So the big question is sometimes what to read, and top of the list comes thrillers. Most of them are fast-moving and include elements of suspense and adventure which grab the reader's attention from the very beginning, without demanding big intellectual efforts.
Last year, US National Public Radio compiled a list of the top 100 killer thrillers chosen by more than 17,000 votes.
You can gain full access to the list by double-clicking here, together with some explanations about the criteria to draw up the list and the audience's choices.
The top ten books on the list are shown below:
1 The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris.
2 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson.
3 Kiss the Girls, by James Paterson.
4 The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum.
5 In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote.
6 The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown.
7 The Shining, by Stephen King.
8 And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie.
9 The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy.
10 The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Remember that if you wish to find out the plot of any of the 100 books -or any other book for that matter- you can do so on Wikipedia.
And if you wish, you can give a try to 60 Seconds Recap, which is a site we posted about in the early days of this blog, where we can watch and listen to 60-second summaries of books. Two or three of the top 100 killer thrillers are featured there, and you can also get some ideas for future readings.
