Books

[Ubu]

I just finished one called The Book Thief and am debating on what to start next? Any suggestions?

What are some of your favorite books? What are you reading now?

[J Lee S]

"The Good,The Bad, and the Mad. Some weird people in American History"-E.Randall Floyd. Very funny and also a little educational. Stories on folks such as Cotton Mathers,Edgar Cayce,Huey Long...very fun read.

[Ubu]

This one sounds interesting.

[Ubu]

I'm going to make a list of these for future reference. I've started a couple of dull ones lately and haven't finished them.

[Chez moi]

Oh, dear, Aggie, I'll do the shoes for you if you read Brown for me. I cannot read him.

[RayDane]

I am beginning to re-read some of the books I've read in the past. I recently finished 2. The Count of Monte Cristo and Crime and Punishment. I know, two complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Just depends on what you're in the mood for. Maybe next I'll do Swiss Family Robinson, and maybe something from Tolstoy.

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

Crime and Punishment has been nagging at me to be re-read, also.

[RayDane]

Ladies after my own literary heart. I first read Crime and Punishment when I was a Freshman in high school because it was required. I've got to admit, it was a little confusing back then. I had to reread every page at least once. LOL I reread it in my 20's. Loved it. Now in my 40's, it is a true masterpiece.

[robbo]

I don't know how people can read anymore, by the time I've finished with computers I'm read out.
It's a real shame really because reading a book is much healthier and 10x more relaxing than a computer.

[Chez moi]

That is very true. I spend too much time playing here that I should be using to read. But I make the choice to spend time here because books aren't full of real people... I have to split the difference.

Ubu, last year I read Umberto Eco's 'Baudolino', which I found to be a hoot. If you like Eco - 'The Name of the Rose' - you may like it. I am getting ready to reread it in Italian; it won't be so hard with one I can compare it to, since the writing is very colloquial and individual in style.

What else might you like that I do? How about anything by Annie Proulx? I finally got around to 'The Shipping News', and last year ''That Old Ace in the Hole'. The first one of hers I read was 'Accordion Crimes'; less talked about, but so sooooo good.

Do you know Jane Smiley? 'A Thousand Acres', 'Moo'... Pat Conroy?

Oliver Sacks? he has written so many good books on odd conditions, like 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat'... I last read 'Hearing Voices', about the world of the deaf; fascinating. (I wonder if Have a Heart has read it?)

I'm not sure of your taste, so I'm not sure you will care for Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, or Anne Tyler, but I love them. Are they 'girl's stories'? Still, excellent writers.

How about mysteries? Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti is a charmer who operates in Venice, and she has written a baker's dozen of his stories so far. Henning Mankell is good too, with stories set in Sweden.

Historical novels? I am a fervent fan of Dorothy Dunnett. I have read the 'Niccolo' series of 8, set in the 15th C., and am ready to begin the 'Lymond' series of 6, moving into the 16th C.. Fabulous stories, they put you right in the middle of every event worth knowing about in the period. A sailor friend recommends Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin 19th C. nautical adventures; twenty volumes, but he says each stands alone.

That help?

[blondie 11]

I just bought "the Eleventh Victim" Have not started it yet.

[Ubu]

Yes it does, Chez. I'm intrigued by the historical novels and more so the nautical adventures. Like I mentioned I'll be jotting a lot of these down for future reference.

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

The Sae Wolf by Jack London was an amazing nautical 'adventure' in a way, so was Hawaii, by James Mitchner...