Books I should read to make me smarter:

[Anna><>]

I need book that will make my vocabulary get bigger and that will overall just make me smarter. I decided I wanted to read novel more and come on the internet less, so now I need book suggestions!
(It's even better if they're adventure or mystery but that's not necessary.)

[Aeva]

Anna Karenina is an excellent book, if you are interested in classic novels. For mystery I would suggest any of the Sherlock Holmes stories. (I am willing to admit that I have read only one Sherlock Holmes tale, but I am certain that they will make you smarter.)

[Amethystic]

Honestly, reading in general makes you smarter. Pick up a good book and start reading, and if you see a word you like or don't understand make note of it for later. That's what I always do.

[Anna><>]

I read 3 books in the last 2 days! I read this one book that I have to read for English class next semester, The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (same guy who wrote Sherlock Holmes, except I didn't get the Sherlock Holmes books out because they were like 2lbs and I didn't feel like carrying them) and a book about how a Pope was murdered.
I will try to find Anna Karenina when I go back to college and have access to the library there!

And also, good point, reading anything (except most tumblr blogs) does make you smarter!

[Monty]

I would recommend Charles Dickens as well. That man was a literary genius.

[Aeva]

And Shakespeare! You should definitely read some of Shakespeare's plays, Anna. My personal favorite is Hamlet, but all of the plays I have read are exceptional, especially the tragedies. His portrayal of human nature is amazing.

[Amethystic]

People might harm me for saying this, but classic literature is overrated, especially if you're just trying to build up general intellect. So many of them are so archaic or drawn out that you spend most of your time trying to decipher the text or trying to stay awake. (That's right, I'm a book-loving girl who dislikes classics. I apprecate them for their literary value, and some of them have intersting plots, but I can't stand the writing.) It might be better to focus on just reading in general rather than to try and cram a bunch of classics into your head for extra smart points--improving your overall reading skill is probably a more effective strategy, anyways, because then you can start to build up to the classics.

Oh, and while Shakespeare's plays can be very interesting, I recommend actually watching them as opposed to reading them. They were meant to be performed, after all, and it's so much easier to understand what's going on when you can see what the people are doing.

[Anna><>]

Charles Dickens may have been a literary genius but I nearly died when I read (I'll admit it, I skimmed the book and watched the movie on Netflix) Hard Times in English last semester. It's not that the story was bad, and I actually really enjoyed the way my English teacher explained it, but it was so hard to read! I don't really want to read more by him...
I've read Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet which are all tragedies. (I watched all those movies too.) They were okay, but Twelfth Night was by far the best work by Shakespeare I have read. It was so funny and way easier to understand than the former. I didn't even have to watch the movie for Twelfth Night to enjoy it.

Pick up a good book and start reading

That's what I was trying to do by making this topic. I don't know if a book's good until I've read it (or read other's input on it). Any suggestions on some good books then?
I just need some books to read that are deeper than Nicholas Sparks and stuff like that.

[American Eagle]

Books I recommend:

"The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis (spiritual warfare)
"The Richest Man in Babylon" Gby eorge S. Clason (personal finance, living and succeeding within your means)
"In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon (living like Jesus - practically)
"Bruchko" by Bruce Olson (being on fire for Christ, doing His will no matter what)
"One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" by Mark Cahill (evangelism)
"Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris (doing important things while we're young)

[Amethystic]

Snap, I fail at suggesting "deep" books. You interested in any sci-fi or action/adventure?


EDIT: Oh, wait! Demon-Proofing Prayers by Bob Larson is pretty awesome, if you're looking for spiritual enrichment. And Frank Perretti's novel This Present Darkness was great.

[Anna><>]

Thanks for those ideas AE! I'll see if I can get some of those books! I've already read "In His Steps" and it was pretty good.

I love adventure!!!! I said that in the first post lol

[Jesus' Princess]

Bruchko was a really good book. If you like books like that, maybe try Torches of Joy. I liked it a lot.

[Amethystic]

Oh. Well, in that case:

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins - There's a lot of hype, but they really are good books.
The Skinjacker trilogy by Neal Shusterman - It's a fantasy/adventure story, and I really liked it.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman -
Gallagher Girls series - Girly spy books that make me laugh. ^_^
Virals by Kathy Reichs - Sci-fi/mystery; sort of feels like an adult book for teens.
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz - Always a good read.
Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld - It was a fun trilogy. I liked the premise.
Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel - Another, more traditional steampunk story that was rather neat.
The Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve - Another steampunk series with a more post-apocalyptic twist.

I'd say these books are for mid-to-late teen readers, generally.

[Graces4you]

Is there a certain area of history you enjoy reading about? If you like adventure, you might like The Children's War By Monique Charlesworth, it's a WW2 book about a half Jewish girl who was sent out of Germany by her mother. There are a few modern swear words in it as a precaution, if you don't mind them.
A Noble Treason by Richard Hanser
Students Against Tyranny by Inge Scholl
The Short Life of Sophie Scholl by Hermann Vinke
(all of these books are about WW2 the last 3 are books about a German resistance, I think you might like them)
My Antonia by Willa Cather- pretty good, I remember liking it, I read it about 3 years ago
Animal Farm by George Orwell Lots of parallels to the fall of the Russian czar and the rise of communism
1984 By George Orwell- no idea, but I've heard it's pretty good.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The boy in the striped pajamas
Roll of thunder hear my cry- deep book
Let the circle be unbroken- deep book
On the road to Memphis - out of the 3 books, this one has the least amout of 'depth'
Watership Down
Those are some I can think of that might appeal to you, question, what Romeo and Juliet did you watch?

[Anna><>]

Thanks guys!
I'm going to have a lot of reading to do during this semester! YAY!
I actually was planning on reading 1984!

I watched the 1996 Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio in it and the 1968 version too.

[Amethystic]

I hate Romeo and Juliet. Try the 1993 movie version of Much Ado About Nothing instead.

[DanP740]

I read 3 books in the last 2 days!

Sounds like you're turning into my sister. She bought a new book one afternoon and finished it by the next afternoon, and sometimes she has like 6 books going at once and reads them all in a few days.

[Termite]

I read the 850 "Brisingr" by Paolini in about 9-10 hours, I think. Maybe less.

Which, speaking of that, is a good series...
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
Kiss by Ted Dekker (mystery)
Monster by Frank E Peretti

And if you read "This Present Darkness" as Amy suggested, then you have to read the sequel, "Piercing the Darkness" as well.

[Jehoshaphat]

Termite good choices! BTW have you finished fan-fiction yet? I am still waiting.

[Sherlock]

Hmm...

I disliked the classics until just about two years ago (I'm now spending my free time trying to catch up on 25 years of neglect!) so it kind of depends on what you're looking for. I'll second the suggestion of Sherlock Holmes, especially if you're looking to expand your vocabulary. Holmes was a veritable linguistic cornucopia at times, and I have to thank Conan Doyle for the fact that my 14-year old self even understood the concept of a monograph on any subject.

Anyways, given that you're at that age where you are probably reading college-level literature anyways and (presumably) are wanting to challenge yourself beyond what the standard English Lit class might offer, may I suggest any of the following titles? None are particularly classic in the strictest sense of the word, and they comprise a decent mix of fiction and non-fiction titles:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintinence: An Inqury Into Values by Robert Pirsig
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy by Mortimer Adler
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru (Out of print unless you want to spend $40 , but the .pdf version is easily available online for free)
Room With a View and Passage to India by E.M. Forster