Book Reconmendations

[Myia09]

So, I need more book recondomendations, and thought i would add my own!

MiddleSex – Jeffery Eugenides

An amazing story about a female who wants to be male and her struggles through puberty, so true and vivid I thought it was a real story until having to read it over and over again that it wasn’t.

Dispatches from the Cold- Leonard Chang

A great story about a man who receives letters meant to be from the former tenet of his apartment, and makes a “life” from the man. A really underrated book that is simply amazing, harrowing, and imaginative.

A million little pieces-James Frey

Yes, this is the “true” story that wasn’t true, but trust me it is still fantastic. I am not a huge fan of his writing style, but it’s a great story true or not. Beware though, his following two books are less than satisfactory.

As Nature Made Him0 John Colapinto

A harrowing true story of a boy who was castrated when an infant and raised as a “girl,” put through terrible “therapy” and then struggles knowing he is a man. A truly amazing book.

The Bride Stripped Bare- Anonymous

What a great book, in great description. A true memoir, she rights bout her life, her affair, and leaves the ending at a mystery. In real life, she disappears with her infant (thought to commit suicide) and her mother publishes her memoir.

You are not a stranger here- Adam Haslett

I just finished reading this, and it is as good as it is frustrating. It is a bunch of short stories of people dealing with death, suicide, or mental illness. You will get frustrated because you never get a true conclusion on any of the great characters, but it leaves it up for your imagination.

Other books: Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Unbearable Being of Lightness by Milan Kundera, Brave New world by Adolous Huxley

 

[katt]

Oh! books are a HUGE passion of mine, I have to have around 400 books right now in my tiny little apartment!

okay, a few that I would recommend:

Water for Elephants
by Sarah Guern
cannot stress just how good this book is! No other words but "amazing" come to mind

Girl with a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
a wonderfully written book that tells the story from Vermeer's painting.

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
A very interesting novel. It is a very dystopian science fiction novel.

Empire Falls
by Richard Russo
I really don't know why I loved this book, but it is just written well.

Bridget Jone's Diary
by Helen Fielding
kinda a fun read, written in a different way then many other novels, slightly hard to fallow, but fun.

She's Come Undone
by Wally Lamb
I think that every person in this world that can read, should read this book! It reflects on what many girls go through growing up with body image and such, and the amazing thing is that it is written by a man.

Good in Bed
by Jennifer Weirner
Another good body image book that happens to be written well, I really like all her books though.

Lolita
by Vladimir Nobokov
NOT an easy read or a read for anyone that can't handle unhappy topics. This book is written in the point of view of a not very good guy. I am not even going to go into details. BUT it happens to be one of the most Challenging and most well written novels I have ever seen. It isn't a light read, in fact for a lot of people it is downright hard (very 'thick' diction).

Chocolat
by Joanne Harris
I just love the idea of this book.

Devin Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
By Rebecca Wells
Great story, written well, and SO much better then the movie!

and another novel from the same author: Little Alter's Everywhere
some of the stories in this book line up or are add ons to the other. another great read!

okay, I could go on, and on, but I will stop.

can you tell that I am a hermit and love to read???

 

[Brandy456]

Anything by William bell,
The blue helmet, and Stones.

 

[hartleybun]

katt wrote:

Oh! books are a HUGE passion of mine, I have to have around 400 books right now in my tiny little apartment!

okay, a few that I would recommend:


Girl with a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
a wonderfully written book that tells the story from Vermeer's painting.

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
A very interesting novel. It is a very dystopian science fiction novel.

okay, I could go on, and on, but I will stop.

can you tell that I am a hermit and love to read???

these are two of my favourites and well worth a read. will have to ponder my recommendations. im a total bookworm with books hidden all over the house. my family think they are taking over and that i should have a clear out:shock::shock:

 

[RandomWiktor]

As Nature Made Him was an awesome and tragic read. I saw the documentary on the man the book was based on. Equally wonderful/sad.

