I noticed a book recommendation on the ‘Memorial Day’ post and thought it might be a good thread to start separately.  I am always looking for a good book.  Currently I am reading ‘I Know This Much Is True’ by Wally Lamb.  I’ve read another of his books and he is a wonderful writer.  Oprah and I tend to have similar taste so I generally stick with her recommendations, although this can be limiting.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  I just bought the Kindle and I love it.

Book Club: Suggestion Thread
Book Club: “Transition” by Meghana Joshi

Have you read any Neil Gaiman? He is a wonderful story teller. I would try: http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-ebook/dp/B000FC130E/ref=ed_oe_k , this is the kindle edition. I love my kindle too btw.

Ameesh - 28 May 2009 08:23 AM

Have you read any Neil Gaiman? He is a wonderful story teller. I would try: http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-ebook/dp/B000FC130E/ref=ed_oe_k , this is the kindle edition. I love my kindle too btw.

This looks like something I would like, Thanks!

Anything by Octavia Butler is cool.

I just finished The Glass Castle.  It was a good read; it sucked me in pretty quickly and I finished the book within a week (I’m not a particularly fast reader, nor do I have a ton of time to devote to reading).  The book was kind of like Amy Tan books - painfully tragic but somehow inspiring…this was even more so since it was a memoir.  It was shocking and difficult to read but captivating.

I think we’re all on the same page here, I love any Amy Tan or Wally Lamb book. She’s Come Undone by Lamb was great!

I go through phases where I read a book a week, and then I won’t read a book for 6 months.  I’m currently coming out of my last 6 month hiatus.  This weekend, I saw the movie The Secret Life of Bees, and I actually thought the movie was fantastic.  Usually, I don’t enjoy watching movies based on my favorite books because IMO the books are always much better and the movies disappoint.  This one was a pleasant surprise.  I read The Secret Life of Bees in 2005 or 2006 and I loved it.  After watching the movie this weekend, I decided that I want to read the book again (something I’ve only done once before, and strangely, I don’t remember the name of the other book at the moment).  I also read The Mermaid Chair by the same author (Sue Monk Kidd), and I thought it was just okay.  Before my 6 month hiatus, I struggled half way through One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.  It’s not an easy read, so I found it difficult to read with one eye open at night.  Anyway, I need to pick back up where I left off.

I try to read novels by critically acclaimed authors, new and past.  I’m doing this in order to learn from and study the great writers so that I can shape my writing.  I’ve been taking writing classes and I’d like to write a novel one day. 

Finally, my favorite historical fiction book the past few years is The Known World, which I highly recommend.

Here is another great book:

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.  Don’t let the length scare you - it reads quickly and is very funny at times.

A Fine Balance and Shantaram are two books that I have checked out at least three times, but never gone beyond the first 40-50 pages.
My all time favorite is The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth when it comes to Indian-American authors.
Read Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie recently and was terribly disappointed.
Been reading Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken and heavily inspired/ impressed. It’s a non-fiction about environment.

Cubic Zirconia - 29 May 2009 09:52 PM

A Fine Balance and Shantaram are two books that I have checked out at least three times, but never gone beyond the first 40-50 pages.
My all time favorite is The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth when it comes to Indian-American authors.
Read Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie recently and was terribly disappointed.
Been reading Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken and heavily inspired/ impressed. It’s a non-fiction about environment.

I don’t know why I had the same problem with A Fine Balance. I passed it along to a friend and it became a huge favorite of his entire family, guess I should try again.

Guess it is a starting problem.. Because those who did read it mostly have good things to say.
I am thinking of trying Shantaram another try. It will be a movie soon.

I read A Fine Balance years ago and thought it was good but I didn’t LOVE it like so many others I’ve spoken to.  I’m from Indian descent and a lot of what I read was painful and gave me some insight into to life in a poverty stricken country but I just didn’t enjoy it like my friends seemed to.

Try a classic book.

Farewell My Lovely - Raymond Chandler. No one can write crime stories like RC. FML was my last read.

1984 - George Orwell. A terrific read in todays climate. Understand what everyone else merely references.

The Road - Cormack McCarthy (sp?) Haunting. A book that you still remember weeks later.

Soylent Green Is People - 01 June 2009 07:48 AM

Try a classic book.

Farewell My Lovely - Raymond Chandler. No one can write crime stories like RC. FML was my last read.

1984 - George Orwell. A terrific read in todays climate. Understand what everyone else merely references.

The Road - Cormack McCarthy (sp?) Haunting. A book that you still remember weeks later.

The Road was one of the most horrifying books I have ever read.  I will never forget it, especially since it is a fair prediction of what could transpire in the years after a nuclear war.  Actually, the book never really explains the tragic event, but from what is described, it seems like a nuclear winter to me.  It was a hard book to get through (due to the graphic content) but I’m glad I read it.

How they are going to convince people to pay $9 - $11 to see this book in movie form I will never know. Viggo M. is the father. The film was to come out in December 08 but parts of it had to be re-shot due to it not being bleak enough. Any test audience will tell the filmmakers that this is too much of a downer. I hope they don’t twist it too much from it’s core. I know more about it but won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it.

