The way you say “some sort of adventure” sounds like it’d be straight out the Hobbit. In my opinion it’s a better book than Lord of the Rings and easier to get into.
Have you read any Conan stories? The quality varies, but a tome including Conan the Adventurer, one of his more self-contained adventure stories would be a good start. Besides, Del Ray has all of them in 3 books if you get hooked.
Steven Pressfield’s books would be another fun option. Gates of Fire is his most famous (and most widely available), about the Spartans preparing to face the Persians, but my personal favorite is Tides of War, which follows the Athenian politician/warlord Alcibiades and his ambiguous relationship with then-superpowers Athens, Sparta and Persia during the Peloponnese War.
I second The Lost World.
Alexandre Dumas’ - The Three Musketeers is a book about the four best swords in the kingdom trying to return two precious jewels to the Queen of France to avoid her being dishonoured, against the background of the 17th century Anglo-French war. If you like this, the sequel Twenty Years After is about 2,5 times better (and quite a bit bigger).
If you want something a bit more high brow, yet still funny and actiony try Graham Green’s Our Man In Havana.
I simply meant that you have shown more interest in YA novels than more difficult ones. Simply, you are younger, you say you like books like the giver, and havent read a book in over a year, which shows that you aren’t super into reading. So I’d suggest something thats easier to read.
Have you read Douglas Adams? The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy is a great series, and you can buy them bound in one volume. The Dirk Gently books are great too. There’s… nothing like these books.
Yeah, I don’t know about that. While one can criticize several aspects of the writing with a good deal of validity, there remains the fact that a good number of people like them quite a bit, which means they, presumably, don’t turn many people off to reading forever. While they’re arguably not particularly thematically complex, reading the Lord of the Rings when I was like six is probably what convinced me that books could be awesome. Now, they probably wouldn’t have the thrill of something like Faulkner, but they’re at least as well-written and intelligent as The Giver.
I read Harry Potter. It’s not a matter of pretention. In fact, it’s my pretentious Tolkien class that made me hate Tolkien, perhaps unfairly. Believe me when I say I’m not a complete pretentious douchebag like most of my fellows.
