<p>Can anybody suggest a really good book? </p>
<p>nothing like classic or 5th grade...</p>
<p>Just something I can read for enjoyment and benefit from at the same time.</p>
<p>I liked Counting Coop, but's it's been awhile since I've read it, so I might have been delusional at the time.</p>
<p>I also like Rocket Boys.</p>
<p>The Overachievers would be a good one for the average CC-er. :)</p>
<p>Just a stupid quick read, Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix</p>
<p>If Chins Could Kill- Confessions of a B-Movie Star by Bruce Campbell</p>
<p>The Catcher in the Rye</p>
<p>Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut</p>
<p>A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole</p>
<p>try Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor..i really enjoyed it. i'm thinking about reading it again soon</p>
<p>if it's possible, please include a brief synopsis!! thanks</p>
<p>its been awhile since i read it, but basically in Rain of Gold, the author tells the story of his mother and father from when they were about 5 or 6 years old to when they meet, fall in love, and get married. each chapter alternates between the mother's story and the father's story. the setting is mexico way back in the day. the whole book is basically about the hardships of growing up in mexico during the revolution and immigrating to the united states. it's a REALLY good book! if you're into drama and historical hardships, i highly recommend this book..i was actually required to read it for summer reading one summer in high school..i didnt think i would enjoy it since i usually don't like the books assigned in class, but i did enjoy this one!</p>
<p>Counting Coup-
Girl's basketball team in Montanna. They are all Native Americans. The book focuses on one player. I can't remember her name. It talks about their struggles as Native Americans in the rest of the world. (Non-fiction)</p>
<p>Wow, looking back it doesn't sound so good...</p>
<p>Rocket Boys-
THe main character is named Homer Hickam. After seeing Spudnik fly over his littler mining town of Coalwood Virginia as a high schooler he was determined to build a rocket. He got a few of his friends together and they tried building some. They try to enter the science fair that's held locally. The subplot though is mainly about the boys trying to get out of coalwood and on to bigger and better things. (Non-fiction)</p>
<p>The Overachievers-
Just read the thread titled the Overachievers; The Secret Lives of Driven Kids (Non-fiction)</p>
<p>Turabout-
Scientists come up with a formula to reverse aging. It in turn makes those who take it age backwards, reliving their lives. (Fiction)</p>
<p>^^October Sky (based on the book Rocket Boys) is my all time favorite movie!! suprisingly i havent read the book..but i plan on doing so in the near future</p>
<p>Enjoyment books for me: C</p>
<p>Cirque Du Freak Series: A young teenage boy joins a gang of vampires. It's a 9 book saga, which actually has a very good story.</p>
<p>Crank: A teenage girl gets addicted to "The Monster." It's very interesting.</p>
<p>Go Ask Alice: A heartbreaking story of a young teenage girl who gets addicted to drugs and her life starts getting severely affected. It's written in the form of a journal. It's very very powerful.</p>
<p>My guilty pleasure book because it's not actually that good is Speak, by Laurie Andersen. I LOVE the writing style in the book. It's about a girl who has to deal with a secret that no one knows which ruined her life. It's very sad.</p>
<p>I read go ask alice... it was a very good book, but didn't help me literary wise</p>
<p>Ya. None of my books offer literary anything. Although, a GREAT one that I LOVE is Lord of the Flies. I love the philosophy.</p>
<p>Speak is supposedly good for literary development. We read it in our high school English class. And Staying Fat For Sarah Burns.</p>
<p>I second the Cirque Du Freak series! I thought it was better than Harry Potter, though it does not as much recognition. Better as in it is more realistic (okay vampires are not real but the storyline makes it seem real. I totally suck at explaining), and the story is darker. Synopsis above in dragontoe's post.</p>
<p>I also LOVE Dan Brown's novels: Da Vinci Code, Deception Point, Angels and Demons, and my favourite Digital Fortress. It'll take way too long to write all the synopsis, so I'll just do one for my favourite book in the entire universe.</p>
<p>Digital Fortress:
National Security Agency (NSA) found an unbreakable code that could be used to encrypt emails, documents, blah blah blah. So it is up to Susan Fletcher and her boss to break this code. NSA has a huge machine used only to break code, and it usually does in a few seconds, at most a few minutes. However, this code has been running in the machine for a day now. </p>
<p>The story has a huge twist. Read it.</p>
<p>The Catcher in the Rye is about a boy named Holden Caulfield who gets kicked out of his fourth prep school for failing his classes (even though the reader gets the sense that he's pretty bright). It doesn't bother him, because he hates it there, but he knows his parents will upset, so he decides to wander around New York City for a while before coming home, and the narrative is comprised of what happens to him over the next couple days. The plot isn't really what drives the novel, however, but rather the clunky literary style interspersed with Holden's musings on topics such as his siblings, the impermanent nature of childhood, sex, and the "phoniness" he views as rampant in society.</p>
<p>It's the kind of book people either love or hate, depending on whether they relate more to the protagonist or to the people he complains about.</p>
<p>Johnny Got His Gun is another really good one. It's about an American soldier who's hit by a shell and loses his arms, legs, and senses, but is somehow "saved" by medics. The novel is told from his perspective and alternated between flashbacks of his life before the war and the present, where he slowly becomes more aware of his surroundings. Its riveting.</p>
<p>If you like the anti-war themed books, I also highly recommend All Quiet On the Western Front. The language is a little thicker (because it was translated from German), but it's wonderful.</p>
<p>Really depends on the person, but anything by Ayn Rand can be pretty good. I was at odds with The Fountainhead, but I really enjoyed We the Living. Also if you have any interest in Fantasy, The Eye of the World by The late Robert Jordan is the 1st book in a Fantasy series that is better than the Lord of The Rings</p>
<p>harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban FTW</p>
<p>The Book Thief-Tells the story of a young German girl during World War II living with a foster family who secretly takes in a Jewish man. It's very good. It's also narrated by Death, which is creative. </p>
<p>The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho)-A boy goes on a search for a treasure across the Sahara desert. There's a lot of wisdom in it.</p>
<p>Not a classic? I assume you want fiction, right? </p>
<p>I would suggest:</p>
<pre><code>* The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
* The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
* Life, the Universe and Everything
* So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish
* Mostly Harmless
</code></pre>
<p>All in one series and then:</p>
<pre><code>* Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
* The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
* The Salmon of Doubt
</code></pre>
<p>Also in one series. All written by Douglas Adams.</p>