Favorite Book and/or Author
 

After completing my master's degree, I am reading any and every thing not related to education that I can get my hands on. I have always loved to read, but didn't have time when I was working on my degree.

Absolute fav's:
Tales of a 4th grade nothing by Judy Blume
A time to kill by John Grisham
Misery by Stephen King

Great reads:
Any Kay Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell
David Baldacci (I've only read Absolute Power - loved it - but I'm working on Saving Faith and its great too).

I guess you can tell that I'm a huge mystery/suspense fan! So what are your favorite books and/or authors?

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"Alpha Chi Omega - If you only had 2 wishes, what would your second one be?"

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

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Always
Seek
Knowledge

Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies

AXO Alum:

I am in agreeance with you on the Patricia Cornwell. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif I was just saying I wanted to read her latest! Good to see another fan.

B.N.

BrandNubian...which new one?

If anyone hasn't read these, I would definitely say start from the beginning. Although the plots can stand alone, her excellent work with blending the characters and their roles can only be appreciated by starting at the top.

I did not like Hornets Nest & Southern Cross which she also wrote - they were just so ordinary compared to her extraordinary Scarpetta series.

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"Alpha Chi Omega - If you only had 2 wishes, what would your second one be?"

AXO Alum:

I don't like Hornet's Nest or Southern Cross too much either. She should stick with Scarpetta.

The name of the new book is "The Last Precinct"...it's out at the stores already. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

B.N.

Oh man am I behind - I better get to the library and put it on hold! Thanks for the head's up! We should start an on-line book club http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif If you haven't read any of Baldacci's work you should try it. I am loving Saving Faith!

Email me if you have any other good suggestions!

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"Alpha Chi Omega - If you only had 2 wishes, what would your second one be?"

if any of u are interested in science fiction then i suggest u check out WILD SEED by Octavia Butler and also KINDRED by Octavia Butler.
(That chic can write!!)

I just finished The Last Precinct. I thought I had a good secret to share, but am happy to see Patricia Cornwell is getting recognition. Everyone should read her books!
Heidi

Some all-time faves are:

Catcher in the Rye -J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War - Robert... Can't remember
his last name!

A pretty recent book that's awesome:

The Student Body- Jane Harvard (if you like suspense/mystery it's a pretty hip version of it)

And my 2 fave authors, (I just adore anything they wrote/ write):

Shel Silverstein
Douglas Coupland

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SilverTurtle@greekchat.com

Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter

Ok, my all time favorite book of my life is:

Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison

Wont' even bother to go into my reasons here on this board. Too many. Several things in the book just speak to me. I've ready it so many times I've stopped counting. I have to get a new copy since I let my ex borrow it and he never returned it. Jeez, I sure miss my book . ..

Asia

SilverTurtle, The Chocolate War
is by "Robert Cormier" (I confirmed this on amazon.com).

As an interesting aside, Douglas Coupland was in my sister's grad class...how cool is that?
Class of 1979: http://www.sd45.bc.ca/sd45/sentinel/

My favorite book is "Alive" by Piers Paul Reid.

I love that show "Sex & The City", but I just read Candace Bushnell's book with the same name, and it was depressing and boring!

My favs, in no particular order:

Redemption Song - Bertice Berry
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Sister, Sister - Eric Jerome Dickey
Sister Secrets and Beyond Our Mothers' Footsteps - Breggie James
Waiting to Exhale - Terri McMillan
Blessings - Sheneska Jackson

and the list goes on....

RHOyal-Silence:

I love Octavia. I love pretty much all of her stuff!!! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif She's great! I love the way she mixes African-American culture with science fiction.

B.N.

Yeah I am all game for an online book club. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif I haven't read "The Last Precinct" yet..but of course, I will. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif I tried to get into Baldacci, but it wasn't working for me.

Let's see, another good person to read is James Patterson ("Kiss the Girls")...

B.N.

Yeah he's pretty good when he's not too out there - I didn't like that one about the children with wings or whatever. I think it was "Where the Wind Blows" or something like that. Too weird for me. I did like Jack & Jill. I need to read the others too.

Question for anyone: Where can you find a list of books by an author in the order they were published? Like I'd like to read Patterson from the top. I know that characters may change, but I like to get a feel for the author and his/her progress with each publication.

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"Alpha Chi Omega - If you only had 2 wishes, what would your second one be?"

