And I’ll add, I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s *The Lacuna *and like it very much.
A few books that I recently read and enjoyed:
Let the Great World Spin (by Colum Mccann) – Based on the description of the novel’s setting and premise, I did not think I would like it at all. However, I downloaded the first chapter for free on my Kindle, and even before I finished that first chapter, I bought the book.
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present (by Gail Collins) – At age 50, I had already forgotten some of the things that were just “the way it was” for girls and women when I was growing up.
Playing the Enemy (by John Carlin) – This is the book that the movie Invictus (about Nelson Mandela, South Africa, and South Africa’s 1995 rugby world cup championship) is based upon, and while I have not seen the movie, I really liked the book.
Acceptance by Susan Coll
[Amazon.com:</a> Acceptance: A Novel: Susan Coll: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Acceptance-Novel-Susan-Coll/dp/B002NPCSEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262210777&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Acceptance-Novel-Susan-Coll/dp/B002NPCSEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262210777&sr=1-1)
It’s a hilarious spoof of the college application process. A must read for every parent on College Confidential.
Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Had bad dreams for a week, but it was worth it.
The opposite of my reaction. I read it over a year ago and didn’t enjoy it at all. I didn’t like his style of writing, didn’t like the subject – just plain didn’t like it! I’m not the type who needs every book to have a happy ending, but this was way too depressing for me.
Maybe I was just in the mood for a good, cathartic cry. I thought the writing style worked for the sparse, cold and colorless world he was trying to create.
“My Life in France” by Julia Child is great. I admit I had to skip some of the food descriptions as they made me hungry, book is fun.
“This is NOT the Life I Ordered,” is a book I just read; good book for people in transition through challenging times. It is written by four women but some men might find it helpful as well. It has action steps that people can consider following as well.
Treetopleaf,
thank YOU so much for summarizing this thread…
I just finished “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, Book 3 of the Millennium Trilogy (all great reads)and find myself at a loss of where to go from here… so I will peruse this list to help me find my next read…
have also read Olive Kitteridge, The Help, The White Queen, The Echo in the Bone, etc etc… all from my local library… there was a waiting list of 72 people for Echo so I bought it and donated it once I finished it…
what to read next?? great dilemma to have, yes? now might be the time to reread Mountains Beyond Mountains!
Yes. I wonder what Paul Farmer is doing right now?
<a href=“Product Reviews - Comparison of Best Products of 2024 available on the market”>Product Reviews - Comparison of Best Products of 2024 available on the market;
I’m pretty sure that this was the organization with which he was affiliated.
edit: Yes it is.
Paul has flown in from Africa and is on the ground in Haiti, leading the PIH effort. For those who have not read it (and even for those who have), Mountain beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is an incredible read about Haiti.
Love Tracy Kidder. I picked up Mountain beyond Mountains but never got a chance to dive in, I just pulled it from the bookcase and will start reading momentarily…
just finished Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book I started about 5 days before the earthquake.
Profound. For those who haven’t read it don’t shy away because you think it’s depressing, it’s very readable, and uplifting.
Another timely read by Jean-Robert Cadet:
"Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American,‘’ in which he recounts the labor, neglect and violence that began when he was a young boy. (“Restavek” is the modern spelling.)
Restavek means “stay with” and is an institution in Haiti…poor parents give their children to rich families in the hopes they will have a better life. Actually, they are little better than slaves.
I just read “The Jewish Husband” by Lia Levi. Touching story.
Perhaps this article from the Chicago Tribune belongs on a thread titled, “one of the worst books I’ve read in the last 6 months is…” Nonetheless, I thought you readers might enjoy it.
[Unfinished</a> books: Readers speak out - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ae-0307-lit-life-side-20100306,0,4244790.column]Unfinished”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ae-0307-lit-life-side-20100306,0,4244790.column)
I just finished one of the best books I have read in many years, or perhaps just one of the best books I have read. It is Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. It is just an amazing book. The author is a doctor, a professor in the med school at Stanford. He is Indian but raised in Ethiopia. He uses his own background as the settings for the book.
It’s a long family saga, but also a coming-of-age tale. I heard the author interviewed on NPR, and he was so profound in his comments, that I went straight out to get the book. It is recently out in paperback.
I think this is one of those books that gradually gains in popularity, like The Help (which I also loved, but this is on another plane).
bookiemom, I just read Cutting for Stone as well. I liked it very much, although I did feel the melodrama was laid on a bit thick in places. But Verghese does write very compellingly, and the book taught me a lot about Ethiopia (and certain medical procedures!) that I didn’t know before. It’s definitely worth reading.
And further upthread: The Road was one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life (and I don’t say that lightly). Very dark, very disturbing, and brilliantly written. I’m not otherwise a Cormac McCarthy fan, but this was an extraordinary book.
^^My high school senior just finished The Road and liked it very, very much. I’m going to ready that one this week.
“A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn” by James Donovan (2008); and “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder (1938).
Our public library has everyone reading The Hunger Games for this year’s On the Same Page book.
Great read! It’s “teen” fiction but not a trivial book at all. I couldn’t put it down, even though it got to be later and later at night…