Oh my gosh, I just finished writing a long post about 4 wonderful books with my mini-review of each, but I forgot to put fill in the "Subject" line so I lost the whole thing when I tried to post.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of reading such a good book, I was inspired to let you all know about it, and to see if you have any good books to recommend.

"Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang is a collection of short fiction, some with a science-fiction bent(but not too much so). Fascinating, interesting, and a bit too bizarre to describe in a few words here.

I love historical novels that paint vivid pictures of life and society in different eras and parts of the world. I've recently discovered Tracy Chevalier, and highly recommend her three novels:

"Girl With a Pearl Earring" a fictional account of a peasant girl who becomes a maid to the artist Vermeer and his family, and the scandalous affair of her becoming the subject of his painting with the same name as the book.

"Falling Angels" starts on the day of Queen Victoria's death, and follows two girls and their families through the turn of the century, centering around mourning rituals of the time, with a lot of scandalous intrigue and the women's suffrage movement thrown in.

"The Virgin Blue" by Chevalier follows the parallel stories of two women; one an American living in France who delves into her family tree; the other a disparaged 16th century woman in France; and the eventual convergence of their lives.

Instead of rewriting my reviews of these books, I'll recommend checking the reviews on Amazon.com. All are available in paperback.

What good books do you have to recommend?

I mentioned it in another thread...just finished "True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans" by Joe Queenan. Very interesting reading if you're at all into sports.

Book recommendations ...

Pure Drivel by Steve Martin. Hilarious!

Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger - a true story of a Texas town who lives and breathes high school football.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I consider this one of my all time favorites.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel. True story of a girl's HAPPY childhood in a small town in Indiana.

These are the most recent book I've read.

I hope that helps a bit.

A few months ago I started commuting on the train instead of driving, so I've fallen in love again with reading!

Here are some of my favorites from the past few months (I read a lot of fiction, but would like to read a fascinating, mind-provoking non-fiction book if anyone has any recommendations!)

"Empire Falls" by Richard Russo. It won some book award (may have been the Pulitzer) and is great reading. The writer is great with small-town descriptions, and this gives a nice flavor of a small town and this one man struggling to make sense of it all.

"Summerland" by Michael Chabon. This is Chabon's attempt to do something off the wall and for kids like "Harry Potter." I think it was entertaining and much more nicer for adults and kids whereas I though Harry Pottery was best for kids but not as exciting for adults. "Summerland" has the added bonus of using baseball as a metaphor!!!

"You Shall Know Our Velocity" by Dave Eggers is what I'm reading now and love it. It's about this guy who's friend dies and he goes with another friend trying to travel the world in two weeks and give away money. It's really interesting, really makes you think about life, and the writing is incredible.

Just finished a really fascinating book called "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith" by Jon Krakauer. It's about the violence and poligamy in the Fundamentalist Mormon sect. The centerpiece is the true story of two brothers who kill because they believe God commanded them to. The author relates this modern day crime to Mormonism's violent past. Really compelling stuff.

Prior to that I read "Wigfield" by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Steven Colbert, the comedic minds behind the cult TV classic "Strangers with Candy". I saw them perform a stage reading of the book here in NY so I had to read the book itself. Very very funny.

recently read "Dry". I didn't care for it because I really think that it glorified alcoholism and growing up in an alcoholic household, I didn't like it.

Others may like it. It's been getting great reviews.

Currently reading The One Kingdom by Sean Russell. If you like fantasy, you'll really like this. The writing is outstanding.

I read "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown this summer. It was pretty good but the plot almost seemed like a James Bond movie minus the sex.

I also read John Grisham's "The King of Torts", which was OK, but definitely better than "The Summons".

Harry Potter fan here....and maybe not blockbusters, but I have read two CSI books this summer. If you like a good mystery....the CSI books are good!

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I will be picking up something new on my weekly Sunday evening visit to Borders.

I haven't read a comedy book for ages, so I think I'll try Allen's suggestion of Pure Drivel, and maybe Wigfield, too. I remember reading Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes" when I was a teenager, and crying from laughter (Gawd, that was a long time ago).

I was thinking about reading The DaVinci Code, but will wait til it comes out in paperback. That David Eggers book sounds good, too.

Hey! No problem.

When I am feeling down and out, I head to Borders and buy a book. Crazy, huh??

