kenzie
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Post by kenzie on Feb 5, 2018 22:35:13 GMT -6
Seconding:
As Nature Made Him
Middlesex
Into Thin Air
Never Let Me Go
I also love:
Kite Runner
Remains of the Day
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kenzie
Bronze
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Post by kenzie on Feb 5, 2018 22:41:06 GMT -6
For those that liked The Glass Castle, I recommend The Sound of Gravel. Beautifully written memoir about growing up in a poor polygamous family.
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Post by filingjointly on Feb 5, 2018 22:49:01 GMT -6
Aka your list is too long @snow Also filingjointly's list is longer, why aren't you picking on her?  |
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ripper
Opal
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Post by ripper on Feb 5, 2018 22:50:55 GMT -6
Aka your list is too long @snow Also filingjointly 's list is longer, why aren't you picking on her? I'm only half paying attention. I'm busy reading all of these book descriptions and I'm high. |
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ripper
Opal
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Post by ripper on Feb 5, 2018 22:52:13 GMT -6
@snow also, I have not heard of even one of those titles. I am suspicious. Are you punking me.
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Post by roguelily on Feb 6, 2018 2:58:42 GMT -6
As far as classics go, The Catcher In The Rye is one of my absolute favourites. I Just love it (that being said, many don’t.) For non-classic I’ll just share my 5 starred reads i read in 2017 (I read 87 books last year after setting a NYResolution to read 52 books.. and I used to be someone who read only 5-6 per year.. now I’m addicted, I’ve already read 13 books this year!) contemporary: Exit West, The Hearts Invisble Furies, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, All Grown Up by Jamie Attenberg, The Night Circus, Less By Andrew Sean Greer YA: Aristotle and Dante Discover the secrets of the universe, Carry On, Jane, Unlimited*, We Are Okay *this book is fab but weird AF so I hesitate to recommend too widely As an aside : there are several fabulous bookish threads & people over on the entertainment board. Consider joining us there too  |
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cyprissa
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Post by cyprissa on Feb 6, 2018 3:32:42 GMT -6
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliviera
Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood by Capote
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Not an Experimental Doll by Shula Marks
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Twain—anything
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Devil in the White City by Eric Larson
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunat
What’s the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank
DH Lawrence—all of it, especially the poetry
On Poetry and Poets by TS Eliot
Also recommend Middlesex and The Life of Pi
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cyprissa
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Post by cyprissa on Feb 6, 2018 3:38:44 GMT -6
For a laugh out loud but still relatively insightful book (no, seriously) I love Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal I swear it's not as blasphemous as that sounds. Mostly. I love most Christopher Moore. He is my go to when I just want to laugh. I loved Fool and The Serpeant of Venice as well ast Dirty Job. |
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adelbert
Amethyst
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Post by adelbert on Feb 6, 2018 3:38:49 GMT -6
@snow also, I have not heard of even one of those titles. I am suspicious. Are you punking me. I bet you've heard of The Age of Innocence though which is also by Edith Wharton. I love her but her books are so depressing. I think my favorite is House of Mirth. |
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zoeylucy
Amethyst
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Post by zoeylucy on Feb 6, 2018 5:32:35 GMT -6
The Eight, Katherine Neville.
This was written in the 80’s, I think, but so, so good.
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snowyowl
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Post by snowyowl on Feb 6, 2018 6:15:05 GMT -6
Every year my students tell me that the best book we read for the year was Night. I second origami’s recommendation of Lamb. I love Christopher Moore. Some of his stuff is much weirder than others, but Lamb and A Dirty Job are a good place to start. Middlemarch, George Eliot. Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Adichie |
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hawkward
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Loss, Infertility
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Post by hawkward on Feb 6, 2018 6:38:58 GMT -6
Add me to the Christopher Moore fans. I liked Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.
Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors. I read Jingo while GWB was president, and it was eerily reflective satire of what was going on at the time.
Hmmmm. I'm having a hard time coming up with my all-time favorite must read book. Most of my favorites are sentimental because I read them over and over as a kid.
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cyprissa
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Post by cyprissa on Feb 6, 2018 6:43:58 GMT -6
Oh and I neglected Toni Morrison’s Beloved which is amazing but sad. Edith Wharton is also great but super depressing.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2018 6:57:25 GMT -6
I love a good cry. Most of these have been mentioned already so consider this another vote for:
The Glass Castle
Lovely Bones
Kite Runner
Lottery
My Sister's Keeper (movie is garbage though)
Shadow of the Wind (the reason I went to Barcelona for my honeymoon)
Untouchable by Scott O'Connor (not about Eliot Ness)
The Art of Racing in the Rain
If you want a light airplane read, I enjoyed Company by Max Barry.
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Post by blurnette989 on Feb 6, 2018 7:08:09 GMT -6
My go to will read over and over:
Jude the Obscure by Thomas
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Beloved by Tonight Morrison
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence
Anything by Chopin. Her short stories are great.
Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller
If you can't tell, I favor books that are depressing as fuck.
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Post by sweptaway on Feb 6, 2018 7:14:45 GMT -6
I read lots of non fiction and I love it but the books that really "get" me are lush fiction.
