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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2009 3:21:14 GMT
I keep searching for something to read that has some merit to it, with a good story. Here we are, well into summer with no recommended reading list going. Let's remedy that right now. For a completely satisfying novel, read The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich. Don't forget that we have a favorite authors thread buried back on page three of the Library. |
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Post by nic on Jul 22, 2009 5:54:16 GMT
Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series. 'nuff said.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 24, 2009 1:51:05 GMT
Have you read : THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafron? There is a new book out by him called THE ANGELS GAME. I love this author.
Here is my list:
The Angels Game Zafron
The White Queen Philippa Gregory
The Time Traveler's Wife Audray Niffengger
Julie and Julia (based on true stories of a woman who cooks her
way thru Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Julia Child's cooking career).
More later
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Post by cigalechanta on Jul 24, 2009 2:39:50 GMT
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the best book I've read lately, it's translated from the French and now it's been made into a film.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 2:50:33 GMT
I really liked the Time Traveler's Wife. The Giant's House is very good, by Elizabeth McCracken. I am a big fan of Ann Patchett, and particularly loved The Magician's Assistant and The Patron Saint of Liars. Zoë Heller is an excellent, incisive writer. I greatly enjoyed both Notes on a Scandal: What Was She Thinking? and The Believers. I also have a positive mania for certain mystery writers: Lee Child, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, Henning Mankell, and now Stieg Larsson, who died immediately after delivering his trilogy to the publisher. Only the first two are currently available in English. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 2:52:42 GMT
Oh ~~ I was posting at the same time you were, Cigalechanta. Here is the thread about The Elegance of the Hedgehog. |
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 24, 2009 3:19:03 GMT
Bixa : Kirk is just now reading the Scarecrow by Michael Connelly and he said it is very goodl, very well written, so I am waiting for him to finish. I will let you know what I think when I am finished with it. I love Lee Child and the Jack Reacher stories, can't wait for the next one. Have you ever read J. D. Robb Eve Dallas series?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 3:30:57 GMT
I haven't read The Scarecrow. Is it the newest one? Can't wait!
To be honest, I always avoided J.D. Robb/Norah Roberts because of the Norah Roberts romance novels.
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Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2009 12:01:16 GMT
Bixa, I think the Stieg Larsson is available in English now. Whenever I browse on Amazon, they are offering "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which I assume is volume 1. I just read it in French. I had a hard time getting into it -- a bit boring at first. It gets better, but it's not the best thing I have ever read. And volume 2 was just reviewed in the NYT -- the reviewer talks of a horror movie ending.
I'm not sure I will bother with it. As much as I like detective stories, I don't like the gruesome kind like James Ellroy. It's just pornography in my opinion.
A Swedish friend saw the movie called Millenium -- she said they edited out huge amounts of the book but left in all the violence.
I read The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish (trying to improve my vocabulary). It took me a while and I'm not sure I would have continued it in English.
My reading seems to be a mixture of detective stories and non-fiction. I just read an interesting book about genetics by Steve Jones and a novel by Henning Mankell. I get my detective stories out of the library, so usually read them in French. And I also started a series of short essays by Joseph Roth called What I Saw -- articles about Berlin in the 1920s where he was a journalist.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 15:34:28 GMT
I read The Shadow of the Wind in English. I loved the premise and the sheer imaginative scope of the book, but ultimately would not wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else. There is a feeling of trying too hard at times, where the coincidences, plot twists, and sheer fiendishness of the inspector are simply tedious. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire are both available in English. Apparently the third (Castles in the Sky -- ?) is out in French, German, Spanish and presumably Swedish. The third is slated for release in English in January of 2010, although comments on this site indicate an autumn release in some English-speaking countries. |
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Post by tillystar on Jul 24, 2009 16:13:54 GMT
I loved the Shadow of the Wind. I even brought it for a couple of people for Christmas (maybe now they secretly hate me :  . I have his new book, Angels Game, sitting in a pile on my table ready for when we go away in a coupe of weeks. Its taking every ounce of self-control not to fling my current book out the window and dive in. The another of the books on the pile have also been mentioned on this thread, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, really looking forward to that one too. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 16:27:46 GMT
Tilly! Go pack that book in your suitcase where you can't see it right now! Emergency books or vacation books can't be used up before their time, or you'll be ever so sorry later.
