Having just finished a string of good books I wanted to share:
The Thursday Next series. One of the most creative sets of books I have ever read. The kind you finish and consider starting over again right away to try and catch the things you missed the first time.
And Saints at the River by Ron Rash. Recommended by PaBear as "the most moving work of fiction I have read in many a year." It is also beautifully written.
I am now looking for recommendations and would like to know what others are reading just because I am nosy.
Love,
Laura
P.S. This is from this week's issue of Science. I know the backstory, but doesn't it sound like some kind of terrible love triangle?
Snicker. War on drugs, my Aunt Fanny. Anything by Deborah Crombie. Verry literate mystery. Also try Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter is the first one.
Posted by: Nell | October 15, 2004 at 07:50 PM
I second the motion on Deborah Crombie. And I want the new Susan Howatch (it's called "Heartbreaker") for Christmas; I heartily recommend her entire "Church of England" series. That would take you a while to work through.... I recently finished Sena Jeter Naslund's "Ahab's Wife," which was a big seller a year or two back. Well written, but veeery strange -- and I didn't find the details of early 19th century life in Kentucky and New England entirely convincing. Oh, and there's a new Thursday Next, called "Something Rotten" -- as you might guess, Hamlet is involved. I heard Jasper Fforde on NPR reading a bit with Hamlet at Starbucks, trying to decide what kind of coffee to have -- hilarious. Have you looked at the Thursday Next Web site?
Posted by: Bonnie | October 15, 2004 at 08:26 PM
Right now, I'm reading "When Red Is Black" by Xiaolong Qiu (an interesting Chinese murder-mystery set post-Mao). I've been making up for lost time for one of my favorite hobbies, so I've read a lot especially mystery and biography. Among the things I've read that I highly recommend have been Arthur Golden's "Diary of a Geisha", Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's "The legend of fire horse woman", Anna Quindlen's books (all but the latest which I've not read), Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" taken with a handful of grains of salt of course, and Queen Noor's "Leap of Faith" (difficult but worthwhile). A confusing but different book I read recently was "The Time-Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I'd be interested if anyone else reads it to know what you think. It's the author's first novel and a bit easy to get lost in but quite unique. I also like J.D. Robb novels which are easy reads and kind of fun (on the order of James Bond for women but with a female homicide detective instead of a spy) and good for de-stressing.
Posted by: Theresa | October 22, 2004 at 09:21 PM
P.S. Anne got me started on J.D. Robb, much to John's dismay. I use my book light quite a lot for them...
Posted by: theresa | October 22, 2004 at 09:26 PM