Need a Good Book for Vacation Reading

Wow, someone else has read "Confederacy of Dunces" and loved it too? Cool!!! It's a great book, Ignatius P Riley is one of the best characters.

For summer, Anita Shreve is good: Pilots Wife
Sophie Kinsella and the Shopaholic series for totally brainless reading
If you want something meatier "Cutting for Stone" was an amazing, amazing read.

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HA -I was going to recommend "The Help" to you! Great, wasn't it? You may have already read all of these, but here goes:

"A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving (and the rest of his stuff -particularly "The Cider House Rules")
"The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
"Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
"She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb (and his other books -"I Know This Much is True" and "The Hour I First Believed")

**If you loved "The Help" and you haven't read these, I recommend all of the "Ya Ya" books -"Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood" and "Little Altars Everywhere" -and there's another YaYa one as well.

When I'm on vacation, I LOVE a good thriller and page turner -what I call "beach books." ANYTHING by Carl Hiassen is awesome -funny, quirky crime novels set in Florida. I'm also a big Harlan Coben fan and a Jonathan Kellerman fan -crime novels -VERY fast reads. Nelson DeMille is also a pleasure -suspense and a wry sense of humor. Lee Child is good too, but I don't think he's everyone's cup of tea -very fast page turners though.

If you like historical fiction, Ken Follet's "The Pillars of the Earth" is one of the best books I've ever read, and he just released a follow up to it a few years ago that's very good. He also writes a lot of spy thrillers that are good.

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My book club read "The Help" recently, and we loved it, too. Here are some other books we've read that I've enjoyed:
"The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield (I really loved this one!)
"The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant
"Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult
"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold
We're currently reading/discussing "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, which was very eye-opening. Most of the books we read are considered "chick-lit", which is not what I normally read, but I've enjoyed our book club and many of the books. I just started "The Graveyard Book" by my favorite author, Neil Gaiman. His first book, "American Gods" is just fantastic, as well as "Coraline", "Stardust", and "Neverwhere". I really did like the Twilight series, but I've also found myself enjoying "The House of Night" series of books by P.C. and Kirsten Cast. (Think teenage vampires meet Harry Potter, in a way.) Yes, they're trashy teenage vampire romance novels, but that would be fun on vacation, right? ;) Hope that helps!

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I always recommend Cold Sassy Tree to my girlfriends. It's an easy read, but fun and sweet at the same time.

I teach college English, so I am partial to the classics - some of my favorites are Jane Austen novels (Pride & Prejudice, Emma, etc.) and I'd recommend Tess of the D'Urbervilles (by Thomas Hardy) and Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) also.

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I just read Atonement by Ian McEwan. It was incredible, but it starts kind of slow. Its going to be a long time before I get that book out of my heart! I have not seen the movie, and I am glad because his prose was incredible.

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I just finished The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes. It was really good. I also like Amy Tan's books as well. If you like light (and hilarious) reading, read any of Jen Lancaster's memoir books. My Fair Lazy just came out. I also second Wally Lamb's books.

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Julie B. has given you some GREAT choices.

I particularly second Pillars of the Earth -- it's one of my all time favorites, and Poisonwood Bible and Confederacy of Dunces are amazing. Confederacy of Dunces is quite unique. There's an interesting and sad story behind its author.

I just finished Water for Elephants and LOVED it!

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I see someone recommended Pillars of the Earth. The book that goes with that - World Without End - is also a great read.

East of Eden
The 19th Wife
Wench
But Inside I'm Screaming
Still Alice
Caught
Five Quarters of the Orange
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

Emily Griffin books.

Enjoy!

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Little Bee by Chris Cleave or for easy reads - any of the Carla Neggers
An old but excellent choice if you haven't read it yet is the Red Tent (can't remember author) and any of the Judy Piccoult books are great choices

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My favorite book of all times I "the glass Castle"

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You can't go wrong with Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, or Janet Evonovich books. It just depends on the type of read you are looking for. If you want drama with some hot romance thrown in, go for Nora Roberts. If you want emotional, look at Jodi Picoult books. If you want laugh out loud funny then Janet Evonovich is what you want. I love all 3 of these authors, among others. Happy reading!!!!

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There is a great series I read called THE MARK OF THE LION. It is by Francine Rivers. The are GREAT books, I really enjoyed them. Or any books by Beverly Lewis are good (she writes all about amish people). Dee Henderson writes AMAZING suspense novels so check her out too! These are all great authors and good books! Hope it helps!!

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I always enjoy light, funny books when I'm on vacation. I loved "The Interruption of Everything" and "Good in Bed".

Have a great vacation!
J.

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I love the Lori Wick books, she is turn of the century Christian Romance. Her novels "Sophie's Heart", "White Chocolate Memories" and "Every Storm" are wonderful.

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The Help.. By Kathryn Sockett. I have loaned out this book so many times to so many different types of people and they have all LOVED it..

Here is a synopsis.
http://www.kathrynstockett.com/book/

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The Art of Racing in the Rain is a GREAT book!!!!!

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I am reading "dear John" right now and I love it!

I am also OBCESSED with all Karen Kingsbury Books. She is a Christian Fiction authorr and she is awesome!!! You can go to her website at www.karenkingsbury.com and read passages from her books!

HAve fun on Vacation!!

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I love anything by Jodi Picoult. My favorite though is My Sister's Keeper.

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Chelsea Handler's books are a good read. I finished the second book - Are you There Vodka, Its Me Chelsea and it was hard to set down. She's an "adult" writer and very comedic in her writing. I am partial to her because I watch her show and know what her type of comedy is. Good read though, and you will likely get some chuckles to yourself!

My aunt just had her first book published and it's available: "Shades of Sin" by Michele Vargo - it's a fast read and great story about a woman that had a hard start into adulthood, a rocky marriage and how she is dealing with her relationships with her children. Check it out! http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-...

Also: I've just read and loved...
"The Glass Castle" and "Half Broke Horses" by Jeanette Walls
"The Husband" by Dean Koonz

I love to read and am in a book club - we're reading "The Help" next month. Get ahold of me if you'd like more suggestions! Happy Reading and enjoy your vacation!