Books You Just Loved

The Help, Kathryn Stockett (I think)
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen

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I like John Grisham, Tess Gerritson, Nicholas Sparks. I am also finding it hard to find books by authors that I like. If you liked the Twilight series, I dove head first into the Sookie Stackhouse novels, by Charlaine Harris. She is a great writer and there are 10 in the series so far. I think I read the series in a matter of days I was consumed and couldn't wait for the next book to come out. The author is the one that started the True Blood series. She is an awesome writer and I have started to read more books from her in different series. I also liked Ann Rice the Vampire Chronicles. The Ghost writer is a good book. If you download the i-book from apple (it's free) you can get free previews of book before you buy them. They are about 300 pages you can read before you deceide if you want to purchase the book or not. Have fun and good luck.

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I am right now into the historical fiction of Phillipa Gregory. She wrote "The Other Boleyn Girl", several others about the Tudors and I just finished "The White Queen", which is about the War of the Roses through the eyes of the wife of Edward IV, Queen Elizabeth.
I also really enjoy the "____ in Death" Series by JD Robb (Nora Roberts). They are about a police detective in the mid 21st century (Eve Dallas). Each individual book focuses on her solving a crime, but the overall series is about her relationships.

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LOVED those Stieg Larsson books!

I second the suggestion of The Help and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

I read a lot anyway and am part of a book club so here are some of my favorites:
Water for Elephants
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Blue Tattoo
The Thirteenth Tale
The School of Essential Ingredients
Live LIst by Olivia Gentile
*Pillars of the Earth and World without End by Ken Follett

*Both Pillars and World without End are 1000 pages-ish, but don't let that turn you off. I also would have never picked them up on my own since they are so big and set in the days of kings and knights. But Pillars of the Earth was a book club pick and once I could not put it down, I couldn't wait to read the next one!

Happy reading!

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Anything by Christopher Moore. His books are so well written and very funny.
I think i've read every one of them at least 3-4 times each.
Examples:
A Dirty Job
Practical Demon Keeping
Lamb: A Gospel According to Biff
The Studpidest Angel.

HE has a LOT more. I really suggest everyone go and grab one and try them out.
I read a lot and he is by far my favorite author.

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I LOVE the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel. They are FABULOUS books and I have read the series a couple of times. The first one takes a bit to get into but it's worth it. In fact I might go read it again :) I also love The Christ Commission by Og Mandino.

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The "Stephanie Plum" series by Janet Evanovich is fun. If you start with book 1, they are very dated (from the late 90's) but you could always just start with say, book 5 :) There are 16 books so far.

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Strange name but excellent book. Memorable characters you really care about. Loved this book!

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I loved the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. It starts with Bitten, about a werewolf named Elena, and eventually there are witches and necromancers and stuff.

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I just finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. I loved the book. I don't normally stay up late reading but stayed up one night until about 2 am to finish it. If you are a dog lover you will like even more!

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Geek Love by Katherine Dunne. Don't eat while reading, at least on the first go. I have read it 4x in the past 10 years. It's an amazing book.

It puts family dynamics in a whole new setting. The parents are circus geeks and think the greatest gift they can give their kids is the ability to earn a living by being themselves - so they set about breeding a family of circus freaks - with the most bizaare being the most worthy of their affections.

It's horrifying if you take it literally. As metaphor, it will knock your socks off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek_Love

(I have also really enjoyed Joanne Harris's books)

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The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty (has nothing to do about running)

The Physick Book of Deliverence Dane by Katherine Howe
The Dome by Stephen King

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Me Talk Pretty One Day By David Sedaris
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim By David Sedaris

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The Shack
Secret life of Bees
Green Mile
The Red Tent
Kite Runner

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The Hunger Games! My all time favorite series. They are actually going to start making the movie cause they are so good. I also just read "The Glass Castle." It's a true story about a girls life and her crazy parents. Both good reads.

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Outlander series by Diana Galbaldon. Johanna Lindsey Gentle Rogue is one of the best romance novels I've ever read.

Why Men Love B*tches - Sherry Argov. Can solve almost any relationship problem with this book. FAB BOOK

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I see it was already suggested, but when I saw your question title, I thought "I gotta tell her about THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN. (garth stein)" When I first started reading books in my adult life, I sent out an email to friends asking for reading suggestions. So glad a friend suggested this one! This book took me a couple of days to read because I couldn't put it down. I have seriously thought of naming my future child Enzo after the dog in this book.

Also - when I didn'tknow what to read, I would look at the stands at Target and write down some titles. From the Target bookshelf, I read Sarah's Key (fictional, but about the holocaust, very good, sad of course) and Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (biographical, very emotional book, but very well written also).

I havent' read them all, but like every Jodi Picoult book I've read so far.

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The Personal History of Rachel Dupree by Amy Weinberger
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall
Smith
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - about two women who have their feet bound in China-amazing, interesting, horrifying.
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
For a great laugh anything by David Sedaris-short stories so easy to pick up and put down

1 mom found this helpful

It's old now but you didn't list it so I'll suggest Seabiscut. I don't know anyone who didn't love it regardless of whether or not they're a horse fan. Same with The Help. (not the horses part)

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Someone suggested these already, but I have to second the suggestion because I guarantee that you will LOVE this trilogy: The Hunger Games. You will not be able to put them down :)

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I absolutly loved the book called "The Help" my mother read it and passed it through the family of girls. It was so interesting and funny, and sad, and just all emotions at the same time. The kind of book where you bond with the people in it and you dont want it to end. Definatly look it up!

