Contemporary Recommended Reading


Science Fiction
Adams, Douglas. �Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul
��The abridged audio version is also highly recommended
Bury, Stephen. Interface
� The political thriller meets cyberspace.
Card, Orson Scott. �Ender's Game
Card, Orson Scott. PastWatch: the Redeption of Christopher Columbus
Card said at a recent reading that there will be two more
� �PastWatch novels, one about the great flood,
� �and one about Adam and Eve. Bold.
Card, Orson Scott. �Speaker for the Dead
��Both Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are elegant
�� and engrossing tales filled with intensely sympathetic characters.
Card, Orson Scott. �Xenocide
��A little slow, but well worth the wait.
Card, Orson Scott. �Homecoming
��Pick up a copy of the Book of Mormon to go with this series.
Finney, Jack. �Time and Again
��A classic story that has readers saying "If only that could happen
�� in real life."

Gaimon, Neal. Neverwhere
��Alice meets Jack (Sawyer).
Gibson, William. �Neuromancer
��There are so many complex and cool things that could be said
�� about this book I don't know where to begin.

Gibson, William. �Count Zero
Gibson, William. �Mona Lisa Overdrive
��This is my favorite of the three, though it could be argued that
�� Neuromancer is a more complex, better thought-out work simply
�� because it has the task of introducing us to Gibson's world.

Gibson, William. �Virtual Light
��I will have to re-read this one again before passing final
�� judgement; my first thoughts are that it is bland and
�� not-very-well-executed.

Gibson, William. �Idoru
��Did anyone besides me see Y.T. and Hiro in the main characters?
�� I still loved the story. Lighter that Gibson's usual fare.

Nailor, Grant. �Red Dwarf
��Proof positive that cats really should rule the world.
Stephenson, Neal. �Snow Crash
��What Gibson started, Stephenson perfected.
Stephenson, Neal. �Zodiac
��Not as computer-filled as Snow Crash, but fun just the same.
Stephenson, Neal. �The Diamond Age
��Don't read this in bed, and be sure to bring a dictionary.
Tepper, Sherry. �Gate to Women's Country
��Proof positive that women should really rule the world.
Tepper, Sherry. �Grass
Tepper, Sherry. �Northshore
Tepper, Sherry. �Southshore
Various. �The Way It Wasn't
��Jack Finney's Time and Again got me started on this trend.
�� Creepy and imaginative. Review.


Horror
King, Stephen. �The Stand
King, Stephen. �'Salem's Lot
Koontz, Dean. �Dark Rivers of the Heart
Saul, John. The Blackstone Chronicles
�After Suffer the Children, I swore I would never read
��John Saul again, but this wasn't bad at all. It could
��stand a little more development and a little less
� patness, but all-in-all, not bad.


Realist Fiction
Banks, Russell. �Continental Drift
Clancy, Tom. �Hunt for Red October
Clancy, Tom. �Patriot Games
Doyle, Roddy. �The Commitments
Doyle, Roddy. �The Snapper
Doyle, Roddy. �The Van
Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World
� This novel, centering around the history of philosophy,
� took quite a while to muddle through,
� but was ultimately worth it.
Irving, John. �The Cider House Rules
Irving, John. �A Prayer for Owen Meaney
Lamb, Wally. �She's Come Undone
Mosher, Frank Howard. �A Stranger in the Kingdom
Olshan, Joseph. �Nightswimmer
Tan, Amy. �The Joy Luck Club
Tan, Amy. �The Kitchen God's Wife
Tan, Amy. �The Hundred Secret Senses
Wells, Rebecca. The Divine Secrets of the
��Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Wells, Rebecca. Little Altars Everywhere

Non-Fiction
Hernandez, Michael. Database Design for Mere Mortals
If you're a computer snob, don't touch this book.
��If you're a computer use who needs a basic,
��plain-English introduction to the terminology
��and how-tos of relational databases, then
��this is for you.

McCourt, Frank. �Angela's Ashes
Really, who *hasn't* thrown up the
�Body of Christ in his grandmother's yard?
Offutt, Chris. The Same River Twice

Children's
Patterson, Katherine. �Bridge to Terabithia

NOT Recommended

Clancy, Tom. Any Tom Clancy over 400 pages, except maybe
�� Clear and Present Danger, if you've got a lot of
�� patience and are interested in a great deal of military
�� details. The two listed above are the only ones that
�� were truly edited.
Card, Orson Scott. The other 4 books of the Children of the Earth series
�� that begins with Homecoming. These are for dedicated
�� Card fans and not for the faint of heart.
Gibson, William and
��Bruce Sterling.
The Difference Engine.
��Skip the last 30 pages and it's no so bad.
Finney, Jack. From Time to Time
�� Come on, get over yourself.


Disclaimer: This list is mostly a way for me to keep track of what
I've read the last couple of years. Real interesting, I know. At some point, I will take the time to write a little about each book. You don't know
me from Eve, right? Why should you trust my recommendations?


Mail comments and suggestions to [email protected].

This page last updated 18 October 1999.
URL = http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/cat/88/reading.html