I agree that Bryson's book Walk in the Woods is one of the funniest books I've ever read. I also liked Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jean Laskas, but when I gave it to some friends they weren't as amused as I was. For nonfiction, I enjoyed Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker, set in Zimbabwe mostly, he's a foreign correspondent trying to adopt a child from Zimbabwe with his wife. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, memoir about her life in the foster care system. Boy Who was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry - talks about his tougher abuse cases, but not in a freak-show kind of way -- he talks about brain development and what our society can do and expect from children who have been abused - very enlightening, well written. I also enjoyed all of Ruth Reichl's books. I'm currently reading Molokai by Alan Brennert, historical fiction about the leper colony in HI, would recommend it. I'm looking for a good mystery, lighter reading - last one I read was Jeffrey Deaver's Bodies left Behind, thought that was good.

Thanks Gina. I am trying to talk Mr. El Cheapo into buying me a Kindle.
I started The Time Travelelrs Wife, and I just love it. The readers are wonderful. I have listened to a few books in the past with such monotone droning readers that I could not get into the book. Glad you guys encouraged me to try it (again). It's great. Some of the phrases had me rolling on the floor laughing.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone. I've already put in some requests at my local library. And to all of you who have great libraries, I hope you realize how lucky you are! I went from an awesome public library system in OH to a teeny tiny underfunded library in TN. It was quite a disapointment. We moved almost seven years ago and the library didn't even own DVD's. Our old library had all the latest DVD's, tons of books on CD, and even educational software for children. We do have access to interlibrary loan, but you can only request two books at a time and the wait time to receive them is 2-6 weeks.

Tracey

My book club met last night to discuss Body Surfing. We all thought it was kind of a decent beach read but nothing special. Next up is The Soloist by Steve Lopez.

I get very frustrated with my book club. A lot of them have school age children and the moms kind of end up huddling and talking about kid stuff. It is incredibly boring for the few of us who have been there and done that.

We have another neighbor who just joined and her sole purpose seems to be to dredge up neighborhood gossip and pass it along.

It's hard to get a good conversation going about the book. I do enjoy the get-togethers but I am lucky to read one book every six weeks, so if we aren't going to discuss it then I'd rather read something I choose for myself.

Tracey , I have been a library user all my life and can't imagine what it must be like to not have an excellent one close by. Have you tried the site called Paperbackswap? You can trade your books with others. Hardly the same as a library but it is a source for free books (except postage).

dedtired - It sounds like it's time to implement a new system or find a new book club! Of course part of the get together is socializing, but I agree, I'd rather read something that is top on my list if I'm not going to get the opportunity to discuss the club book. About 7 years ago a friend of mine and I put together a group of women, most of whom were disgruntled with their current or past book club. We met and made "rules" and have continued to adhere to them. One member hosts the meeting at her house, another member is in charge of the discussion - in our case what that means is finding out background on the book and the author and getting things going. Then we go around the room and each person gets their "say" -- they rate the book from 1-10 and then give their initial feedback and make their points -- by the time we're around the circle we've generally discussed everything we wanted to, but sometimes it goes beyond that. This system allows everyone in the group to speak, and the discussion is not always focused on the 1 or 2 more outgoing members. We also limited membership to 10 people.

I just read The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall. It was absolutely wonderful! It's a first person story of an Apache boy whose head got run over by a mail truck on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, and how he gets through his childhood. Very different, with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments despite the circumstances.

Since I last poasted, I completed The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. I loved it. So I also read A Walk in the Woods also by Bill Bryson. He's really good at making his experiences interesting and funny. I'm now on a mission to read (listen to) the rest of his books. Next in line is Notes from a Small Island which I will pick up from the library today or tomorrow.

I tried listening to Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan but I really couldn't get into it. The story was just not something that appealed to me. And I hate to say this but it was read by the author -- which I normally prefer -- but her voice just got on my nerves.

I also listened to Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I found that book extremely interesting. It was about how we make snap judgements and how that can be good or bad depending on the circumstances.

