I really liked The Secret Life of Bees and read the Mermaid Chair because of it. I didn't hate the Mermaid Chair, but I certainly couldn't recommend it.

I hate to admit it but I didn't enjoy The Kite Runner; it was a good story but I felt the author's writing was a little stilted and cliched. Too much describing how the characters felt and not enough letting the characters speak for themselves. The author is from Fremont (my home town), so I was really excited to read it and sorry that I didn't enjoy it more.

Books that I'm reading or have read recently that I would recommend:
- The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgeman (very offbeat humor, if you like that sort of thing)
- Echo Park by Michael Connelly and the entire Detective Harry Bosch series (you might want to start at the beginning of the series)
- The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais and the entire Detective Elvis Cole series (again, you might want to start at the beginning of the series)
- Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (ok, haven't read this recently, but it's one of my top three all-time favorite books)
- Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (super short, funny, easy read)
- The Ha-Ha by David King (sounds like a downer but actually it was really good, great characters and a fantastic read)

For school I have to read Maus, Beloved, and Hope in the Unseen.

I just finished "The Virgin Blue" by Tracy Chevalier - I enjoyed it. I'm going to start on "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl.

I'm reading Stephen King's Cell at the moment - I started it on Audiobook when I was half-marathon training and I can't get the narrator out of my head!

I've just read Vince and Joy which was great, not sure who wrote it though, it was free with a magazine.

I'm eating up Karin Slaughter books at the moment, and I read a couple of PD James's books recently, one was Children of Men and I can't remember what the other one was called - about a political murder.

I absolutely HATE :rant: bad prose in writing. And, since I'm writing a novel myself and know how hard it is to be published, I get extra mad when totally talentless people can get a book through...

So, now that you know how I feel about that, I like to read books that have a great story, but don't stress me out with too much suspense or drama, or embarass me with too much romance...so I read the books my daughter comes home from school with. Over the summer I was on a Richard Peck kick...don't know if anyone's heard of the Blossom Culp series, but they are written so well, it makes you want to read ALL of Richard Peck's books. I also LOVED Summer of the Monkees. Nobody died, so it wasn't a tear-jerker (like Where the Red Fern Grows...)

I also like the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. Very adventuresome without too much stress...

Im reading the Dean Koontz new one "Brother Odd" Its odd! Way too much description which is very unlike him. I keep thinking Im going to quit and pick up my diana gabaldon book Ive got waiting. But just when Im about to quit, something good happens I just might make it to the end of the book.

Frus, I've given up on Stephen King in the last 10 years or so. I think his more recent books tend to be just plain bad! Gerald's Game? I wanted to strangle him for writing that book.

Doesn't it though? I blew through it. I'd say I'm going to put it down after a chapter, then he'd leave the chapter with a cliff hanger so I had to start the next chapter.

Have you read Love is a Mix Tape yet? I don't think it's chick lit at all, it's about a man mourning the death of his wife. I love chick books too, but I really liked Love is a Mix Tape and I don't think it can be fairly categorized as a "no brainer" beach read!

My favorite "chick read" is Bitter is the New Black - hilarious!

I just finished reading Boleyn Inheritance and liked it. I hated Hannibal Rising (and I hated the last book too). It just seems impossible it's from the same writer as Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs (which were wonderfully creepy and enjoyable).

I've completely given up on both Stephen King and Dean Koontz - which is a shame, I really liked them both previously (King's unabridged version of the Stand and Koontz's Watchers/Lightning remain favorites).

I'm still halfway through Hannibal Rising and still haven't decided if I like it. I much preferred Red Dragon. I went to the book store the other day and got a I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, and something I found in the mystery section that is actually a true story of a guy who was robbed and ended up kidnapped because the robbers realized how much money he had in the bank and they kept him in order to figure out a way for them to get all his money. Sounded really interesting. I can't remember now what the other book was.....must have made an impression!!!

Blue--I loved a couple Barbara Kingsolver books, but couldn't get into another. It was Pigs in Heaven.

techwife--I'll have to look into Richard Peck. I have the same thing to say about Harlan Corben.

Does anyone read Jonathan Kellerman? His books are infuriating to me at times. I swear he has a staff that he assigns chapters to and then no one bothers to check the facts. One chapter will say something like she was wearing a blue boa and the next chapter has her wearing a red scarf and they are still at the same party. There was one book that had three glaring mistakes like that. And then the next book, it was fine. I've been thinking of picking up his son's new book.

Ditto on the Mermaid Chair...it bored me. I had to put it down several times and go back to it.

I'm a big Jonathan Kellerman fan. I've read all his books. I did not enjoy the ones he did with his wife. Never noticed the scarf boa thing. Sometimes I read them too quickly and miss some things.

I used to. Read everything he wrote up until about 4 yrs ago. It was getting so I could predict pretty much everything that was going to happen. I dont bother with him any more.

Ok, I hit the Patterson aisle again yesterday and decided to give him another whirl. While it's not the kind of story I usually read, he's better at spinning a tale than Saul IMO. So I'm on Chapter 5 of "Along Came a Spider".