Book, Blog and Subscription Recommendations

By the way, I'm busy loading suggestions from this thread into my 'Plan to Read' list on Shelfari. I always feel better when that list is full to the brim, it was getting a bit low - so thank you!!

Hmmm... Vancouver... maybe Tanya Huff? Her vampire books are set in Canada, but I can't recall what city.

Christopher Moore just released a third one in his vampire series- "Bite Me- A love story" It was every bit as wacky as the first two. :)

Gwen, the Jesus one is "Lamb : the Gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal" I *loved* that one. :D

"Fool" and "A Dirty Job" are also excellent.

Pixy, I love the Mrs. Pollifax books. They're the sort of book you can pick up and reread years later and enjoy just as much the second time. I see there are audio book versions of several of her books floating around - have you ever listened to one? Seems like these would be great audio books with the right reader.

Speaking of which, I have two books that I would recommend specifically as audio books:
-The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (narrated by Neil Gaiman in his fantastic English accent)
-Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story (don't laugh, it's very witty but in the end rather a rather philosophical look at humanity by way of a flock of sheep trying to grapple with the murder of their shepherd. The narrator is wonderful, with a delicious accent and voices for all the characters)

Any other recommendations specificially for audio books? I like to listen on my commute to and from work.

Well, all of mine are audiobooks. And yes, Mrs. pollifax is very nice to listen too. I've listened to them all.

Someone mentioned Dragonriders of Pern. Good series, but light reading. Great dragons, though. Anne McCaffrey, I think.

A very good 'children's' trilogy is The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. I read these when Andrew was younger, long before the Golden Compass movie came out. I felt the movie did not do the book justice at all. Themes are actually very adult and they are good reading.

Then, of course, there is the entire Harry Potter series, which I absolutely adore. Adults like these books probably more than kids do, especially the later ones.

Also the Redwall series of books by Brian Jacques. These are so excellent. They are in the Wind in the Willow tradition as they are about the lives of forest animals. The characters are vivid and they are full of adventure and conflict. I read all of them to Andrew when he was young and I enjoyed them as much as he did. They are quite long novels.

I'll have to check out Christopher Moore. Sounds very funny!

Nonfiction list, my all time read and read agains:

Jane Austen. This is my reread of all times. I so look forward to those moments where I go looking 'for something to read', and there she is just welcoming me back. She always, even after all this time, catches me with something new. I love the depth of the relationships she creates, they still ring true, remain contemporary, after all these years. Brillant

Marilyn Robinson - Homecoming, Gilead, Housekeeping. This is one of the great contemporary authors - the subtlety of her writing is sublime - this woman is one of the great classics of American literature, AND she is still alive, and hopefully, writing more.

JD Salinger. enough said.

Eudora Welty - again, just read and reread. I never fail to hear her stories differently. Loved her biography, can quote from heart "Why I live at the PO".

Ian McEwan - Black Dogs, my favourite of his books, but all are an excellent read.

Joyce Carol Oates - brillant, difficult material. Not an easy read, but so worth it.

Charles Dickens, in particular Bleak House.

Thomas Hardy, if you haven't read The Woodlanders my goodness you have a treat instore. Love the mood and sense of place of all of his novels.

HIlary Mantel, all of her work, but especially her latest - Wolf Hall is a work of literary genius. This is an author who has worked and worked at her craft, real maturity in her latest piece.

And for biographies:

Claire Tomalin - she is world class when it comes to research and writing. I would like to thank her for making history so alive. Who else evokes the smell of a house the way she does in her biography of Pepys! Genius!


Pet feminist hate which brings out the wish in me to write a treatise on the sheer stupidity, misogyny, and gratuitous violence against women in literature: Steig Larsson - except I don't want to invest that much time in his trashy books! Strong feelings. Definately. Goodness, I resent the success of this author. Male sex fantasies gone mad! Do you know, I composted his book. Didn't even take it into the recycle books shop. Left it for the worms to deal with. Perfect. (Still want me on the communal living scheme?)








This message was edited May 27, 2010 7:38 AM

I will look for Hillary Mantel. sounds good. Dickens: love it! Hardy: love it!

Oh, much disdain for Steig Larsson! Lucky for him he is already dead. His books don't push my feminist buttons, although there is definitely violence against women. There is also violence against men. I focused more on the mystery than the violence, though, which I tend to do. Also, I hated the movie. Talk about gratuitous. I felt like much of the violence was entirely overplayed.

