What was the last good book you read and why?

The latest in A Tale of The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. They’re some of the most detailed, beautifully descriptive books I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Everything from the landscapes, to the characters, to the clothes the characters wear are described in detail. The characters themselves (of which there are many) all have a story. There aren’t just random characters that are introduced for a little bit who then disappear. The books take place over millions of years, hence the detail. Erikson writes about struggle, triumph, and every emotion in between on such a grand level that if you give the books a chance, there’s no way you won’t be pulled into the elaborate world.

A lot of people have trouble following the books because of how detailed they are, but if having to remember a lot doesn’t bother you, I HIGHLY suggest this series. Brilliant.

“In Watermellon Sugar” was fun. Weed helps.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. Very informative I was actually disturbed by some of the things that I didn’t learn. Why did I already know so much about the anatomy of pigs?! Where the hell did I learn that? but also very funny and written in language that everyone can understand. I like reading scholarly books and I don’t have a problem understanding them but they can get so tedious with their language. This doesn’t. I really want to read Mary Roach’s other books now, too. She’s really amusing.

I also recently enjoyed Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle. I can’t recall the last time I read a book and enjoyed it so thoroughly that I was disappointed when it was over. When I first started it I rather liked it and planned to pass it on to my best friend when I finished, but by the end I was so head-over-heels for it that I can’t part with it, even to let her borrow it for a week or two. This is one that I’ll always keep nearby.

And just yesterday I finished The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff, which I also rather enjoyed. There were a few moments that made me cringe a little because something was poorly executed, but I think I might be more critical than the average person and I still enjoyed the book anyway, so I’d definitely recommend it.

MacBean, I’ve read Tamsin. I know what you mean.

Most recently, I’ve read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It was lovely. Well written, well told, and well ended. Ended in a way that leaves it wide open yet completes the story entirely. Not everyone can get away with a main character named Nobody, but Neil can.

“Genghis” by Conn Iggulden. my girl suggested i buy it after reading his “Emperor” series and its an amazing book

Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf. Why did I read it? Reading interests me as a subject. Why did I like it? Well written, learned a whole lot of new stuff about the history of language. Not sure I share her worries about the internet and reading, though, but I think that maybe she’s right to worry.

Anathem sits by the bed, next in line. I keep waiting for Neal Stephenson to write something that hits me as hard as Cryptonomicon, so I’ve read everything else he’s written. The Anathem reviews haven’t convinced me I need to drop everything and read this one, though.

@MacBean. I just have never been able to get into Neil Gaiman; don’t know why. One of my kids is a huge fan and keeps making me try.

Currently, I’m reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. Set in 1964, it’s the story of a Down’s Syndrome twin baby girl that was given away to a nurse by her father to be put in a home, him telling his wife that the baby died. But the nurse leaves & raises the little girl herself. In the end, the sister & brother twins reunite. It looks to be a sad story, but it has a happy ending.

Just finished Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
Morrison is an amazingly talented writer. The story’s difficult to read in places, but I recommend it.

THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson. Non-fiction and inspirational. An avid mountaineer fails in his attempt to reach the summit of K2. He is nursed back to health by some natives in the area. Epiphany———>

Tom Brokaw
“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”

The Alcoholic Republic

It analyzes the drinking habits of early Americans (1700s-early 1800’s).

Not the greatest book I’ve ever read but it’s the last and it was pretty good. It was required for a history class; I wasn’t expecting it to be interesting but it surprised me.

I’m in the middle of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. I’m reading it just because it’s one I never got around to before. I’ve finished the Jekyll/Hyde novella portion and found it very enjoyable. The last good book I read prior to this was Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I can’t wait to get my hands on his When Engulfed in Flames

The Old New Thing: Practical Development Throughout the Evolution of Windows, by longtime Microsoft developer Raymond Chen. This is a book written by a programmer for programmers, and much of it would go over the head of a casual PC user. However, Chen intersperses the technical discourse with some wonderful anecdotes about how Windows became Windows. If you are not a programmer, but you are tech-savvy and you’ve been using Windows for a long time, you might find the book entertaining – and you’ll come away with a better understanding of how it works.

Just finished the Zuckerman Bound series. By Philip Roth. One of his ealier works. It was hilarious.

‘Shalimar the Clown’ by Salman Rushdie—a novel about Kashmir, and how various of its people survived the political turmoil there, as well as its consequences in the wider world. Much of the book is actually set in Los Angeles.There are many strong, interesting characters. It’s very good, but not a great novel.

I also enjoyed the Los Angeles references, as I could picture many of the street corners they talked about.

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir – it’s historically accurate, which amazes me. I picked it, because it was on the shelf at the library that I told myself I had to choose from. That’s how I pick everything I read – a random shelf, 5 minute time limit to choose three items….check out. It’s entertaining because of the variety of subjects I end up getting the chance to read about.

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson. oh crap that reminds me it’s overdue from the library… Anyway, this was the second time I’ve read it. It’s an amazing book and moves something deep in me.

It is about a girl called Silver, and a man called Babel Dark, and how their lives, though hundreds of years apart, are intertwined, and about how stories don’t really have beginnings or middles or ends, but are forever intertwined with all stories.

