Patti, considering your recent reads, I wonder if you'd like Augusten Burroughs' _Running with Scissors_. Very bizarre, hilarious, sad, everything!

Anything by James Lee Burke, John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, and just got "Anna Karenina"

Suzie, I absolutely feel the same way about the ending to "DiVinci Code"- mega disappointed.

cher cher - I loved Running With Scissors - probably one of the craziest most addictive books I've ever read!!

Life of Pi is a great book as well - it really makes you think (would be perfect for a book club discussion group!). I'm also a big fan of Poisonwood Bible (one of the few books I managed to get dh to read as well).

Some of my favorites "The Sweet Hereafter" by Russell Banks, "Nobody's Fool" by the author of "Empire Falls". Hated "Empire Falls". The Stephanie Plum series Janet Evanovich. I didn't like "Shutter Island" by Dennis Lehane but loved "Mystic River" and all his detective series. I read "Gone with the Wind" year after year in my teens. When I reread it in my 30's I hated it. I was so sad to lose a book I had loved. I still love "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "Mr. Mike". Anyone else had this experience?

Just finished Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline, a legal mystery with the internment of Italian-Americans during World War II as a backdrop. Scottoline has a quirky sense of humor and the book is actually much lighter than the subject might seem. Also read Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich. Next up is Sue Grafton's "R is for Ricochet", and Elizabeth Peters' Guardian of the Horizon (an Amelia Peabody mystery--Egyptian archaeologist in the early 1900's).

antlori, I read Scottolines book Courting Trouble not long ago..that was a fun read~

Wow- I love getting all these reading suggestions. I saw Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold mentioned several times. She also has published a memoir- The Lovely Bones is based on her personal experience. It's really interesting to read after LB.
J.

This is great, I'm making a list, it's getting reallly looong. I've read, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "Mr. Mike." a long time ago, also saw the movies a long time ago. Nothing like a great old movie on a dark and stormy night! Also read "Lovey Bones" you do need a box of kleenex.
So many books, so little time!

I should have added "Reading Lolita in Tehran" to my previous list. Some of it was a bit ponderous, I thought, but the descriptions of daily life in Iran were mesmerizing. If you like that one, you might also like "Honeymoon in Purdah" by Alison Wearing. She's a Canadian writer who won a number of prizes when the book was published a couple of years ago.

HI cher_cher,

I have read Running with Scissors. Augusten Burrows grew up in my hometown and I knew who the crazy doctor was right away.

LOYL--actually The Lovely Bones was not based on Alice Sebold's personal experiences, her first book, Lucky, is based on her account of being raped. I haven't read that one--too heavy.

Has anyone read the book Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett, about her friendship with writer Lucy Grealy who died of a drug overdose a few years ago? I read Grealy's memoir, Autobiography of a Face years ago and was shocked when I heard she had died.

Patti

Hi, there, Scarlett! And a good morning to you!

Yes, "The Rule of Four" is a really tough go. I've read the first part several times. Can't figure out what in the boring discussion of East Coast college life by a couple of East Coast college kids has the makings of a New York Times bestseller. I guess the first pages are to "set" the characters for the rest of the book, but the first part really hasn't grabbed me as yet - lo!

On the third or fourth reread of the first part, I found my mind wandering to thoughts of the agent/publisher: must be pretty desperate to have a bestseller to push this book onto the bestseller list!

Well, you were in the New York publishing world, if I recall, you'll know a whole lot more about publishing shenanigans. Then there are people like Oprah ("If Oprah Winfrey married Deepak Chopra, she'd be known as 'Oprah Chopra'"), who mentions a book on her show, and - boom! - people are buying the book left and right. Hope they are reading them too! :)

Still, this is great list that is being recommended here on this forum! Have a good one today! :)

Sabrina, I read one Agatha Raisin book and found it <i>too</i> light for me. I prefer more mystery. I like Rhys Bowen's books that are set in Wales. I am an Anglophile.

Snowrooster: I saw the Life of Pi in Barnes &amp; Noble and really wanted to get it, but my bill was already over $40 for three books. It's at the top of my list for next month's reading tho! ***kim***

&quot;Life of Pi&quot; made for a very good discussion at our book group, but I wouldn't recommend it for vacation reading: it's very intense, and the long middle section is extremely gory in parts.

What I would recommend is &quot;Fast Food Nation,&quot; fascinating but disturbing. Jon Lanchester's &quot;The Debt to Pleasure&quot; is very, very good--lots of twists in the plot that will surprise you. Anything by Peter Mayle is a good, easy read, as is anything Rumer Godden every wrote (especially &quot;In This House of Brede&quot;. &quot;The Dream of Scipio,&quot; by Ian Pears, is fascinating; he just gets better and better. Finally, &quot;Consider This, Senora,&quot; by Hariet Doerr, is a wonderful book with a great sense of place.

It's amazing - I've read most of the books mentioned in the post :) Of course, I hardly ever watch TV (maybe three shows a week - including the Amazing Race), and read a LOT. Here are my additions:

Anything by Jane Green or Marian Keyes - nothing intellectually stimulating or anything, but good beach reads.

I didn't see The Five People You Meet in Heaven (or whatever it was called) - but it's great!

Another good one was Milk in My Coffee by Eric Jerome Dickey - a little heavy on the stereotypes, but still a pretty good book about an interracial romance (and one of the few I've seen from the man's point of view).


Also - a question for some of you who read Jodi Picoult's &quot;Keeping Faith&quot; (I think that was it) - at the end, did the last scene with the little girl make you wonder if we got the whole story from the mother? Maybe I was just reading too much into it...

Hi Carolyn, I think the reason I laughed with Agatha Raisen is that she is not your typical heroine. She has all these image problems. I found that amusing. Will try the recommended Bowen books also as I love the English mysteries. My mother . who is 97 loves the M. C. Beaton mysteries that feature the inspector. Thanks for the suggestions. She and I both love Elizabeth George.

I'm another fan of Marian Keyes - read Sushi for Beginners this summer. Very funny.

Also just finished &quot;That Old Ace in the Hole&quot; by Annie Proulx - the same woman who wrote The Shipping News. Really good. Its about a young guy who gets a job as a scout for a hog farming operation and settles into a small town with the intent of convincing local ranchers to sell their property. Weird topic but my test for a good book is:
1. If you can hear the characters speak in their accents and
2. If you can see what the characters are seeing and
3. If you can envision the action that is taking place

then you've gotten a book that contains good dialogue and enough descriptive language to set the scene and a good plot. I know this book was good because even though I've never been within a hundred miles of a commercial hog farm I could smell the noxious odors.

I loved Running With Scissors, and I just read his other book, Dry, pretty sobering, no pun intended...If you read the 1st book it is easy to see how he wound up in the situation in the second book. I also enjoyed a short book called Funny in Farsi, I don't remember the author. Quick read that describes a young girl and her family moving from Iran to the US.

If you like true &quot;how could this have possibly really happened?&quot; stories, I'd recommend &quot;American Taboo&quot;.

Hubby is out of town so I'm doing a lot of reading this week. Some I've read this summer include Rewriting History, by Dick Morris, The Wedding, by Nicholas Sparks (conclusion to The Notebook), Windfalls, by Jean Hegland (highly recommend), and Lucia, Lucia.