I posted about this on Facebook, but I am searching for new books to read.
You can look at my reading list to see what sorts of books I'm interested in.
Basically, I like books that are easy to read and interesting. Things I don't like:
1) Pure fantasy.. I can handle the Hunger Games, but nothing too out there
2) Overly flowery or complex language
3) Non-fiction
And when she was good by laura lippman
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/When-She-Was-Good-Novel/dp/0061706876
liza bennett
I put it on my list.
DeleteIt's a bit surprising, but probably my favorite series of all time is "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King. It's fantasy (not horror) but not way out there, and super easy to read.
ReplyDeleteLife of Pi - recent movie is based on this book. I'm 25% through and love it
ReplyDeleteSpindle's End by Robin McKinley- based on Sleeping Beauty, very well written
The House of God by Samuel Shem - the classic novel about medicine
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - also had a movie made about it
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson - nonfiction travel stories which I don't usually care for, but this is really easy to read, well written, and hilarious
If you haven't read it yet, I'll give a second vote for Life of Pi. It really is a fantastic book.
DeleteHouse of God seems a little bit graphic to recommend to a mother.. but it is an otherwise interesting read for those in medicine.
I can't comment on the others, though.
So I know you said you don’t really like pure fantasy, but I have to recommend this book to everyone who asks what they should read. It’s Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, and it revived the fantasy lover in me. Lately I’ve just been uninspired by the fantasy books out there and haven’t really picked up any new books in a while. Seraphina, though, it’s amazing! Everyone should read it. Twice probably, since the second one doesn’t come out until next year.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so how about any of these books that I’ve read recently? :)
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
- The Lover's Dictionary
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
- 1984
- Bitter in the Mouth
And these are the books on my winter break reading list:
- The last three books of the Artemis Fowl series
- The last two books of the Inheritance cycle
- The Forgotten Garden
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
- American Gods
- Anansi Boys
Let us know what you end up deciding to read! :D
My 3 favorite books:
ReplyDeleteStiff, by Mary Roach
A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
Space, by James Michener.
The last one is kind of a tough read with the dense language, but it's such an excellent book I can overlook that fact.
I read Sayonara, but I know Michener is usually pretty dense.
DeleteDefinately "Stiff", she manages to be humerous about the lives of human cadavers without being disrespecful.
Delete"Stiff" thirded, fascinating book. Also liked Walk in the Woods, a Bryson classic
DeleteCutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
ReplyDeleteSeconded!
DeleteI would be interested in what you thought of Cutting for Stone. I found it interesting save for how he portrayed one character and that utterly enraged me. I know it has gotten a lot of praise, but I found the author to be very harsh toward the female characters.
DeleteThirded!
DeleteI really couldn't get into this book. Apparently I am the only one.
DeleteI have a feeling I would be able to join you if I tried to read it, OMDG.
DeleteI was going to say the Time-Traveler's Wife, but I see you've read it. A Case of Need is Michael Crichton's first book, and it was a page-turner for me. (If I need a book that's guaranteed to absorb me, for a flight for example, my go-to authors are Michael Crichton and John Grisham.)
ReplyDeleteEnder's Game by Orson Scott Card is more scifi but one of my all-time faves, about a very smart kid who feels isolated because of that. Another vote for the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Any of Douglas Adam's books are great.
I actually read A Case of Need years ago and really liked it. I find Crichton a little inconsistent in that sometimes I love his books and other times I don't like them much at all. John Grisham I find more consistent in that I usually don't like his books.
DeleteRushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories is incredible. (The sequel is even better.)
ReplyDeleteKingsolver's Lacuna, really smart and interesting.
Winterson's Oranges are not the Only Fruit (Anything by Winterson, but this is a good intro)
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Technically sci-fi, but well beloved by people who don't like sci-fi.
ReplyDeleteThe Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. Detective-type mysteries set in modern Chicago, with a main character who is a wizard. Even less fantastic and "out there" than Harry Potter.
Gone girl. It's kind of noir chick lit.
ReplyDeleteI thought Gone Girl was pretty good. It's by Gillian Flynn.
DeleteThe Walt Longmire mysteries by Craig Johnson. Best when read in order. The first one is The Cold Dish.
