Books! Recs and Reviews!

dtbluv

I'm looking for some good books.  In return, I will recommend some of my current favorites:

Code Name Verity:  This is a young adult book, which I don't normally read, but I still loved it.  It features very strong themes of friendship and friend-love, and is mostly character driven, but it takes place in Nazi times and has adventure and a plot.

Gone Girl:  This book is simply amazing.  Gillian Flynn reminds me of Chuck Palahniuk, in the best way possible.

Good Omens:  This is a hilarious book about the apocalypse.  Strong characters, amazingly inventive, and sharply witty. Definitely my all time favorite book.

misssunshine17

I mostly read chick lit, so don't judge

Girls in White Dresses- Was really excited since it was on a bunch of lists of things to read, but wasn't worth the $10. It was too choppy with too many characters that I kept getting confused. 

Crazy Little Thing-Got this from Amazon Prime. Was funny, realistic and an easy read about a woman just getting a divorce and a cute new doctor in town. 

tlc35

The last good books I read were davinci code and Angels and Demons. Obviously these are old books but I just got around to reading them and they are hard to put down. Another interesting book is Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray, Love. It explores different cultural ideas about marriage.

dtbluv

I read a ton of chick lit.  I love it.  No judging here.  I read other stuff too, my mom implemented a policy when I was young, that for every 5 non-intellectual books I read, I had to read one book that made me think.  This was back when I thought Garfield was the epitome of humor, so it made sense.  I've kept up with the policy, and try to read things recommended by NPR or some other classy place every so often.

Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors.  I like that she keeps things semi-realistic and has strong female characters that still embrace their femininity.  I also like Meg Cabot, a carry over from my younger days of being minorly obsessed with The Princess Diaries.

Do you like paranormal books?  Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong is another one of my favorites (I have a lot of favorites).  It's a somewhat unique take on werewolves, and has a weirdly empowering love story.  

B2Z728

I look book recommendation threads!

I'm going to copy and paste synapses from Good Reads because it will explain the books better than me. So here's a few suggestions of some of my favorites:

The Name on the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss - 

Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger -A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap(They made a movie of this book, but the book, as always, is much better)
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen -Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. (Also a movie made of this book. I didn't see the movie, but I'm 100% positive the book is much better)
I'm also a fan of Anthony Bourdain, a chef and TV personality. He's written quite a few Non Fiction books about himself, cooking, and critiquing life and other people. A good one to start with would be his first one, Kitchen Confidential.

ETA: I'm currently reading the sequel to The Name on the Wind, which is The Wise Man's Fear. If you liked the first, you'll like the second and there's one more book that supposed to come out that I'm really looking forward to.    I haven't read any non fiction in awhile, which I enjoy reading. I also like books about food since I cook a lot. So I think I'm going to read Michael Rulman's book, The Making of a Chef.

  

 

 

 

dtbluv

Also, another highly recommended book for anyone into romances:  Beyond Heaving Bosoms.

It's written by the ladies that run Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.  It goes in depth with analyzing the romance genre, kind of like a text book for a lit class, but it's funny and lively and isn't at all dry.  It would be for a lit class taught by a young-ish female professor that likes wine and makes dirty jokes and takes the class out for booze and dancing after the final. 

jennylee813

Yay! Book talk!

I loved Good Omens too - I laughed so much the kids thought there was something wrong with  me!

The Night Circus is also quite good. It's one of those books that I'd never pick to read on my own, but I'm so glad that I read it. The writing has a victorian feel to it, the characters are well developed and the plot (while supernatural) is still captivating.

I read a fair bit of YA lit, simply because of my job (and I want to read what my kids are reading), so I finally read The Hunger Games. It was better than I thought it would be, but like anything that has a lot of hype, I wanted more.

I just finished Fever 1793, which is about the yellow fever in Philadelphia. Also YA, but a nice, sneaky way to teach some history.