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Did you read The Help?

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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Anything by Anita Shreve or Jodi Piccoult
Precious
A Tale of Two Cities

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"Watership Down" by Richard Adams

This is a "kids" chapter book, but I love "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine l'Engle.

Loved these books as a kid and still do.
For any age.

1 mom found this helpful

The Help is a great read. I too just finished the Stieg Larsson books - back at chic lit right now to mix it up. For a non-fiction option, try Half the Sky - about women lives & oppression around the world...

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I have loved everything I've ever read by Adriana Trigiani & Marian Keyes,
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah,
There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahearn,
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner,
Where the Heart Is, by Billie Letts

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The first book that always comes to mind when I hear this question is The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. The Kite Runner is a close second.

My daughter recently read The Help, and loved it. We both found The Life of Pi an intriguing and satisfying read.

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i love terry goodkind series called the sword of truth series. first one is wizard's first rule.
also if u like sci/fi or romance:anything by:
karen moning,
sherlyn kenyon,
laurel k hamilton
charlein harris
kin harrison

for a good laugh:
anything by katie maccalistar

1 mom found this helpful

The Shack is the first that comes to my mind. Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series will keep you busy for awhile - there's 13 or 14 books in it (the teen series is good but won't last as long) and there's books by Beverly Lewis about the Amish - they're wonderful (course, I grew up in Western PA and was very curious). Bill O'Reilly's books are a hoot. I've just finished Karen Kingsberry (I think) - she's written about 50 books - but I just read One Tuesday Morning, then Beyond Tuesday Morning and then Every Now and Then - all about events from 9/11 and one women's struggle (all fiction). Tuesdays with Morrie is also wonderful - don't know how old you are - you may have read it in High School as required reading - it's not very long....

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I wouldn't say I LOVED them, but they entertained me enough...

Sarah's Key
The Glass Castle
Half Broke Horses
Angels of a Lower Flight
Into Thin Air
One Thousand White Women
Touching the Void
The Help

I usually type in a book on Amazon and look at "what others bought" as a suggested reading list

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I'm a sucker for any of Nicholas Spark's books.

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Hi,
I have had the same problem...probably because I read more than ever now with the kindle. I like to look on Amazons top book list for suggestions and then I read all of the reviews.

Below, a few people mentioned The Help. I thought this was an amazing book. I, too, read the Stieg Larrson books and loved them. After a great book, I always stress about finding the next best book.

I love all Luanne Rice Books and Jane Green books are always fun reads.

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Anything by Christopher Moore, especially Lamb. Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, they are good authors too. I am trying to think of what else is on my shelf...What about some of the classics, like Vonnegut?

The Help by Kathryn Stockett was excellent.

I just finished Juliet by Ann Fortier. It was fantastic!!

Well, I haven't read any of those you just listed, so perhaps our tastes are a bit different - but I'm also still in the season of not having time to read as I would like - so maybe someday I can get to some of these other reads!

All that said, I highly recommend Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Francine Rivers has done some contemporary and some historical fiction - of the contemporary I liked Loeta's Garden and her Mark of the Lion series is great historical fiction.

I also just started rereading the Zion Covenant series by Thoene - historical fiction in WWII - great reads with some interesting perspectives, and if you like music, great references to music -

Looks like you have a great list - hope you find something that strikes a chord!
A.

There has been a recent post asking for good titles. This is what I answered there:

My latest very GOOD read was "The Cop Who Wouldn't Quit" by Rick Nelson. The one before that was "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" by Heidi Durrow.

I'm afraid I don't read most of these books - I prefer sf/f, mainly. BUT, here's one really good book series.

Kushiel's Dart (first book in that series) by Jacqueline Carey. A word of warning - the main heroine is an anguissette - meaning she experiences pain as pleasure, and that's very, very prevalent in this book. It's part of the plot, though. Give it a try, you may just get sucked into it!

The Help by Kathryn S. and Room, by Emma Donoghue

Vintage Affair
Secret Life of Bees
The Help

Sue Grafton
Debbie Mac Comber

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ted Dekker. He has pretty much everything, especially serial killers, fantasy, vampires....lots of suspense.

The Joy Luck Club is interesting, and I second someone's suggestion of Madeline Le'Engle books, especially the "time" books!

I absolutely loved Water for Elephants, it was amazing. The author also has a new book out, Ape House. It was good, though not as good as WFE.

The Help
Prep
Kite Runner

I found these books pretty entertaining. I laughed, I cried, I wasn't able to put them down until finished.
The Shack
A Million Little Pieces
Push
Right now I'm reading, Emmanuel's Veins.

Memoirs of a Geisha
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Roses by Leila Meacham My FAVE of the list!! love this one
Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent There are two books after, but i haven't read them
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead There are six books.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett