Top Ten Best Novels You've Never Heard Of

Or perhaps you have. Yet the following list, laid out in no particular order (with the exception of Number 1), is relatively obscure: Nothing is as it seems under the sharp western sun. After recovering from an enigmatic and near-fatal illness, Gasteneau, a man with an iron will, glimpses something so extraordinary and so horrific that he feels his life irrevocably altered. But did he really see what he thinks he saw? In the aftermath of his sickness, he’s also drawn deeper into a resolution he made just prior to getting sick: to seek out a piece of evidence that shows with certainty God’s hand at work upon the earth. 10. Published in 1995, this is James Salter’s fourth novel — a novel as real, as poetic, and as heartbreakingly beautiful as anything I’ve ever read. 9. By Fydor Dostoevsky. 8. Tom Drury’s fourth novel, published in 2006, is intelligent, endearing, funny — though perhaps a little too farcical — and contains an exceptionally likable hero named Pierre Hunter. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels It's almost a cliche at this point to say that teen fiction isn't just for teens anymore. Just last year, the Association of American Publishers ranked Children's/Young Adult books as the single fastest-growing publishing category. Which is why we were only a little surprised to see the tremendous response that came in for this summer's Best-Ever Teen Fiction poll. A whopping 75,220 of you voted for your favorite young adult novels, blasting past the total for last year's science fiction and fantasy poll at, dare we say it, warp speed. And now, the final results are in. Selecting a manageable voting roster from among the more than 1,200 nominations that came in from readers wasn't easy, and we were happy to be able to rely on such an experienced panel of judges. Summer, like youth, is fleeting.

15 Books You Should Have Read in 2010 - Culture - GOOD - StumbleUpon Image by Jane Mount, Courtesy 20x200 Yes, we read Freedom this year and yes, it was good. As Esquire put it, it “was one great slab of a book, at a time when most books have given up on greatness.” But there were other books in 2010, books that had to compete for our ever more challenged attention spans and won. So we asked a few members of the GOOD team & some of our good colleagues which book made their best list this past year. (And since discovering something you might have missed is one of the great pleasures of reading, no selections were disqualified for having been published prior to 2010). 1. Author: Stephen King Recommended by: Ben Jervey, Environment Editor Why read? 2. Author: George R.R. Recommended by: Morgan Clendaniel, Deputy Editor, GOOD Why read? 3. Author: Jan Gehl Recommended by: Alissa Walker, Contributing Editor, GOOD Why read? 4. Author: Tom Rachman Recommended by: Zach Frechette, Editor in Chief, GOOD Why read? 5. Author: Walter Van Tillburg Clark Why Read? 6. Why read?

30 Very Funny Books--Seriously It's a dreary day, so I thought I'd indulge myself and come up with a list of my favorite comedies. A caveat, however: this is not a fancy English-professor-y list of the finest, most exquisitely crafted, most erudite or intellectually sophisticated works on paper in the language. This is a list of the books that make me laugh until my mascara starts to run. These are books to read over your first cup of coffee or just before you go to sleep . Remember: a day you've laughed is day you haven't wasted--even if you didn't get out of bed. Some days you need a jump-start to get to the funny parts of life. You've probably heard of most of these titles, and maybe you've already read several of them. You ready? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. And of course this is just the beginning.

mental_floss Blog & What 10 Classic Books Were Almost Called Remember when your high school summer reading list included Atticus , Fiesta , and The Last Man in Europe ? You will once you see what these books were renamed before they hit bookshelves. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Today is October 10, 2010—10.10.10!