I'll read anything and everything. I have a 100 page rule: if it doesn't entice me by then, it's gone. I'm not sure what's on my list next though. I have a bunch of YA books that I want to put on my classroom shelf, but there are some grown up books that I'd like to read for me as well...

mpickl

Here are some of my favorites. Even if you have seen the movie, the book is always better! I pulled my info from Amazon. Going to mark this thread for when I'm looking for books to take on the honeymoon!

Room

To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

 

Devil in the White City

Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller In the Garden of Beasts—intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

The Beach

The Khao San Road, Bangkok--first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach." The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travelers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. There, it is rumored, a carefully selected international few have settled in a communal Eden. Haunted by the figure of Mr. Duck--the name by which the Thai police have identified the dead man--and his own obsession with Vietnam movies, Richard sets off with a young French couple to an island hidden away in an archipelago forbidden to tourists. They discover the Beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that Beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents. Spellbinding and hallucinogenic, The Beach is a look at a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world firsthand.

 

Hunger Games Trilogy

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

 

Life of Pi

Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."

 

 

Matched

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

 

Divergent

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

applejambutter

I absolutely loved Room.

bunni727

Oooh, I loved The Night Circus!

The book Water for Elephants is much better, but the movie is surprisingly good. They do leave out all the nursing home stuff, which is such an important element of the novel.

I'll also include the GoodRead descriptions:

American Gods is good, but has much less humor than Good Omens.
"Days before his release from prison, Shadows wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm or preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, AMERICAN GODS takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. Youll be surprised by what and who it finds there..."

I'm still reading Cloud Atlas presently. I enjoy it, but between sci-fi elements and divided narration, it's not the most...accessible book.
"A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation—the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us."

Unbearable Lightness of Being is my absolute, all time favorite.
"A major achievement from one of the world's truly great writers, Milan Kundera's magnificent novel of passion and politics, infidelity and ideas, encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, illuminating all aspects of human existence."

B2Z728

Bunni - I know American Gods is a well received book. I tried to read it. It's actually one of the few books that I've started and haven't finished. I just couldn't get into for some reason. I think I'm just not the biggest fan of his writing style. I'm not sure what it is. But it bugs me that I've never finished it. One day I'll have to pick it up and try it again. The plot in itself is neat and I did like that part of it. I read another book by Neil Gaimen as well and didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the movie made after it, Stardust. 

ETA: It's a little disappointing to hear that they leave the nursing home stuff out of Water for Elephants since that part really gives another level to the book. At least I now know that in advance if I ever watch it. I also think it's a good thing that it's been quite a few years since I read the book and won't really remember all the stuff that they changed and have left out. 

lls31

Just dropping in quick, but I'm loving this thread.

Not quite as detailed as the other posts, but here are some of my favorite reads:

- The Divergent series by Veronica Roth (the wait for the final book is killing me!)

- The Matched series by Ally Condie (reading the final book now)

- The Delirium series by Lauren Oliver

- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

- Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

- The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters series by Gordon Dahlquist (the last book sucked though)

Jessa617

If you like mystery/suspense- check out anything by Harlan Coben. He is my absolute favorite author.

With the whole "Fifty Shades of Gray" craze I decided to read reviews to see if I wanted to read it. Reviews told me it was very poorly written but suggested another book:  Captive in the Dark. If you're into that kind of thing, I would suggest reading Captive in the Dark.

happyfor25

I really enjoyed Safe Haven (I like Nicholas Sparks)

Another really good read was The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I also love most books by Jodi Picoult.

Another great book is 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  I used to love King but his books started to get a little weird for my taste.  This one reminded me of the old Stephen King

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom was great too.

Thanks for the recommendations!  I love to read just about anything and have read and enjoyed many of those mentioned above.

