Bookworms Are Sexy
[ 4 November 2008 ]
The reason for this post is shameless, but I thought it might make for some good discussion. (I have an Amazon gift certificate burning a hole in my virtual pocket, & I’m dying to put it to good use.)
Let’s talk about BOOKS! What have you read recently that you would recommend? What are you clamouring to get your hands on? What’s your favourite book of all time?
I personally really like to read about fashion, style, marketing, business, breaking rules, art, interesting social or psychological phenomena, self-development & horoscopes (haha!). I don’t read a lot of fiction these days, but my favourite authors are Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Anais Nin, Erica Jong, Francesca Lia Block, Bret Easton Ellis, Haruki Murakami & Vladimir Nabokov. (I also sometimes feel like the only person in the world who doesn’t adore Chuck Palahniuk or Irvine Welsh, & that’s okay with me!)
Go on then, be persuasive! What do you love? What book do you fervently recommend to your friends?
Love letters & feather headdresses,
Tags: consumption,
question Add Gala on Twitter!
I’m currently in the middle of “Soul Coaching” which so far has been wonderful in leading exercises that are clearing up a lot in my life.
I love love LOVE “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson.
I’m currently in the middle of “Style Statement” (which seems right up your alley), it’s quite the adventure in discovering one’s self.
Must Must Must read “Middlesex” by Jefferey Eugenedes and “The time traveler’s wife” by Audry Niffenegger
These will both have you falling in love with them and never wishing that they have to come to an end.
Allison — I actually have Style Statement, but I bought it just before I came to NY in May, so I haven’t had time to read it! It’s in a box in New Zealand, I will get into it in late November!
My favourite book of all time is actually Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, first read in an English class when I was 13. It just left a really big impression on me and I think has enough facets to it that it could be enjoyed by just about anyone.
I think my all-time favourite author is probably Douglas Coupland (to which I usually get a repressed giggle and suggestions of pretention) but he writes about modern life brilliantly and I find his characters really entertaining and engaging. I would particularly recommend “Miss Wyoming” as it’s the first of his books I read, that got me started on my obsession.
From a style and interest point of view, I also found this book quite fascinating: www.amazon.com/Dictator
The best book I’ve read in a long time was John Connolly’s “The Book Of Lost Things”, it’s a novel about a neglected boy and fucked up fairy tales.
“The Chronicles Of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis is really descriptive and beautifully written.
I also love “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, I love how Burgess creates his own fictional culture.
xx
my favorite book of all time is “the stranger” by albert camus.
at the moment i’m reading “alamut” by judith tarr. it’s a historical fantasy and is very interesting so far. i’ve been a huge book worm this year.
the book i constantly inflict on people is “house of leaves” by mark z. danielewski because it is brilliant and insane and unlike any other book out there.
so far i’ve devoured 52 books and 27 plays and i’m still not done!
Right now I’m really enjoying Sarah Katherine Lewis’ Sex and Bacon! Her first book, Indecent is great, too (it’s about her memoirs as a “naughty lady”). The new one focuses on women’s desires for sex and food, our relationship to them, why we love them. There’s something really comfortable, close, and engaging about her writing style.
I am reading “House of Sand and Fog” I am struggling, I wont let it get the best of me…but the teacher inside me wants to give you a bunch of books to read….
“Three Cups of Tea”
“In to Think Air” (I guess I was on a Mount Everest kick)
“100 Mile Diet”
“Wicked” (its about the wicked witch of the west when she was young)
“Blink” Malcom Gladwell
“The Tipping Point” Malcom Gladwell
I think I need to read the “Red Book” again because I am at a different place now and it will be different for me.
Words cannot express my love for White Oleander by Janet Fitch. You get very much involved in its “world”.
Here is a link to a pretty good summary of it:http://whiteoleander.warnerbros.com/wb.wo.book.html
I’ve been reading “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett; it’s damn hilarious, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of me reading a book about the Apocolypse while waiting in line at the polls. ;)
It’s not my all-time favorite, but I do give all my girlfriends ‘Hypocrite In A Poufy White Dress’ by Susan Jane Gillman, because it’s just plain FUN to read (and commiserate with!)
brittney — House of Leaves is one of my all-time favourites too. I have a signed first edition ;D
Jacqueline — Yay, Sera Beak!
Courtney — I read White Oleander years ago & really enjoyed it :D
Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it, but it gets better each and every time I do!
And I really must second House of Leaves! It’s utterly amazing.
Haha, I was just going to tell you to read some Chuck Palahniuk. Guess not…. I love Mary Roach’s books (she writes science/medical nonfiction). I also devour Margaret Atwood, Luis Alberto Urrea (The Devil’s Highway changed my life!), and I’m reading Cormac McCarthy right now.
But if you love horoscopes and astrology…two books that I call my bibles: “The Secret Language of Relationships,” and “The New Astrology.”
And bookworms ARE sexy!
You must must MUST read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I don’t think it would be a stretch to call it the best book of all time.
Galadarling, MAN you picked a topic I am passionate about.
First, I should probably confess that I am a habitual reader. That means I’ve taken books into the shower with me before work because I just HAD to know how it ended. So you’ve been warned – I’m crazy like a fox.
My favorite books in no particular order:
1. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
2. The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
3. The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
5. The Songmaster by Orson Scott Card
6. The Recluse Series by L.E. Modesit
7. The Earth Children Series by Jean M. Auel
8. The Belgariad by David Eddings
With the exception of Viktor Frankl’s book, all of these are fiction and they are predominently fantasy and science fiction.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing like fantasy and science fiction to truly tap into the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.
Isaac Asimov touches creates a fictional ‘psychohistory’ and delves into mankind and our evolution of government. He addresses politics and sweeping changes of history with an eye to causation.
The other novels usually have a main character who is struggling with doing what is right. Orson Scott Card writes some of the most emotionally complex stories I have ever read. Ender’s Game itself is a story about how one man is responsible for the extinction of an entire species.
I’m am painfully aware that I am not doing any of these stories the justice they deserve. But reading these books, and novels like them, open the mind: to possibility, to the truth of reality, to the process of growing up and emotional evolution.
Sure a regular story can be entertaining. (I say this, of course, as someone who ADORES Harlequin Romance novels.) But a story that is compelling is a story that lays bare the human soul, that strips us of our preconceptions, offers us Truth.
Stories of love and loss and family are timeless, and important in their own way. But stories of peoples, cultures, epic fantasy – those are the stories that change us…because we, for a moment, are part of what is greater than any couple or individual death or family.
For a moment we can touch the grandeur, the hope, the truth of our existence…before we go right back to our daily grind.
I love Tom Robbins. I started reading his books at 16, Still Life With Woodpecker was my first. I also love Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
My current favourites are:
Oranges are not the only fuit by Jeanette Winterson. I still love it even thought it’s anti-Christianity. ^^
This book will save your life by A.M Holmes. Trippy and awesome has a great ending in my humble opinion.
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, although I have a feelign many people will have read that. ^^ You can never have too many fairytales and it’s nice to a feminist twist.
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimito. Amazing, deals with loss blah de blah but for the more easily pleased among us, it’s tiny and bright pink. To be honest the cover attracted me but the book is brilliant. ^^
And Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. Perhaps commercial but I love it to no end. Reality is Ralph!
x
TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and practical magic
oh and also the tower room series by Adele Geras :)
i have re-read these books so many times i LOVE them
xxxxxxxxx
I just recently read “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon. It’s a really interesting book and I actually first heard of it when I was reading an interview with Marc Jacobs and he mentioned that he was reading this book.
Anything by Nick Hornby but most especially “A Long Way Down” It’s about a group of strangers that meet on the rooftop of a building on New Year’s Eve. They’re all planning on committing suicide but their plans change. It’s a splendid book.
Love.
Oh I turn 21 in 12 days and I’m not sure of how to celebrate it in a fabulous way. Any hints?
seriously, you will not regret this, but read Twilight by stephanie meyer.
yes it is a teenage book, but many adults have read it and loved it. Its meant to be bigger than harry potter, and the movie is coming out in december, next month for americans (jeleous!)
You should read it before watching the movie if you ever do.
Its seriously sooooo romantic and anyone who reads it always goes off to buy the rest
I LOVE it, and you will ending up falling in love with the character Edward Cullen.
oh YEAH!
The Collected Amy Hempel i get a contact high every time i read one of her stories and write better for 2-3 hours afterwards.
I Love Female Orgasm —if you thought you knew it all, you don’t. even me, consummate sex worker/dildo shopgirl/person who talks about sex all the time.
The Shadowlines by Amitav Ghosh
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Collected Poems by Elizabeth Bishop
Any novel by Rohinton Mistry
Amazing books, all of them :)
I too love Bill Bryson! But I think my favorite book of all time would have to be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. I read it as an eighth-grader, so I was more or less the same age as the young protagonist which I think may be one of the reasons it resonated so much with me. Even though I’m a massive age of 22, I still love Madeline L’Engle’s books too!
As for right now, I’m currently wading my way though Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. One day I hope to read it in Russian, which I suppose means I should probably go study before Russian class!
Hi Gala here are some of my favorites!
Wreck this Journal – Keri Smith
No One Belongs Here More Than You- Miranda July
Book taste is so personal! What we hate others love and vice versa. I ll just tell you what i read lately. This past summer I read “Candy Girl” by Diablo Cody, which was a light easy and fun read. And although I had sworn I wouldnt read a book by Douglas Coupland again, I happened to read “Eleanor Rigby” lately and loved it. Also, “Born on a blue Day”, an autobiography of an autistic person (Danier Tammet)- a MUST read, just to be aware of how different people are than us, you know?
Did no one really mention The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson?! An amazing new work by a first time novelist who is a “late bloomer” (like myself!). The Gargoyle is the story of a handsome pornographer who loses his looks (and much else) in a burning car, only to meet a mental patient who claims they were lovers in the year 1400. A book that will challenge you and entertain and educate (wonderful stuff about manuscripts, mysticism, and with some Dante’s Inferno thrown in).
I am a lover of Proust and Woolf but also Gaiman and Carroll, and this book fulfilled all my appetites.
stephen chbosky – the perks of being a wallflower.
i constantly find myself devouring it.
We’re reading “The Catcher in the Rye” in English at the moment. I like it personally but it really is one of those love it/hate it books.
While some people say it builds and builds and then..nothing I disagree. I think that you have to read between the lines and make your own conclusion about it a lot of the time.
We’re writing a main essay but I think we’re going way too deep. In one part he hires a prostitue, but just to talk to her and she’s wearing a green dress. We had to write a 700 word essay on whgat that symoblises! Hello! It’s a dress! But now I know that green sybolises immature and unsophisticated people. Amazing. :)
It’s a good read and challenges the mind a little. :>
And A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown is so so inspirational. She went from an abusive foster home to running away to prostitution to gang wars to drugs and that sort of stuff but she writes about it all in such a funy way! I laughed out loud in some parts. She all ‘better’ now too. :) I’ll give you a quote;
“Everyone had their gang names. I really wanted mine to be scary and for people to fear me. I wanted something like Lady Lightning but instead they carried on just calling me Cupcake! I mean who the F*ck was scared of a cupcake?!”
That’s right! Her name is Cupcake! :D
And Tomi was so right! The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time is a masterpiece. The boy is Autistic/asspergers and Mark Haddon really gets into the frame of mind.
If you find any of these stock up! They are so worth it!
Vixxie.
Squeee!
