Read Any Good Books Lately?

hattiehats

So, I've been tearing through books like crazy while cooped up. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm generally a fiction girl (trade paperback is my favorite size).......nothing too fluffy (generally not into chick lit).

Some things I've read and enjoyed lately:

City of Thieves - David Benioff
Skeletons at the Feast- Chris Bohjalian


Did not enjoy so much:

Olive Kitteridge


I don't generally tend to like some of the authors who seem to crank out books.

thanks

nonhipoldbklynchick

Anything by John Irving, Wally Lamb, or Anne Tyler....also give our Brooklyn boy, Pete Hamill's fiction a try. I am reading Hamill's Forever again, great novel that includes a ton of NYC history.

vidro3

House of Leaves by Mark z. Danielewski is crazy, dizzying, rambling, genre-bending, brilliant.

the sheer level of brain power required to write this book is dumbfounding. I do not hesitate at all to call Danielewski a genius.

superclam

I liked:
The Alienist - Caleb Carr, did not like the sequel.
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay (sp?) - Micheal Chabon - at least 3/4 of it.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, also Chabon.
A Confederacy of Dunces - classic.
Fortress of Solitude - a Brooklyn story

Drawing a blank, I'll try to think of more.

opossumqueen

Don't read the Edgar Sawtell (or something like that) book. Ugh.

If you can find them, the two Amanada Filipachi books I've read so far are weird page-turners. I'm still not sure I like them, but I would read them again just b/c of the experience. I read Vapor and Nude Men.

djchazz

Superclam wrote: I liked:
The Alienist - Caleb Carr, did not like the sequel.
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay (sp?) - Micheal Chabon - at least 3/4 of it.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, also Chabon.
A Confederacy of Dunces - classic.
Fortress of Solitude - a Brooklyn story

Drawing a blank, I'll try to think of more.

thanks, superclam.

I liked Alienist, agree about C&C, Yiddish was ok, I hated Dunces and Fortress was pretty good. So, nothing new here for me :-)

vidro3

also just finished disgrace by jm coetzee.

very good. easy read. would probably take you a day.

carnivore

Have you read Pattern Recognition by Gibson? Or Accelerando by Charles Stross?

anj

Carnivore wrote: Have you read Pattern Recognition by Gibson? Or Accelerando by Charles Stross?

Nope. I'll check them out online (and the Coetzee). Thanks!

superclam

Flexichick wrote: [quote=Superclam]I liked:
The Alienist - Caleb Carr, did not like the sequel.
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay (sp?) - Micheal Chabon - at least 3/4 of it.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, also Chabon.
A Confederacy of Dunces - classic.
Fortress of Solitude - a Brooklyn story

Drawing a blank, I'll try to think of more.

thanks, superclam.

I liked Alienist, agree about C&C, Yiddish was ok, I hated Dunces and Fortress was pretty good. So, nothing new here for me :-)

Well, someone's a busy reader!!
Hated Dunces??? Really??
I've never met anyone who's said that before.

anastasia beaverhausen

I think it's because she's a communiss.

chlover

Well, I really don't get what the hoopla about Dunces was all about. I struggled to finish it!

(yes, I'm a busy reader!)

superclam

She should be impaled upon the member of a particularly large stallion.

superclam

I'm been struggling to read "Neuromancer". I just can't get into it; I tried twice.
I also tried reading the whole "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and can't get past page 3. Just not feeling it.
Harry Potter is like Doritos for me.

Did you read "The Glass Castle?"
Not fiction, but I really liked it.

ksfein

I haven't read Neuromancer....Lord of the Rings is not my thing - book or movie....I'm not into any type of mystical, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.

I haven't read Harry Potter, although I do know a lot of adults who really enjoyed the series.

I never read Glass Castle.....

devensphotography

nonhipoldbklynchick wrote: Anything by John Irving, Wally Lamb, or Anne Tyler....also give our Brooklyn boy, Pete Hamill's fiction a try. I am reading Hamill's Forever again, great novel that includes a ton of NYC history.

thanks, nonhip....

I generally like John Irving, but his last book or two have been crap. I read Wally Lamb, but his newest is not out in paperback yet. Anne Tyler is hit or miss for me...never read Hamill

superclam

Judging from what you've said, you might enjoy The Glass Castle. It's about a girl who grew up very poor & traveled around the US because her father was a little kooky.

As you can tell, I'll never be a literary critic, but the book was good.

opossumqueen

Oh, Glass Castle is a must. Great story, written very well.

I passed it on to several family members, all with different tastes in books and all loved it. It opens, "I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."

pitu

The Other Side of Paradise, a memoir
by Staceyann Chin
http://www.staceyannchin.com/

(go brooklyn!)

danielle123

I went to Africa a year and a half ago and I can't get enough of African memoirs. Here are 2 (the first is an easier read but no less moving or thoughtful than the second):

1. Peter Godwin - When an Alligator Eats the Sun:
It got 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon (for whatever that's worth). It's very readable (don't let the review below steer you away from it as being too depressing because it is also uplifting).

