Book recommendation.

[rabbitt]

I'm looking for a good, 250 page + fiction novel. This is for my Modern Novel class. Anyone have any thought-provoking books they'd like to share? Or something with a pretty good story.

All input is appreciated.

[Maklershed]

"The Testament" by John Grisham!

[y2jedi]

I just finished a book called "Good Omens" by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman. My nieghbor threw his copy at me and said I probably would like it. He was right. Dark british humor & the apocalypse, if you like that sort of thing.

[Brak]

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

[whitereflection]

"Out" by Natsuo Kirino. It's about a woman who kills her husband and has to hide the body, so she gets her friends involved as well as more... unsavory types. Won Japan's top mystery award.

[soliddragon]

'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel

It's about the son of a zoologist who in the course of transporting the animals overseas, gets marooned on a lifeboat with a pack of wild animals and must use his wits to survive as a Tiger eats the other animals, leaving just the two of them.

[Mr Unoriginal]

"Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut. A very quick and funny read and even includes pictures by the author.

[y2jedi]

"Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut. A very quick and funny read and even includes pictures by the author.
Great book !
Anything by Vonnegut, but especially BoC and Jalbird. Those are my faves.

[wubb]

A Confederacy of Dunces. Author is an interesting (sad) story as well.

Cat's Cradle is my favorite Vonnegut novel.

[b0bx13]

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It's a lot longer than 250 pages, but it's a quick read.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

"Survivior" by Chuck Palahniuk.

[shieryda]

"Survivior" by Chuck Palahniuk.

I was reading some excerpts from this book. I may have to go and find it...

[XxFuRy2Xx]

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It would definitely meet the requirement of being a modern novel. Awesome story.

[shrike4242]

"Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy.

[Vampyre611]

"THR3E" by Ted Dekker (also titled "Three")

[gregthomas77]

"Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy.

Seconded.

[Diiz]

A Friend of the Earth or The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle are both excellent modern novels dealing with hotbutton issues with some excellent writing style and story telling.

[senorwoohoo]

Brotherly Love by Pete Dexter is a pretty good one.

[basketkase543]

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Absolutely incredible piece of post-modernist literature.

[Ledhed]

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Absolutely incredible piece of post-modernist literature.

Motherfucker asked for something over 250 pages; that doesn't mean you can hand him War & Peace. I'd assume he'd like to finish whatever book he chooses within this decade. Fantastic book though, and certainly modern.

If it has to be modern, it's hard to say no to Chuck. Go with Survivor (as mentioned) or Choke. Both are over 250 if I recall correctly.

[Apossum]

is this modern as in modernism/postmodernism or just recently released? my modern lit class has warped my mind :-(

well, here are some good recent books...

You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers -- guys go on a trip around the world to give away $32,000. 400 pages but an extrmely fast read

Moon Palace by Paul Auster -- about an orphaned child who slowly figures out the secrets of his past...sounds boring but the way the story is told is amazing. lots of interesting coincidences and twists of fate happen along the way. very thought provoking.

All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe -- great detective novel, disguised as commentary about Japanese society and how people reacted to Japan's crashing economy and crazy citizen registry system.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

If it has to be modern, it's hard to say no to Chuck. Go with Survivor (as mentioned) or Choke. Both are over 250 if I recall correctly.289 and 293, respectively.

[Wombat]

anything by James Ellroy

[xeex]

How about Georges Perec's A Void - a French mystery novel written without using the letter "e" (and, amazingly enough, translated into English without "e"s).

[basketkase543]

I've been wanting to read Survivor. I think I might give it a try in a few weeks.

[shieryda]

The Constant Gardener was pretty good, but I don't remember how many pages it contained.

[snotnose_colossal]

SnowCrash by Neal Stephenson

[RaPtOrsIII]

The Killer Angels

[rabbitt]

Thanks for the titles from everyone. As far as how modern it has to be, I assume anything written after the birth of Christ would be fair game :D.

Keep 'em coming. I'll be going to Borders tomorrow to pick up V for Vendetta and whatever book I decide on.

[RacinReaver]

Get any Steinbeck book. He has to be one of my favorite American authors, and his style of writing manages to make all of the characters really interesting. Totally go for Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden.

Here's the list of books I read a summer or two ago, I think most all of them should fit your criteria (and they're all enjoyable). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (wonderful story about a guy in a psych ward told from the viewpoint of another inmate), Catch 22 (M*A*S*H reminds me of it a little bit, though the humor is a lot more dark in this book), Slaughterhouse Five (it's...umm...different), the Moon is a Harsh Mistress (heh, if you're a libertarian you'll like it even more), Crime and Punishment (even though it's by a Russian some of the translations are very readable, and the story is about a college student that murders someone to help pay for his tuition, so that might be relavent for your situation), A Clockwork Orange (dystopian sci-fi future with a healthy bit of social commentary), and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (it was made into the movie Blade Runner which I actually liked a bit better).

[Liquid 2]

'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel

It's about the son of a zoologist who in the course of transporting the animals overseas, gets marooned on a lifeboat with a pack of wild animals and must use his wits to survive as a Tiger eats the other animals, leaving just the two of them.Life of Pi was a great read.
I read it for english and I actually enjoyed it (while I normally love reading, I tend to loathe books if they're assigned reading)

[Blind the Thief]

Great book !
Anything by Vonnegut, but especially BoC and Jalbird. Those are my faves.

Dunno why, but I've always been partial to Slaughter House Five.


Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It's a lot longer than 250 pages, but it's a quick read.

It's true, but if you've seen the movie, there's no point in reading it. I didn't get anything out of reading it that I hadn't already gotten from watching the movie.



I just started 1984, as I never got around to it...not sure if that counts as "modern" but I am enjoying it so far...and Life of Pi is next on my list, so you may want to check that out.

[zionoverfire]

Beggar's in Spain, quite a bit longer than 250 pages but it's very good for group discussions and paper writing.

[Scobie]

anything by James Ellroy

I always figured you had a dark side! Glad to see I was right! Say, have you ever read anything by the great British author Graham Greene? "Brighton Rock" is pretty spectacular and should really appeal to an Ellroy fan.

[vietgurl]

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It would definitely meet the requirement of being a modern novel. Awesome story.

I agree. I would definately recommend this book; I couldn't put it down.

[Scobie]

Intriguing! Just read some reviews on Amazon... might have to check out "The Kite Runner."

[jaykrue]

2 pages of book recommendations and no one's mentioned Ender's Game (a book that should readily appeal to a wide swath of gamers and is a fairly lightweight read) by Orson Scott Card yet? For Shame.

[LaraCroftsLeftBoob]

a couple that haven't been mentioned yet.

the davinci code

stranger in a strange land -robert heinlein

american gods - neil gaiman

[Kendal]

Memoirs of a Geisha and Thank you for Smoking. Thank me later, for showing you two smoking cool books! :D