My favourite author is Martin Millar , but I also adore Margaret Atwood, Tom Robbins (<3<3<3!), Derik Longden, Lilian Jackson Braun, Patrick Gale and Jack London.
If I could recommend to people only five novels, they would currently be (in no particular order!)...
* Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk * Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins * The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar * The Book Thief by Markus Zusak * Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis *
In the non-novel-y category, I adore Alex Helm for his work on English tradition, and likewise Cecil Sharp.
Also, I’m currently studying Myths and Fairytales in my degree, and I firmly believe that everyone should own a fully illustrated copy of the Grimms’ Fairytales (<3 Jacob and Welhem![]())
Also, how fitting, Gala, that you should post this post whilst it is National Novel Writing Month! Is anbody else doing it? – I’m on 18,013 words at the moment, agh!
sirens of titan by kurt vonnegut.
i know that you regularly employ quotes- and kurt vonnegut would be perfect for you considering he is a VERY quotable author.
you said you like style books-
nina garcia came out with a book called “the one hundred”... it sounds pretty good so i will buying it soon!
i actually posted stuff about books i will be getting on my own blog yesterday. weird coincidence.
Being a total geek, I read a lot of sci-fi or fantasy novels. I read the shit out of them. But I’m a humor snob so I have to have doses of very funny writers. Thankfully Terry Pratchett meets these two requirements. Even people who don’t like fantasy like his books because they make fun of our world and our lives but just happen to take place in world of magic.
Still, my favorite book in the whole world is “Sabriel” by Garth Nix. Yes, it’s aimed at teenagers. But it has necromancers, talking cats, magical princes, romance, the undead, skis, and the heroine can literally walk in and out of the afterlife. Hells yeah!
I used to be big into Chuck Palahniuk when I went through my angry teenager phrase but now I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking.
It’s so great to find others who have read & LOVE House of Leaves. It took me months & months to read but one day I want to read it again. It’s absolutely brilliant and just insane. It seriously gave me the creeps for awhile and I had certain rituals I had to perform while reading it (like I never wanted the front cover to show). Weird! Has Danielewski written anything else? And it is true he is related to the singer Poe?
Anything and everything by Paulo Coehlo.
P.S Sorry to post again but I’ve just seen your last post and have you been on
HowisObamadoing.com?
He’s been on the rise lately! YAY! :D
I just started reading Simon Doonan’s book “Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You” and it’s pretty awesome so far.
Other favorite books would be… *Everything by Francesca Lia Block (I reread the Dangerous Angels books + Necklace of Kisses aaaall the time) *Everything by David Sedaris *DV by Diana Vreeland *Mythology by Edith Hamilton *The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (sp?) *Any old Hollywood bio
‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck is one of the most heart-breaking, stirring and haunting books I have ever read in my life.
Also you must read ‘Jane Eyre’, it is classic and is one book I never get tired of re-reading!
Mmm English Literature in Uni! I can’t wait :)
The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside The Cube by Michelle Goodman
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (Also his book Blink)
Kawaii Not: Cute Gone Bad by Meghan Murphy (I adore this comic, and Meghan is so sweet!)
Gala,
I honestly thought about sending you these books because they are so good and I thought you would really like them. Unfortunately my bank account won’t allow it right now. so I’ll just tell you about them
John is an award winning author for his first two books and his third, Paper Towns, just came out a few weeks ago and he has been on the NY Times best sellers list since then! :) (I went to NYC for a book signing and got to meet him!!) He’s a fantastic writer, and although he writes for Young Adults, he doesn’t dumb it down, so people of all ages enjoy his work. READ THESE BOOKS! They are amazing. :)All by the Author John Green“Looking for Alaska”
“An Abundance of Katherines”
and “Paper Towns”.
I’m in a Twilight frenzy too but my favourite book of all times is Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones it’s sequel Castle in the Air is really good too n_n.
Every girl should read twilight. It is mainly about a beautiful romance between two who shouldn’t be, and is written passionately and descriptively. It is a love story which features vampires, mortals, and werewolves. I know what you’re thinking – Not my thing, right? That’s what I thought when I heard of it, anyway. But it is the best book (series of books, actually, there are in total 4) that I hav ever read in my life!
Bookworms = tres sexy ;)
xXxXx
Thom Hartmann’s ‘The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight’. Non-fiction, about the state of the world. Starts off pretty depressing but ultimately very hopeful and optimistic (he actually offers solutions and talks about the importance of being in the present moment like Eckhart Tolle).
I recommend this to almost everyone I know because it’s a book I’ve really learned a lot from and which I found highly influential (personally). Would be interested to know what you think if you actually decide to check it out.
p.s. have you checked out www.Nerdfighters.com yet?
They think bookworms are sexy too! ;)
Good Marketing/Non-Fiction –
Deluxe – How Luxury lost it’s luster
The Tipping Point
The Design of Everyday things
Blink
Favorite Author – Jack London
Favorite Book of all Time – Jane Eyre (read 30+ times)
I love biographies too especially Mary Queen of Scotland & The Isles by Margaret George.
Am in the middle of:
Marie Antoinette bio
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Jack the Ripper, Case Closed
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin
I love love love books!
thank you for this post, gala! i LOVE books – and fellow bookworms too :)
a few of my faves:
anna karenina by fyodor dostoevsky – CLASSIC and amazingly tragic novel. don’t be intimidated by its size – i couldn’t put it down!
born on a blue day by daniel tammet – i picked this up in an airport bookstore and was immediately intrigued! it’s the autobiography of an autistic savant – he can do amazing numerical calculations, linguistics, etc. he is the first savant who is high-functioning enough to actually describe how his mind works. truely fascinating and inspiring!
a natural history of the senses by diane ackerman – another great nonfiction book that is absolutely delicious. it describes in beautiful detail the five senses of the body, gives interesting facts, and is all-around fantastic!
the man with the dancing eyes by sophie dahl – a fairytale for grownups! so cute, and the illustrations are marvelous :)
I’m hoping Santa puts the new Yves Saint Laurent Style book in my stocking this year.
So you’ve read House of Leaves, have you gotten through Only Revolutions? Amazing!
Reading Cat’s Cradle currently. I’m enjoying!
I read a lot of Rand recently – and if you can keep your head out of your ass post-read (so many college students fall into that trap!), there are some incredibly poignant lessons to be learned. I prefer Anthem. The Fountainhead was good, Atlas Shrugged was a little long.
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood was really good.
First you Build a Cloud was an interesting read on everyday physics. It talks about how you see things after they happen because of the speed of light and the time it takes the light to travel into the iris…
There’s a book on Probability theory that I want to read: www.amazon.com/Chance
“He untangles a number of urgent conundrums, including why buses always seem to run late, why any group of 31 people will include two with the same birthday and why random walks can model the stock market. ... And the lovelorn can take comfort in knowing that, if you just keep dating, the odds are surprisingly good that your soul mate will turn up. Indeed, “[y]ou will maximize your probability of finding the best spouse if you date thirty-seven percent of the available candidates in your life, and then choose to stay with the next candidate who is better than all previous ones.”“
Hello Gala!
Along the theme of horoscopes and astrology, I must recommend “Sextrology” by Starsky and Cox. It’s definitely a go-to book on my shelf for figuring out why people might be the way they are.
Happy reading!
I JUST spent $40 of my second paycheque (from my acting gig!)on books (I had to stop myself from buying much more). I was in a biography kind of mood so I bought…
The Life Of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo – An Oral Biography by Jann S. Wenner & Corey Seymour (I’ve been meaning to get my hands on this for a while)
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero – William Kalush and Larry Sloman
I wanted to also buy (I’ll leave it for another day)
How to Walk in High Heels: The Girls Guide To Everything – Camilla Morton
The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities – Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt (Suprising read for me since I am the prude queen)
- One Flew over the cuckoo’s nest
- Sybil
- Girl, Interrupted
- Stiff
- I never promised you a rose garden
ooh yes, Coupland! Shampoo Planet!
I always recommend I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan (so eager am I to lend it out I’ve bought six replacement copies!)Good if you like: satire about Christianity, creationism and London dialects. Bad if you don’t like: graphic and tongue in cheek humour re: sex, drugs and religion.
Also, anything by Chuck Palahniuk.
I read a variety of things, but one author I think everyone should read is Jonathan Safran Foer. He has such an intimate relationship with words. Never mind that his novels are often lacking in plot; I suppose he can be categorized as literary fiction. I don’t care what’s been said about his books being self-indulgent. So far, it’s all been lovely.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned him yet.
In order of my favorites:
The Timetraveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
A Wrinkle In Time
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Speak (Laurie Halse Andersen) —> I teach this one to my 10th graders, it’s very powerful.
The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman)
I know it’s fiction, but I’m a literature teacher! :)
I recently read “extremely loud & incredibly close” by jonathan safran foer. amazing story! sometimes a little bit complicated.. but
I lovelovelove Jodi Picoult. She is from my home state and writes incredible, sit on the edge of your seat novels. My favorite so far was either “Nineteen Minutes” or “The Pact,” but I am reading “Keeping Faith” right now and it is also excellent.
Based on what you like, I think you would really enjoy Lorrie Moore. She writes these incredibly arresting short stories. One collection of them is called “Self Help,” and it is one of my favorite books of all time!
Have fun with your amazon giftcard! Those are my favorite kind to have :)
sigh magic in ordinary life. Jonathan Carroll has encapsulated it in his books. One of my favorites by him is Sleeping in Flame. He has a lovely blog too:
www.jonathancarroll.com/blog/i…
About the book:
www.jonathancarroll.com/books/...
quote: “At once lyrical, frightening, funny, and sexy, Sleeping in Flame confirms that Jonathan Carroll is one of the very few novelists who—by constantly surprising us—give us an entirely new perspective on our world. It is no wonder that he is generally considered to be the most original and provocative novelist of his generation.”
I have to say Let The One Right In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I’m just coming to end, I am reding it in swedish, and I am totally amazed. Not fashion at all, well just a tiny bit, but I promise you will just get stucked!!!!! It’s about vampires by the way, and the best is that after you are done with the book you can run to the movies and catch the film!
My all time favourite book is Running With Scissors by Augustan Burrows. If you have seen the movie, it is 50 times better. If not, it is about a young boy with a crazy poet mother who gets involved with an even crazier psychologist and then hi jinx and drama ensues. It is smart and hilarious! I’ve read it about 10 times and have loved it even more each time. I recommend it to anyone feeling like they haven’t read a good can’t-put-it-down-until-it’s-finished book lately!
LOVE & enjoy!!
Corelli’s Mandolin, the Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Mysteries of Pittsburgh, On the Road, etc etc.
I love books.
Reading is effing HOT :)
Sexy indeed! Here are some of my fav picks:
+ Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman
(series of anecdotes from Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman)
+ The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God: and Other Stories by Etgar Keret
“There are two kinds of people, those who like to sleep next to the wall, and those who like to sleep next to the people who push them off the bed.”
+ Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
(graphic novel: a young man searches for his missing father and finds love)
+ The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman
(delightful illustrations and musings from the brilliant Maria Kalman)
+ High School by Jona Frank
(portraits American teenagers, in search of their identities)
+ The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
(classic children’s story about love and sacrifice)
.i will simply second a few of the aforementioned:
www.amazon.com/Collected
.excerpt here: www.npr.org/templates/story/st…
www.amazon.com/Born
.excerpt here: abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/story…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of…
www.amazon.com/D
www.starskyandcox.com/sextrolo…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_)
www.amazon.com/Gonzo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I)
...and perhaps you would join V at
www.librarything.com/profile/V…
.quite the site.quite the site.
