What Book Do You Recommend the Most?

[bethwc101]

***that isn't about a murder?***

I loved Outlander but don't want to read a historical romance.

I want to read a can't-put-down book by a very talented author. Most writers over-write and I can't get past the first chapter. I enjoyed 'Wild' as she was a fantastic writer.

Please recommend a really great book I can take to the beach without it being a cheesy romance. Not really into mysteries or spy type books. Thank you!

Well... I might be biased but I think Emelina Grace by Bethany Wray is an amazing book. But that might be because I wrote it.

 

[amberpi]

If we're talking favorite book, I'd recommend to anyone, and read a couple of times a year - The Plague by Camus. The last line is just spine chilling (the book really isn't about the plague, obviously) “He knew what those jubilant crowds did not know but could have learned from books: that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linin-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city.” I mean, that's the stuff IMO.

If that last line didn't make you want to read to the end, early in the first chapter of book, they have this whole part about culivating habits, that's just so on point for life, and again, just reasonates so hard for me. Here's a quote: "... [in Oran] everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business.'"

 

[Hisgirl]

If we're talking favorite book, I'd recommend to anyone, and read a couple of times a year - The Plague by Camus. The last line is just spine chilling (the book really isn't about the plague, obviously) “He knew what those jubilant crowds did not know but could have learned from books: that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linin-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city.” I mean, that's the stuff IMO.

If that last line didn't make you want to read to the end, early in the first chapter of book, they have this whole part about culivating habits, that's just so on point for life, and again, just reasonates so hard for me. Here's a quote: "... [in Oran] everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business.'"

Hahaha, you sound like me. I loooove to quote books and my favorite thing to do is read the opening paragraph of a book out loud. It's an interview of sorts, me giving an audition to the author to see if I'll 'bite'. Most books are set down after that short read.

Your book sounds intriguing but...my daughter is an epidemiologist whose favorite disease is the plague, so even reading your above quote, caused me pause and off to research published peer reviewed articles on the longevity of plague on environmental surfaces, LOL!

 

[Hisgirl]

I'm going to research several of these books.

Here's what I'm looking for:

A fiction OR biography that is ENGROSSING and so well crafted that one finds it hard to not call ones friends to read passages out loud.
A book NOT about a murder, NOT about spies or espionage or government agencies.

Yes, to villages, well-played crafty characters, other eras, NO heaving bosoms, dramatic turns and interesting twists. Old houses, a touch of romance, platters of buttered toast and a mutt or two.

That. (unless it's as good as Greg Iles 'The Quiet Game' then I'll take some other genre)

 

[Hisgirl]

And speaking of Greg Iles 'The Quiet Game'

I had been a single mom, starting a business and working 24/7, certainly no time to read a book, heavens no. Just before I remarried, I picked up 'The Quiet Game', thinking it would be nice to have a beach book for when my new hubby was napping. I started the read and it had me. I mean, it had me good. I could not stop reading this book. But it was my honeymoon for goodness sake and not like I could curl up on a sofa and tell my new mate to explore the island by himself.

So I had to sneak ways to keep reading...

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* "Honey?? Are you okay? You've been in there for half an hour.."

Oops, maybe not stealing away to the bathroom was such a good idea.

The storyline sucked me in so deep I would lost all sense of time. As our last night approached, my dear husband asked if we could spend our night on the dock watching the sunset. What a romantic idea!

"Sure...Um...I'll be right there, just let me, uh, finish this chapter."

The door opened and my husband stood there, not moving. The sky was pitch black behind him. I looked at my watch and 2 1/2 hours had passed!! How could this have happened?! I sheepishly mentioned maybe we could laugh about this ten years later.
It's been 18 years and he still doesn't laugh. (I might snicker a bit )

The worst part was that I shut the book (in THE most intense scene) and promised I would put the book away, that terrible, awful no-good distraction!, and as punishment, not finish the story.

Two weeks later, after stewing in the possibilities, I found myself at the library pouring over the last 14 pages to bring an end to my misery.

I'm utterly embarrassed at my behavior, but gosh-darnit that book was good!!

 

[Dis_Fan]

The Zombie Survival Guide/World War Z both by Max Brooks.

 

[amberpi]

Hahaha, you sound like me. I loooove to quote books and my favorite thing to do is read the opening paragraph of a book out loud. It's an interview of sorts, me giving an audition to the author to see if I'll 'bite'. Most books are set down after that short read.

Your book sounds intriguing but...my daughter is an epidemiologist whose favorite disease is the plague, so even reading your above quote, caused me pause and off to research published peer reviewed articles on the longevity of plague on environmental surfaces, LOL!

Yep, first and last bits of books are a great "interview." I like that idea.

There is a plague, but it really has nothing to do with the plague itself...its a pure existential thing if you enjoy that kind of stuff. But I can see how it could be distracting. Camus' more popular work is "The Stranger" and has a bit of a similar feel, again, if you're inclined to such.

 

[Wendy31]

I'm going to research several of these books.

Here's what I'm looking for:

A fiction OR biography that is ENGROSSING and so well crafted that one finds it hard to not call ones friends to read passages out loud.
A book NOT about a murder, NOT about spies or espionage or government agencies.

Yes, to villages, well-played crafty characters, other eras, NO heaving bosoms, dramatic turns and interesting twists. Old houses, a touch of romance, platters of buttered toast and a mutt or two.

