I grew up in a book-lovin’ family, and I am a book-lovin’ gal. (I’ve also been listening to alot of country lately… so pardon me for that country-esque line).
Seriously – I’d like to ask for your recommendations on books to read.
Books on my To Check Out List include:
–> Ishmael – Daniel Quinn
–> Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert (probably have to wait until 2012 for this book to be available in the library seeing as that I’m #47236495330 on the wait-list)
–> Give Me The World – Leila Hadley
–> King, Kaiser, Tsar – Catrine Clay
–> Galileo’s Daughter – Dava Sobel
I am also partial to good chick-lit (I like the Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella).
If you think a book is worth reading – leave a comment (it’d be nice if you can write a tiny little blurb about it). I’ll add them on the list! Thank you. 🙂
Well Heeled Blog 
I can recommend many, many books 🙂 Recently I’ve enjoyed ‘The Island’ (by Victoria Hislop) which is a story about a leper colony on an island off the coast of Crete. I also loved ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac.
Books I can read time and time again include all those by Maeve Binchy (Irish family saga’s and suchlike), books by Jane Green (modern chick-lit), and those by Patricia Scanlan (Irish stories again, but quite modern).
In the adventure travel genre, I love ‘Into the Wild’ by John Krakauer (just been made into a film which hasn’t made it here to the UK yet) and also ‘Into thin air’ by the same author about the 1986 Everest tragedy.
Other books I have really enjoyed in the past include ‘The Cloud Garden’ by Tom Hart-Dyke. It’s a true story about a couple of English guys who get taken hostage out in Central America (it’s surprisingly lighthearted!). I also loved ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger. A fascinating story.
I’ll take a look at the stuff you’re wanting to try, since I’m always on the look out for new suggestions! 🙂
I’ve always wanted to read Ishmael…I hear it’s great. I’m at work, so I don’t have time to list blurbs….you’ll have to check out Amazon…but some of my faves are:
-The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (hard to get into but oh-so-worth it
-Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
-1,000 White Women by Jim Fergus
-The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (everything he writes is wonderful)
-Most books by Anita Shreve
Enjoy!!!
“The Madonnas of Leningrad” by Debra Dean. I was just thinking about it yesterday (even though I read it over a year ago). It’s about a woman who now has Alzheimer’s Disease who is remembering her time as a docent at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad while it was under siege during WWII. It’s not a war book at all. It’s so good, and one of my all time favorites.
I finally read Madonnas of Leningrad – it’s a lovely book. Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb is my absolute favorite of all time. I wrote a review on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2CJQA07YEOBG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Also, I just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, and it was hilarious!
I have a feeling you in particular would really, really like Ruth Reichl’s memoirs. They drop off a bit after the first one, but that first one is spectacular. It’s called Tender at the Bone, and it’s about her life as an eater, a cook, and finally as a restaurant critic.
Also try I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. I read it when I was 13 or 14, and it’s sort of like chick-lit–but better.
I like Victorian and Modernist stuff a lot, which not everyone wants to hear recommended, but I’m a really big fan of Howards End and Edith Wharton–you might start with Old New York, which is a series of novellas from different decades during the development of New York into a metropolis.
Oooh so many to chose from… Depends what you’re in the mood for.
If you’re looking for the wonder of the natural world, then try reading “In The Shadow of Man,” the Jane Goodall account of her time studying Chimpanzees in situ. Her life is also a ridiculously interesting story, as well.
If you’re in the mood for the wonder of a completely un-natural world, check out the magical realism of Jorge Luis Borges. All his stuff is gold. Unfortunately, you’ll likely be reading from a translation (unless you are fluent in spanish), so make sure its a good transaltion
If you’re looking for another sciency-but-good read, check out the late Carl Sagan’s “Contact” – you know it from the Jodie Foster movie several years back. Sagan was not unskilled with his words, by any means, and this proved it. Goooood story.
If you want to skip all this sciency junk (can you tell i’ve been a bit of a nerd lately?) and go straight to a more “human” story, for instance “My Name is Asher Lev” by Chaim Potok. Its especially good if you have ever attempted to reconcile religion or family with art in any form.
Or find a period in history that you’re fascinated by, and read a bio of a prominent (or not-so-prominent) figure from that era. I’ve always been fascinated by the Cold War (since I wasn’t alive to experience it myself) and Soviet Russia, so I’ve read bios of Dmitri Shostakovich, a Russian composer and perhaps-dissident. I find that this sort of micro approach to history makes the macro stuff more interesting and palatable.