I recommend:
extremely loud and incredibly close by Josef Safran Foer
I wonder when you’ll miss me by Amanda Davis
a tree grows in brooklyn by Bettie Smith
no one belongs here more than you by Miranda July
All incredible fiction.
For non-fiction I’m a big fan of
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver
And goodreads.com is a great place for bookworms.
At the moment I’m reading Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography for the 2nd time, as his past was crazy & it’s a miracle he’s still alive.
I’ve read Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis – usually I have a pretty high tolerance for graphic description, but that one was too much for me I had to skip several pages at the worst parts! Any one in particular you’d recommend?
TWILIGHT
NEW MOON
ECLIPSE
BREAKING DAWN
all by Stephenie Meyer
Seriously, it is a MUST to read! I hated reading books until I read Twilight
And a plus, the film of Twilight is coming out on November 21st (USA) or December 19th (UK) with the GORGEOUS Robert Pattinson playing Edward Cullen and stunning Kristen Stewart as Bella!
Read them!!!
xx xx xx
“I Was Told There’d Be Cake” by Slone Crosby — you’d love it, Gala, if you haven’t read it yet.
David Sedaris’ new one, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” made me laugh out loud on the Metro.
“There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz — the true story of two boys growing up in a drug-infested housing project in 1980s Chicago
“Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McInerney — an NYC story that’s on the list of 1001 Books to Read before You Die
“Everything Is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer are mandatory reading for anyone with a heart and soul.
More at www.mediapeasant.com
I’ve been CRAVING to get my hands on books about seductresses, temptresses, courtesans, goddesses… anything about sexy females of myth and history that aren’t afraid to get down and dirty!
I was even reading about the Greek courtesan Phryne who charged for her services depending on how she felt emotionally about her client! Hah!
Also, as always, I HAVE to recommend Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It is nothing that you said you liked, in fact, it’s science fiction, but it’s my favourite book ever and I’ve bought at least five copies because I lend it out to so many people and then don’t get it back!
Proust was a Neuroscientist. its about how a few of our greatest writers, musicians, culinary artisans, etc knew about the true workings of the brain before science was able to legitamize or even conceived of it.
also Tipping the Velvet by sarah waters. thats one of the best stories I’ve ever read in my entire life. Its gay themed, just so you know.
The World According to Garp Classic! It’s the first book I recommend to someone looking for a good story.
The Time Traveller’s Wife The most inventive novel I’ve read in forever! How did she write it?
The Red Tent No matter where you are on the scale of femininity, this novel will make every woman feel awed and awesome!
The Kite Runner Beautifully written and heartbreaking…you will not put it down.
And for heavier reads that make you wonder where genius comes from, Milan Kundera. When I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I cried two times by page 11!
ps I just became an aunt again! Welcome Nolan Samuel!!
popular music from vittula is the last thing i read and it was quiet amazing.
I recommend The World According to Garp (by John Irving) to everyone I know. It’s what I consider to be a truly epic tale, chronicling the life of Garp from before his conception to after his death. Lovely lovely lovely!
Right now I’m reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by the same author. My friend sent it by mail, so the back cover is full of shipping information. It makes me feel very cool :]
I’m no good at recommending books but here are some of my faves.
Catcher In the Rye by JD Salinger
the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson
and any biography about dead celebrities that were fucked up in life (ie Jim Morrison).
Ia lso don’t get to read much anymore. I blame the internet.
well I just love Rex Stout. it’s not something heavy, just for entertainment. also I love bukowski, vonnegut, an estonian writer kivirähk. palahniuk’s “fight club” has been like a bible for me since I was 13-14.
at the moment I’m reading Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” in estonian + lots of books or at least chapters about russian history and literature (especially about the early 19th century). after this week I’ll start with “twilight”
ooooh and I love children’s books. Lindgren, Dahl, but mainly Winnie the Pooh stories.
Ahhh…a subject near and dear to my heart!!! Irvine Welsh can be quite difficult to read!! I love travel memoirs and my favorite is Peter Mayle, also crime novels by Elizabeth George “The Inspector Lynley series”, but right now I’m really, really into reading any book I can get my hands on on the Plantagenets and the Tudors…all that intrigue and the workings of the English court!! It’s just brilliant!
I am a HUGE Neil Gaiman fan, I love his stuff. Neverwhere and American Gods are two of my favorite books of all time. I love the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman as well (which is usually classified as YA but is so much more than that!). He also wrote a series of books about a young feminist detective in the early 1900’s in England, I think, that were pretty good. And of course, I like Chuck Palahniuk too.
Books I’m wanting at the moment:
-The 4 Hour Workweek (saw it in one of your posts actually, so I got curious, and now I’ll probably be getting it on Friday)
-The Beautiful Fall
-Queen of Fashion (which looks REALLY interesting, is about Marie Antoinette and how she used clothing and fashion as a way of asserting herself)
-and Crochet that Fits, more for the shaping techniques than the patterns since I am effing TERRIBLE at following patterns.
And now that I’ve read everyone else’s’ responses, I’ll probably have to add “Style Statements” and “the Book of Lost Things” to my list.
I don’t know how you feel about Victoria Beckham, but her “That Extra Half an Inch” is actually quite entertaining. I certainly would rather read that than bother with the Twilight books (I seriously read the first one and wanted those hours from my life back, also, a better stupid teenage “love story” vampire book is “The Silver Kiss” by Annette Curtis Klause).
I’ve just checked out Valerie Steele’s “Fetish: Fashion Sex & Power” for a lecture and I’ve skimmed it so far and it seems rather interesting and thought I’d suggest it to you.
xx
Correction to my earlier post!
Anna Karenina is by Leo Tolstoy, not Dostoevsky! I’ve got Crime & Punishment on the brain – it’s my current read!
I’m loving these recommendations!
:)
Hi Gala!
I love love love your site!
You have got to read:
The Twilight Series.
Seriously, these are the best batch of books that I have read in a good while.
and.. the movie is going to be awesome.
Robert Pattinson is so so so so so so so so freaking hot I cant stand it.
You must read and see the movie! :)
wow, lots of reccomendations for twilight.
I work at a library so I am around books all day.
Buy the giant Cabinet of Natural curiosities by Albertus seba. Its beautiful and has pull out posters.Weighs fifty pounds! great coffee table book.
Some other great authors to look into
Umberto Eco
or Paolo Coehlo, which one other person said.
You can always get music or clothes if you cant make up your mind with the card.
Everyone needs to read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie if they haven’t already!
In ancient literature (hey, I’m a Classical Archaeologist, what do you expect?) the big must-read is Marcus Aurelius‘s Meditations. Self-development, antique style!
In style and attitude, the mother of all books is The Satanic Witch by Anton Szandor LaVey.
I have to admit I am inlove with Sherrilyn Kenyon. Even though her books have a bit of a Romance Novel feel to them they are so exciting! I recammend checking them out. Her Dark-Hunter series is the best.
well, you already have the olsen twins book soooo may i enthusiastically suggest ‘stuff that white people like’, ‘elenor rigby’, ‘snuff’, and my all-time favorite book with my all-time favorite character, ‘extremely loud and incredibly close’. ugh. book lust.
J’adore Bret Easton Ellis (esp. The Rules of Attraction). And Kurt Vonnegut of course.
The Audrey Hepburn Bio, Enchanted (written by Donald Spoto), was really interesting too.
I absolutely adore George Orwell’s 1984 (a classic, but everyone’s probably already read it).
I’ve never read any of the Twilight books, but everyone’s raving about them so they might be good. I dunno.
I really hate reading, because i have a language based learning disability
But i recently i read Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno
Heres the back
“Hairstyles of the Damned is an honest and affectionate depiction of wanting to belong, but never quite belonging. Joe Meno Pitch Perfect prose illuminates the tumuluous realities of American adolescence, the disintergration of the modern family and the way a mix tape can change a person’s life. Following the riotous exploits of Brian, a Catholic school malcontent, and his best friend Gretchen, a punkrock girl fond of brawling, This work of fiction unflinchingly pursues the truth in discovering what it means to develop your own identity”
And on top of all that goodness: the book matches your hair. hahaha
Love and Lipstick,
Bexxx
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis! If you liked the movie, the book is even better.
Also, the whole Twilight saga is amazing. Yes, it is made for teens, but it is so addicting and so good.
Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy
Goose Music by Richard Horan
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
SOOOO many more …
You like Nabokov, so I’d suggest his complete short stories if you haven’t already read them. The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov is good; I can’t find it on Amazon but the ISBN number is 0-594-58615-8. Mary is my all-time favorite novel, but I also like The Enchanter, a kind of prelude to Lolita.
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig is a great work of fiction. I’m a casual reader, but I actually had to close-read this one because there was too much great stuff to miss.
Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura is short and simple, but unlike anything I have ever read.
“Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution,” by Caroline Weber (Sorry, I can’t get the amazon link to show up right!)
It’s a bit of a slow read (for me) because it’s serious non-fiction, but it is amazing and it has changed the way I look at clothes. It’s an analysis of how Marie Antoinette’s clothing choices actually impacted the politics in France (and abroad) during her reign and after. Everything from the style of dress, fabric choices, colour symbolism, where materials came from, who she purchased from, to how she did her hair. It is absolutely fascinating and I recommend it to anyone seriously interested in fashion. Then again, I’m just in love with Marie, but who wouldn’t be?
xoxo Red
I’ve been recomending Gordon Ramsey’s Autobiography to people I haven’t had the time to read his second one but I read his first and adored it. He’s a good author.
I also love Kylie Chan. She’s An Australian author who I adore (I can’t wait until her next book comes out.) Her books are based in Hong Kong with an Australian star (well her first couple of books are.) www.kyliechan.com- that’s her website and I’m pretty sure her books are on Amazon.
I have recently started reading plays which I absolutely adore.
My personal favourites at the moment are ‘a street car named desire’ by Tenesee Williams and ‘a view from a bridge’ by Arthur Miller.
‘The catcher in the rye’ is my all time favourite book and ‘to kill a mockingbird’ is also amazing.
Have fun spending, I’d give anything to be in your position (sometimes I think I enjoy buying books more than actually reading them)
xxx
Allison- I was so excited when I saw that you put “A Short History of Nearly Everything”!! My bio teacher gave it to me last year and it is the best!
I also love anything Jane Austen; The Great Gatsby; Harry Potter; Endless Night, Death on the Nile, and Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie; Archimedes to Hawking by Clifford Pickover; and Boy & Going Solo by Roald Dahl.
I’m a grad student so I spend most of my time reading non-optional journal articles and theory stuff. Consequently my brain is constantly on the verge of exploding, so I like to read fiction books that require little to no brain power to relax: The Southern Vampire Series, the Twilight Series, books by Tamora Pierce, Michael Crichton, Anne Rice, The Outlander Series, etc.
Otherwise I really like non-fic books about medicine, diseases, survival, food and plants: The Hot Zone, The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Art of Survival, Alive, Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body
catcher in the rye & jane eyre & a tree grows in brooklyn & charlie and the chocolate factory & bel canto (about an opera singer, her accompanist and a prime minister, who are held hostage by a guerrilla. crazy stuff follows)
‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell.
‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts
‘The End of Mr Y’ by Scarlett Thomas
my most recommended.
:)
Gala, this doesn’t really fit into your list of preferred subjects, but there just CAN’T be a book discussion where I don’t mention “What is the What” by Dave Eggers.
amazing amazing book.
