Could someone suggest a good page-turner?

[Skinner]

I feel like the last two books I picked up were really boring, so I haven't been reading very much, and I've been watching too much TV. I need a good page-turner to grab me and get me reading again.

I already read the DaVinci Code (loved it), so there's no need to suggest that one.

The book doesn't have to be new.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[terrya]

1. Any of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware books.

I love those books because they are so damned readable. Once I get started on one, I can't stop.

His latest are "The Murder Book" and "Flesh and Blood".

Just my .02

Terry

[latebloomer]

130. second that!

I love all his books-- cool how he uses his background as a psychologist to create absorbing plots.

[american_punk]

2. some of my faves

well, some good books I've read recently are Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them, The Stone Cold Truth, and Red,White, and Liberal. However, if you want good fiction, read Harry Potter

[jono]

3. "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki

It's fiction about a Japanese-American woman who is a documentarian. She spends a year producing a show called "My American Wife," a show made for Japanese housewives about American life and American meat, and sponsored by a fictional meat industry council. Definite page-turner, and a real eye-opener about the meat industry.

[bif]

4. Corelli's Mandelin

Great book. In fact, it's so good I refuse to see the movie.

[Demobrat]

5. Try Herman Wouk

starting with The Winds Of War.

[globalcitizen]

60. that's my all time favorite

followed by War and Remembrance, of course. I've always been looking for a great follow up...do you have any suggestions?

[greatauntoftriplets]

6. The Cabinet of Curiosities.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446611239/qid=1069269818/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-0867562-1609456

[latebloomer]

131. That was great!

I read a couple of their other books, but that was the best.

[Richardo]

7. Shutter Island (Dennis Lehane)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Excellent psycho-thriller.

...plus almost any of Michael Connelly's crime books keep the pages turning.

[TrogL]

8. I generally let one of my kids turn pages for me

or just get someone from the choir to do it especially another organist who understands piston and stop changes.

[Skinner]

13. LOL

I must be a sucker. I have to turn pages myself.

[Jim Sagle]

14. I use an electronic one myself.

Ba-dump bump.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

9. Douglas Coupland up to Girlfriend in a Coma, Iain Banks

[Padraig18]

10. Scott Turow's "Reversible Error", and...

... Tom Clancy's "Balance of Power" are both EXCELLENT! :)

[omshanti]

11. Angels and Demons (same author of Da Vinci Code)

Features the same main character, Robert Langdon. I picked it up after reading the Da Vinci code, and I can't put it down!!

Also, Laurie R. King, "A Grave Talent" - it's very suspenseful and will keep you engaged. The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King is also good although not as fast paced.

[Bossy Monkey]

12. Perhaps you should mention the styles or categories you like

The books I absolutely cannot put down (ie, no eat, no sleep) have all been written by Andrew Vachss. They are certainly harrowing, however, and not to all tastes. (His hero is an outlaw crimefighter, basically doling out extra-judicial punishment to child abusers.) Best to start with are probably Flood or Strega.

Only other killer page-turners in my experience were the Hitchhiker's Guides, which I assume you've read, and that Grisham fellow. Oh, and The Old Man and The Sea, but you'd be done in about 10 minutes.

[Lefta Dissenter]

15. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett

OK, I confess. I didn't read it, I listened to it (unabridged, of course) while walking this summer. It actually made me look forward to getting off my @ss and hiking up the hill (and it's a d@mned big hill, I'll have ya know).

[Catch22Dem]

16. Was going to suggest DaVinci Code

Try Nelson Demille's Spencerville.

ON EDIT: Duh, and of course read Catch-22!!!!

[Skinner]

17. This is great.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm looking forward to trying some authors I've never read before.

[Shakespeare]

18. Oldie but goodie - Trevanian's Shibumi

This one has a bit of a cult following, and for good reason. And it's one of those can't-put-it-down books.

[Tracer]

19. Any of Alan Furst's novels.

"Dark Star", "The Polish Officer" etc.

All his books are set in WWII, and are amazingly elegant and atmospheric. You will not be able to put them down.

[GOPisEvil]

20. James Ellroy, if you like crime thrillers

LA Confidential - if you liked the movie, the book is better.
American Tabloid - (also somewhat topical, considering a recurrent theme is the Kennedy Assassination)
The Cold Six Thousand - sequel to American Tabloid.

[Shakespeare]

22. Oooh- second that, especially for American Tabloid

How could I have forgotten the demon dog of cop fiction...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. I could NOT put down MY DARK PLACES

It is the TRUE STORY of the murder of Ellroy's mother when he was a child.

[GOPisEvil]

38. I'm actually scared to read that.

A frightening story from what I have heard. :scared:

In response to the post below: yeah, he's a neo-con nutjob, which is why I buy his books USED; never from the bookstore new. :evilgrin:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

44. It truly is...it also gives great insight into his psyche

BTW...a neo con nutjob who grew up doing circle jerks with his buddies :D

[Shakespeare]

50. READING it? Try to get your hands on the audiobook of ELLROY reading!

Now THAT'LL give you bad dreams! :-)

I think it's out of print now (and there's another version out there read by somebody else--you've gotta look for the abridged version done by Ellroy himself), but it's worth looking for. eBay's always a good bet.

I'm actually not sure about his politics--he thinks the republicans are a bunch of assclowns, too--I think he just hates both parties because he sees them as completely corrupt. Maybe he's a libertarian.

on edit: Specifically, the audiobook abridged version with Ellroy reading is, I believe, out of print. The book itself is still out there and easy to get.

[GOPisEvil]

53. Reading? Yikes!

OK - I may have to pick this one up then.

Circle jerks with the boys? Hehehehe - even *I* never did that! :D

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

54. Worse yet I have a signed copy!!!

EEEEEEEEEWWWWEEEEEE he touched it with THOSE hands :D

[GOPisEvil]

56. Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully he's washed once or twice since! :D

[mitchum]

76. I'm a freak (have signed copies of all of Ellroy's novels)...

he is a crypto-Nazi homophobe, but a first-class writer (excepting "White Jazz" and "The Cold Six Thousand") Unforunately, it seems that he is now pouring more energy into his schtick/persona than his work.

[woofless]

83. I picked White Jazz out of a remainder bin many years

ago and it was good enough to inspire me to get more Ellroy. Can;t say I remember it much but it didn't turn me away from him.

[mitchum]

89. My beef with "White Jazz" was that he broke away from his...

trademark pathological obsessive style and wrote the book in a fragmented mock-Burroughs style (which is a distancing device) With "The Cold Six Thousand", he just got lazy and self-parodic.

[Shakespeare]

96. Yup, and Ellroy at his best reminds me of....

Be-bop jazz (the rhythm of his writing). Great style.

[stanwyck]

35. I like his books, but not

his politics. Heard him on NPR. A neo-con. He thinks Clinton is the Anti-Christ.

[AlabamaYankee]

21. If you want something lighter

Any one of Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series. They're hilarious, excellently crafted fantasy set on the Disc, a flat world that rests on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of the great turtle Atuin as it lazily swims through the cosmos. Think Douglas Adams meet Monty Python with some trenchent social commentary thrown in on occasion.

[BurtWorm]

23. Go to the mystery section, pick up Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

or any of her other novels. They get under your skin and you have no clue what's going to happen next.

[Plaid Adder]

24. Try a walk on the distaff side, Skinner

If you have any interest in historical fiction, I highly recommend Sarah Waters's *Affinity.* It's a thriller set in Victorian London revolving around a spiritualist who has been imprisoned for murder and the repressed upper-class spinster who becomes obsessed with her. Much fascinating stuff about the occult that you are never sure whether to believe or not, plus devastating plot twists that make complete sense once they happen but which I promise you will never, ever see coming. Everyone in our book group gave it two thumbs up, which hardly ever happens.

Course it has lesbians in it, but I'm sure you are a broadminded type who doesn't mind that.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Richardo]

43. Also on the distaff side: Patricia Highsmith

The "Ripley" series.

[Kat45]

25. Any of Dennis Lehane's books

Good crime drama/murder mystery books. He's an excellent writer and I couldn't put any of his books down.

[Richardo]

27. I second that.

[Maine-i-acs]

26. "Cold Mountain"

By Charles Frazier. Wounded Civil War vet runs away to join up with his sweetheart back home. Read it before Nicole Kidman ruins it on screen.

[supernova]

28. The Club Dumas and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

The Club Dumas is by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte. It's got rare books, it's got monied aristocracy chasing the rarest of the rare, it's got history on Alexader Dumas, it's got an unscrupulous book dealer, it's got Satan. What more do you need? :D

Perfume is by german author Patrick Suskind. The hero is Grenouille a man born with an extremely sensitive nose, but with no scent of his own. I haven't read it yet. Will do after The Club Dumas.

[bif]

29. Darwin's Radio

I absolutely couldn't put it down until I finished it. I heard a review of it a couple years ago on NPR's Morning Edition and it sounded very interesting. Extremely well researched--I won't give the plot away, you just have to read this book.

