Library Book Recommendations

[momsgoofy]

I am a huge fan of Patricia Cornwell, especially the Kay Scarpetta titles. They are considered mystery genre and are very well written. Scarpetta is the Chief Medical Examiner for Virginia and each of the books deals with cases she is working. Cornwell is well versed in the forensic field so the writing is accurate. They aren't too grisly and the characters in one book can be found in the others. Some of the titles with the Scarpetta character are...Potter's Field, Trace (the newest one), The Body Farm...just do an author search for Patricia Cornwell and it should list all of her books. The neat thing about Scarpetta is she's always talking about or actually cooking, too...another thing I like to do...watch cooking programs. One year there was even a cookbook by Scarpetta...too funny.

Oh, and you don't really have to read her books in any order, but it might help to read her first works about Scarpetta first to get some better background.

On a much lighter note, I've recently found a great series by Robin Jones Gunn called Sisterchicks...
Sisterchicks on the Loose
Sisterchicks do the Hula
Sisterchicks in Sombreros
Sisterchicks Down Under...haven't read this one yet since it's new.

These remind me of Erma Bombeck's writing style, very everyday life with the humor of it all. By the way, a sisterchick is someone who knows your deepest secrets, but loves you enough to tell you you're being a brat. Gunn is a Christian author, which I didn't know until after I read the first book...just thought it looked funny.

And since I said Erma Bombeck already...give her a go. She's an old author, who sadly is no longer with us, but is a great humorist! My mom turned me onto her one summer when I was 12 or 13...I laughed my behind off reading every one of her books...I inherited them from Mom when she died and enjoy re-reading them when I get a chance now.

 

[Jessie]

Do you mean Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews?

Ooops.. That was a late night and too many beers

 

[swilphil]

Eats, Shoots and Leaves--I forget who this is by, but it's a hilarious book all about..you guessed it. Punctuation.

I'd never heard of this book until the other day when my grad school professor posted this excerpt:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda: Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

So punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.

I get most of my books at the public library. They often order several copies of new bestsellers, especially those by popular authors or the Oprah books. I love books by John Irving, John Updike, Anne Tyler, Isabel Allende, and Jan Karon. They are all very well written. Jan Karon's aren't quite as literary, but they are very sweet books.

 

[swtnikki]

All the books by David Clement-Davies. He's a wonderful author, & currently has 4 books underneath his belt - Fire Bringer, The Sight, The Alchemist of Barbal, & Telling Pool. For a brief summary of all the books, just go here .

 

[TNMom]

I have so many favorite authors, but I'll just choose two. Robert Tanenbaum has a series featuring Butch Karp (Bureau Chief in the New York City D.A.'s office) and his wife (later in the series), Marlene Ciampi. They're both lawyers, but as different as they can be. He's mild mannered and plays by the rules. She left the practice of law first to provide security to battered women. She's "good" with a gun. They often find themselves on the opposite side of the same case. Best to read them in order. One of my other favorites is Anne Rivers Siddons. Her stories are usually set in the South. She describes the heroines in her books thus. "I think my heroines will always be ordinary women who have made a journey," Siddons says. "Maybe it doesn't happen so totally and drastically to most of us, but I haven't seen many women fall into middle age without losing something that has always been a very important part of their lives, and either having to make a life around that, or find a way to go on, or change in order to go on. It seems to me that women are left to do the changing and accommodating." If you like either Tanenbaum or Siddons, you'll want to read everything they've written.

 

[the kabuki]

I'll second Maeve Binchy.

Eugenia Price- historical novels, have a couple different trilogies mostly centered around the coast off of Georgia-St. Simmons Island area circa 1800's.

Anne Rivers Siddons-love all her books

 

[RadioFanatic]

Keep the suggestions coming - I love reading them and I'm going to the library on Tuesday!

I'm reading a V.C. Andrews novel now - I'm on the third of the Gemini series - I just got it in the library.

I can't wait to try all of these suggestions - thanks!

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I love anything by Tami Hoag, Iris Johansen, Sandra Brown and Janet Evanovich.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I've read about 6 books by Luanne Rice this summer: Beach Girls (which will be a Lifetime movie this weekend), Cloud Nine, True Blue, Home Fires, the Perfect Summer, and Summer's Child. After a while they have similarities, but they are quick reads and interesting. You might want to see if your library has anything--at my library they are usually checked out (I want to read some more but not pay for any more, LOL). Cloud Nine actually had me crying at the end.
Actually right now I'm reading "The Disney War" which is non-fiction, but pretty good.
The best historical fiction I ever read was the "Kent Family Chronicles" by John Jakes. 8 books in all, starting with "The B_____" (insert word for child born out of wedlock here).
Robin M.

 

[Rex Rules]

My all time favorite book is a historical novel called "Katherine" by Anya Seton. Out of print and may be hard to find though.

I also love "Gone with the Wind". Always a classic.

I just finished reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Latin author who won a Pulitzer Prize in the 80's. It was very interesting. Sort of like a crazy telenovella.

I have a list of classics that I am trying to work through. Read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and thought is was the worst thing I have ever read.

Next up is Maya Angelou's "I know why the caged bird sings"

I love reading and spend a great deal of time reading anything - books, magazines, etc.