I finished Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It's, uh, interesting... LOL. Ishiguro's style is his own - detached yet drawing you in. The story is a moral tale told in the first person and written much like a mystery. I couldn't put it down because the mystery was unfolding and I had it pretty much figured out but of course you always want to know what happens in the end. The plot and moral implications were hackneyed - as a sci-fi fan they were extremely so. (But this is no sci-fi book.)

I don't feel I can recommend the book. I liked his Remains of the Day much better.

I loved those old Jane Austen and Daphne DuMaurier books. Detest todays romance novels. I probably like more of what men like to read then women. I just finished reading "The CodeX" by Douglas Preston. It was adventure on the scale of Raider's of the Lost Ark plus a lot more. Also like most anything by Greg Iles. I particularly enjoyed "Dead Sleep." Some time back I tried to get into "Anna Karenina" and just couldn't. I may try it again.

I really like the idea of reading aloud to blind people. I can't however, stand being read to. No audio books for me!

Beverly, I could never get into Anna Karenina or War and Peace either.

Loved Anna Karenina. War and Peace? Maybe in my next life.

Still working on The Soloist. So far, so good, not great. Interesting story. Work has been so crazy, but once I'm not working 10 hour days, I'll read something besides the book club book. I've been wanting to read Edgar Mynt, so I'm glad to hear it's a winner.

Ooh! Just discovering "conversations" and this thread - I love to read.

First off, I want to agree with you lowspark - altho I read all the Harry Potter books (multiple times actually) and LOVED them, I have to say, Jim Dale's reading of the audiobooks was outstanding!! I was BEYOND disappointed in Mrs. Figg in the movie Order of the Phoenix!! It was my favorite of the series and Jim Dale just gave that character SO much life and the woman in the movie simply did nothing with it at all - what a let down!!

We, also, listen to tons of audio books. Hubby is something of an insomniac and we started listening to them at night so when he woke up he'd have something to do other than stare at the ceiling!

Anyway - back to books. Some of the books I've loved are:

Shogun - I've read this book I don't know how many times and I'm transported to medievel Japan every time I read it. What a story.
I liked Memoirs of a Geisha - I'm partial to Japanese culture so I enjoyed it
Girl With A Pearl Earring - Vermeer is one of my favorite artists and I really liked the story
The Speckled Monster - a fascinating history of small pox
Endurance - Shackleton's adventures to the South Pole
Devil in the White City - story of the Chicago Worlds Fair with all it's firsts and characters, and America's first serial killer as well
Lord of the Rings - I'm a huge Tolkien fan and I can't tell you how many times I've read those books since I was a teen
All Creatures Great and Small - I've probably read that book 10 times over the years and I smile every time I reread it!
1984 - what a great book. Especially scary over these past 8 years
I, Claudius - I'm a history buff and I like historical books. Once you decipher all the names and who's who, the story is really almost a soap opera - full of family strife and political intrigue
Ancient Evenings - this Norman Mailer book was panned by the critics, but since ancient Egypt is another interest of mine, I enjoyed it. Strange story, however. But I like strange!
The Wives of Henry VIII - this particular book focused on each wife in turn and it really gave details I never knew before. I've read tons of books on Henry VIII and also on Elizabeth I - I love that era and read most of the historical books about it I can find. I couldn't get into The Other Bolyen Girl, however. I prefer the actual historical books on Henry and Queen Bess!

I have extremely varied tastes and I don't tend to read most of the "popular" books, altho I do some, i.e. Memoirs of a Geisha and Girl w/a Pearl Earring. I also did read Life of Pi and I liked it - strange book, but I did like it. Another big book I hesitated to read at first but then really enjoyed was Seabiscuit. Who would think a book about a horse would be so interesting?

