Books & Music "You have to read this!": Books to Press on Others

Ape House by Sara Gruen. I LOVED this more than Water for Elephants, which is one of my all-time favorite fiction books. After reading Ape House, I began reading nonfiction books from Gruen's bibliography on the topic of bonobo linguistic studies. I have been fascinated with the topic ever since September. I even donated to the Great Ape Trust!
 
Great thread!!

I personally love The Secret History by Donna Tartt; it's a very unconventional topic - a bunch of Classics students try to re-enact Dionysian rituals in the woods in Vermont - but Tartt's writing style, character development, and plot are all superb!

Huh??? It just goes to show how subjective books are because I absolutely hated this book about a bunch of spoiled, narrow minded, self-centered, whiney college kids who don't take responsibility for their actions.

My MUST READS: (Katran - you might not like these seeing as how divergent our opinions were on TSH lol!)

The Glass Castle
The Book Thief
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Katherine

Love love love these books - and I read A LOT:yahoo:
 
Someone told me to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, now I do the same! I'm so, so rarely floored by books.. I dunno it just takes a lot to get to me when it comes to simple words on a page, but this one is great for sure.

See my post above. This is one of my TOP 5 EVER. What blows my mind is that this is actually YA.
 
I really recommend Lonesome Dove to anybody who hasn't read it. I never thought I would read a Western novel, but I don't think I've been so emotionally invested in the characters of a book. I actually missed the story and the characters when the book ended, and it's a long book.
Another fiction book I really recommend is A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. Something about this book that I really loved.

BTW, great idea for a thread!

I completely agree with everything you've said about Lonesome Dove! Wonderful novel!

A Thousand Acres is a retelling of King Lear. If you haven't read it, you might want to. It'll give you even more of an appreciation for A Thousand Acres.
 
LOL. This wasn't at all like my experience studying Classics. I agree with both - the narrator's story was interesting but the other students were so spoiled and whiny I wouldn't have minded if they fell into an icy river.

Here are my recommendations:

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
- Written in the 1800's, this is said to be the first mystery novel. I recommended this to a friend who complained that she had to spend her lunch hours in her car listening to the audio book because she was totally engrossed.

The Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
- Not very heavy reading about a mystery involving the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Better written than The da Vinci Code.

Augustus - John Williams
- Bringing to life the soap-opera life of Octavius Caesar starting from when his Uncle Julius was murdered. Although fiction, this book captures the turmoil and political wheeling and dealing necessary to maintain or usurp power in ancient Rome, including the personal price Augustus' family had to pay. Cameo by many familiar names: Virgil, Ovid, Agrippa, Marc Antony, Nero, etc....


I personally love The Secret History by Donna Tartt; it's a very unconventional topic - a bunch of Classics students try to re-enact Dionysian rituals in the woods in Vermont - but Tartt's writing style, character development, and plot are all superb!

Huh??? It just goes to show how subjective books are because I absolutely hated this book about a bunch of spoiled, narrow minded, self-centered, whiney college kids who don't take responsibility for their actions.
 
There's a few books I always recommend when someone asks me --

Blackbird, by Jennifer Lauck - this is a moving, heartfelt, inspirational true story about the author's young life, who raised by an "Evil Stepmother" after both of her parents die. The book reads like a novel and is written from her point of view as a young girl (at times it really does sound like a 6 or 8 or 10 yr old is telling the story!). Her story is incredible - a true survivor who lived through some horrific events. There's also a follow-up book that picks up where Blackbird leaves off -- Still Waters -- but Blackbird is the best of the two. Have a box of Kleenex nearby -- you're definitely going to need it!

Between Friends, by Debbie Macomber -- anyone who grew up with a BFF (or during the 60s/70s), will want to read this book and share it with that person. The story follows two girls born in the 50s all the way up to the present day (2001/02). The story is not written out as a normal novel is written. The story is told "scrapbook" style, "which relies solely on letters, newspaper clippings, diary entries and even school essays to tell the story of a friendship spanning more than half a century." Important events during history are always relayed through the story -- when televisions were introduced into homes, JFK's assassination, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, the Woman's Movement and the ERA, the introduction of computers and email, even 9/11 is briefly touched upon towards the end. Definitely a book you won't be able to put down!

The Help, By Kathryn Stockett. Anyone I know who's read this book has truly loved it and passed it on to someone else that they know!! (they're making a movie due to be released next year -- read the book before the movie comes out!)
 
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I completely agree with everything you've said about Lonesome Dove! Wonderful novel!

A Thousand Acres is a retelling of King Lear. If you haven't read it, you might want to. It'll give you even more of an appreciation for A Thousand Acres.

You know, I saw some reviews for a Thousand Acres and saw many reviewers referred to King Lear. I had no clue it was based on that, but how interesting. I'll check it out.

The Help, By Kathryn Stockett. Anyone I know who's read this book has truly loved it and passed it on to someone else that they know!! (they're making a movie due to be released next year -- read the book before the movie comes out!)

I just bought this and I'm looking forward to reading it when I'm finished with my current book. I'm glad to see someone who has read and loved it.
 
You know, I saw some reviews for a Thousand Acres and saw many reviewers referred to King Lear. I had no clue it was based on that, but how interesting. I'll check it out.



I just bought this and I'm looking forward to reading it when I'm finished with my current book. I'm glad to see someone who has read and loved it.

Re: The Help
I read the book last spring, but lately it's been making the rounds through my office -- at least four of the girls I work with have read it recently, and each one passed it along to someone else in the office when they were done! Every one of them loved it!
 
Yes he's a vet. I know what you mean, I'm generally not too interested in war books as I find them bogged down by detail and military lingo, but this book is so different.

If you're looking for GREAT ones sans unnecessary technical detail but heavy on human dynamics, (ya know, the stuff that matters ;)), One Bullet Away- Nathaniel Fick, Generation Kill- Evan Wright, Joker One- Donovan Campbell. GK is an authentic, stylistic and smart, definitely an outsider's take, which is actually pretty rare when it comes to military/war stuff. The other two are very much in the vein of Tim O'Brien. You could read them in one sitting, but I've never done it. The gravity of it kind of creeps up on you and boom, you gotta put it down whether you want to or not :wtf::lol:
 
If you've seen the series and loved (and even if you didn't), I always, alwaysssssss recommend Deadwood- Pete Dexter. Probably the best fiction I've read in the past ten years, perhaps aside from Stephen King, but the jury's still out on that one. My jury at least. It's very much rooted in true historical figures and events, even moreso than the show, but it's still definitely fiction. From the first page, it just grabbed me and slammed me to the floor. It was perfect. From start to finish, not a single flaw :tup:
 
Also, The Good Thief- Hannah Tinti. Its setting, as in literal time and location, are mysterious, although she bases it on Salem, MA in the 19th century, about a thieving orphan with a missing hand. It's got everything. Mystery, action, dead men coming to life, shadey strangers and unlikely relationships.. it's like an American Dickens story. It's AWESOME.