Recs for English books

[druffine]

Hey everybody,

what's your favorite read besides fanfic? I'm thinking about ordering English books and I'm not sure where to start. I'm not so much into Shakespeare since I hardly understand the German translation. I'm thinking "Catcher in the Rye" maybe or "1984"??

Thanks for your help.

Comments

[piratepurple.livejournal.com]

If you read '1984' and like distopia, you may also like to read 'Brave New World' and 'Fahrenheit 451'.

I don't recommend Catcher. It's sort of esoteric, and if you don't know a lot about America, specifically New York, at the time it's set, it's really boring. It's social commentary rather than an actual novel, in my opinion.

I second any and all recommendations for Neil Gaiman. Especially 'Fragile Things' which is a compendium of shorter stories that are great for getting a feel for his writing. He also recently made a movie, 'Mirrormask' which I recommend. He co-wrote 'Good Omens' with Terry Pratchett, who is also a most excellent writer.

I've recently been very into Peter Beagle. He wrote a book called 'The Last Unicorn' which was made into an animated movie that just about every child my age who grew up speaking English has seen, but his 'The Innkeeper's Song' is by far a superior book, in my opinion.

If you like Cyberpunk, there's William Gibson, and also early Neal Stephenson. Neal Stephenson wrote a book called 'The Diamond Age' that I personally think redefines the sci-fi genre, and has a female protagonist to boot.

Lastly I recommend Francesca Lia Block. She's a sort of post-punk lyrical writer. Her stuff is mostly aimed at teenagers, but I find her an excellent read anyway. Her use of language is frequently unique, and her characters are sweet and believable.