ReplyDeleteThree of my favorites:
ReplyDelete1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Fast reads. I couldn't put the books down.
The maze runner by james dashner is the first in the maze runner series (chronologically what I consider to be the last book, kill order, is technically first but should be read last) this is a dystopian series similar to hunger games, and so good! It's also a super quick and easy read, but once you start the series you won't be able to stop.
ReplyDeleteThe Art of Racing In The Rain
ReplyDelete(might be my bias as a veterinarian, but you rated Water for Elephants decently I think and I read both around the same time, equally excellent)
Reading Lolita In Tehran (non-fiction, fantastic)
Mapping Human History (a little dry at times, but interesting non-fiction as well)
I'll also second the Dresden Files and any Bill Bryson travelogue.
No, I rated Water for Elephants only 3/5 stars... I didn't like it much at all. And I said non-fiction was one of the only three things I don't like to read.
DeleteShantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. Unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteI second Shantaram.
DeleteI would also add The Sparrow and the sequel Children of God by Mary Doria Russell.
Also Body and Soul by Frank Conroy.
I was reading through the comments to see if someoe had mentioned this book. I am currently halfway through it and am finding it hard to put down! I didnt think it would be a book I would enjoy and not something I normally read but glad I bought it. Fizzy, I enjoy the same sort of books you do according to your lists so I think you will enjoy Shantaram
DeleteSorry, I checked back and clearly didn't read the post too carefully (can I blame it on sleep deprivation secondary to newborn..) as you stated you don't want non-fiction, and Shantaram is. Fabulous book, all the same, and thanks to others for concurring!
DeleteI second Khaled Hosseni's books, Bill Bryson (read in public only if you dont mind everyone staring at you as you chortle and laugh and snort your coffee out your nose).
ReplyDeleteBarbara Kingsolver's High Tide in Tuscon is a collection of essays. Really good read, and can be read in fits and spurts.
Try House of Spirits or Inez of My Soul by Isabel Allende.
And what anonymous fool thinks "House of God" is too graphic for "a mom"? I forgot once those kiddie arrived how we all became delicate flowers. Maybe you should just stick to your hymnals and Women's Circle magazine. Less blood and gore, which we mother DOCTORS cannot handle.
i loved "House of God" and especially it's sequel "Mount Misery (about a Paychiatric Hospital) and the closest i've been to being in Medicine is emt.
DeleteAlso loved Khaled Husseni's books.
Like every other doctor in the country, I have read HoG. I liked it, although I think the level of reverence it receives is a bit much.
DeleteI loved Gone Girl, but hated The Lovely Bones
ReplyDeleteThe Night Circus is lovely, a bit of fantasy but really a love story, also The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is absolutely amazing (told in a series of letters, both funny and down to earth)!
ReplyDeleteThe Fault in Our Stars by John Green is sad but uplifting at the same time(the story revolves around a terminal cancer patient who meets a distraction named "Augustus Waters". So many classic mythology symbols and underlying themes (it's an even better read the 2nd time).
These are my go tos during final season (Darn cardiology/respirology systems :)
Anything by Chris Bojailian (sp?), he is marvelous! Especially "The Double Bind" and "Until You Know Kindness".
ReplyDelete"Autobiography of an Excecution" by David Dow, by a death row attorney. Excellent.
Lonesome Dove is long but really good and funny!
ReplyDeleteLove and Obstacles by Aleksander Hemon (and really anything by him). Funny short stories with great but not flowery or complex language!
East of Eden by John Steinbeck is awesome
Your list looks like one I would create - sometimes fun, sometimes serious, but rarely super serious & uber-intellectual - reading is adult mind candy for me, especially when I just can't watch the TV anymore!
ReplyDeleteThe Art of Racing in the Rain is SO much better than Water for Elephants...and the plot lines are totally different. Racing is the story of a dog's life, told from the dog's perspective, in a very touching way that is not at all childish or silly. It was the 1st book I gave my now husband...
Guernsey Potato Peel book is good...an interesting, yet light-hearted, historical fiction
I've heard Gone Girl is great & am meaning to read it too...
Cutting for Stone is beautifully written, a little heavy at times, but well worth the read...
