Looking for a great book to read are you? Who isn't! 5 I've read, 5 I'm gonna read and reader recommendations.
Grade 6 was as good a time as any to become a woman. There I was standing in the grocery store aisle, long blonde hair pulled into two ponytails secured with big pink bobbles looking down at my dirty running shoes. I had no idea what I was doing. Before me was row upon row of unusual choices, none of which seemed to make any sense to me.
But I was a grown up now and I had to pick something. I'd asked around a little bit so I had a few recommendations but ultimately this was going to have to be a personal decision. All I knew was I didn't want some product marketed to kids, I wanted the adult version.
As it turns out, the decision I finally made changed my life.
I went with The Amityville Horror. The first grown up book I ever read. It was absolutely terrifying. There's no way in hell I should have been allowed to read that thing in grade 6. But I'd finished all the Judy Blume's so ....
That little paperback from the local grocery store scared the SHIT out of me. Because of The Amityville Horror, my first job wasn't eating other people's potato chips and babysitting like every other teenager, it was slogging away packaging sunglasses for a friend's father. Who did not provide potato chips.
Babysitting? Stay in a stranger's house while their kids slept? Um, no. I mean, I knew things now. Houses could not only be haunted, they could try to kill you.
You see, at the time, The Amityville Horror was marketed as a true story. It was based on the real life experiences of a family who moved into a home where the previous owner went nuts and shot 6 members of his family. Enter the next family to move into the house and cue the paranormal activity. Rooms filled with flies, people levitated, glowing eyed pigs romping through the house. It was quite a step up from The Bobbsey Twins; Secret at the Seashore.
That book did two things. It really did scare me to the point that I knew I was going to require therapy later in life.
And it made me understand what a page turner was. The book was so scary I knew it was scarring me, but for some reason I couldn't stop reading it. I was compelled to read it every chance I got, mental health be damned.
I'd say every 3 or 4 books I read now are ones I consider page turners. The kind of books you find yourself thinking about throughout the day wondering when you can acceptably get in your pajamas and go to bed to read.
These next 5 great books are all page turners, but one of them is a STAND OUT.
5 Great Books (I've read)
1. A Prayer for Owen Meany - This book captivated me when I first read it. I can't remember when that was but it was probably 30 years ago. ACK. What a horrible thing to say. That's when the book was originally published. As is often the case with John Irving novels, this one is based around a very unique character; Owen Meany. An incredibly small boy with a squeaky voice who believes he is a conduit of God. A Prayer for Owen Meany is my second favourite book of all time. My favourite book is the Pulitzer Prize winning Western, Lonesome Dove. It took me 3 or 4 cracks at it before I could get through the first chapter but once I did? Wow.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
2. A Man Called Ove - Here we go. THIS is the book. The page turner, the exceptional, the STAND OUT. I read A Man Called Ove after watching the movie based on it. The book follows the life of Ove, a cranky older man. It is funny, touching, insightful and sad. If you can only buy one book make A Man Called Ove the one.
3. Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls I love David Sedaris. If you like funny you'll love him too. Sedaris has a dry humour that can sometimes bubble up from nowhere until you're crossing your legs praying not to pee yourself. His books are usually a conglomeration of autobiographical short stories. Essays. If you *haven't* read David Sedaris before start with Me Talk Pretty One Day.
4. Manhattan Beach This was a, Yeah, it's a pretty good book, to me. It got great reviews and according to the amount of stars it has on Amazon people mostly loved it. I did look forward to reading it every night but ... it was just missing something for me. Not a lot. If it was a person it wasn't missing a major organ, just ... maybe some necessary fluids.
5. Middlesex The most critically acclaimed novel on this list, not only did Middlesex win the Pulitzer Prize, Amazon readers give it close to a 5 star rating. The book, published in 2007, which is when I read it, focuses on Callie a young Greek girl who at the age of 14 discovers she's Intersex (formerly known as a hermaphrodite). It's then that she becomes Cal.
5 Great Books (I'm gonna read)
1. A Prayer for Owen Meany Yup. I'm gonna read it again. Like I said, it's been almost 30 years since I originally read this book and declared it one of my all time favourites. I feel like it's time to read it again. I've reread lots of books, but this one I'm rereading on purpose so I won't be surprised when I get halfway through it and think "Hey. I feel like I know *exactly* what's going to happen. HEY. I'VE READ THIS BOOK ALREADY!"