I will have to revisit Joyce Carol Oates. I haven't read her stuff since I was a college freshman, and back then I didn't enjoy it much as I recall. But maybe I'm old enough for it now!

In terms of classics, I still love Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters.
There is a series of modern mysteries starring Jane Austen that are easy and fun. http://www.stephaniebarron.com/books.html Definitely not the great literature of the original, but good bathtub reading.

LOL Laurie. I'll be sure not to get anything by THAT author!

Larry's Party and The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. I would like to read more of her books. She also wrote a book about Jane Austin but I haven't read it. Excellent author.

Wolf Hall is sitting unopened on a table in my living room. Soon.

What an interesting bunch of books! I just got a Kindle and am looking for new purchases for it. I checked out the Kathleen O'Neal Gear books but the reviews on Amazon were so mixed that I couldn't decide which to try, and I also couldn't figure out which came first, or whether that mattered. They're not on Kindle anyway, though.

I downloaded some Jane Austen for free; I agree totally with Laurie about her. When I first opened Pride & Prejudice in high school, never having read one of her books before but having heard a great deal about her as a classic English writer, I couldn't believe how engaging and droll she was. I have loved her ever since.

A wonderful fantasy which I have reread several times is Terri Windling's The Wood Wife
http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Wife-Terri-Windling/dp/0765302934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274989870&sr=1-1

I have also enjoyed Neil Gaiman's books, as well as Ursula LeGuin's, and Connie Willis's. Her To Say Nothing of the Dog and Bellwether are both wonderful; the first deals with time travel and the second with a researcher attempting to tease out the origin of fads. Her characters are warm and funny and she writes a good, intelligent yarn.

I don't like violence, though, in books or movies, so that limits me to some extent. In terms of mysteries I prefer the British style, although Martha Grimes's protagonists are becoming too boring and predictable. I like the murders to take place tidily off-stage and provide a basis for a puzzle to be solved. Dorothy Sayers is still a favorite, as is Marjorie Allingham. I also like Deborah Crombie, and Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series.

By the way, I know I live in southern NJ now, but a long time ago I used to live on Lummi Island off the coast of Bellingham, so can I come play, too?


This message was edited May 27, 2010 3:04 PM

Welcome, gg! Good to see you here.

Gosh, I didn't know that Marjorie Allingham was read outside this little island. she does write some amazing characters. Love them, I have several of the old green and white penquin paperbacks - something special about reading them in a 70 year old paperback that is still in fairly good condition. GG, if you like Allingham and Sayers you might like to read Hilda Lawrence and Celia Dale - although you will probably have to go to a second hand dealer to get either of them.

Laurie, I have some of the old green and white Penguin paperbacks, too. I also have some DVDs of Marjorie Allingham's works. I'll have to check out Hilda Lawrence and Celia Dale; I can find most books on addall.com, I've noticed.

Kathy, thanks for the welcome!

Welcome back and happy to meet you. I will see if I can get a book list of Gear's works in the order they were written for you.

That would be lovely, Willowwind2. Any recommendations for which are best, too? Reviews made it sound as though they were a bit uneven.

I'm going to have to check out Marjorie Allingham - I love Dorothy Sayers. Jane Austen is an old favorite for me too, but for classic novels that I read and reread my vote goes to Edith Wharton. She wrote The Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, and Ethan Frome - but she also wrote a ton of other novels and short stories, even ghost stories, and they're all great in my opinion.

Another classic writer, albeit from a much more recent era, that I read and reread is Doris Lessing. I particularly love The Golden Notebook, and she even wrote some science fiction.

And I'm glad you mentioned Ursula LeGuin Greenhouse Gal, another favorite from way back. Madeline L'Engle too.

And if you fall in love with Joyce Carol Oates for the first time you'll be very happy, as she has written approximately 70 zillion books over the years, and they're often very different - so can keep you happily occupied for quite some time.

I'm in the middle on the Steig Larson debate - he didn't set off my feminist-ometer but I didn't enjoy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo enough to read the follow ups. I thought it was just okay.

I enjoy both Ursula LeGuin, and Connie Willis. I've read both those Willis books. The dog one was one of our "All Whidbey Reads" selections one year. She came and gave a talk but didn't talk much about that book. When asked questions about it, she said she couldn't remember!

And I love the series of YA books by M L'Engle.

