If you read and enjoy Ishmael, you might watch The Man from Earth. I just caught it last night, and though the content was dissimilar, it still reminded me of that book.

By David Sedaris, I’ve read Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. They were both good for a laugh, but of the two I think I liked Naked a bit more.

A couple months ago I read This Book Will Save Your Life, which was pretty good, and certainly engaging (some compared it to Vonnegut — it did have a bit of a goofy tragicomic edge to it, but I’m not sure I agree . . . I’d say that’s more a case of it being set in LA).

Oh, and I guess there’s always Lolita, even if you’ve read it before.

Let me add a few more votes: another nod to Blue Like Jazz, along with these suggestions–
Bird by Bird (I know everyone seems to have read it, but I enjoyed it so much),
The Namesake (my favorite, favorite of all time),
Grammar Lessons (travel, Spain, single female),
The Art of Travel (why oh why don’t more people know about this fantastic travel jewel?)…

Personally, I’m right now reading True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer and LOVE it.

I read and loved books by Milan Kundera “the unbearable lightness of being.” it’s amazing and heartfelt.

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Chabon. a story set in WWII era, about two cousins (one American, one whose family is killed by the Nazis and comes over to live with Cousin 1’s family) and their life story. It is fiction, but reads like a fantastic biography. It lagged a bit in the middle for me, but I kept at it and it is very worthwhile despite the speedbump. I’m not into comics, but if you are, he also describes that business well.

They Shall Know Our Velocity, Dave Eggers: From a review on Amazon: “The novel features the travels of Will and his best friend, Hand. Will and Hand lost their other best friend, Jack, six months earlier, and their lives have been forever changed. Will also came into $80,000 pretty much be accident; unbeknownest to him. Will clearly feels guilty about this money and also that he outlived his friend Jack. His “solution” is to plan an around-the-world trip with Hand to give away money to worthy people.”
He also wrote “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”–a memoir whose title exhibits his great sense of humor. The memoir is about the difficulties and fun he had while raising his young brother pretty much alone after his parents died suddenly and tragically. His writing alternates between very touching and humorous.

Middlesex, Eugenides: Awesome, fiction. It follows a dormant gene in a family in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s (?)until it is exposed in a person in the modern day, who is narrating the story. Don’t let the science-y description fool you, there are alot of human elements to this story, and the science is very much in the background.

The Perks of being a Wallflower (Chbosky), and She’s Come Undone (Lamb), suggested earlier, are also very good.

For chick lit–trending towards the younger, my favorite is any Sarah Dessen. Her work is geared towards and features teens, but strikes shockingly close to home, even for me at 29, very often.

I don’t know how she does it, Pearson. Follows a working mother juggling her kids, her high flying corporate job, and her marriage. Funny! cute. and highlights the struggles of being everywhere and everything to everybody, all at once. the ending is satisfying to the feminist side in me…

and of course, the devil wears prada and the nanny are favorites.

Also, I second (third?) the Time Traveler’s Wife. Fantastic book.

I currently have checked out Stephen King’s “Everything’s Eventual” book of short stories, but I’ve only read the first one so far.

Currently reading EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE and I’m loving it too (this author and the author of the prev. are married).

Ruth Riechl’s Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is worth a library rental for sure.

I hated TIME TRAVLER’S WIFE, bargh.

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell is fantastic also.

Eat Pray Love might be worth the purchase , or find someone you can borrow it from. GREAT read.

Also I really like the Poisenwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover (family of missionaries in Africa with 4-5 daughters; each chapeter is in the first person with a different member of the fam as narrator).

John Irving is also a really good novelist who I enjoy. A Prayer for Owen Meany is a good one of his to start with (I actually can’t even remember the plot; maybe I should re-read it…)