Publisher's Weekly: "In this exquisitely written, deeply moving account of the death of a father played out against the backdrop of the collapse of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, seasoned journalist Godwin has produced a memoir that effortlessly manages to be almost unbearably personal while simultaneously laying bare the cruel regime of longstanding president Robert Mugabe."
http://www.amazon.com/When-Crocodile-Eats-Sun-Memoir/dp/0316018716/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247102935&sr=1-1

2. Alexandra Fuller - "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight"
WARNING: the first 100 pages are a slog because she writes in the local dialect to a certain extent. I forced myself to keep reading because it won a couple of big awards. TRUST ME: It's worth it and I fell in love with her family (despite their many flaws) and was VERY sad when the book was over. 4 stars out of 5 on Amazon

Publisher's Weekly: A classic is born in this tender, intensely moving and even delightful journey through a white African girl's childhood. Born in England and now living in Wyoming, Fuller was conceived and bred on African soil during the Rhodesian civil war (1971-1979), a world where children over five "learn[ed] how to load an FN rifle magazine, strip and clean all the guns in the house, and ultimately, shoot-to-kill."

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Lets-Dogs-Tonight-Childhood/dp/0375758992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247103160&sr=1-1

Happy reading!

prospect-plg noah

You may have read them already, as they're all by popular authors, but here are some I thoroughly enjoyed:
-"Norwegian Wood"-Haruki Murakami
-"Running with Scissors"-Augusten Burroughs
-"The Power and the Glory"-Graham Greene
-"Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs"-Chuck Klosterman

5x5

I tend to read only short stories (short attention span?) and I always recommend Best American Short Stories. As far as novels go, I love, love, love The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. When I finished it, I turned it over and reread it. I never do that.

flo

This book isn't new, but it's from an author that I think lives in Brooklyn. "Wake up Sir" by Jonathan Ames. It's in the spirit of P.G. Wodehouse and has an imaginary butler named Jeeves who assists an alcoholic struggling writer who heads to Saratoga Springs to work on his novel. It's funny or at least I found it humerous.

dk79

Flo wrote: This book isn't new, but it's from an author that I think lives in Brooklyn. "Wake up Sir" by Jonathan Ames. It's in the spirit of P.G. Wodehouse and has an imaginary butler named Jeeves who assists an alcoholic struggling writer who heads to Saratoga Springs to work on his novel. It's funny or at least I found it humerous.

I like Ames, and liked that book a lot. He's a strange man (I know somebody who is close friends with him), but funny.

I've read some of his non-fiction, and when I'm in the mood for short stories (rarely), I'll read him, Burroughs (read the one suggested above) and Sedaris (I have the latest and am about 1/2 way through).

Thanks for all of the suggestions

lexie z

the curious incident of the dog in the night. mark haddon (excellent short)
are you there vodka it's me chelsea. chelsea handler (silly stories)
my horizontal life. chelsea handler (sillier stories)
sellevision. augusten buroughs or any of his memoirs are great (all great)
a piece of cake. cupcake brown (tear jerker)
a confederacy of dunces. john kennedy toole (my favorite book)
she's come undone. wally lamb (my other favorite book)

let me know your favs!

vinny devita

I read so much (and watch so many movies) that not much of it actually sticks. I'd have to go to my shelves to remember my favorites, but some that I really like include: Blindness (Saramag), The Other Twin (Wally Lamb), Middlesex (can't remember....). Recently: Water for Elephants (?), City of Thieves (David Benioff).

danielle123

I'm not sure the books I suggested are your style but, if so, I have them both and would be willing to lend either/both to you. PM me, if interested.

sassafrass

danielle123 wrote: I'm not sure the books I suggested are your style but, if so, I have them both and would be willing to lend either/both to you. PM me, if interested.

Thanks, Danielle. Somebody else also recommended "When an Alligator Eats the Sun". I may end up ordering it, since I like keeping good books (even though I rarely read them twice). I appreciate the offer!

danielle123

Yeah, I do the same - buy them and read them once (no matter how much I love them - there are too many other books to read!). I've put a moratorium on buying any more books until I read the ones I have.

brokechick

william faulkner, tom robbins, and kurt vonnegut always keep me coming back, but they're not news to anybody. maybe a fraction of the whole, by steve toltz, or bliss or theft by peter carey. carey is pretty great, i'll read just about anything he writes. same with ian mcewan. i'd have a lot more names for you if you were more interested in short stories; it gets harder and harder for me to work my way through a novel, sadly.

carnivore

Budding Prospects, by T. Coraghessan Boyle