Posts: 1531 |
lilly Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 9:30 PM |
I'm staaarving for a good book!!
I'm sort of unemployed at the moment (well, a student looking for parttime-work) and I can't study for my finals all day long (cough), so I went to the bookstore AND the library today to find something to read (in English).
Nothing.
This has never happened to me before. I was always able to find something in the end. Now I ordered "Join Me!" (Danny Wallace) from play.com, but it won't arrive for another week or so... and I've already read his other books. And Hornby's new novel.
Now I'm about to re-re-re-read "Pride and Prejudice". Sigh.
So, erm, any recommendations?
Read sth exceptionally good lately?
Anyone?
(WENDY?)
P.S.: I should probably add that I don't read thriller novels. Never ever. I get nightmares and everything *lol*. And no books that focus on murders or the death penalty. I couldn't sleep for weeks after reading "In Cold Blood". Sigh. |
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Posts: 3258 |
mili Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 9:36 PM |
| The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paulo Giordano was the most enjoyable book I've read for a while. I also rather enjoyed the Magus by John Fowles, it was a different kind of experience, as the last time I read it was in the 1980's. |
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Posts: 1531 |
lilly Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 9:45 PM |
mili wrote: The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paulo Giordano was the most enjoyable book I've read for a while. I also rather enjoyed the Magus by John Fowles, it was a different kind of experience, as the last time I read it was in the 1980's.
aah, I was thinking about reading "The Magus". I wrote a paper on "The French Lieutenant's Woman" a few years ago and I loved Fowles' language! Have you read "The Collector", too?
I read a review on Giordano's book a few weeks ago, have to check it out again. "Die Einsamkeit der Primzahlen" is a good title, even in German! :) |
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Posts: 2003 |
AbsGinger Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 9:46 PM |
I recommend "The millenium" trilogy by Stieg Larsson.
Proust is also a good alternative. |
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Posts: 2782 |
Hanne Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 9:48 PM |
They're not both new, but I really like Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett :)
I can also recommend The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. |
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Posts: 3258 |
mili Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 10:13 PM |
lilly wrote: mili wrote: The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paulo Giordano was the most enjoyable book I've read for a while. I also rather enjoyed the Magus by John Fowles, it was a different kind of experience, as the last time I read it was in the 1980's.
aah, I was thinking about reading "The Magus". I wrote a paper on "The French Lieutenant's Woman" a few years ago and I loved Fowles' language! Have you read "The Collector", too?
I read a review on Giordano's book a few weeks ago, have to check it out again. "Die Einsamkeit der Primzahlen" is a good title, even in German! :)
Yes, I enjoyed the Collector, but had difficulties with Mantissa (should try again, it's in the bookshelf).
Almost anything by William Wharton is worth reading. |
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Posts: 152 |
Cynthia Posted Tue 03 Nov, 2009 10:49 PM |
| "The Little Book" by Seldon Edwards is fantastic! |
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Posts: 2782 |
Hanne Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 6:08 AM |
The Curious Incident About The Dog In The Nighttime by Mark Haddon
The Memory Of Running by Ron McLarty |
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Posts: 1531 |
lilly Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 9:23 AM |
aaw, thanks, guys!!
Hanne, you have a great taste in books :D I have read Pillars of the Earth, The Kite Runner(have you read his second book? if so, is it any good?), and The Curious Incident... Have not read The Memory of Running, so I will go and check it out today :)
I just read about "The Little Book" on Amazon, it sounds great! I love 19th-century stories :)
bookstore/library here I come! :)
(keep your recommendations coming! ;D) |
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Posts: 2782 |
Hanne Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 10:37 AM |
lilly wrote:
Hanne, you have a great taste in books :D I have read Pillars of the Earth, The Kite Runner(have you read his second book? if so, is it any good?), and The Curious Incident... Have not read The Memory of Running, so I will go and check it out today :)
Let me return that compliment... I like the fact that you've read those books!!
I haven't read A Thousand Splendid Suns yet but I've bougth it. I'll read it once I've read the last couple of hundred pages in World Without End.
How did you like Curious Incident... ? I just love how you get to see the world from a completely different point of view. It makes you think about inter-personal relations and how much we read between the lines.
The Memory of Running is about a man who loses his parents in an accident. Many years before that, his sister disappeared. He's not too young anymore, not in a good shape, and as far as I remember, he hates his job. More or less by coincidence, he ends up crossing the US from coast to coast on a bike to look for his sister, and it's not boring :)
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Posts: 275 |
Kristy Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 11:00 AM |
Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper both by Jodi Picoult.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini - didn't think I'd like this one but I did.
Re A curious Incident ... I think it's important to remember that not everyone with Asperger's Syndrome is like the main character - there are varying degrees of AS. One of the bad points of the book is that whenever I speak about AS people say, 'oh yeah, like that boy in A Curious Incident ...'
Gah, annoying.
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Posts: 48 |
gingy Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 1:27 PM |
| The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear!! By Walter Moers. Loved it to bits :D |
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Posts: 10115 |
ricv64 Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 1:44 PM |
ask the dust - john fante
hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world - murakami
the things they carried - tim o brian
state of war -Ninotchka Rosca
desolation angels - keroauc
and i concurrr with the william wharton choice |
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Posts: 8299 |
Scottish Dubliner Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 2:06 PM |
Anything by Christopher Brookmyre or Carl Hiaasen or Ross O'Carroll Kelly
Dubz |
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Posts: 2782 |
Hanne Posted Wed 04 Nov, 2009 2:39 PM |
Kristy wrote:
Re A curious Incident ... I think it's important to remember that not everyone with Asperger's Syndrome is like the main character - there are varying degrees of AS. One of the bad points of the book is that whenever I speak about AS people say, 'oh yeah, like that boy in A Curious Incident ...'
Gah, annoying.
People also think that all autists have special gifts like being able to learn a phone book by heart or play the piano like a prodigy. These abilities only apply to a minority of autists.
What I really like about Curious Incident... is that it gives you an insight into someone who sees the world in a fundamentally different way than most other people. For instance, I remember the part about jokes, how he'd analysed what a joke is without understanding it.
For me, the book didn't make a difference because the boy had asperger's, but because it really made me think about some aspects of life.
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