If you’re tired of all this fairly heady stuff and just want some “dessert” reading, go for the guitly pleasure. We’ve all got em (mine is Michael Crichton), so go for it. John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, and the like are fair game. Don’t limit yourself here though, check out the archives from sites like mcsweeneys.net and the Onion for the needed dose of witty banter.
Hope you might like at least some of those… I have a kindof odd taste.
I recently finished “The Glass Castle.” It was a really great book. Extremely touching…it’s autobiographical….The author writes about the difficult times she experienced growing up and her parents (which is just insane).
I read eat, pray, love this year. I bought it in an airport bookstore in a moment of extreme weakness. But I really loved it, and have since gave it to my sister. A book that is a couple years older that I loved: Time Travelers Wife. Can’t recall the author.
I’m going to come back to this entry and steal recommendations for my reading list!!
My perennial recommendations are Marilyn Robinson, either Gilead or Housekeeping (or both!) and At Play In The Fields Of The Lord by Peter Matthiessen.
I also loved Eat, Pray, Love. And, like SJean, I highly recommend Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s a beautiful book.
I’m currently reading The Female Brain, which I received as a gift for my 19th birthday a couple of months ago. It’s a fascinating read – I’m not sure I agree on some points, but I’m not sure I have any reason for not agreeing (after all, I’m not studying neuropsychology). I recommend it, though, if you’re seeking some non-fiction.
If you’re into some historical fiction, Sarah Dunant’s The Birth of Venus was brilliant. It takes place in Florence, Italy in the 16th century, and it’s about a young woman who finds herself inextricably drawn to a painter who is hired to work in the family’s chapel. It’s been some time since I’ve read this, but it’s an intriguing read about politics and passion.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake is without a doubt one of the best books I’ve ever read. Think immigration, education, literature, assimilation, and cultural concerns all fused into one book.
Oh yes! Birth of Venus and The Namesake… both very good. Sarah Dunant wrote another book called In the Company of the Courtesan, which was also great (but not as good as Birth of Venus, in my opinion)
glass castle is really a great memoir. the author, a gossip columnist details how her parents came to new york to find her and how they foraged through trash for food among other things.
i really liked “perks of being a wallflower” by michael chabon. it’s a really heartwarming story and easy to read and fall in love with.
love in the time of cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez… my all time favorite. a love story set in Colombia- GMM is known for his magical realism style. its amazing!!! i’ve re-read it countless times.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is fantastic. It’s about the life of a poor Chinese man. It reminds me of a Chinese version of the Jungle (by Upton Sinclair).
I’m reading My Life in France by Julia Child and am really enjoying the book. It’s her personal memoir of her time in France shortly after WW II. It details how she became interested in French cuisine and how she ended up writing her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She has a very infectious, light hearted and fun loving (almost like a Sophie Kinsella character) personality and tells her story in such an interesting and descriptive way that really makes you feel like you are there in France too.
Pride & Prejudice is one of my all-time faves. I’ve reread it several times (it’s not too long or serious or complicated, either, but it’s still classic literature; a combination which I often appreciate).
Eat Pray Love might be worth the purchase , or find someone you can borrow it from. GREAT read.
Also I really like the Poisenwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover (family of missionaries in Africa with 4-5 daughters; each chapeter is in the first person with a different member of the fam as narrator).
John Irving is also a really good novelist who I enjoy. A Prayer for Owen Meany is a good one of his to start with (I actually can’t even remember the plot; maybe I should re-read it…)
For the chick-lit, I love Jennifer Weiner. She wrote “In Her Shoes”, which was a movie with Cameron Diaz a few years ago. My favorite of hers is “Good in Bed”.
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller changed my life!
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell is fantastic also.
“Sands of Time” by Sydney Sheldon is a great book. I liked it. It’s all about 4 nuns and a terrorist group and politics. I also like reading “The Kiterunner” by Khaled Hosseini and “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden.
I really loved THE HISTORY OF LOVE, totally engrossing, haven’t seen it mentioned here yet, engrossing.
Currently reading EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE and I’m loving it too (this author and the author of the prev. are married).
Ruth Riechl’s Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is worth a library rental for sure.
I hated TIME TRAVLER’S WIFE, bargh.
I recently read “Fangland” by John Marks. It’s kind of a vampire story, but without a lot of the stereotypical traditions. It took me a few weeks to read it and parts of it were slow, but overall it was a good book.
I currently have checked out Stephen King’s “Everything’s Eventual” book of short stories, but I’ve only read the first one so far.