I've tried 3 times to get into Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It just doesn't grab me. And it was so highly recommended, I bought it. Something I rarely do. So there it sits on the nightstand. It's playing at our theater this weekend, so I plan to see it. Maybe then I'll be more interested in reading it. If not, it's off to paperbackswap.com.

Do you all know about paperbackswap.com? You join, get 3 points, and can immediately start trading books. For each book you post that someone requests and you mail off, you get a point. Each book you get some someone, you use up a point. All books, cds, etc, are all one point, no matter what. I have gotten some fabulous cooking and gardening books. They give you mailing labels to print out and make everything super easy. I love it.

If you sign up, put down my name because they used to give points to people who recommended someone who signed up. Not sure if they still do, but if they don't, I'm low on points and could use a few extra!

Cool, thanks for the heads up on paperbackswap.com Gwen. I'm lucky enough to live two blocks from my local branch of the Seattle Public Library and can put anything in their system on hold using their fabulous online catalog - so I do most reading that way. But I still end up with paperbacks that I'll only read once and it's good to have an outlet for those.

I've got a bunch of Joyce Carol Oates' books: Wonderland, Do With Me What You Will, and one other; but I don't like her that much. I think I did enjoy We Are the Mulvaneys, though. I prefer Anne Tyler, who seems similar to me, for some reason, but lighter. I've liked some of Doris Lessing and not others; same with Margaret Drabble and AS Byatt. I don't have Hardy's The Woodlanders; I just have Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Mayor of Casterbridge and Jude the Obscure, but he's too dark for my taste.

That's amazing that To Say Nothing of the Dog was an All Whidbey Reads selection; I wouldn't have thought its appeal would be that general!

Gwen, I'm not great about sending things back and forth to people, so paperbackswap.com probably wouldn't work for me. My stepbrothers tried to set something like that up, once, and it fizzled! I guess I'm not the only one in the family like that.

Okay, now that I'm starting to think more, I think it was Bellweather that was the book. I know I've read them both. But I think it was the Bellweather one we read for the big read thing.

Wow. Such a well-read group. I'm put to shame. Can I just say that it's an honor to hang out with such a group of gardening bibliophiles?

You don't sound too ill-read yourself, Kathy!

Bellwether was really fun; I reread it sometimes. It's like eating bonbons! I think it would work better for your community-wide reading thing than Dog, too. That's pretty long and convoluted. But fun!

Well, I'm a compulsive reader and sometimes it gets very annoying.

I am, too, Willowwind. I need it to unwind. That's why I broke down and hinted for a Kindle for Mother's Day; I have no more room for more books, and since I reread a lot (thank heavens, or I'd be broke!) I don't like to get rid of them, although I do go through and cull sometimes.

That's a good question for this thread. What do you do with a book once you have finished it? Thanks to my mom, I now have an attic full. All on shelves but not in order. We have a library here at the clubhouse and they take paperbacks. I do that and give all magazines to the nursing homes in Shelton. I only subscribe to one mag now, Horticulture. Only because they had such a good deal last time but the mag is much smaller.
A very good mag with basic gardening and no ads is 'Garden Gate'.

Agree that Garden Gate is a good mag.

We just keep building shelves. Some of you may have noticed.

Actually, I rarely buy a book new anymore. I rarely rarely buy a novel. I get books from the library (I currently have 37 books checked out) and if I really like a novel, then I either try for it on paperbackswap.com (pbs) or I look for it used somewhere. I don't buy it until I find it on the cheap. If I hear about a book or see one in a bookstore, then I try and get it from the library first to see if I truly want to own it.

If I want a cookbook or gardening book, I list it as a want on pbs and wait. If I don't have something I really want by xmas, and it can be had for a good price on amazon, then I put it on my xmas list for dh. Honestly, I get almost every I want from pbs.

I keep my eyes open at the library used book sales and have gotten great stuff there in the way of gardening books.

Now, magazines, well let's just say Tim came home from college last weekend and called me a hoarder. I can't stand it if a day goes by without a magazine to read. I esp like the british versions of country life and their gardening mags. And I can't bring myself to throw them away. It has to be a pretty bad issue for me to get rid of it. (Only home decor, cooking, and gardening mags fall into the hoarding category. The others go to the library sharing rack on my weekly Tuesday run.)

Do you all know about maghound.com? A great way to get mag subscriptions and in the months when there aren't issues, you can have a list of sub magazines they send you. I quite like the service.

A book I think should be required reading in order to live on our planet is Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

greenhouse_gal, I love Connie Willis! To say Nothing of the Dog and Bellwether are brilliant- and I love the Doomsday Book as well.