Sierra524

Just complied a list of books I am going to read:

• Bossypants by Tina Fey. I absolutely LOVE Tina Fey! & I LOVE Chelsea Handler's books. So if Bossypants is even remotely like Chelsea's books, Im sure I will love it.
• Bared to You by Sylvia Day. I loved the 50 Shades trilogy & this was recommended to me by a number of people.
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I have heard nothing but good things about this book.
• Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. Lets be honest, who doesnt love a good love story?

I need to spend more time reading...maybe it will help me escape the madness of wedding planning.

dtbluv

Happy- I LOVED The Kitchen House.  I don't know of very many other people that have read it, but it's amazing!

I can't decide if I'm excited that I've read so many of the books that people have recced, or depressed because it makes it so hard to find new books.

Jenny- You should definitely get Code Name Verity for yourself or your classroom.  Everyone I know that has read it loved it, from my 15 yo cousin to my mom.  It's one of those YA books that has a really clear, strong message that will resonate with any age group.

Buzz-  I saw the movie Stardust before I read any of Neil Gaiman's books, then I ended up reading the book and I was shocked that I liked the movie better.  That never happens to me (the book is always better).  I've read some of Neil Gaiman's books, and though I like his YA books and graphic novels, I just can't get into his adult fiction.  It never grabs me, I never feel like I absolutely must keep reading his books.  I like the stories a lot, but the writing style isn't my favorite.

I also want to rec Karin Slaughter.  She writes mysteries that tend to be a little bracing, she doesn't hold back in her descriptions of violence.  But, her characters are simply amazing.  They are so complex, and so well written.

mpickl

Sierra -- don't get your hopes up for Bossypants. I was really disappointed. Chelsea's books are much better. Mindy Kaling's book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, is even better, unfortunately.

Sierra524

Really?! I was so looking forward to it. I wish Chelsea would just come out with another book! I was thinking of reading Mindys book but wasnt sure if it was any good. I also just found this book about marriage I want to read. Its called "iVow".

bunni727

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_books-recs-and-reviews?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5b741aae-8006-4061-b0c7-727795cecddcPost:ad265fe1-8f80-453b-adeb-8ef23be4b93f">Re: Books! Recs and Reviews!</a>:
[QUOTE]Happy - I LOVED The Kitchen House .  I don't know of very many other people that have read it, but it's amazing! I can't decide if I'm excited that I've read so many of the books that people have recced, or depressed because it makes it so hard to find new books. Jenny- You should definitely get Code Name Verity  for yourself or your classroom.  Everyone I know that has read it loved it, from my 15 yo cousin to my mom.  It's one of those YA books that has a really clear, strong message that will resonate with any age group. Buzz -  I saw the movie Stardust before I read any of Neil Gaiman's books, then I ended up reading the book and I was shocked that I liked the movie better.  That never happens to me (the book is always better).  I've read some of Neil Gaiman's books, and though I like his YA books and graphic novels, I just can't get into his adult fiction.  It never grabs me, I never feel like I absolutely must keep reading his books.  <strong>I like the stories a lot, but the writing style isn't my favorite.</strong> I also want to rec Karin Slaughter.  She writes mysteries that tend to be a little bracing, she doesn't hold back in her descriptions of violence.  But, her characters are simply amazing.  They are so complex, and so well written.
Posted by dtbluv[/QUOTE]

Exactly. He does have really nifty ideas for stories and characters. H loves his stuff, so I'd rather listen to him tell me what an adult novel was about than read it myself.

Someone mentioned werewolves, but I don't recall who. If you are into urban fantasy, the <strong>Mercy Thompson</strong> series is kind of fun.
"Written by Patricia Briggs, these books follow the adventures of Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson, a Native American shapeshifter who was raised by Werewolves. The series is set in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state in an alternate world in which Werewolves and certain types of the fae have been forced to reveal themselves to the public. The series follows Mercy, a VW mechanic by trade, as she learns her true nature and is caught up in the affairs of the local werewolf pack, led by Adam, the Alpha who lives next door, and the local vampire seethe, a member of which she has befriended."