One more suggestion:

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People: a memoir by Toby Young - An account of the five years he spent looking for love in all the wrong places and his descent from magazine editor to crash test dummy for interactive sex toys.

I just started reading it and I highly enjoy it.

I'm going through a period of rereading some books that I treasure: "Radiance of the King" by Camara Laye, a brilliant novel about a penniless Frenchman in Africa who is traded to a king by a beggar and becomes a stud in the king's harem & "Pendennis" by Thackeray, an ealy Victorian-period novel. Of non-fiction, I'm reading "The Life it Brings," the autobiography of physicist Jeremy Bernstein.

~Adam

George, I'm reading that right now. De-press-ing. But enlightening. What a snow job the LDS PR machine has pulled on us. :mad:

Here's something better: Absolutely American (forget the author's name), about a Rolling Stone writer who spends four years at West Point. OK, I'm biased -- I like books about military life, esp. after serving 5 years as a Navy officer -- but this is a funny, tragic, and motivating story about real people. Go George Rash, wherever you are!

gj

I am reading Harlans Race, by no other than, Patricia Nell Warren....I read the Front Runner about 2 months ago and finally was able to pick up the sequel yesterday....

Front Runner was fast paced and I thoughly enjoyed reading it and I will be the first to admit it, I had tears in my eyes during parts of the book.

[quote]GatorJamie:
[QUOTE]Here's something better: Absolutely American (forget the author's name), about a Rolling Stone writer who spends four years at West Point. OK, I'm biased -- I like books about military life, esp. after serving 5 years as a Navy officer -- but this is a funny, tragic, and motivating story about real people. Go George Rash, wherever you are! [/quote]My boss just asked me to read "Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story about Love and the United States Marine Corps" by Frank & John Schaeffer. I'll let you know if it's any good.

In the meantime, I just finished "Le Divorce" and "The Human Stain" in time to see the movies, and am a third of the way into "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay." Three stars, four stars, and (so far) five stars, respectively.

I work for Borders, so I couldn't resist listing the books I always recommend:

"Lamb" by Christopher Moore. REALLY much better than I could have imagined; truly laugh-out-loud funny. It's an irreverant look at the life of Christ through the eyes of his childhood pal, Biff. There's a lot of comedy.

"Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. Truly inspiring; I have such greater respect for the men who are in their 70's and 80's because they likely fought in WWII out of duty and patriotism. Particularly held in great admiration and envy are the men of the 101st Airborne.

I can't remember the third book. If I can I'll edit it in, but for now -- always ask the cute bookseller guys for recommendations, you might get a date too. wink

(moments later) thanks to bballrob, I remembered the third:
"A Home at the End of the World" by Cunningham. A wonderful take on the unconventional lives some of us lead.

[ August 22, 2003, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: smrobbins65 ]

Great thread. The best book I have read this year is "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", by Dave Eggers. I am glad to see that someone has recommended the newer one, I will search it out. "Heartbreaking" was just fantastic, I could read it over again.

I just finished an older novel, "The Rules of Attraction", I enjoyed that too, reminds me just a bit of college in the 80s, but it was not something I would recommend wholeheartedly.

Whenever I get in a bad mood or need a lift I pick up "Almost Heaven," an older book by Joe Keenan, head writer of "Frazier". It and the marginally less funny sequel, "Puttin' On the Ritz", are two of the funniest books I have ever read, they can be breezed through, and the gay content is pretty good in a "PG-rated" way. If you can find these books in a used bookstore, I would definitely recommend them, I don't know if they are still in print. This is laugh out loud on a plane or train humor, with some creative twists that are hysterical.

I also reread "The Hours", talk about staggering genius, never saw the movie, because the book is so good I don't think I want to lessen the experience.

Red,

I HAVE a copy of that - don't buy it - you can have mine. Great book! I knew that USMC boot camp
was tough, but I had no clue of the absolute mindf**k until I read this...

Hmm. It's interesting to see different people's reading material. Mine doesn't really match anyone else's, but that's life.

I did read the adventures of Kavallier and Clay sometime last year. It's a very good book, if not a little slow in some places. The book was pretty near and dear to my heart with some things that happen to one of the characters. And lots of it rings true.

I wish I had some better recommendations for people, but I don't just yet, and I do a lot of reading. But please, keep recommendations coming.

Trevor

Excellent and brilliant is "Middlesex," by Jeffrey Eugenides. It won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, too.

