Fun Fiction

[Catrin]

What do you like to read? Currently I am reading a delightful steampunk series. The Bookman Histories is an omnibus of the series and is just delightful. Colorful characters, Royal Lizards, secret government agencies and other equally fun plot elements all combine to create a richly layered fun read. Right now I am so busy that I need good escape reading and this is the perfect ticket!

[lph]

I'm re-reading the "His Dark Materials"-trilogy. I was feeling the strain of moving, fixing things up in a new house and planning a big trip, all through the darkest months of winter, and I really wanted to re-read my favourite fantasy books. Some of them I couldn't find after the move, some were tattered paperbacks. So I placed an order in Amazon for a nice set of the Narnia books, His Dark Materials and The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper, and have had happy escapist reading for months :-)

[malkin]

I am reading The Lives of the Women Saints or something like that. Much of it is not fiction at least. Some of the bits are pretty interesting and some are entertaining. There seems to be a lot of repetition too. The most ancient and the most mystical ones make the best stories.

It was free for Kindle on Amazon and is seems like about a billion pages. The saints are listed by date through the year, and I'm only up to the late spring. I might not make it all the way to the end.

[Catrin]

Lph - I LOVE that series, good reading!

Malkin, there are several collections of Orthodox women saints and desert mothers that I dip into from time to time, I always bring positive things out of that.

[indysteel]

Most of what I read is either relatively heavy contemporary literature or historical nonfiction. I recently started a book club with some coworkers. We had our first meeting yesterday and discussed The History of Love. It went very well and the book made for some great discussion. I'm also just about to finish Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which just won the National Book Award for fiction. I'm enjoying it, but it plays to my politics. I'm also reading The Great Bridge by David McCullough. It's about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Interesting book and subject, but I can only read a bit. It's a good book to mix in with some fiction.

My guilty pleasure over the past year, however, has been The Spellman Series by Lisa Lutz. It's a five-book mystery series about a private investigator and her wacky family and love life. The books are pretty light but are both funny and poignant at times, too.

I misspoke. Billy Lynn was a National Book Award finalist but didn't win. The winner is also in my queue (The Round House), so I'll be eager to see if I agree with the decision (like my opinion matters in this regard!).

[Jolt]

I'm more of a nonfiction person as well, but I have enjoyed reading some of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. They're about a woman who takes a job as a bounty hunter (b/c she really needs a job and she has a relative in the business) and the ridiculous situations she gets into. Really funny, light reading.

[Catrin]

I'm more of a nonfiction person as well, but I have enjoyed reading some of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. They're about a woman who takes a job as a bounty hunter (b/c she really needs a job and she has a relative in the business) and the ridiculous situations she gets into. Really funny, light reading.

I am my mothers daughter- I love mysteries ... but also speculative fiction, alternative history, science fiction, fantasy and also history. I am also reading What It Takes which follows several hopeful Presidential candidates and what they go through as they decide they should be President. Of course only 1 can be, and the book looks at that as well. Very interesting.

[Irulan]

I'm currently reading Downbelow Station, a Hugo award book by CJ Cherryh. She is one of my favorite sci if authors.

[Crankin]

Right now I'm reading A Week In Winter, by Maeve Binchy. I like it a lot, it's a little predictable, but good. Set in modern day Ireland, although it feels like the time period is in the 50s. Next on my list is The Paris Wife, a historical fiction book about Hemingway's first wife. The last book I finished was The Comfort of Lies, which is pretty much the story of class differences in the western suburbs of Boston. It's a good story. Even though I'm a former English teacher, I've never been one for reading literature with a capital L. I like realistic fiction, set in various time periods, as well as historical fiction, and biographies. I do a fair share of non fiction reading, too. Going against the trend everywhere, I dislike mystery, fantasy, sic-fi. etc. I can't for the life of me figure out the fascination with vampires, etc.

[OakLeaf]

I really enjoyed A History of Love, but I barely remember it. Probably something I'd enjoy re-reading.