I really liked, and much prefered, the early books in the Anita Blake series, but they take a nose dive into weird about book 5, and then get extra bonkers around book ten. I don't usually recommend them, because I know how frustrating it is to start a series, love it, then watch it go down the crazytubes.

lls31

I really want to read 11/22/63.  Glad to hear a good review!

Any recommendations for good Neil Gaiman books?  I've read Coraline and started The Graveyard Book.  LOVED Neverwhere.

Up next on my list are:

- The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

- The Passage by Justin Cronin

bunni727

I forgot Perks of being a Wallflower! It's wonderful.

Good Omens is great, American Gods is good. If you read comics at all, Marvel 1602 was very well received. I read it, but comics are not my favorite format.

happyfor25

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_books-recs-and-reviews?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:5b741aae-8006-4061-b0c7-727795cecddcPost:d0646f45-da3a-4123-b358-38e2cfc583b3">Re: Books! Recs and Reviews!</a>:
[QUOTE]I really want to read 11/22/63.  Glad to hear a good review! Any recommendations for good Neil Gaiman books?  I've read Coraline and started The Graveyard Book.  LOVED Neverwhere. Up next on my list are: - The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - The Passage by Justin Cronin
Posted by lls31[/QUOTE]

Definitely read 11/22/63!  The Perks of Being a Wallflower was really good too.  I haven't read the others on your list so let us know what you think after you read them.

The next three on my reading list (based on these recs) are Good Omens, Matched and Code Name Verity.

MrsGandthebeag

I just downloaded The Night Circus and Gone Girl to my nook.  I also have a couple of the Private books by James Patterson.  I think I'm going to be doing a lot of reading with all this snow.  I read the Hunger Games series-first one was great, second was okay, third was a waste of time.  The Divergent books are pretty good.  Other than that, I've been reading a lot of crap lately.  I downloaded ISn't it Pretty To Think So the other day.  That was the worst book I've read in a long time.  Good thing it was 99 cents.

Ven&Radio

I agree that Neil Gaiman's writing style is a little awkward, but I love his books.  For me, I think the awkwarndness stems from him using names too often when a pronoun would do just fine.  I read through alot of his stuff when I was in high school (American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust, Good Omens)... I'm also a fan of some of his short fiction.  I keep Smoke & Mirrors and Fragile Things in my bathroom closet in the event I realize my Nook needs a charge when I need some bathtime reading material.  The only Gaiman book I've tried and failed to get into was Anansi Boys.  I may have to give it another shot.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was one of the best novels I've read recently.  Some people told me they had a hard time getting into it, but I found it gripping from the start.  The one thing I didn't like was the table of contents list chapter names, which contain spoilers.  The chapters should be listed numerically IMO.

I loved John Scalzi's Old Man's War.  The book is set in the future (not sure of year) when humans have established colonies in space.  Only people from certain (poor) countries can be colonists.  The only other way to journey into space is to enlist in the colonial defense force, which only accepts people age 75 and older.  Old Man's War is the story of one man's enlistment in the CDF.  I found it to be a very compelling story.  I just read the second book in the series and will be downloading the rest shortly.

I just downloaded a couple of cheap novels to my Nook to get through the weekend with, especially if we lose power. 

rel1988

Glad to see such postive reviews for Divergent.  It's on my Kindle just haven't had a chance to start reading.

I LOVED Gone Girl!! I recommened it to a bunch of people and it seemed like they either loved it or hated it...a lot complained it started slow, but I promise you the crazy ending it definitely worth it! I just finished reading the same author's book Sharp Objects. I didn't like it nearly as much as Gone Girl and I personally found the "twist" ending to actually be quite predictable.

Currently I am reading a friend's recommendation Taking Chances. It's OK, nothing amazing like she thought but then again, I am the oddball out who hated all the 50 Shades books so to each his own.

qtrfan

11/22/63 was a riveting book.  Highly recommend.

As far as the Matched series goes, I loved Books 1 and 2, but lost interest and did not finish 3.