After I finished reading it I bought copies for my friends/family because I wanted to talk to someone about it! (And couldn’t bear to lend out my copy!)
Well, you’ve already read Block’s books, so I’ve no need to recommend those little jewels. :) Hm, Le Petit Prince is an amazing children’s book (don’t worry, it’s been translated into over 100 languages :D ), and the Wizard of Oz series (yup, there were over 10 original novels!). And I’ve a thing for magazines too. ;) Anything shiny.
I wholeheartedly agree with whoever mentioned “Middlesex” above. it was brilliant.
I also loved…
American Gods- Neil Gaiman
the Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
In Cold Blood- Capote
my sisters keeper by jodi picoult is the only book ive read more than once.
i also love francesca lia block books
I’m a lot like you in the sense of liking non fiction over fiction. Right now I started The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. I’m sure I will love it. I have been craving a good trip to the library though.
I have always wish you posted more about books. I’m interested in what you read lovely.
‘yes man’ by Danny Wallace!!
It’s a memoir, basically of his year of saying yes to everything, actually… everything. And it is flippin hilarious. it’s nice and long, too, which was good for me because i am a really fast reader and i get sad when i finish a really good book too quickly.
also, if you havent read ‘the alchemist’ by paulo coelho, you’ve gotta do it!
Actually… my vote was for Chuck Palahniuk… I also liked “A Million Little Pieces”. I guess I don’t do a whole lot of reading unfortunately :( I’m reading “Ishmael” right now which is kind of on a 5th grade level (or so I’ve been told), but I absolutely adore it.
Well I’ve been rereading FLB books because with the weather change I always get really lethargic this time of year and I usually need FLB to cheer me up and inspire me. Everything else I’m reading is stuff for my English classes. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (For the second time this semester) and Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee. What I would really love to be reading right now is some more Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Neil Gaiman.
Changing New York by Berenice Abbott
A book of over 300 beautiful photographs of New York taken in the 1930’s by Berenice Abbott. It’s one of my favourite books.
My favorite genre is historical fiction, and I especially love books written by Jean Plaidy. She takes historical female characters and writes novels about them, told in the first person. Totally brings the characters to life.
I also enjoy Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, and especially Agatha Christie mysteries. Reading has always been my favorite hobby!
You will love Milan Kundera particularly Unbearable Lightness of Being!
I don’t even have words for Fools Rush In, but it has changed my life. The Bosnian War, Life, Love, etc.
A couple of people already mentioned Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, but I have to put it out there again. His writing is so beautiful. I’ve never felt so much for a book as I do with Everything is Illuminated, although Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is breathtaking as well.
oh and I secon Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto especially if you love Murakami! Anton Lavey’s Satanic Witch is also pretty interesting and empowering.
Two Books that I love love LOVE:
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Jitterbug Perfume – Tom Robbins
They will change your life, I swear.
Shoot an Iraqi by Wafaa Bilal. Art, social experiment, war, self discovery, culture and optimism all in one fantastic story.
I’m also going to have to recommend A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman… probably the most sensual, lush, inspiring and descriptive book I’ve ever read, which completely changed my entire perspective on the senses.
I can’t believe just one person mentioned Dave Eggers. Astounding.
A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius changed the way I write, How We Are Hungry is a beautiful collection of stunning short stories.
I would also recommend:
The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
Everything Is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
Vacation – Deb Olin Unferth
The Outsiders – SE Hinton
Nice Big American Baby – Judy Budnitz
No One Belongs Here More Than You – Miranda July
Genius.
Hayden Tompkins — Wow, you take books into the shower?! That’s intense! I was a hardcore bookworm as a child but most of my reading takes place online now! Thanks for your suggestions!
ami — I hear a LOT about Eat Pray Love. I always wondered if it was one of those books that was terrible but popular! Maybe not!
Tomi — Oh that sounds awesome. I love Nick Hornby, though I have to admit I never read Fever Pitch because, well, I don’t care about football. Haha.
lola dam — I heard of Amy Hempel for the first time the other day, & I ended up listening to her read one of her stories aloud. It was pretty amazing. & yay female orgasm!
marit — I read that years ago & absolutely loved it. It disturbed me, but I loved it. Did he ever write anything else?
Libble — Not me, but I attempted NaNoWriMo a few years ago. It kicked my ass, haha.
amanda — I like Kurt Vonnegut. I also received The One Hundred by Nina Garcia. I haven’t reviewed it though because I don’t think it’s worth reviewing… Ouch! Flick through it in the shop, save your money ;D
erica — He’s written a couple of other books but I haven’t read them. I own one of them, I forget the name, but I’ve never read it. Oops. & yes he is related to Poe! He is her brother. Her album, Haunted is based around themes from the book & she sings passages of it, it’s fantastic! Check it out!
‘Becca’lise — That’s another book I own but haven’t opened (because it arrived just before I left for the States in May)!
Caitlin — You are way cute. Thank you :D I will look into them!
Birdie! — That probability book sounds awesome. I love stuff like that, eee!
AmyTheFreak — I have eyed up The Ethical Slut for years but never bought it! Let me know what you think. Ditto on How To Walk In High Heels — I own it but never read the whole thing, found it really disappointing.
marissa — I loved Girl Interrupted & Stiff! Especially Stiff. I remember reading it on the exercise bike, haha, & laughing my ass off!
Becky — American Psycho is much, much worse than Glamorama. I mean, he is trying to be shocking, & he succeeds. But that’s what I like about it, the whole thing is just SO extreme. So AP is the one I would recommend but if you don’t like gore, maybe not ;>
emily — Tipping The Velvet is brilliant. I loved it. Did you ever see the BBC series they made of it?
Tis — I loved The Unbearable Lightness Of Being too! I read it years ago, when I first started working in a bookshop. & congratulations, yay aunt!
Michelle — The 4 Hour Workweek is awesome, highly recommended!
Sarah — Oui! I love that book. I actually did a review of it ages ago, it was a showdown between her book & Rachel Zoe’s, which both came out at about the same time! galadarling.com/article/rachel
eydimork — I love Dale Carnegie. & I’ve never read The Satanic Witch but I did read The Satanic Bible when I was about 15, & loved it.
Amanda — I would if I read more! Unfortunately it is one of those things that really slips down my list of priorities as soon as I get busy, which is almost all the time!
& man, so many of you guys are mad on Twilight! I’d never even heard of it… Maybe I should check it out…
The Time Travlers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
We have similar book tastes so I reckon you would love ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt, ‘The Hearing Trumpet’ by Leonora Carrington and ‘Stone Junction’ by Jim Dodge.
Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon…love it!
kurt vonnegut. you’ll find him in the literature section, but he was originally labeled “science fiction”. i know what you’re thinking. star trek? no thank you. its not exactly star trek. some of his books take place in the future, some say things about time travel, but they all have strong philosophical undertones. determinism mainly. anything of his is fantastic, but to really know him i highly recommend man without a country. that one is more of an autobiography, but oh how his views on human nature are wonderful.
Gala,
There must be something in the air this fall. I have been buying and reading so many books!
I just loved “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides – wonderful, enchanting, and enlightening.
“The Meat and Spirit Plan” by Selah Saterstrom
looooved it …. read it on the plane returning from San Francisco …. dark …. challenging and ultimately satisfying.
One of my favorite childhood reads was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster – lovely
On the art front I adore “Diane Arbus, Revelations” a Random House book – the most amazing collection on one of the most complicated interesting photographers.
“Franchesca Woodman” a Phaidon book – inspiring and tragic life and work. Beautiful and haunting.
Do let us know what you are reading!
-Sara
My favourite book of all time (currently) is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Anything by Wilde is completely fantabulous, but especially this one.
(oh, those Dandys & their clothes!)
Jane Austen’s always a great choice; The Great Gatsby; I’m a Shakespeare geek m’self, so absolutely ANYTHING by him (even the histories, though they are indeed quite boring—unless you perform King John & the actress playing Eleanor spices up the character by stealing Katherine Hepburn’s voice from The Lion in Winter; then it’s magnificent); The Crucible (why yes, I’m a history geek);
Just Saturday, I read the book exegesis by Astro Teller & I came away thinking all sorts of confusing, fantastical thoughts.
Currently I’m reading Here At the End of the World We Learn to Dance; it’s fiction about a couple & how the tango brought them together & forged the rest of their future. I definitely recommend.
Oh, the life of a bibliophile. =)
The books I fell in love with this year:
“The Name of the Wind” – Patrick Rothfuss
“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”- Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
“The Fountainhead” – Ayn Rand
“Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison” -Joshua M. Greene
“I Love You Beth Cooper” – Larry Doyle
Oh my! You and I have the EXACT same favourite authors. I’m curious to know, what’s your favourite Murakami book? Mine is “Sputnik Sweetheart” but I honestly love them all, even “After Dark” (though it did creep me out a little bit.)
I really have to say, I find bookish guys to be the most attractive. If a guy has a beard and glasses, dresses a little poorly but can hold an intelligent conversation, and loves going to the library with me and holding my hair while smelling all the old books, he’s a damn GOD. haha! Cardigans are especially sexy, in my book!
I’m a classics girl, but I do enjoy branching out. I’m also termed a ‘prolific’ reader by friends and family because if they talk about books, there’s an 80% chance I’ve read it.
SO!
For fun fantasy-journey stuff – the Inheritance trilogy (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr) by Christopher Paolini (and don’t judge the text of Eragon by the movie – books are always better!)
For Regency romance, can’t go past Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
For culinary horror stories about working in the kitchen – Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential is hilarious…and yet disturbing at the same time.
For a classic: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley or Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
And that’s it from me, before this spirals out of control into book love ;)
(P.S. This post has inspired me to turn my once-personal blog into a review for books =])
You should definitely check out an author called Suri Hustvedt i adore her she has a fair amount of fiction books but also has a book called a plea for eros which is a book of essays. it is great reading.
her other books i would recommend are the blindfold and what i loved.
i happened to leave my copy of the blindfold on a bus is france so i had to buy another copy when i came home, but it was worth it. the final chapter was brilliant.
Oooooh!
You should try anything by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez.
Also, Milan Kundera is spectacular, I recommend “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” and “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. You will be awed! ;)
I am personally dying to read Brave New World -Aldous Huxley
...the twilight phenomenon never captured me, I tried reading it and I couldn’t get past the writing style, it was to “simple” for me.
I highly recommend these autobiographies PRINCESS – Jean P. Sasson (its a true story of an Arabian Princess) and my absolute favourite and really interesting read My Story – Illustrated Edition by Marilyn Monroe with Ben Hecht (its a series of interviews of Marilyn talking about her rise to fame and childhood)
P.S there are so many great recommendations I am adding some to my TO READ list! =P
THE HISTORY OF LOVE— a must. incredible prose. &i too adore nabokov :) lolita is my favorite book!
I cannot stress enough how amazing the book ‘After You’d Gone’ by Maggie O’ Farrell is. Since I read it a couple of years ago, no book has measured up, and everything pales in comparison. She has such a beautiful way with words.
Seriously, READ IT.
I shall not rest until everyone has witnessed how spectacular this book is.
Go buy it now!
I read a lot, but I’m not very intellectual! I mostly read historical novels, but I do love Murakami (AMAZING STUFF), SÃ ndor Marai (all his novels are incredible) and classics like The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Victor Hugo, Pride&Prejudice, Dostoivesky, and stuff like that.
