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Post by niaru on Jan 3, 2010 10:35:45 GMT -5
So, what are your favorite books? My in-laws keep asking me for recommendations and I need new ideas! Here's what I just sent them:
-the Help
-The Guernsey Literary etc.
-A Thousand White Women (per Hookie Thea, thanks!)
-Dreamers of the Day (per Ad, thanks!)
-The Tenderness of Wolves
-Edgar Sawtelle
I will probably send them the book I am currently reading, The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. The story of a young girl during the Salem with trials. Great read. Scary what superstition and religion can do to the human heart.
Any Must-Read that you could recommend? Thank you!
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Post by HokieThea on Jan 3, 2010 11:02:09 GMT -5
-The Seamstress
-The Wild Girl (by the same author as A Thousand White Women)
-Farm City (memoir of a woman who starts a farm in inner city Oakland, CA)
-Half Broke Horses (by the woman who wrote The Glass Castle, which is also an amazing book)
-The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
-The Russian Concubine (and its sequel, whose title I cannot remember)
Gosh I read a lot this past year! These are only a fraction, and what I thought were the best. I read The Help, but unlike the rest of the world, it didn't do much for me. Read Guernsey Literary- ditto.
I love these kinds of threads- it gives me more book ideas!
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Post by niaru on Jan 3, 2010 14:24:06 GMT -5
Thank Thea! I'll have to read Half broke horses since I loved the Glass Castle (so did my in-laws).
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Post by adcooper on Jan 3, 2010 20:49:19 GMT -5
Here's a book for teens that I just read; The Georges and the Jewels, by Jane Smiley. The main character is a girl who helps her father train horses for resale. 1960-something California. Nice story, and Smiley knows what she's writing about re horses. (Spot the one mislabeled illustration, though! LOL I cannot repress my inner proofreader, except regarding my own writing, of course.) Non fiction for word nerds-- The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English, by Henry Hitchings. A rambly but engaging history of our language. By the way, I'm about to begin the first book in that Gabaldon series. I think it's called The Outlander. I'm in the mood for pure story, and I see these books are widely read by library patrons I like. That's often a good indicator for me! (Yes. Your librarian notices what you're reading.  ) |
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Post by elizabeth_h on Jan 3, 2010 22:21:56 GMT -5
(Yes. Your librarian notices what you're reading. ) My librarian has started sending home books for me when my husband checks his out. I love this place. ;D I just read Margaret Atwood's latest, "The Year of the Flood", which is a second story with the same setting as Oryx and Crake (which I loved). So if you have read Oryx and Crake you will definitely want to read this one too. I read the Outlander series and enjoyed it - interesting characters and lots of adventures. Plus I am a sucker for a good fantasy series involving multiple volumes, each pushing 1000 pages. Bliss! And speaking of fantasy series, I also just read book 12 (or rather, book 12a) of the Wheel of Time series and enjoyed that as much as the preceding 11. ;D |
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Post by adcooper on Jan 4, 2010 7:34:57 GMT -5
(Yes. Your librarian notices what you're reading. ) My librarian has started sending home books for me when my husband checks his out. I love this place. ;D ;D It's fun making recommendations, but often I completely forget what I've said. Weeks later, someone comes in and says, "I loved that book you recommended. Are there any more like it?" oops. |
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Post by niaru on Jan 5, 2010 10:15:24 GMT -5
Oooh Ann. You are just starting the Outlander series? Lucky you! I remember when I picked up Outlander at my library: I had nothing to read and it was on the "recommended reads" shelf. Reading the summary wasn't very enticing to me but boy, after I finished it, I was hooked! I didn't even know there were 7 books in the series. I read them all, from the library, and then I bought them all and read them again!
The last one (An Echo in the Bones) left me with a "You've got to be KIDDING me!!!" feeling because it ends with so many loose ends / cliff hangers. And knowing that it takes her 3 years to write a book...aaaargh!
They're such FUN books. And like E. said, they're so BIG, and when you know you have so many to read...bliss!
I've started Sara Donati's Into The Wilderness series, which is similar although I like DG's writing better.
Thanks for all your recommendations everyone, keep them coming!
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Post by Einstein on Jan 5, 2010 11:56:42 GMT -5
I just read Selden Edwards "The Little Book"
LOVED it. It was unlike any other story I've read, really neat, a touch hard to get into if you read about the book first (even the jacket blurb) so it's better just to sit down and read it. It took 30 years to right and I read it in 48 hours!
I highly recommend it.
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Post by adcooper on Jan 5, 2010 18:37:40 GMT -5
Claire, now I'm really looking forward to it. But here's what a snob I am. I requested it, and the copy that came today was a grubby paperback with a torn cover. So I sent it back and requested another copy. It's huge and I read slowly (AKA fall asleep easily) so I don't want to hold a mess of a book for weeks on end. Tomorrow. I'll start it tomorrow.
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Post by Bara on Jan 9, 2010 15:17:52 GMT -5
What a great thread, thank you, Claire and everyone.
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Post by filly on Jan 10, 2010 23:01:12 GMT -5
I third the Outlander series. If you haven't read them, Jim Butcher and his Dresden Files is great fantasy. I'm rereading them over break for the second time and I'm sure I'll even read them again for the third time. He is such an entertaining writer, witty and funny as heck! The books run quickly edge of your seat, fun read. The first one is ok in it's writing style but the rest, hang on because as soon as you finish the first, you want to read them all!
I haven't read any other stuff yet so I'll be looking foward to reading some of the recommendations here. I am eagerly awaiting my Nook so I'll read the first chapters of each and see which appeals to me best! Keep the list going!
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Post by adcooper on Jan 11, 2010 6:32:57 GMT -5
Oh, Outlander is a quick read after all! Big book, but just a romping story. Just what I needed in the dark winter.
Meant to add the other book I've been reading off and on:
The Good Rain, by Timothy Egan (Same fellow who wrote The Worst Hard Time, for those that appreciated that book about the Dust Bowl.) It's about the Pacific Northwest, and he's a fine writer.
ADDED A FEW DAYS LATER:
Well, The Good Rain is a good book! What beautiful prose Egan produces. Is his book The Worst Hard Time like this, too? I'll have to get around to that soon. Anyway...it's good for my brain to read this after spending too much time with that Outlander boddice-ripper.
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