Right now, one of my favorite authors is Christopher Moore. I just read a string of about 6-7 of his books. I absolutely love his sense of humor - twisted, just like mine lol! - and I've laughed out loud many times reading his books. I read You Suck! first, which is actually a follow up to Blood Sucking Fiends (both vampire books - most of his stuff involves monsters, ancient gods, strange powers, etc.). He has a ton of others - The Stupidest Angel was one of my favorites. I just finished Fool, his newest book, which is a spin on King Lear. Funny stuff.

I have to admit, I somehow got thru life without reading most of the books that are considered "classics". I just bought The Iliad and just can't do it - the prose form of writing drives me nuts. Another classic I just couldn't finish was An American Tragedy by Dreiser - what a snooze fest! I did read The Old Man and The Sea - liked that one.

I just started the Bruce Campbell autobiography, If Chins Could Kill, Confessions of a B Movie Actor! It's a riot sofar!

Lisa

Lisa,
If you like Vermeer, you might try Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. An interesting story about a Vermeer painting.

1984 is the only book I've ever read that actually gave me nightmares. No "scary" book ever did but the realistic-ness (is that a word?) of 1984 really freaked me out.

I liked Orwell's Animal Farm better and have read that one several times.

If we're bringing up "favorite book of all times" I have two.
Catcher in the Rye is my absolute favorite book ever. I just love that book.
Groucho and me, an autobiography written by Groucho Marx, is the funniest book I've ever read. He was a very smart and witty man with an excellent command of the language and the book is funny, not only because of the antics & experiences he describes, but also because of the way he tells the stories.

One of my all time favorites is "84, Charing Cross Road." It's a charming collectipon of letters between an American book collector and a British book seller. It's short. You shouldn't miss this one.

Lisa, you should try Sister Carrie if you want to check Dreiser off your list. I enjoyed it.

I too managed to get through school without having been assigned many of the classics. My loss. One day I will try to catch up.

I'm not big into classics. We had to read The Great Gatsby in high school and I hated it. My English teacher was head over heels in love with Gatsby and just gushed about how beautiful it all was. I didn't like the story anyway but it was just hard to read because of the way it was written.

Once, years ago, I tried to read The House of the Seven Gables because I was going to Boston and was planning a side trip to Salem so I wanted to see the house (which is now a museum) AFTER reading the book.

But there was just no way I could plow through it. The language it was written in is so different from the English we speak now and it was just torture to read and make sense of the few pages I did get through.

Oh well, I'm a cretin but I'm happy in my stupidity! LOL

Just finished reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy last week. Very, very, very dark and depressing book. Not for the light-hearted. It's a book about a man and his young son in post-apocalyptic America trying to basically stay alive.

Still reading "America Unzipped" by Brian Alexander, who is also the "Sexploration" columnist for MSNBC. The book approaches American sexuality by investigating the tension between America's "hypersexual culture" and the persistent, sexually conservative traditions which oppose it. It's actually a very, very funny read....learned some new things too! (wink-wink)

I never knew that Florida has the largest sexual fetish convention in the world, each year! Hollywood, Fla..I think? Who woulda' knew?

Oh, yes, dedtired, "84 Charing Cross Road" is wonderful, wonderful! Actually, so is the movie with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.

It's been a long time since I saw the movie, but I remember enjoying it. I'll have to watch it again. The book is one you can read over and over.

I finished The Soloist for book club. It was enjoyable, but not fabulous. Interesting story.

Now I am reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. It is a collection fo short stories. So far it is un-put-downable. I love everything she has written.

Book club meets tomorrow night so I may suggest some of the books mentioned here.

I just read through this thread again looking for something new to read. I put a couple of books on hold at the library that were recommended here.

In the meantime, I'll mention a couple of books I recently finished.

The Secret Life of Bees was very good and I agree with amck that it was enhanced by the southern voice of the reader. I had already seen the movie and liked it a lot. It stayed pretty faithful to the book.

I also read Notes from a small island by Bill Bryson. It was interesting but not as good as the other two of his I read.