If you like cats in fantasy, Diane Duane's "Book of Night with Moon" is wonderful- and there's a sequel called "To Visit the Queen".

I don't think I've seen Emma Bull mentioned yet- her "War for the Oaks" is a classic. I've gone through I don't know how many copies of that one- it gets loaned out and never comes back. I guess people like it. hehe.

Gwen, I'll warn you about the Dragon Tattoo movie. It's very, very violent and graphic. It overwhelms the senses. I did not like it at all, but I enjoyed the book. I tend to skim over very violent parts of books so I actually didn't even remember much of the violence that is in the film being in the book. Frankly, I felt as though I just survived that film. I should have known better than to go, but my dh wanted to see it just because he'd heard that it was good. The amount of violence totally shocked him, too. I would not want either of my children to see it. Not at all!! Laurie makes a good point in that the book does have violence against women. In the movie, that violence is extremely graphic. Consider yourself warned.

Welcome Greenhouse_gal! I agree about Neil Gaimon.

More good fantasy: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and followups. Really good reading set in the Arthurian legends. Themes are the demise of the feminine due to the rise of the church, as well as all of the Arthurian stories. Really nicely done.

How about Mark Twain? Seriously good southern writer from the U.S. Wrote devastatingly good satire that is still apropos to the times. Here's a list of his writings. Highly recommended. http://mark-twain.classic-literature.co.uk/

This is killing me! My MP3 player needs a new charge cord so I haven't been able to use it since I was in Utah! So many good books to go download!

You know who else is really delightful, speaking of Mark Twain - Robert Louis Stevenson. His Travels with a Donkey, Inland Voyage, and Silverado books are really treasures.

Speaking of violence against women, anyone remember this famous song by the Beatles? Way back then I like this song. Now, I am aghast that I had no clue about how inappropriate it was. And scary. We've come a long way, baby.

The Beatles Run for Your Life Lyrics:

Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Of I won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Well I know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Of I won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl
Na, na, na
Na, na, na
Na, na, na
Na, na,

My word! I don't think it ever registered with me either. What in the world were we thinking? What were they thinking? Wouldn't it be interesting to interview Macarthy and ask him. this is a definate sheesh!

I was just thinking of McCarthy last night. Right now it sort of seems to me like there are so many active catastrophes in the world. And then I remembered the 50's and 60's - McCarthyism, assassination, cold war. We made it through that, so I guess the oil spills and political polarization, and demonstrations, and national bankruptcies are just this decades dramas . . .

I think the Beatles guy was McCartney, not McCarthy - that's a whole different subject and a scary one as well!

A couple of years ago I was driving along listening to oldies radio and that song came on. I absently started singing the words and when I realized what I was singing, it was pretty upsetting. How insidious these things are.

This message was edited May 28, 2010 9:57 AM

Hahahahahah - I thought Laurie was referring to an earlier era, not the song's author. I completely missed it. Thanks, Judi.

Katie, thanks for starting this thread. I attend a weekly meeting in the commons area of a bookstore and often browse around afterward. I can now browse armed with a list. Looking forward to some interesting reads.

I thinking about starting a movies thread . . .

OMG not a movies thread! How will we have time to read all those books AND watch movies?

I know. But it's such an interesting way to find out about people . . .

Speaking of movies, we just watched New Moon last night, and that brings to mind that no one has mentioned Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I think that the books were written to appeal to the teenage girl, but I really enjoyed the entire series. I spent a lot of time in Forks/LaPush when I was growing up, and it was fun to imagine the story unfolding.

I had thought about that, too. I was amazed at how they drew me in. I risked snowy roads (the Christmas before last) and Christmas crowds to find the last book because I was afraid I'd be stuck (which I did end up being) without knowing what had happened.

I think Stephanie Meyers writes about feelings really well. Her storytelling really captured me.

Julie - I saw New Moon last weekend. :-) I think the movies are much better if you've read the books and already know the story. Otherwise they seem kind of weird.

Kathy,

Mom and I were having the same discussion about the movies. We have both read the books and watched the movie together. We both agreed that you would probably be kind of lost if you hadn't read the books first.... As it was, we drove Don nuts talking about what had happened/what was going to happen throughout the movie. Disadvantage of watching a movie with a reader I suppose ^_^

ROFL. I was trying to explain an episode of LOST to my brother the other day and felt much the same way. It's a little different, but still about context.