A request...

[prisoner_24601]

Since I seem to be stuck in a reading rut, I thought I'd ask you all to recommend some books for me. At the moment, I'm having a rather difficult time finding books that look interesting enough to bother reading. I'm right in the middle of reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett and The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, and while I love both of these authors to death (Bujold is one of my all time favorites for her Vorkosigan series), these two particular books aren't doing a hell of a lot for me. I'm kind of stalled out reading them (I've taken to re-reading both the Dresdon Files books and the Miles Vorkosigan books instead of finishing them), but every time I go to the bookstore and browse I can't seem to find anything that captures my attention.

So I'm turning to you all for help. Recommend a couple of books for me (and when you do so, tell me why you like the book). I'm pretty open to any genre or style, although I do admit that while I'm a sucker for a good romance, I detest 99% of romance novels out there. I also am not a big fan of most fantasy books (because seriously, if it has hot elves in it, I instantly tune out), but have enjoyed the occasional fantasy novel. Non fiction is also fair game, even though I tend not to read much, but I suspect that there are some seriously interesting books out there. Comic books are also fair game as well, although I like to read things in the trade paperback format and finished story arcs.

I very much like books that are *different* from the norm, or take an old, worn out idea and do something new with it.

Comments

[plutospawn.livejournal.com]

A friend kept pushing the comic series, Dangergirl on me last semester. It's about this international group of spies, that are all very attractive women. It's very cliche, with names like Johnny Barracuda, but knows it's cliche and runs with it. So you'll either giggle or be like, "This sucks. I throw it against the wall."

And The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain is short and can be finished in less than a night. Twain at his best, Adam writes stuff like not knowing what baby Abel is, so he chucks him in a pond to see if he's a fish. I've reread that one a few times, until I lost my copy, but I'll be honest in that I've skipped over Eve after the first read through.

[prisoner--24601.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen Dangergirl on the shelves at the local comic book store. I'll have to leaf through it the next time I go (or maybe be a total cheap ass and read it in the store).

The Mark Twain one sounds really entertaining. Definitely going to check that one out.