Right now I'm reading "Soft Money" by Ken Wishnia, one of his Filomena Buscarsela mysteries. Did someone say "plays to my politics?" ;) Although it stands alone, I'm pretty sure a reader would get more out of this one if they've already read the first in the series, "23 Shades of Black."

Simultaneously I'm reading some fairly light non-fiction, Alice Walker's "Chicken Chronicles."

[indysteel]

I really enjoyed A History of Love, but I barely remember it. Probably something I'd enjoy re-reading.

Right now I'm reading "Soft Money" by Ken Wishnia, one of his Filomena Buscarsela mysteries. Did someone say "plays to my politics?" ;) Although it stands alone, I'm pretty sure a reader would get more out of this one if they've already read the first in the series, "23 Shades of Black."

Simultaneously I'm reading some fairly light non-fiction, Alice Walker's "Chicken Chronicles."

I'd like to reread The History of Love, Oak, in an effort to better understand some things that weren't clear in my first reading. But who knows if I'll find the time:

Here's are the books currently in my queue: On the fiction front there's The Round House by Louise Erdrich; Dear Life by Alice Munro; and Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. These were my Christmas gifts this year. I'll have to read the next book club book, too, but we haven't selected it yet. There's also The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition by Richard Rhodes and All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer.

All that should keep me busy for a long while.

[withm]

Right now I'm reading A Week In Winter, by Maeve Binchy. I like it a lot, it's a little predictable, but good. Set in modern day Ireland, although it feels like the time period is in the 50s. Next on my list is The Paris Wife, a historical fiction book about Hemingway's first wife. The last book I finished was The Comfort of Lies, which is pretty much the story of class differences in the western suburbs of Boston. It's a good story. Even though I'm a former English teacher, I've never been one for reading literature with a capital L. I like realistic fiction, set in various time periods, as well as historical fiction, and biographies. I do a fair share of non fiction reading, too. Going against the trend everywhere, I dislike mystery, fantasy, sic-fi. etc. I can't for the life of me figure out the fascination with vampires, etc.

I have A Week in Winter on my TBR (to be read) list. I've enjoyed some of her other novels. I loved The Paris Wife. If you like that, you might want to read Hemingway's Moveable Feast, and The Sun Also Rises which covers the same period and many of the same characters. In a similar vein, I'd also recommend Amor Towles Rules of Civility.

I just finished Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver, about migratory patterns of Monarch butterflies and how the species is affected by global warming. Not sure I'd call it "fun" fiction, but a very good read. My book club just read State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Again not so much "fun," but a fascinating story. Both these books are extremely well written. Our next book club selection is The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. LOL - two jungle books in a row.

[GLC1968]

I really only allow myself to read for pleasure when I travel (it makes it easier to look forward to long delays and flights!) so I'm not currently reading anything at the moment. Last book I finished was Wild by Cheryl Strayed on recommendation from my father. He said it reminded him of me and I can see why. Really good story.

Next up on my reading list are the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Somehow, I never read any of them when everyone else did! I've also got Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith on my list for it's release in May.

[DebSP]

I am all over the map with my reading. I just finished "The Strawberry Shortcake Murder" and "Moby ****". Hated "Moby" by the way. I am currently reading "Mrs. Dalloway" and "War and Peace". Although my to-be-read pile is a mile high, I was getting excited about spring and was searching for a book that included something to do with cycling. I tend to read magazines for non-fiction. I will pick up a different magazine each time I go to the library and read an article or two. I won't read any modern vampire stuff but I read "Dracula" last summer. I also don't much care for anything that is sci-fi futuristic. Fantasy has to be entertaining. So I listened to "Lord of the Rings" series on audiobooks, I also just finished all the "Harry Potter" books on audiobooks and I am now watching the movies. If there is a good reader I love audiobooks.

****OK that was funny! Never thought that the name of Herman Melville's book would be edited out!

[indysteel]

Oak, thanks for mentioning the Alice Walker memoir about her chickens. Right after I read that, I heard from a friend who has chickens herself. I told her about the book and she immediately ordered it.