Some of my favorites:

Song of the Crow
by Layne Maheu
In a nutshell, it is a gritty, realistic portrayal of the biblical flood story, from the perspective of a young crow. The writing is beautiful, really just utterly poetic. This isn't my typical genre of choice but this book was amazing.

Of Parrots and People
by Mira Tweti
A non-fiction read on the parrot trade. It explores both extremes of parrots well loved by dedicated "parronts" who put most human parents to shame, to the brutal world of industrial breeding and illegal traffick. Tragic, poingiant, well written, and something anyone with a bird, thinking of getting a bird, or who loves birds ought to read.

In Defense of Food
by Michael Pollan
A non-fiction blend of journalism, food history, and nutritional science, this read discusses changes in the modern food industry and how processed foods are damaging our health, environment, and even our cultures.

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World
by Dan Koepell
Everyone I tell to read this laughs at me. When they get done reading it, they thank my for suggesting it. Banana is all about the history, sociology, science, biology, ethics, etc. of the banana. It is just more fantastic than I can convince you based on the title and subject, so just go read it.

Grendel
by John Gardner
The classic story of Beowolf - from the perspective of the monster Grendel! Oldie, but classic.

City of Truth
by James Morrow
A story set in a futuristic dystopia where mankind lacks the ability to lie due to a brutal conditioning process - and with it looses all imagination, creativity, etc. A man's quest to save his son dying of a rare disease bring him to the underworld of defiant liars - and hope.

The Mustache
by Emmanuel Carrere
A man's personal descent into psychological hell begins after he shaves the mustache he's had all his life... and no one will acknowledge that he ever even had one.

... OK this list has the potential to get very, very long. At any rate, things on: obesity, food sociology, invasive species, ecology, cognitive ethology, genocide, and just about anything Palahuniuk writes is pretty solid.

 

[funnybunnymummy]

Hey, I know some of those authors! Haven't met them face to face, but they've frequented an online writing group I'm a member of. Too cool to see non-writers plugging their books!

Some others I recommend:

Finn by Jon Clinch
The story of Huckleberry Finn's father. It's dark, but it's just so fantastically written you can't put it down from beginning to end. Even hubby the non-reader was hooked.

gods in alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Another book I couldn't put down from beginning to end. Loved it!

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
The story of the "real" Alice in Wonderland. I actually haven't read this book, but I love the author's writing and it's getting rave reviews, so I'm going to plug it here anyway.

I'll come back and post some more later. Right now I've gotta go make dinner.

Rue

 

[missyscove]

katt wrote:

Water for Elephants
by Sarah Guern
cannot stress just how good this book is! No other words but "amazing" come to mind

I think katt is the one that recommended it to me in the first place. I definitely second the recommendation! And... they're going to start filming the movie of it this summer. Since I think the book is always better than the movie, you might as well read it before the movie comes out.

I just finished the first two books in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. The third one will be available in the US on may 25th and I've already pre ordered my copy. They were excellent!

 

[Jessyka]

I just got a gigantic box of books from my mom's boyfriend. If any of them end up being any good I'll let ya'll know.

 

[Myia09]

I orderd Water For Elephants (Althouhg I admit only because its 2 reconmendations..I didn't like the synopsis)

And Lolita. Its only 317 pages, so I don't know what you mean by hard read, but it looks realy good. Plus any book that was banned is a book to read!

 

[Myia09]

Also decided to order the Moustache and it came with his second book The Class Trip.

 

[BethM]

The bulk of what I read tends to be non-fiction (I'm currently reading _An Edible History of Humanity_ by Tom Standage, and recently finished _How to Pick a Peach_ by Russ Parsons.)
However, for fiction, I highly recommend _American Gods_ or _Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman. I adore Gaiman's writing, and read those two books again and again. I find something new each time I read them.

 

[Jessyka]

Swaptree.com is a life saver when it comes to books.