Read any good books lately?

I am reading a terrific book. "Beyond the Sky and the Earth" by Jamie Zeppa, it's about a woman who goes to Bhutan (a small country above China and below India). She teaches in a school there and just experiences the culture shock thing. Goes from wanting to run home crying to falling in love with the place.
As quoted on the back ".....Her tale is part love story part history lesson and part Buddhism 101...."
It's fantastic.
Heather
 
I'm reading "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt. If you've never read him before I highly recommend him. He's Irish and oddly enough while I'm reading (he writes about his life) I can almost hear his Irish brogue in my head. Is that wierd????? :eek:
 
Go for David Liss's historical novels about a character from the 18th century named Benjamin Weaver. I cannot remember the names of the books but I it was hard to put them down. Also, Anne Tyler has a new one out. And don't forget about anything my Alexander McCall Smith especially his books on The Number one Ladies Detective Agency. Great books. Set in Botswana. Not alot of action but wonderul, interesting, lovable characters.
 
I just finished (this morning) You're Not You (Michelle Wildgen), about a college student who becomes a caretake for a woman with Lou Gehrig's disease. As you can imagine from that description, it isn't all light reading...but for me it was a can't-put-it-down book, and it raises some interesting ideas.

Oprah's July (I think) issue was about reading and books, and it has some good lists and suggestions...

Allison
 
>Pinky:
>
>have you read Ann Patchett's account of her friendship with
>Lucy Grealy? It is excellent. Look for it on Amazon.com.
>Sorry I can't remember the title.
>
>Clare


I haven't, Clare. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll surely do a search on it. I found Lucy Grealy's autobiography so touching. It hit me in a place where I surely need to be hit. :eek: Sounds awful, but it's actually a good thing. :)

Pinky
 
Has anyone read Beloved by Toni Morrison? I'm intrigued by this one and curious what you all think of it. I haven't read it yet but was thinking about ordering it from Amazon.
 
PLEASE - list any and all great memoirs here!

I LOVE memoir!! It's my favorite genre.

Some of my favorite memoirs? (Titles only, sorry - I'm terrible with remembering author's names)

Name All The Animals
The Burn Journals
The Liar's Club
Daughter of the Queen of Sheeba (or something really close to that)
Why I'm Like This

Oh, there are too many to list.

Thanks for this thread - summer is for reading!!!
 
Jillybean,

If you love memoir, I recommend "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books" by Azar Nafisi. It could be described as an insight into being an educated woman during the Islamic revolution in Iran, but it's really so much more than that. Nafisi's passion for literature made me want to go back and read all the American lit that I just glossed over during high school and college.

I loved this book, it was emotionally hard to read at times, but I loved it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/08...f=pd_bbs_1/103-0458142-0579858?_encoding=UTF8
 
As a librarian (no, we don't shelve books or shush people all day and yes, we do have to have Masters degrees) I have read a couple good books as of late. I recommend Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald.

Also, I am a reviewer for a professional journal so I get to read a lot of books before their official publication. One excellent book is "The War of the World : Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West' by Niall Ferguson.
 
"Oh, I would love to read. I am developing a long Wish List of books to read "someday", beginning with The Year of Magical Thinking. Has anyone here read it?"


Hi Nancy,

I just listened to this audio book in my car on the way to and from work this week. It was alright. As I listened I knew that I would never get through the book if I were actually reading it. Just sort of boring, I guess.

Books I've read lately:
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green (very, very good, and a very quick read)

The Dogs of Babel (this was strange and pretty good, but not fun or light!)

Queen of Babble (very funny and light, a chick lit book)

Name All the Animals (pretty good, sort of heavier than I really like but not too heavy)

Patty Jane's House of Curl (I got the audio book and I loved it)

What Comes After Crazy (eh)

Sorry--I have no idea on the authors of any of these, except Q of B, which was by Meg Cabot.

Wendy
 
Newswoman,

I love Jane Green's books! I just picked up Swapping Lives, and it is calling to me, but I have library books I need to finish first. I might just go ahead and return them and start Swapping Lives this weekend.
Jemima J was my favorite of her books.

Wendy
 
If you like Jane Green, you will love Jane Moore, whose latest, The Second Wives' Club, I have just finished. Love Anita Shreve, Pilot's Wife is excellent.

And also if you like Jane Green, you will probably like Melissa Nathan, who to my mind is the better and way funnier writer. Her books are Pride, Prejudice & Jasmin Field, The Waitress, The Nanny, and Persuading Annie.

We could discuss the "queen of Chick lit" title, because Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Cruisie surely deserve a shot at the title. Try Bet Me, Welcome to temptation, Nobody's baby but Mine, Aint She Sweet, etc.

I'll come back with more when I can remember what else I have read and enjoyed, from all sorts of genres.

Clare
 
I loved Reading Lolita in Tehran. I've discovered there are number of really fascinating books, mainly memoirs, by Iranian women out there. Just a few good ones I've read are:
Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni
Even After All This Time by Afschineh Latifi
Journey From the Land of No by Roya Hakakian

Also a good fiction read from a really cool lady (I look forward to meeting her in person later this year): Jumping Over Fire by Nahid Rachlan
 
Right now I'm hooked on a fantasy/mystery book series written from the 1970s to the 1990s: The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. It's a collection 10 books, released as one big volume a few years ago. I'm schlepping this 5 pound book in my backpack on my commute every day--absolutely hooked. I got home early from work today and instead of doing the million and one things I have to do around here, I sat and read for 4 hours.
 
Wow. Thanks for all the suggestions. Some I have read, some I have never even heard of. I'm going to print this up and take it to the library with me. I ended up getting 2 more books by Lisa See.
 
Jillybean-
My next memoir is going to be the Glass Castle. It sounds like it will be quite harrowing at some points, but ultimately very worthwhile. It's on my reading wish list.
-Nancy
 
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