Favorite Books
 

I'm starting this thread to list all our favorite books. Please post some of your favorites and I'll keep updating the list. Please put after the author/title the type of book, mystery, love story, etc. You can print out this list

Andrews, Donna
Arnout, Susan: "Frozen lady" love story in alaska
Atherton, Jane: The aunt Dimity mystery series
Austen, Jane
Baldacci, David mysteries who done it
Ball, Alan, American Beauty
Binchey, Maive "Tara Road"
Block, Francesca Lia, Wasteland -young adult book
Bohjalian, Chris The Double Bind
Bradley Marion Zimmer "Mists of Avalon" king arthur and his knights
Bradford, Barbara Taylor "a woman of substance" series about family dynasty emma harts retailing
Bristow, Gwen "Calico Palace" about the gold rush & Jubilee rail
Bronte, Charloote: Jame Eyre
Brown, Rita Mae and her cat
Brunstetter, Wanda-Amish
Camillari, Andrea : Montalbano series
Cato, Nancy "all the rivers run" about australia
Childs, Laura tearoom mysteries (10) with "Teaberry Stranger"
Christie, Agatha: mystery
Clavell, about japan "Shogun", "nobel house", "taipan"
Clement, Blaize
Coben, Harlen
Conroy, Pat South of Broad"
Cornwall, Patricia mystery Kay Scarpettas novels
Coulter, Catherine: Regencies and suspense
Davidson, Diane Mott, frothy mysteries with recipes
Davidson, Mary Janice, undead and unwed-funny!
Dawkins, Richard: The God Delusion - nonfiction
Delinsky, Barbara
DeMille, Nelson mystery
Diamant, Anita : The Rid Tent
Dibden, Michael: Aurelio Zen series
Donati, Sara historical romance and adventure
Evonovich, Janet Stephanie Plumm very funny
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The great Gatsby
Flagg, Fannie
Follet, Ken historical fiction or mystery who none it
Ford, Jamie Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet
Gabaldon, Dianna series historical romance couldnt put them down-Outlander
Gaiman, Neil: Coraline
Gerritsen, Tess Rizzoli & Isles mysteries
Gilman, Susan Jane Undress me in the Temple of Heaven
Grafton, Sue read up thru "U"
Giffin, Emily...chick-lit
Gordon, Mary: Final Payments
Hannah, Kristen
Harris, Charlaine: Sookie Stackhouse series...hard to put down
Henshaw, Susan mysteries with "Elected by Death”
Herzog, Brad Turn left at the Trojan Horse
Heinlein, Robert: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Hoag, Tami have newest waiting for me "Deeper than Dead"
Hosseini, Khaled The Kite Runner
Irving, John Cider House Rules
Karon, Jan The Mitford series
Kaye, MM about india and their culture love story ,"The Far Pavillions"
Kellerman, Jonathan for a good mystery...also his wife and son has good books.
Kesey, Ken: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kidd, Sue Monk: The secret life of bees
Kohen, Kathleen historical fiction adventure "Through a Glass Darkly","And Now Face to Face"
Krantz, Judith "Mistrals Daughter" her other books are great to
Lamb, Wally "She's Come Undone
Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mockingbird
Leon, Donna: Brunetti series
Lescroart, John - if you like a good, well-written mystery, start with 1st book
Lively, Penelope
Ludlum, Robert spy who done it espionage mystery" Bourne Iden tity" series
Macomber, Debbie
Markhan, Beryl: West With the Night
Marshall, Catherine: Christy, A Man Called Peter
Mason, Marion ?? writes about judge in NC???
Montgomery, Lucy Maud: Anne of green gables series and Emily of New Moon
Murakami, Haruki: fiction and non-fiction
Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita (literary)
Niffenegger, Audrey: The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, David: The Moon's a Balloon, Bring on the Empty Horses
Page, Katherine Hall (8) with "Body in the Gallery" waiting for me
Palahniuk, Chuck: Fight Club
Parker, Robert (Spenser series are funny, mystery
Patterson, James just finished reading the 9th judgement
Perry, Martha writes about the Amish. i've learned a lot
Piercy, Marge “Gone to Soldiers”
Pigeon, Josie series and have 3 left there.
Pilcher, Rosamonde historical family dynasty "Coming Home", "The Shell Seekers"
Quindlen, Anna: Every Last One (Literary)
Rice, Luane
Roberts, Nora
Runbeck, Margaret Lee: Time for Each Other, Our Miss Boo
Sanford, John
See, Lisa: Sunwflower & the Secret Fan, Shanghai Girls
Setterfield, Diane The Thirteenth Tale
Sedaris, Dave: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Siddons, Ann Rivers
Simenon, George: Maigret novels
Smith, Alexander McCall Ladies Detective Agency series
Smith, Betty: A Tree grows in Brooklin, kid or older book
Smith, Wilbur ..family dynasty,s in africa, egypt "river god" and "7th scroll
Steele, Danielle worthless and inane
Stewart, Mary: Merline/Arthur trilogy
Stockett, Kathryn: The Help
Studdert-Kennedy, G.A.
Swanson, Denise (11) with "Wedding Bells" waiting for me
Tanenbaum, Robert mystery
Trollope, Joanna
TYheroux, Paul: travel books
Whitcomb, Laura: A certain Slant of Light (literary)
Woods, Stuart
Wolzein, Valerie

Some of my favorite books are -

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Cider House Rules by John Irving
Turn Left at the Trojan Horse by Brad Herzog
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Undress me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Diane Mott Davidson, frothy mysteries, with recipes...
Nelson DeMille, mysteries
Alexander McCall Smith, Ladies Detective Agency series, wonderful books with a Botswana background
You mentioned Baldacci..... he's really good!

