posted on August 12, 2000 04:20:01 PM
I have read and loved:
1) THORN BIRDS by Colleen McCullough. I read this once a year. A sick ritual of mine
2) FOLLOW THE STARS HOME by Luanne Rice.
3) SEA SWEPT by Nora Roberts. This is the first of a trilogy. Just started the second of the three. Recently "discovered" her books. I am not a romance novel person (ick) but she some of her books are suspense with romance and I enjoy those.
4) SEE MOMMY RUN by Nancy Baker Jacobs. I recommend her books. She writes wonderful suspense but her books are out of print and harder to find.
5) DARK SIDE OF THE GAME by Tim Green. The truth behind the NFL. I am a die-hard pro-football fanatic so this was up my alley. Interesting too!
I have to add my agreement about Stephen King. I have a hard time getting into some of his books but I did enjoy Cujo & Christine. I like true crime novels. Haven't read one of those in awhile. Oh, and I love Jackie Collins. I can't wait to get her new release hardcover on eBay (too cheap to pay $20 for a book when I know it will be on eBay much less!).
posted on August 12, 2000 09:01:53 PM
I still like Stephen King, but after his accident, he sure is going downhill, and just about admitted that on an interview on 20/20 or one of those...
I love the Stand, its my all time favorite, the book, the movie, I have the movie and the dvd, I guess you can say I'm obsessed with it? LOL
But very interested in this Swan Song book, I went and looked for it today, and couldn't find it! It sounds really good, would have ordered it from amazon, but I want it now!
and I really need to change this user name....... accccck!
posted on August 12, 2000 09:06:08 PM
Shelly...try a used bookstore. They have it at Amazon, because I just ordered it from there (I go lots of copies..tenants borrow it all the time and KEEP it, lol). If you loved The Stand, you will LOVE it. Ask Jeanyu...I kept on her til she read it and she LOVED it too.
posted on August 12, 2000 09:10:02 PM
Oh I loved the Stand, I am/was in love with Gary Sinese or Aidan Quinn (ooooops off topic there LOL)
Seems like a popular book, think I will order it from Amazon, they are really quick on shipping, and it was only like $7 there, paperback.... and I am not lending it out! LOL!
posted on August 12, 2000 09:20:05 PM
Thanks Pat...will check those out that you recommend. Went to book store today to browse (dam, I love wandering bookstores and sitting in the isle reading)...and guess what I wound up buying? The first Harry Potter. I havent read any of them, and decided I was in a mood for something along those lines. If you like cats, then heres another one I highly recommend...its sci-fi, fantasy, awesome and interesting...TAILCHASERS SONG by TAD WILLIAMS. You will love it, too!
edited to add that the character SISTER in Swan Song, reminds me of Nobs
posted on August 12, 2000 09:23:59 PM
Shelly...I just looked on the bookshelf, and I have a spare Swan Song. If you want me to send it to you, email me and give me your mailing address. Will stick it in a video priority box and ship it out on Monday, but keep in mind its thumbed up pretty good, lol.
posted on August 12, 2000 10:10:11 PM
The Andrew Vachess books are great and the note by Spaz is right on - but again I'll mention that they are NOT for the faint of heart. There are monsters that walk among us and his books introduce them to us without flinching away.
A really cool recent book was "Blind Man's Bluff" detailing the US Navy's submarine service's covert operations during the Cold War. Really interesting and enjoyable.
Historic - "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara - Simply the best historical novel about the Civil War.
Finally - "A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold is a must read each and every year for me.
posted on August 12, 2000 10:11:04 PM
maui that would be soo cool!
I got stuck, I went to iwon, and it made me download some java stuff, thought this browser had everything, then it restarted this puter! accccccck
Anyway yeah! need email for you.. and!!! I HAVE to give ya something for it, and shipping!(PayPal?? ) so need to get a hold of ya, or you can email me with your email addy... click my name .... waaaaay cool! LOL!
posted on August 12, 2000 11:32:15 PM
I usually try to read books throughout the year (and I DO read them) and typically get a list of freebies to select from...
Here, however, is a book that has taken a summer (for me) to read: The Hand I Fan With.
I normally dont get my panties in a bunch over books like this, but, hmmm, well, whateva.
posted on August 13, 2000 02:27:44 AM
Here's one that had me mesmerized from beginning to end. For everyone who thinks that history is dull/boring, think again.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson. The subject is the great Galveston hurricane of September 1900, which cost at least 8000 lives. This nonfictional account is told from the perspective of Isaac Cline, the chief meteorologist in Galveston at that time.
If you read this and like it, please let me know.
The buck doesn't even PAUSE here!
[ edited by petuniasevan on Aug 13, 2000 02:29 AM ]
It's Vachss's first novel, A Bomb Built In Hell, previously unpublished and being serialized this week on Amazon for free. It's the story of Wesley, the assassin, the only man alive who frightens Burke. It's at part four now, I think.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read the other Vachss books first, but if you have, don't miss this.
posted on August 16, 2000 08:14:04 PM
Thanks guys I got a stack of books when I went to the book store. Looking forward to a good weeks read.
My husband found some great books from the thread too,he loves the war and police stuff. I printed the whole thing out and we carried it through Barnes and Noble searching out the books.
What we didn't get I ordered from alibris.