But my favorite books of all times are the Earth’s Children saga, by JM Auel. I’m a huuuge nerd for ancient history, and this books are about the lives of prehistorical people in Europe, when Neatherdals (human sapien) and Cro-Magnon (human sapien sapien) lived in the Earth at the same time. The story is about the life of Ayla, a human girl who was raised by Neatherdals, and what happens to her after she’s kicked of the tribe, and her love life with Jondalar, which is a Cro-Magnon man that makes a huge trip half around Europe with his brother, and then find her. I LOVE THEM, specially the second one, The Valley of the Horses. Not only they are fun, super interesting (Auel explains, with great detail, how life must have been at that time, how they ate, make weapons, clothes, hunt,etc), romantic, but the greatest thing of all is realizing that humans at that time where HUMAN, just as we are now; they had the same feelings, problems and desires that we do. The character are very well done; sometimes the romantic stuff is kindda cheesy, but Ayla and Jondalar are not the typical rose-novel characters (yikes!), they are well constructed and believable (Jondalar is my favorite male character ever). The books are large, though, but because of that they are prefect for summer :) I hiiiiiighly recommend them, if you want to read something interesting but not dense, romantic and with great interpretation of our history :DD
anything by David Foster Wallace (R.I.P.)
Yay! An awesome book list!
Totally agree with the above – Siri Hustvedt is amazing! Especially What I Loved. Also her husband is incredible – Paul Auster – anything by him is amazing but Gala you might particularly like the New York Trilogy!
Cate Atkinson is an extraordinary talent with words as is Sally Vickers – I find them like personal development novels bc these authors have the ability to write one line and I have to put the book down and just think! These are the lines in the books that I want tattooed all over my body!
Oh & David Gemmell is the most amazing heroic fantasy writer – I read his books and I am UNSTOPPABLE!
I have a huge collection of nlp (& related fields) books which are also incredibly useful!
Wow.. there are some well-read sheilas reading your blog, girl! (please note tht sheila is a term of endearment in New Zealand as in, “the old sheila” (my mother), the “not so old sheila” (me, my mother’s daughter and so on)
The Time Travellers Wife is great and messes with your head.
Some kind sould gave me a Terry Pratchett discworld book while I’ve been off work lately and man oh man they’re friggin addictive. And bloody hiliarious. if you want a pick me up, there is nothing like reading about witches that like banana daquiri’s.
I’m a romantic reader usually, so me too for Jane Austen, Diana Garbaldon, some of Barbara Erskine (until it gets spooky), Sara Donati and so on. I also applaud someone mentioning Viktor Frankl’s book and I’ve read that recently and it was a real eye opener.
I’m a History major, so I read a lot of non-fiction, and some historical fiction. I also LOVE to read plays. Here are some of my favorite things to read: Angels in America by Tony Kushner; Myra Breckinridge and The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal; If I were a Man (Survival in Auschwitz) by Primo Levi; Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf; The World According to Garp by John Irving; and Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski.
I also love books on fashion and style, like the books Nylon magazine puts out, and The Cheap Date Guide to Style.
I’m currently reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It’s crazy!
I also recommend Off the Map from Crimethinc.
I LOVE THIS POST GALA!!!
I’m so excited about finishing school and being able to read til my heart’s content next year :) hence me bookmarking this page!
Some of my favourites:
The Goddess Guide Pretty much how to have an awesome life, all summed up in one little book! It has EVERYTHING; shopping, party planning, native birds, camping, choosing the perfect bag, excercise etc etc (I’d give a better list but one of my friends has borrowed this book permanently!!). Its all set out in a gorgeous scrap book fashion and ultimately, looks wicked.
In My Skin: A Memoir Autobiography of a Melbourne prostitute. Probably shouldn’t have read it when I was 15…but it was interesting, made me want to stay away from heroin!
Notes From The Teenage Underground Set in Melbourne, about 3 girls who get involved in all sorts of subversive stuff, many references to Warhol. Good for just chilling out.
Animal Farm AHHHHH!! I love it! All sorts of allusions to those naughty communists.
The Folk Keeper Haven’t read this book in years but I found it really queer and a chilling. It’s a children’s book by Franny Billingsley and can be read in a couple hours.
Barry Trotter A parody of Harry Potter and it’s pretty damn funny.
Veronika Decides To Die A book by Paulo Coelho (I did my Year 12 English major on a comparison of this and The Virgin Suicides). Veronika tries to commit suicide but fails, waking up in the local mental hospital. She’s told she has only a few days to live and then realises just how precious life is. Very good book!
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower It’s kind of a modern day Catcher In The Rye (which is another excellent book!).
Any book written by Dean Koontz, my favourites being The Bad Place and Seize the Night. Every time i get one of his books from the library i read it in a day!
My favourite book of all is This Book Will Save Your Life by A.H. Homes.
Terry Brooks is a wonderful fantasy writer and i have a love/hate relationship with Kurt Vonnegut.
I’d highly, highly recommend your reading any of the two books by the wondrous Sarah Shun-lien Bynum: “Madeleine is Sleeping” and “Ms. Hempel Chronicles”.
Madeleine is Sleeping is a novel set in medieval France, and slightly based on the children’s Madeleine series. It’s a slipstream bildungsroman (I know, the vocab is ridiculous) that’s surreal, erotic, sensitive, knowing, mature, childlike, lush. It’s about a young woman-child who dreams her growth through various surreal characters, and is juxtaposed to her strange “realities”.
The Ms. Hempel Chronicles, on the other hand, is a new book that’s a series of chronological short stories following a young seventh grade English teacher. I think it’s a touching account of both insecurity and the numerous ways people influence others without realizing it. Beatrice Hempel is a character who seems like an average Jane… discounting the fact that she was a rebellious punk rock teen and once a promising student.
I recommended these to you because I’ve lurked on your page for a while now and I’m certain that you’d have a feel for the sensitivity behind these books. :D
Cheers,
-Hannah
What a great topic Gala:) There are far too many lovely books on here (and I agree with the John Green endorsement – he writes rather fabulously). Some other favourites include Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Sydney Poitier’s The Measure of a Man and I am currently reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks.
Yay for book recommendations..Another vote for middlesex! As well as dave eggers, i love everything he does but especially ‘a heartbreaking work of staggering genius’ and ‘what is the what’. Also ‘paint it black’ by janet fitch if you liked white oleander!
I’ve always been in love with the Harry Potter series. I first picked it up when I was in the first or second grade (before the movies were even thought of) and I’ve loved it ever since. Very nostalgic to me as well! :D
My other favourite series is the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. They’re random, hilarious, and clever. READ THEM!
About Twilight: It’s not very well written. The plot is very good and character interaction is fabulous, but by the third book it gets rather jumpy. It’s a super fun read though, especially if you’re one of those people who imagine yourself in the main characters shoes.
My favorite series is the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. It falls under the breaking rules category. The two main characters as spies/thieves in a medieval type world, working for the government. That sounds rather dry, but there are four books, and I can’t summarize them well at all because SO MUCH HAPPENS in every chapter. here’s the author’s livejournal: otterdance.livejournal.com/ Which sort of helps explain why her books are so awesome. she has teasers for the latest book there as well. Even if you don’t buy it, you should read it. I only ever start reading on the weekends because I end up staying up way too late reading it all in one sitting.
Wow, look at all the books! I want to read them all!!!
A Clockwork Orange Someone already posted this one, but it must be reiterated how awesome this book is.
No Logo This literally changed my life.
Dracula For rainy weekends, or whenever you want a good scare.
Anything by Ira Levin I guess I just love disturbing stories; he wrote Rosemary’s Baby AND The Stepford Wives.
The Plague by Albert Camus. Ahh, so existential!
Siddhartha is beautiful. It’s like orange juice for your soul!
Jessica — I thought Anna Karenina was by Tolstoy? :)
As for me, my favorite book of all time is White Oleander by Janet Fitch, but you’ve already read it so, bleh…
Another great book that I couldn’t put down is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Great pacing, and the story is told from different characters’ perspectives throughout, so it keeps you on your feet.
Currently, I am reading City of Light by Lauren Belfer — Very good so far.
I’m seeing a pattern though — historic fiction anyone?
I just finished Miranda July’s short story collection ‘No One Belongs Here More Than You’- tender, disturbing and creepily erotic… Finally read Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ recently. AMAZING. He compares a field of recently harvested wheat to “lion coloured stubble”. It’s so well written.
My favourites:
The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis (also my favourite movie, which is very unusual… I usually don’t like movies based on books, the book is almost always better).
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I love all of his work, but I think this would have to be my favourite.
Eat Me by Linda Jaivin. If you’ve never read this book, you NEED to! It’s fantastic :D
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliot. A newly emerging Australian author, truly incredible. He’s definitely one to watch.
and now for a bit of shameless self-promotion: I finished writing a novel earlier this year, working title Suicide Butterflies. I’m currently looking for an agent, but in the meantime I’m posting the first few chapters on my blog, one chapter each monday.
Synopsis: Suicide Butterflies is a story of love, loss and betrayal, of lies and lost memories. It follows the lives of two young women who meet as inpatients in a psychiatric hospital, and are drawn together by a connection that neither of them is consciously aware of.
Alice is an introverted girl from a small country town, trying to deal with the death of her younger sister but plagued by guilt over what happened.
Emily is a privileged teenager from a wealthy family in the city. She had been living a life dominated by promiscuous sex, excessive amounts of drugs, and an obsessive love. She cannot remember what she did to be admitted to the hospital, knowing only that she was found covered in someone else’s blood.
As their infatuation deepens into an intense, confusing relationship, pieces of their pasts begin to fall into place to eventually reveal a dark secret which will ultimately threaten to destroy them both.
Here’s the link if you happen to be interested: gemmabear.wordpress.com/suicid… I’d love to know what you think of it.
I read quite different books to you but one that I recommend to people from all walks of life;
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
amazon link: www.amazon.com/Zen
oh and the Tao of Pooh is beautiful and a wonderful addition to any bookshelf
amazon link: www.amazon.com/Tao
Omigee!! I almost forgot— a good book for you might be “Cupcakes Galore”. It’s a cookbook (teehee) but it’s my absolute favorite one. The Strawberry Cheesecake cupcake was fabulous!
You have to read Rhyll McMaster’s Feather Man. It’s very poetically written and is a very empowering story.
Here’s a link to the first chapter:
www.marionboyars.co.uk/Amy%20P…
Lolitaaaaa ;) & The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kinda standard! But these books changed my world & are oh so lovely. x
Wow! My list of books to read has just expanded tenfold! Tks guys!
The little-known Australian author, Mandy Sayer, is just wonderful. I often recommend her to friends, especially those new to Oz. Her autobiographical, “Dreamtime Alice”, is a great read about busking with her eccentric father in New York in the 80’s. Her second autobiography, “Velocity”, is also a fab read.
Loved “The Birth House” by Canadian author, Ami McKay, inspired by an actual birth house the author came to live in in Nova Scotia.
For fantasy lovers, “The Ill-made mute” by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.
I would also second “Eat, Love, Pray” and “Still Life with Woodpecker”.
I love reading any kind of chick lit, romance, fantasy, and a bit of sci-fi. My favorite authors are Meg Cabot, Sophia Kinsella, and Diana Wynne Jones. My favorite book ever is HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE!!!!!!!
... and “The sex lives of cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost. Apart from a great title, it had me crying tears of laughter for the entire read!
Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler.