I value many, many books and authors that you each do! But I don't think I've ever heard of anyone else who has read Calico Palace! I dearly love it, and have re-read it many times over the years, along with Bristow's earlier book, Jubilee Trail. Bobbi, have you read that one?

Two of my newest favorite authors are Kristin Hannah and Diane Chamberlain. Great reads!

I'm a voracious reader and there are so many good authors and books to read! :) Here are some of my favorites -

Jane Atherton - The Aunt Dimity mystery series
Mauve Binchy - I've read all her books :)
Wanda Brunstetter - stories about the Amish
Barbara Delinsky
Fannie Flagg
Diana Gabaldon - her Outlander series were possibly the best books I've ever read!
Kristen Hannah
Jan Karon - The Mitford series
Debbie Macomber
Rosamunde Pilcher - I've read all her books, too!
Luane Rice
Nora Roberts - I especially love her trilogies and the newest quartet series
Kathryn Stockett - The Help

I'm also just getting into Jodi Piccoult and she's becoming another favorite.

I want to check out some of Diane Chamberlain's book on my next trip to the library.

Hi Jane its rosey from "GG" i read CalicoPalace and Jubilee Trail when i was in high school and have reread them again several times..loved them..:D

Hi Rosey, aren't those books just the best! Sometimes I get the characters from them intertwined in my memory, lol. Orginally, I would check these books out from the library, then when I first found out about Amazon years ago, I snagged a copy of each. Nice to know you love them, too!

I just updated the original list and made a new copy to take with me to the library.
Jane...I have Calico Palace on my list of books to read, I'm going to the library this afternoon and I'll see if they have it.

hi, Just want to remind everyone, that if you use the library you can go online and order books. Our system has several library's that will send books to my library.

For those with a Nook, or the free Abode Digital reader, and maybe other ereaders (Kindle), you can become a member of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and download "borrow" ebooks for free! They have a huge selection!

Bobbi - did they have Calico Palace?

Jane...no, I got side tracked. A lady came in looking for mystery books and the 1st place the librarian took her to was the section where new books are kept. (Who Knew?) I didn't know they had a special section for all the new books.
I looked online for some of the books on the master list and didn't see some of them in our library because they were too new. Anyway, I followed them over to the new books and grabbed a couple and never did get back to looking for Calico Palace. I wanted to start at the top of my list, I did pick up Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity. I'm weird when it comes to book covers, if I don't like the book picture/title I don't always pick it up unless I've read the author before. The Aunt Dimity falls in this group, I didn't like the cartoon picture on front and would never have picked up the book on my own. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised at Atherton's writings, she keeps my attention. I guess I'm a thriller/murder kind of person but am enjoying the book. I'm not fond of reading books on my computer, not that comfortable. Also I don't know what a digital reader is, how would I know if I had it?

Originally Posted by :
For those with a Nook, or the free Abode Digital reader, and maybe other ereaders (Kindle), you can become a member of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and download "borrow" ebooks for free! They have a huge selection!

Originally Posted by :

Bobbi - did they have Calico Palace?

I love the Aunt Dimity Series, also M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisen
Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum
Sue Grafton's Alphabet novels
Michael Dibden's Aurelio Zen series
Andrea Camillari's Montalbano series
Donna Leon's Brunetti series
Paul Theroux's travel books
Penelope Lively's novels
Joanna Trollope's novels
The Cardinal (read this when I was 15 and saw the movie again recently - it still stands up)
Gone With the Wind (don't much care for the movie)
The Thornbirds
Dr. Zhivago
Far Pavillions
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon novels
The Millenium Trilogy
Final Payments, by Mary Gordon
the Maigret novels, by George Simenon

I could go on. I notice the last few years I read mostly non-fiction or mysteries. I'm still working and don't have time to go to the library, but I discovered my library has a whole room filled with mysteries, so I will have much to read when I retire.

Ohhhhh....The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd! The movie was nearly as good as the book, but nothing is ever quite as good as the book!

Originally Posted by Bobbolink:
..... Also I don't know what a digital reader is, how would I know if I had it?

You'd know if you had one, because you would have had to either buy one, or download one. I have a downloaded version, (free) but don't really like it, and am waiting for Kindle or some other to come out with a version with a backlight. I have trouble with my eyes, and love the option to increase the font on an e-reader, but love to hold and smell a real book, lol. E-readers are wonderful for traveling, though!

Oh my, so many wonderful books! To the lists of you all I would add:
Laurie King: both her Mary Russel and Kate Martinelli series
Peter Tremayne: the Sister Fidelma Mysteries
Elizabeth Peters: Amelia Peabody Series

Also, kid books or older books or series I still like
Betty Smith: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables Series, Emily of New Moon series
Robert Heinlein: The Moon is A Harsh Mistress
Agatha Christie Mysteries, any
David Niven: The Moon's a Balloon, Bring on the Empty Horses
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird
Margaret Lee Runbeck: Time for Each Other, Our Miss Boo
Catherine Marshall: Christy, A Man Called Peter
Mary Stewart: Merlin/Arthur trilogy and many others
Jane Austen: all
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Catherine Coulter: Love her Regencies and newer suspense
I better stop now.
I could go on and on