whatcha been readin?
All of you have fabulous taste in books, so I'm curious if you've been reading something good. I'm looking for some sort of fiction, since between life and our regular book selection around here of history/politics/media , I think I'm sorted on the real world for a bit. And I've spent enough time in the Hudson Bookstore in Penn Station lately, so I'm not going for top 10/bestsellers. (Also, dear everyone, please do not stand in the erotica section of said bookstore staring at people. Dude, gross! Get an internet.)
After all the hoopla, I'm curious about Barbara Walters' memoir, although the cover looks more Danielle Steel than Serious Book.
Yes, Sippey, I've already read The Road.
Here's a few recent favorites.
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Great idea for a post! I know you want fiction, but I can't help myself here, I've got two great memoirs to recommend. I'm currently reading The Bitter Sea by Charles Li, and so far so good. It's his story of growing up in pre-Mao China.
I just finished Without A Map by Meredith Hall (I posted a review of it on my blog) and it was stunning. Very, very good memoir.
The Good Good Pig is a pretty cute story if you want something light.
I have a couple novels sitting in my TBR pile (The Painter From Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein and The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri) but I haven't gotten to them yet...they look promising!
@farfaraway - I love the concept of a TBR pile. you should see the piles in my house.
@krissy - how much do I love Powell's? and I am inspired by your book counts per year - I should count mine, but I hve that attention span thing of never finishing...
I haven't read any of your recent favorites, so I really don't know what styles or genres you're into, but a few random books I recommend that sort of cover the spectrum:
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (romance - real romance, not a bodice-ripper - with a surprisingly believable dash of science fiction)
Please Don't Kill the Freshman, Zoe Trope (nowhere near as teeny-bopper as it sounds)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (historical fiction, sort of)
The Book Thief or I Am the Messenger, Markus Zusak (the first is also historical fiction with a bit of macabre fantasy; the second is pseudo-mystery)
Any of the Redwall series, Brian Jacques (they all have the same basic plotline, but are all good)
Tithe or Valiant, Holly Black (gothic urban fantasy)
I have a lot of favorite books, but those ones, plus The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I didn't mention because pretty much everyone knows about it lately) are the ones that are absolutely indispensable.
If you were to sacrifice a bit more time and portability, I would also recommend Nikola Barker's Darkmans. I would say Tome is a very fitting word when referencing this one.
Hope you find something enjoyable, there have been some great books posted so far.
Sacred Games is one of the few books left on my Books to Read shelf. I loved the author's Red Earth & Pouring Rain, but Sacred Games is so huge that I'm actually afraid of it. It's good to hear that you're enjoying it so far. I'd be interested in hearing what you think 300 pages from now.
(I found this post on Vox's [culture is good] page.)
I haven't seen the film of Time of Cholera, but I like all the actors in it. I've placed a bunch of books on hold from the library, so whichever comes first I'll get and update everyone. :)
I also read a lot of historical fiction. The Dante Club was very good, as was The Journal Of Dora Damage.
Argh, I do hope those links work, that was a lot of copy/pasting and I have a tendency to screw these things up.
Good SS collection - England Calling edited by Julia Bell and Jackie Gay
Poignant and delightful (and short and portable) - Monsieur Inbrahim et Les Fleurs du Coran Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. Can be found in English translation was made into a movie in 2003.
Non-fiction (sorry) - In The Hot Zone: One Year, One Man, Twenty Wars by Kevin Sites. A journalist's take on armed conflicts throughout the world. An excellent geography lesson and written in short engaging vignettes
Enjoy the summer!.
"The Glass Castle" is a really good memoir that reads like fiction.
It's not the latest book out now, but I'm getting into Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" - so far, it's very good - set in NY 1896, when Teddy Roosevelt was still police commissioner, and things like serial killers, criminal psychology and fingerprinting were largely-unknown, alien concepts - fascinating stuff ...
I'm working my way through Victor Hugo. I just finished Les Miserables, am halfway through Notre Dame de Paris, and my copy of '93 is on the way from Amazon.
Hugo can be a bit hard to read at times due to his somewhat antiquated style and obscure historical referrences (at least obscure to modern Americans), but if you like historical fiction and social comment, you will like Hugo.
I love people who read. This is a yummy book list.
Paulo Coelho is always good. I favor "The Alchemist," but have loved others, like "Eleven Minutes," and "By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept." I've enjoyed others, but these three are at the top of my Coelho list. If you haven't already gotten to these, I highly recommend them.