Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Burning Question of the Day: Books

So I am curious- what was the best book you've read in the past six months? And why would you recommend it?
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14 comments:

  1. Sara McCartyApril 7, 2010 at 7:18 AM

    Good question. At the insistence of my aunt, right now I'm reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult. About an autistic boy. Very very interesting!

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  2. Lucky GirlApril 7, 2010 at 7:21 AM

    You probably have seen my list before, but I'd say my favorites in the past little while are "The Island" by Victoria Hislop, "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova and by far the best - "Someone Knows My Name" by Lawrence Hill. Hope you find a good one... also, have you read the "Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers? I didn't read it in the last 6 months, but its a-MAZ-ing!!

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  3. HilaryApril 7, 2010 at 7:48 AM

    Ooooh, I love questions like this!!!!

    I'm reading Dear John by Nicholas Sparks right now, and I thought that it would be predictable, but it's surprisingly not. I also loved Good in Bed and Certain girls by Jennifer Weiner. And I loved all of the Mary Kay Andrews books, especially Hissy Fit, The Fixer-Upper, and Deep Dish. I could go on and on, but I'll stop now!

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  4. BethanyApril 7, 2010 at 8:04 AM

    I haven't read many books lately that haven't been mommy books, but my favorite book that i reread a lot is The Godfather by Mario Puzo. I love it. I love the movie - my favorite - its me and my dad's favorite thing to do together haha.. the book is sooo much better!

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  5. gvApril 7, 2010 at 8:05 AM

    November is my prime reading month due to deer season and most of the books I read came off recs from you!

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  6. BalooApril 7, 2010 at 8:22 AM

    An incredibly difficult question for me to answer. So I have a few answers.

    From a literary standpoint, definitely Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy. The most surreal book of his that I've yet read. Extremely messed up. But moving in a bizarre sort of way that makes you consider the artificiality of our social constructs.

    In a more pure entertainment sort of category, I'm only 3/4 finished with it now, but Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks is a great deal more than I expected it to be. It has some pacing issues--all his books do--but it's a rather emotionally effecting consideration of loss, redemption and forgiveness. It's also oddly prescient, echoing 9/11 and the brutal violence of American imperialism's dying throes years before 9/11 even happened.

    And finally, since the vast majority of my reading these days is nonfiction, Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust by Michael C. Steinlauf is about the best thing I've read this semester, for its attempts to reckon with theoretical explanations without losing sight of concrete reality. (If anything, it needed to go further into theory.)

    So, yeah.

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  7. TiffanyApril 7, 2010 at 9:19 AM

    The Last Song. It was an easy read (a must for this time of year) and has a great message. It was happy and sad all at the same time. You can relate to it. :)

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  8. UnknownApril 7, 2010 at 9:46 AM

    Hi, I'm new to your blog. I would recommend _The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie_, a book about an 11 year old detective. Very well written and very amusing!

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  9. AnonymousApril 7, 2010 at 11:16 AM

    I'm currently reading "The Greatest Knight" by Elizabeth Chadwick. It is so vivid, and all of the characters are made to seem sympathetic at times, even the ones I don't like. And, while it spans a great number of years, its not to detail heavy to get bogged down nor does it have so many characters you can't keep them straight. Just wonderful!

    I would also recommend "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver, if you haven't already read it. Its one of my favorite books of all time!

    Now you have to tell us what you would recommend!

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  10. LisaApril 7, 2010 at 11:26 AM

    I am reading "The Island" in Norwegian that Amanda recommended! Or "Øya" as it says on my norsk version... ;)

    The Lovely Bones was the first book I thought of actually...For some reason it just clicked with me...

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  11. shebaApril 7, 2010 at 5:59 PM

    i just finished *mudbound* by hillary jordan. i finished it in a week, which may not be a difficult feat for some, but since having my son, finishing anything other than a magazine in less than a month is a miracle! mudbound was a captivating portrayal of rural mississippi during the '40s. i couldn't put it down!

    also recently listened to *the book thief* during my commute to work. loved it as well. very sad, but very sweet too. [takes place in germany during WWII.]

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  12. SaraApril 7, 2010 at 7:00 PM

    I just finished the Rashi's Daughter's trilogy by Maggie Anton. It's historical fiction set in 11th century France about a Rabbi and his three daughters and breaking the rules by teaching them Talmud.

    They were interesting, and you do start to wonder what will happen to the characters. Oh, and there's lots of sex! The author takes a lot of liberties with the historical characters since we know so little about them, but they're interesting and I did get into them enough to buy the last one to finish the trilogy.

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  13. GnomeSweetGnomeApril 8, 2010 at 6:38 AM

    I've been reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon this year, and I really love these books! Another good book I've read in the past year is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

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  14. Emily @ imperfectApril 8, 2010 at 9:00 AM

    Just finished The Help and that would be on top of the list - a beautifully written account of civil rights struggles. Otherwise I'm having trouble remembering back to the last book I couldn't put down - Olive Kitteredge was a great read, but I didn't love the main character.

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