Hi There 🙂 New to your blog..but I had to comment. I’m a sucker for a good book. My favorite of all time is The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. It’s the first of three books, and the second one just came out: The Winter Rose. Fantastic book about a girl from a poor family in London in the late 1890’s, early 1900’s. You won’t be able to put it down.
Also, I second (third?) the Time Traveler’s Wife. Fantastic book.
I’m sure you know about these already, but I wholeheartedly recommend:
The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Chabon. a story set in WWII era, about two cousins (one American, one whose family is killed by the Nazis and comes over to live with Cousin 1’s family) and their life story. It is fiction, but reads like a fantastic biography. It lagged a bit in the middle for me, but I kept at it and it is very worthwhile despite the speedbump. I’m not into comics, but if you are, he also describes that business well.
They Shall Know Our Velocity, Dave Eggers: From a review on Amazon: “The novel features the travels of Will and his best friend, Hand. Will and Hand lost their other best friend, Jack, six months earlier, and their lives have been forever changed. Will also came into $80,000 pretty much be accident; unbeknownest to him. Will clearly feels guilty about this money and also that he outlived his friend Jack. His “solution” is to plan an around-the-world trip with Hand to give away money to worthy people.”
He also wrote “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”–a memoir whose title exhibits his great sense of humor. The memoir is about the difficulties and fun he had while raising his young brother pretty much alone after his parents died suddenly and tragically. His writing alternates between very touching and humorous.
Middlesex, Eugenides: Awesome, fiction. It follows a dormant gene in a family in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s (?)until it is exposed in a person in the modern day, who is narrating the story. Don’t let the science-y description fool you, there are alot of human elements to this story, and the science is very much in the background.
The Perks of being a Wallflower (Chbosky), and She’s Come Undone (Lamb), suggested earlier, are also very good.
For chick lit–trending towards the younger, my favorite is any Sarah Dessen. Her work is geared towards and features teens, but strikes shockingly close to home, even for me at 29, very often.
I don’t know how she does it, Pearson. Follows a working mother juggling her kids, her high flying corporate job, and her marriage. Funny! cute. and highlights the struggles of being everywhere and everything to everybody, all at once. the ending is satisfying to the feminist side in me…
and of course, the devil wears prada and the nanny are favorites.
Oh! and of course, Sedaris is always hilarious. I enjoy his autobiographical short stories best.
Perks of being a wallflower which Sense mentioned is really a must- read. you’ll devour the book instantly. and the author is Stephen Chbosky, not Michael Chabon. I was thinking of another book by Chabon.
I read and loved books by Milan Kundera “the unbearable lightness of being.” it’s amazing and heartfelt.
[…] looked at all of your wonderful book recommendations, logged on to my library account, and immediately put about 5 of them on hold. Now I shall have […]
Let me ditto with EM said about Ruth Reichl. Love, love her! As an extra bonus, there are recipes interspersed in her memoirs.
Let me add a few more votes: another nod to Blue Like Jazz, along with these suggestions–
Bird by Bird (I know everyone seems to have read it, but I enjoyed it so much),
The Namesake (my favorite, favorite of all time),
Grammar Lessons (travel, Spain, single female),
The Art of Travel (why oh why don’t more people know about this fantastic travel jewel?)…
Personally, I’m right now reading True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer and LOVE it.
[…] best sellers, book club, books, friends, reading After reading a few posts about books to read (at Well-heeled, with a mission and Let Us Go Then, You and I), I realized I should talk about the book club my friends and I do […]
the book The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel is a perennial favorite of mine – it is a collection of her tales of being broke during her senior year of college – and it is too funny!
[…] 14, 2008 by wellheeled Now that you have so graciously shared your recs with me, it’s my turn to return the literary love. Below are just some of the books that I […]
I’d have to say The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera, if you haven’t already read it. If you’re at all into sci-fi/fantasy, Dying Inside by Robert Silverburg and Replay by Ken Grimwood were pretty fascinating, and Neil Gaiman is always good for a light and entertaining read.
If you read and enjoy Ishmael, you might watch The Man from Earth. I just caught it last night, and though the content was dissimilar, it still reminded me of that book.
By David Sedaris, I’ve read Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. They were both good for a laugh, but of the two I think I liked Naked a bit more.
A couple months ago I read This Book Will Save Your Life, which was pretty good, and certainly engaging (some compared it to Vonnegut — it did have a bit of a goofy tragicomic edge to it, but I’m not sure I agree . . . I’d say that’s more a case of it being set in LA).
Oh, and I guess there’s always Lolita, even if you’ve read it before.