OT: good books

[Surlygirl]

Thanks Yellow, this is a great thread.

Here are a few I like.

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Even if he did embellish it still is a powerful read.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. This one stuck with me.

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. Funny

Miles from Nowhere by Barbara Savage. Great book about bicycling.

Hey Mom, Can I Ride my Bike Across America by John S. Boettner. Geez, I loved the book, but I'd never let my kid ride across the country with this guy.

The Sue Grafton series is always a good mystery read too.

[tattiefritter]

Must admit I've been struggling lately with deciding what to read as I seem to have read quickly through what I have. My favourite read of recent times is a book I had skimmed through before, but really read this time:

"Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" Jung Chang, detailing the lives of three female members of a Chinese family. They are from three generations - from when warlords ruled china through life under Mao, fascinating.

I've also started re-reading some of my Ian Rankin books, the Inspector Rebus series about a gruff Edinburgh detective (although that's probably because it can make me homesick for the locations).

Am also wading through "Reading Lolita in Tehran", which I am finding interesting in the same way as Wild Swans as it details a life under an oppresive regime.

Next to read are the "Bookseller of Kabul", "The Time Travelers Wife" and "Mao" (again by Jung Chang). No idea what they are like as I have only just bought them.

[Embellina]

Wow, some incredible recommendations on this list!

First, I have to second some books already mentioned (yes, I'm punny):

White Teeth, Zadie Smith. This is an incredibly engaging, funny and surprising story about immigrants in London (and some Londoners). One of my all-time faves.

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie. This drew me in like few other books have.

The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen. Completely heart-wrenching and true-to-life depiction of a Midwestern family, often very funny.

Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. I loved that this book was about the path to redemption, and the fulfillment you may (or may not) find along the way.

Anne McCaffrey. I read her Pern series as a little girl and every now and then, when I need something familiar, return to them. They're sort of like macaroni and cheese to me, but I recommend them if you like fantasy novels.

On to some others:

Atonement, Ian McEwan. This might be my favorite book of all time. The first 75 pages were a little slow, but I have never felt so horrified, bewildered and in awe of a character. Its message about the power of guilt is something I will carry with me forever. The writing is beyond spectacular and the plot is intricate and ultimately perfect.

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson. One of the most beautiful and touching books I've ever read. It's a small-town minister writing a letter to his young son just before the minister dies. But it's not preachy in any way, many of my friends who are atheists appreciated it, too. I think the book helps to understands life's gifts.

Three Junes, Julia Glass. Great story, tells another journey of a family. The whole book seemed very real to me, and I love the characters' dilemmas and actions. Again, very moving and very funny.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon. This is about comic book creators. When my friends recommended it to me, I laughed at them. I have zero interest in comic books. But the story of Kavalier and Clay is so engaging, imaginative and so universal that it's another of my very favorites.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. As a work of pure imagination, this is tops on my list. The publisher billed it as Harry Potter for adults. I love the Harry Potter books, but this is almost nothing like them, except that it's about magic. At times, the magic is much more ordinary than Potter's and at times, more extraordinary. There is enormous tension and suspense in this book, but also an incredible feeling of the quotidian. The characters and writing really drive the novel. It's super, super long and sometimes you feel it (Clarke uses plenty of footnotes, which are often the best part of the book -- invented, uniformly hilarious stories about the history of magic.)

I also have to heartily recommend any of the Best Non-Required reading books. They're published every year and include short stories from places I've never heard of and from many that I have.

There are so many more books I love, but I'm sure I'll get to add some new ones after checking out all y'all's recommendations!

[RoadRaven]

OMG TatieFritter!!! How could I forget “The Time Traveller’s Wife” …. Oh yes, you must must must read that… it’s written in quite a unique way, but persevere, once you “get” what is happening it is marvellous. I thought the end needed a bit of work to be as well-written as the beginning, but I recommend this book to so many and can’t believe I left it off my list!

Great thread… first thing I look at when I visit here (though when I am going to get the time to read all this… I wonder if work will still pay me if I answer my emails from home as if I am at work and I just read, bike, read, bike, read instead…?)

[Deanna]

Here's my two cents worth:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon. A "can't put it down" book about an autistic boy investigating the murder of a neighborhood dog.

Bill Bryson--all of his travel writing is hysterical. There's one passage in a "Walk in the Woods" that is so funny I get belly laughs no matter how often I read it.

Patricia Highsmith's "Ripley" series is a fun read. How often do you get to enjoy the exploits of the "bad guy"?

Though they are very strange and I hesitate to recommend them without knowing somebody very well, I read everything Chuck Palahniuk publishes. He wrote the book that the movie "Fight Club" was based on, if you want an idea of what to expect.

For some biting, and at times very funny, non-fiction, don't forget the late, great Hunter S. Thompson.

And another recommendation for the Phillip Pullman series.

[doc]

Here's my two cents worth:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon. A "can't put it down" book about an autistic boy investigating the murder of a neighborhood dog.

Bill Bryson--all of his travel writing is hysterical. There's one passage in a "Walk in the Woods" that is so funny I get belly laughs no matter how often I read it.


For some biting, and at times very funny, non-fiction, don't forget the late, great Hunter S. Thompson.

And another recommendation for the Phillip Pullman series.

LOVED the first two you mention, will have to check out Hunter S. Thompson