Book recommendation please!

[Brandi]

I would like a fun book to read on vacation. Something fun and light.
I have tons of books but none I would want to read this vacation. With my niece being sick and all we have been going through I don't want a drama or mistery or anything about anyone suffering.
Anybody got a good book?
I like books on adventure
Cooking ("tender to the bone" is a great book about a food critics life growing up)
Books on animals
really if it is good I will read it!

[sandra]

Well, this may not be what you are looking for at all, but I just finished The Wilde Women by Paula Wall. It was interesting with all sorts of twists and turns.

[IFjane]

Brandi - this is one of my favorite books ever - an easy read; true and awe-inspiring: The Accidental Adventurer: Memoir of the First Woman to Climb Mt. McKinley by Barbara Washburn

I would send you mine, but I already shared it in a TE used-book exchange.

[Wahine]

DH just finished reading "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen". He said he found it kind of boring but he did say that the foodies really liked it and it got good reviews. He said that if you really like cooking you'd love this book. He said it was light but warm.

He also recommended "Rowing to Latitude" for a women's adventure story that's an easy read. DH says the writer is good and that the story is somewhat philisophical but not heavy.

I don't have any suggestions because everything that I've reading lately has a lot of suffering etc.

[redrhodie]

How about "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler ?

[Blueberry]

Miles from Nowhere (if you've never read it!).

CA

[OakLeaf]

A book I read last year became an instant favorite of everyone I recommended it to: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's not free of suffering, there is a lot of poignancy to it, but overall I would say it's a happy book.

If you like books about food and haven't read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, those are highly recommended. For that matter, anything by either author - I especially enjoyed Pollan's The Botany of Desire and Kingsolver's novel Prodigal Summer, her masterwork to date.

How light are you talking about? When I'm on vacation I usually want something downright trashy

[Brandi]

A book I read last year became an instant favorite of everyone I recommended it to: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's not free of suffering, there is a lot of poignancy to it, but overall I would say it's a happy book.

If you like books about food and haven't read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, those are highly recommended. For that matter, anything by either author - I especially enjoyed Pollan's The Botany of Desire and Kingsolver's novel Prodigal Summer, her masterwork to date.

How light are you talking about? When I'm on vacation I usually want something downright trashy

Trashy could be fun too!

[Starfish]

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. Very inspiring! Lots of adventure.

The tales of her training and experiences in long distance, open water swims all around the world. Sounds a little dry, but I found it fascinating, gripping, and inspiring.

Polar Dream by Helen Thayer. Also very inspiring and nothing but adventure.

I haven't read this for a long time, but I remember finding it utterly gripping and fascinating. A woman Xcountry skis alone to the North Pole (I think). She encounters all kinds of challenge, as you might imagine, including Polar Bears!! Also very inspiring.

[crazycanuck]

Weel..after browsing our 4 bookcases for books not about war etc..i managed to find a few that might be of interest:

1-The Tale of Murasaki LIsa Dalby
2-The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic Terry Pratchett
3Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery
4-Memories of a Pure Spring Dong Thu Huong

[Grog]

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. Very inspiring! Lots of adventure.

I was just going to recommend Lynne Cox's "Grayson", the story of her encounter with a baby gray whale. It's pretty short (a hundred pages?) and just a fantastic story. Could not put it down from the moment I cracked it open. And a true story, too!!!

[sandra]

Trashy could be fun too!

The Wilde Women is a little bit trashy but with a good plot with some surprises.

[Brandi]

The Wilde Women is a little bit trashy but with a good plot with some surprises.

It's on my list! I hope the used book store has it!

[Zen]

A Walk in The Woods- Bill Bryson

The Nanny Diaries

God Save The Sweet Potato Queens (I think "sweet potato queen" every time I see Sandra in that tiara)

[blueskies]

I'm reading a book right now that has animals, adventure & humor. It's by Robert Sapolsky & called "A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons."

It's, as you might guess, a scientist's stories of his years in Africa, living in the bush, observing a troop of baboons. The guy's got a great voice, a natural sense of what makes a good story, and a great sense of humor. Here's the opening to give you the flavor:

"I joined the baboon troop during my twenty-first year. I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up, instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla."