Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel Garcia Marquez: anything by any of these is bound to delight me.
"A Secret History" by Donna Tartt is indescribably wonderful in every way.
"The Collector" by John Fowles is brilliantly written.
For scientific biography/history of science look for Abraham Pais.
And for a viciously hilarious foodie book, read "The Debt to Pleasure" by John Lanchester.
Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 2:08 pm Post subject: Book collection
For contemporary fiction, the best book I've read in the last 10 years has been "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Also, Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison are not fun but wonderful anyway. And, Salman Rushdie is the best thing that's happened to the English language in the last 30 years.
Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 827 Location: Oakland, CA
Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject:
Hi Erin,
If you like mysteries a new favorite of mine is the series by Andrea Camilleri. They take place in Sicily and the detective is a cynical, born & bred Sicilian cop. He is however a foodie! and some of the descriptions of the meals are worth copying! Mostly seafood... Anyway - highly recommended! _________________ L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais
Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 827 Location: Oakland, CA
Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject:
Oh- I forgot to mention some of my other real favorites!
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Native Speaker, The Gesture Life and Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee
Waiting by Ha Jin
Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni
And I love Thomas Hardy - all set in Dorset, one of the most beautiful parts of England. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Woodlanders, Far from the Madding Crowd.
The Time Traveler's Wife By Audrey Niffenegger _________________ L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais
3 that come to mind, now that I've written down all of YOUR recommendations, are: "Trent's Last Case" by E.C. Bentley--Agatha Christie said this was one of the"3 best detective novels ever written." I don't know what the other 2 are--have tried to find out. "Outwitting History" by Aaron Lansky--cool! And "Niagra Falls All Over Again" by Elizabeth McCracken--good story!
Last edited by gingerpale on Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Cedar Creek, Qld, Australia
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 3:44 am Post subject:
My wife has a very large collection of books, and as such I've been expanding my reading repotoire.
Some of the excellent stuff I've read in the last few years includes:
Guy Gavriel Kay - http://www.brightweavings.com/books/index.htm
Guy creates alternative hostories based loosely on actual historical events, but focussing more on characters.
I really enjoyed The Sarantine Mosaic and The Lion of Al-Rassan.
George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series is quite good, but also quite brutal, not everyone's cup of tea.
Umberto Eco puts out some fine reading, "The Name of the Rose" being the most well known, but "Baudolino" was also very good.
On the funnier side, Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series is classic British humour with some satirical bite thrown in for good measure. Light and easy to read, and very very entertaining.
Once every couple of years I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but J.R.R. Tolkien. I've read The Silmarillion, which was a hard slog, but worth it if you get into the whole LoTR thing.
Currently I'm reading The Baroque Cycle series by Neal Stephenson (author of the much touted, and quite good, Cryptonomican).
Joined: 19 Aug 2005 Posts: 143 Location: Vancouver
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 5:25 am Post subject:
Wow Dave, you're a man after my own heart. I'm alsoThe "geek" in my handle refers to more than food.
How are you finding the Neal Stephenson? I took Quicksilver with me on my trip to Europe last year, it was the thickest paperback I had on my shelf. It was very good once you got into it, but very hard to get going. I've got book two on my shelf, but I'm waiting for another long flight to break it out.
I went to see George R.R. Martin at a reading for his new release. He mentioned book 5 won't take nearly as long to get to print as book 4 did. He also said it will end up being a 7 book series. I enjoyed Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind in the beginning, but they've just dragged their series out so long...
Last but not least, to go with the Terry Pratchett; Neil Gaiman. He collaborated with Terry once, and his most recent book was very funny but not so spoofy and punny as Pratchett. He also does darker/scarier stuff. _________________ Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon. - The Dalai Lama
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Cedar Creek, Qld, Australia
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 5:38 am Post subject:
FoodSciGeek wrote:
Wow Dave, you're a man after my own heart. I'm alsoThe "geek" in my handle refers to more than food.
How are you finding the Neal Stephenson?
Well having read Cryptonomicon previously, the style is somewhat familiar. I like it, it's like reading a Quentin Tarantino film, but a bit more intellectual.
Quote:
I took Quicksilver with me on my trip to Europe last year, it was the thickest paperback I had on my shelf. It was very good once you got into it, but very hard to get going. I've got book two on my shelf, but I'm waiting for another long flight to break it out.
My lovely wife bought all three as eBooks for me for Christmas. So I can read them on a fairly easy to carry PDA, as opposed to the weighty tomes that are the dead-tree variety.
Quote:
I went to see George R.R. Martin at a reading for his new release. He mentioned book 5 won't take nearly as long to get to print as book 4 did. He also said it will end up being a 7 book series.
I haven't bought book 4 yet (waiting for the price to drop a little, and to finish everything else I'm reading).
Quote:
I enjoyed Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind in the beginning, but they've just dragged their series out so long...
We have a fair bit of Jordan and Goodkind in a box somewhere (still unpacking), but I have yet to read them, not sure if I will.
Quote:
Last but not least, to go with the Terry Pratchett; Neil Gaiman. He collaborated with Terry once, and his most recent book was very funny but not so spoofy and punny as Pratchett. He also does darker/scarier stuff.
Ah yes, I read the collaborative book, Good Omens, and quite enjoyed it. Haven't read any plain Gaiman though.
Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 105 Location: Wycheproof, Australia
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:
Erin, I love the 19th century literature as it was the rise of the novel.
The Woman in White is a classic, credited as being first mystery/crime novel.
George Eliot captures love, life, childhood, womanhood in tasty delight- love everything Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss, Daniel Deronda. Classic Literature and modern day soap in one.
One has to read one Dostoevsky- mine was The Devils ( my golly gosh what an experience that was).
I too love and recommend magic realism.
I am reading Tom Jones at the moment ( and a few other things) and I am loving it. _________________ truth, like gold, is not the less so for being newly brought out of the mine.
Ah yes, I read the collaborative book, Good Omens, and quite enjoyed it. Haven't read any plain Gaiman though.
Gaiman is best known really for his critical contribution to comic books. He really broadened the adult genre. The Sandman being the most famous and still available as collections of graphic novels. As for a book though, I'd highly recommend American Gods, especially if you're a Pratchett fan.
Joined: 18 Oct 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 3:48 pm Post subject:
I only have a sec, but I just had to say that I loved "The Eyre Affair"! A good friend gave it to me on her last visit with rave reviews and I agree. _________________ "It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."
Joined: 18 Oct 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:57 pm Post subject:
Gingerpale,
Agatha Christie has always been a favorite of mine. "Death on the Nile" book or movie is great fun. I get a kick out of Angela Lansbury in that role.
Daderoot,
I just read the LOTR trilogy last summer and am totally enthralled by Tolkien.
Glad to hear you are branching out in your reading, as with so many things it can be easy to get into a rut. Thanks for your recommendations. _________________ "It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."
Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 224 Location: kingston, ny
Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject:
Out of the genre slightly (just slightly), but has anybody read the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel? Starts with The Clan of the Cave Bear, continues on through volume 5, with 6 and 7 coming out sometime. If you've read through five, you might be waiting quite a few years to get to 6. Have to say, I really hope its not another 12 years before the next book. It's already been 4. *sigh*
The books are set in the Pleistocene, Auel researches extensively to get ALL the details.
ETA: Yes, us crazy folks are willing to wait 12 years for a follow up.
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