2. Eventide This book was on my books to read list LAST TIME. I keep saving it. It's one of those "I want to save it books". Not everyone is an "I want to save it" kind of person, I realize. I was also the kid who would still have Halloween candy by mid-June. Eventide is the follow up to Kent Haruf's Plainsong. He has a quiet, subtle voice that allows even the most dramatic scenes to be told with a whisper, not a scream.
3. A Visit From the Goon Squad Written by the same author who penned the aforementioned "yeah, it's a pretty good book" Manhattan Beach. I'm giving author Jennifer Egan another go with this, the novel that won her the Pulitzer Prize. It's about an ageing punk rocker and record executive. Based on that, chances of me not liking this novel are very slim.
4. Sing, Unburied, Sing Set in Mississippi's past and present, Sing, Unburied Sing, is the portrait of a struggling family and the hope we all have to continue on no matter how miserable things get. This is one of those critics darlings novels which can go either way for me. I'm usually on board when it comes to critically praised books but most critically acclaimed movies leave me with the dry heaves.
5. Theft by Finding I mentioned that David Sedaris writes autobiographical short stories (essays). The reason he can do this so accurately is because he began recording his life in a diary at the age of 20 and hasn't missed a day of writing since. Last year he published Theft by Finding, the first half of his edited diaries (1977-2002). Yay!
I'm super-dignified in case you were wondering.
I just wanted to mention as a side note, that the people who lived in the Amityville Horror house? The ones who claimed to have had all these paranormal experiences in the house? Well, a couple of years after the book was published and people started to suspect it wasn't actually true the couple agreed to take lie detector tests. The husband and wife submitted to tests performed by 2 of the top Polygraph experts in the United States. There was no indication of lying.
EeeeEeeeeekkkkk!!!!
O.K., you know what to do now. It's time for you to give us your book recommendations. Feel free to include the first book that really grabbed you. Metaphorically speaking of course. I hope.
Have at it.
NinaMargo
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson - a treasure I reread and savor every few years. And any mystery by PD James or Ruth Rendell, for their wit and fabulous plots.
Can't live without David Sedaris.
Tina
Try Aaron Stander's mysteries!
Edward Cummings
Just in time, I am planning to read a lot more this year, thanks for the list !!!
MrsDanvers
It doesn’t matter what you are reading if you’ve got a Burmese on your lap!
My favourite John Irving is A Widow for One Year; I feel a re-read coming on.
Janet
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. It's a beautiful little book that earned a place on my keeper shelf.
Tracey in GA
“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah is my all time favorite book. Incredible.
Second favorite is “Unbroken” by Laura Hillandrand. Angelina Jolie butchered it when she made the movie. Both are intense books.
Karen
I'm reading the Nightingale right now. Almost done. Did I mention that in the post? It'll be on the next book list. :) ~ karen!
Valerie
I also enjoyed Kristin Hannah's the Nightingale - an intriguing tale; I only wish she would write more.
SueSchneid22
I read Plainsong. It was wonderful and I have Eventide on my list, too.
Pattie Meyers
Camel head - yes I see it and it makes me laugh out loud. Somehow it fits the funny but lovely setting! My favorite author is Wendell Berry, anything he writes. He’s a “savor that sentence multiple times” author for me.
Karen, thanks for this topic. You rock.
PS: Gonna build a pizza oven.
Martha Littlejohn
Yes! Anything by Wendell Berry.....in particular, any of his fiction. The books trace generations of lives in the fictional community of Port William, Kentucky, telling how families get along with one another and with the land. I read them slowly and with savor, like Scripture....and they're often funny. William Faulkner wrote southern fiction.....Wendell Berry writes GREAT southern fiction!
Joan Gracyalny
I'm letting my nerd show here... Latest book I've loved, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Fun easy read full of awesome 80's references. All time faves The Stand, Steven King, The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood and evil George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. Come on George, new one this year... please!?
Teresa Chandler
Wow Karen, you are so CLEAN!
No busted lip, no dust mask, no chipped or or garden-dirt fingernails, no bits of straw or chicken poo in unsuspecting places, no French fry greasy fingers, no brown/white/gray streaks (that, fashionably match the back of your rubber gloves) across your cheeks and forehead.
It’s good to see you back in my inbox even if these pictures may be of your evil twin, (whose existence I have always suspected by the fact that your hair always looks so good.)
I read 12 books in January- I really liked A Man Called Ove too - I read it a while ago on the recommendation of a quiet little bespectacled man in a tiny little bookstore who handed it to me like an offering, with one hand on the top and the other on the bottom as he said, “you should read this.” Seriously, who could resist that?
Karen
Winter is my "clean" season. :) ~ karen!
Leisa
Owen Meaney is my all time fave and I often re-read it.
