Ohh, ohh! Had to reply to this one!!!! Ahhh, books........is there
anything better? (Besides really good sex?
Mmm, strike sex, insert chocolate.
) (Edit: re-insert the former: burns more calories.)
Favorites: by Francine Rivers--
The Mark of the Lion Trilogy: Voice in the Wind, Echo in the Darkness, and Sure as the Dawn. Beautifully written in Roman times (AD 71 or so) about a Germanic prisoner/gladiator, Jewish slave girl, and elite upper class brother and sister, and how their paths cross. Great sense of time, place, and human emotion. Lots of details, extremely well researched.
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamanti (sp?) From the Biblical story, a different perspective....was Leah really the one Jacob did not want? Again, great sense of time and place (Mesopotamia and Egypt.) Fully developed characterization.
Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel. Everything I love: history, lots of details, deep characterization
Books that stuck in my mind because of the weird factor or unexpectedness:
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh---how much of what we see is what is there, and how much is orchestrated to shape our behavior? (Fiction, set in future America, and nineteenth and twenty-first century India.) Made me cook curries for a week......
The Last Time They Met, by Anita Shreeve. Kind of hard to get into, but wow! the ending will shake you! Don't you dare cheat and skip ahead!
Also gotta recommend:
The Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency by Alexandr McCall Smith (set in S. Africa)
Bahgdad Without a Map by Tony Horwitz (set all over Arabia, very funny)
Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood by Sandra Steingraber (will educate you and scare you. very enlightening, will make you want to buy stock in Whole Foods, petition you congressmen and women, and re-evalute your life.)
Just read
Babylon Rising by Tim LaHaye (this is the prequel to Left Behind) and am not overly impressed.
Am currently reading
The Taken by Dean Koontz.......eh, weird. Kind of sci-fi, horror, never read anything by him. Am gonna stick with it because I bought it. Will see how it turn out.
Love anything by Jude Deveraux!!!!!! Perfect summer or weekend reading. Her characters usually have weight issues--have you noticed, anyone?---but they tackle it, usually without trying.
Oh, to be a fictional character...
Next on my list:
Time Traveler's Wife
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali (saw it on here--looks good)
Fast Food Nation (same thing)
Ahh, summer, my readin' season!