Julie big reader here!!

[Madi100]

I love to read, but don't usually do it to become a better person, but rather pure enjoyment.

I just finished this morning Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. I also just read 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I am going to read Wicked next. I just purchased a bunch of books from Barnes and Noble. Baby Proof and Love The One You're With by Emily Giffen are at the top of the list from that selection.

 

[IHeartTink04]

I love to read, but don't usually do it to become a better person, but rather pure enjoyment.

I just finished this morning Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. I also just read 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I am going to read Wicked next. I just purchased a bunch of books from Barnes and Noble. Baby Proof and Love The One You're With by Emily Giffen are at the top of the list from that selection.

I love Emily Giffen books! I just got Love The One You're With and I can't wait to read it!

 

[lttlmc3]

Maybe we should all start borrowing books from eachother!

 

[aprince&princess]

I am another book lover and just bought two books to take on a beach vacation that starts tomorrow. The first being Sail by James Patterson, who is one of my favorites. I also like Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, & Sandra Brown to name a few.

Julie, have you read The Other Boleyn Girl? That was very good. I will give another vote for The Secret Life of Bees. Another great book by Sue Monk Kidd was The Mermaid Chair. I think she wrote another one I read, but I can't think of the title off the top of my head.

Does anyone belong to the paperback swap website? It is a website where you list books you are willing to give away. You have to start by listing 10 books and then when someone requests a book from you, you pay to mail it to them and get one credit. For each credit that you get you can request a book from any book on the website that you want. The owner of that book then pays to mail it to you. It is a great way to get books at the cost of paying to ship things at a media mail price. Also a great way to clear off your bookshelf for new books.

 

[Madi100]

I am another book lover and just bought two books to take on a beach vacation that starts tomorrow. The first being Sail by James Patterson, who is one of my favorites. I also like Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, & Sandra Brown to name a few.

Julie, have you read The Other Boleyn Girl? That was very good. I will give another vote for The Secret Life of Bees. Another great book by Sue Monk Kidd was The Mermaid Chair. I think she wrote another one I read, but I can't think of the title off the top of my head.

Does anyone belong to the paperback swap website? It is a website where you list books you are willing to give away. You have to start by listing 10 books and then when someone requests a book from you, you pay to mail it to them and get one credit. For each credit that you get you can request a book from any book on the website that you want. The owner of that book then pays to mail it to you. It is a great way to get books at the cost of paying to ship things at a media mail price. Also a great way to clear off your bookshelf for new books.

Do you have the website for that? That sounds like a great idea.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Just recently, I devoured Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. I was sad to see them end. Loved them both.

Just bought a few new books that I haent started yet....When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston.

In the last two weeks, I have had two different people tell me that The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is awesome. I have not read it yet, but it's gotten good word of mouth. It's about a murder at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Kevin

 

[fourfoxesinpa]

I love Emily Giffen books! I just got Love The One You're With and I can't wait to read it!

A book hasn't made me weepy in a long time...many memories brought to the surface with this one. Enjoy - it's a fast read.

I'm looking forward to the Beach House by Jane Green. Sounds like the perfect, mindless read.

 

[Hibernians]

I jump back and forth between fiction and non-fiction and I typically prefer to buy a book once its out in paperback unless its something that I must have on the day of publication such as the Harry Potter series

I prefer paperbacks because carry better on trips to the beach.

I recently picked up Team of Rivals, written by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I thought I knew all I needed to know about Lincoln but this book has been such a great read. Its a nice big summer book, filled with lots of detail about our 16th President and the workings of the government and his team of rivals, meaning his Cabinet. The book often reads like a historical novel, yet its all true. Its really interesting to understand how folks lived back then.

If you like espionage and World War II then I highly recommend Alan Furst. He has written 7 or 8 books now about Europe before and during WWII. Furst does a great job of describing the mood and feel of the place; Its always some Eastern European country circa 1938, spies, lovers, good guys
and bad guys.... no one can be trusted. He has a new book out now, The Spies of Warsaw.

For a dose of reality I read current non-fiction:

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine
John Perkin's The Secret History of the American Empire

These 2 books offer a lot of interesting observations on the current state of world affairs with respect to globalization, capitalism and the role of the U.S. government, multi-national corporations, IMF/World Bank,U.N. etc.


Finally, the late great Tim Russert; I quickly re-read his wonderful tribute to hid Dad, Big Russ and Me. Beautiful book and so easy to relate to.

 

[ScubaD]

A book hasn't made me weepy in a long time...

I was on an airplane when I was reading the book "Walt Disney, An American Original" when I read the story of his last visit to the Disney Studios and he said "Good-Bye". The staff had never heard him say "good-bye" before, and that was the last time they saw him. Too bad I had nothing to dry my eyes as I read that story.

What a great book, written by Bob Thomas.

Dave

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

My DD10 picked Kingdom Keepers to read for a school assignment. We read it together and I LOVED it! Interesting plot and set in WDW. What's not to like?

 

[DisneyKevin]

Maybe we should all start borrowing books from eachother!

I read on my Sony Reader....yes....I'm a gadget geek.

All the stuff I read is in digital format.

 

[BriarRosie]

In the last two weeks, I have had two different people tell me that The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is awesome. I have not read it yet, but it's gotten good word of mouth. It's about a murder at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Kevin

Yes, I read that a long time ago. I was fascinated by all the different stories that converged on the Chicago World's Fair. Toy Story Mania wouldn't have "Midway" in the name if it wasn't for that fair, along with a lot of other cool stuff, like the Ferris Wheel and that modern marvel, the zipper.

