Looking for a new book to read

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:03pm

Anyone have any suggestions?

If it's any help, some authors I like are Jodi Piccoult (My Sister's Keeper), Phillipa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl), and Sophie Kinsella (Confessions of a Shopaholic). Thanks :)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:08pm

or

[danmag]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:17pm

I highly recommend Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Excellent book.

[Weez]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:18pm

Ohhh, girly books. :/ Well, if you're open to teenage fiction, read Sarah Dessen. She's brilliant. Or there's One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding, which I recommend to everyone, with frickin' good reason!

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:36pm

I also like John Irving (The Cider House Rules).

[danmag]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 4:41pm

Have you read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving?? That is one of my all time favorite books.

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 5:38pm

No, but I've seen Simon Birch which was based on A Prayer for Owen Meany.

[Revolutionary]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 6:09pm

I think you'd enjoy The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer if you haven't read it yet. It's EPIC.


ps- Simon Birch is really different from A Prayer For Owen Meany. Really very different.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 6:15pm

Some of my favorites -

The Bell Jar
Gone With the Wind
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Or, if you want a quicker, lighter read, go with Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants.

Updated On: 12/6/09 at 06:15 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 6:37pm

How about some Kaye Gibbons, such as ELLEN FOSTER or A VIRTUOUS WOMAN? Or even, dare I say it, some Faulkner? THE SOUND & THE FURY is a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with his work.

And, yes, I love Southern writers.

P

[StockardFan]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 6:41pm

I just finished "South of Broad" which is the new Pat Conroy (Prince of Tides, The Great Santini....). It was EXCELLENT.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 6:59pm

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 7:13pm

I hated Ellen Foster. Haven't read A Virtuous Woman.

If you're into Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes and The Tenth Circle are good.

Eleanor Widmer's Up From Orchard Street is excellent.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 8:13pm

Ellen Foster actually makes a brief appearance in A VIRTUOUS WOMAN but if you blink you'll miss her.

I found A VIRTUOUS WOMAN to be much better, though neither novel is groundbreaking but they are my favorite "chick literature" (not lit) selections from recent years, for whatever that's worth.

Incidentally, ELLEN FOSTER was named the greatest novel of the twentieth century recently by a UK paper, I believe the Times.

P

[yodamarie78]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 8:34pm

Stockard, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed South of Broad. I'm saving it for after the semester ends. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors so I'm really excited about reading it.

[Taryn]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 9:58pm

I just finished Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and was downright blown away by the poetry and the weight of the themes. Absolutely excellent read.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:21pm

I have a very short attention span and have trouble getting into books. I did however, enjoy My Sister's Keeper.
Recently I just finished Little Lamb Lost by Margaret Fenton. It was a quick read. The last sentence of each chapter was very 'suspiciously exciting' (for lack of a better word), that it was hard to put the book down. I often had to stop in the middle of a chapter because I knew if I got to the end of it, I'd have to continue.

So, that's the book that I recommend.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:25pm

If anyone's in the mood for a higher-brow "Other Boleyn Girl," I think Hillary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" is pretty wonderful.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:43pm

The Silver Shoes - Paul M Schneider (Excellent)
Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fischer (Very Good)
Tweaked - Patrick Moore (A messed up little book)

[jessica0414]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:47pm

Jodi Picoult's new-ish book "Handle With Care" was pretty good (and if you liked "My Sister's Keeper" you will probably like this one too). I also just read a book called "Bringing Home The Birkin" about a guy who pretty much robbed Hermes blind haha it was quick and entertaining. If you're into the "chick lit" genre you will probably also enjoy "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Everyone Worth Knowing" by Lauren Weisberger.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:50pm

Oh, and I fervently agree with Danmag's recommendment of "Olive Kittredge."

I've never read anything quite like--or met a character quite like her.

(Olive, not Danmag. Though . . . )

[xoangel2789xo]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 10:59pm

I thought "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" was fun to read.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 11:13pm

Here are the books that have resonated the most with me.

An oldlie but a goodie is Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. And if you like it, you are guaranteed to revisit the characters in six subsequent books.

Another oldie but goodie is Olivia Goldsmith's Flavor of the Month. Some of her other books are enjoyable, but none are the campy, delicious glee that is Flavor. I really wish they'd make it into a movie. It's a modern day Valley of the Dolls. Well modern day as in 1996 or so. Oh, and Valley of the Dolls is another trashy classic that I love to read again every few years. That's Jacqueline Susann, if you didn't know.

The summer I was out of work - which was 2005, I think - I plowed through a bunch of chick lit. I can't remember any of the names correctly, though. Sophie Kinsella really does that best, and I always seem to find she's published something that's snuck by me (I have Twenties Girl now and I have no idea when it actually hit the stores).

The Handmaid's Tale is Margaret Atwood's dystopian masterpeice, and I really think that everyone should read it, because it sometimes reads to me like a book of prophecy.

Finally, if you like authors whose niche is sort of hard to pin down, you might check out Lionel (she's a lady named Lionel) Shriver's works. Her best book is We Need to Talk About Kevin. It's a very difficult read, but that booked stayed with me longer than any other I've ever read. And I've read a lot!

Less harrowing is her The Post-Birthday World. It's a really extensive mediation on the question of destiny versus chance and it manages to do it without being cloying or pretentious.







Updated On: 12/6/09 at 11:13 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/6/09 at 11:14pm

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I read it last spring and still think about it. I believe it is currently top of the Bestsellers list and well worth it.

Racial strife, self discovery story told through the eyes of several black maids and one white recent college grad: beautifully horrific. (Horrifically beautiful?)

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 12/7/09 at 2:45am

I've really gotten into the Sookie Stackhouse series, by C. Harris. I'm too lazy to look up her name, or go to my room and get the books.

If you're into adult vampires books, this is the series for you. It's nothing like Twilight, or The Vampire Chronicles. These books inspired the HBO original series "Trueblood". I haven't watched the show, but from what I hear, the first season is closely related to the first book. The series and books separate in the second season.

I say "adult vampires", because the characters are mature and complicated. There's nothing really barfy like in Twilight. (I hate those books, so maybe I should stop comparing them.)

The first books is Dead Until Dark. I started reading the third one today, and so far, so good!