Who loves to Read???

I just finished Jeffrey Archers "A Prisoner of Birth" - SOOOOOO GOOD!!!! It's very Count of Monte Cristo-esque, only modern...

 

Now I have to read some of his other stuff!

Not sure if it fits your reading style, but if you haven't read it I hightly reccommend The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It's definitely a great female read, but I wouldn't classify it as Chick-Lit.

Another great read (again, if you haven't read it) would be Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.

And even if you've seen the movie, the book for Fried Green Tomatoes (by Fannie Flagg) is so worth a read. I've read it at least four times, I just love it.

Here's a list of a few others I just loved, that you may like. They're not exactly like any of the authors you mentioned, but they have amazing stories (like Jodi Piccoult) that you just can't put down. You may have already read them (as they've been out a while), but I have to pimp them out all the same:

White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

and finally, some chick lit (I swear I'll stop soon)

The Givenchy Code by Julie Kenner
Other People's Weddings by Noah Hawley
The Villa by Nora Roberts (I don't usually read her, but this one is actually pretty good)
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (yes, THAT Judy Blume, it was a book she wrote for adults)


ok...I think I'm done now... I tend to get carried away when it comes to books

Ya i didnt love 10th circle either!! Also her latest one, Change of Heart... was just OK for me

Im currently reading Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Wiener and really like it.

A few of my faves: (I havent read this whole thread so i apologize if there are duplicates)
* Kite Runner
* A Thousand Splendid Suns
* Angela's Ashes
* Catcher in the Rye
* Brooklyn Follies
* Joy Luck Club
* All the Harry Potter books
* Good in Bed
* History of Love

I'll make sure to take 10th Circle off my list. I love Jodi so I'm sad that she can make a bad book. I just finished Mercy earlier in the month- it was interesting but I wouldn't call it as powerful as her The Other Sister or 19 Minutes. It fits in right above Salem Falls and Keeping Faith.

 

Great recommendations Jenn. Lovely Bones is excellent- but sad.

 

Maybe another consideration- The Other Boleyn Girl. I read that on my HM and couldn't stop. Or some classics- Wuthering Heights. Great, sadistic love story. haha

 

Water for Elephants. Not a typical type of read for me, but I enjoyed the story.

 

THe Glass Castle is SOOO interesting. It's supposedly a true story and people are just so unbelievable. I really enjoyed reading it and I kept bugging my DH by saying "Listen to this..." and would tell him parts of the story because I just couldn't wrap my brain around the way the lived.

 

The Thirteenth Tale is suppose to be good. It's in my "to read" pile.

 

Or the fan favorite that everyone recommends over and over again (yet I haven't read it) Time Traveler's Wife.

 

Or if you want to try a new style of book that will blow you away- The Children of God. I had to read it for a SciFi class and I totally connected with it. I didn't think I would like one single book from the class (which I pretty much didn't!) but for whatever reason this one really struck a nerve with me. Great story.

ooo I LOVED Water for Elephants!!! Such a good book

I also forgot to add all of Augusten boroughs' books:

*Running with Scissors (my least favorite)

* Dry

* Sellevision (the only one that isnt a memoir)

*Magical Thinking

*Possible Side Effect

* A Wolf at the Table

I loved both of those! I only just read Wuthering Heights for the first time a few months ago, I couldn't believe it took me so long to get around to it! And Rachel, add me to the list of people who say you have to give The Time Traveller's Wife another try. It's really good.

I didn't even think of any of the classics I've read, I'm a disgrace to English majors! They might not be for everyone, but I LOVED:

Great Expectations (Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Dracula (Stoker...I've had a thing for Vampires since I read this at the age of 12)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Middlemarch (George Eliot...don't let the size turn you off, it's awesome, very Jane Austen-ish)
Lolita (Nabokov)
The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood...this is a must read for everyone, seriously, a brilliant book)
Farenheit 451 (Bradbury)
Frankenstein (Shelley; Didn't think I would like this one but did)
Pilgrim (Findley)

And my last suggestion for the day, I promise, The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. It is such a good book, but really sad. It's funny how every now and then you just need a really good tear-jerker

haha I think you and I could compile an eclectic list. I have a list of fav classics but I don't throw those out too much because they generally don't have mass appeal. Jane Eyre was a good one too. I'm not sure if you've read that one. I also LOVED The Awakening by Kate Chopin. She also has a collection of short stories that are great too!

I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread!!

 

I've only gotten about half way through reading this thread so not sure this one has been mentioned or not but Marshmellows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson was really great - I read this one at the beginning of the summer and loved it. I'd say it's a light "girly" read, but it wasn't as predictable as some of the light stuff can be which I really liked.

 

I also recently read Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand and liked it - and just started A Summer Affair by the same author. I'll let you know if I like this one or not.

I'm just on the last bit of The Host by Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame. It's really good! I can't wait to see how it ends.. heh