[malkin]

lol about censoring Moby Male Member!
I didn't like it either when I read it for school ages ago.

[Crankin]

Withm, I have read the 2 Hemingway books you noted, though long, long ago. I do like his books, even though I'm not much of a classics person. I think most people here would think what I read is fluff, but at least it's not 50 Shades of Gray!
My intellectual reading is getting through the New Yorker every week, religiously, no matter how much work I have. I learn a lot from the non-fiction articles, but I do admit some of the fiction is hard for me to get through and I regularly skip the longer story if I don't get into it fairly quickly. I always told my students it was OK to "abandon" a book that you are reading for pleasure, so that's my mantra, now that I don't "have" to read anything.

[indysteel]

I finally caught up last night on the last few New Yorkers. I especially enjoyed the article on Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

[Thorn]

Hugh Howey's Wool series. I got hooked with the 99cent special for one of the early books and now wait impatiently for the next one. The fact that it started its life as self-published eBook is amazing as it is probably one of the best speculative fictions I've read in a long time.

And, because we were in Bisbee recently, several JAJance's mysteries set in Bisbee.

[Veronica]

Almost all of my reading is consists of children's lit. My recent reading has been this year's Newbery Winner and Honor books.

All 4 were really good reads. (http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal)

Veronica

[skhill]

I'm nearly done with Lavinia by Ursula K Leguin. I was a classics major, and she's one of my all-time favorite authors, so I'm loving her take on a minor character in the Aeneid. With Chinue Achebe's death, I've put Things Fall Apart on my to-read list; had to read it in college and don't really remember it at all as it was spring when it was assigned!

[Catrin]

I'm nearly done with Lavinia by Ursula K Leguin. I was a classics major, and she's one of my all-time favorite authors, so I'm loving her take on a minor character in the Aeneid. With Chinue Achebe's death, I've put Things Fall Apart on my to-read list; had to read it in college and don't really remember it at all as it was spring when it was assigned!

I love Ursula, hadn't heard about Lavina, thanks! I am enjoying reading about the varied literary tastes of TE members. I do love classics, but for some reason have never really gotten into American classics. I LOVE Dostoyevsky and wish I could read Russian so I could read all of his works in the original. While I've my favorite translators of his works (Peavear and Volokhonsky - usually as a team), it would be wonderful if I didn't have to read it in translation. I also love Gogol, Bulgakov, Checkov, Dickens, Shakespeare (especially his history plays) and so many others. Of course some of those are more recent than others :) I've also been reading a fair amount of non-fiction in recent months related to health and nutrition.

For some reason I've not been able to really enjoy American classic writers such as Hemingway and others. Some of our poets I have loved though, such as Longfellow. Now when it comes to speculative fiction, science fiction and mysteries that is a different story - though it seems that many of my favorite mystery authors are not American. I've never read Moby D**k, though it doesn't sound like I've missed much. I have something by Hawthorne on my Nook whenever I am brave enough to delve into it.

I've long been curious about Hemingway however. I've never read any of his works, somehow, what would be a good first reading choice? Your posts about the New Yorker has me curious, and as I can access the Nook version free for 14 days I've subscribed to it.

[snapdragen]

Hugh Howey's Wool series. I got hooked with the 99cent special for one of the early books and now wait impatiently for the next one. The fact that it started its life as self-published eBook is amazing as it is probably one of the best speculative fictions I've read in a long time.

And, because we were in Bisbee recently, several JAJance's mysteries set in Bisbee.

This!!!^^^ I'm in the middle of the Silo Omnibus by Hugh Howey.

[Catrin]

This!!!^^^ I'm in the middle of the Silo Omnibus by Hugh Howey.

This has me curious.... :) I just bought Wool for my Nook - the price is certainly right!

[thekarens]

I've re read The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series almost every year since I was 8 (now 43) so that's what in currently reading along with Tad Williams Dragonbone chair series.

[Catrin]

I've re read The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series almost every year since I was 8 (now 43) so that's what in currently reading along with Tad Williams Dragonbone chair series.

