Anonymous wrote:OP here- thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Can anyone offer any fiction books to balance the nonfiction ones? I am a fast reader and tend to finish books within 2 or 3 nights. The staying off the wine is paying off on feeling better and starting to lose those last extra pounds!

Swan Song

It's epic, I guarantee you it will take you longer than 2 or 3 nights.

Go to the library and wander around the new books section. (or do the same at B&N.) I recently read "Gulp", a funny book about the digestive system, and it was interesting. I also enjoyed "Hitler's Furies", but it was a lot more serious. Recently finished Wally Lamb's new one "We are water", which started slowly but got good after that.

for nonfiction in general, I love Michael Lewis and Po Bronson - fun writing styles, but you learn stuff.

Also, in this 100th anniversary year of the beginning of WWI, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman.

Hmm, you just asked for fiction, but I just finished Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. I know I'm two years too late to the party (this book was HUGE a couple of years ago) but it's being turned into a movie with Reese witherspoon that is getting a lot of buzz (the screenplay was adapted by Nick Hornby, who is a great writer himself - his fiction is really good) and will be out later this year, I think.

Several years ago I read read Bill Bryson, A walk in the Woods, which is a slightly similar story to Wild in that it's the story of someone unprepared hiking a long trail (Appalachian for Bryson, Pacific Crest for Strayed). Wild is more emotionally compelling, but Bryson is HILARIOUS.

If you like Bill Bryson, digging into his past works would make for some reply good laughs.

And definitely get into GoodReads. great way to track your books and also get recommendations. I've been surprised by how many Facebook friends from my childhood are on, and I've learned about some good books through them.

The Goldfinch, The Corrections

OP here- thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Can anyone offer any fiction books to balance the nonfiction ones? I am a fast reader and tend to finish books within 2 or 3 nights. The staying off the wine is paying off on feeling better and starting to lose those last extra pounds!

Poser: My Life in Twenty Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer. Memoir of a mom of young children mixed with memories of her own (unconventional) upbringing and some reflections on women's role/issues and how they've changed in that time. Not heavy-duty reading, but I enjoyed it.

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom

The Hot Zone

Unbroken

The Boy who Harnessed the Wind

The Worst Hard Times

Moonwalking with Einstein -- about how human memory works, with a fun hook that keeps the science interesting

I'm reading Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune

It's a fascinating story of a comparatively little-known American industrialist.

http://www.amazon.com/Empty-Mansions-Mysterious-Huguette-Spending/dp/0345534522

Visit the web site Goodreads. You can plug in some of your favorite past books and it will recommend titles using the concept of "If you liked this, then you will like that..."

good reads is a great app for keeping track of this stuff.

Here's some non-fiction and biographies I liked:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Team of Rivals (lincoln book) by doris kearns goodwin
Katherine Graham's A Personal History
Into the Wild by John Krakauer (also his other books, Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven are great)
Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
A Random Walk Down Wallstreet by Burton Malkiel (a much more interesting read than you would think, and great as an investing primer for English majors)

Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain

not in a book club but love to read! It's taking me away from that glass of wine so please help!