Novels to lose yourself in this summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gone with the wind. Favorite book ever.

FFS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liane Moriarty books are awesome: Big Little Lies, Whag Alice Forgot

Have you read Gone with the Wind? I read that for the first time a couple summers ago and absolutely loved it. I couldn't put it down. Huge book and I carried it with me everywhere.

FFS

What, do you have 200 page limit? Short attention span?

I have a 300 page limit. I find books over that length desperately need editing.

I'm glad Tolstoy, Hugo or Dostoyevsky didn't know that. If those names are unfamiliar to you, Google them.

Yes, Even the greats, went on too long at times.

Agreed. I'm looking at you, Victor Hugo. And your 50 pages of sewer history or orphans through the ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August? I can't decide if I want to keep reading. Interesting premise, but nothing so far to pull me through.

I gave up about a third of the way through. I liked the premise but just didn't care about the main character or his problems. Moved on to something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:btw.....i go into debt reading (eek). credit card had to be cut off.now I'm stuck at the library. keep them coming ladies/gents

Do you have a Kindle/E-reader? If so, try downloading Overdrive and borrowing E-books (and/or audiobooks) from your library that way. Seriously great -- and FREE -- resource!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not all fiction, but books I've liked recently and older favorites.

Happy all the time, Laurie colwin
The songlines, Bruce Chatwin
Collected stories of Amy Hempel
Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
The first bad man, Miranda July (but it's unusual)
Station 11, Emily St. John Mandel
Visit from the goon squad, Jennifer Egan
Clare Dewitt books, Sara Gran
Master and margarita, Bulgakov
Then most things by Roberto bolano and Haruki Murakami

Yes!! I thought Goon Squad was amazing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Halldór Kiljan Laxness's Iceland's Bell. It was published in three parts: Iceland's Bell (1943), The Bright Jewel or The Fair Maiden (1944) and Fire in Copenhagen (1946).

His gem Independent People is wonderful

[Anonymous]

I tend to have more "literary" taste in literature (sorry, I'm not sure how else to describe it), but I too am looking for pleasant reads to escape to during a stressful, difficult time. So I bought the Leanne Moriarty book recommended above, What Alice Forgot. I've only read the first chapter, but yikes. Might be way too fluffy for me.

What I really want is some pleasant, old-fashioned, wonderfully written, coming-of-age story like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or I Capture the Castle. Have I already read them all?

[Anonymous]

Middlesex
The Red Tent
Bel Canto
The Space Between Us
The Weight of Heaven
The Story Hour
And The Mountains Echoed
The Invention of Wings
Goldfinch
Wonder
Circling the Sun
Fates and Furies
American Wife
Orphan Train
The Dinner
Americanah
Let the Great World Spin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tend to have more "literary" taste in literature (sorry, I'm not sure how else to describe it), but I too am looking for pleasant reads to escape to during a stressful, difficult time. So I bought the Leanne Moriarty book recommended above, What Alice Forgot. I've only read the first chapter, but yikes. Might be way too fluffy for me.

What I really want is some pleasant, old-fashioned, wonderfully written, coming-of-age story like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or I Capture the Castle. Have I already read them all?

I Capture the Castle is one of my all time favorites!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to have more "literary" taste in literature (sorry, I'm not sure how else to describe it), but I too am looking for pleasant reads to escape to during a stressful, difficult time. So I bought the Leanne Moriarty book recommended above, What Alice Forgot. I've only read the first chapter, but yikes. Might be way too fluffy for me.

What I really want is some pleasant, old-fashioned, wonderfully written, coming-of-age story like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or I Capture the Castle. Have I already read them all?

I Capture the Castle is one of my all time favorites!!!!!!!

It's the PP above. Try Distant Land of my Father
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/0156027135/ref=mw_dp_cr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to hi-Jack your thread OP, but am contemplating reading "The Goldfinch" after seeing all the positive revs in this thread.

Is it a suspenseful/thriller-type read?
Also, what exactly is a "beach read?"

Something light, not too heavy or dark??
I don't imagine a Stephen King or V.C.
Andrews to be categorized as a common beach read.

I absolutely could NOT get into the Goldfinch at all. It's a very polarizing book I think. You either loved it or gave up 55 pages in.

When it first came out, I really wanted to read it due to all the hype.

Then I read a quote from Martha Stewart claiming she gave up on the book and never finished it.

For some odd reason, that made me kinda forget the book since like Oprah, I know Martha is an avid reader.

My favorite book of all time. Everyone in my book club read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to hi-Jack your thread OP, but am contemplating reading "The Goldfinch" after seeing all the positive revs in this thread.

Is it a suspenseful/thriller-type read?
Also, what exactly is a "beach read?"

Something light, not too heavy or dark??
I don't imagine a Stephen King or V.C.
Andrews to be categorized as a common beach read.

I absolutely could NOT get into the Goldfinch at all. It's a very polarizing book I think. You either loved it or gave up 55 pages in.

When it first came out, I really wanted to read it due to all the hype.

Then I read a quote from Martha Stewart claiming she gave up on the book and never finished it.

For some odd reason, that made me kinda forget the book since like Oprah, I know Martha is an avid reader.

My favorite book of all time. Everyone in my book club read it.

Loved it, rather

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all fiction, but books I've liked recently and older favorites.

Happy all the time, Laurie colwin
The songlines, Bruce Chatwin
Collected stories of Amy Hempel
Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
The first bad man, Miranda July (but it's unusual)
Station 11, Emily St. John Mandel
Visit from the goon squad, Jennifer Egan
Clare Dewitt books, Sara Gran
Master and margarita, Bulgakov
Then most things by Roberto bolano and Haruki Murakami

Yes!! I thought Goon Squad was amazing!!

I'm going to third Goon Squad, second APrayer for Owen Meany (am re-reading it), and add Angle of Repose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to have more "literary" taste in literature (sorry, I'm not sure how else to describe it), but I too am looking for pleasant reads to escape to during a stressful, difficult time. So I bought the Leanne Moriarty book recommended above, What Alice Forgot. I've only read the first chapter, but yikes. Might be way too fluffy for me.

What I really want is some pleasant, old-fashioned, wonderfully written, coming-of-age story like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or I Capture the Castle. Have I already read them all?

I Capture the Castle is one of my all time favorites!!!!!!!

It's the PP above. Try Distant Land of my Father
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/0156027135/ref=mw_dp_cr

Try some other YA fiction. I find that it's usually better written than popular fiction for adults. I liked Eleanor and Park, although it's contemporary.

[Anonymous]

I'm enjoying "Fever" about Typhoid Mary by Mary Beth Keane.