The Grant County series by Karin Slaughter is a great mystery series, sometimes graphic crimes, but entertaining twists & turns...given to me by a physician friend b/c the idea that the town pediatrician was also a super-awesome, crime solving pathologist seemed absurd, and I still feel this way, but she pulls them off amazingly well!
I second a few of the previous suggestions...
ReplyDeleteCutting for Stone (Verghese)
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Shantaram
are three of the best books I've read in the past couple of years.
Some of my other faves:
Middlesex by Eugendes
The Blind Assassin by Atwood
Pilgrim by Findlay
I Know This Much Is True by Lamb
All are fiction though parts of Shantaram are based on his wild life, but it's an absolutely gripping read (I hate when people use the word 'gripping' but there is no other way to put it. I completely offended my ex-boyfriends family at Christmas by spending the entire holiday unable to put it down.
Happy reading!
I *hated* Middlesex. It almost broke up my book club because none of us could get through it, and we kept trying to get more time.
Delete)
ReplyDeleteWhoops.
1. The Golden Compass
ReplyDelete2. The Subtle Knife
3. The Amber Spyglass
All three make up the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Definitely some of my favorite books!
I second the above vote for East of Eden... it starts out painfully slow though (really, I think you could skip the first 100 pages entirely, but it really is an amazing book if you can make it past the start).
ReplyDeleteAny thing by Tess Gerritsen (particularly the medical thrillers like Harvest and Life Support or the early Rizzoli and Isles books like The Surgeon) is pretty entertaining. She's a physician who decided to write suspense novels into which she integrates medical knowledge and odd conditions.
I actually read a book by Tess Gerritsen a while ago, Harvest I think. I remember I didn't like it that much, although it was many years ago, before I was a physician.
DeleteCutting for Stone, Unbroken, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle are the best books I read this past year. The Art of Racing in the Rain is too sentimental and boring. But honestly, give Diana Gabaldon a try. Start with Outlander and work your way through a great adventurous romance with totally awesome sex. And time travel. Just try it.
ReplyDeleteTry Seduction and Snacks with the sequel Futures and Frosting. Both hilarious with a love story.
ReplyDeleteWow, that actually looks like a really good book.
Delete"Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro.
ReplyDelete"Little Children" by Tom Perotta
"Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler (hard to go wrong with Tyler)
Since you read some books by Meg Cabot, I'd like to suggest the entire Princess Diaries series by her. The books take a different track from the movie, but if you were amused by the movie, you'll likely enjoy the books as well!
ReplyDeleteFor light reading, you might like Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Levine also writes a series of short novels where she puts her own spin on well-known fairytales.
I'm also an avid fantasy reader, and I highly recommend the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, and the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.
Isn't the Princess Diaries for kids?
DeleteSo...? So's Hunger Games. I've read most of the current young adult fiction and rate Meg Cabot among the best. I also like Hilari Bell.
DeleteHm. . . .looking at your list shows me haven't a lot in common in literary tastes. But on eyou might enjoy is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any books to recomend, but I did find a couple "Pandora-like" recommendation engines that may provide new books Booklamp even does story DNA, if you like certain themes:
ReplyDeletehttp://booklamp.org/
http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/index.php
As I said above, I think we have very similar tastes.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading Shantaram which is an excellent book. I have recently read The Light Between Oceans by M.L Stedman and THe J.M Barrie Ladies Swimming Society by Barbara Zitwer, both of which were easy enjoyable reads. Your lists dont mention any Jodi Picoult books I really enjoy all of her books, there is quite a few. I would recommend any of her books except her most recent The Lone Wolf, a bit too out there for me.
If I were to read one Jodi Piccoult book, what would you suggest? Keep in mind I don't like boks that are too depressing.
DeleteMy favourite, and probably her most well-known book is My Sister's Keeper however it is about a paediatric cancer patient so may be too depressing for you. It is the only book of hers that I have cried whilst reading it.
DeleteOther good picks are below:
Sing you Home
Salem Falls
Nineteen Minutes
House Rules
Perfect Match
Change of Heart
Handle with Care (only depressing right at the end!)
There hasnt been any books of hers that I havent enjoyed, the above I have just enjoyed more
It's technically "fantasy", but George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series (now popularized through the HBO show "Game of Thrones") reads more like richly imagined historical fiction. It's more War of the Roses in a fictional world than Harry Potter.
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