dcjlkplus3 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 So, I'm starting to make a list of books to read for the 2011 52 books challenge. What do you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Austin Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 My sig has a link to my book review blog. I've read some amazing books this year . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I am going to try reading some 'everyone has read these but me' books. So far I have listed: Atlas Shrugged 1984 Catch 22 Picture of Dorian Gray Pride and Prejudice On Walden Pond Slaughter House 5 Grapes of Wrath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 (edited) I am going to try reading some 'everyone has read these but me' books. So far I have listed: Atlas Shrugged 1984 Catch 22 Picture of Dorian Gray Pride and Prejudice On Walden Pond Slaughter House 5 Grapes of Wrath GREAT CHOICES! Some of my all-time favs are on this list! If you haven't already, The Hunger Games triology by Suzanne Collins is excellent (and they are quick reads). The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series is excellent as well. An older book that I really enjoyed is The Alienist by Caleb Carr. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is another older read (short stories) I like short stories by David Sedaris too - they can be out there, they're very liberal in terms of language and subject matter. That's all I can think of for now. Edited December 18, 2010 by jenL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I'm reading Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali right now. Interesting and lots to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Could you count books from the Bible? I would say definately Genesis, Proverbs, the Gosples. Whether you're Catholic or not, these are so much a part of Western heritage that references are everywhere. At least one of Shakespeare's plays, if those count. The whole entire set of Brother Cadfael mysteries. If not, the first three. A Hercule Poirot mystery (or all of them) by Agatha Christy. The history of something. I'm thinking of the history of zero for myself but since I haven't read it, I can't recommend it. The last of the Mohicans The Princess Bride The Fifteenth Pelican Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon :D Protecting The Gift, Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (And Parents Sane) by Gavin De Becker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Read books by war correspondents. They provide a much bigger picture that we get on the news or out of our history textbooks. The one I'm currently reading is from the 0.70 section of the library. Read Phantom of the Opera too, and if you like mysteries, try Boris Akunin. He's my new find for this year :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Well, Kristin Lavransdatter could count for three :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbaby Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 (edited) The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books. One of the pp's mentioned The Things They Carried. I forgot all about that book! That's another great book. ETA: I read Drowning Ruth this last year.....probably my favorite of the year. Edited December 19, 2010 by hsbaby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicAnn Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Read Phantom of the Opera too Rosie I've read Phantom of the Opera. Most people don't know it was ever a book. I put it in the class with Dracula and Frankenstein as in the subsequent movies/stage productions take on a life of the their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Some of the ones I've read & enjoyed in the past couple of years (in no particular order/no particular genre): Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley Little Bee by Chris Cleave C by Tom McCarthy Packing for Mars by Mary Roach Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Born to Run by Christopher McDougall City of Thieves by David Benioff Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer Hogfather by Terry Pratchett The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Dracula by Bram Stoker The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone by Martin Dugard The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie 1776 by David McCollough Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson Dancer by Colum McCann The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King The Little Friend by Donna Tartt I, Claudius by Robert Graves The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snipsnsnailsx5 Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Some books that we've read for our book club this last year that I've enjoyed: The Hunger Games series These Is My Words (you'll have to Amazon or google the author) The Help (again, google the author) And I personally recommend Juliet by Anne Fortier. A Romeo and Juliet romance historical-type novel. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Massachusetts, by Nancy Zaroulis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I love Jane Eyre and anything by Jane Austen. Two of the best books I read this year were The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I'm at work, but when I get a chance tomorrow I will look at my list to see what other books I really enjoyed this year. