OK, sigh, I must admit-I've never read ANY of the Harry Potter books! But the fourth grader next door has them all, I'm sure.

I liked the Shopaholic Series, but couldn't get in the Nanny Diaries. I also love biographies - lots of times, when I'm traveling, I'll get a bio of someone known locally and REALLY immerse myself into it. I'm also reading Founding Mothers, but it's kinda textbookish, not summer reading, just like Dear Senator A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond.

Try reading Harry Potter BBelle-- seriously!!

I did not start reading them until books 1-4 were already out...and I am so addicted!! I must admit I used to be a "Harry Potter Basher"...I used to make fun of any adult who read them!!

They are so fun to read and you get so into the drama it is hard to put down!

ETA: Harry Potter is on the way-- my Amazon order has a UPS tracking number now!! It is in Columbus, OH...so I am guessing it will be delivered to the Akron, OH warehouse tomorrow...and then will go out Saturday morning!! YAY!

mini hijack

Bbelle, I have to second what ADPiAkron said, you should read Harry Potter. I didn't start reading them until last summer (so all five books were out). I actually finished all five in a month. (Yeah I was determined). I have reread parts of four and five in the last month or so (not the whole thing). I'm now in the process of getting my mom hooked (she is also a teacher and she was thinking she should read them so that she would be "aware" if any of her kids asked about the books).


end mini hijack




I am reading the book Vanishing Acts, it's really good (and I'm only in the second chapter).

I also read the book Mean Season and that was good. Both books were actually reviewed in People (both got good reviews too).

If you like romance novels by Danielle Steele I would recommend the following by her:

Message From Nam
The Long Road Home
Mixed Blessings
The Wedding

Then by Mary Higgins Clark I would recommend "Loves Music, Loves to Dance"

The Wonder Spot, by Melissa Bank, author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Hadn't read the latter, but my DH read the WS review and told me I must buy it. I did and it took me just 2 weekends to read it!!!

The Island at the Center of the World is the most wonderful book I've read EVER! It is a history of the island of Manhattan's near-forgotten Dutch Colony. I was an American History minor, so the topic appealed to me. I was BLOWN AWAY by how read-able it is - I could not put it down!! See, several years ago, about 12,000 pages of previously un-translated Dutch documents were discovered in Albany (formerly Fort Orange) and this book is the result of the translations. Perhaps I am biased, living my life in NJ (also part of the former Dutch Colony), but I was fascinated to learn the Dutch origins of place-names (Pavonia was named for De Pauw, the Bronx was named for Jonas Broenck who had a farm there, the Bowery, Yonkers, Gravesend, Hempstead, Saw Mill River, Hutchinson River - and Swede's Landing and Christiana in DE.....) and other things (like cole slaw). It was so interesting (to me) to read about the non-Puritan point of view - we hear about Plymouth and the New England settlements but rarely do we learn about the non-English settlements!

"Loves Music, Loves to Dance" is my favorite MHC book!!! It was really good.

Also for Danielle Steele, try "Palomino" and "Accident"---both are really good.

Just finished The Enchanted Land, by Jude Deveraux. Also very good, cause I read it almost nonstop. About to start one called "More Than You Know" by Beth Gutcheon. I have no idea what it's about, but supposedly it's a scary novel....we'll see. I'll let ya know.

Not to rain on anybody's parade, but there are religious reasons why some people don't read Harry Potter. I'll read a lot of kid lit, but not if there are witches or wizards in it - at least, if I know beforehand.

Just a clarification, not a condemnation of any sort.

This sounds fabulous! I'll be looking for it today.... :)

Don't think its a condemnation sweetie. You are very right. Some people won't read a certain book because of their religious or moral beliefs. Like I refuse to read anything on Hitler (biography sort of stuff) and I was a history major, but he's a psycho (and I'm 1/2 German too).

But getting back to the point, it's your choice. And no one should force you to read something you don't want to read, especially if it is something that differs from your religious beliefs. Those are your beliefs.

a little mini hijack on that: It only goes to far when school boards start insisting that their beliefs of children not reading books like Harry Potter are going too far. A school board should not be pushing their beliefs onto hundreds of thousands of students or their parents. End mini hijack.

If you are looking for a good book thats kinda deep (it took me 3 weeks to read, but I took my time) check out Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. Its a novel about the history of philosophy (not as bad as it may sound! Really very interesting!)

If you want something historical, I suggest The Professor and the Madman: A tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Its very interesting, and an easy read.

And if you want something totally off the wall that is a nice light read, check out anything by Christopher Moore. My two favorites have been Bloodsucking Fiends: A love Story and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (not nearly as heretical as it sounds...).

I'm an avid reader so I'm sure I will have more suggestions later!

That's interesting! I love history, and WWII is one of my favorite eras. I fell in love with The Diary of Anne Frank at the age of 10, and have read just about everything I can get my hands on concerning the Holocaust - even though I sometimes feel odd watching a Holocaust film or a bio on say, Eva Braun.

As for schools, I think that if a parent has a major problem with a certain text, the student should either be assigned something different (which makes him or her a freak in class) or go to a private school.

I wasn't going to get all excited about the book coming out (I was hoping to save it for my trip cross country in less than two weeks!), but after reading this I had to go check my order, and mine at around 11 am this morning was in transit to its final destination from San Marcos (which is only about a 45 minute drive from here) - so NOW I'm all excited thinking "it's probably sitting in our post office right now!!!" :D

We'll see how long my will power can last - I wonder if there's somewhere I can hide it for a week and a half? ;)


ETA: On the topic of this thread, I'd agree with those who mentioned Nora Roberts (and you might want to check out her "alternate" personality, J.D. Robb), and would also throw in Iris Johansen, Catherine Coulter, Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter, and many others that I can't think of right now (if you all could see the amount of books I have - my database shows that I have over 500 either in my room or packed in boxes around the house!) :eek:

Polarpi-you're one of those people who BUYS books? I mean, like, anything you want to read, versus just every now and then, huh? I would love to do that, but my budget, for the most part, keeps me at the public library. (However, I have two friends that buy everything, and don't mind sharing because I'm very good at returning-I won't even take their books to the beach. That is probably the one time of year that I BUY-shudder-books!)

Honeychile, that was the reason I never read them. But, I think now, I'm going to. Now that my older two are in college (I homeschooled and they went to private Christian school for a few years) I feel that I can open up a little. Can't explain it, just change, I guess. The older I get, the more I understand the "never say NEVER principle," in any and all regards!!

I usually buy books because I'm really hard on them - I've gotten books from half.com that say they've only been read once, and I think, "How in the world did anyone manage to keep it so nice?!"

Half-Price books, half.com, and ebay are godsends to me!

I think I'm like Honey - I'm typically pretty hard on my books. When I was younger, I'd have a book with me everywhere - even the bathtub! (And boy, I don't think the library would like getting a soaked book back! ;)) The library nearest me doesn't have much of a selection, so I haven't really tried looking for books there - plus there's so many that I like and would want to reread later on!

I've reduced the number of books I have now - I usually buy a book if it looks interesting (especially since I can read them pretty fast, I always have a number of books in reserve to get to next!), and the Used Paperback bookstores near me are a godsend - I was just in there today, bought 6 books (2 of them were Christian romance novels), and only spent $30!

Whenever I get married, my husband's going to have to live with at least one room being a library for all my books! :D