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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsPlease recommend a good book...
Fiction or nonfiction, anything goes.
I found "A confederacy of dunces" hilarious.
Just got the overdrive app to checkout ebooks from my library and would appreciate some recommendations to build a summer reading list.
Thanks!!
TexLaProgressive
(12,148 posts)Especially hermetics What Fiction are you reading this week
https://www.democraticunderground.com/119321111
masmdu
(2,535 posts)Response to masmdu (Original post)
TexLaProgressive This message was self-deleted by its author.
BOSSHOG
(36,862 posts)Published in the late 80s. Burke, my favorite author. Crime fiction centered in and around New Orleans with lots of bad guys and lots of violence and lots of angst. Dave Robicheaux protagonist. Alcoholic Vietnam Vet workin in law enforcement. His loveable sidekick Cletus likes to drink beer and beat up bad guys. Dave has lots of spiders in his head but has a heart of gold. First in a long series of Robicheaux books.
Burkes books are like 400 page poems. His descriptions of people, places, things are awesome.
I dont gush about many authors but Ive read most of his books at least twice.
rsdsharp
(9,042 posts)to be realistically putting the hurt on the bad guys, but I still keep buying. Burke writes so well. Its hard to believe Lost Get Back Boogie was rejected 111 times before being published.
BOSSHOG
(36,862 posts)Way long in the tooth. I thought JLB would have those two killed in a big boom some time ago but hes keeping em alive for another go at it. Security guards at a nursing home? We lived within 50 miles of NOLA for 29 years and I appreciate all the allusions to the big easy in his books. We visited New Iberia and walked Robicheaux walk.
I think I might have some of JLBs books cremated with me. My wife and I intend to be cremated then poured in the Mississippi at St Louis and have a leisurely float down to the Big Easy. Damn there is a plot (story) in their somewhere.
rsdsharp
(9,042 posts)but maybe its related in some way to In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead. Well soon see. It drops July 11.
Sometimes, I like to go on Google Maps and check out the places in New Iberia that hes writing about. Most of them really exist.
BOSSHOG
(36,862 posts)Bayou Teche and all. And near Avery Island with the Tabasco sauce factory. And alligators. Louisiana is a geographical gem.
FalloutShelter
(11,750 posts)By Carey
Dickens and David Lynch? Defoe meets Margaret
Atwood?
Fascinating read. Really stayed with me.
cbabe
(3,441 posts)Big mystery/thriller series:
https://www.goodreads.com author show 194243.Louise_Penny
Louise Penny (Author of Still Life) - Goodreads
LOUISE PENNY is the author of the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She has won numerous awards, including a CWA Dagger and the Agatha Award (seven times), and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.
https://www.goodreads.com author show 7031.James_Lee_Burke
James Lee Burke (Author of The Neon Rain) - Goodreads
James Lee Burke is an American author best known for his mysteries, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. He has twice received the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for Black Cherry Blues in 1990 and Cimarron Rose in 1998. Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast.
https://www.goodreads.com series 42740-joe-demarco
Joe DeMarco Series by Mike Lawson - Goodreads
Joe DeMarco is a Congressional investigator in Washington DC. Book 1 The Inside Ring by Mike Lawson 3.74 · 3,264 Ratings · 300 Reviews · published 2005 · 3 editions "From a bluff overlooking Georgia's untamed Chatto
Want to Read Rate it: Book 2 The Second Perimeter by Mike Lawson 3.99 · 1,722 Ratings · 109 Reviews · published 1994 · 38 editions
https://www.barnesandnoble.com b contributor dick-francis _ N-2k7p
List of Books by Dick Francis | Barnes & Noble®
One of the most successful post-WWII steeplechase jockeys, Dick Francis (1920-2010) won more than 350 races. After retiring from horse racing, he turned his hand to writing mystery novels set against the thrilling background of his beloved sport. He went on to publish more than 40 books and is regarded as one of the top mystery writers of all time.
https://www.stabenow.com
Dana Stabenow
Dana Stabenow is the author of the award-winning, bestselling Kate Shugak series. The first book in the series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. More About Dana Best Sellers. Subscribe to the Roadhouse Report.
That was very kind of you to provide this information
niyad
(112,438 posts)Hillerman for the Arapaho.
The Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.
The various books by Pekka Hamalainen: Paleolithic America, Lakota America, Comanche Empire.
Just a few to get you started.
