here's what i 'typically' like (but please suggest anything that you enjoyed....)

angsty, cult-classicy and quirky.

a perfect example of a book i LOVED (movie too...) is the virgin suicides by jeffrey eugenides.

have any suggestions of anything else i might like?

Doesn't fit any of your criteria, but a book that every human with a pulse SHOULD read:
The Autobiography Of Malcom X
It is a revalation in the most literal sense.

And you'll get a million people recommending:
A Confederacy Of Dunces
so let me just add my name to the list of those hawking this particular title. Funny as shit. But not angst-y.

[default]American Tabloid by James Ellroy[/default]

Have you checked out Middlesex, also by Eugenides. I haven't read it but my ex did and she loved it.

none of the suggestions have to meet my criteria....i just threw that out there to help. (it's hard to suggest something to someone that you don't know sometimes.)

thanks for the suggestions! please keep them coming!

(malcolm x autobiography has been on my 'must read' list for a while....but i can never find it at the bookstore... when i think of looking for it.)

Geek Love : A Novel - KATHERINE DUNN

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle : A Novel - HARUKI MURAKAMI

Money- Martin Amis

The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe

I have read it, and it is excellent.

I recommend any book except The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

thanks! i will DEFINITELY be checking that one out.
(why i didn't think to look for other eugenides books, i don't know. silly me.)

the last book i loved was "jitterbug perfume" but tom robbins.

a bit wierd, a bit silly, a bit fantasy, a bit real.
and always interesting.

Civilwarland in Decline by George Saunders

His other book, Pastoralia is very good as well, and he's got a new one coming out in another couple months or so.

The two out feature one longish short story/novella along with several other shorts. He writes in a surrealist style and both the title stories are sort of distopian comments on society kinda things but still very fun to read and entertaining. He's my favorite currently working writer, although he takes way too long in between books, but I guess I can wait for quality.

Oh...and I'll second the Geek Love recommendation. FANTASTIC, and should be plenty quirky enough for ya.

Just to make sure you realize it...the geeks are not guys who work on computers and wear glasses, they're circus geeks...much more interesting.

can't recommend it yet, but this is the next book i'll be reading:

The last book I enjoyed was "Fluke" by Christopher Moore. I've got four more of his books lined up.

The last book I finished was "The Dante Club" by Matthew Pearl. I didn't enjoy it; I thought the ending was a train wreck.

I'm currently reading "Fender Benders" by Bill Fitzhugh, which I'll describe as an edgier Carl Hiaasen. I dig it enough that I'll dive into "Pest Control" sometime this summer.

If you haven't read any of Kinky Friedman's novels, I highly recommend them. You can burn through them rather quickly, and they're stuffed with brilliant lines and observations--drop-dead funny to boot.

Also, check out "The Visitant" by Kathleen and W. Michael Gear. It's a murder mystery set in the Anasazi southwest. This is the first volume in a trilogy, and it's dynamite. If you've any interest in archeology/anthropology, their "First Peoples" series is also excellent--starts with "People Of The Wolf". I think the series is at 12 or 13 volumes now, with the latest to be released in paperback in August. A new hardcover is slated for October.

Joseph Conrad - 'Nostromo'

It would help if I'd actually read Virgin Suicides, but I've only seen the movie, and I can't really get a feel for the book from the movie.

For something a little more low-brow, the last book i read:



i literally couldnt put it down and finished it in two sittings. Very compelling.

isn't there a character in this book based on Serge of Marah?

thanks for the suggestions everyone!

things have picked up at work this afternoon so i don't have as much time to go to amazon and read about all of these just yet....but i'm going to do that tonight....

i really appreciate this.

sometimes i have the book in my head that i want to read....but i don't know if it's been written yet.

(if that makes any sense.)

Filing this in the "someone to check out" category. Me likey the Hiassen.

I will reiterate what Bloor posted: AMERICAN TABLOID.

Perfectly.

I picked this up this weekend, and just started it today.

I mentioned this one in a previous book thread, and although it's technically a children's novel (teens, probably), it's still the best book I've read this year: Feed by M.T. Anderson.

Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 54-2352120

One more...

THE REDNECK MANIFESTO: HOW HILLBILLIES HICKS AND WHITE TRASH BECAME AMERICAS SCAPEGOATS by Jim Goad

Interesting mic of scholarship and angry social commentary done up in profane style. It's both informative and funny and really doesn't fit in with conservative or liberal thought. Focuses on class struggles instead of racial ones for a change, while giving attention to both. Something in here will piss off just about everyone, but that's half the fun for me.

One of my favorite chapters focuses on the Redneck Holy Trinity of Jesus, Elvis, and UFOs.

Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
Blue Movie by Terry Southern

all i can recommend is not reqding them in a row. the humor tends to get pretty old after the second consecutive book.