Fall reading - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

mauvaisroux · 09-26-2005, 01:58 PM

I'm looking for some books to curl up with (+ fuzzy blanket and hot tea

) anyone have some fall reading suggestions?

JuliaTN · 09-26-2005, 02:03 PM

I highly recommend "The Dream of Scipio" by Iain Pears especially if you like history/philosophy that still has a page turning plot. I'm reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series right now (I haven't seen the movie) and really enjoying it.

lizziness · 09-26-2005, 03:41 PM

I recently read "Foxmask" by Juliette Marillier. I really like her other books, but this one was the best of all that I've read so far. It's a second in a series, but stands alone just fine. It's in the historical fantasy genre like all her others. It was really great.
I have been on a kick for everything historical fantasy lately. I am loving Morgan Lewellyn's style of writing. Druids was excellent as was Bard. Am reading Red Branch right now, which is alright, I kind of lost interest in it. It's a retelling of the tale of Cuchulain and already knowing the story I just sort of lost interest in it, but that's not to say it isn't good. If you're more into history than fantasy, she also has a story that follows ireland with the uprising through to more modern times. So far her books include 1916, 1921, 1949, and 1972. I've read all but the last one and they are just great. Starts off following the IRA and the uprising and just sort of goes from there.
I read so much, I can't remember if I mentioned them before or not.

Tani · 09-26-2005, 04:05 PM

Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" is finally out! It's the sequel to "American Gods". I just have to assemble the pieces of my freshly knitted cardigan and I'll be all over it. (One obsession at a time)

flipafart · 09-26-2005, 04:16 PM

okay maybe you are just looking for fiction, if so disregard this post. My favorite is Sly Moves by slyvester stallone

mauvaisroux · 09-26-2005, 04:57 PM

Nope, non-fiction is just as good as fictions!

Thanks for the suggestions - keep em coming!

FishWoman · 09-26-2005, 07:18 PM

I just finished "The Big Over Easy" by Jasper Fforde (the same person who wrote the Tuesday Next series). Very clever writing.

Tani - I am so excited that Neil Gaiman has a new book out. I loved "American Gods"; I cry every time i read it. I also just recently read "Coraline." Short, but good.

Have you read the "Dead Witch Walking" series by Kim Harrison? Also, if you haven't read them, the Otherworld series by Tad Williams is amazing.

lizziness · 09-26-2005, 09:55 PM

My husband LOVES Otherworld. I tried the first one and just kinda got bored. He did say the others are much much better and the story overall is the best he's ever read. He always says how amazed he is that Williams had such a vision several years ago in regards to net and way it can or may evolve. I should give it another try since I've heard so many good things about it. I only got about 1/3 of the way in. But you never know... my favorite book is 100 Years of Solitude and it took abour 3 or 4 tries before I could read it through and when I finally did I was very glad.

Sister Mergatroid · 09-26-2005, 11:27 PM

I'm loving Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle right now. I have about 15 pages in the last book to finish and I'm reluctant to finish it because then it will be over and I will be sad.

I'm going to re-read American Gods because we went to House on the Rock last summer and I had completely forgotten how important that was in the book (I read it years ago). I want to read it again knowing what I know of House of the Rock, and then I'm going to read the sequel. Yay!

FishWoman · 09-28-2005, 11:36 AM

I am about halfway through the third book in the baroque cycle and can't seem to finish it. I put it down about 4 months ago and haven't found the inclination to pick it up again. I need to make that my metro book until i finish it. I need to know what happens to everyone!

Another good book is "Strange & Mr. Norrell" (maybe "Mr. Norrell & Strange").

timmyshawn · 09-28-2005, 11:49 AM

It's actually a set of books but I finished the first one and am almost through with the second. The first one is called The Complete Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen. It has some very interesting characters, the kind that you just have to know what happens to them and almost feel a sense of loss if one of them goes away (in one form or another). The books have been out for quite awhile so you might be able to get it at the library or a used book store.

mauvaisroux · 09-29-2005, 10:45 PM

For anyone who enjoys reading I found this while surfing....It is on the American Library Association's website - very interesting, I never knew this existed, we don't have this up where I am.

Banned books week
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedboo...dbooksweek.htm

Top one hundred books banned between 1990 and 2004
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedboo...frequently.htm

Funny thing is I read a lot of those books on the list when I was in grade 7 or 8. Every girl I knew read Judy Blume

In high school the following books were required reading in the two schools I went to:

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I found it weird that those books were on the list

Dawnlizbeth · 09-30-2005, 07:04 AM

One book that I remember really loving was called Best Friends though I don't recall the author. I loaned it out & it never came back. Its very long. I once mailed it to an estranged friend whom I had been very close with & then had a falling out with. I mailed it out like a year after we had broken communication. She called me up on the phone crying after she read it. Very poignant book about how friends are sometimes the most important relationships we have just because they can persevere when all other things (men, jobs, kids, etc) have moved on.

A series that I adore but which I agree is purely junkfood for the brain, Laurell Hamilton's vampire killer series. It has a perky main character named Anita Blake who is a short scar covered brunette who gets more kinky sex than any other heroine I've ever read about. The sex is a bit tame in the first few books...the cool thing is watching her character evolve through the novels...the old Mae West quote "I used to be snow white but I drifted" comes to mind. I tore through the entire series in about a month. My ex husband loved them too.

If your looking for serious & thought provoking I'd suggest The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Or maybe Written on the Skin. Those were both really good thinking sort of books I recall. Right now I am reading 365 Tao...which is a book with a different poem that applies to Taoism & then a very modern & easy to read small essay (a page) about this & how it can apply to daily life. Its very calming, and the bite sized pieces are easy to fit into my outrageous schedule.

mauvaisroux · 09-30-2005, 09:52 AM

365 Tao sound like something I would like to read. Who is the author or publisher so I can look for a copy? Thanks in advance Dawn

I have seen those Vampire killer books but I may take a closer look now that you've mentioned them.

lizziness · 09-30-2005, 01:34 PM

ooh, I have read a considerable amount of those books too. My all time favorite kids book is on that list "Bridge to Teribithia" by far the best childrens book I've ever read.
Several of those books were also required reading when I was in school too.

The lord of the Flies
Of Mice and Men
The Color Purple
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Outsiders
Flowers for Algernon
Native Son

And several of them were from Junior High!