I cannot recommend it enough. I’m not going to tell you anything about it but I will tell you this: this is my first post to you, as I feel VERY passionately about this book, and secondly, in regards to the book, I not only turned straight back to page one when I had finished reading it, I also wrote to the Author, who sent me an amazing response!
I’m very late in the commenting, but I was in a seminar ALLLLL day, ick.
Books/authors I recommend to every one out there:
- Anything by Paulo Coelho. He’s my 2nd favorite author, and that’s just cause…
- ...as far as I’m concerned, the Harry Potter series is the best story I have ever read. Hands down
- A Girl’s Guide to Hunting & Fishing, by Melissa Bank. (Metaphorical hunting & fishing). I’ve read it about a dozen times.
- The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. It’s not fiction, it’s about perceptions of reality, and it BLEW my mind
- Journey of Souls, by Michael Newton. A series of case studies of between-lives regressions.
- And one author I can’t even rank, because she’s timeless… Jane Austen. My fav is Pride & Prejudice, but I really recommend all of them
And, I can’t wait to read A Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. If you haven’t heard of her, here you go: www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ji…
You MUST read “Rent Girl” by Michelle Tea. Its a graphic novel about a young lesbian escort. I just picked it up yesterday and i have to admit that I’m only 2/3rds through it-but the illustrations and writing are wonderful.
I have a library in my house. Literally I have wall to wall bookshelves in my lounge. It’s insane.
If you want something easy to read and hugely absorbing read the twilight series. I still want to cream myself when I read them.
Southern Vampire series, made into the TV series True Blood. Easy to read and hugely engaging again.
If you’re into historical fiction read the Outlander series. Massive books and there’s 7 or 8 (I think) When you’ve read those then read the Sara Donati series.
Terry Pratchett is a genius, my favorites were Going Postal and Making Money.
This is right up your alley, Roald Dahl’s Kiss Kiss combines exquisite imagery with the macabre and if you read his children’s books you’d know already, the guy had a bit of a sick twist.
The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende. This should so be on a school reading list, it is so good. Although then it would be destroyed.
Honourable mentions: the memory keepers daughter by kim edwards, the twilight series by stephanie meyer, anything by anne rice, and particularly i capture the castle by dodie smith. Lives in a castle, loves a man with a beard, and dances around bonfires? 10 out of 10!
My favourite books though are really old random ones that you buy at the op shop, and that no one has ever heard of. I am reading a fascinating one at the moment.
xo
I’m dying for this one book:
www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/20…
but i haven’t found it so far down here in mexico.
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is my favourite book ever. I cry every time I read it. Its so funny and sad and sweet.
People of The Deer by Farley Mowat is a true story of the authors encounter with Northern Canada annd a dying race. Its also really sad, especially because its true.
I finally have the time to comment! This entry has expanded my winter reading list!
Any of the Miss Marple series by Agatha Christie. An old lady who knits, gossips and solves crime? It’s absolutely divine.
Jpod by Douglas Coupland. It’s not a sit and devour type of book, but anything talking about edible objects sounds good.
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro. A transition from girl to woman. It’s beautiful.
Fabulous Nobodies by Lee Tulloch. Complete bubble-gum for the mind, but it’s set in the 80s and all the frocks are named.
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Correspondence between the Devil and his newphew.
And finally, please read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I had countless laughs while reading this on public transit.
Happy Reading!
I can’t wait for your opinion/interpretation of Style Statement Gala! I have the book and while I enjoyed it and found it interesting, I wasn’t really sure what to make of it…
The Catcher in the Rye, just read it in English and LOVED it.
A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing all by Libba Bray from the Gemma Doyle trilogy. (yes, it’s YA but I think the books are BEAUTIFUL and feel like quoting them ALL the time)
And Twilight, because it’s a fad, so you might as well. The entire world seems to be obsessed with it, but I liked it, they were okay.
Also, my faves are Harry Potter, alll of them. They are amazing and technically kids books, but I grew up with them so I’m okay with that. I was a kid when I started!
Also, to the person above who is doing Nano- you are kicking my ass. I am at like 2730…
back in the early 00’s when lj was not such a town of tumbleweeds, a girl i knew on there once posted me a copy of ‘sexing the cherry’. i prefer ‘the passion’ and ‘written on the body’, but i don’t think i’ve read a comment recommending winterson yet? oh well.
i think you’ve probably read everything i love, more or less. i just read ‘eccentric glamour’ by simon doonan, the lil cutie that he is. anything by banana yoshimoto. donald rawley’s ‘slow dance on the fault line’. ‘memories of my melancholy whores’, ‘the book of laughter and forgetting’ and ‘the story of o’. errr … that’s all i can think of that you may or may not have read, off the top of my head.
what are your favourite books ever?
we need to talk about kevin by lionel shriver is really good for thinking about the nature vs nurture debate. fictional but thought provoking.
I would also suggest ‘Eat Pray Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. I also thought it would be a ‘popular but rubbish’ book, so it was delightful to discover that it is in fact a beautiful and humorous read.
I absolutely love the writing of Susie Bright. Her books are pretty much only available on Amazon these days, or through her website. She has a long career history of being a union activist, sex educator, feminist, pornographer, gay rights advocate etc. Outrageous and thought-provoking.
I’ve just read the the first book in the ‘Twilight’ series. It’s an easy book to read quickly, but I would suggest having a read of some of the reviews on Amazon first. It is a book that seems to polarise people, and I can see why it has attracted some of the criticisms it has.
I would also second Georgie’s rec of second ‘In My Skin’ by Kate Holden. And Leigh Redhead’s Simone Kirsch series.
All I can think of right now… Let us know what you end up getting!
OMG, only my favorite subject EVER!!!
Little Birds and Delta of Venus, Anais Nin’s erotica. You probably have read it, but if not you must!
The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas. Also The Robe by the same. Epic stories about the Roman Empire in the 1st century.
Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton, tons of hot, steamy, kinky, multiple partner, preternatural sex. And a fairly interesting plot too. Also SOME of her Anita Blake series, specifically the newer, post 2000 books, such as Danse Macabre, Narcissus in Chains, and Micah. Kind of gory, but very tough and sexy/kinky. My guilty trashy novel. Coming from someone who can’t stomach Harlequins.
Uglies trilogy/series by Scott Westerfeld. YA fiction, set in an alternate future where advanced plastic surgery and the desire to be beautiful have created a seeming utopia. Fun read.
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnette. There is one certain part, near to the end, that gives me goosebumps every single time I read the book. I usually give it about a year in between readings…I’m sure you’ve seen the movie at least, but the book is really worth it’s own review, it it so beautiful, imaginative and gentle.
Luna, Keeping You a Secret by Julie Ann Peters. Great glbqt YA fiction. Sweet and poignant, and so so wise.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, starting with *The Golden Compass. Very good YA.
Paint it Black by Janet Fitch…although I may be prejudiced from waiting SO LONG for Fitch to put out something new. I must have read White Oleander 10 times now.
Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray, starting with A Great and Terrible Beauty. GREAT YA. Historical, set in Victorian times, magical powers, India, goddesses, lesbians, boarding school girls!
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, set in Puritanical New England and told from the view of a displaced, fashionable young Roundhead lady. Also her The Bronze Bow, tells the story of young zealots during the Roman invasion of Israel. Great historical YA, two of my old “comfort staples”.
C.S. Lewis: I love the Chronicles, of course, but his adult scifi trilogy is very interesting. That Hideous Strength is my favorite, but these may not be able to capture someone who doesn’t have a love for Tolkien and Arthurian legend. Very bizarre, unsettling bit of British scifi.
Honorable mentions:
Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (this is very powerful and gripping)
Anne Rice, both the vampires and the Mayfair Witches
Above mentioned’s erotica, under A. N. Roquelaure and Ann Rampling. I liked Exit to Eden. Lots of S&M, D&S, my kind of stuff!
Stephen King, esp. Carrie, Salem’s Lot
The High Flyer, by Susan Howatch
Wally Lamb’s Shes Come Undone
Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead – Rourke is so sexy.
Diana Wynne Jones: the Chrestomanci books
All things Lucy Maude Montgomery
Cheers to your love of Anais, Francesca, Thompson and Nabokov!!!
i dont even know who irvine welsh is, never heard of him.
i really love fantasy fiction and science fiction stories a lot of the time it falls under young adult. oh well
i love the “highschool reading classics” i guess
brave new world, lord of the flies, 1984, slaughterhouse five, october sky, catcher in the rye,
i like kurt vonnegut a lot, he makes my heart warm.
orson scott card’s, enders game is probably the second most genius work of fiction i’ve ever witnessed
harry potter, twilight, the golden compas, a swiftly tilting planet.
Here’s what I think: Instead of spending your money on Amazon, you should support your local independent bookstores which are dying fast.
Local publishers are responsible for helping get new writers out. Local bookstores are the last oasis of actual love for books instead of the publisher paying the most getting the biggest displays for their newest thriller.
That said, if you have the money to spend on Amazon, I’d say go for anything by Jhumpa Lahiri, notably, the Namesake. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is well know but oh so wonderful and I’d always suggest brushing up on the amazing Jane Austen.
-Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood by Robyn Scott . I picked up this book and was completely drawn in by the third paragraph.
-The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari. This was a wonderful and difficult read, but in the end the authors amazing spirit pulls you through.
-A Joseph Campbell Companion. This gentleman is amazing, through his interpretation of myths, relegions, and his inner wisdom he writes about what connects us all and how we lose sight of it all. “Follow you bliss” is one of his sayings that has had great impact on me.
-Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto is one of my favorites as well. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it (again) but I can still remember the feel of the book, or the sad/happy impression of it. Hard to describe. Actually I love all of her books, eerie, haunting, and beautiful.
If you are looking for something slightly offbeat, I highly recommend “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
It sounds dry, but I promise you it is so facinating.
It is essentially applied economics in real life situations. It looks at things like cheating in exams, the effect that your name has on the outcome of your life, why drug dealers live with their mums, and what formative influence parents have on their children.
I know it sounds like I’m a huge math nerd but nothing could be further from the truth! I’m a historian and maths is the bane of my life, but I absolutely loved this book! Its a really interesting read.
ali and nino by kurban said. it’s so beautiful & poetic. it’s like one of those medieval love ballads about the hero going off to war…except stretched out into a novel.
i really REALLY want to read “The book of lost things.”
oh, i love books so i need to leave a comment as well. there are two books i read recently that really impressed me. they are both plotwise and structurewise brilliant. so, the one book is written by Amy Tan – the joy luck club; the other by hanif kureishi- the buddha of suburbia. one is set in san francisco, the latter in london. i think especially tan’s book is very special in using an unusual narratology line. in the book there are stories within stories, however the book itself, again, is very much coherent. oh, i don’t want to drift off by overly praising them, but i think both are very entertaining reads!
I agree with that girl who reccommended the eat,pray,love book it was so inspirational and amazing i loved every second of it, despite being green with envy at the fact the woman was eating all this italian food!
Anything by Paullina Simons is always good, i just started rereading The Bronze Horseman which is so sad and tragic but amazing, and have just finished rereading The Girl in Times Square which is about life, death, deceit, money and cancer lol and of course love.
Sometimes we know we shouldn’t and thats exactly why we do… :)- Gyspsy Rose
Cloud street by Tim Winton
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Marly- Anna- I love The joy luck club!!! It makes me sorta wonder about how culture affects relationships…
I love books so much… My room is filled with hundreds of piles of books.