My favorite books are:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Gather Together in my Name
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
The Heart of a Woman
All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes

all by Maya Angelou


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"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." ~Harry S. Truman~

I highely suggest a book by Pramoedya Anata Toer. There is a four volume book which tackled Indonesian politics in the 16th century. this book was banned by the preivous government and him prisoned. He fought first Dutch colonialism which landed him to prison. then the Suharto government, which again landed him to prison. From 1979 to 1998. He was released after Suharto was overthrown.

the remarkable thing about this book is that he memorized the story, told it to his fellow prisoner, and they inturn wrote it down and published it abroad. The book was banned till 1998. Truly an amazing man.

I think my absolute favorite book is The Alienist by Caleb Carr. If you like mysteries/thrillers, this is a good one. Plus it paints a very vivid picture of life in New York before the turn of the century. I enjoyed this book so much it was hard to tear myself away from it for work, sleep, etc !

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I dont' read much anymore, but two books I love are The Alchemist, by Paulo Cohelo. ITs a great parable-fairytale-adventure-fantastyish story. I also love She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. Its a great self-indulgent chick book http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

My favorites:
Kindred by Octavia Butler
All of E. Lynn Harris.
All of Eric Jerome Dickey (especially Milk in My Coffee)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morris


a good book to check out is The Illuminati by Larry Burkett.

i highly recommend The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Hello everyone.I am new to the boards but am a voracious reader and had to add my two cents.Caleb Carr is excellent."The Alienist" was one of the best I ever read.I also enjoy a good true crime book.Has anyone ever read Ann Rule or Vincent Bugliosi?She is a former policewoman and he is a former prosecutor and that both write about their past cases.

man with everything going on from school to GREEKCHAT, i dont have time to read anything else. Well i always have to have time to read the monthly Cosmo http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif but anyway, i have been wanting to get back in to it. Does anyone have any suggestions... i like mystery/thriller books but also romantic ones. Since i havent really read any books as a hobby since like junior high, im not caught up with the good authors.... what would you suggest?

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"He is not perfect, you are not perfect. The question is whether or not you are perfect for each other"

*bump*
 

I knew there had to be a thread about favorite books somewhere, so I did a search rather than starting a new one. :)


So anyway, I was bored and didn't feel like working today, so I went on barnesandnoble.com and created a wish list of all those classic books I should have read but never did, even though I was an English major in college. For example, I've never read Dante's Inferno or The Grapes of Wrath. My goal is to try to read a new book every couple of months just to better myself as a person (and 'cause I'm a dork like that). I have 15-20 books on my list right now, but I was wondering if there are any books that you guys think should be required reading for everyone, or any favorite pieces of literature you might have. Thanks!

Oops, I should probably start with some of my favorites:

Authors--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Shakespeare

Books--Paradise Lost, 100 Years of Solitude, My Antonia, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World

Well, currently I'm reading "Divine Secrets", one of my sisters lent it to me.

For any education majors, I highly recommend the series written by David Pelzer. It's "A child Called It", "The Lost Boy", and "A Man Named Dave". They deal with child abuse and are exteremely heartbreaking. I started crying when I read "A man Named Dave". It's awful what this woman did to her child.

I also like anything written by Anna Quindlen. She's my favorite author!!

"Classics" I loved:
This Side of Paradise (my favorite book ever -- I like it a thousand times more than The Great Gatsby -- and Fitzgerald's short stories are even better)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1984
Brave New World
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pride and Prejudice
The Faerie Queene
"Daisy Miller"
Lolita
anything by Dorothy Parker

Classics I hated:
Paradise Lost
Great Expectations
Hawthorne's short stories

As an English major, I've found that the literature I'm lacking in tends to be the stuff that was originally written in Russian or Italian or French or what have you -- Anna Karenina, Dante's Inferno, etc. -- since most of my classes are English or American lit classes. Also, since I spent most of my childhood reading junk like Sweet Valley High, I missed out on a lot of children's classics like Little Women or Peter Pan. I went back and read a lot of classic children's books this summer :) and I would definitely recommend that too -- most of them are just as good and more interesting than the "grown-up" classics.

Whoa, you liked The Faerie Queene, but don't like Paradise Lost? Interesting . . . I find the Faerie Queene droll and uninteresting for the most part. Its didacticism makes me want to kick my own ass.

I'm finishing my English (American Lit) degree this year, so I've done extensive reading in the catagories most have picked from, and I'll agree with most all - good selections guys(although Brave New World is potentially the most overrated book ever, in my opinion - Aldous Huxley was a fucking moron).

My favorite "book" of all time would be Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn - although it's more of a full-length essay. My favorite piece of literature of all time would probably be Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" - although I'm not the beatnik epicurian hippy that would make me seem.

In a more "classic" sense, I'll posit that the best (modern) book written would be Moby-Dick, because it never strays from the goals, themes, and style Melville intended (note that Fitzgerald was about there with Gatsby too), although it's not the most interesting read in parts.

