My favourite novelist is Jane Austen.
few people ask from books what books can give us.Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds,asking of fiction that it shall be false,of biography that it shall be falttering,or history that it shall enforce our own prejudices.
Then turn from ur blurred and littered pages to the opening pages of some great novelist jane Austen or Hardy.You have to appreciate their mastery.It's not merely that we are in the presence of a different person-----Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy-----but that we r living in a different world.I think Jane Austen's style is to show people's inside voice by a dialogue or talks.I.e. Here is the drawing room,and people talking,and by the many mirrors of their talk revealing their characters.But if,when we have accustomed ourselves to the drawing room and its reflections,we turn to Hardy,The other side of mind is exposed----the dark side that comes uppermost in solitude,not the light said that shows in company.Our relations are not towards people,but towards nature and destiny.

To be honest, i love those novelists.they are the everlasting.

I am reading "THE DEAD ZONE" by stephen KING now, just the beginning pages,feels not very good,but it's a gift from my brother when he had a trip to England and GLasgow,i have to finish it. Take a look at the bookshelf, um,i have read this one, i have read taht one, feels so rewarding and happy.hahaha...
So which book u guys r reading now?Suggest me some good books to me,pls.Thank you.

I went to Charterhouse bookstore this week, picked up a book for 170rmb, ouch. Now I know why I d/l most of my books I have close to 1000 book store on my hd electronicaly in rtf,html,txt format. I read mostly sci-fi book, with a smattering of other fictional genre throw in (horror, militar, mystery). I get them off of IRC, PM me if you are interested in learning where I get my books or just want me to burn a cd worth of books for you. I really do try to buy my books if my finances allow it, but I am a really fast reader (a book a day if I have sufficient time) so I can't afford my reading habbit.

My favorite novelist is Milan Kundera. I don't know why, something about his writing style and the theme of his books appeals to me. At the moment I'm reading the reprieve by Jean-Paul Sartre.

While we're on the subject of books. Does anyone know where there are some good second hand bookstores?

When I read I read for imagination. All time its probably Isaac Asimov. Favorite book of all time is probably The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. Lately ( last year or so ) its been Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptomonicon are a great. Have not gotten into this recent historical twist.

Have a pile waiting on the nightstand.. Douglas Adams ( Salmon of Doubt, Neal Stephenson ( the bIg U) and the new ones by Ray Kurweil.

Philip Roth. Milan Kundera indeed pretty good. Hank Bukowski has some good stuff as well.

Currently reading Suetonius' 12 Ceasars and Tom Hollands 'Rubicon' a very good history about the Romans.

Also on the go the 6th novel by Phil Rickman 'The Prayer of the Night Shephard' Like all his books it is set on the Welsh/English borders and is about a C of E woman vicar who undertakes exorcisms. The books are excellent, well plotted and very creapy and usually pltted around events which actually happened in the region.

Just finished Kafka By The Shore by Haruki Murakami - Absolutely fantastic, although I think may require a re-reading within the year to settle some of the finer points of the novel.

I had an expedition to the large bookstore on Fuzhou Road to pick up some replacements, the stock was not to great, and English books priced at aroung RMB110-150, I picked up about 7 (newish) novels

Any recommendations for English bookstores?

favorite novelist? that is a tough one! i guess i don't have a favorite.

i just borrowed Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and enjoyed it. such an excellent writer. I will have to check out the Kafka book then.

Garden Books on ... Changle? is a nice relaxing place with La Perla ice cream to boot. but mostly i just steal books from my friends.

Charterhouse Books in the basement of Times Square Huai Hai Lu next to Huai Hai Park. Keep supporting them and they will be able to stay open. Good selection of books and the prices are reasonable. Cheaper than Hing Kong by far.

P J Tracy (All three of their books - First is "Want to Play?")
Michael Connelly - too many to list
Lee Child - only read The Enemy but was quite good
Adele Parks - good chicks reading!
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code

I also like Jane Austen---this person's novels are so famous in this world, so I wanna read it as many as I can.

great authors:
oscar wilde
dostoevsky
d.h. lawrence
david sedaris

great books:
a confederacy of dunces by john kennedy toole
catch 22 by joseph heller
slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut
the bell jar by sylvia plath
a brave new world by aldous huxley

?°Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradtion, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvioin which cover the globe, through paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, through the church and state, until we come to hard bottom, which we can call reality.?±
-Henry David Thorea

Not big on fiction these days, but have been reading "The World in a Nutshell," Stephen Hawking and thats not too far off.

Everybody is saying that book selection and prices suck here in Shanghai. Why not set up a book swap?

i am reading this book now,
Jorge Amado--The War Of The Saints

All Robert Ludlum's Books
All Jane Austen Book's
Dan Brown's The Davinci Code and Angles and Demons.
The Education of Little Tree by Forest Carter

My all time favourite is sci-fi author Jack Vance. Currently I am reading 'Marune: Alastor 933'

Further I like A.E Van Vogt, Larry Niven, Harry Harrison, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, James Michener

Antoine de Saint-Exupery - he wrote "the little prince" which was an excellent parable about life in general. I especially liked the analogy he made about tending to the weeds in one's garden and not allowing bad qualities in our personality to get the upper hand.

Reading Susanne Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell at the moment which is excellent.

Like all kinds of stuff. Enjoy reading easy novels a lot too since I basically just read for the entertainment. Ken Follet is good for that, didn't like the Dan Brown books much though I read 4 or 5 of his novels, not sure anymore. Usually the plot lind is too straight forward without any surprizes. The pillars of the earth by Ken follet is very good.

Life expectancy by Dean Koontz is also excellent as is Lamb, the gospels according to Biff which I forgot who it's by. These two books are quite funny sometimes and the characters are really well written.

Amy Tan

Tom Clancy and Isaac Asimov