Soylent Green Is People - 01 June 2009 10:02 AM

How they are going to convince people to pay $9 - $11 to see this book in movie form I will never know. Viggo M. is the father. The film was to come out in December 08 but parts of it had to be re-shot due to it not being bleak enough. Any test audience will tell the filmmakers that this is too much of a downer. I hope they don’t twist it too much from it’s core. I know more about it but won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it.

I had no idea they were making a movie of this book.  After I finished the book, I tried to imagine it as a movie, but I thought “no, there is no way they would do that”.  This is going to be one depressing movie.

SoOCOwner - 01 June 2009 08:05 AM

Soylent Green Is People - 01 June 2009 07:48 AM

Try a classic book.

Farewell My Lovely - Raymond Chandler. No one can write crime stories like RC. FML was my last read.

1984 - George Orwell. A terrific read in todays climate. Understand what everyone else merely references.

The Road - Cormack McCarthy (sp?) Haunting. A book that you still remember weeks later.

The Road was one of the most horrifying books I have ever read.  I will never forget it, especially since it is a fair prediction of what could transpire in the years after a nuclear war.  Actually, the book never really explains the tragic event, but from what is described, it seems like a nuclear winter to me.  It was a hard book to get through (due to the graphic content) but I’m glad I read it.

1984 is a very good book to read. If you like horrifying books that I suggest you check out The wasp factory. This will give you nightmares for months.

http://www.amazon.com/Wasp-Factory-Novel-Iain-Banks/dp/0684853159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243881171&sr=8-1

Soylent Green Is People - 01 June 2009 07:48 AM

Try a classic book.

Farewell My Lovely - Raymond Chandler. No one can write crime stories like RC. FML was my last read.

1984 - George Orwell. A terrific read in todays climate. Understand what everyone else merely references.

The Road - Cormack McCarthy (sp?) Haunting. A book that you still remember weeks later.

Animal Farm by George Orwell is my other favorite. Don’t know how many times I have read it!
Haven’t read “The Road”. Sometimes if they are “haunting” emotionally, I get disturbed.. Mystic River was one I couldn’t finish.

There’s always “Still Life With A Woodpecker” by Tom Robbins. Odd, but not as odd as Hitchhiker’s Guide.

“The Martian Chronicles” is another classic book suggestion.

I can’t watch Mystic River without wanting to shoot the villains, so in order to preserve my Plasma, I turn the channel.

Favorite book that I read in College that I just could not put down…East of Eden by John Steinbeck   It’s a long read but very entertaining.  The Stranger was an interesting short read.

Worst book I read was Crime and Punishment…what torture to have to read, avoid like the plague.

usctrojanman29 - 01 June 2009 10:01 PM

Favorite book that I read in College that I just could not put down…East of Eden by John Steinbeck   It’s a long read but very entertaining.  The Stranger was an interesting short read.

Worst book I read was Crime and Punishment…what torture to have to read, avoid like the plague.

Have you read ‘of mice and men’? They made a movie out of it with John Malkovich. I refused to watch the movie because the book is just too sad

Stuff It - 01 June 2009 10:34 AM

1984 is a very good book to read. If you like horrifying books that I suggest you check out The wasp factory. This will give you nightmares for months.

http://www.amazon.com/Wasp-Factory-Novel-Iain-Banks/dp/0684853159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243881171&sr=8-1

Wait… whoa… we have another Iain Banks fan on IHB? I read Wasp Factory a long time ago, great book, but Complicity was/is one of my favorite books of all time. I even have a copy I haven’t touched because I lost my original. It was the first book that I stayed up until the sun nearly rose to finish. Have you read it?

Stuff It - 01 June 2009 10:26 PM

usctrojanman29 - 01 June 2009 10:01 PM

Favorite book that I read in College that I just could not put down…East of Eden by John Steinbeck   It’s a long read but very entertaining.  The Stranger was an interesting short read.

Worst book I read was Crime and Punishment…what torture to have to read, avoid like the plague.

Have you read ‘of mice and men’? They made a movie out of it with John Malkovich. I refused to watch the movie because the book is just too sad

Yeah, I read Of Mice and Men back in High School and really enjoyed the movie as well.

I agree - Of Mice and Men is a wonderful book.  Good movie as well.  I think it has been discussed before on this blog, but The Grapes of Wrath is a good book to read right now (with the way the economy is).  It made me realize that we really don’t have it so bad these days - times during The Great Depression were so much worse.

graphrix - 02 June 2009 12:11 AM

Stuff It - 01 June 2009 10:34 AM

1984 is a very good book to read. If you like horrifying books that I suggest you check out The wasp factory. This will give you nightmares for months.

http://www.amazon.com/Wasp-Factory-Novel-Iain-Banks/dp/0684853159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243881171&sr=8-1

Wait… whoa… we have another Iain Banks fan on IHB? I read Wasp Factory a long time ago, great book, but Complicity was/is one of my favorite books of all time. I even have a copy I haven’t touched because I lost my original. It was the first book that I stayed up until the sun nearly rose to finish. Have you read it?

I haven’t read that one. I will have to check it out - the reference to Hunter Thomson makes it intriguing - anyone seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

I have mostly read his Culture series - favourite being the Player of games