That. (unless it's as good as Greg Iles 'The Quiet Game' then I'll take some other genre)

After you saying the above, I'm going to put in another vote for Mists of the Serengeti!

Well-crafted - check!
Quotable - check! (I quoted passages to friends, my husband, & my daughter for days)
Villages - check!
Lovely, well-drawn characters - check!
Old Houses - check!
Romance - check!
Instead of platters of buttered toast, African coffee & other dishes - check!

DISCLAIMER: It is NOT about murder or spies or espionage or government agencies, but there are 2 deaths at the beginning that set the stage for the story & there are some action & suspense scenes related to the local government.

Interestingly enough, right after I finished Mists, I read another book by the same author & didn't find it nearly as good. But Mists is probably now in my top 5 favorite books of all time list.

Some quotes -

"This is what it looks like when you wander somewhere between the sand and stardust, and meet a piece of yourself in someone else."

“Pull a thread here and a life unravels there.”

“We had found a pocket of quiet, where all the ghosts in our minds had gone to sleep, and we were the only two people awake.”

“ 'You know what’s heartbreaking?' He slipped his hands into his pockets, as if to keep them from touching me. 'It’s not when bad things happen to you, or when your life turns out completely different from what you thought it would be, or when people let you down, or when the world knocks you down. What’s heartbreaking is when you don’t get back up, when you don’t care enough to pick up the million broken pieces of you that are screaming to be put back together, and you just lie there, listening to a shattered chorus of yourself.' "

“I pulled back, my eyes still closed, knowing that I had just stolen an epic moment from life.”

“Sometimes heroes were found between the pages of a book, and sometimes they stood on a hill, their checkered togas fluttering in the wind, holding fort for the rest of us.”

“All this time I’ve been searching for her in the wrong places—in the rain, and in thunder, and lightning. And all this time . . . there she is, hiding in rainbows.”

“And just like that, in an old red barn at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, I found the elusive magic I had glimpsed only between the pages of great love stories. It fluttered around me like a newborn butterfly and settled in a corner of my heart. "

"We base so much of ourselves on other people’s perceptions of us. We live for the compliments, the approval, the applause. But what we really need is a grand, spine-chilling encounter with ourselves to believe we’re freaking magical. And that’s the best kind of believing, because no one can unsay it or take it away from you.”

“I reached for the beads on my bracelet, thinking of the words on them. Taleenoi olngisoilechashur. We are all connected. How many times do we pass people on the street, whose lives are intertwined with ours in ways that remain forever unknown? How many ways are we tied to a stranger by fragile, invisible threads that bind us all together?”

 

[powellrj]

Love John Irving and Anne Tyler

 

[amberpi]

Some quotes -

Oh! Thanks for sharing those quotes. That's not a really a book that would naturally call to me, but those are good quotes!

 

[Someluck]

I am fascinated by the Iditarod and found a book called Winterdance several years ago. It’s by Gary Paulson, who is best known as an author of juvenile fiction. This book is an account of his training for and running his first Iditarod. If you like memoirs, especially funny or heart touching accounts of a man and his dogs, you might like Winterdance.

As a high school English teacher I used this book often to engage all kinds of readers. It has long been a favorite!

 

[Tinks]

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Good Omens is like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Apocalypse

Patrick Weeke's Rogues of the Republic trilogy is great. The first one is called The Palace Job.

The Martian

If you like Star Wars, read Lost Stars

 

[neverlandsky]

Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover. Changed our lives!
Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

 

[cobright]

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy has been successfully reccomended by me as scifi for people who hate scifi.

K.J. Parker's Engineer Trilogy is a fun dark dark machiavellian romp through an alternate history byzantium.

All 20 Patrick O'Brien Aubrey-Maturin novels.

James sa Corey's Expanse novels.

Nabokov's Lolita, single greatest example of the modern English language novel.

Grab a copy of atlas shrugged, tear pages out to use as bookmarks in better novels.

 

[YCCS]

I could say Anna Karenina in the original Cyrillic, but that would be ridiculous. Really.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Houseini
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
If you can get it, because I think it's out of print, Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
I will 2nd The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. (The movie was dismal)

 

[MrJT]

My all time favorite book is The Lord of the Rings. I have read it a number of times.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Death In The Long Grass - Peter Hathaway Capstick (non fiction). 1977

Written by a professional hunter in Africa. Man vs beast - winner more often than not, beast.

 

[Minniemouse07]

Note that even though I have two pairs of books by the same authors, none of the books are the same...or even close to the same.

Snowcrash- Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus - Orson Scott Card
Contact - Carl Sagan
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

and just to be complete because it is one of my favorite books...but is about murders so doesn't fit your criteria, The Alienist - Caleb Carr. They just started a tv series based on the book series, but as always, the book is way better.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I could say Anna Karenina in the original Cyrillic, but that would be ridiculous. Really.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Houseini
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
If you can get it, because I think it's out of print, Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
I will 2nd The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. (The movie was dismal)

Awww....Cold Sassy Tree is just wonderful!

One that I just received that was recommended to me is The Keeper of Lost Things: A Novel by Ruth Hogan. Looking forward to reading it.

Another one -- I've given as a gift is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's really great.

Harry Potter. If you haven't read them, you need to. Really.