After a semester of Literature courses I want to relax with some easy reading.

I just finished I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max. Escape by Carolyn Jessup looks interesting; I love Big Love.

Any recommendations?

What about some short-story collections?

-MJ

What about some short-story collections?

-MJSure! :)

Short Stories: If you like SF, I can heartily recommend Jim Baen's Universe, an on-line only sf magazine. There are links from Baen.com. It's a couple of years old now, and like all Baen's stuff there's no drm and you can download in lots of formats to fit your device.

The thing about JBU is that they have an editorial policy favoring optimistic stories. I recently tried to read recent editions of both Analog and Asimov's magazines, and found every story subtly depressing. For escapism, I want optimism!

anything Bill Bryson

Try some of the free stuff we have here. If you like adventure stories, Rider Haggard is hard to beat. For mysteries, try the "Dr. Thorndyke" stores of R. Austin Freeman or the crime stories of Edgar Wallace.

HarryT also contributed an omnibus edition of E. F. Benson's 'Mapp and Lucia' books to the collection here - they're fun reads :2thumbsup.

Yes, there's a lot of free - and fun - reading right here on MobileRead. At this moment, prefixes are being added, so not all the short stories are listed.

If you like Sci/Fi and Mystery, I would take a look at Fictionwise for not only their short story collections, but also for their magazines.

Have fun.


Don

Go to the Baen site and download Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Contains the first two novels in her Miles series. It's sci-fi, but character-based, and she writes well.

Jim

Munsey's also seems to have specialized in "pulp fiction" novels. Those are probably good for a laugh.

I take an opposite approach... for "reading to unwind", I like poetry, free verse stuff, like Walt Whitman. Just let the language roll over you sans interpretation, you'll be generating good beta waves in no time.

To unwind, I like to read something I've read before--something familiar, and predictable. It helps me to relax and enjoy the moments of the past.

Any favorite book will do, for me it's Harry Potter, C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, or Chesterton's Father Brown stories.

To unwind, I like to read something I've read before--something familiar, and predictable. It helps me to relax and enjoy the moments of the past.

Any favourite book will do, for me it's Harry Potter, C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, or Chesterton's Father Brown stories.

Have to agree here, that when I want to relax, there is nothing like rereading an old favourite.

It also often allows me to see somthings that I might not have paid attention to on my original read through, when I'm in a hurry to find out what happened.

The best books I've found for that are Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

David Eddings is also fun, not too heavy and more or less classic fantasy.

Same with Ann McCaffrey's Work, working through a series again relaxes me no end.

Rereading a favourite piece of dialogue, or a moving scene is like watching a old classic movie, familiar but still great.

Watership Down is like this for me. For years, I read it every year, near the beginning of Fall. It was simply a habit, but I did eventually tire of it after the 30th read or so.

Hitchhiker's Guide and the Dirk Gentley novels are actually among my comfort books.

-MJ

Hitchhiker's Guide and the Dirk Gentley novels are actually among my comfort books.

-MJ

me too. every time i'm sick, or during bouts of insomnia. also agatha christie and other detective novels i've read before.