I need some book recs

[Vanquisher]

I need some good book recommendations. A little background on what I like and don't so that you might choose appropriately for me.

Likes:

Harry Potter
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Dan Brown
I liked the one Jodi Picoult I read
Midwives
Anne of Green Gables series
The Time Traveler's Wife
Crow Lake
A Girl Named Zippy

I don't read a ton. I know. :tsk: I am going to try to read more this year. I picked up The Kite Runner on recommendation from this board looking like it would be good. I could not get into it at all. A book really has to grab me right away, or I can't finish it. So, nothing like that. I think I read a Particia Cornwell once on a recommend from MIL. I should have known better. So, I am a book snob, and I am lazy too. I couldn't even read The Hobbit all the way through. I don't really like fantasy.

I can't get into nonfiction. I like fluffy, crime, girly novels. I'm not into a lot of spiritual crap - as in the less the better.

I'm thinking of reading some more Jodi Picoult. I don't know what else. Other than Dan Brown, Harry Potter, and ASOUE, I haven't had a lot of luck with sticking with a particular author.

Give it to me.

Other books I haven't been able to finish or hated:

Eragon
Angry Housewives Eating BonBons (I have tried this one like 4 times, and haven't been able to do it).
Cold Sassy Tree
The Secret Life of Bees
Bel Canto

Anyone?

[HouseofWool]

Re: I need some book recs

Since reading time is scarcer that a dust free surface in my home, I've been listening to a lot of audio books lately. I recently discovered the author Carl Hiaasen http://www.carlhiaasen.com/. They are fluffy, but gritty not quite crime stories set in the Everglades. Some of his stories have a recurring character (not the protagonist).

Try Nature Girl or Skinny Dip. I'm currently listening to Stormy Weather.

[Vanquisher]

Re: I need some book recs

As an added benefit, my husband enjoyed them in a vicarious way, KWIM?

Sounds good, I may have to check those out. However, at the moment my hoo hoo is broken and my husband is in another city, so maybe this isn't the thing to start with?

[Vanquisher]

Re: I need some book recs

Since reading time is scarcer that a dust free surface in my home, I've been listening to a lot of audio books lately. I recently discovered the author Carl Hiaasen http://www.carlhiaasen.com/. They are fluffy, but gritty not quite crime stories set in the Everglades. Some of his stories have a recurring character (not the protagonist).

Try Nature Girl or Skinny Dip. I'm currently listening to Stormy Weather.

Thanks! I like audio books too. That's how a lot of my "reading" has been done lately. I can do dishes and listen at the same time, run Ryan to baseball, etc.

[Vanquisher]

Re: I need some book recs

Thanks, Annie. I like escapist books as well, as long as they aren't too out there, you know? I can't get into books that are all trolls and elves and things. I like time travel for some reason. It has been a long time since a read A Wrinkle in Time.

[poky]

Re: I need some book recs

Hmm..have you read any Connie Willis? Some of hers are short, but I've liked the longest ones best: The Doomesday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog. They're both set in a future...London, I think...where the "history" departments have time travel at their disposal to help them really know what was going on...the first one's about a historian who gets stuck in a village in the 1300s hit by the plague. Oh! I *really* liked "Household Gods" by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove, and you might, too - modern-day divorced LA lawyer mom gets transported into the body of roman-empire era ancestress of hers, and has to figure out what's going on and survive. Really well written.

Re: I need some book recs

Someone on here turned me onto the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The books are long (like 1,000 pages) and I think there are 5 or 6 of them with atleast one more in the series that she is supposedly working on now. They are easy reading - historical fiction, romance, time travel all rolled into one. As an added benefit, my husband enjoyed them in a vicarious way, KWIM?

Hmmm ... I'll have to look into those. I haven't read any "romance-type" novels in ages. Ken Follet is as close as I've gotten. Since I've decided to throw myself into this whole "trying to conceive" thing (never had to try before), I can use all the help I can get.

Re: I need some book recs

I've got Water for Elephants in my queue. Someday! Right now I am reading The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. So far I really like it. I'll let you know, Heidi.

I second the suggestion for Carl Hiassen (sp?). I love his books. I think the Christopher Moore books (see my review of Fluke) are in the same vein. They always amuse me.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: I need some book recs

Anything by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. He knows the middle east probably better than any American. His classic book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem," is one of my favorite books. I re-read it every couple of years.

[HouseofWool]

Re: I need some book recs

In a completely different style... David Sedaris. Anything by him. ANYTHING. I don't recommend reading his stuff in public. It is laugh out loud funny, laugh until you cry, until you can't talk any more. Laugh until it is obvious that the damn Kegel's don't work.

His story of working as an elf at Macy's kills me.

Must find his audio books for the iPod...

[DCJenn]

Re: I need some book recs

I haven't read the suggestions because I'm lazy but if you like funny girl mysteries, the Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton and the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich are pretty good.

Definitely some laugh out loud parts. and if you've never been to Jersey, the Evanovich stories paint a very clear picture.

Jenn

Re: I need some book recs

you can listen to the elf at Macy's stuff on This American Life online. Also look for David Rakoff's Santa Freud. I like him more than Sedaris. I do like Sedaris ... but sometimes it feels like he's trying too hard.

Heidi - I know you said you don't like non-fiction, which is why I didn't have any suggestions for you. That's pretty much all I've been reading for ages! I'll look through my shelves and see if I can come up with anything.

[Vanquisher]

Re: I need some book recs

Thanks, everyone for the recs. I will look into them today and place holds at the library.

[HouseofWool]

Re: I need some book recs

Also look for David Rakoff's Santa Freud. I like him more than Sedaris. I do like Sedaris ... but sometimes it feels like he's trying too hard.

Sometimes Sedaris does feel a bit contrived, but I find it is more when he delves into full-on fiction. When he is recounting some supposedly true story, he is in his element. DH (who isn't a big fan of his) took me to see him live a couple of years ago. I had such a good time. That particular theater allowed drinks in it and I had to set mine on the floor for fear that I would spill it on the person next to me I was laughing so hard!

Re: I need some book recs

Have you read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold? If you can get past the violent beginning, it's a great book. I know you said nothing religious or spiritual, and the setting for much of the book is in heaven, but it's not really religious or spiritual - just very different.