book suggestions?

[showmethetony]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:39pm

Hello Everyone - I think something like this was up a short while ago but I am asking again. I am just looking for something awesome and inspiring to read. I just finished Alice Walker's The Color Purple. It was amazing. I have always loved the movie and finally just read it. When I read the last chapter on the bus this morning I cried like a baby. Anyway - I am devouring every book that crosses my path this summer - please help to fuel this energy with some good suggestions. Much appreciated!

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:43pm

"The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffinger

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:44pm

Both "the DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" are wonderful

Read "Amgels and Demons" first. I did not and regretted it

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:51pm

I go back and re-read A Prayer for Owen Meany every few years = its very spiritual and a great mystery, and a wonderful human intereste story. I think its one of the best books ever written. by John Irving (famous for The World According to Garp, Hotel NewHampshire, and The Cider House Rules)

[Craig]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:52pm

I agree with Time Travellers Wife and I'll add The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach (who also wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

[LongIsland Grl]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 5:19pm

I LOVE to read so here are my favorites:

Classics
Pride and Prejudice
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Les Miserables

Pre WWI (Also called modern)
Mrs. Dalloway
To the Lighthouse
Light in August

Contemporary
Love in a time of Cholera
Anything by Dan Brown (of DaVinci fame)
The Lovely Bones
The Secret Life of Bees
and if you want a good cry read Good Grief. I bawled. Updated On: 8/20/04 at 05:19 PM

[Delphine]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 5:54pm

If you haven't already read it, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 5:57pm

here is the thread we did a couple weeks ago -- LOTS of great suggestions
Great Reads

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 5:59pm

I loved THE LOVELY BONES

Great Expectations~Charles Dickens
1984~George Orwell
Animal Farm~George Orwell
Who's Your Caddy?~Rick Reilly
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them~Al Franken
Murder on the Orient Express~Agatha Christie
Sondheim on Music~Horowitz
The Chronicles of Narnia~ C.S. Lewis
Anything by C.S. Lewis

Just a random list off the top of my head.

[Delphine]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 7:10pm

If you're going to read "The Lovely Bones", you also have to read "Lucky" by the same author.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 8:44pm

"At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie O'Neill is perhaps the greatest gay-themed novel ever written. It's an epic tome with beautifully rich, poetic language. It's the "Ulysses" of gay literature, or the Great Gay Novel.

[showmethetony]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:29pm

Thanks everyone! There are some titles here I am not at all familiar with and that is exciting. I HAVE read Lovely Bones and Lucky - both excellent. Also, I just read the DaVinci Code last week, I didn't know about Angels and Demons, is reading them in this order going to spoil it for me?

Here are a few of my own suggestions

You Are Not A Stranger Here by Adam Haslett - just a warning this book is depressing - it is a collection of short stories, mostly gay themed, almost all of them dealing with serious mental health issues or physical illness. The writing is incredible.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit ~Jeanette Winterson
Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil ~John Berendt
Coloring Book ~boice Terrel Allen
My Heartbeat ~Freymann - Weyr (this is a great book for high school kids to read)
Speak - can't remember the author, also a good book for high school kids, especially young women

[Plum]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:05pm

Everything was Poassible, by Ted Chapin

[amasis]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:16pm

Just some random favorites off the top of my head...

"Everything is Illuminated" - Jonathan Safran Froer
"The God of Small Things" - Arundhati Roy
"In the Skin of the Lion" - Michael Ondaatje
"Wall of the Sky, Wall of the Eye" - Jonathan Lethem
"Motherless Brooklyn" - Jonathan Lethem
"Park City" - Ann Beattie
"The Mother Tongue" - Bill Bryson (not fiction. very good read about the English language, though.)
"History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" - Julian Barnes
"Kissing in Manhattan" - David Schickler

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 8:10pm

My favorite book is "A Walk In The Woods", also by Bill Bryson.

[zoran912]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 8:15pm

I am currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I love it. It's written in letter format, so I really feel myself drawn into it.

Here's the back-of-the-book description:


Standing on the fringes of life...

offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

It's an amazing book.
Updated On: 8/21/04 at 08:15 PM

[Guffman Fan]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:59pm

Anyone read "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb? Awesome- I really found myself caring about the main character and I didn't want the book to end.

I went through a period of reading about the friendships of women and loved reading "The Last Girls", "Angry Housewives Eating BonBons" and currently, "The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love"- all great for that type of book.

I agree about "Lovely Bones"- and can also suggest "Sickened"- the true story of a young women whose mother suffers from Munchausen Syndrome. Hope this gives you some variety- I like reading all types of things!

[fae]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 4:15am

wow.... there are some great books out there. showmethetony... if you liked the feel of "the color purple," you will probably love "their eyes were watching god."
also.... for those of you out there that enjoy a good new york read i would recommend "emma who saved my life."

and... "a confederacy of dunces" is a priceless study of random characters.

inspirational read? i would choose "way of the peaceful warrior"

Posted: 8/22/04 at 7:06am

As a random selection to add to your list I would say Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice.

And by-the-by, thank you Craig for referencing Jonathon Livingston Seagull, which is my own personal version of the bible.