Tetrachloride
(7,728 posts)The Dragonbone Chair
Way Station
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Dune
Calvin and Hobbes
Red Storm Rising
rsdsharp
(9,042 posts)Killing Floor is the first one, but they can be read in any order.
cbabe
(3,441 posts)prose is amazing.
Also agree with Lee Child rec.
And John Stanford/Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series.
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com john-sandford
John Sandford - Book Series In Order
John Sandford has become a bestselling author many times over and for good reason, his books are a joy to his readers and bring the same high quality writing one would expect from a John Sandford book every time. John Sandford - Books and Characters John Sandford's first major hit, Rules of Prey, released in 1989, has since spawned over 20 sequels.
And stand-alone:
https://www.goodreads.com book show 56898262-state-of-terror
State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton | Goodreads
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Louise Penny 4.10 69,948 ratings8,288 reviews
From the #1 bestselling authors Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny comes a novel of unsurpassed thrills and incomparable insider expertiseState of Terror.
Ptah
(32,983 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucking_the_Sun
LuckyLib
(6,814 posts)Puts you in another world. Recommended to me by a trail boss on a trek on horseback in the mountains of Montana.
cbabe
(3,441 posts)Midwestern farm childhood and South Bend scenes. Challenges of making it from working class to college grad. And a love story. And behind the curtain of a political campaign. I found it deeply moving.
https://chastenwrites.com
Chasten Buttigieg (Author, Speaker, and Advocate)
"An engrossing, and deeply inspiring memoir" Kirkus Reviews (starred) "
powerful and inspiring." The Washington Post "Witty and sharp, mischievous and no-nonsense, and pointedly political. . . . Chasten isn't just married to a gifted politician. He's become one himself." The Daily Beast
Srkdqltr
(6,129 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,119 posts)hay rick
(7,521 posts)anything by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller/Lincoln Lawyer, and Renee Ballard series) and Robert Crais (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series). Crais was a writer for Hill Street Blues before becoming a novelist.
I'm currently reading the Easy Rawlins series by Walter Mosley. The first book in the series was "Devil in a Blue Dress" which was turned into the movie. I think the later books get better.
keithbvadu2
(36,369 posts)The Source: A Novel - James Michener,
https://www.amazon.com/Source-Novel-James-Michener/dp/0375760385
yellowdogintexas
(22,119 posts)I loved this book. Highly recommend
applegrove
(118,022 posts)Heartbreaking but it will gin up your anti-corruption gut senses and you'll never forget it or the people in it.
Mr.Bill
(24,104 posts)check out Like a Rolling Stone, the autobiography of Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone Magazine. He has got some stories to tell as the chronicler of the counter-culture since the mid-60s. He's met and known most of the important and iconic people of the era we live in. Everyone from John Lennon to Jacqueling Kennedy. And, of course, like most people who have founded successful magazines, he's one hell of a writer.
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)Rhiannon12866
(203,041 posts)He really has led a fascinating life, from his childhood in rural Georgia to his time at Annapolis and his brilliant Navy career - to his first run for public office where he fought blatant cheating, to his years as governor and his term as president. He goes into detail about everything from his friendship with Gerald Ford to the Camp David Accords. And this traces his life through the Obama administration, it's that recent.
TexasDem69
(1,512 posts)By John Connolly. The Lord of the Rings series. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. You really cant go wrong with The Shining or Salems Lot by Stephen King. The Stand by King. The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie.
intrepidity
(7,241 posts)For the first time in history, we are interacting with computers so sophisticated that we think theyre human beings. This is a remarkable feat of human ingenuity, but what does it say about our humanity? Are we really no better at being human than the machines weve created?
By mimicking our conversation and behavior, computers have recently come within a single vote of passing the Turing test, the widely accepted threshold at which a machine can be said to be thinking or intelligent. In this witty, wide-ranging and inspiring investigation, Brian Christian takes the recent and breathtaking advances in artificial intelligence as the opportunity to rethink what it means to be human, and what it means to be intelligent, in the twenty-first century.
Competing head-to-head with the worlds leading AI programs at the annual Turing test competition, he uses their astonishing achievements as well as their equally fascinating failings to reveal our most human abilities: to learn, to communicate, to intuit and to understand. And in an age when computers may be steering us away from these activities, he shows us how to become the most human humans that we can be.
Drawing on science, philosophy, literature and the arts, and touching on aspects of life as diverse as language, work, school, chess, speed-dating, art, video games, psychiatry and the law, The Most Human Human shows that, far from being a threat to our humanity, computers provide a better means than ever before of understanding what it is.
intrepidity
(7,241 posts)by Merlin Sheldrake
https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life
Sheldrakes mind-bending journey into this hidden world ranges from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that sprawl for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the Wood Wide Web, to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.
Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms and our relationships with them are changing our understanding of how life works.
highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)like the first one, you'll find a delightful series of novels to follow, with some recurring characters and lots of new ones as well.
Hiaasen has been an investigative reporter and columnist as well as a novelist.
DU thread about his last column a couple of years ago:
https://democraticunderground.com/1016289931
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/03/15/this-is-carl-hiaasens-last-column-column/
Links to the Wikipedia page on him, and his website, both of which list his books in order (and I do recommend starting with the first novel he wrote by himself, Tourist Season) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hiaasen
https://carlhiaasen.com/
https://carlhiaasen.com/all-books/books-in-order/
If you look at the home page of Hiaasen's site, I suggest you not click on the Learn More link till you read the many snippets of rave reviews appearing, one at a time, between that and the Nonfiction + Columns link. The raves are accurate.
yellowdogintexas
(22,119 posts)Mr YD is not fond of Kindle reading; so these are books we will buy. Don't overlook his Young Adult books, they are very good
You should also check out Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World series. Start with The Color of Magic; if you like it then you have a huge shelf to enjoy.
Do you like edge of the seat thrillers? Try Jeffrey Deaver, Preston & Childs. If you like international intrigue in your thrillers, Daniel Silva is the go-to.
Strong Women? Fern Michaels: Sisterhood series and its companion series Men of the Sisterhood; The Godmothers series
The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek & The Bookwoman's Daughter. The Memory Keeper of Kiev
Funny mysteries? Try the Kat Makris Greek crime series (Alex A Kinf); laugh out loud funny with over the top characters.
Finally, my favorite sub-genre: Archaeological thrillers. There really is such a thing, and I really enjoy three different authors each with a different framework. Ernest Dempsey's Sean Wyatt Archaeology series, David S Brody's Templars In America series, and J. Robert Kennedy's James Acton series.
Coventina
(26,874 posts)I'm rereading it now, while I'm in Italy.
Even if you are not into art, it's a fantastic book!!
GPV
(72,377 posts)nuxvomica
(12,365 posts)Rhiannon12866
(203,041 posts)There used to be a mystery book store locally and I went to her book signing since I'd read most of her books - which combine mystery and history:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55948.Miriam_Grace_Monfredo
betsuni
(25,138 posts)My favorites books:
Henry Miller "Tropic of Cancer"
The Diary of Anais Nin, volume one, 1931-1934
Anita Loos "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
Ernest Hemingway "A Moveable Feast"
Ray Bradbury "Dandelion Wine"
Jean Paul Sartre "Nausea"
Dostoyevsky "Notes From Underground"
Joris-Karl Huysmans "Against Nature"
Emile
(21,911 posts)Recommend you start with "Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind." Also Fannie Flagg novels are great too.
betsuni
(25,138 posts)AwakeAtLast
(14,112 posts)And there are 9 books of a 10 book series. The books are so much more than the TV series!
ExWhoDoesntCare
(4,741 posts)There are literally millions of different books in the world. Narrowing down what you might be looking for to some of the general types will help in recommending anything to you. After all, what I enjoy or consider a great book, you might consider a colossal bore.
I find that reading challenges help me focus on what to read, while pushing me to read outside my comfort zone (mysteries, history, true crime). My favorites are 52 Books, Book Riot's Read Harder, Booklist Queen, Pop Sugar, and Gypsy's Reading Bingo. They all provide prompts that stretch the reading horizons--and the mental muscles, too. I would never have read Dan Simmons' Hyperion or Louis L'Amour's Big Medicine (short fiction collection) if a challenge hadn't opened the door to do so.
Best of all, I wasn't on my own to hunt down any of the super-weird challenges, like "science fiction without aliens or spaceships." As if I'd know that on my own! I googled the category, and up popped a Goodreads link for it, with dozens of options listed. Oh, look--Fahrenheit 451 would suit well for that one.
Link to a long list of challenges to choose from:
https://candidcover.net/2023-reading-challenges-list/
Maybe one of those will help you build a summer reading list. Personally, I'd go with the Read Harder challenge or Gypsy Bingo, because they're smaller lists, around 20-25 books.
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)"Rise of Kyoshi"
"Shadow of Kyoshi"
"Dawn of Yangchen"
There's a pre-requisite: you have to watch "Avatar: the Last Airbender," the series, not the movie, first