I doubt seriously anyone hates you for the gift of The Shadow of the Wind. They're undoubtedly grateful for it. I'll certainly read Angel's Game the first chance I get.
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Post by tillystar on Jul 24, 2009 16:50:32 GMT
La La la **Dances little jig while holding current read out the window** La La la
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2009 17:01:48 GMT
*shakes head sadly*
You're only hurting yourself, you know.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 25, 2009 2:09:02 GMT
Bixa:
Yes Scarecrow is the newest. Also the JD Robb books, while they have some romance they are about a female cop in New York in the 2040's and they are crime thrillers. Quite well written. I think there are 24 or 25 of them now and for quite a while no one knew that it was Nora Roberts writing them because they were so entirely different.
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Post by traveler63 on Aug 1, 2009 21:11:38 GMT
Bixa:
I finished Scarecrowby Michael Connelly and it is very interesting. it is not a Harry Bosch. I thought it was good, kind of one where you don't want to put it down and has an interesting ending!!!! There will be a new Harry Bosch in the fall.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 2, 2009 0:59:39 GMT
Can't wait to read that one and also the new Harry Bosch one. The last Michael Connelly I read was The Brass Verdict, which teamed Harry with Mickey Haller -- the protagonist of The Lincoln Lawer.
Right now I'm reading a book that I must have read before, when it came out in 2002 -- The Navigator of New York. It was only after I got it home from the library and started reading that I realized. So strange, though -- I retained the merest fragments, so am enjoying it all over again. It's about various of the people involved in the quest for the North Pole. Part of it is a fascinating look at NY city at the beginning of the 20th century.
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Post by lola on Aug 20, 2009 21:38:16 GMT
I'm requesting Master Butcher etc from the library. Will work my way down this thread. Thanks, you literate and yet funloving types, you.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2009 21:55:27 GMT
The Navigator of NY wound up having too many strained plot devices for my taste, although it was mostly good reading. I'm reading one now that I sort of got accidentally and is turning out to be really good. It's called A Crime in the Neighborhood, by Suzanne Berne. It starts with the crime, then moves to the whole texture of life in a suburb of Washington, DC in 1972. The writing is economical and compelling and moral in a different, subtle way. |
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Post by cristina on Aug 21, 2009 5:40:33 GMT
I confess to being a fan of The Shadow of the Wind, but I read it just before I went to Barcelona for the first time. I have to say that I felt that knew more of Barcelona after reading the book. Of course, supplemented by guidebooks.
And while I really don't generally go for mystery/detective novels, I did read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I actually did enjoy the story, but I thought the translation was not so great. I'm not a linguist by any means, but I found a lot of odd (dated) weird words repeated in the English translation. Words I only know of because I do crosswords, which just help you learn ancient English (assuming you're doing an English crossword.)
My number one favorite book of all time, though, is Love in the Time of Cholera. Hands down. Truthfully, Gracia-Marquez is my all time favorite author. Even in translation.
Second favorite author is Isabel Allende. I like magical realism. A lot.
Third...any biography of someone I wish to know more about. But Garcia-Marquez or Allende would always trump that if they had a new offer.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2009 16:10:18 GMT
Is anyone a Laurie King fan? She makes for great summer/vacation reading. You have to see her website to realize the breadth of her writing -- click on "Books" first. I've read two of her stand-alone books, Folly and Keeping Watch. I was absorbed by both of them, although I felt she lost the focus of Keeping Watch. I also pounce on all of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novels -- great fun stuff. There are other books on the website that I didn't know about before. Must remedy that! |
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. I have his new book, Angels Game, sitting in a pile on my table ready for when we go away in a coupe of weeks. Its taking every ounce of self-control not to fling my current book out the window and dive in.