I love the Twilight series
I love The Other Bolyen Girl
Love in the Time of Clohera and The General in his Labrinyth
I love love love The age of innocence
I love Jane Eyre maybe even more
I love Pride and Prejudice…
I also have a 50 dollar book voucher i got with an academic award i won at school! :) xoxo best post ever!
One book that i’ve read at least three times is The Fashion Pack by Marion Hume. Mind you, i regularly read books multiple times.
This one is really good though and i can imagine that you would like it. It’s nothing particularly deep or profound but it’s great to just lose yourself in. Also, it’s rather long but has so many twists and turns it feels more like a season of a tv series rather than one book.
Anything by Tim Winton. (Bekah suggested a couple of his books too).
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a book that leaves an impression behind.
I’m also really loving ‘the Graft’ by Martina Cole.
I have always been madly in love with the wolfblade series by Jennifer Fallon, I have re-read the series more times than I would like to admit but its one of those books that has so many things going on that at first you feel like you can’t keep up but once you settle into it you just see what is like an educated soap opera unfold without the bad plot lines. I can’t even explain how to explain the plot other than that its about a girl who tries to protect her families throne but it goes beyond that and shows so many other people and their lives that have similar interests.
But on a more light and fun side Candy Girl by Diablo Cody is a great read, its from her days as a stripper and it just has that naughty element that I cant help but read
I’m the kind of person who gets gushy about books once I’ve read them, but then again I only read books that make me want to take days off work to bury myself in, otherwise I just throw them on the pile in my room never to be finished…
Anyways these were REALLY good:
What Is The What – Dave Eggers
One of the only books to make me want to change the world.
The Late Hector Kipling – David Thewlis
Absolutely hysterical book about the art world and written by Remus Lupin, too much geekery I know, but bloody brilliant. I think I may be in love with him from reading this alone.
Edie: An American Girl – George Plimpton and/or Please Kill Me – Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
I swear these are the two best biographies/histories/whatever you want to call them ever written. I think I must read them about once every 6 months.
Nana – Emile Zola
The most beautiful, heartbreaking, feminist, horrible, sad, funny, amazing book in the whole entire world. Honest.
I could go on, but I’m sure you’ve got enough recommendations to be going on with for a lifetime.
I work in a book store so this is definitely up my alley!
I’m glad someone mentioned “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts – it is one of the most life-changing, fascinating books I’ve ever read.
I’m also surprised no one has mentioned “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” by Toby Young. The title was enough to make me giggle.
I just finished reading “The Declaration” by Gemma Malley, and although it is targeted at a young adult audience, it’s absolutely fascinating. The story revolves around a ‘surplus’ child from the future, where adults can live forever or choose to be mortal and have children. A very though-provoking novel about a world that is not too far away from our own.
Well… I just finished reading ‘The Bride Stripped Bare’ by Anonymous (Nikki Gemmel has since been outed as the author) for the second time… it’s a fantastic book if you’re fascinated by female sexuality and liberation. It borderlines on erotica in some parts, but I love it. Definitely a must-read!
But my ALL time favourite book is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It’s very depressing though… so would not recommend to anyone who is feeling down.
xx
Gala,
you should totally read “Blind Faith” by Ben Elton. It is a modern day 1984, where hourly blogging is compulsory and everyone lives their lives over the internet. It’s hilarious and also a little scary.
Ben Elton’s books are hilarious Genious. Past Mortem and Dead Famous are the best, although i have yet to be disappointed with one of his books.
some fabulous reccommendations here. Can’t wait til exams are over to get stuck into these!
I just finnised an autobiography by Paul Carter entitled “Don’t tell mum I work on the Rigs, She thinks I’m a piano player in a whore house” and enjoyed it a lot!
It’s a very blokish style of writing, with a laugh a minute and is an easy read. Very Aussie. ;)
I found this interesting because my uncle is a riggy, can’t wait to get my hands on the sequal!
Favourite book ever: Tokyo doesn’t love us anymore (Ray Loriga)
Anything by Murakami
A World of Strangers (Nadine Gordimer)
Disgrace (Coetzee)
Anything by Paul Auster
The Book of Sand (Jorge Luis Borges)
Very cool post! Thank you!
I don’t know if they have been sugested but the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is just amazing! My favourite series of books ever, the story, imagery and the jokes are so brilliant!
I adore Joyce Carol Oates. I’ve really gotten into her in the past few years (and recommend her to anyone). Because of this woman, one of my goals in life is to have a novel published. I highly suggest reading ANYTHING by her.
Ahh, books! I’m definitely going to have a long list, but then again, I’m the person that’s close to filling up two floor to ceiling bookshelves :)
Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- just absolutely classic
The Phantom Tollbooth- it’s a children’s (sort of) book, but it’s another classic and the message can still speak to an adult (in fact, I think they’re the ones that need to read this the most!)
Gregory Maguire- I absolutely l-o-v-e the Wicked series, and I feel that everyone should be required to read it. I haven’t read his other books yet, but I’ve heard great things about those too (especially Mirror, Mirror)
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie- I read this book mostly to see what the ‘big deal’ was about it (I saw that after reading, lol), and this is just a fantastically written book. I’m hoping to pick up his new book The Enchantress of Florence (I think that’s the name) soon
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis- another of those children’s books that everyone should read
Libba Bray- her Gemma Doyle trilogy is absolutely brilliant, and it’s definitely empowering to girls everywhere
Meg Cabot- I started off reading her teen lit (Princess Diaries, etc) which are great, and I just picked up her Queen of Babble series and I’m in love with it (plus, the main character loves fashion!)
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman- another great all-around book, and I must say that with religion, the movie didn’t do it justice at all
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes- more teen lit (it’s definitely my favorite kind); she writes about vampires, shapeshifters, etc. If you like that kind of stuff, you’ll love her
Scott Westerfeld- pretty much anything he writes is worth reading, but I particularly like his Uglies series
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived by Karen Lindsey- the only non-fiction book I can think of that’s definitely worth reading (probably since it’s sitting on my desk). It’s a feminist interpretation of the wives of Henry VIII
What can I say, I like to read a lot :)
Oh, if I’m going to recommend something then it’s gotta be Stieg Larsson’s Millenium triology. It might not be in the categories you stated – it’s criminal novels (and it’s the only ones I like within that genre), but it’s one of the most catching triologies I’ve ever read. And it get a huge plus for having a geeky, incredibly smart goth-y girl in one of the lead roles.
Otherwise I’d also like to recommend ‘Rich Daddy, Poor Daddy’. =)
Right now – ‘Think Big and Kick Ass’ by Donald Trump.
A great read!
I am such a book worm I have 3 quotations from books tattooed on me.
I’m currently reading Love in the time of Cholera. I have the tendency to read a lot of classics and classic philosophy and essays that are referenced in a lot of other things. It helps a lot with my University readings and then I can compare and cross reference (geeky I know)
My favorite books are Perfume and Journey by the Moonlight, I have quotes highlighted in each.
Anything by Douglas Coupland, especially Microserfs, JPod, and All Families are Psychotic.
Also, I’d recommend getting into graphic novels. The Sandman collections are gorgeous. Also Fables. Seriously. Comic books.
It makes me SO happy that you’re all big readers.
I just placed my Amazon order — I got Guy Kawasaki’s new book, some other marketing stuff & the first book of Twilight. Hahah! I’ll let you know how I find it… If I love it, it will surely turn up in an upcoming TiLT ;D
I share the books I’ve read with friends on goodreads.com. Great site!
Right now I’m reading a book called Superbia!, about making the suburbs more sustainable. I just finished Livig Raw Food—a book by the chefs that created NYC’s Pure Food & Wine.
Yay reading! Obviously as an English student I love reading – it is all I do. I read 3-4 books a week sometimes. I am currently doing a speculative fiction module (sci-fi, fantasy & horror!) and I have really enjoyed reading H.P Lovecraft’s short stories and also The Sleeper Awakes by HG Wells has been really enjoyable and deeply interesting.
Short stories can be great if you don’t read lots – I love reading short stories when I have a short attention span. Edgar Allen Poe, Ali Smith, Sylvia Plath and H.P Lovecraft are some of my favourites.
I love how similar all of your tastes are to mine!! Thank you guys so much, I’ve gotten tons of new ideas on what to pick up at the bookstore…if you’re anything like me, you get to feeling like you’ve “read it all”...
Ahhhh, I’m glad to see people suggesting Douglas Coupland! He’s been my favourite author since high school (around 10 years, for context). I think the argument could be made that his writing style changed significantly with the passage of time. The Gum Thief is completely different to something like Shampoo Planet… so anyone checking him out for the first time should choose two books: one from his early career and one from his more recent works.
I just got Chuck Klosterman’s novel, Downtown Owl, though I’m a bit nervous to start it, because I enjoy his essays very much but I’m not sure how his voice will translate to nonfiction.
And yes, LOVE John Green! I’m about 10 years outside his target demographic, but I devour his books! He manages to strike a delicate balance, writing about complex (often depressing) subject matter with the perfect mix of humour and sympathy. (um… just in case… NERDFIGHTERS!)
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Mad love.
Jeez, there are a lot of comments here. I guess you have more recommendations then you know what to do with.
My all time favorite book is probably “Gone With the Wind”, which I’m sure you’ve already read or at least know a lot about, since it’s a classic.
I just love how it captures the south during the American civil war… I think it’s probably the greatest love story of all time. And Rhett is FINE.
I think Lamb: The gospel according to Biff Christ’s childhood Buddy by Christopher Moore is quite possible the most laugh out loud, life affirming, thinking persons book I have ever read in the last decade. No really, its that good.
All of Moore’s stuff is great, but that is perhaps his best. You’ll finish it in a weekend, and it the friend you loan it to doesn’t keep it, you will keep it on your shelf forever.
I just read the Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and it was fantastic. A great read with a different spin on things.
for my 21st birthday my boyfriend got me a twin set of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. i have been devouring both since.
my favorite book of all time would be Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. i’ve thumbed through my copy so many times that it is well-worn and falling at its seams.
also, i think Italo Calvino and Paulho Coelho both write very beautifully.
(i’m big on fiction.)
I’m going to “third” Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It is absolutely one of my top 5. Also, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. He diverges in some places but it is a delightfully historical piece of fiction with a wonderful love story. Finally, the Sally Lockhart Trilogy, by Philip Pullman. I know a lot of other people have also suggested the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is excellent, but I really think Sally is worth a try. She is a really awesome heroine who fends for herself and doesn’t say no!
there are so many good books recommended on here! i’m really excited that someone else recommended ‘the secret history’ by donna tartt. it is absolutely brilliant, especially the characterization. i felt as if i was dropped right in. i also love anything by aldous huxley— some people mentioned ‘brave new world’ which is spectacular, but you could also try the essay ‘doors of perception’. ‘a clockwork orange’ also tops my list as well as ‘i was a teenage fairy’ by Francesca lia block and ‘the chronicles of chrestomanci’ by diana wynne jones.
let me recommend a new book for the must-reads:
“Einstein’s Dreams” by Alan Lightman, its a collection of 30 ‘dreams’ or different versions of the passing of time and relationships of people within this concept of time.
I’m going to be the third person to recommend “The Secret History” because it really is that good.
Another good one is “Death By Black Hole” by Neil Tyson, which is about different areas of astronomy and astrophysics. He writes it very simply so that you don’t need a heavy science background, and he’s also really funny. The chapters are stand-alone, so you can read about how it takes a photon a million years to get from the center of the sun to its surface (and 8 seconds after that to get to Earth) one day and then read about dark matter a week later!
