Would appreciate any suggestions, I liked the Dan Brown books ( except the latest one ) but have finished that - what shall I read now??

I'm your typical sun reader so I don't want anything thats too much - ideas??

I've been recommended any of the Steve Berry books - but apparently he's in the same style of Dan Brown...

I also have been told that "The Celestine Prophecy " is good - anyone read it

Cheers in advance for any ( sensible ) suggestions

Stephen Baldwin rates The Bible

You ain't been watching that shyte have you??

Nah its a bit too much for me and I don't think its my type of book. Is it a thriller?

Nope, and God only knows

Try Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

How about Harlan Coben?

'Tell No-one' would be a good place to start. Much better writer than Brown but nice and easy to get into.

Nice one, anyone read the Celestine Prophecy? I went to see Avatar and it's supposed to be the same sort of story....

I agree with that, that's the first Coben book I read as well.

I'd recommend Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. I think there's about 14 of them now, and I liked every one of them.

If you liked Dan Brown, then you'll probably like Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy. I just finished the second and I am going to hold back before I read the third. They are independent stories, so you don't need to read them all, but better to start with the first "The girl with the dragon tattoo". I found them very hard to put down.

I've just started the first (page 60 or so). Not the fastest starting of books but I'm sticking with it as it is highly readable if not a page-turner (yet) and they've had great reviews.

Got the girl with the dragon tattoo for Christmas after seeing a glowing a recommendation from (I think) Striker. Not started it yet - got to read my Marco Pantani book first (after I've finished reading 'The White Spider').

Picked up the first and second for £1 and 50p respectively in charity shops yesterday. So many sold, they'll be coming to a charity shop near you soon

I read the first one just before Christmas, then started The White Tiger, which I'd had on my shelf for a while, but got the 2nd and 3rd for Christmas, and had to put The White Tiger down again while I read the second - cue various nights of reading till 6am and a messed-up sleep pattern that I still haven't recovered from! The White Tiger is not bad (I am about half-way through), but not as good as many of its recent predecessors from the subcontinent (at least not thus far).

If you want a really good read that is also a true story then you can't beat "Papillon". It's about Henri Charriere, a Frenchman wrongly convicted of murder and sent to "Devils Island" in French Guiana. He befriends a fellow criminal and the two of them begin serving their sentence on the prison island, which inspires the man nicknamed Papillon to plot his escape.

A more up to date one that I have just finished is "Pursuit of Honour" by Vince Flynn.

The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the agents who stepped between the enemy's bullets and countless American lives regardless of the legal consequences.

Meanwhile, three of the al Qaeda terrorists are still at large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. No one knows the personal, physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job better than Rapp. When he sees Nash cracking under the pressure of the mission and the memories of the horrors he witnessed during the terrorist attack, he makes a call he hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy before it's too late.

Bit of a Tiger/Spider mix up there. Read the White Tiger just before Christmas. OK but not great and didn't really live up to the hype IMO.

Now re-reading the White Spider, which is probably the classic climbing book. It's about the various successful and unsuccessful attempts on the North face of the Eiger. If you're into climbing then it's a must read.

I spotted it was Spider, but hadn't heard of it - not a climber myself - too short limbed.

Fredrick Pohl's 'Gateway' Trilogy.
Issac Asimov's 'Robot' or 'Foundation' series.
David Attenborough 'Life on Air'.

Why not try the Ladies Detective Agency books Alexander McCall Smith - they define easy reading! Now up to the 10th in the series - like Stig's books they have sold by the zillion - charity shops / car boots should be your source!

I would recommend 'One Day' by David Nicholls. He wrote the book 'Starter for Ten' which was made into film about 5 years ago.

It's easy reading, but well written and an enjoyable journey following the lives of two people from their early twenties for the next 20 or so years.

I've read the Celestine Prophecy, and I've got to say it's one of the worst books I've ever read. Ridiculous plot and dialogue which seems to have been created solely for the purpose of promoting this New Age Spiritualism that the author believes in. The only good thing I can say about it is that it is (unintentionally) quite funny in some places in a so-bad-its-good kind of way. (BTW I liked the Dan Brown books and the Avatar movie so I'm not averse to contrived plots and/or spiritual undertones as long as they're done well)

So not for me, but having said that many people rave about it, so maybe you need to read it yourself to see whether you think it's a "life changing spiritual experience" or just a load of New Age nonsense. If you check out the Amazon review, 91 out of 169 give it the maximum 5 stars and 33 out of 169 give it the minimum 1 star (the second most common rating) so maybe its a marmite type thing?

If you want something with a similar theme to Avatar (sci-fi/fantasy/spiritual) I would recommend the Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. The Golden Compass movie was based on the first book and was a bit of a flop, but I thought the books were very good and quite accessible as they are aimed at both teenagers and adults.

Alternatively if you want a page turner/thriller type book like Dan Brown you might like the Thomas Harris 'Hannibal' books, although if you've seen the films you'll already know the plots which might spoil things.

Cheers JohnF - I'll probably give it a miss then, I'll try the Pullman books though, they sound interesting

Honestly, the Fredrick Pohl trilogy is the best read I have ever had. I would give them a try if you like sci-fi stuff.

Anything by Simon Kernick, which are pretty easy, fast paced thrillers.

Agree with the suggestion of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books.

If into sci-fi, try rither the books of Neal Asher or Richard Morgan (especially Altered Carbon).

If into zombie genre, try World War Z (Max Brooks) or Patient Zero (Jonathan Maberry).