oriecat

1. A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, if you like fantasy. Or anything by John Irving. (World According to Garp?)

2. Again, no idea. I'm about to start Losing Faith in Faith by Dan Barker. Maybe that would fit? It's about religion anyway.

3. Diet for a New America by John Robbins

Elbereth

1. No sci-fi? Hmmm... well then, I recently finished Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. It's about his time spent as a poor writer in Paris. Very graphic and funny, and I love his style. By the end I love his philosophy as well.

2. Definitely look at Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Not so much comparative religion as comparative mythology... but since all religions are myths, they are covered. Highly insightful and well-researched.

3. Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh!

Mageth

1. I understand that you don't care for SF, but I still would suggest one of Connie Willis' excellent novels or collections of short stories. Trust me, they're not your typical SF novels, and tend to weave a bit of "soft" SF in with history, a bit of romance, humor (at least in some of her novels) and tragedy (again, in some of her novels). The SF more or less serves as a device to tell the story, and what she discusses as far as science goes is interesting, if often quite speculative.

Suggestions: Doomsday Book or Lincoln's Dreams (gloomier), Bellwether or To Say Nothing of the Dog, (both quite humorous and lighter). I'd recommend either of the last two for "pure entertainment" value (especially Bellwether), but more substantial than most novels I consider "pure entertainment."

3. Colin Fletcher wrote a couple of excellent true-life accounts about his adventures in the Grand Canyon/on the Colorado river: The Man Who Walked Through Time, about his solo walk down the length of the Grand Canyon in his 40s, and River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado about his solo raft trip down the Colorado from its source to the Sea of Cortez in his 70s, IIRC. Both are excellent, esp. if you're interested in the environment, geology, the history of the region, hiking and/or rafting.

Bloop

#2 ? eh... im not the go to guy when it comes to that especially not on this site. However:

Karen Armstrong has a a pair of books i liked. The Battle for God is about fundamentalism within Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Or her A History of God is another one.

Monkeybot

Well, I'm with August, you can't go wrong with Vonnegut, despite his slightly scifi-ish tendencies. If it makes you feel any better, he usually makes up his sci fi stuff for the purpose of the story and explains it in a funny way. Like, he doesn't blather on about robots just for the hell of it, or even as a meditation on what robots might be like -- he just talks about the "scifi" phenomenon quickly and hilariously and moves on.

I'd recommend almost anything he's done, but the last one I read was Hocus Pocus and there's almost no sci-fi in that (the character picks up and reads a goofy story about aliens at one point, but that's not really a big deal).

2.) No clue

3.) The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami. I can't recommend this enough. It's a collection of short stories, one or two of which involve romance but most of which are just extremely whimsical, fantastical flights of imagination. And since it's short stories, you know you're going to finish a good chunk of it anyway...

August Spies

Id recommend the elephant vanishs too, although some of the stories are a little dull. Overall very well written.

Monkeybot, have you read any of Murikami's novels? any good?

Monkeybot

I read A Wild Sheep Chase for a literature class a while back. It has the same penchant for symbolism that The Elephant Vanishes does, but it's spread out over a whole novel. Moreover the allegory in Sheep Chase is a lot more vague than that in TEV, I think.

The book itself is OK, but IMO, the allegory really doesn't make a lot of sense except in the context of Japan's "concretization", urban sprawl, etc. There's some criticism of the Japanese right wing in there too, but it's pretty veiled. My lit teacher (a Japanese herself, if that helps) was convinced that the sheep represented the right wing and was total evil. She pointed to some cases of novelists being harassed and threatened by the yakuza for criticizing the right wing too harshly, so I suppose it's possible that Murakami was deliberately being vague to protect himself.

However, I found an interview with Murakami somewhere online in which he swore up down and sideways that there was no meaning at all to any of his stories, and that he just wrote whatever the hell he felt like.

Sorry to ramble! To sum up: Not quite as good as TEV, but overall, a really interesting read. Personally, I feel like I "got" the book, to some degree, and as such, it was really rewarding. I don't know how much of my "getting" it was influenced by the fact that I was living in Japan at the time I read it; when I read about how much he loathes the urban sprawl and concrete everywhere, I didn't have to imagine, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

At the same time, I could also see where someone might not "get" it, and might feel like it was a total waste of time. I'd recommend that you go ahead and give it a shot anyway -- if you didn't have a problem with Elephant you will probably get a good deal of enjoyment out of Sheep Chase. Give it a shot.

christ-on-a-stick

Too cool, I'm getting so many great suggestions - keep 'em coming!

When I'm gettin' ready to embark on my journey (Thursday night) I will make a big ole list (by category) and spend a lovely few hours at the bookstore and make my purchases

Gawd Blesserize all my fundy family members who gave me oodles of Borders gift certificates for Xmas (little did they know I'd be using them to buy books recommended by GODLESS HEATHENS!!! Mwuahahahahahaha.... )

August Spies

okay sorry to make so many recommendations but I jsut finished John Fante's "Ask the dust" which I read in 2 days (very quick for me). I thought it was a good story and VERY well written. its got a foreward by Charles Bukowski about how this book made him want to be a writer or something.

so yeah "ask the dust" good stuff.

christ-on-a-stick

Well, we're leaving tomorrow at 1pm so I've gotta get to the bookstore tonight. So far I have decided on....

1. Fun Novel: Anonymous Rex (suggested by Mediancat).
2. Comparative Religion: STILL NOT SURE!!! HELP!!!!
3. Other: Homicide - A Year on the Killing Streets (suggested by Bloop).

So other than #2 I am set... I am looking forward to many pleasurable reading hours!!!

Hey Jess - I'm not sure why I don't like romance. I like "erotica" novels, but romance.... I like darker stuff (or humor). The cynic in me I guess?