Reading - Recently Finished & Recommendations?

16 years ago

Ever since I got reading glasses 6 weeks ago (I never wore glasses before) I've been reading like a mad woman. In that time I've read the following:

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult (good)

Lamb by Christopher Moore (not as funny as I thought it was going to be)

For One More Day by Mitch Albom (good)

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (excellent)

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (nice)

Made in the USA by Billie Letts (pretty good)

Lost by Joy Fielding (okay)

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (excellent)

Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons (ok, sort of slow)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (loved it)

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss (not as funny as I thought it would be)

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen (loved it)

I am almost finished A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks (not bad, typical Nicholas Sparks novel).

I'm going to the library this afternoon to pick up 3 novels I have on hold; Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon and Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

What have you read lately and based on what I've recently read do you have any recommendations?

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Comments (15)

socks
16 years ago
Glad you're enjoying reading so much.

I'm just finishing Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker. It's a cops and robbers, gun-running kind of book, not my taste too much, but it addresses the issue of American guns going south of the border to be used by the cartels. Very current. I'm reading it for a book group.

Recently I also enjoyed:
Art of Racing in the Rain
River Town
Down the Nile Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff

I am a slow reader, unfortunately.
bigack
16 years ago
Wow Karen, you shoulda gotten glasses sooner, haha. I just read "A Year on Ladybug Farm" really good, light reading. I go through so many books, I can't remember what I've read. "The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks" is good too.
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phyllis__mn
16 years ago
I'm keeping notes on what I am reading this year....

Just finished Ruth Rendell's Thirteeen Steps Down, which, as usual, was quite good.
Others I've read recently are Olive Kitteridge, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Revenge of the Middle-aged Woman, I Feel Bad About My Neck. The latter was by Nora Ephron, and very funny. I liked all of these, and did not include the books I hurled down with disgust!
linda_in_iowa
16 years ago
I recently read Simply Alice. It is a fictional book written by a researcher who knows a lot about Alzheimer's. Even though it was fiction it was written in the first person. I highly recommend this book.
sheesh
16 years ago
I loved Still Alice and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I think Wally Lamb wrote She's Come Undone. I read it 10 or 12 years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly, but I've never read another of his books. Maybe I should look into The Hour I first Believed. Is it funny?

I love theses book threads.

Sherry
sheesh
16 years ago
Linda, I think you mean Still Alice.
wanda_va
16 years ago
I just read a fabulous book - "A Prisoner of Birth" by Jeffrey Archer. He wrote "Kane and Abel" years ago, which was one of my all-time favorite books (it was also made into a great mini-series).
sleeperblues
16 years ago
Reading Game Change, about the last election told from both sides. Also reading Tale of Edgar Sawtelle. I like it so far but I only read before bed so it takes me awhile to finish a book since I fall asleep.
vannie
16 years ago
Yesterday I read "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. I knew when I went to bed w/ 100 pages left that I wouldn't be able to sleep until I finished it. I highly recommend it. In the last month I have read:
"Life of Pi" by Yann martel
"Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks
"Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
"7th Heaven" by James Patterson
"The Book Club" by Mary Monroe
"Plum Spooky" by Janet Evanovich
I would recommend any of those, but especially "The Art of Racing in the Rain"--one of the best books I've read lately. Recently I read "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy and would recommend it, too.
casey_nfld
Original Author
16 years ago
Bigack, I know! I was putting it off because I guess I didn't want to admit I was getting older and my eyes were going. But I only needed reading glases, my sight is fine except for that.

Sherry, "The Hour I First Believed" is not funny. It's about post traumatic stress syndrome. It's very good.

Vannie I've also read

"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
"Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks
"Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls has a new one out, I should get that from the library as well.
vannie
16 years ago
"Half Broke Horses" is the new Jeannette Walls book and I actually enjoyed it more than "The Glass Castle." "The Hour I First Believed" is definitely not funny. I love his books and have read them all now. "Olive Kitteredge" and "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" were both excellent, plus anything by Ruth Rendell. Love her!! I go to the library like some women go shopping. I could spend the day there.
grittymitts
16 years ago
Recently read LITTLE HEATHENS (can't recall name of the author at the moment. It was delightful!
Pieonear
16 years ago
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County was the last thing I read.
casey_nfld
Original Author
16 years ago
Linda you mean Still Alice, right? I just started it and I'm enjoying it so far. But it's not written in the first person.
caroline94535
16 years ago
Right now I'm "re-reading" an audiobook of High Five in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

I'm also reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

Last week I finished Thereby Hangs a Tale; A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quin. Chet is a dog; Bernie is his detective human. The first book in the series was Dog On It Both books are great.

http://www.amazon.com/Thereby-Hangs-Tail-Bernie-Mystery/dp/1416585850

I'm anxiously waiting for the new Stephanie Plum, Hamish Macbeth, Agatha Raisin, and Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood on HBO) books to come out. I'm reading all these series; I find each of them wonderful and entertaining in they're own ways.

Hamish Macbeth books in order...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hamish+macbeth+series+in+order&sprefix=Hamish+

Agatha Raisin series in order...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=agatha+raisin+series+in+order&sprefix=Agatha+Ra

Sookie Stackhouse; Southern Vampire Mysteries series

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=sookie+stackhouse&sprefix=Sookie

Reading - Recently Finished & Recommendations?

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