It's summer time and I'm in the mood for something light an humorous. Perusing the stacks is fruitless because all the books sound so deep or heavy. And all the lighter books I know of have lots of holds on them so.... I checked out The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm not sure I'm really going to be able to get into it though.

I agree with Pam, I was assigned to read Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" in college and liked it. Well I don't know if I can say I actually "liked" it because it is a very incisive critique of Victorian (well maybe Edwardian, but that's just kinda an extension of Victorian) society's mores, which are still around today. It's one of those books that has made a lasting impression on me. In class our instructor said Dreiser based some of his writing on what he gleaned from having a close relationship to his sister who kinda scandalized her family by running off with a married man. I'll never forget the ending, I think of it often in my own life, which is somewhat like Carrie's, (just the single career girl part, not the being a "kept" woman part.) (I WISH on the kept woman part, lol!)

Glad this thread popped back up. I finished "Still Alice" for book club, the story of a woman with early-onset Alzheimer's. It was good, but a bit sad. I am now sure that I have it!

Next is The Book Thief. I also read Lisa Scottoline's latest, called Look Again. It was very good -- a beach read kind of book. I figured it out before the end, though. I heard her speak recently and she was a hoot. If you ever get a chance to hear her, you should. The book is also fun because it takes place in and around Philadelphia so the descriptions of locations are all familiar.

I still recommend anything by Jhumpa Lahiri.

dedtired - I recently listened to Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" and it was wonderful. My favorite kind of book is one that entertains and informs and educates me. But it's not a favorite if it doesn't entertain first!

"The Namesake" is a multigenerational story with settings in India and the US. The main character is trying to find his place in the world as a first-generation American who feels the tug of two separate cultures.

My DS is in his first year of living abroad (Denmark) and this book provided some insight as to how it must feel to be just a bit out of step with most everyone around you. It was sometimes funny - always insightful and heartwarming.

I'm glad you reminded me of the author!

Bringing this thread back up...

I recently read/listened to Whiteout by Ken Follett. Good book, and especially good to listen to as the reader did some great accents. Make sure to get the unabridged version on CD if you're interested.

I started Duma Key by Steven King and it's pretty good so far but I had to interrupt it for The Help (recommended by Happygram above) as it FINALLY came in from my hold list and I can only keep it for two weeks since there's a hold line behind me. I've listened to two disks so far and agree that it's a good story. It's being read by different people for each of the different narrators, and again, the readers' accents and expression just enhance the book so much.

It's fun to be in the middle of two good books. What have you read lately?

I just finished The Help. Very good. Then I read a free book that I won't even mention here cause it ended up being trash. Deleted from Kindle right after I finished it.
Now I am reading Saving Cee-Cee Honeycutt, and so far I like it a lot.
I LOVE my Kindle. Easy to read, and I have all my books in one spot. I am listening to The Scarpetta Factor on disc in my car also. A Patricia Cornwell book.
Sherry

Oh, I am also reading Garden Spells. That one is good. (I am weird, but often am reading or listening to 3 books at a time)

I don't know for sure if I've read every post. Hope I'm not repeating what someone else has said. I've been reading the The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I'm finishing the sixth in the series that now number 11. It is set in Africa and has been made into a HBO series. I don't subscribe to HBO so I'm not sure if it's a mini-series or what. I hope to rent the DVD's when I finish all of this particular series.

Just reread To Kill a Mockingbird. It was very good and I was surprised at how much I remembered from 50 years ago. Sarah's Key was very good.........also liked The Distant Land of My Father and Shanghai Girls.

I really liked The Distant Land of My Father, so I second that book.

I am reading "An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude" the travel journal of Ann Vanderhoof while living on a small sailboat in the Caribbean. Bonus for foodies: recipes from her own experiments with local fresh foods and gathered from locals she met on her travels.

I finished The Help and Duma Key.
Both were good books, totally different. Duma Key was written by Stephen King and was a bit ooky spooky but not too over the top. It got more intense toward the end. I liked it.

The Help was really good and well written.

