Read any good books lately?

stacey · October 2006

So I have been spending a lot of time at my sister's bedside and have exhausted my supply of books. Has anyone read anything good lately? Mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy?

crazeologist · October 2006

Have you read one of my favorite? Blindness by Jose Saramago

stacey · October 2006

Flexichick wrote: Have you read one of my favorite? Blindness by Jose Saramago

No I just looked it up on Amazon and its sound really interesting. I will add it to my list. Thanks

kw · October 2006

I'm reading "Three Junes" by Julia Glass. It is very good so far - I'm half way through it.

shishkab · October 2006

i'm reading World War Z by Max Brooks at the moment and i love it. can't put it down, quite frankly.

pitu · October 2006

Stacey, hope your sis is okay!

I'm not up on the mystery/scifi/fantasy stuff, but have you read Jonathan Letham's Motherless Brooklyn?

whyfi · October 2006

SciFi/Fantasy? Top of the list should be Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

whyfi · October 2006

Oh, and I just finished Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. Exceptional.

apollonia666 · October 2006

Okay, not the fantasy/mystery genre, but Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is amazing. I've already reread it twice since buying it a couple of months ago.

Hope your sister is okay too, hon.

stacey · October 2006

wow some great recommendations!!

pitu - I absolutely LOVE Motherless in Brooklyn.

WF- I actually started reading Jonathan Strange but it took a long time to get rolling and I never really got into it. Did you find that?

And thanks for the kind words it means a lot to me

alafairnadia · October 2006

stacey wrote: wow some great recommendations!!

pitu - I absolutely LOVE Motherless in Brooklyn.

WF- I actually started reading Jonathan Strange but it took a long time to get rolling and I never really got into it. Did you find that?

And thanks for the kind words it means a lot to me

I had the same problem with Jonathan Strange. I've tried twice, too. blah.

Stacey - have you read Carrie Vaughn's books Kitty and The Midnight HOur and Kitty Goes to Washington? I'm reading the second one now (I read the first one last xmas) and am REALLY loving them. smart, chic Kitty is a werewolf with a radio talk show ... etc.

*hugs* take care of yourself, darlin'.

medusa · October 2006

I also hope your sis is OK. PM me if you want to discuss. Really.

I read a lot of mysteries. In fact they are the only kind of book I read. It's a problem. I have a lot of Nero Wolfe books which you could borrow. Cupcake is currently reading her way through them, but you could start at the beginning and probably not catch up (she's going at an impressive clip. I also have many Ngaio Marsh books available(my current obsession).

pitu · October 2006

I'm glad you made me think of Motherless Brooklyn, 'cause it reminds me that I forgot to read Fortress of Solitude and I have it here somewhere...THX

hey, how 'bout the big freaky epic "MIDDLESEX" by Jeffrey Eugenides?
http://www.powells.com/authors/eugenides.html

Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay"
http://www.powells.com/authors/chabon.html

"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-0156027321-0

"Running With Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs, the book that makes all family and childhood horrors recede in comparison. And SO FUNNY. There's a movie coming out, and there's just no way it's half as beautifully painfully funny as this book.
http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-031242227x-6

I'm pulling out the greatest hits from the past decade . . .

less well know...
The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh

Publisher Comments:
When Rilke, a dissolute and promiscuous auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of seemingly violent photographs, he feels compelled to unearth more about the deceased owner who coveted them. What follows is a compulsive journey of discovery, decadence, and deviousness that leads Rilke into a dark underworld of transvestite clubs, seedy bars, and porn shops. In this hidden city haunted by a host of vividly drawn characters, Rilke comes face to face with the dark desires and illicit urges that lurk behind even the most respectable facades.

what's not to love there, eh?

BTW, if you need a quick disfunctional family satire, at BAM "Little Miss Sunshine" is well-written and hilarious. I generally hate "comedies" but this one got game...

rose · October 2006

I loved Middlesex and Life of Pi. So good.

Others I've read somewhat recently and really liked:

The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger;

Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson;

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri.

whyfi · October 2006

stacey wrote: WF- I actually started reading Jonathan Strange but it took a long time to get rolling and I never really got into it. Did you find that?

