- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Now that I have more free time, I've rediscovered my love for reading and I'm looking for some recommendations, some fun light reads or interesting novels. I just finished Matters of the Heart and The Help and loved both.
Anyone have any recommendations?
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's a trilogy (Catching Fire and Mockingjay are the other two books). These are a teen series, but they are impossible to put down. I recommend them all over the place and everyone gets hooked on them. I swear by this series...and I read The Help and loved it, so we may have similar tastes!
Water for Elephants is a good book too.
@wolfpackbride: I second that. I blew through all 3 in about 3 days.
I love all books by Jodi Picoult. She tackles good issues and makes them relevant. My Sister's Keeper is among my favorites.
Anything by Jodi Picoult, Lisa Gardner is another good author, I can't put any of her books down once I start them!
I love Maeve Binchy books for a light, interesting story type read. Also anything by Amy Tan. I love Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, and his newest book Fall of Giants was really good too. The Poisonwood Bible is amazing. As is Cold Mountain and Gap Creek.
@wolfpackbride: I'll have to look into them, thanks! I just finished the Help last week nad couldn't put it down :)
@In the media: I've rtead at least two of her books incoluding My Sister's Keeper, I haven't heard of any other specific novels of hers, any specific book you'd recommend? I love her style.
@MissMedic: what genre is Lisa Gardner?
@bakerella: Thanks, I know I've heard of Maeve Binchy, but I've never actually read anything of hers. I love Irish background, so I really should check her out.
@starfish: Lisa Gardner is like, crime/mystery kind of books. I'm not usually into that kind of thing, but hers are REALLY well written, very intelligent, and addicting. My FMIL actually had one that she got from a friend (she usually reads the same kind of stuff as me, Jodi Picoult, etc.) and she loved it and passed it on, and I've been hooked since!
Another good author is Kristin Hannah, and the book Look Again by Lisa Scottoline is fantastic!
I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It's about a shooting at a high school, and traces the lives of the shooter and his family and one of the witnesses and her mom (who happens to be a judge). I liked the character development.
19 Minutes is really good. All of Jodi Picoult's books have the ability to pull you in to them, I love them. If you're interested in a teen series, I recommend The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I read the first book in about 2 days, and I'm quickly going through the second one as well.
I recently read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood, both by Haruki Murakami. I couldn't put them down!
Definitely The Hunger Games. I like Jodi Picoult, but after reading three or four of her books, they start to all sound the same. Here are some other books that I read recently and really liked/loved:
Cutting for Stone
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (cried during this one)
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (takes place during the Holocaust so you know it's going to be a tearjerker)
Room by Emma Donaghue (I think that's her name)
Shanghai Girls
Water for Elephants
The Guernsey L:terary and Potato Peel Pie Society
@starfish: I like Plain Truth and Vanishing Acts. Plain truth is about an Amish girl who has a baby and it is found dead. Vanish Acts is about a woman who was abducted as a child by her father. After those I would suggest The Pact, about two teens who supposedly agree to a suicide pact, only one of them lives. 19 Minutes is about a school shooting. But they all pull you in. Every single one.
The Millennium Trilogy (first one is "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"). I like Nora Roberts for a good no-brain read love story.
We pretty much love all the same books! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was one of the best reads ever. I read it right after reading The Help and felt like Christmas has come early.
I also love Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
@sdrury89: I loved 19 minutes!
Jodi Picoult is also one of my favorite authors - I would reccomend The Tenth Circle.
Also, one of the best books I've read in a long time is Evidence of Love by Melissa McConnell!
Carrie Vaughn's "Kitty" books - First one is "Kitty and the Midnight Hour" about a werewolf radio DJ
I also agree with the PPs who suggested "The Hunger Games" and "Water for Elephants" both of which I have blown through in the last little bit.
I also reccoment "Going Postal" and "Making Money" by Terry Pratchett!
If you havent already read it - Water for Elephants
It is a great book and the movie is coming out soon - but read the book first!!! Also, I love the Life of Pi and The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Thanks for all the suggesstions! I've been hearing alot about Hunger Games and Water for Elephants. I'll definitely have to check these out. I think I'll have to get a library card in my new town to get through this list! :)
Water for elephants is incredible! It really takes you for a ride set in the depression.
I am reading Room right now and it is very good. If you learn what it's about you might be hesitant to read it but it is fairly uplifting because it is written from a 5 year-olds point of view!
If you like intrigue at all, the Stieg Larsson trilogy (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo etc.) really is wonderful; I know it's one of those "everyone is talking about it" things but I loved them (and I don't usually like mystery/intrigue).
You might also like "Wench" (Perkins-Valdez) which is along similar lines as The Help (which I loved)...My mum just finished reading it and highly recommended it, so that's next on my list!