I'm now listening to William Shatner's autobiography, read by him. It's about what I expected. I'm not much on autobiographies because they usually involve too much of the author tooting his/her own horn. After all, that's the whole point. I had read somewhere that Shatner's book was humorous though so I figured what the heck.

It is very much tongue in cheek and mildly humorous. The story itself, so far, though, isn't all that interesting. I'm only on disk 3 so I'll stick it out a bit longer but may give up if it doesn't hold my interest soon.

The only autobiography I've ever read that I absolutely LOVED was Groucho and me by Groucho Marx. The anecdotes are so interesting and funny, but the best thing about the book is how beautifully it is written. Some people just have a knack for writing. Groucho was one of those people. I'm sure that book is way out of print but if you ever see it in a used book sale or at the library, I highly recommend it.

Not a book, but on the topic of listening to things, I've recently acquired an mp3 player and have subscribed to the podcast of This American Life, a public radio show which normally airs at 10 am on Sunday here in Houston, and probably similar times at other locations. They have a different topic every week, and anywhere from one to 4 or more vignettes related to that topic. Incredibly interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking. I highly recommend this program to all.

Whoever got me started here on Paperbackswap is EVIL LOL

I send off four book right off the bat, tomes that had been collecting dust on my shelf that were listed on some people's 'wish list'.

Jessy, I used to be totally hooked on Paperbackswap. It's a lot of fun. However, my to-be-read pile was getting too high, so I stopped cold turkey.

I'm safe from that Pam - I mostly use it to buy books for the kids, and I use my library a LOT for anything I do want to read.

I'm a total library junkie. I worked in one for nine years. It's great to have first dibs on the new books! I also did fundraising for the Free Library of Philadelphia and the libraries at the U of PA. Now I am on the Board of Trustees for my library as well as on a campaign committee for our library system. Whew! I am a one trick pony.

I figure why should I dust the books when they can live a t the library and someone else can dust them?

If I could do nothing but read, garden and eat I'd be happy. Okay, maybe a little shopping, too.

I enjoyed The Help, Little Bee, and Shutter Island, quite a varied lot, but all good.

I just finished Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, another excellent southern tale, first book for this author;
I'm in awe at how these authors can portray these women so clearly, same as in the Help.

You all are a big influence on what I read. I'll just say, ''Thanks for your suggestions!''

I have The Help sitting on my shelf, along with Under the Dome by Stephen King, The Heretic's Daughter and Nora Ephron's ''I Feel Bad About My Neck''. While I was in that section of the library looking around, I picked up ''Girl Sleuth Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her'' by Melanie Rehak. I was a Nancy Drew fan in my elementary school years and remember having a couple of the books with the same title and completely different stories. One of the books was an early version from the 1930's, and the other from the early 1950's. I sold them all in my 20's during an uncluttering phase as I seemed to be moving a lot then and wish I had them now.

I want to read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, and ordered The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Edison Allan (who wrote Garden Spells). I also like the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert, and have the latest by her called Wormwood. The main character runs an herb shop in Texas hill country and her best friend the new age shop next door, while they solve mysteries. Light reading which goes fast!

Suddenly, I have a lot to read, and it's not even summer yet!

I had planned to mention and forgot to, my sister turned me onto ''Outlander'' by Diana Gabaldon, which is fun to read. She loved them all, and I'm enjoying them too.

I just finished "Thread of Grace" by Mary Doria. I quietly loved it. But it is a book that both angers and awes, depending which character you are reading about. It is about the German occupation of northern Italy during WWII and what everyday people did to protect the Jews. It is a powerful book, along the lines of "Life is Beautiful". Not a book to dip into now and again. If you can bear to read it, and I urge everyone to, set aside time for uninterrupted reading. History is due that much.

Jo

One more...and it's cooking related! My PT recommended ''Confections of a Closet Master Baker'' written by Sandra Bullock's sister, Gesine Bullock Prado. It's a memoir, and looks like it's going to be really good. She also has a blog which I'll link to below.

