I have something special to tell you all. I had, what was without a doubt, the happiest moment of my entire life yesterday. The kind of moment you don't think will happen but when it does you think, Yes. Thank you. I really do deserve this and I'm grateful for it.
I got a shipment of books from Amazon.
YESSSSSSSSS. Today I thought realizing I could probably get away without vacuuming for another day was the happiest moment of my life.
I'm kind of like a dog that way. BALL? BALL? THROW THE BALL. I LOVE PLAYING WITH THE BALL! Oop. TWIG??? TWIG??? THROW THE TWIG. I LOVE PLAYING WITH THE TWIG!
I really do get a tingly feeling in my toes when a big box full of books arrives. I'm not an order one or two books kind of person. I order them like pancakes. By the stack.
When last we met, several of you recommended a few books for me to read. In fact if you look at the comment section of the last "5 Books I've read, Plus 5 Books I'm Gonna Read" post you'll see there are hundreds of book recommendations from readers. I read all of those comments, cross referenced them with reviews from GoodReads and Amazon and put together an Amazon order. That was several months ago. I've since read my first shipment of books recommended by you and am now moving onto my second shipment.
I'd been hearing about the Hunger Games triology for a longgg time. I wasn't sure I'd like it but the set was on sale so I bought it. I absolutely loved the first book. Could NOT put it down. Which of course is the sign of a good book. Or blankie. The second and third books were good and very readable, but were a little flat compared to the first. Still an excellent trilogy that you can read in NO time. Probably because they were written for 12 year old girls.
I Still Dream About You - Fannie Flagg
I keep going back to Fannie Flagg based on her phenomenal book Fried Green Tomatoes. So far nothing has equalled that novel, but a few have come close. This isn't one of them.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
Award winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver is know for her works of fiction like The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Tree but several years ago she wrote a work of non-fiction chronicling a period in her life when she uprooted herself and her family to move to a farm to live off the land. As in only eat what she could buy locally or grow/kill herself. Yep. If that sort of thing interests you, you'll love this book with all of your heart. If it doesn't ... it probably won't keep your attention.
I read other books as well, these are just a select few I thought I'd bring to your attention. The one book that came highly recommended by a lot of people was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I have tried and tried and I cannot get through this book. I find the kid (from whose point of view the book is written) annoying, the writing extremely jarring, pretentious and forced.
Mind you, it took me about 6 tries to finally get through Lonesome Dove, which I hated every time I started to read it. The Pulitzer Prize winning western is now my favourite book of all time.
The Book Thief - I'll admit it. I have a thing about novels revolving around WWII. I don't know what it is, but I'm inexplicably attracted to them. Two of the best I've read ... Sarah's Key and Suite Francaise.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Originally published in 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. An American Classic about a girl coming of age at the turn of the century. Of my stack, I'm most looking forward to reading this book. I have no idea if that means I'll read it first or last. I'm kind of known for delaying gratification for as long as possible. Ahem.
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party (Book 18 of The #1 Ladies Detective Series) - I love these books. I just LOVE them. The television series was even better, but alas it's been cancelled. If you're looking for a series of books that are funny, heartfelt and just make you feel good every time you read them, this is the series to go for.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - I'd heard mixed reviews about this book that's written as a series of letters. So I checked the reviews on Amazon and if 1,638 readers gave it an average review of 4.5 out of 5 stars ... I think it's a safe bet I'll like it. Also takes place during WWII. Which I swear, I didn't know when I bought it.
Explosive 18 (Book 18 in the Stephanie Plum series) - These are great, no brain books. You can read them fast, they entertain you and there's always genuine laugh out loud moments. You're not tucking into it for the greatest story ever told, you're reading it for mindless entertainment, good writing and a guilty pleasure.
O.K. So let's have it. Let the next round of recommendations begin ...
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Caroline
Best books I've read lately are
1 - the Flavia DeLuce series (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
2 - Let's Pretend this Never Happened (also check out her blog TheBloggess.com - hysterical!)
3 - a series by a swedish auther called Camilla Lackberg (1st book is called The Ice Princess)
4 - a book called 7 An Experimental Munity Against Excess (very christian based but still an interesting read)
Happy reading!!
Sue
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbury
I read it just after Potato Peel Pie Society and though they were nothing alike, I felt like the stars must have been aligned for me to have stumbled across two such wonderful books and read them back to back.
Something else you might enjoy is the Flavia deLuce series by Alan Bradley. I think the first one is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I was sucked in to this 11-year old girl's post WWII world from the first page.
I love book lists and the recommendations of others, thanks for this post!
Jamiek
I am currently reading "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. If you like books about WWII you will like this book. It's historical non-fiction.