I always recommend Time-Traveler's Wife (Audrey Nifenneger) if you haven't already read it, as well as Cutting for Stone (Verghese) and Run (by Ann Patchett).
I'm going to have to look into Anna Quindlen; Every Last One sounds right up my alley!
Zadie Smith's White Teeth is one of my favorite books. Michael Chabon's novels are gorgeously written, but I don't know if I'd call them light. For fun, light reads I like Deanna Raybourn. She has a Victorian trilogy that is part mystery part love story. If you like Jane Austen, give Georgette Heyer a try if you haven't already.
I'm a huge historical fiction/mystery geek and I love David Liss (18th century), Ruth Downie (humorous mystery, ancient Rome), C.J. Sansom (Henry VIII era, darker), Steve Hockensmith (Sherlock Holmes fans in Wild West, fun), and Charles Finch (P.G. Wodehouse-esque).
Hope any of that hits home! I love hearing people's recommendations so keep 'em coming!
@MissMedic: OMG it was so good..I literally cried through the entire second half though! I just read another book by her--"One True Thing", which was about a daughter caring for her mother as she is dying. Also a tear jerker.
@plantains: Totally agree--I always get so happy when discovering another gem like The guernsey literary...
Water For Elephants
Something Borrowed series
If you liked Twilight, I recommend "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer - I just finished that one last night. Really long but very very good!
I quickly read a great book called "90 Minutes In Heaven" about a man who died in a car accident and was dead for 90 minutes until he was revived. I'm pretty fascinated by stuff like that, but I know it's not for everyone. On the same note, "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" is my all-time favorite book. Or anything by Mitch Albom for that matter.
I just started Jodi Picoults new book, "Sing You Home". Looking forward to it :)
Most of my favorites are YA, but they are really good.
I loved Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras by Scott Westerfeld.
A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray are amazing.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was really good as well.
I tend to pick the thickest books I can find, because I read them so quickly. I spend entirely too much money on books. It would be awesome if we could figure out a way to do a book swep!
@hilsy85: Oh, I loved Shanghai Girls. I should go see if the sequel is out. I've read a few of your books too. Great minds etc. 
@ehsquared: I used to be that person. Which is why I love NYC Public Library. I *might* be the only person in NYC who has Queens, Brooklyn and NYC library cards (shush, don't tell anyone!)
I'll agree with the previous posters~ I LOVED Water for Elephants!
@bRooklynRocks: I live in a town of around 1,500, and our library is pretty pathetic! I would love to have access to a huge library.
@bRooklynRocks: !!!! There's a sequel?! I did not know this!!
Also, I just wanted to add another book to the list because I'm re reading it for the third time and I love it even more each time--When a Crocodile Eats the Sun. It's a memoir about Zimbabwe, growing up there and what it's like now. It's not exactly the lightest read, but it is so well written and really opened my eyes to what is going on over there under Mugabe. I read it while were on honeymoon in Africa, but I've recommended it to a bunch of people since we got back.
Memoirs of a Geisha
Gone with the Wind (seriously) if you like historical fictions
East of the Sun
Five People You Meet in Heaven
Oh man, I have read at least five books recently but the only ones I can remember are Heaven is for Real, which made me cry, Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, It Sucked and Then I Cried, and I know there's a bunch more but I can't think of them right now.
I loved Life of Pi, and I highly recommend Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. Read that one for sure!!
I have the Stieg Larson trilogy and The Help, all of which I'll start reading as soon as I can. :) Looks like I need to look into Water For Elephants, too.
Great thread! I will definitely be coming back to this one for more ideas. :)
The Shanghai Girls sequel is out in May..trust me I'm waiting:)
@starfish: I'm reading Alone by Lisa Gardner and it's SOOOOO good! I can't put it down--and that's saying a lot considering very few books capture and hold my attention. Definitely recommend it!!
I'm reading The Help right now and can't put it down.
I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Memoirs of a Geisha, All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Kline, and The Lovely Bones.
@plantains: Ah, I need to go put it on hold before all these New Yorkers go and line up for it. Let's see, what other book did I like? I loved 'Then we came to the end' it's a book on these advertizing agency and how they were firing people, very funny read. I also love reading a lot of mysteries. I love Steig Larsson but I've read lots of better Scandanavian writers. Check out books by Jo Nesbo.
@Shirinjoon: I LOOOOVE Lisa Gardner! I am addicted to her books, I've been breezing through them so quickly because they are so good!
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| ellisrobertson | 24 |
| fishbone | 22 |
| ndreighton | 18 |
| Samantha7 | 16 |
| Brielle | 16 |
| ladyartichoke | 15 |
 rdownie1 |
15 |
| MsPanda | 14 |
| aduarte3201 | 14 |
| mypinkshoes | 13 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
