# good books to read for enjoyment.



## Danny (Oct 17, 2012)

Was looking for some good book suggestions. Read lots of crime fiction books, John Grisham, and etc. Just finished reading Elon Musk's biography and enjoyed it. Any one else have some good suggestions of some biography's that they enjoyed???


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

Crime fiction. For myself, I have two authors in that genre. 

1. John Sandford, who has a huge series called Prey along with a lot of other series and related novels.

2. John Locke, who is completely opposite John Sandford. He's an independent author, so his books cost a couple bucks as opposed to the standard mainstream publishers price of $15-$20. His books are irreverent and crazy. He's probably my favourite author.

ltr


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

Snowball - Warren Buffet biography is great.

For fiction 
Lee Childs Jack Reacher series is great, but unnecessarily violent. 
Enders Game is good, the rest of the series not as much.
Heinlein is my favorite author, Variable Star, Starman Jones are great YA novels


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

I really enjoyed the "Steve Jobs" bio by Walter Isaacson if you haven't read it. I love anything by Carl Sagan, particularly The Demon Haunted World, as well as Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. The neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote a number of interesting books on brain function with really interesting case studies- his classic is The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat but he has several other good reads. I enjoy a lot of neuropsych and related fields in stress and health research, and highly recommend Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky (quite funny and brilliant), and Spark by John Ratey- will really open new and inspiring ideas on coping with stress. Fiction- if you haven't read any Barbara Kingsolver, she's fantastic- The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favourite books. Travel writing- Paul Theroux. He also wrote The Mosquito Coast which is a great read. Kurt Vonnegut if you're looking for hilarious, abstract escapism paired with wry social commentary. Charles Bukowski poetry collections if you want down n' dirty seediness with a side of existential beauty. And if you've never read Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain, do it.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

I really liked the Max Ward autobiography.

The Max Ward Story: A Bush Pilot in the Bureaucratic Jungle

It's inspirational to read about building something from scratch through hardwork and vision. Killed by bureacracy unfortunately. But everyone I talk to still raves about the food and service on Wardair, even though it's been gone for 30 years.

He still lives in Edmonton in a nice, but unassuming house. Used to bike by it all the time.


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## Chica (Jan 19, 2016)

I like the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller. The author's a former LAPD cop and the series lead is a female homicide cop. He's up to T in the series. The first one is almost always on for free Hollywood Assassin https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Assassin-Alphabet-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00J16SQFU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 This one does get pretty violent. What can I say I got hooked. I've got most of them for free over the past couple of years cause sometimes he has freebies and I've bought some too, cause I usually read 2 at a time. Just when I was getting ready to buy Q and R a couple of months ago the author jacked up the price to $5.99 so I've been waiting to see if he drops the price again. Pricing seems to be anywhere from $3.99 to $5.99 for an ebook. I buy from the amazon.com website but they're available from Amazon Canada too. Different locations for some novels, other states, Catalina Island.


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## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

consider these titles..https://qz.com/1285629/99-books-recommended-by-bill-gates-from-the-last-6-ck-years/


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I love to read - nearly every genre except that I'm not fond of science fiction. I love mysteries, history (both real history and good historical fiction), and biography. Right now I'm about to start "The President is Missing" written jointly by James Patterson and Bill Clinton - I'm very curious about what Bill Clinton's contribution was.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

I find it really hard to reccommend books....or movies...to other people. Or, to have them reccommended to me.
anyone else feel the same...?


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

jargey3000 said:


> I find it really hard to reccommend books....or movies...to other people. Or, to have them reccommended to me.
> anyone else feel the same...?


It matters if the two people communicating know enough about each others taste to make good recommendations.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Karen said:


> I love to read - nearly every genre except that I'm not fond of science fiction. I love mysteries, history (both real history and good historical fiction), and biography. Right now I'm about to start "The President is Missing" written jointly by James Patterson and Bill Clinton - I'm very curious about what Bill Clinton's contribution was.




hi there Karen, how nice to hear from you. Lately i've glimpsed you mentioning what a good home your little house in the GVA has been to you all these years, the fact that it might have multiplied in value is a bonus but not the principal reason you've kept the residence. 

speaking of home prices, there's an interesting migration into montreal going on & it's not the one coming from south of the border. This one is a 100% canadian migration. It's families & young people who have decided they can't pay the $$ millions required to buy a shoebox in vancouver or toronto, so they've opted to move into this burg for the booming quebec economy, the good schools & the reasonably good medical care. We've already seen housing prices take off here.

take care & please don't stay away so long again!


.


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## Userkare (Nov 17, 2014)

I know you asked for biographies, but if you do like crime dramas, I'm reading Stephen King's The Outsider. I'm not through it yet, but it's hard to put down. 

A grisly crime is committed in a small town - all the evidence points to one person - but that person has a credible alibi. If you like Stephen King's writing style, this new genre for him still has that same style. I just hope it doesn't end with the revelation that the suspect is some murderous alien inter-dimensional time traveler or some-such.


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## Big Kahuna (Apr 30, 2018)

Userkare said:


> I know you asked for biographies, but if you do like crime dramas, I'm reading Stephen King's The Outsider. I'm not through it yet, but it's hard to put down.
> 
> A grisly crime is committed in a small town - all the evidence points to one person - but that person has a credible alibi. If you like Stephen King's writing style, this new genre for him still has that same style. I just hope it doesn't end with the revelation that the suspect is some murderous alien inter-dimensional time traveler or some-such.


King has written lots of great stuff unrelated to horror (Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, Misery which was more suspense-and many more). I love his style-most people don't agree but Christine is my favorite for how he wove together so many themes in one story.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> hi there Karen, how nice to hear from you. Lately i've glimpsed you mentioning what a good home your little house in the GVA has been to you all these years, the fact that it might have multiplied in value is a bonus but not the principal reason you've kept the residence.
> 
> speaking of home prices, there's an interesting migration into montreal going on & it's not the one coming from south of the border. This one is a 100% canadian migration. It's families & young people who have decided they can't pay the $$ millions required to buy a shoebox in vancouver or toronto, so they've opted to move into this burg for the booming quebec economy, the good schools & the reasonably good medical care. We've already seen housing prices take off here.
> 
> ...


Hello Humble Pie! I was so pleased to see your message! And it reminded me that I said months ago when I posted about the huge increase in the assessment on my house that I would also post the actual amount of the property tax bill when it came out at the beginning of this month. The assessed value was $1,064,000 and my total tax bill was $4,082, but with the BC Government's basic homeowner grant (available to all homeowner's in the province) plus the additional grant for Seniors, I only had to pay $3,237. Apparently house prices are coming down right now, so it will be interesting to see how next year's assessment compares.

I know - this thread is supposed to be about books, so I'd better get back on topic. I finished Bill Clinton and James Patterson's "The President is Missing" and I didn't enjoy it as much as I had expected to. My main criticism is that the plot is too complex - there is one main character whose role I still haven't figured out in spite of having read the whole book. I thought it made the book unnecessarily complicated and didn't really add to the story. I'll be interested to know if others felt the same way!

Thanks again for getting in touch, and I'll try to do better in the future!


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## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

On a side note regarding expensive house prices in Vancouver, and the emigration from Vancouver as a result, this has impacted our organization. We can not find good, qualified staff. Most young professionals refuse to come the city & settle, and some who have settled are leaving. It makes alot of sense (to me) to leave the lower mainland, and find nice, family-friendly, affordable communcities to settle. 
My concern is what Vancouver will become given the trend.

With regard to books, I'm reading "the Snowman". thriller - kinda creepy, entertaining. Written by a Norweigian.


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