OT: please recommend a good book for me! - YouLookFab Forum

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OT: please recommend a good book for me!

Mochi

Veteran

I have a four-hour bus ride down to New York on Friday, alone. It would be awesome to get some recommended reading from this fun, smart YLF community. I love fiction, but am totally down for any really good non-fiction as well, such as memoir, culture-related, essays, etc. Tastes are extremely eclectic. I'm intentionally not being too specific because I'd love to hear your favorites. I have access to big university bookstores as well as a great library system, so I could find most things you could come up with, I'm anticipating. Thank you so much and looking forward to some interesting responses. Bus will have Wi-Fi but I'm feeling like I miss my reading

41 replies

Latest reply was from HelenInCanada

rute

Veteran

Love Ken follett's books: Pillars of the Earth, World Without End!

Mochi

Veteran

Thanks! Sounds like a great travel read!

Fruitful

Veteran

The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Or probably anything else of his.

Totally addictive, surreal, moving, the bizarreness in the mundane, beauty and humour juxtaposed with menace, as well as grappling with existence and the elusiveness of being in the flow.

One very disturbing (but moving and meaningful) scene but if you can handle that it's totally worth it. Unputdownable.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. Satirical look at the near future that has had a big effect on how I see today.

Coffeegirl28

anything by David Sedaris, but especially Dress Your Family In Corduroy. He is a brilliant short story writer.

The Millennium Trilogy (even with all the movie hype the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has been getting in the States) is actually a really engrossing read!

Happy travels!

Mochi

Veteran

Oooh, I knew I would not be let down. Thanks! Fruitful, I will give that one a try for sure! If not this trip, then soon. I've read Murakami and even met him (at a reading). Not many Japanese writers these days make it into translation, sadly--glad he's one of them.

Shteyngart I have heard of, and will have to try. Sedaris--I agree that he's funny, and as long as I don't have to listen to him on tape (I really can't stand his effeminate voice), he's probably perfect travel reading. The Millenium trilogy--I admit I have been very curious about, but am very leery over what I've heard are graphic descriptions of violence. Maybe I should go for it.

Thank you again. I'm also enjoying getting more of a window into finding out what you all like (besides clothes

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins while on vacation and really enjoyed it. We were discussing who we thought would be good for the parts if it was a movie only to find that it is being made into a movie.

I also read the first 2.5 of the Millennium Trilogy Coffeegirl suggested. I really enjoyed the first book but enjoyed the second even more. I got distracted and didn't finish the third but think I will go back to it soon.

HelenInCanada

Veteran

My tastes are eclectic too, but lately I'm into true crime and biographies. I enjoyed The Fatal Gift of Beauty by Nina Burleigh - about the murder trial and appeal of American- student-abroad-in-Italy, Amanda Knox. It goes in-depth to understand the history and beliefs in the existence of Satanic rituals in Perugia that led to the public embrace of Knox as a full-fledged deranged witch (none of which were proven to be true). Also liking Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in A Dumbed-Down World by lawyer and journalist Lisa Bloom.

Safe and happy trip! Looking forward to hearing all about the NYC shenanigans!

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Another really good read is the new series of books by Walter Mosley with the main character LT. The characters are so interesting and quirky and the story takes many turns. I suggested these books to my partner and he read the first of them in a day. I just wish there were a few more.

Mochi

Veteran

Hi again...I will need to be offline most of the day so again am TIA-ing everyone. Helene, the book on Amanda Knox sounds fascinating...I'm also a crime story aficionado, especially when there's cultural differences to add richness and fascination to the story.

dianthus, I am embarrassed to say but I (again, very briefly) met Walter Mosley...he was the protege of my writing professor--we're all CCNY alums of the fiction program (he obviously was one of the most successful!) I have really enjoyed the unique style and perspective he brought to the two or three early novels of his that I've read.

I'll also propose a fiction recommendation. It's the most recent Pulitzer winner for fiction--A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. It's been referred to as a novel, though it's also a collection of interconnected short stories that can be read in any order. It deals with the music business, and with time and aging in general, depicting a bunch of friends, from their high school days in the L.A. punk scene of the late 70's, up into a near, recognizable yet slightly eerie and odd future. I was thinking rae especially might like this. It's got muscle and humor and it's extremely clever but also haunting and full of emotion.

crwilson

Veteran

I really enjoyed Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot. (I liked A Visit From the Goon Squad too.) I'm reading Susan Cain's Quiet right now too and am enjoying it quite a bit.

Diana

Veteran

ITA with Fruitful about the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, right down to that one scene. I've been meaning to reread it one of these days. If you like Murakami, you might also like Banana Yoshimoto - more Japanese magical realism but a little more minimalistic and urban.

One of my favorite authors is Kate Atkinson. Her earlier work is more magical realism, and her more recent books are a mystery series about a detective named Jackson Brodie (they recently had a miniseries based on these books on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery).

The Millenium Trilogy is worth reading in my opinion, although I found the writing/pacing a bit spotty at times. (It may be just me, but I thought the first book went terribly slowly until midway through, but it did pick up). There are a few disturbing scenes of violence.

