What are you reading?

[shootingstar]

I haven't read a fiction book over at least last 10-15 yrs. Considering the fact that I'm an English lit. grad (1 of my degrees), it's strange. It's almost as if I just can't be bothered to "imagine". (Shrug, but writing a blog means imagining and composing a lot of stuff in your head before you finalize a blog post.)

Having been reading in fits : Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta. Yea, I would have never read a book like this 20 yrs. ago. And yea, it is a history that is quite different from British Columbia and Ontario. Until I started to live away from the city where I grew up, I had very little interest in history.

[withm]

I recently went on an Ann Patchett spree and read Truth and Beauty, Secrets of a Happy Marriage, and The Patron Saint of Liars. I have previously read Bel Canto, and State of Wonder. I highly recommend them all.

I've had a lot of time to read the last few months, plus I always have a book going on CD in the car since I am in the car for 1 to 2 hours each day. The last few books I've either read or listened to, that I would recommend are

The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

The People on Privilege Hill - Jane Gardam (short stories) Really, all of Gardam's books are delightful.

The Bell Ringers - Henry Porter (political thriller that is not so far fetched)

The Big House - A century in the life in an American summer home - George Howe Colt (Anyone who has been part of a family summer home will appreciate this)

[Catrin]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life! For some reason I am on a Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett spree. Just downloaded/borrowed Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and Pratchett's "Men at Arms" to my Nook.

I've also reserved The Bell Ringers at my library for when the book is checked in, thanks for the recommendation Withm!

Wanted to go trail running this afternoon, but I coughed so much at my usual crazy group workout this morning that I've chosen to stay home and rest. Again This HAS to go away eventually! Oh well, at least I feel well enough to exercise, it is just getting over the cough. I feel great otherwise!

[lph]

Do do do read Gaimans latest, the Ocean at the End of the Road. I looooove Gaiman. And it was beautiful.

[Catrin]

Do do do read Gaimans latest, the Ocean at the End of the Road. I looooove Gaiman. And it was beautiful.

Thanks for the recommendation LPH! I've only read one of his books before now (American Gods) and have considered reserving all of his works from my library and reading them in order. Does it really matter in which order I read his books? I thought if I read them in publication order that I would have the benefit of watching his style evolve. Unsure why I like him so much, but I really did enjoy American Gods.

[Veronica]

Gaiman won a Newberry (best American children's book of the year) for The Graveyard Book. It's a little creepy for children's lit., but when you consider that all Disney's main characters are missing at least one parent and often both... it doesn't seem so weird.

Veronica

[lph]

I wouldn't say it makes any difference which order you read them in, but they're quite different. American Gods is pretty heavy going compared to some of the others. I didn't like it that much first time around, but after having read his lighter and easier stuff like Stardust and the short stories I appreciated it much more and read it again. "Ocean" is my favourite so far, and the Graveyard Book, childrens book or not :-)

[Catrin]

I wouldn't say it makes any difference which order you read them in, but they're quite different. American Gods is pretty heavy going compared to some of the others. I didn't like it that much first time around, but after having read his lighter and easier stuff like Stardust and the short stories I appreciated it much more and read it again. "Ocean" is my favourite so far, and the Graveyard Book, childrens book or not :-)

This is good to know, and I think I've read some of his short stories over the years. I almost checked out the Graveyard Book before Neverwhere and will read that and Ocean next. There appears to be a book that Gaiman and Pratchett collaborated, trying to find a copy of that one

[salsabike]

Do do do read Gaimans latest, the Ocean at the End of the Road. I looooove Gaiman. And it was beautiful.

Yeah, I thought so too!

[SheFly]

As an English major and voracious reader, I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't even heard of most of these books! I'm strictly (almost) a pulp fiction reader - I want something that will entertain me, and that I can easily escape into. Basically, I want a TV show without TV (I once had an English professor who said that novels should be like TV for the mind. I guess it stuck). So, I read Kristen Hannah, Sandra Brown, Elin Hildebrand, Jodi Picoult, Anita Shreve, Chris Bohjalian... I do like to read New England-based authors - makes it slightly easier to envision the location of the story.

I do deviate on occasion, and have been pleasantly surprised by some of the books I've chosen. Maybe I'll check out some from this list.

SheFly

[emily_in_nc]

As an English major and voracious reader, I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't even heard of most of these books! I'm strictly (almost) a pulp fiction reader - I want something that will entertain me, and that I can easily escape into. Basically, I want a TV show without TV (I once had an English professor who said that novels should be like TV for the mind. I guess it stuck). So, I read Kristen Hannah, Sandra Brown, Elin Hildebrand, Jodi Picoult, Anita Shreve, Chris Bohjalian... I do like to read New England-based authors - makes it slightly easier to envision the location of the story.

I am kind of the same, SheFly, and also haven't heard about most of the books or even authors being discussed in this thread. I like some of the same authors as you, along with southern authors, since I'm from the southeast, so authors like Anne Rivers Siddons, Dorothea Benton Frank, and others I can't even think of now fulfill that southern part of me. I also like crazy gory murder mysteries by James Patterson, Andrew Gross, Patricia Cornwell, and Jeffrey Deaver, Jonathan Kellerman, and the like. I make no apologies. Some of what I read is truly on the up and up, "literature", as it were, but as a psychology major, anything psychological is appealing to me, including biographies.

I read nothing but nonfiction for decades after graduation, for some reason, and have only started delving back into fiction since I retired in 2011 -- and realizing how very much I have been missing. My mother is very into British lit and British mysteries, so I've been getting into some of those as well, as she passes them along to me. I was skeptical but have ended up liking them quite a bit!

[lph]

I agree, Salsa, it's all good. I read the way I listen to music, to fulfill some need or desire. It can be entertainment or comfort or to challenge myself. I enjoy good writing much more than a good plot, a terrific plot described With cliched writing makes me want to chew my arm off, but I'll happily endure pages going nowhere if I enjoy the way it's described.