So while the development of the fair was fascinating enough, they threw in a story about a notorious serial killer who constructed a "house of death" near the fairgrounds. He was so awful, he made Ted Bundy look like Mr. Rogers.

 

[GabbyMom]

In the last two weeks, I have had two different people tell me that The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is awesome. I have not read it yet, but it's gotten good word of mouth. It's about a murder at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Kevin

It is such a great story.After reading Devil in the White City I drove down to the places in the book just to see how time has changed them. The wooded island is still there.

I read on my Sony Reader....yes....I'm a gadget geek.

All the stuff I read is in digital format.

Is that your way of helping the environment?

 

[Minniemouse07]

Just recently, I devoured Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. I was sad to see them end. Loved them both.

Just bought a few new books that I haent started yet....When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston.

In the last two weeks, I have had two different people tell me that The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is awesome. I have not read it yet, but it's gotten good word of mouth. It's about a murder at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Kevin

Kevin if you liked Pillars... check out pretty much any of Edward Rutherfurd's books (Sarum, London, Dublin, The Forest, or The Princes of Ireland). Each of the books is about a group of families in one place in England/Ireland and he looks at it over centuries. So in Sarum the Porteus family during the Roman occupation has their name change to Le Portier with the Normans and eventually Porter. He also wrote a book about Russia but I didn't think it was as good as the others. (note to self put Dublin and The Princes of Ireland on reading list!)

Also...if you are interested in The Devil in the White City (which someone just told me about last week) you may like The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It takes place in NYC during the late 1800's and like the Larson book they are trying to solve a series of killings that eventually turns out to be done by a serial killer. There is a second book as well, The Angel of Darkness, that revolves around the same characters.

Enjoy!

 

[Madi100]

A book hasn't made me weepy in a long time...many memories brought to the surface with this one. Enjoy - it's a fast read.

I'm looking forward to the Beach House by Jane Green. Sounds like the perfect, mindless read.

That surprises me about the Emily Giffen book. I'm not expecting weepy. I am really anxious to read that one now. I've got to finish Wicked first.

I just threatened to ground DD from reading last night. I had to take her book with me into my room so she'd quit reading. She is reading Meg Cabot right now.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Also...if you are interested in The Devil in the White City (which someone just told me about last week) you may like The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It takes place in NYC during the late 1800's and like the Larson book they are trying to solve a series of killings that eventually turns out to be done by a serial killer. There is a second book as well, The Angel of Darkness, that revolves around the same characters.

I've read The Alienist. I liked reading about NYC at that time.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Is that your way of helping the environment?

It actually serves many purposes.

It's tiny and fits in a pocket, so I can take it anywhere.

You can change the size of the font to small, medium or large.

It holds 80 full length novels, so it's fantastic for travel. I used to travel with a minimum of two hardcover books.

It's super easy to buy books at 1:00am and an 800 page book takes about 45 seconds (with high speed internet)

Books are cheaper. A brand new best sellr is about $12.00. You are only paying for the information as there is no "product".

John and I live in a modest sized home. There is just nowhere to store stacks of books.

And yes.....it's a very "green" product, which, while not at all the reason I bought it, is a very nice plus.

Kevin

 

[Madi100]

It actually serves many purposes.

It's tiny and fits in a pocket, so I can take it anywhere.

You can change the size of the font to small, medium or large.

It holds 80 full length novels, so it's fantastic for travel. I used to travel with a minimum of two hardcover books.

It's super easy to buy books at 1:00am and an 800 page book takes about 45 seconds (with high speed internet)

Books are cheaper. A brand new best sellr is about $12.00. You are only paying for the information as there is no "product".

John and I live in a modest sized home. There is just nowhere to store stacks of books.

And yes.....it's a very "green" product, which, while not at all the reason I bought it, is a very nice plus.

Kevin

Kevin, what happens when you are done with a book? Do you just delete it? Or can it be stored? And, can you buy mindless books on it too or just the deep stuff you read???

 

[DisneyKevin]

Kevin, what happens when you are done with a book? Do you just delete it? Or can it be stored? And, can you buy mindless books on it too or just the deep stuff you read???

I just bought the 7th Women's Murder Club book by James Paterson.

They have a huge variety.

All of the books are store on my laptop. You can also back everything up on an SD expansion card, just like your digital camera. There is a slot for a card which allows for an additional 120 books (approximately) per card.

You can share books as well, meaning that they can be put on another reader. You can also read them on a computer screen.

 

[robertgp124]

I just bought the 7th Women's Murder Club book by James Paterson.

Kevin, forgive my ignorance, but where do you buy the books for the Sony Reader? My wife's vision places her in the legally blind category (can't be corrected with glasses) but she is comfortable with large print. Between Amazon's ads for the Kindle, and your mention of the Sony Reader, we're starting to look at these and have been intrigued.

And if you like The Alienist, I think you'll enjoy Angel of Darkness (if you haven't already read it). It's a pity Caleb Carr hasn't continued with that series. I just bought a book called Hotel Babylon - it's the story of a day in the life of a five star hotel manager. Loved it!

I'd love to see a sticky thread for Julie's Book Club. To the folks who recommended Jasper Fforde upthread, thank you!