Also, if you just want a short story instead of a book, “An Old-Fashioned Unicorn’s Guide to Courtship” is hilarious.
coyotewildmag.com/2008/august/...
I don’t have a book to add since I have 7 books on my nightstand waiting to be read. However, this is a great post and I will be checking our some of the recommendations on here.
I can’t recommend my favorite Murakami to you, since you already read his work, but I can say that I like some of the same things you do, and share your dislike for the two you mentioned. (Well, it isn’t that I dislike them, per se, just that I think they’re overrated. I also am a former Coupland fan… his first few books are great, but nothing past “Girlfriend in a Coma” has been worth the time it took to read it. Do read “Generation X” and “Microserfs” if you haven’t yet.)
So, I would recommend David Mitchell to you: if you like Murakami, you will like “number9dream” and “Cloud Atlas.” I also liked “Black Swan Green” a lot, but it’s different.
nth recommendations of “The Secret History” and just about anything of Angela Carter’s.
There’s a great Penguin collection of all of Borges’s short stories — Collected Fictions, I think? You need that; you just don’t know it yet. (Am I convincing?)
Perhaps try “np” and “Kitchen” by Banana Yoshimoto.
“Pnin” by Nabokov. “Pale Fire” and “Lolita” as well, but Pnin is more immediately accessible, and such a great character.
I love reading fashion fiction : thinking “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Everyone worth knowing” etc
Crime fiction: Basically anything by James Patterson, Harlen Coben,
And until recently the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer :) such a great saga! star crossed lovers between a human girl and a immortal vampire. really, this was one of the books that have actually made me cry. Highly recommend it and the movie’s coming out within the month! eeek!
x
ps- i also love Haruiku Murikami!! He writes really surreal, warpy, postmodernist books that are really great reads!
Whoa, I have totally different taste in books than almost anyone on here. Weird. I didn’t expect that.
-Naomi by Tanizaki
-Pale Fire by Nabokov
-Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi
-Out by Natsuo Kirino is the best suspense story ever
-The Hundred-Year Lie by Fitzgerald is about the chemicals in our food.
-Moving the Center by Ngugi is a wonderful, essay-style book about post-colonial Africa
Here are two good short stories:
-The life of a stupid man by Akutagawa
-Edward and God by Milan Kundera
Thinking of you specifically, though, I’d recommend “Bubblegum” by Lolita Pille (She wrote it when she was 23. And it’s French, so you can work on your second language. Also, it’s awesome and I think specifically of you when I think of it. She also wrote one called “Hell” by “Bubblegum is better) I’d also recommend Banana Yoshimoto because she reminds me of FLB with more sex. So you’d probably like her. ha.
I love the creative spellings of Dostoevsky and Haruki Murakami.
I know I’m terribly late on this this post, but I have been chained to my desk all week writing my final literature essay for the year. There are some great books here, I have an even longer holiday reading list now!
Following are a few of my favs. I rarely read a book more than once but these have all been so good that the spines have been cracked open repeatedly (excluding the wonderful Haruki Murakami since you are already aware of his brilliance) – Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty
Love in The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Virgin Suicides by Geoffry Eugiendes
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Hey Gala-
I’m the girl who messaged you on facebook living in Paris when you had said you were coming over for a bit.
I’m a book fanatic myself, so I figured it was time to post on your blog (which I wish I had more time to read these days). I also adore Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Anais Nin, Francesca Lia Block, and Haruki Murakami (just finished Kafka on the Shore!).
I would recommend:
-Antonin Artaud: a French man who was banned from surrealist movement quite dark, fascinating writing
-ROBERT ANTON WILSON (get your hands on the Illuminatus Triology and The Cosmic Trigger ASAP)
-Kurt Vonnegut
-Count Lautreamont (his writing reads like a sick joke)
-Andre Breton
-The Shaman’s Apprentice by Mark Plotkin
-Amélie Notomb
-A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
-Ray Bradbury,
-Fydor Dostoyevsky,
-Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael
-Freakomnomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner,
-Douglas Rushkoff for cultural studies
-Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are
-Diane Di Prima’s poetry
-Arthur Rimbaud
-Charles Baudelaire
-Daniel Pinkwater (for fun)
-Corey Doctorow’s Little Brother
-William Burroughs
-Joseph Campbell
-Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and the Margarita
uh, etc. etc. etc.
I also read a lot of philosophy but then I would go on and on…
Mmm… books. I work in a bookshop and it’s probably the best thing ever considering I am a book addict.
I read fiction mainly and quite a lot of the authors you listed are amongst my faves too. I especially love Japanese and Scandinavian fiction. Just finished reading Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson; now reading Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene.
Some of my favourite books are probably Generation X by Douglas Coupland, Blindness by Jose Saramago and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Also No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July is a fantastic book which you should definitely read if you haven’t already! What else… Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Other than that, I read a lot of philosophy. Currently also reading The Myth of Sisyphus which I feel is quite appropriate for the state of my life right now.
Gah! I just scrolled up and saw you have purchased Twilight! >_>
Also nthing the rec. of Kirino’s Out. Actually, her Real World is about two feet away from me right now, but I haven’t read it yet! Another Japanese suspense novel that floored me was Miyuki Miyabe’s All She Was Worth — fantastic and frightening, but not as brutal as any of Kirino’s translated novels. I recommend it a lot, and I don’t know anyone who has disliked it so far.
Also trying to read Soseki’s I Am A Cat, the English translation of a lot of Akutagawa’s stories collected as Rashomon (though the movie was mostly based on another one of his stories, also in the book), The Ghost In Love by Jonathan Carroll, and, er, Flora’s Dare by Ysabeau Wilce (sequel to Flora Segunda — both are great fantasy, a sort of melding of FLB and Diana Wynne Jones — but read DWJ’s Dark Lord of Derkholm if you haven’t yet — it sounds like it will be a high fantasy, but it’s actually a brilliant satire of colonialist tourism).
I am not a Twilight fan. =_=
(I am, however, being dragged kicking and screaming to the movie in a few weeks. For upcoming popcorn movies, I’m much more interested in Quantum of Solace....)
Someone bought me Eccentric Glamour by Simon Doonan a few months ago, but I haven’t read it yet (didn’t I tell you I wanted him to be my uncle?) — and Sebastian Horsley’s Dandy in the Underworld seems amusing/appalling.
Someone mentioned a novel by Jaclyn Moriarty; I believe she also wrote The Spell Book of Listen Taylor. I read it a little while ago and, while it’s on the fluffier end of things, I’d recommend it. It’s marketed as YA fiction, but I would describe it as chick lit with some literary merit.
oh my. i just spent WAY too long going through this list and adding the ones that piqued my interest to my amazon wish list.
:D
also, ill have to second enders game. and my favorite, Watership Down. (or hunchback of notre dame?)
and whoever was reading woodehouse (jeeves, wooster) You ought to catch the BBC series of that. with House.
i mean, Hugh Laurie.
Disco Bloodbath
I also do not prefer Chuck Palahniuk, cannot stand his books, nor Water For Elephants…BUT I am a HUGE HUGE HUMONGOUS fan of Bukowski, in his days I def would’ve been one of his women. Recently I read “A Farewell to Arms” by Hemingway, which is about war and such but ends as a tragic love story – very good!! Currently I am reading “On The Road” by Kerouac, read it a long time ago and now refreshing. Next is more Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, and Bukowski. I also love Pearl S. Buck (East Wind, West Wind)...so many books, I love to collect vintage editions and am devout to the classics. To me, the library is a haven of never ending indulgence. Thanks for such a great topic to post about!
//TWILIGHT
//NEW MOON
//ECLIPSE
//BREAKING DAWN
//all by Stephenie Meyer
//Seriously, it is a MUST to read! I hated reading books //until I read Twilight
Though I see I’m already too late, this comment pretty much sums up the Twilight reader, in my opinion. Mary Sue fanfic for those who don’t read books.
IMHO, I don’t think you would enjoy Twilight. You’re vivacious, empowered and gushing with personality. The main characters in Twilight are Mary-Sues, angst-ridden cliches and the writing is downhill from there. Sorry becs.
But then reading tastes are a very personal affair. I adore the likes of:
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Valiant by Holly Black
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Anything that Alan Moore touches.
And I think the PostSecret books are amazing.
I love this entry! I love reading everything: Books, magazines, graphic novels, local comics (Here in the Philippines, we even had comic rentals for Php2.00 per day when I was younger and i’d rather skip snacks than miss out on the latest arrivals—I think this pretty much summed up my childhood)
I read whenever I can. When I am stressed, depressed, hungry, happy, bored, I read. It’s the ultimate high for me, reading a really good story and just letting my imagination take me to other worlds.
Anyway, the people who left comments here are all so wonderful. :) I understand that people have different tastes when it comes to books, and reading the list of authors you fancy, i’d have to say we pretty much have the same taste.:)
Here are books that I absolutely adored, and I hope you like them too:
hey what happened to my loong comment above? boo. anyway here they are again (no more reviews, can’t remember what i typed hee)
-the book of salt by monique truong
-his dark materials
-stargirl
-the princess bride
-cat’s eye and the handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood
-einstein’s dreams by alan lightman
-books by shel silverstein, roald dahl and oscar wilde
-fingersmith and tipping the velvet by sarah waters
-*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins*. It’s a really great suspense story about power struggle, survival, false reality, all set in a parallel corrupted North America.
-*A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray*. Victorian corsets, secret abilities, a broken family…it’s such a juicy book.
-*The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren*. Quite frankly, life changing.
I hope you like my suggestions.
I would like to put in a vote for
Dave Eggers- “Heartbreaking work of staggering genius”
Jonathon Safron Foer- “Everything is illuminated” (if you’ve seen the movie, please don’t be put off, the book is tonnes better) and “Extremely loud and incredibly close”
“Eat pray Love”- Elizabeth Gilbert (essential reading and so good for the soul)
“The Black Album”- Hanif Kureishi
Oh, thank GOD....I am THRILLED to comment on the books I love.
Currently, I’ve just finished the biographies of Audrey Hepburn and John McCain, two people who fascinate me. Before that, I read “A Long Way Gone”, which was this narrative about a young Ugandan boy who was kidnapped into the rebel army at a hugely young age. I cried and cried while I read this, and sometimes I felt as if my heart would just burst from all the horrible things that are recounted in the book, but I like to read these kind of books – they remind you of the God-honest life that goes on beyond our little gated communities.
But it’s no light reading. For something that’ll keep you laughing until you pee your pants (umm…I wouldn’t know…) DEFINITELY read Angela Nissel’s “The Broke Diaries.” She is my favorite author, and writes about her time in college when she didn’t have pennies to spare for baking cheesecakes to bring to office parties, when she had to date losers to get free food, and when she stole her professor’s identities to get free textbooks! I wish I could be as funny as her…I think I have a girl crush on her. Oh my. =]
I know you’re a busy girl Gala, but definitely check the Angela Nissel book out at least. For moi
I love all the Adrian Mole books, A Clockwork Orange, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Secret Underground Railroad, How to kill your husband (and other handy household hints), and I read all the Wheel Of Time books.
I finally read halfway through that someone put The Lovely Bones. This is my all time favorite book. Its about a girl who gets murdered and narrates from heaven and watched how her family recovers and finds out who killed her. It is brilliant. Theres a movie in production and I really hope they dont mess it up!
I like all of Sarah Dessens books. Id recommend The Truth About Forever.
Also if you like mystery but romance too I love Nora Roberts.
And Nicholas Sparks is amazing too!