They had everything, love that site.
posted on August 17, 2000 12:11:23 PM
I hate alibris. You can get the same books from the same sellers on other sites, but you deal directly with the seller. Greedy Alibris doesn't reveal the seller's name, making it impossible for you to deal with the seller directly and enabling alibris to tack on a 20% surcharge on all books for their service as a "middleman." Rumors have been flying that alibris is trying to buy the other big book sites, thus giving them a monopoly on the internet used book market. They want to make it so every time you purchase a used book on the internet (outside of auctions, that is), they get 20%. It's not the sellers who pay that extra 20%, it's you and me.
posted on August 18, 2000 01:53:14 PM
While in a doctor's office yesterday I noticed that Hannibal was voted #1 on Entertainment Magazine's "Worst Novels of the Last Ten Years" list.
posted on August 18, 2000 05:23:17 PM
If you enjoy a good Mystery with a humerous touch, try any of Carl Hiaasen's books. I am almost done with his latest "Sick Puppy" and I don't want it to end. Another good read is "Spencerville" by Nelson Demille. Hiaasen seems to be getting better all the time. I haven't read and of Demille's later books but this one was excellent.
posted on August 18, 2000 07:01:44 PM
What an interesting thread this time. ( It crops up periodically ; but has really taken off this season..)
Maui and SpazI am so glad that I'm not alone in my state of ennui re: Anne Rice , who I championed to the point of those ' mental letters to the author ' during even the most mundane of tasks ( when , like the "Sylvia " cartoons , one faces the woman who does everything more perfectly than you . ) I accidently discovered the Vampire L'Estat on our rural library shelves some years ago whilst searching for an "R " author whose name I couldn't quite remember . Not having read them in sequence , I was hooked. I read everything of hers that was ever returned ; and was astounded by her early works with the New Orleans, Egyptian , incestuous , and Judaistic and early Christian emphasis on recording then-actual events that shaped the characters' " raison d'etre ".
I should have known when " Violin " was at our ' Dollar Store ' in hardback , it was all over !
I never got that far with S. King. What I did read I admired in many ways ; but the writing was already on the wall.redface They /He made superior movies ; for which I'm grateful.
posted on August 18, 2000 07:07:38 PM
Slade's Headhunter flipped me out when I first read it. I haven't revisited him - probably should.
The Talisman worked for me but I don't think they should revisit it.
Hannibal on audio was tolerable for some longish trips I made last thanksgiving . . . it was torture to read it, though. Send your copies to Rudy Boesch, he'll know what to do with them.
I'm always looking for good apocalypse fiction - you know, the world ends, now what - so the Stand is up there on my list with Lucifer's Hammer and the HAB Theory and Robert Merle's MALEVIL. EARTH ABIDES is always a good read, too.
posted on August 18, 2000 09:26:16 PM
Pock-o-lips writing??
Whitley Stribler (I know I didn't spell that right) He wrote a book also called "Communion"
BUT - he wrote a book called "Natures End" that scared the Jeebers out of me. I never read anything quite like it and Oh, Man, I never want to go back to that place in this work of fiction.
Go back to Slade, but read them in sequence. Hint: The final chapter in the Headhunter saga doesn't appear until about five books later -- and it's a shocker (though the books in between don't have anything to do with the Headhunter case, other than the same team of investigators are involved).
I don't know of any apocalypse fiction offhand, but I will recommend a movie that really makes you think: The Rapture starring Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny.
posted on August 21, 2000 11:08:45 PM
I am currently reading Ghost of Mississippi by Willie Morris about the making of the Hollywood movie by the same name. It is about the final Byron de la Beckwith trial and conviction for the murder of Medgar Evers. Not only are most of the places familiar to me but I understand the racial issues first hand and I have met quite a few of the characters personally. It may not be for everyone.
My "other book" is Commadore Perry in the Land of Showgun. It is a youth historical biography. I do enjoy older children's historical books as well as adult level reading.
T
Left Behind series Kathy? I was so glued for the first 3 or so then I drifted. I will go back one day.
[ edited by jt on Aug 21, 2000 11:15 PM ]
posted on August 22, 2000 08:29:25 AM
Left Behind has been an enjoyable read, Teri. I read 1, 2, 4 (couldn't find 3 at the time) I'll wait now until they're all out and then do a marathon - how many are left?
Has anyone read 'Bastard out of Carolina'? I grabbed a copy and haven't started it yet.
Oh, another worthy read is Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' - it's kind of sick and twisted It tells you whodunit on the first page and it doesn't matter a bit that you know. [email protected] http://www6.50megs.com/thrinworks
posted on August 22, 2000 09:02:16 AMBabel Tower by A.S. Byatt, the latest in her series regarding one of the protagonists. Superficially three interwoven stories all somehow relating to the protagonist, but really dealing with the nature of language, perception of self (and the self as part of, or Apart from, the group), the role of deity, and violence. Absolutely engrossing on many levels. Not an easy read (IOW more Lawrence than Koontz), but I devoured its 600+ pages in 3 nights.
posted on August 23, 2000 04:08:28 PM
Here is another that was an amazing read for me.
"Confederates in the Attic - Dispatches from the unfinished Civil War"
Great stuff that explores how the War and the years after shaped the country today. It has some very interesting dicussions about items, that are now today's topics, such as the Flag on the capitol of S. Carolina.
It also has fine representations on the whys about people that reenact the Civil War. and why this war above others - pulls at so many people over 130 years later.
Does not hurt either that it won a Pulitzer Prize.
posted on August 26, 2000 08:16:34 AM
Bunnicula said:
"Any of the Diane Mott Davidson cooking mysteries featuring caterer Goldie Bear "
Thanks just finished the last of the series.
Not only are they great mystery stories the recipes are awsome.This is exactly what I had in mind when I said light mysteries.
JT : My husband just finished Warrior King and said it was great.
Thanks
posted on August 26, 2000 01:28:58 PM
Maui, just finished reading the locked thread and wanted to mention, about Swan Song, that to me Vette is Roland.