I just picked up The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston. It was on the "You Must Read This" list on the NPR web site. I love the Cape and am looking forward to reading this. It was written 75 years ago.

"A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach, The Outermost House has long been recognized as a classic of American nature writing. Henry Beston had originally planned to spend just two weeks in his seaside home, but was so possessed by the mysterious beauty of his surroundings that he found he "could not go."

Enjoyed reading the list.... I've read and treasured so many of the books listed here.

Several months ago I read "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan, a biographical novel about Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair with a married woman, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, a exceptionally well-educated woman decades ahead of her time. This book spans the period 1890s-1912. I couldn't put it down, and was sorry when the book ended. I recommend it highly.

It was fun reading all these titles, so many of which are favorites of mine.

And one un-favorite: I hated Memoirs of a Geisha so much, I wanted to write to the publisher and demand my time back. I can forgive a lot of things, but not bad writing! It prompted me to send out an email to my friends and relatives asking them what book they hated to the point of outrage. (Clear winner: The Celestine Prophesy -- boy, do people hate that book!)

I adore Bryson. I am just finishing A Brief History of Nearly Everything, and I love love love it.

I won't repeat the ones others have mentioned. Here are a few you may not have heard of that are absolutely wonderful:
A Lesson Before Dying
New York Trilogy (read them as one book)
The Metaphysical Club (don't let the name fool you)
Defining the Wind (beautiful writing and hilarious)

The first two are novels, the other two are sort of history of ideas.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Don't give up on War and Peace! It's just long, not hard, and it's terrific. He LOVES people -- if you like Ann Tyler, you'll like Tolstoy. The only tricky part is the names. One edition of W&P even comes with a bookmark that keeps them straight, or you can keep your own chart. But new translations of Tolstoy simplify the names as a matter of translation, which made Anna Karenina very easy to read.

Reread Charlotte's Web now that you are an adult and can appreciate what an incredible piece of writing and philosophy it is. Some book!

I'd like to pick up on Gellchom's "unfavorites" idea. Not so much a "books we hate" list -- although that might be fun -- but a general complaint.

For easy reading, I like mysteries and spy novels. I do not want to read about torture when I'm reading something with my tea and cookies. I've had a couple of experiences lately where I got really angry at being subjected to horrible stuff that I couldn't get out of my mind. One was Daniel Silva's newest book; although I'd read other Gabriel Allon mysteries, I will never read anything by Silva again.

People who review or recommend books never warn you. I don't mind 24 usually, and I don't mind what I think of as a "normal" level of violence in a murder mystery or a spy story. But unless I am reading Solzhenitsyn, I am not willing to risk years of being haunted by horrible images.

So, which non-cute mystery writers realize that sadism is not everyone's idea of recreational reading?

Bump. I'll look through this later, I need a book.

If I don't find anything good I might get a Chuck Palahniuk novel from my library and that is NOT a sane idea.

I have on hold Bourdain's new book 'Medium Raw', as well as Junger's 'War' and Skloot's 'The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks '

I'm at the library and I'll get The Snowball before I head home.

I'm in the middle of reading (aka listening to) Born Round by Frank Bruni. Mostly it's very interesting. I can identify with some of it but a lot of it is gross or over the top. Still, it's definitely holding my interest.

I just finished Apothecary's Daughter. It was OK. A Victorian romance as far as I was concerned. Not my cup of tea. I loved Cutting for Stone.I am Reading The Farming of Bones right now. I also loved the Steig Larsson books. Read the first two, and am reading the third one after I finish "...Bones"

Just finished rereading "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner. I highly recommend it.

I just finished reading One Second After for the second time. It's a story about how a small community in the mountains of North Carolina struggles to survive after an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) knocks out the power grid and disables everything electronic in all of the continental U.S.

A good read, but sad, and very scary because it could happen.
Makes you want to put a lot of food in your basement.

Cloudy, I think I will get that for my Kindle. Sounds like a good read to me.