Summer Reading List

[sophia jane]

I have too much time on my hands at the moment, and for the first time in a while, I can read whatever I want (no school books! hooray!), but my reading list at the moment is entirely too short. So...I come to you, my fellow book lovers, for some recommendations. I want classics and trash, thought-provoking tales and fluff. Basically, I'll read anything good except horror and stuff with super sad endings.

Thanks bunches for the many suggestions I know you'll give me.


Books I've recently read and enjoyed-
Trans-Sister Radio- Bohjalian
Law of Similars- Bohjalian
Candy Everybody Want- Kilmer-Purcell
I am not myself these days- Kilmer Purcell

 

[DesertPirate]

I'm more into history, adventure, thriller type books.
These are the new ones this summer, so far.

Beyond Band of Brothers - Major Dick Winters

Death and Honor - W.E.B. Griffin

 

[Vermilion]

Historical 'faction'...
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

A wonderful, inspiring book told from the PoV of Joseph's (of amazing technicolour coat fame) sister, Dinah. It's moving and fascinating and, IIRC, has a positive ending. I'm in the middle of re-reading it at the moment and it's every bit as good as it was first time round.

I would also recommend
Never Change by Elizabeth Berg.

A story of an ordinary woman, with a day to day life that changes utterly when a high school crush re-enters it. Berg's writing is what inspires me continually. She has a magical way of describing the mundane so that it becomes fresh and thought provoking.

Birth, A History by Tina Cassidy.

A factual book, but one with stories to tell...I raced through it both times I read it and found it fascinating.


Let me know if you read/like any of them!
x
V

 

[sophia jane]

Historical 'faction'...
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

A wonderful, inspiring book told from the PoV of Joseph's (of amazing technicolour coat fame) sister, Dinah. It's moving and fascinating and, IIRC, has a positive ending. I'm in the middle of re-reading it at the moment and it's every bit as good as it was first time round.

I would also recommend
Never Change by Elizabeth Berg.

A story of an ordinary woman, with a day to day life that changes utterly when a high school crush re-enters it. Berg's writing is what inspires me continually. She has a magical way of describing the mundane so that it becomes fresh and thought provoking.

Birth, A History by Tina Cassidy.

A factual book, but one with stories to tell...I raced through it both times I read it and found it fascinating.


Let me know if you read/like any of them!
x
V

I had The Red Tent on my list last year, but never got to it. Thanks for reminding me! And I'll definitely check out the Birth, A History book.
I've read all of Berg's books. I love her.

It sounds like we might have similar tastes- I'd love to hear some more suggestions from you.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Get hold of some books by Anthony Daniels, the Brit psychiatrist. He's been everywhere and written tons of essays about his travels. He has a knack for teasing out the really bizarre stuff that happens in various places. His books are better than fiction.

 

[Vermilion]

I had The Red Tent on my list last year, but never got to it. Thanks for reminding me! And I'll definitely check out the Birth, A History book.
I've read all of Berg's books. I love her.

It sounds like we might have similar tastes- I'd love to hear some more suggestions from you.

Well Philippa Gregory writes some excellent stuff... My favourites are probably 'A Respectable Trade' (set in 18th C Bristol where a white woman develops a relationship with her slaves. That makes it sound shite, but it isn't I swear) and all of her Henry VIII books 'The other Boleyn Girl', 'The Queen's Fool'... bah, can;t remember any more titles, but she's good - look her up.

Who else?
Something a bit more trashy would be books by Jennifer Weiner... A cross between womens' literature and chick lit. Very readable. I like 'Good in Bed' and 'In Her Shoes' the best, but she's done a few more.

Will rack my brains for further inspiration
x
V

 

[sophia jane]

C'mon y'all. I know you read! I just want a list of good books to work from.

 

[oggbashan]

Alphabetical Classics (Part 1)

Here is a partial list that you might want to dip into:

Addison (and Steele) The Spectator particularly Sir Roger De Coverley

W H Ainsworth: The Tower of London

Daisy Ashford: The Young Visiters

Bacon: Essays

R M Ballantyne: The Young Fur Traders

J M Barrie (he of Peter Pan): The Admirable Crichton

H E Bates: Pop Larkin stories

Sir Max Beerbohm: Zuleika Dobson

Beith, John Hay (as Ian Hay) The First Hundred Thousand

R D Blackmore: Lorna Doone

George Borrow: Wild Wales

James Boswell: Life of Samuel Johnson

A C Bradley: Shakespearian Tragedy

Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth

Arthur Bryant: the 3 volumes about Pepys starting The Man in the Making

John Buchan: The Thirty-Nine Steps

Frances Burnett: The Secret Garden

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I just read IN PRAISE OF PREJUDICE by Theodore Dalrymple. Excellent book that all the usual suspects will naturally hate.

 

[cloudy]

Reservation Blues, by Sherman Alexie (everything he writes is great, but this is my favorite)

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. I've reread this several times, and it's always a great read.

...And Ladies of the Club, by Helen Hooven Santmyer. It's basically the story of the lives of two best friends from the age of about 18 on, set around the turn of the century.

The Descent, by Jeff Long. Another from him that I really liked is The Reckoning.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - blurb says: Spanning eight decades--and one unusually awkward adolescence- Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. (I think Stella originally recommended it to me)

Maia, by Richard Adams. Also worth reading from him: Watership Down.

For basic escapist reading, you can't beat the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and Breath of Snow and Ashes. They'd be considered romances, I suppose, but they're light years away from what most people would call romance novels. I know that there's several folks here in the AH that love them like I do.

I also really like most of Sharon Kay Penman's novels, in particular: Here Be Dragons, The Sunne in Splendour, Falls the Shadow, The Reckoning, When Christ and His Saints Slept, and Time and Chance. They're all period pieces, but she's done impeccable research, and has written fiction surrounding the historical facts. Great storyteller.

 

[michchick98]

I have too much time on my hands at the moment, and for the first time in a while, I can read whatever I want (no school books! hooray!), but my reading list at the moment is entirely too short. So...I come to you, my fellow book lovers, for some recommendations. I want classics and trash, thought-provoking tales and fluff. Basically, I'll read anything good except horror and stuff with super sad endings.

Thanks bunches for the many suggestions I know you'll give me.


Books I've recently read and enjoyed-
Trans-Sister Radio- Bohjalian
Law of Similars- Bohjalian
Candy Everybody Want- Kilmer-Purcell
I am not myself these days- Kilmer Purcell

There's a used book store here in my town and they have walls and walls of romance novels. They even have one shelf (only one for now) for erotic romance....and a lot of those books on that shelf were traded in by yours truly!

Anyway, I browse that store every couple weeks to see what catches my eye. Mostly romance, of course.

Although, the last three books I read were ordered from amazon.com:

Dangerous Games - Lora Leigh
Hidden Agendas - Lora Leigh
Killer Secrets - Lora Leigh

Those are three in a series of six books. The series is called TEMPTING SEALs. I have yet to read the other three books in the series, but they're on my waiting list on amazon.com. They're all stories about a group of Navy Seals, each book focuses on one of them. They've got a bit of action, romance and humor.

Lora Leigh has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I check her website about once a month to see when she has something new coming out.

I don't have a set list of what I'll read over the summer. Like I said, it'll be whatever strikes my interest in the used book store or I'll order a few from my waiting list on amazon.com.