Roxana
Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Hunting and Gathering - Ana Gavalda
Survivor - Chuck Palaniuk
Gayla T
I have given Rosamunde Pilcher credit for me becoming the woman I am. I started reading her when I was a young mother in the 1970's and read everything she wrote. I happened to come across one of the early book in a box when I moved here and got the idea to reread all her books and see how they felt after all these years.I'm loving every page and it's like going back and visiting people I used to know and haven't seen in years. I buy as many books as I can on Ebay because the shipping is cheaper and now the books are too. All the book sellers are running scared by the electronic readers and selling books for as low as a dollar each. I search for a book I want and then see who has others on my list. Then I go theough as many books in their listing as I need to fill up a box. When you are paying a dollar a book and they combine the postage I'm probably paying a buck and a half. I bought three boxes a couple of months ago and Rosamunde Pilcher's books and her sons filled a box nicely. The author I read before this was Patrick Taylor who has written the Irish Country Dr series and I'm anxiously waiting for him to write another. While buying his I came across another Irish author Alice Taylor who is no relation to Patrick. I've now read all of her books except one and I ordered it tonight when I found it on Ebay. I also have enjoyed the Miss Julia series. They are Fanny Flagg all over the place, an absolute hoot. I've caught myself laughing out loud and that doesn't happen very often. Both of the Irish authors, Alice and Patrick are writing about Ireland after WWll and I find that is an interesting era to me. I have two more boxes to tell you about but I'm tired and still fighting the infection from the cat bite. Typing makes my arm hurt so I'll save the others for next time.
Maggie
My most recent is "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. She chronicles her true story of her solo journey walking from Southern California to the Oregon/Washington border on the Pacific Crest Trail (1100 miles or so - all by herself). She also has a very personal reason to "find herself". Many things in life don't turn out the way you want them to - but you can and must live through them anyway.
Funny, inspiring read. Hope you try it!
Megan
With all this book chat that little word almost went unnoticed - "Ahem." Don't worry, I caught it, and am still giggling.
Marilyn
I heard Barbara Kingsolver read from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and talk about her year of eating local...amazing. My favorite reads this summer have been Wild, Mudbound, The Angel Makers, and The Dry Grass of August.
Tricia
The Night Circus!
Janice
A Tree Grows in Broklyn ...... one of my faves!!
Bobbi
Harry Dresden series (Jim Butcher) so far 4 diverse family members and 2 co-workers have gotten hooked on them......
also "The Dovekeepers" by Alice Hoffman...I listened to it on Audible...don't know how it would have been "in hand"...the voices gave it such richness........
I am off to find Gone Girl and Let's Pretend This Never Happened......
Happy reading !!!
miriam
I am currently enjoying "How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran. She's a British columnist who is just hilarious--it's part memoir, part feminist manifesto. Really, really funny.
ev
"The Help", very uplifting, includes funny and sad, history, and shame of our nation. (I live in Ohio.)
Stephanie Hobson
Lots of good suggestions here, including some of my favorites. A few writers that havent' been listed:
Kristin Cashore - Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue.
Laurie R. King - particularly the Mary Russell series. Mary is a young woman who is married to the older Sherlock Holmes. (Can you even imagine being married to him?)
Charles Todd - his books take place during and after WWI.
Reavis Z. Wortham - The Rockhole and Burrows. Reminiscent of To Kill A Mockingbird, only in Texas.
I've recently begun using Goodreads to track my reading. Now all I have to do is remember to update it!
Kristin
Chiming in to second (or third or fourth - I stopped reading all the comments) the recommendation of Unbroken by Lauren Hildebrand. Excellent!
I also recommend The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview, if you are a Pride and Prejudice fan. Puts a different take on Caroline Bingley.
I have also enjoyed the novels by Emily Giffin.
Brigit
I loved "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" and a great book I just read is The Dovekeepers" by Alice Hoffman (don't confuse with the Dove Keeper)
Danielle
An interesting read is "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan which chronicles the years Frank Lloyd Wright lived with his mistress. It was one of my book club reads and I thought it would be a yawn fest but actually is interesting (Frank sounds like an ass but talented, ok a talented ass). The true aspects of this story will blow you away (near the end of the book). My book clubs favourite read was 'East of Eden' John Steinbeck. An oldie but a goodie. I personally like anything by John Irving. Quirky writing but I like quirky. The world according to Garp, A prayer for Owen Meany or A widow for one year are a few of my favourites.
Tina W.
Mountains of the Moon, Night Circus, and Extra Virginity (about olive oil).
Chau
Karen, I did like "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". It brought back beauty of human spirit and the art of letter writing that our internet-driven society has forgotten. I sincerely hope you would like it too
SamiJ
I get a lot of my books from a trading site (www.paperbackswap.com) -- also a great way to send unwanted books out into the world. Some of my faves: the Harry Dresden series (Jim Butcher), The Iron Seas series (Maljean Brooks), The Bird Artist (Howard Norman), I Wish I Had a Red Dress (Pearl Cleage), and for my "remember this?" classic pick, The Country of the Pointed Firs (Sarah Orne Jewett)