It's actually one of the things that I liked about it - it lulls you in to the mindset of a time and place in the past, but set in a slightly different reality... In addition to 'setting the scene,' I thought that it heightened the reader's investment in the characters, which is something that continues to build until you realize that the end of the book is coming all-too-soon.

I can usually gauge a book by the depth of the 'nearing the end of the book blues.' By this measure, it was a fantastic book, indeed.

sweet tea · October 2006

so many of the ones i've loved recently are on this list already -- middlesex, jonathan strange, blindness, fun home, the namesake -- although i like lahiri's book of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, even better....

if you like epic-y many character kinds of novels, i highly recommend Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (i've tried to read other stuff of his and not gotten far, but this one makes my favorite books of all time list) folks who liked middlesex may like this one too -- i found the narrative style very similar.

maybe a weird choice but something i found unbelievably beautiful is john mcphee's The Pine Barrens, a nonfiction book about the pine barrens of southern new jersey. the book was written at a time when it looked like the pinelands would be destroyed, and it is largely responsible for the fact that they weren't. (it's also responsible for the 75 or so deer ticks i picked off of my body after returning from a hiking trip inspired by the book, but the writing is so gorgeous that i forgave it.)

oh, i LOVE amy bloom's short stories, particularly the collection A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You. (i have a feeling based on nothing i can put my finger on that you'd like them, stacey. could be wrong.)

and then there's margaret atwood....

obviously i could go on and on.

carnivore · October 2006

pitu wrote: I'm glad you made me think of Motherless Brooklyn, 'cause it reminds me that I forgot to read Fortress of Solitude and I have it here somewhere...THX

I LOVED Fortress of Solitude. It definitely reminded me of my childhood growing up in Brooklyn in the 70s and early 80s.

furrygreyboy · October 2006

"Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood... futuristic/sci-fi about the future of society.... best book I've read in the last year - friends I recommended it to also loved it.

apollonia666 · October 2006

FurryGreyBOy wrote: "Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood... futuristic/sci-fi about the future of society.... best book I've read in the last year - friends I recommended it to also loved it.

Ooh, and how about Marge Piercy? He, She, and It is great, as is Woman on the Edge of Time.

alafairnadia · October 2006

apollonia666 wrote: [quote=FurryGreyBOy]"Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood... futuristic/sci-fi about the future of society.... best book I've read in the last year - friends I recommended it to also loved it.

Ooh, and how about Marge Piercy? He, She, and It is great, as is Woman on the Edge of Time.

oh, I love these books. so damn good.

and, of course, anything by richard k. morgan or william gibson. droooool.

and john le carre has a new book out.

erikka · October 2006

I don't know if you only read fiction, but The Omnivoires Dilemma is a great book and very thought provoking.

steve · October 2006

Great Random Sci-fi book was recently re-released.

A Canticle For Leibowitz. Well worth the $$$.

I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel right now. I love that type of shit.

steve · October 2006

stacey wrote: wow some great recommendations!!

pitu - I absolutely LOVE Motherless in Brooklyn.

WF- I actually started reading Jonathan Strange but it took a long time to get rolling and I never really got into it. Did you find that?

And thanks for the kind words it means a lot to me

Stacey...I couldn't get into Jonathon Strange either. Hope your sis is well.

carnivore · October 2006

steve wrote: I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel right now. I love that type of shit.

Great book.

doctorj · October 2006

Carnivore wrote: [quote=steve]I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel right now. I love that type of shit.

Great book.

His latest (Collapse) is at least as good. Matter of fact all his stuff is pretty good. "Why is sex fun?" won't help your lovelife, but it's a great read.

caaahyoko · October 2006

Currently enjoying Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

apollonia666 · October 2006

Just thought of one more -- I'd read this as a child, but then re-read it a few years ago, mostly at my mom's bedside when she was in the hospital for cancer surgery, and it was a wonderful escape: Watership Down. On the reals -- some kids' books really hold up well for adult reading. And if you haven't read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in a long time, dig those up too!

Read any good books lately?

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