I second garland’s recommendation of Russo"s That Old Cape Magic. What a funny, well-written book!
atonement- ian mcewan
age of innocence-edith wharton
It’s been an incredible few months for my favorite authors. *That Old Cape Magic *by Russo, Lorrie Moore’s Gate at the Top of the Stairs, *Let the Great World Spin *by Colum McCann (just called the best book of the year by Amazon.) And the new Barbara Kingsolver just showed up in the mail this morning. Woo hoo!
But, I finished Dave Eggers’ *Zeitoun *last night (read in it two days, which I can’t often do anymore), and,–wow. Should be required reading everywhere. Beautifully written–Eggers let’s the people he’s writing about, not his style, show through–and incredibly angering. What happened during and after Katrina, though some of it’s been written about before, is still so incredible, so awful, so wrong, that I’m still seething.
But yet, the belief in humanity’s best espoused by the book and its subjects, is strong and unwavering.
I can’t say enough about this book.
Well, garland . . .ahem . . .(pats herself on the head) –
I recommended Let the Great World Spin back in post #879.
A Walk to Remember-Nicholas Sparks
The Picture of Dorian Gray
^O, I’m about to read the second one that you listed. I’ve heard good things about it:)
Sorry, dbwes–my memory ain’t what it used to be. 
Great to see some highly recommended titles!
Just read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” last night. Old-fashioned but effective writing! Really vivid & scary (to me, but I scare easily). I can see how it gave rise to the whole genre.
The Picture of Dorian Gray was interesting!
I love this thread. I just wish I could make it 2 pages long instead of 24 so I could read through the list of books quicker.
^Wow, you’re on page 24? I’m on 62. I wish I could reduce the thread’s number of pages too.
I just finished “the Girl who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest,” the third of the Stieg Larsson trilogy (“the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and “The Girl who Played with Fire”). I have been so engrossed in the books, that I had to order this last one from amazon in uk (as it will not be out here in US until May). I can’t quite explain why I have been so captivated by these books. Great characters, interesting venues, and a talented untangling of the story, I suppose.
I’m sad that the author died And while I enjoyed this third book and couldn’t put it down, I wanted to try to read it slowly knowing there will be no more books about these characters.
That’s similar to how I feel with Shakespeare.
Maybe that’s where I’ll put my attention now.
I also just finished The help loved it!!!
Wartsandall: Go to “My Control Panel” the top left in the dark blue line, then to “Edit Options” then to “Thread Options” (or something like that). You can change the number of posts per page, up to 40.
O wow! Thanks for letting me know!
Read “My Father’s Secret War” by Lucinda Franks about her rel’p w/her dad & his secret spy activities in WW II. Really engaging (finished it in one sitting) and has some reasonance for those of us dealing w/aging parents.
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/books/19awards.html?hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/books/19awards.html?hp</a>
I was very pleased to read that McCann’s novel won this, this morning. One of the best books I’ve read in years.
I thought McGann’s quoted observation was very eloquent, though I have a hunch that he may have been misquoted and may have actually said “. . . make that little corner light.” (If so, they’ll no doubt clean it up later.)