OT: Summer reading suggestions
Anyone have read some good book recommendations? I've never really strayed away from fiction but I am going to start trying some non-fiction this summer. What was the last book you read?
My last few reads:
- The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by MG Vassanji (highly recommend)
- East of Eden by Steinbeck
- The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
- The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin
Goldfinch is a solid choice. Beautifully sad story. Well written. Engaging characters and development. Deeper meanings. Easily one of my favorite books of the past few years.
I joined a book club and we meet this week to discuss Goldfinch.
For me, reading 800 pages in a month is a ton. Reading 800 pages of a book you find 2/3 a slug is even tougher.
Well written, I'd probably say so. Engaging characters, pretty subjective. Sad story - I would say unrelentingly negative. First this person dies, then that person, than that persons dad, then another person, oh and school is hard, then he might have to go live with terrible people. On and on and on.
I'm looking forward to hearing what the book club has to say. I hate to be the guy who comes in just to rip it apart but I very well may be.
I can see that. Like movies and music it's all personal preference. I think this particular book resonated more with me based on some things I'm dealing with now and things that have happened to close friends.
Part of the reason that I haven't joined a book club. Reading is enjoyable to me when I can do it at my own pace around work, kids & personal life. To have to read a book that large in a month would make it seem like a job/homework which can take the enjoyment of it.
This is the second meeting w/ club. First was for Middlesex and I was really glad to have some people to talk about the book afterwards. I loved the book and it was fun reliving it with other people. Its kind of a drag to read a book and then have no one to talk to unless you read it with someone or read it through a recommendation.
Goldfinch will be good because I assume most people will have liked it and can tell me what I missed. No way I would recommend this book to someone else right now, but maybe tomorrow someone will have changed my mind.
As for the pace. I love reading outside with a good brew. Most relaxing thing you can do. I even play some relaxing music, stuff like Tibetan singing bowl music even.
A few recent books I've liked:
-The North Water by Ian McGuire. Maybe too dark for a summer read, but it's really, really well written and pretty terrifying.
-The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra.
-The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr. Great collection of short stories.
Anthony Beevor- D-Day the Battle for Normandy
Bill Bryson- A Short History of Nearly Everything*
I really enjoy Bill Bryson, particularly some of his earlier books.
Whether you have never read it, or have read it 100 times, best summer read ever, and an easy read, is The Great Gatsby.
GOAT book as well.
I am reading a biography of Patrick Henry by Jon Kukula that is pretty good so far.
If you want to be super depressed, Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich is really good (though it is super long). It's a collection of first hand accounts of life in the USSR (Both before and After its collapse) and the loss of national identity that the older generation still feels even while they remember the horrors of communist rule.
This came at a perfect time for me, as I have been on a major non-fiction kick and need some good old fiction to cleanse my pallet.
Margaret Atwood is a great writer. Though not as overtly futuristic as Ursula LeGuin, her work is in that dystopian world. I think you’d like her even if she is fiction.
I read The Handmaid’s Tale a couple months ago. I loved the premise and it was a very interesting world, but I personally found the writing to be rather boring and the plot wasn’t all that captivating. Have to say I have preferred the series.
Always willing to give another of her book’s a try, though.
I've also read Cat's Eye, Life Before Man, and The Robber Bride but those are more realistic fiction, and about relationships. I loved them, but you might not. If you're looking for non-fiction, what about essays? I love David Sedaris. Nora Ephron, too, but she's definitely more of a chick's writer. There's a really good yearly anthology series, The Best American Essays, edited each year by a different prominent writer. There used to be a sports writing anthology, too.
American War by Omar El Akkad is a good fiction book that came out last year that tells the story of the second American Civil War from the point of view of one family caught up in the conflict. Set in the middle part of this century.
Shameless plug, but if you’re looking to support a fellow alum, and a fellow MGoBlogger, may I humbly suggest “The Long Lost?” Read the reviews if you need an extra nudge, at bit.ly/LongLost.
Thanks to all who give it a chance!
The Monk of Mokha. Great read about coffee in Yemen and one man's journey to figure out his purpose.
Just picked up Russian Five -- should get me through a few beach days nicely!
Reviving an old thread to recommend the book Bad Blood about Elizabeth Holmes and the fraud that was Theranos. It's a really good read. She's a fascinating nutjob.