It is about love, and how what we remember revolves around love, and how those are the moments that burn most brightly in our memories.

It is not exactly a linear story… though she never intended it to be, since she doesn’t believe in beginnings, middles and ends.

As I said, it stirred something and has resonated in me ever since. I think the first time I read this was the first time I’d read anything other than children’s fantasy. It was a good choice.

I wrote an essay about it in my Modern Literature class last year.

And, it is the only book I have ever borrowed from the state library more than once.

@wondersteph I just read Beloved as well for my AP English class. I liked it as well, and when it is in a class you get the chance to uncover a lot of the things you miss.

I also read “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by:Khaled Hosseini . I really liked this book because it was well written it kept my attention for hours at a time. It was a very emotional story and offered a lot of history as well. It expressed the struggles for Afghan women through Afghanistan’s history, and the over all struggles that the Afghan people suffered as a whole. I found myself actually cry at one point in the story, towards the end. I won’t say why in case you want to read it, but just know it is very emotional.

I’ve read a number of good books recently. One of the best was The Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig. Here’s the listing on Amazon: The Whistling Season;.

The author’s writing is characterized as being “poetry under the prose.” It is very literary and will not make you cringe even if your standards are high, but it is also readable and engrossing, and it moves right along. Doig had me by page 2 with his deft handling of a piece of exposition. I want to be able to do that.

I just finished James Patterson’s newest, Against Medical Advice, which is the autobiography of the son of a friend of Patterson’s. The son developed Tourette’s Syndrome and OCD beginning at the age of 5. The book details in his own words the battles that he and his family faced with doctors, school districts, hospitals, and well-meaning but ignorant folks.

It touched me deeply because my son was diagnosed with Early Onset Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder around the same age and we have undergone many of the same battles. My son is still in the midst of the fight. Cory, the subject of the book, is now in his early twenties and has successfully found his niche in the world. I can only hope the same will happen for my son.

@Darwin: Best of luck to you and your son.

@Darwin, Hi. Good to see you here. I’m wishing the best for you & your son. :-)

One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez didn’t win the Nobel Prize, sell all his belongings, and become in several thousands of dollars in debt for nothing.

Darwin, I left you some information on your comment page regarding the medical issues you intimated.

@amurican – thanks – we have looked into that already. He has brain damage from birth that seems to be the cause.

I recently read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Awesome, innovative, can’t speak highly enough. Right now I’m reading The White Tiger – this year’s booker prize winner and it’s really a lot of fun.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

there’s really not a genre to put this one into. it’s a psychological mystery suspense thriller with a little medical thrown in.

i came to like the main character quite a lot, so much so that after closing the book at the end, i later on still felt sad for him and worried over his fate and what he was soon going to become, and that it all may have been avoided if only . . .

i’m not often that affected by a book.

the absolute best thing about this book is the plot twists that are actually surprising. i take that back: the absolute best thing about this book is the final plot twist that takes place in the last 2 pages! amazing!

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I got it as a gift right after my mom passed away from inoperable pancreatic cancer. The same form of cancer that Randy had been diagnosed with. When he passed he was exactly 20 years younger than my mom. My mom passed away in March 2008 after a three week diagnosis. The book reminds us that we should basically live each day like it’s our last. I know that was what my mom was trying to do.

The Secret Life of Bees. I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, in fact, the only reason I started it was to see what all the fuss was about but the description of it didn’t excite me. Once I got through the first to chapters I couldn’t put the book down and I could picture everything I was reading so clearly in my head. I love it when a book surprises me in the way this one did.

Cheating the Ferryman by Anthony Peake. (it actually has a different title which I hate, so I have used the working title.) the book speculates that most of us have (very nearly) died and experience a usually perfect recreation of reality in the moments before our deaths. so, what most of all call life, we should call a very realistic near death experience.

you can DL it via wowio.com or read the whole thing online.

http://www.anthonypeake.co.uk/ outlines the theory.

Children of God by Mary Doria Russell, recommended and provided by @Jeruba. It’s set far in the future and deals with an alien world, but has all too human themes.

@Darwin awww thats soo sad, i wish you and your son the best of luck =)

Loves me,Loves me not by Claudia Gabel
i really liked that book because it’s about two ex best friends and about how their life is going without them there and they’re boyfriends come in and it’s full of drama and it’s kind of happeneing to me too and i dont want it to end. :)

the night my sister went missing and its a really good book

The Secret Life of Bees. It was on my summer reading list. In the beginning wasn’t interested in the book and didn’t want to read it. By the time I finished it I was enamored. The book is amazing has some truly great writing.

@TheLastOfTheFamous I sure wish I could convince my daughter of that! She’s convinced it’s boring, but won’t read past the first chapter of this excellent book. Welcome to Fluther!

@augustian

Try and convince her to continue reading it. It gets better once you get past the first few chapters.Plus, there are some amazing quotes from that book.

I just reread this yesterday. The Little Prince; it’s sort of like WALL-E or Happy Feet in that you think it’s a children’s story full of cuteness and fluff, and it blindsides you with wistfulness and sadness and insight into human nature and lessons for life.

Also, adorable illustrations. <3

Three Cups of Tea was a really good book. I read it for school, but it was the “school version” so it didn’t give all the details. I imagine the original was even better