, but i'm not sure which ones are good, and which ones aren't so good...

It's almost chronological. Starts okay. Blossoms. Dies and becomes ridiculous re-hashes.

I'd suggest : Dead Zone, Pet Semetary (the most frightening book I had read), Different Seasons, Misery. And It, yes. Salem too, if you can avoid spoilers (I read it without expecting anything of the plot, it was fun). Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are good collections of short stories, but much more "pulp" than Different Seasons.

His Richard Bachman books are cool too. Especially Roadwork, Thinner and The Long Walk.

And as a kid, I had enjoyed The Talisman, written with Peter Straub. More fantasy, but nice.

Or if you're lazy, skip all that, and read Dreamcatcher. This is like King ripping off King and making some King to sell some King : it's an hilarious mix of all his themes, tricks and recipes, feels like speed-reading all his other books. Of course, it stays fun, but it's so much of a Stephen King postcard that it borders on involuntary parody...

My best friend won't even borrow books from me. Because she knows, if she does, she has to read them barely open so the spine doesn't crack and, if it does crack, she's in big trouble. She says it's not worth the hassle, LOL.

I had another friend once who borrowed one of my books and returned it with half the page corners turned down - guess she'd never heard of a bookmark! :) I didn't say a thing to her, but I didn't let her borrow another book :)

But,.....I don't mind buying very old books that are brown and stained. That's half the beauty of them!

Any of you guys ever read Misha Glenny's McMafia?

Hearts in Atlantis by Steven King. It's four novellas and three short stories, following the lives of several characters from 1960 to 1999. it covers the Vietnam War, it's aftermath, and the failure of the baby boomers to live up to the expectations set by the previous generation. It's one of my favorite King books, and I highly recommend it.

I highly recommend Alamut by Vladimir Bartol.

It`s a book that served as inspiration for Assassin`s Creed 1.

"The unparalleled Invasion", a less-known short story written by Jack London:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/1442/1/