:) I've read it many times since I was about 9 or 10 myself. Am currently doing it again as a read-along in a group of FB friends. The Dragonbone Chair series sounds interesting, will have to put it on my list!

[Crankin]

I started reading the New Yorker to keep up with my English teacher colleagues! I always felt like I wasn't a "real" English teacher, since my degree is in Special Ed, with an English minor. I finagled my way into the certification (actually, I was National Board certified in Language Arts, more work than I've ever done) Some of them were published authors! I've always loved writing, and always been a reader, but I don't really love some of the classics. I do like Shakespeare (taught A Midsummer Night's Dream for years and produced a dramatic version several times), but I really like the American classics. I took a class in the American short story, which was one of the best classes I've ever taken.

[indysteel]

I love short stories, Crankin. She's Canadian, not Anerican, but I highly recommend any of Alice Munro's collections. She's one of my favorite writers. You've probably read her a time or two (or more) in the New Yorker.

[Wasp]

Diana Gabaldon Outlander series is a really good read, each book is over 500 pages which lets the author weave a beautifully detailed story. I highly recommend the entire series.
Jeffrey Archer is another author I really enjoy, I have yet to be disapointed with any of his books.
Janet Evanovich her Bounty hunter series is outright hilarious, it's very easy light reading.

[Irulan]

I thought the first three or so were good, but I felt she really started beating it to death by the next several epics.

[missjean]

I also really enjoyed the first two of the Outlander series, but I never got around to the rest.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre.
My go-to books for fun is the Master & Commander series by Patrick O'Brian. My father told me about them years ago and I've read the entire series a couple of time now. They are just fantastic - you just fall right in and sail along with the story (so to speak).
For Christmas I asked for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel about the Henry VII & Anne Boleyn saga as told by Thomas Cromwell, but I'm having a hard time getting into it, maybe because I read it in bed and start to drift off after about 10 minutes so I forget most of what I read from the night before!

[OakLeaf]

I got "Wolf Hall" for my birthday and just loved it, which I REALLY didn't expect to, since I'm not a fan of historical fiction in general, and really have no interest in the Tudor period at all. As soon as I finished it I downloaded "Bring Out the Bodies," and I can't wait for the final installment!

[indysteel]

I got "Wolf Hall" for my birthday and just loved it, which I REALLY didn't expect to, since I'm not a fan of historical fiction in general, and really have no interest in the Tudor period at all. As soon as I finished it I downloaded "Bring Out the Bodies," and I can't wait for the final installment!

I really loved it to and, like you, I didn't expect to. I'm waiting to read Bring Out the Bodies until it comes out on paperback. I wonder if she'll win the Booker for the third installment, too. The series is already quite the accomplishment for her.

[Irulan]

I also really enjoyed the first two of the Outlander series, but I never got around to the rest.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre.
My go-to books for fun is the Master & Commander series by Patrick O'Brian. My father told me about them years ago and I've read the entire series a couple of time now. They are just fantastic - you just fall right in and sail along with the story (so to speak).



If you liked Patrick OBrien, you might like Bernard Cornwell. His Richard Sharpe series is along much similar lines but with slightly less flowery writing. It's set in the Napoleonic wars, with Sharpe being promoted in the trenches from a private/grunt foot soldier who grew up in a brothel to an officer for saving the Duke of Wellington's life. There's class conflict, lots of adventure, realistic and authentic war action, and of course a little romance (these are NOT romance novels) because Sharpe is a ruggedly good looking and arrogant. Sean Bean played him in the BBC series. It's not cerebral, but it is fun.
I really like Historical Fiction a lot. Some of my favorite authors are Bernard Cornwell, Sharon Kay Penman, and Wilbur Smith.
Bringing Up The Bodies is loaded onto my Nook but I havent gotten to it yet. I'm trying to think of what other author had a version of Cromwell's story that I really enjoyed, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

[missjean]

Oh, I've read all of the Sharpe series too! They are also excellent. I have not looked into the other authors but I've added them to my book list.
Another great series, but with a humorous ribald twist are the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser. Fraser takes Flashman, a nasty character in the book Tom Brown's School Days, and inserts him into real stories from the 1800's English history. He is a coward, a cheat, and a cad, but very charming & handsome and he always comes up smelling like a rose. They are written as Flashman's memoirs, and my Dad (he recommended these books also) told me that when the first book was published back in the early '60s some reviewers thought it was non-fiction.

