Need some good book ideas.

I'll be on bedrest for a few days next month and need some good book ideas.

I'm not into the "formula" authors like Grisham or any chick lit... too predictable and not enough of a challenge.

Any suggestions? I do teach history so any historical fiction is good too.

TIA.

Message edited 6/24/2006 8:43:40 PM.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I love "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" by James Patterson - it's not his typical crime/mystery story. Warning, it is a tear jerker though.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Isabel Allende..."Zorro"

She also wrote "Daugther of Fortune" which is very good.

She is a phenomenal author.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Do you like historical fiction? Iliked "The Other Boleyn Girl " by Phillippa Gregory. I liked her other books as well ("The Queen's Fool" and "The Virgin's Lover").

I have them if you want them.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I have been liking books by Lisa Jackson lately.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Give Shadow Divers a try! Very interesting how historians were not always 100% correct.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I think the 2 historical fiction books I liked the most were In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia alvarez and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

One of my all time favorite books is Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. It's the story of the ups and downs of the friendship of two couples spanning the course of several decades.

Another author I have enjoyed reading is Caroline Knapp. I don't know of many people who have read her books, but I enjoyed Drinking, A Love Story, which is her autobiographical story of her alcoholism as a young professional and her decision to begin recovery. I am in the midst of reading Appetites, which is nonfiction - it is about the different types of appetites women have and how society discourages them from satisfying them. She also wrote a book about people and their dogs, but I don't remember the name of that one, since I didn't read it.

The last books I will suggest are those that are collections of the columns of Anna Quindlen. She is pretty liberal and outspoken. She was once a columnist for the NY Times and now writes for Newsweek. The first two, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud are more about her life as a professional and new wife and mom, with some politics thrown in. The last one I read, Loud and Clear is more political, but she continues to integrate stories of her life as a wife, mom and professional writer.

Have a good bed rest and baby dust for you!!!

Message edited 6/24/2006 11:01:51 PM.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I've read the Poisonwood Bible
the Reader
5 People You Meet in Heaven
Daughter of Fortune
Drinking: A Love Story
and almost everything Anna Quindlen has ever wrote

I'll definitely make sure I pick up the other suggestions.

Thanks everyone for the and all of the book suggestions.

Keep em coming... I read pretty fast

Message edited 6/24/2006 11:26:29 PM.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

if you want laughs... read Laurie Notaro "idiot girl's action adventure guide"!!

did you already read Angels and Demons? i liked it better than Davinci. quick read too.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I loved Manhattan, When I Was Young by Mary Cantwell (who used to work at Mademoiselle and the NY Times). It's about her years in NYC after college in the early 50s. I loved reading about how the city was then and how it's changed. She wrote two other memoirs, American Girl (about her childhood) and Speaking With Strangers (about her life with her kids after her marriage ended). All three aren't overly long but you can get them in one volume called Manhattan Memoir.

Carol Goodman writes good literary mysteries- the two I read are The Seduction of Water and The Drowning Tree.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

There was a similar thread on StoryBoard recently:

Book recs

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I thought of a few more. I'll just write the titles and authors and leave it to you to look up the info on Amazon

Non fiction:
Warriors Don't Cry - Melba Patillo Beals (but as a history teacher you have probably already read this one)
A Civil Action - Jonathan Harr
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
Passing for Normal - Amy Wilensky
The Water is Wide - Pat Conroy (every teacher should read this one, IMO)
Life and Death in Shanghai - Nien Cheng (a history teacher friend recommended this to me)
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi


Fiction:
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Women of the Silk - Gail Tsukiyama
Midwives - chris Bohajalian
Stones From the River - Ursula Hegi

I loved most of Isabel Allende's books, but didn't love Daughter of Fortune and Portraits in Sepia as much as her earler ones

If you have LOTS of time, you can try 100 Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez. It is dense and took me a while to get through it, but I did like it. My favorite of his books is actually Love int he Time of Cholera, but he is an acquired taste, I think.

I also love the Laurie Notaro Books - she is irreverant and her life is a mess, and I literally laugh out loud at her stories.

Message edited 6/25/2006 10:37:26 AM.

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I loved The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Also on my bookshelf is Triangle, by Katherine Weber, historical fiction about the Traingle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, and Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza. She is the only survivor in her family of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Happy reading!!

Re: Need some good book ideas.

OK-- for Historical Fiction.. I'm your girl!

If you have bot read any Phillappa Gregory-- you MUST read..
- The Other Bolyen Girl
- The Queens Fool
- The Constant Princess
She also has the Wideacre trilogy which I thought was good-- a f*cked up story-- but a good read. She has other books which I did not like as much as these.

Anya Seton- the woman credited with starting the historical fiction genre in the 50's.. I LOVE her books..
- Katherine
- Green Darkness
- Dragonwyck

Also, another trilogy series is by Lauren Willig. The first two are out-- these are great cause it's history, and also chick lit-- goes back and forth b/t early 1800's in France to modern day England. It's an interesting twist on the genre:
- The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
- The Masque of the Black Tulip

If you are into Marie Antionette-- I also just read her biography, "The Journey" by Antonia Fraser. This is a non-fiction book, so it can be a little tough to get through sometimes but it was incredibly interesting. Both her and Anne Bolyen were women who were incredibly misrepresented in history-- and the lives they led are truly incredible.

One more-- a really interesting book is called "Threads" by Nell Gavin. This book is about the love affiar of Anne Bolyen and Henry VIII, but it has a reincarnation twist-- essentially, they are souls that are meant to be and keep finding their way back to one another. It spans over many different time periods, and feels like you should be smoking a joint while reading it..

Re: Need some good book ideas.

I have been on a Jodi Picoult kick lately...She writes some good stuff...The one about the kidnapping was great and I have just started Wedding in December!

Re: Need some good book ideas.