I also liked Juan Goytisolo's "The Garden of Secrets," though you may have to get it out of the library. It's all about storytelling, the Spanish Civil War, (homo)sexuality, authorship, etc. Not light reading, though, but it's not slogworthy either.

Maxallen

If you're looking for something funny, you should read anything from David Sedaris. He's probably the most funny person around. His memoirs have gotten rave reviews, both "Naked" and "Me Talk Pretty One Day." I wish he'd come out with another book, but looks like he's busy going around the country of his lecturing tour.

So check it out if you haven't read them yet.

Thanks batboy. I did read "Naked" a couple of years ago and loved it. I'll check out the other one you mentioned. I also read one of his stories in a magazine - I think it was Vanity Fair - and laughed out loud while reading it on a plane.

You are so right, bballrob. It is laugh out loud in a tent humor too...

One fall I took a long solo canoe trip through some wilderness lakes in northern Maine, and brought along Joe Keenan's "Blue Heaven". In my tent one night it got me laughing so hard all I could do was lie there and howl, with tears streaming down my face. This of course got the local loons laughing, too, which got the loons down the other end of the lake going, which then started off their friends on the neighboring lakes, which in turn got the coyotes yipping and howling. This laugh-racket echoed off the surrounding mountains and bounced back and forth across the lakes and for the better part of 5 minutes there wasn't a dry eye anywhere in Washington County between West Grand Lake and Sysladobsis.

It might still be in print: I think I've seen it recently at Calamus Books here in Boston. Give Mitzel a call: he hates email, but is great at tracking down books.

[ August 21, 2003, 01:22 AM: Message edited by: Roy Robertson ]

I'm currently reading Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan. Seemingly slow reading, but the detail and language keep me going. Excellent!

One of the best books I ever read was a book of short stories -- Drown by Junot Diaz (came out about 5-6 years ago, I think). I keep looking for a follow-up but haven't seen anything yet. Junot, where are you?

I have read and re-read THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt several times. It is one of the best, most interesting books that I have ever read. The plot of the novel (a death) is given away on page one, then you work your way up to it and all of the resulting actions afterward. It's setting is at a small Vermont college for one academic year and the prinipal characters are 5 close friends and the novels narrator who befriends the group at the start of one school year. An amazing book that I highly recommend.

Hey bobby, that book sounds good. From your description it reminds me of Christopher Rice's "Snow Garden", which is set in a small New England college during one academic year. It centers around two deaths, one of which was 20 years in the past. It has many gay and sexually ambiguous characters, all with mysterious pasts, who are way too intellectual and philosophical for college freshmen. I recommend it, but at times it reads like it was written to be adapted as a movie script.

Rice's first book, "A Density of Souls", is also pretty good, and centers on young gay characters. Christopher Rice is the openly gay son of Ann Rice.

[ August 21, 2003, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

Hey, Maxallen, I've read both of Chris' books. While I do think he is a good writer, he's not yet a great writer. Yes, THE SNOW GARDEN does remind me in ways of THE SECRET HISTORY. By the way, I met Chris and he autographed A DENSITY OF SOULS for me when he was on his book tour.

Well, I finally got around to reading gay umpire Dave Pallone's BEHIND THE MASK, which I enjoyed much more than I expected. I'm just starting Billy Bean's book.

Earlier in the summer I read about 3/4 of Rohinton Mistry's FAMILY MATTERS before losing the book. Unfortunately, the book didn't stack up to his two previous novels, A FINE BALANCE and SUCH A LONG JOURNEY, which were both masterful. I've read both three times.

Also read FRASIER SCRIPTS, a book-format collection of scripts of 15 episodes of FRASIER. What great writing. So funny!

A couple of people above remarked on how they enjoyed Joe Keenan's books. I have to say that I was disappointed in BLUE HEAVEN (didn't find it funny at all), although I love Keenan's writing on Frasier.

Currently I am in the middle of "Transatlantic" an account of the 19th century rise of the steamship on the North Atlantic route - really good read for total geeks who like that sort of thing, and some accounts of wrecks that are just as bad, if not worse in loss of life, than the Titanic (WAY too many ships just sailed off and disappeared before the advent of the radio).

