Looking for book suggestions

I recommend some years-ago-books such as “The Name of The Rose” written by Umberto Eco and “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario. The Name of The Rose tells a murder story on medieval Era. It’s a fiction but written by a medievalist. Enrique’s Journey is a true story approached with narrative journalism. So, It tells so much about value of life and affection.

Ok, I think I’m bit late but I do have couple of suggestions:

Dune by Frank Herbert – IMHO the best SF book you will ever read. Herbert is the Tolkien of Science Fiction. In fact I do recommend reading the whole cycle. The second book is the low point, and thins pick up in the third. But the first one is a self contained story, an it is excellent.

If you want something less massive, I recommend The Road by Carmac McCarty. I have reviewed it here. It takes place in a post apocalyptic US. The whole country is a burned out wasteland devoid of all life other than roving bands of human survivors who fight over the last remaining scraps of food, gear and weapons. A father and a son set out on a journey, hoping to find a better place to live. Depressing, but hell of a story.

Another rather thin book is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys. The book is written in a form of a diary of a mentally retarded man who undergoes an operation to become smarter. It takes you on a journey as the narrator gradually becomes more and more intelligent you can see his vocabulary to improve, and his world view change. as he begins to understand how cruel, petty and fucked up the people he used to look up to and idolize are. Great read.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons is another great SF book that I highly recommend. It is essentially six separate stories all of which revolve around the mysterious world of Hyperion. One is about a girl that aged backwards, one is about star crossed lovers (The guy works on a star ship that travels at relativistic speeds. For him the round trip takes 18 months. For his lover who stays on the planet it is about 20 years – every time he sees her, she ages considerably while he remains young), one is about a priest who encounters a weird tribe of twisted, mutated men who seem to worship the symbol of the cross, one is about a woman who falls in love with an AI who is reconstructed persona of John Keats and etc.. These stories are told by pilgrims who are traveling to Hyperion to visit the mysterious Time Tombs (artifacts that were built in the distant future and are traveling back in time) and the mysterious Shrike – a mythical creature that inhabits them. Great book.

If you like well written horror/mystery/mind-fuck type novels, I’d recommend House of Leaves. It actually has several interleaved narratives, but it is about a strange house that is bigger on the inside than on the outside. I reviewed it here.

I guess technically none of these are mysteries…. But if you need SF recommendations I have plenty more.

The Alchemist was good – a bit preachy, a bit trippy and a bit fairy-tale like but good read.

Oh, another good one: Firmin. It’s a story about a literate rat who lives in a book store and spends his time reading books, and thinking about all kinds of issues. Little bugger is eloquent as hell, very insightful and provides an interesting look at the human condition from the perspective of a common rodent. It’s both funny and depressing at the same time.