Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Martian, by Andy Weir. You're welcome.

+1

My top 3 reads from last year -

Station 11 - Emily St John Mandel
All the Light We Cannot Wee - Anthony Doerr (and now Pulitzer Prize winner)
and
The Martian.

Ha! I literally just finished Station Eleven 15 minutes ago. I was blown away by how good it was.

The book I finished right before it was All the Light We Cannot See -also terrific.

I will now add The Martian to my library queue. And, PP, I wish I could start a book club with you!

(My other recommendations would be The Night Circus and Big Little Lies (definitely a beach read)

Beautiful Ruins, The Interestings, People of the Book, Mary Coin, Animal, Vegetable, Minerak

Anonymous wrote:The Martian, by Andy Weir. You're welcome.

+1

My top 3 reads from last year -

Station 11 - Emily St John Mandel
All the Light We Cannot Wee - Anthony Doerr (and now Pulitzer Prize winner)
and
The Martian.

Under the Tuscan Sun

State of Wonder (ditto suggestion), great book
Life After Life, and anything else by Kate Atkinson that you haven't already read
The Royal We--light and entertaining but better-written than what I think of as chick lit

The Martian, by Andy Weir. You're welcome.

Oh, and Mr. Penumbra looks really interesting as well!

OP here. Thanks for the replies everyone!

Based on these suggestions and others from friends, I'm thinking about:

Madd Addam trilogy (or should I start with the Handmaid's Tale?)
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
The Nightengale
Moloka'i
Z A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
The Goldfinch (still haven't read it, though I've been wanting to. But it seems really dense for the beach)
The Distant Hours

The Chess Garden looks interesting but I'm not a Christian. Will I miss a lot of the allegorical references?

Any favorites, or un-favorites?

+1 to the Madd Addam trilogy suggested above. I'm currently re-reading Alias Grace by Atwood and think that would be a good one too.

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore was fantastic - good if you are interested in both history/literature and more modern technology. Also Dave Egger's The Circle.

A Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
Prep
The Distant Hours
Wedding in December
The River King
The Mermaid Chair

I'm so jealous!
The Chess Garden

Girl on the train.

Ann Patchett's book of nonfiction essays is great.
So is Tom Perotta's short story collection that came out semi-recently.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Birds of Paradise (such a great book)

Snow Child

The Madd Addam triology by Margaret Atwood. All three really good. Starts with Oryx and Crake.

One of my greatest pleasures is reading a great, entertaining book on a beach. I read 7 books on my 8 day honeymoon (and had plenty of time with DH, too). This time, we'll be with our kids and I know there won't be quite as much time to read, which is why I need to pack only good books that will be worth my time reading. I want those kind of books that sweep you into the story, where you don't want to put it down and you think of the characters while you're doing other things. I can't handle heavy literature right now, nor can I handle chick lit. Also, nothing too depressing. (I thought the Kite Runner was beautiful, but I read it on a vacation years ago and it really stayed with me and kind of bummed me out for a few days of our trip). Any suggestions?

For anyone else looking for some good vacation reads, here are some I've read in the past and would consider good vacation books:
The Poisonwood Bible
Jackdaws
The Cuckoo's Calling
All the Light We Cannot See
Where'd You Go Bernadette
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Bel Canto
Unbroken (yes, depressing, but still great)
The Glass Castle