A Gardening book you might like is “A New Leaf” by Marilyn Simmonds. It takes you through an entire growing season at her place in the Kingston area (she has chickens too!) I love it because it’s the closest I can get to gardening at this time of the year!
Must check out Lonesome Dove.
Happy Reading!
Wendy Hull
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Very good read if you love flowers and what they mean. I am a master gardener and I loved it. Her second book, We never asked for wings, was also very good.
Kirsten Ilczyna
I have never read a book I liked better than Owen Meany, therefore I guess I’m going to read Lonesome Dove. I noticed that it is book 3 in a series, do I need to read all of them?
Also I’m a big fan of Jonathan Tropper novels, particularly This Is Where I Leave You. It has now become a movie and wasn’t terrible although the book is always better.
Karen
Just read Lonesome Dove. It's the stand alone. It's VERY different from A Prayer for Owen Meany. Just so we're clear on that. :) ~ karen!
Deb
Love Larry McMurtry, although Terms of Endearment is my favorite. And John Irving, who oddly sits on the bookshelf next to McMurtry. David Sedaris is a genius and if you don't have it, buy or download immediately the CD of his Carnegie Hall performance. Six to Eight Black Men and With a Pal Like This will have you wetting your pants.
Also Pat Conroy (Great Santini and Prince of Tides), Jane Austen (yes, I know it's clichéd, but I love P&P, Emma, and Persuasion especially), EB White essays, John McPhee almost anything, but especially Sense of Where You Are and Giving Good Weight, John Hersey Hiroshima is amazing.
For lighter reading, I adore Laurie Colwin, Joan Aiken (and don't ignore the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series -- Nightbirds Over Nantucket is the best). Mary Stewart is underrated and a wonderful writer of mild suspense novels with smart, feisty heroines (start with Madam, Will You Talk), Susan Isaacs is at the very top of Chick Lit for me and Shining Through is a page turner if there ever was one. Bill Bryson is marvelous and another one who has you laughing so loud that you shouldn't read him with strangers nearby. Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, especially for boomers, is hysterical, but equally so in a different way, is Notes From a Small Island.
Clearly, I could go on and on, but that's enough...
Valerie
One of the most interesting and humorous books I have read by Bill Bryson dealt with houses, the history of rooms through the ages that create a house. Since you enjoy him as well do you recall the name of that book?
Steph
It's called At Home: A Short History of Private Life. I love Bryson- he reminds me of my dad, who is interested in the minutia of anything and will stop at any random museum he passes. I will say that In a Sunburned Country made me scared to ever visit Australia, since it seems that everything there- plant or animal- will try to kill you. But then I went and it was lovely and non-fatal. :)
bev out west
Totally agree about Bill Bryson!
Tina
If you enjoy Bill Bryson, try The Bear That Ate My Pants by Tony James Slater!
Meredith
Huge David Sedaris fan! I loved Theft by Finding but!.......I listened to it as an audiobook, read by him, which was total perfection. I listened in my car and would make up excuses to drive long distances and was super sad when it was over. I could see that reading it might be a little tedious and not what you are used to from him. They aren't necessarily stories but him reading diary entries and without his vocal emphasis on parts, it might be a little dry.
Lindsay
Have you read The Luminaries? It’s a phenomenal mystery that unfolds beautifully. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2013. I read it a few years ago at the recommendation of a friend and I couldn’t put it down!
Might I also recommend American Gods if you haven’t read it already?
Michelle
I read a lot of Young Adult novels as I am part of a (Not so) Young Adult Book Club. I just finished Scythe by Neal Schusterman. It's a science fiction look at the future where death has been conquered. It is very hard to put down. Interesting discussions at book club too. Worth the read.
Tina W
Loved Scythe!
Pam
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I listened to this one and if you can, I think the audiobook version is just exceptional. Also I will always recommend Cutting for Stone.
Michelle
LOVED Eleanor and listening is definitely the way to go. :)
Cary Wade
A prayer for Owen Meany is my all-time favorite book too! Did you see the movie? So disappointing :-( have you read Watership Down by Richard Adams? It is right up there as my favorite as well. You would love it.
Sandra Lea
The first book that ever grabbed me and still remains my favorite it To Kill a Mockingbird. I have to say I was not as impressed with A Man Called Ove as other people seem to be. I found it boring and predictable. My favorite more current book is The Goldfinch. I loved, loved, loved this book and plan to read it again.
janpartist
The Goldfinch was really good, enjoyed the whole massive thing!
Jennifer
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
A funny book about horrible things
Tina
She has a blog and facebook page, The Bloggess...hysterical!