Also recommended (although read some time ago): anything by Jane Austen, who is a goddess and shall not be spoken of rudely; any of the four collections of columns by Michael Thomas Ford (including the wonderfully titled "That's Mr. Faggot to You," the follow-up to "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me") and the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle, which includes the Commitments, the Snapper and the Van. All three were made into great movies, and all three books/films concern the working class family led by Colm Meany in the films - absolutely funny and heart-warming.

couldn't stand either one of his books.

I just finished John Grisham's \"Bleachers\" & I really enjoyed it. I never played football growing up, but I was the team's camera man throughout high school. I developed an admiration to the guys, actually "boys," that played.

One part of the book, I started crying. The words said by the Coach were spoken to me by my old English teacher, Mrs. Hefling. She died this year and I never got to say good-bye to her. So, in a way, I guess I did. I truly miss her and being one of her students like the character misses being one of the players on the football team.

I recommend reading this book. It's very short and it will probably take you an afternoon to read.

Thanks for the input on Bleachers, Allen....that's been one of 3 or 4 books that's been on my list to check out for the past several weeks and I haven't picked it up yet....definitely sounds worthwhile, though.

Even though I usually prefer non-fiction over fiction two other books that have got my attention recently after reading some positive reviews about em are The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (I think this may be his first book since Tuesday's With Morrie) and Sixty-Six by Barry Levinson....I've loved most of the movies that Levinson has directed but didn't realize that he was also an author until recently.

The Outsports Favorite Book thread (which I'm sure will still continue) was great but has anyone picked up any of these or other recently published books?....I've found that reading the opinions from some of you guys is often more effective than reading the NY Times and Washington Post reviews (notice I said SOME of you guys, not ALL). wink

Go read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It is amazing. I am almost done w/ the book. A murder takes place in the Louvre and it goes from there. I strongly recommend this book.

For those who like "Da Vinci Code," you might want to look for the older "Daughter of God" by Lewis Perdue. Similar theme and very well-written.

~Adam

In the past week, I finished "Damned Strong Love"
about a Polish teenager, and the love affair he has with a youngish German soldier. Evidentally it was a "true story".

I'm always interested in seeing what young adults are reading, which is how I found it. A little more racy than I'd expect from a YA novel, but very compelling nonetheless.

Next: Geography Club

I'm starting to read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. That book is hilarious!!

I just saw "Whalerider" yesterday. It was GREAT. A woman in my office is bringing the book to me tomorrow. The movie was filmed just outside her hometown.

I just finished Screening Party by Dennis Hensley. Very funny book! Most of the people in the book sound like my friend Tom in Los Angeles.

Definitely check this book out!!

Right now I am reading Lost by Gregory Maguire. He's the author who wrote Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked, the story of the Wicked Witch of the West.

So I started reading non-fiction after a few fiction books. Here's what I found

Letters to a Young Chef is a real short collection of essays by noted New York chef Daniel Boulud. I enjoyed it, mostly because I'm into the Food network and star chefs. It gave a nice flavor of his training in France. But it is a quick read and I thought a bit overpriced for so few pages.

Do the Right Thing This is written by a linguist and former Wall Street Journal reporter about the degradation of language in society today. I think the secondary title was "The degradation of language and music and, like, why we should care." It was dense reading as most non-fiction books are, but I thought it raised very interesting perspectives of the use of the language. It's made me more careful in writing emails, that's for sure!

[ January 22, 2004, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: batboy ]

"Three Junes" by Julia Glass. This excerpt from Amazon barely does it justice:

"...This narrative of the McLeod family during three vital summers is rich with implications about the bonds and stresses of kin and friendship, the ache of loneliness and the cautious tendrils of renewal blossoming in unexpected ways. Glass depicts the mysterious twists of fate and cosmic (but unobtrusive) coincidences that bring people together, and the self-doubts and lack of communication that can keep them apart, in three fluidly connected sections in which characters interact over a decade...."

I was very sad to finish it and nearly started it over again immediately. Since I'd borrowed a friend's copy I went right out and bought my own -- a gently used first edition hardback, too.

"Madame Secretary" by Madeline Albright. A terrific bio, and an inside look at the goings on in the Clinton Whitehouse. Very interesting book.

Four books - two recently read (one fiction and one non-fiction), re-reading another fiction at the moment while finishing off a non-fiction. All great and would highly recommend.

