A huge storm has invited itself over and doesn't intend on leaving. Our power was out for a couple days and after the seventh game of rummy and the fourth texas hold 'em tournament I went to find a book. Alas, no unread books on the shelf! Anyway, our power is back on (yay for hot water!), but it has still been far too long since I have read a book (that was longer than fourteen pages) from cover to cover. So, ladies and gentlefolk, what books can you recommend?
I absolutely love magical realism. My favorite book is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and is what I would recommend if the tables were turned.
You are all awesome!
There is truly nothing like a good book and a fire to sit by while reading it. Thanks again, I am ridiculously excited.
Water for Elephants is one of the best books I've read lately.
Oh! Read Julie B's post, and, how could I forget about The Help!!! Wonderful!!!!!!!! (Her other book choices are good too, but I've gotta disagree about Shipping News.) :(
If you like magical realism I would suggest The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
I look forward to seeing what other moms recommend.
I love jodi picoult books!
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands -if you like "One Hundred Years..." you'll love it! By Jorge Amado
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski is truly haunting and lovely.
Not necessarily magical realism, but my favorites are "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole; "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving; "The Cider House Rules" by John Irving; "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet; "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant; "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb and "The Hour I First Believed" also by Wally Lamb; "The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx. One of the hands down best books I've read in a long time is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett -currently still riding the best seller lists. I could go on and on -I love books and I love to read!
The Last Child, by John Hart. LOVED IT.
My all time favorite is probably: A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving.
Anne Rice
John Updike
John Irving
Kurt Vonnegut
Stephen Crane
Some of my favs
Last time our power went out we had family Chess Tournaments. It was a blast. We were (almost) sad when it came back on again and everyone went back to their computers, sigh, including me. :(
I don't read much anymore either, thanks for the reminder!
oops, almost forgot Sue Miller
You guys really got hammered with the storm! I heard on the news that certain places in Washington had winds that reached 100 miles per hour or something like that. OMG!
One of my very most favorite books is one that I came across by surprise. I bought it for my daughter through the Scholastic Book Club at her school. I wanted to read it first to make sure it was appropriate to read with her and I literally couldn't put that book down once I started it.
My daughter has read it, my son absolutely loves it (in fact he cried when we finished it because you just love the story so much you don't want it to be over).
I sent it to my father to read when he was going through his chemo treatments.
It's a beautiful book, I can't say enough about it, really. It won quite a few literary awards.
It's not a "kid" book, although it's certainly fine for kids that are a little older. My daughter was 8 when I got it for her.
It's called "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant.
I've bought several copies and got one on e-bay that was in excellent condition and even signed.
It's not super long, but there is so much story packed into it.
I highly recommend it.
I'm sure you'll get some great suggestions!
Almost anything by Tom Robbins.
Start with his earlier books and work your way forward.
Some by Thomas Pynchon;
Kurt Vonnegut.
The Red Tent.
If you like supernatural romance, I highly recommend Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series. It starts with "bitten" about a werewolf, and eventually gets more supernaturals, witches, vampires a little bit, a necromancer. It's really good and really well written.
I don't know even what 'magical realism' is .... so none of my books sound like that. I recommend:
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
any book (except Songs of the Humpback) by Jodi Picoult (my favs were My Sister's Keeper, Vanishing Acts, Plain Truth, Nineteen Minutes)
Classic book -- The Count of Monte Cristo by A. Dumas
Same Kind of Different As Me by Denver something and Ron Hall
just a few to check out....
I can read an entire book in an afternoon. I use the public library. One book I have taken out multiple times is Elias Canetti's Crowd and Power. Originally it was written in German. The book is a brilliant analysis of how crowds work and how we lose ourselves and our own principles in a crowd.
I adore books by Amy Tan, James Michner, and Alexandra David-Neel who wrote about her travels in Tibet and taking part in secret rituals there. She is most famous for Magic and Mystery in Tibet. She wrote her last book in 1969 when she was 100 years old.
I subscribe to the Writer's Almanac online. There the birthday of authors is noted and a short biography. A poem is included everyday.
The House of the Spirits (or anything else by Isabel Allende).
Tom Robbins (mentioned below) is a great local author into magical realism.
I love Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series - there are at least 50 books in this series. Enjoy!. For romance, I'm a big fan of Nora Roberts. She also does a future/crime series under the name JD Robb.
Funny...I just gave up on "Solitude" about a month ago. Too many hispanic names starting in "A". Couldn't keep all the characters stratight.
Here are some others with a touch of whimsy you might like:
The Time Traveler's Wife
Life of Pi (one of my faves of all time)
Watership Down (my other fave)
Hope the storm passes quickly!
I loved Shadow of the Wind (can't remember the author, but it was very original and took place in Barcelona, Spain - a place near and dear my heart since I loved there once upon a time) and Louis de Bernieres is similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Also, the Guernesy Potato Peel Literary Society was really good, too, even though the name sounds cheesy. Really enjoyed that one.
I love anything by Tim Powers. His books are super creative and have a "magical" feel to them. It seems as if he takes some real-life event and adds magic to make his story! He wrote the book that is being used as the basis for the latest Johnny Depp pirate movie. Anyway, I absolutely love his books. My favorites are the pirate one and the beer one. I'm drawing a blank on the titles. If I can figure them out, I'll post again!
I think you'll love Haruki Murakami. He is probably my favorite of all time - I'd especially recommend "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle." Another gem is "A Wild Sheep Chase." Though perhaps not technically magical realism, his novels contain many similar elements. Japanese magical realism, perhaps? Happy reading!
The Alchemist--or anything by Paulo Coelho
I don't know how old your kids are but I just started reading a new series of books to my kids that we are ALL loving called The Mysterious Benedict Society. I actually sneak the books so I can keep reading after I am done reading them out loud, I am liking them so much.
Personally, I am working on this list: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1285...