Anything by John Irving but specifically A Prayer for Owen Meany or Cider House Rules
A Million Little Pieces (despite the controversy is a gorgeous heartbreaking book)
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
The House of the Spirits Isabelle Allende
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Cats Eye by Margaret Atwoods
The English Patient Micahel Oondatje
Eta lucky by Alice Sebold
I can't think of anything recent that's done it for me
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elodin
Opal
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Post by elodin on Feb 6, 2018 7:15:07 GMT -6
The King Killer Chronicles. I will never not recommend that series. They are fantastic. Although, he hasn't come out with the third book yet. Which is bullshit. 😒
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Post by filingjointly on Feb 6, 2018 7:25:15 GMT -6
The King Killer Chronicles. I will never not recommend that series. They are fantastic. Although, he hasn't come out with the third book yet. Which is bullshit. 😒 I don’t usually read in this genre but I really love these books. Also Lin Manuel Miranda has signed on to the tv/film adaptation of them so that makes me pretty excited. |
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smilesp
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Post by smilesp on Feb 6, 2018 7:28:47 GMT -6
The books that have stayed with me over time and the ones I loved reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns Memoirs of a Geisha Snowflower and the Secret Fan The Swarm The Shadow of the Wind The Forgotten Garden A thousand splendid suns is fantastic. I cried harder reading that book than any book ever. |
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elodin
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Post by elodin on Feb 6, 2018 7:28:52 GMT -6
The King Killer Chronicles. I will never not recommend that series. They are fantastic. Although, he hasn't come out with the third book yet. Which is bullshit. 😒 I don’t usually read in this genre but I really love these books. Also Lin Manuel Miranda has signed on to the tv/film adaptation of them so that makes me pretty excited. Yessss! They aren't really something I would have picked on my own. But MH got them on Audible and omg they are probably in my top three favorites. I also love the Wheel of Time but that's not for the faint of heart haha...Also not a series I would have picked on my own. But I've listened to all of them twice and I love them. |
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smilesp
Emerald
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Post by smilesp on Feb 6, 2018 7:31:29 GMT -6
Oh also Into Thin Air by Krakauer. I would never in a million years think a book about mountain climbing would be something that would stick with me so much. I went on to read about 5 more books about climbing Everest after I read Into Thin Air. I also folllow the news about how the climbing season is going every spring. |
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Post by filingjointly on Feb 6, 2018 7:33:12 GMT -6
I don’t usually read in this genre but I really love these books. Also Lin Manuel Miranda has signed on to the tv/film adaptation of them so that makes me pretty excited. Yessss! They aren't really something I would have picked on my own. But MH got them on Audible and omg they are probably in my top three favorites. I also love the Wheel of Time but that's not for the faint of heart haha...Also not a series I would have picked on my own. But I've listened to all of them twice and I love them. I’ve read the first Wheel of Time book but it didn’t grab me the same way. That was a long time ago though so maybe I should try again. |
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elodin
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Post by elodin on Feb 6, 2018 7:38:30 GMT -6
filingjointly, it took me a bit to get into them. If you can get through the first one and just keep going you'll get attached to the story and the characters. It's truly a dynamic series and just gets better and better.
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CeeBug
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Post by CeeBug on Feb 6, 2018 7:41:03 GMT -6
Some older books to consider-
To Kill A Mockingbird (my favorite)
Frankenstein
The Giver
The Chronicles of Narnia
Fahrenshiet 451
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2018 7:41:08 GMT -6
Home going by Yaa Gyasi
And Random Life is one of my all time favorite books. I think it gives a lot of clear insight into urban US poverty.
The Poisonwood Bible is great, love how all of the characters are allegories for attitudes towards and treatment of developing countries.
Nickel and Dimed is also a fave.
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Taitai
Opal
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Post by Taitai on Feb 6, 2018 7:45:49 GMT -6
Here's my list (I admit, I am a classics fan, so take that for what you will): -A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations by Dickens -Pride and Prejudice and Emma by Austen -The Joy Luck Club by Tan -Hamlet by Shakespeare -The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck -Dracula by Stoker -Harry Potter series by Rowling -Little Women by Alcott -The Giver by Lowry -The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Morris -To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee -Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl cyprissa So many of my favorites are on your list! ETA - to kill a mockingbird and Anne Frank |
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ktg
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Post by ktg on Feb 6, 2018 7:58:15 GMT -6
Shadow of the Wind fans, I hope you know it's the first book in a trilogy called "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books."
Definitely an all- time favorite of mine. If you haven't read The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) it has a similar feel.
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Post by angelashly on Feb 6, 2018 8:08:00 GMT -6
A lot of my favorites have been recommended already. So I’ll go with The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. It’s new. Give it two chapters before writing it off. My book club just read it and I think all 10 of us read it in a night or two because we couldn’t put it down. I love love love this book and I recommend it to everyone. |
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ktg
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Post by ktg on Feb 6, 2018 8:08:09 GMT -6
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Post by sweptaway on Feb 6, 2018 8:18:00 GMT -6
I'm just going to keep thinking of things
The People of the Book and The Year of Wonders, both by Geraldine Brooks
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