Over the Christmas hols, read David Attenborough's "Life on Air". Growing up, had a thing for ol' Davey (not only for his documentaries wink – still do in fact). The book is a fascinating insight into his career with BBC television, his personality (very down to earth man and my ambition now is to meet him – I also day dream about working with him) and also into how he produced the documentaries, having commenced in television while it was still in its infancy and working today with technology that was inconceivable at the time he first started in television. Explains a lot when you do see his documentaries. Immediately after reading the book had to rent the three big ones – "The Life of Mammals", "The Life of Birds" and "The Private Life of Plants" (had already seen "The Blue Planet" a couple of months ago) – which I then proceeded to view over the course of a week (over 20 hours of footage - hey it was the holidays after all). Also great photographs of Davey as a young man - very handsome and confirmed the reasons why I fancied him as a kid, apart from his intellectual brilliance of course.

I've just finished "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Pi, a young Indian boy on his way to Canada with his family, recounts his ordeal after being shipwrecked and finding himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Not wanting to give too much away, but there is a twist to the animals that is only revealed at the end – gave the book an unexpected depth. Would love to discuss the book further with people who have read it.

Re-reading at the moment "The Pillow Book" by an Australian author, Matthew Condon. The book deals with the unmentionable, or if discussed, dismissed issue of female to male domestic violence.

And finally, "Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India" by William Dalrymple (reading it in between "The Pillow Fight"). Non-fiction providing a detailed history of Deccan politics during the late eighteenth century and particularly, James Kirkpatrick, a "White Mughal" who, as with other of his contemporaries, took up many local customs such as the smoking of the hookah, the wearing of Mughal attire and, more particularly, his marriage to a member of Hyderabad's ruling class and subsequent children. Fascinating blend of Mughal and British colonial history, cultural exchange and assimilation, and the "racist" views of both cultures regarding the other - the Mughals regarding the English and vice-versa. One passage that stands out in my mind regards the success of Indian culture and its ability to assimilate other cultures starting with Alexander the Great and ending with the Mughal empire and the White Mughals.

Great reads.

[ January 22, 2004, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Mixie ]

Stay away from Life of Pi! Apparently every one seems to love it. Im reading it and Im was bored. No, actually I was annoyed and full of rage. The first 100 pages are the most agonizing to get through. I'll tell you guys if its redeeming after I finish it.

Im also reading Catcher in the Rye. Never had to read it in highschool, but have come across too many references to Holden Caulfield to ignore.

An oxymoron???? Perhaps not wink

I agree re the first 100 pages or so. I picked up the book last year and as with all books, I read the first few pages and put it down thinking - ugh. My partner's secretary lent it to me earlier this week, so I persevered through the first part (helps to have an interest in animal behaviour), and once you get to the shipwreck, it gets interesting and, like I said, the ending wraps it up neatly.

Further, because the ending is so unexpected, I'll be re-reading the book to place the ending in context with what happens in the main body of the book. Sign of a good book I'd say - so would still recommend it.

Still would like to know what you think once you've read the book.

[ January 22, 2004, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Mixie ]

The Davinci Code - very good. Had a hard time putting it down.

I don't recall the first 100 pages of Life of Pi to be agonizing. Wasn't it about how to run a small zoo in India and swimming pools in Paris, or something like that?

There was an article in the paper about book clubs who are discussing that book. Some people believe the original shipwreck story, and some believe the revised story that Pi tells to the Japanese investigators. Supposedly, 'creative, imaginative' people believe the former, while 'literal, analytic' people believe the latter.

Somewhere I heard that there were plans to make it into a movie with M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs) to write/direct. Not sure if that's true or not.

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst.

Excellent Book!

Interesting. See, I am inclined towards the revised story but there is still one aspect of Pi's story, in both versions, which remains a conundrum - the floating island - and I would tend to believe that in the context of the novel, the floating island was real - the Meercats' bones?????

[ January 22, 2004, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Mixie ]

"Mr. Lincoln's Wars: A Novel in thirteen Stories." Very moving tales centered on the final two years in Lincoln's life & "The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and how it Changed America," which traces the massive migration from the rural South to the more unban North in the years following the Second World War. Outstanding.

~Adam

I absolutely reccommend "The DaVinci Code" It was easily one of the best books I have ever read. Everything else I've had to read recently ("The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Great Gatsby" to name a couple) are classic reading rather than more recently published works.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Delightful book about Precious Ramotswe, the only lady detective in Botswana. An easy, yet evocative read, full of humor and life. The first of a series.