Suggestions for Great Reading

Updated on August 10, 2006
A. asks from Dallas, TX
21 answers

Please recommend (a) books you have read, old and/or new, that I must pick up.

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So What Happened?

OK, wow! I can't decide if you gals are a little older and that's why you have so many books under your belt, or you do nothing but read! haha I have written down every single book you all have recommended and am heading to the library to begin knocking these out. If I can read a novel about every 4 days, I believe I will get through this list in about one year.

Thank you so much for taking the time and writing (many of you) detailed recommendations.

For those of you who offered me an invite to your bookclub...THANK YOU, too! I think if I told my husband I was doing one more thing that was for me that didn't involve him and the kids, he'd really have his feelings hurt...ahh poor baby. He loves me! What can I say?!

Happy Reading!!!

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S.

answers from Dallas on

Have you tried any of John Sanford's books? He has a serious I refer to as the "Prey series" - titles include Broken Prey, Hidden Prey, etc. They are really great. Also John Patterson has a serious about a group of women who solve crimes that is really fantastic. So far there are only 4 books in the series but I can't wait for the next one. Plus anything by Patterson is good. I also read a lot of biographies and nonfiction, one of my favorites is "First They Killed My Father". I read it in like a day. Iris Johanson and Tami Hoag are also good mystery authors.

Almost forgot "Daughter of Fortune" is fantastic. It was one of Oprah's bookclub books. My mother-in-law gave it to me and I loved it.

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A.

answers from Dallas on

Okay, Gone with the Wind, as well as Scarlett, are 2 of the best books I've ever read. Also, The Time Traveler's Wife, Middlesex, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Lonesome Dove, The Nanny Diaries, Catcher in the Rye, mystery books by Harlen Coben (they are all good), The Joy Luck Club, Harry Potter is awesome, Pride and Prejucide, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre....these are all good books.

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L.A.

answers from Dallas on

Ender's Game series is good, but I love Card's Enchantment. It's entertaining and hilarious! I'm not a big fantasy person, but I LOVED David Edding's Belgarion Series. Also there's a book called "If Life Was Easy, it Wouldn't be Hard" by Sherri Dew. I hear tons of great stuff about this book. Another GREAT book is called Return from Tomorrow!

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T.O.

answers from Dallas on

Here are some of my favorites......

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Marc Haddon

Into the West by Beryl Markham

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

And then the mystery books for light reading.... everything by Laura Lipmann but especially The Sugar House.

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J.

answers from Dallas on

just finished "In COld Blood." great.

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L.N.

answers from Dallas on

This is my favourite ever Mamasource request!

I have to agree with the recommendations for The Time Traveler's Wife, the Harry Potter series, The Secret History and Life of Pi -- all excellent books!

Another HUGE favourite for me is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke -- over 800 pages, and I truly hated for it to end. My favourite book of all time is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- sooo much better than Love In The Time of Cholera, IMO.

For kind of a "trashy", but fun read, you could try the Pedergast books -- can't remember the authors' names -- Relic, Reliquary, Case of Curiosities, Still Life With Crows, Brimstone, Book of the Dead, and Dance With Death. Very exciting and hard to put down!

My sister just told me about The Glass Castle -- again, can't remember the author's name -- it's a memoir of the author's unusual childhood, and my sister said she loved it.

Good luck, and thank you for the interesting discussion!

L.

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M.

answers from Dallas on

I suggest A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux. It is a romance, but the best one I have ever read. It has great history too. Hope you like it!

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A.D.

answers from Dallas on

Have you read Drowning Ruth? It was an Oprah's book club book a couple of years ago... I really enjoyed that one.

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A.L.

answers from Dallas on

I am a book worm as well and enjoy reading to the fullest. I have a few small but very good suggestion, if you havent already read them: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (Ive read that book 5 times and loved it each time). A million little pieces by James Frey (that was a very good book). Childrens Hour by Lillian Hellman.

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B.S.

answers from Dallas on

How about....."Let Me Hear Your Voice" and "Light On Snow".

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A.J.

answers from Dallas on

I really like the author Lisa Wingate, she has 6 or 7 books, she lives in TX. www.lisawingate.com

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E.S.

answers from Dallas on

I recently read "The Broker" by John Grisham. I love his books and I couldn't put this one down.

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L.

answers from Dallas on

I really enjoyed Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and all his other books - Angels and Demons, Deception Point. Also a Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is hilarious.

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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

I just finished "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and I didn't want it to end! Greatness.

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M.N.

answers from Dallas on

Some recent books I've read and enjoyed this year are:
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, Life of Pi, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, The Devil Wears Prada, A Year of Magical Thinking, Darkness Take My Hand and Cold Sassy Tree. Other books I've enjoyed in the past are The Alienist and The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

some books that were reccommended to me & I haven't had a chance to read yet are:
The Time Traveler's Wife, The Secret History, The Devil in the White City, Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides, The Glass Castle, The Bonesetters Daughter, Lovely Bones, Me Talk Pretty, Kafta on the Shore and The Blessing Stone.

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J.R.

answers from Dallas on

On a winter night in Kentucky in 1964, an unexpected blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. David’s intense joy in the birth of his perfect, healthy son turns to despair when his daughter comes into the world with an unmistakable handicap. Wanting to save his adored wife Norah the grief and burden of raising such a child, David makes a decision that will alter all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, a woman who worships him, to take the baby to an institution, begging her to keep his secret. He then tells Norah the child was born dead.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a powerful, beautifully told tale that begs the question: What would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? Caroline, unable to abandon the little girl, decides to raise her herself. And though she moves to another city, David’s secret will not stay buried forever….

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E.

answers from Dallas on

Have you read any of Janet Evanovich books? She has series about a woman in her early 30's who goses through a divorce and becomes a bond enforcement agent (bounty hunter). They are fun and easy reads. To date, she has written 12. The first book is called One For the Money. Check it out. I think you would enjoy it!

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D.M.

answers from Dallas on

Hi, I would like to suggest some classics. Jane Austen is truly superb, even though the first one was a little hard for me to read until I got use to the difference in how she wrote and how modern day authors write. I would also like to suggest Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's sci-fi, but very well written, and I couldn't put it down. There are three more in the original series, but they aren't nearly as good as Ender.

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O.M.

answers from Dallas on

I really liked Alex Kava. She is a great writer but doesn't have much out, i think she has about 6 books out right now but you can find 5 out of the 6 at half price books. They are about a serial killer and i must admit I had a hard time sleeping after the first one but she writes very well and i wanted to find out what what next so i kept reading...

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A.D.

answers from Dallas on

A.,

Thats such a loaded question, however, I really enjoy true stories.I used to play basketball in College, and so I really enjoyed:In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle by Madeleine Blais. It was a National Bestseller.USA today even commented on how it was beautifully written. I have also read:Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Its a true story as well, however, its pretty sad.

You might like them,check them out!

A.

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D.W.

answers from Dallas on

I loved Running with Scissors, the entire Jonothan Kellerman Alex Delaware series, "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, "Shutter Island" by Dennis LeHane........... I could go on and on. Like you I love to read just about anything!
I spend time on Amazon.com reading about books and then finding them at the local library.
If you are down in S. Richardson or NE Dallas let me know we have a very informal monthy book club!
D.
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