I also love fantasy fiction (I guess I never grew out of my teenage nerd self, hee), although there is an awful lot of bad fantasy out there. Authors I love include Guy Gavriel Kay, Tolkien (of course), George RR Martin (if you've seen the HBO series Game of Thrones, you really should read the books but a warning - the series is not finished and he is a slow writer), Neil Gaiman, and Brandon Sanderson.

Right now I am reading The Hunger Games trilogy... in fact that is likely what I will be reading on *my* bus ride down!

Anyway, I'm going to stop now. I could go on for pages and pages about this!

Debora

Veteran

Mochi, I just finished 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, but at 900+ pages it might be a pretty hefty addition to your luggage! Another recent book I've read is The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, a dreamlike novel that the Boston Globe described as "A Romeo and Juliet tale drenched in magic realism."

Dianthus and Diana, The Hunger Games trilogy reeled me in this past summer - can't wait for the movie!

For a sweeping post-apocalyptic read, I couldn't put down Justin Cronin's The Passage.

Oh! And anything by Geraldine Brooks. Loved her Pulitzer Prize winning novel March and have most recently read Caleb's Crossing. I also enjoyed People of the Book and Year of Wonders by the same author.

I'm looking for a good book to read on the train, so I'll be checking back with this thread. Thanks for starting it, Mochi.

Astrid

Veteran

How about this one? The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It's the first in a series and I just love these books!

http://www.amazon.com/Eyre-Aff.....038;sr=8-3

ETA

Another favourite of mine, but a whole different kind of book: Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. It's fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Tr.....038;sr=8-1

MNsara

Veteran

Not a deep reader here, so consider the source, but I rather enjoyed "It's Hard Not to Hate You" by Valerie Frankel.

"Hunger Games" is on my list too because all the kids I work with are raving about it - and I do love a book that can be easily devoured (pun maybe intended!)

Oh, I really enjoyed "Orange is the New Black: My Year in Women's Prison" by Piper Kerman..

Jilly

Ditto on Hunger Games - though I'm not as much a fan of the last one in the trilogy. And the Jasper Fforde series is fun if you like a little fantasy and humor mixed with your mystery!

Amy

(website)

Veteran

This is a great thread! I'm so glad you asked Mochi! I'm adding to my reading list right now.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Water for Elephants (if you haven't seen the movie) or The Good Earth. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series- it's not just for kids

Linda

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy and loved it! Also liked Anne Patchet's State of Wonder.

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

"Pocahontas: Medicine Woman - Spy - Entrepreneur - Diplomat" by Paula Gunn Allen. History from the indigenous/oral side of things. It'll blow your mind, and Ms. Gunn Allen (may she enjoy her rest with the old ones) is an incredible story teller. She takes on the task of not just telling us about how important past events were conveyed in oral traditions, she tells us about important past events in the manner of the oral tradition.

Real food for thought and a helluva page turner (even tho 'we all know how it turned out'.)

Have fun reading on your trip! steph

catgirl

Veteran

I read ANYTHING. Just finished "11/22/63", the new Stephen King book about the JFK assassination. It will get through a 4 hour ride and more - but if you don't use an e-reader it will also be half your luggage!

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

I am in love with this book I recently picked up; "Very Classy!" an updated version on how young women should behave in modern society - it's like Miss Manners Updated

http://www.amazon.com/Very-Cla.....1595144382

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RandomThoughts (Andrea)

Veteran

Probably my favorite book: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Funny, a little dark and definitely perverse. I recommend it highly.

Saretta

(website)

I am also an avid reader and read every day on the train, a half-hour ride to and from work.

At the moment I'm reading A Game of Thrones. It's apparently the first in a series and I understand they've made a movie or tv series based on it, but I had never heard of it until a friend lent me the book. It will definitely make your 4 hour ride fly by - I'm always so engrossed that I'm afraid I'm going to miss my station one of these days!

kellygirl

Veteran

Love these threads. I'm reading "In the Woods" by Tania French. It's a murder mystery set in Ireland and very difficult to put down.

bella

(website)

Veteran

I recommend both the Hunger Games and The Song of Ice and Fire series previously mentioned. I think Hunger Games is a must if you have teenagers.
The worst part about George RR Martin's series is that it has no ending yet and he may not be able to complete it given how slowly he is writing.

nancylee

Veteran

I second so many of the suggestions here. I recently read both The Hunger Games and A Visit From the Goon Squad...loved them both.

I also suggest The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. The story line is somewhat similar to The Help but it's set in India, and the writing is more deft and beautiful.

Inge

(website)

Great thread! Some of your suggestions are now on my to-read list:-)

I too love the Jasper Fforde and the George RR Martin books.

If you're in the mood for food-related non-fiction, I can also recommend "Toast" by British chef Nigel Slater.

"Major Pettigrew's Last Stand", by Helen Simonson, a disarming, wonderful story about an English widower and his relationship with his Pakistani neighbour Mrs. Ali.

Have a fantastic trip, Nancy!

Mochi

Veteran

I'm excited to say that today I bought Case Histories by Kate Atkison (and was disappointed that the bookstore didn't have Tana French, because I'd heard great things about her writing).

I hope this thread gets occasional bumps, or else similar threads come into being, because this one, and many of the others mentioned here, I would not have heard of otherwise--even when I have, it's a much stronger endorsement when a fellow YLF buddy says good things about it.

Thanks to everyone!

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