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Pippa's avatar

Summer reading recommendations...anyone, anyone?

Asked by Pippa (35points) July 8th, 2008

I love all Ayn Rand, David Sedaris, Jonathan Safran Foer, etc etc…this in mind, what are some good reads I should pick up?

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42 Answers

marinelife's avatar

Here is the same question asked very recently.

marinelife's avatar

Here is another link to the question asked last year.

marinelife's avatar

Or here is mine asked one month ago.

Knotmyday's avatar

As testament to my love of literature, I will answer this one again, albeit differently.
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. Pilgrim’s Inn, Elizabeth Goudge.

Good thing there are so many good books.

@Gail, Marina- wink

gailcalled's avatar

And how wonderful that we are all (or mostly all) still reading.

Summer is a fine time to read or reread Jane Austin’s 6 major novels

shilolo's avatar

Here is a link, to a link, of a link, of Marina and Gail linking to links. Ooh, that felt good. ;-)

Pippa's avatar

I didn’t mean to duplicate a question. I just thought people could give some different ideas based on the books and authors that I listed that I like.

shilolo's avatar

@Pippa. Don’t worry, it happens all the time. At least you didn’t ask “How do I jailbreak my iPhone?” because then my head would have exploded (right into my hazmat suit, uggh).

gailcalled's avatar

@shilolo: not before you removed the hazmat hat, I hope.

@Pippa: if you want very specific recommendations, tell us how old you are. That would help. I first read “The Fountainhead,” which I did not like, on a 12 hr train ride to camp in 1949.

Knotmyday's avatar

One year after Pilgrim’s Inn was written! What a great time to take a train.

ladytmerie's avatar

The Secret Life of Bee’s is a wonderful book.

gailcalled's avatar

@knot – Continuing to wander far afield; All travel was magical when I was 11. (Except that planes weren’t pressurized.”)

generalspecific's avatar

I just began reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next, I had been meaning to do that for a while and finally got around to it and it’s actually pretty good.

and if you haven’t ever reading Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, I would highly recommend that. one of the best books I’ve ever read, definitely.

playthebanjo's avatar

you should read shilolo’s new book “how to jailbreak your iPhone in three steps” it’s a sequel to his best seller about how to use links in effective communications.

gailcalled's avatar

@Play: Shilling, are we? (Or should that be shiloling?)

marinelife's avatar

Have you ever read anything by Dick Francis? Very entertaining. Horses and mystery and Brits all in one go. Start with Nerve.

Want to laugh till you wet your pants? Go for P.G. Wodehouse. Any of the Bertie & Jeeves stories will make you think David Sedaris is a perverted piker when it comes to humor.

playthebanjo's avatar

I have said it before and will say it again…read the Hickhicker Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams and anything by Terry Pratchett.

shrubbery's avatar

I agree with playthebanjo, Terry Pratchett is the first thing I say to anyone looking for a good book. I am also in the middle of reading Hitchhikers :)
You could also try some Matthew Reilly

playthebanjo's avatar

And if you have like an afternoon and a half to kill, any of those Artemis Fowl books are great.

arnbev959's avatar

generalspecific reminded me of a good one: Sometimes A Great Notion. Great book.

Knotmyday's avatar

In the same vein, you could try Et tu, Babe or My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist by Mark Leyner. Actually, anything by Mark. Good manic stuff.

Lightlyseared's avatar

one for the money (and its many sequels) by Janet Evanovitch

playthebanjo's avatar

two for the show?

eambos's avatar

Three to get ready…

Lightlyseared's avatar

Two for the dough

eambos's avatar

And four to go.

I thought the saying went “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.” I guess the books follow the format but change the words.

playthebanjo's avatar

(I never read the books)

eambos's avatar

Me either.

breedmitch's avatar

If you like Sedaris, try Sarah Vowell. She’s a scream, but with a historic twist. They are actually colleagues on “This American Life”.

BirdlegLeft's avatar

Sarah Vowell does indeed kick ass. Smart, and funny. Nothing much beats that.

Once again, I’m reading the Maltese Falcon. And, may continue in the same vein with The Long Goodbye.

Last Summer it was the Altered Carbon, but I can’t remember the author.

gailcalled's avatar

Also, the essays by David Foster Wallace.

naina's avatar

I’ve just finished re-reading The Fountainhead. Love it still.

Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes and The Zahir I can read again [ none of his other books appeal to me ].

I discovered the genre of Epic Fantasy too – not Tolkien but Steven Erikson. His The Malazan Book of the Fallen has seven books already published – I’m suffering terrible angst waiting for August when the the eighth one is out – Gardens of The Moon, Bone Hunters, Reaper’s Gale, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides. Sigh. If you do pick it up and like it – don’t get too involved – [ I know it probably sounds melodramatic ] but it sometimes feels like the book it taking over. I’m not kidding. Gets too much black and white. I like the gray.

Knotmyday's avatar

Speaking of the book taking over and this is my dirty little secret I read every Harry Potter book when they were released in one sitting. Each at a time, of course, not all at once (to clarify).
Rowling has such an engaging style. The downside, of course, is that I inadvertently spoiled the last two movies for my non-reading friends. “What do you mean you haven’t read the book???” serves them right, come to think.

gailcalled's avatar

Well, since we are owning up, I got very bored with trying to read the Harry Potter books but have rediscovered the audio CDs, spoken by a Brit with such a plummy voice that I may have to take speech lessons.

Listening to it is fun… plus I can’t speed read and thus skip large gobs of text. I put on old-fashioned earphones, use a Walkman and listen in the dark until I fall asleep. (I do use AA batteries as tho they are tootsie rolls.)

nina's avatar

Seth Magolis, ‘Closing Costs’
Manil Suri, ‘The Age of Shiva’
Adam Gopnik, ‘Throguh the Children’s Gate’
All three excellently written, Margolis and Gopnik about New York, Manil Suri – about India,
delicious bits of writing

gilgamesh's avatar

brothers karamazov – Dostoevsky

MercenaryWriter's avatar

“Home Game” by Paul Quarington. Can be tricky to find, but you’ll be glad of the effort.

caly420's avatar

Time Travelers Wife or The HEartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius

marissa's avatar

I came across a series of books that I have enjoyed. I have read the first four so far. They are by Lauren Willig

ladytmerie's avatar

Eat,Pray,Love.

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