Best Reads for Pleasure

Every now and again it’s a good idea to put aside the textbooks and lax out with a good novel or magazine. These are the best escape books in a variety of genre to help you shake off the chaos of school life.

First a far out sci-fi suggestion is The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. The novel is an oldie but don’t let that put you off because it is a stroke of writing genius, written well before it’s time. For entertainment value it’s pure escapism.

If you like a little more intensity in your world of retreat then The Road by Cormac McCarthy is amazing. The words are a pleasure to read and don’t actually require a plot or substance, they are so brilliantly strung together that the book offers words for the pure pleasure of words.

For those that like to withdraw to a different time in history while still enjoying a compelling story I would recommend anything written by Tracy Chevalier. For taking the reader out of themselves and their existence she is the pro.

E. Annie Proulx and Louis de Bernières top my list for writers who masterfully create entertaining stories from not much at all and if you want an expertly crafted story with a peculiar twist, try Margaret Atwood. As with Chevalier, anything written by these guys is good, and in the case of Berniéres for sure – you will undoubtedly lol.

That must leave romance and, let me see, mystery and suspense. Well here I go again but for a good who-done-it, Sherlock Holmes. Yes, the books are about a hundred years old but honestly if you can make it past the antiquated cover it is really good shizzle Conan Doyle writes.

Romance is only great when it’s tragic so for the romantic reader, Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton.  

Enjoy!