For entertainment, however, I stick to things like our good ol' coked-up buddy, Sherlock Holmes, and brain candy. Good stuff.

Books I've read recently:

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Partly Cloudy Patriot and Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell

I would highly recommend any of those.

Books on my wishlist on Amazon right now:

Me Talk Pretty One Day and the Santaland Diaries by Dave Sedaris
About a Boy and High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby
The Nanny Diaries when it finally hits paperback next month.

I've also read and liked just about everything by Coupland and Vonnegut. If anyone has any suggestions for more good stuff I'd love to hear it....

Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy

-Rudey
--Read it.

W.E.B. Griffen. Three Story Trilogy! Army, Marines, and Philly PD!

Cant remember the other one but love it too!

Just love to read! Gradiated, so reading is good!:)


Read for enternment, not beeecause I have to for class in the AM!:D You will too in your maturing years!:D If ya'all get there!!:)

I am so glad that you mentioned this! I think it's one of the best books ever written. His newer one, You Shall Know Our Velocity is also amazing. I think he is one of the best writers of our time.

I also love The Catcher in the Rye and On the Road.

I loved this book. He's got a new novel out called "You Shall Know Our Velocity" that's really good too.

Other books I really liked:

New books:
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Lit Life - Kurt Wenzel
If Men Were Angels - Reed Karaim
The Fundamentals of Play - Kaitlyn Lacy
Pure Drivel - Steve Martin
Empire Falls - Richard Russo
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Toby Young
The Best a Man Can Get - John O'Farrel
Cash - Johnny Cash
Among the Heroes - Jere Longman
Ganster - Lorenzo Carcaterra
The Final Season - Tom Stanton
Dino - Nick Torshes
The Rules of Attraction - Bret Easton Ellis
Jennifer Government - Max Barry
Shopgirl - Steve Martin

Classics:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Great Gatsby
Of Mice and Men
Lonesome Dove
The Time Machine
Catch 22
Fahrenheit 451
A Confederacy of Dunces

I LOVED The Faerie Queene and couldn't stand Paradise Lost -- but I was the only one in my entire class that liked Faerie Queene better. My professor hated me for it too; he was under the impression that Milton was God. Personally, I had to read Paradise Lost out loud just to keep from falling asleep.

I'm pretty sure that it would be fairly rewarding if only I could get into it . . . I liked certain things that Milton did with language -- I just can't get into it. I am a much more visual reader than verbal, too, so imagery appeals to me more than language does.

I love Sherlock Holmes, too. I found a hardcover edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes at a garage sale for three dollars this summer, and that made me so happy. :)

My fave books are....

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Ten Thousand Sorrows by I forget who

I really like Julia Alvarez as an author... she wrote "In the Name of Salome," "In the Time of the Butterflies," and "We were the Garcia Girls."

All time favorite book is probably "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. I also like "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac.

I couldn't help but compare "White Oleander" and "She's Come Undone" when I read them for some reason. The movie of "White Oleander" was such an injustice though!

Edited to add:

I also really like Michael Chabon lately (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay).

Oh my! I saw the thread title and knew this is what I was going to post! I haven't read it in years, but back inhighschool i read it around 3-4 times....


Of course, my current fav is Harry Potter series! I think i'm attracted to them just cuz it's soooo easy to read compared to the texts from university.

Yo, Tom!

The other series is about the OSS (Office of Strategic Services - predecessor to the CIA) in WW II. Griffin (real name: William E. Butterworth) is a good author and a hell of a nice guy to boot! He calls it the 'Argentine series', for lack of a better title.

I think the 'Brotherhood of War' series (the Army series) has pretty much run its course, unless Griffin writes a 'filler' novel that covers the gaps in time in some of the original books.

'The Corps' suddenly jumped to the Korean War... I was looking forward to seeing the rest of McCoy, Pickering and company survive through the rest of WWII.

'Badge of Honor' is pretty decent, though the original books were written in the early 70s and appear somewhat dated.

But I still prefer to kick back and relax with a James Bond novel. (And a martini, shaken not stirred.) Can't beat Ian Fleming, John Gardner wasn't bad, and Raymond Benson is improving.

My favorite book is a historical novel--
The Killer Angels by Michael Sharaa (it was made into the movie Gettysburg).


My favorite books for a quick and fun read are the Harry Potter series!

Fave Author: C. S. Lewis. His work goes waaaaayyyyy beyond "Narnia".
Case in point: Favorite Book: "The Screwtape Letters". Very off the wall POV--you get shivers down your back reading it.

Best Book To Bring With You to Jury Duty:

The Runaway Jury, by John Grisham.

hehehehehehehehh..........

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)