[Irulan]

MIssjean, you are the only other female I've run into that's a Sharpe fan! I think of it as guy's bathtub reading, or the male equivalent of a bodice ripper, hee hee. You know there are Richard Sharpe drinking games and appreciation societies?
Another author along these lines is Arturo Perez-Riverte, translated from the Spanish. Captain Alatriste is our hero and the first of the series carries the same name. Viggo Mortenson played him in the one (so so ) movie made from the books. He's more of a retired solider/swashbuckler who in in secret service to the King. I love Bernard Cornwell, and have read everything he's done.


Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser. {runs to go look up on Goodreads} Oh! Sounds like fun! Thanks!

[Crankin]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

[indysteel]

I like some mysteries well enough, but I'm also not an adventure, sci-fi or fantasy reader. No offense to those that are; I've just never gotten into those genres.

[thekarens]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

I actually know very few women who are into sci-fi/fantasy. In fact, reading through this thread I was surprised at how many here do read it and no, I don't think the Twilight series counts :)

[Catrin]

I actually know very few women who are into sci-fi/fantasy. In fact, reading through this thread I was surprised at how many here do read it and no, I don't think the Twilight series counts :)

That is why there are so many genres to choose from :) I swing from Russian classics to Sci fi & fantasy With some history mixed in.

I agree, the Twilight Series do not count :rolleyes:

[Irulan]

Fantasy is such a broad genre - you have everything from sword/sorcery to retelling of fairy tales to alternate worlds such as Terra d'Ange (Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart series). And then there's the line where fantasy and sci-fi blur...

[Catrin]

Fantasy is such a broad genre - you have everything from sword/sorcery to retelling of fairy tales to alternate worlds such as Terra d'Ange (Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart series). And then there's the line where fantasy and sci-fi blur...

I consider each to be part of the same gene (different parts of a whole)-but that could be an over simplification on my part.

[Irulan]

The distinction is important to me because I won't read the sword/sorcery stuff at all.
;)

[snapdragen]

My brothers taught me to read before I started school, I cut my teeth on Ray Bradbury. :D It was a long time before I read anything but Science Fiction.

I've just started Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand be Dammed (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098)! I needed something funny after the Silo series.

[Jolt]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

I'm not into most of that stuff either...as far as adventure goes I do like reading real-life adventure stories (mountain climbing, survival stories etc.) but not so much fictional ones. Never did get into sci-fi despite going to a college where it was very popular with other students (we were all a bunch of nerds!).

[OakLeaf]

The distinction is important to me because I won't read the sword/sorcery stuff at all.
;)

I know there IS a distinction, and it's a significant one, but "Who Fears Death" by Nnedi Okorafor and "Throne of the Crescent Moon" by Saladin Ahmed - just to name two I've really enjoyed recently - are about as far from Tolkien as you can get and still have magic and battles without firearms...

[Catrin]

I know there IS a distinction, and it's a significant one, but "Who Fears Death" by Nnedi Okorafor and "Throne of the Crescent Moon" by Saladin Ahmed - just to name two I've really enjoyed recently - are about as far from Tolkien as you can get and still have magic and battles without firearms...

Yes, this. There is such a broad area that is covered by "sword and sorcery" fantasy fiction that it gets difficult to include them all under the same umbrella. Don't get me wrong, I love Tolkien, but I don't care for a lot of those who have tried to copy him.

[missjean]

the male equivalent of a bodice ripper, hee hee.

Good one! :-)

Captain Alatriste looks interesting - added to my list.
Let me know what you think of Harry Flashman.