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon :D You and I could be great friends!! The Outlander books are my favorite books in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon :D :iagree:This will keep you busy for awhile and if you get into them, they won't seem as big as they are.;) I'm finishing book two of the Lord John series, so I'll have the third to read from that. I'm going with a number theme. I already 1066, so thought I'd try 1776, 1215, I'm going to see what else I can find along those lines too. I also want to read some of the books that I didn't get to in school that are on the "should-be-read" list. I probably should get a list going of ones I want to. Hubby deploys late summer, so come the latter half of the year, I'll have MORE than enough time to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Freefall, by Joseph Stiglitz (look up the endnotes as you go; they're so informative!) 13 Bankers, by Simon Johnson of MIT and his bil, James Kwaak (concise summary of American banking/financial history and how many of the same concerns we have today were big worries of our founders) Debt-Free U by Zac Bissonnette (has its critics, but makes some pretty compelling arguments for state schools and no or limited student loans) The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street, by John R. Talbott (probably the easiest to read, as it goes succinctly yet thoroughly -- about two pages per lie -- through the lies that so many continue to believe, both Republicans and Democrats) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 You and I could be great friends!! The Outlander books are my favorite books in the world. Mine, tooooo! I have such a crush on Jamie! lol. :iagree:This will keep you busy for awhile and if you get into them, they won't seem as big as they are.;) I'm finishing book two of the Lord John series, so I'll have the third to read from that. I haven't read the Lord John series... should I?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I haven't read the Lord John series... should I?? They're different and I'm not sure what to think--given his character and all.;) But, I started reading them when I was following an Outlander group and they mentioned that they provided more background info with Jamie and his time as groom and some info on the last book--Echo in the Bone. The first wasn't bad and I'm maybe a quarter through the second. It is fun to read about Jamie again though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Read some Anne Lamott--she's funny (a little crude, but she is a Christian). I like Bird by Bird and Operating Instructions, and Traveling Mercies. Quick reads. Read something that your kids will be reading in middle school, so you are thoroughly familiar with it--just look up stuff in WTM for 5-8th grade. I'm going to tackle 100 Years of Solitude, and start on some of the Pulitzer Prize novels this year. Oh, and read at least one Toni Morrison book. Her masterful use of rich language is not to be missed. Beloved is creepy, but gave me a new appreciation for the horrors of slavery. The Bluest Eye is quite stunning, and, not to make a terrible pun, "eye-opening." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I'm going with a number theme. I already 1066, so thought I'd try 1776, 1215, I'm going to see what else I can find along those lines too. Cool idea. 1776 is a great book. Two 'number' books on my to-read list are: 2666 "From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Last year's The Savage Detectives by the late Chilean-Mexican novelist Bolaño (1953–2003) garnered extraordinary sales and critical plaudits for a complex novel in translation, and quickly became the object of a literary cult. This brilliant behemoth is grander in scope, ambition and sheer page count, and translator Wimmer has again done a masterful job. The novel is divided into five parts (Bolaño originally imagined it being published as five books) and begins with the adventures and love affairs of a small group of scholars dedicated to the work of Benno von Archimboldi, a reclusive German novelist. They trace the writer to the Mexican border town of Santa Teresa (read: Juarez), but there the trail runs dry, and it isn't until the final section that readers learn about Benno and why he went to Santa Teresa. The heart of the novel comes in the three middle parts: in The Part About Amalfitano, a professor from Spain moves to Santa Teresa with his beautiful daughter, Rosa, and begins to hear voices. The Part About Fate, the novel's weakest section, concerns Quincy Fate Williams, a black American reporter who is sent to Santa Teresa to cover a prizefight and ends up rescuing Rosa from her gun-toting ex-boyfriend. The Part About the Crimes, the longest and most haunting section, operates on a number of levels: it is a tormented catalogue of women murdered and raped in Santa Teresa; a panorama of the power system that is either covering up for the real criminals with its implausible story that the crimes were all connected to a German national, or too incompetent to find them (or maybe both); and it is a collection of the stories of journalists, cops, murderers, vengeful husbands, prisoners and tourists, among others, presided over by an old woman seer. It is safe to predict that no novel this year will have as powerful an effect on the reader as this one. (Nov.)" 1491 "Amazon.com Review 1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491 , different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention. Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarawatsonim Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 There is a series by C.J. Sansom that I read (currently reading the newest book) and really enjoyed. It's about a hunchback lawyer named Mathew Shardlake and takes place during the reign of Henry VIII. He is kind of like a sleuth but not really by choice. He gets put into the situations where he has to solve mysteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 It will make you cry, perhaps, but Eternal on the Water is just beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieH Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I think I want to read some of the "everyone has read these but me" books like a pp mentioned. Now I just need to figure out which ones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendi Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I'm a fan of Connie Willis! She has a number of books about time travel. For heavy and touching, try The Doomsday Book. For humorous and romantic, try To Say Nothing of the Dog (also read Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat). For WWII, read Blackout and the sequel, All Clear. Love all of these! Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Two that I read in the last year and really enjoyed are Life of Pi (it's not about math!) The Poisonwood Bible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Books by Leo Tolstoy. I read War and Peace last year and surprisingly enjoyed it. Going to read Anna Karenina in 2011 One of my favorite authors is romantic suspense author Nora Roberts who also writes a futuristic female cop series under the name of J.D. Robb. If you like mysteries, check out the authors who blog at Murderati. I've enjoyed all their books so far.http://www.murderati.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 1491 "Amazon.com Review 1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491 , different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention. Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before." This is one I want to read too, thanks for the reminder. It looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 :bigear: I would like to find some good books to read. Thanks for the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 (edited) I have an ongoing list of historical fiction that I'd like to get to this year: Lambs of London - Ackroyd (Shakespeare and Charles Lamb) Birth of Venus - Dunant (15th C Florence) Beneath a Marble Sky - Shors (building of the Taj Mahal) Hummingbird's Daughter - Urrea (Mexico circa 1880) Lavinia - LeGuin (Troy and Rome) City of Thieves - Benioff (siege of Leningrad) Killing Way - Hays (Merlin murder mystery) Blood of Flowers - Amerrizvami (17th C Iran) Portrait of an Unknown Woman - Bennett (Tudor England) my fav period Simple Habana Melody - Hijuelos (Cuba) The Kite Runner - Hosseini The Help - Stockett House at Riverton - Morton Year of Wonders - Brooks (plague) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Ford (WWII Japanese Americans) Gift of Rain - Tan (China) When We Were Gods - Falconer (Cleopatra) Good Men - Craig Outlander - Gabaldon I, Elizabeth - Miles Katherine - Seton Pride and Prejudice - Austen some Sharon Kaye Penman books too Oh, and many more that have also been mentioned. I don't think I'll have trouble finding 52 for the year! Edited December 20, 2010 by i.love.lucy forgot to add Penman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I've read Phantom of the Opera. Most people don't know it was ever a book. I put it in the class with Dracula and Frankenstein as in the subsequent movies/stage productions take on a life of the their own. BTW, the Kindle download for this is free!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 From a suggestion here, I just finished Winter Garden. Great Book!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted December 28, 2010 Author Share Posted December 28, 2010 And now that i've copied all of these onto a Word document, I'll have to go to the library today and see what they've got to get me started. I'm so excited (I think) to try some new stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiCO Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 So, I'm starting to make a list of books to read for the 2011 52 books challenge. What do you recommend? I just borrowed a book from my FIL- Flags of Our Fathers. It's about Iwo Jima specifically and WW2 in the Pacific in general. Wow, what an eye-opener. Very well-written also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in the NH Woods Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 (edited) Her are a few random picks: Some essays by Flannery O' Connor Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler House of Spirits, by Isabelle Allende (some graphic content) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the other two books in the trilogy, by John Le Carre (spy genre) The 39 Steps, by John Buchan (another entertaining spy novel) Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, by Lillian Schlissel (non-fiction, fascinating) A story by Edgar Allen Poe Something by Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan novelist Birds Without Wings, or Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres I enjoy these booklist posts! Edited December 28, 2010 by Cindy in the NH Woods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Louis de Bernieres (Latin American novelist) Like many Brits he has a French name - I don't know if it's Norman or Huguenot. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in the NH Woods Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Like many Brits he has a French name - I don't know if it's Norman or Huguenot. Laura Oops! Thanks for the correction, Laura! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Oops! Thanks for the correction, Laura! ;) I think he taught in Latin America, so his first few books are set there. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 There is a series by C.J. Sansom that I read (currently reading the newest book) and really enjoyed. It's about a hunchback lawyer named Matthew Shardlake and takes place during the reign of Henry VIII. He is kind of like a sleuth but not really by choice. He gets put into the situations where he has to solve mysteries. Husband and I accidentally gave each other the latest one for Christmas. The author is a historian who retrained as a lawyer, so the stories feel very solid and well-researched, as well as being quite exciting. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 It's been my favourite book of the year, I think. I also would recommend The Children's Book and The Slap. My favourite classic this year has been Frankenstein. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 I just borrowed a book from my FIL- Flags of Our Fathers. It's about Iwo Jima specifically and WW2 in the Pacific in general. Wow, what an eye-opener. Very well-written also. Does anyone know how the book relates to the movie? My grandfather, who fought in Iwo Jima, said he watched the first 20 minutes of it, and said he wanted to punch Clint Eastwood. He said, "That bleep bleep of a man doesn't have a clue. I'd like to say a thing or two to him. Bleep bleep bleep stupid bleep." This may sound weird but out of respect for my grandfather I decided to never watch the movie. Every now and then Grandpa will get in a mood and a certain look comes over him, and he starts to tell tidbits of his experience in the war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 Anything by Barbara Kingsolver (especially The Poisonwood Bible, if you haven't already read it). Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 I am doing that challenge too and a few others that overlap as well. What I have so far is here, mostly new stuff to try. The second 50 will be more classics and old favorites. http://www.aworkinprogress.net/2010/12/100-reading-challenge.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiCO Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 Does anyone know how the book relates to the movie? My grandfather, who fought in Iwo Jima, said he watched the first 20 minutes of it, and said he wanted to punch Clint Eastwood. He said, "That bleep bleep of a man doesn't have a clue. I'd like to say a thing or two to him. Bleep bleep bleep stupid bleep." The book is non-fiction. I didn't even know there was a movie, but if it's not a documentary I don't see how it can follow the book much- they must have taken a lot of liberties. The book tells the stories of the 6 men in the picture, with a lot of additional information on the war in the Pacific. My fil fought in the Pacific, but he was on the west side- not at Iwo Jima. He approves of the book. (He doesn't like to talk about the war. After reading half the book so far, I can see why.) I'm sure you can get a copy at the library, read the first part and see if you like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 Here are a few more books that your library will have: The Lady Emily Mysteries by Tasha Alexander. The series starts with And Only to Deceive . The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith. Also a series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted December 29, 2010 Share Posted December 29, 2010 Two that I read in the last year and really enjoyed are Life of Pi (it's not about math!) The Poisonwood Bible I read Life of Pi last year based on a recommendation on these boards. I read the entire book thinking it was a true story. LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 The Kite Runner then wait about 6 months (or else it's Afghanistan overkill) before reading his even better book Thousand Splendid Suns - this one, by far, is amongst one of the best books I have ever read The Help The Five People You Meet in Heaven Tuesdays with Morrie - and pretty much any other Mitch Albom book – we even got the DVDs of three of his books and really liked them :) The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende and anything else by her Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg and most of her books, but this is her best :D Funny in Farsi Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett The Secret Life of Bees The Book Thief A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory [Harry Potter series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy - if you can get past the first 60-70 pages (a bit boring) and don't mind graphic stuff - great story - fabulous Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward NON-FICTION The Geography of Bliss Outliers … and all Malcolm Gladwell books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 This isn't a specific recommendation, but I like to vary my personal reading: fiction/non-fiction prose/poetry/drama ancient/modern/contemporary light/serious English/translated If most of what you've been reading recently falls into one part of one of these sets, you might want to read something from another part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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