# What Do You Recommend?



## Magnetic (Jun 3, 2008)

Hey, I'm in the seventh grade and read at the college level. I've been reading alot of Louis L'Amour and want a book or author that will challenge me. Any ideas?


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## Katastrof (Jun 3, 2008)

What do you like to read? And what have you already read? I'm not sure if being able to read at a college level will allow you to fully get some  literature at a college level. But here's a few challenging books and also some of my personal recommendations:

*Challenging: In order of least difficult to most
_Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ by Mark Twain
_The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
_The Picture of Dorian Gray _by Oscar Wilde
_Light in August _by William Faulkner
_Moby Dick _by Herman Melville
_Brothers Karamazov _by Fyoder Dostoevsky
_The Iliad and Odyssey_ by Homer
_Ulysses _by James Joyce 
_Where's Waldo? In Hollywood _by Martin Handford

*Note: Honestly, if you can read and appreciate any of this stuff when you're in grade 7, than you're a pretty smart kid. I've gotten through a third of the list myself.


Recommendations (stuff I enjoyed when I was in grade 7-8 )
_The Hobbit _by J.R.R Tolkien
_The Hatchet _by Gary Paulson
_Robinson Crusoe_ by Daniel Dafoe
_Dracula_ by Bram Stoke
_Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde _by Robert Louis Stevenson
_To Kill A Mockingbird _by Harper Lee


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## Metanoia (Jun 4, 2008)

Weaveworld by Clive Barker (fantasy fiction)
Call of the Wild by Jack London (fiction)
White Fang by Jack London (fiction)


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## Wintermute (Jun 6, 2008)

VALIS.

Let me know if your sanity is intact after.


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## starseed (Jun 9, 2008)

*To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

*I agree. GREAT, wonderful, amazing book. I read it in grade.. 8th or 9th I believe and was floored. A must read.


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## MiloDaePesdan (Jun 9, 2008)

Proof you don't have to go to college to read a story.

Something challenging? Hmm...*evil grin*

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov.



Milo
EDIT: Also try "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft. Then any time you come across some tentacly thingie monster and _"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"_ online, you'll understand where it comes from.


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## TheBlackKeys (Jun 9, 2008)

Frank Herbert's _Dune _is thematically dense, even with an atypical bildungsroman plot at the center of it. It'll probably take effort if you're not especially into science fiction. Otherwise, one of my favorites and the first book I recommend to anybody who actually reads.


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## kerr511 (Jun 26, 2008)

Soooo much to list. When I was that age I wish someone told me about Ender's Game and Speaker for te Dead by Orson Scott Card, challenging in many respects but also extremely enjoyable.
It is important to challenge yourself but I would say equally important to not read beyond your level. It would be a terrible shame to read something great and to not appreciate ot because you dont properly understand it.
Some great suggestions above too.


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## aspiretowrite (Jun 26, 2008)

I recommend

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series of books by Alexander McCall Smith.
The Outsiders by S E Hinton
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
A PAssage to India - by E M Foster
Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Anthing by Chinua Achebe especially Man of the People.
Sam Selvon - The Lonely Londoners


And if you're feeling really adventurous try Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Toughest book I ever read. 

Good Luck


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## GooGooMuck (Jun 27, 2008)

I recommend:
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)


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## RomanticRose (Jun 27, 2008)

Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment)


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## lisajane (Jun 27, 2008)

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy


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## RomanticRose (Jun 27, 2008)

someone did, look at post #8


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