[jus_the_facts]

63. you must get the sequel....Darwin's Children if you haven't yet....

....was just as good IMHO! :)

[bif]

78. Thanks, I'll look for it.

Didn't know there was a sequel. Actually, I can't imagine how you'd write a sequel to Darwins Radio. And why didn't the author name it "Darwins Palm Pilot" or something?

[GumboYaYa]

30. The DaVinci Code

if you haven't read it already.

[GOPisEvil]

31. *thorws nerf ball at Gumbo*

He said he read that already. *boink*

[GumboYaYa]

67. Duhhh.....

Okay, so I'm really busy today and didn't read the whole message.

[felonious thunk]

32. How about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0963124684/qid=1069271365/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/104-5688464-0923111?v=glance&s=books

[Skinner]

39. HA!

I might just read that one!

[goobergunch]

65. LOL! (n/t)

[blm]

34. Paul Auster...

Mr. Vertigo or The Music of Chance.

Both compelling reads.

[stanwyck]

I'm reading "Book of Illusions"

and it's captivating. I'll look for those you mentioned. Thanks.

[blm]

82. mr. blm reading Book of Illusions right now.

glad to see another Paul Auster fan.

[stanwyck]

84. Don't you wish

you could his films? The silent ones and the later ones? I'm just about halfway.

[Kellanved]

36. Neal Stephenson's high tech novels

All are good; the older novels (Big U : University , Zodiac: Enviroment; Snow Crash: Virtual Reality; Diamond Age : Nano Technology) have a very easy-going, fantastic and funny style.

His recent books have a realistic setting and more substance (Cryptonomicon : Internet accompanied by a WW2 timeline; Quicksilver: historic background about the foundations of modern science).

Edit:
To add a few "insider tips":
Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner : Real story of a German yyoung journalist in the years prior to WW2.
Russian Disco by Wladimir Kaminer : Tales of everyday lunacy on the streets of Berlin.

[Squeech]

69. Yeah!

Stephenson was my first thought. I just started to re-read Zodiac again-- the adventures of a rogue chemistry major turned environmental activist, where a humongous chemical company pollutes Boston Harbor wholesale, while a member of the dynastic family that owns the company runs for president on a laissez-faire for maximum profitability platform (can you say Pete DuPont?). It's sort of naive, as Stephenson himself is the first to admit, but it rocks. And the later books are even better.

Also, if you haven't read them yet, the four great social criticism novels by John Brunner are all magnificent. Stand On Zanzibar deals with overpopulation and the social engineering of a consumer society. The Shockwave Rider predicts the Internet a generation ahead of time (and gets the details wrong, but foresees the social consequences) and also ponders how a self-interested government might try to suborn this new medium. The Jagged Orbit is about guns and the therapeutic state (and is the weakest of the lot), and The Sheep Look Up traces the complete ecological collapse of the United States (and is the most depressing of the lot).

[Avalux]

37. Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

by Jostein Gaarder.

I love this book. If you're a philosophy buff, it's a wonderful journey into "who are we" and "why are we here".

[Screaming Lord Byron]

51. I'll second that.

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

52. Older Book and an Autor to boycott

I really loved 'A Town Called Alice' by Neville Shute (actually anything by Shute---what a writer he was.) Don't bother reading anything by John Nance---he's a bigoted right-winger. A big France basher!

[marigold20]

109. Yes, A Town Called Alice

A good suggestion!

[Kamika]

40. The remains of the day

Read the book its way different then the movie

[RebelOne]

41. Anything by Stephen King, Dean Koontz or Robin Cook

Also John Grisham's Painted House was very good.

[Richardo]

47. I read an advance copy of Koontz "Odd Thomas" to be released 12/5

My first read of him. I liked it, excellent writing and character. Haven't read a paranormal novel in quite some years.

:thumbsup:

[RebelOne]

97. I love Dean Koontz.

He is second on my list of great horror and suspense writers. Of course, Stephen King is the King. How did you get an advance copy of the book? What is the subject line? Just give me a hint.

[Richardo]

103. The plot: A young 20-something guy, with psi powers,

...starts seeing "signs" of an impending deadly catastrophe in his small town and must somehow thwart the plot. Suspenseful. Only a few townspeople and his girl friend know about his powers. BTW, his name is really 'Odd Thomas'.

I work part-time in the bookselling biz and occasionally the publishers will send us advance copies of books to read so we know what's coming and can recommend them. Pretty cool. This is the first one I've ever taken.

[dobak]

112. who do you work for?

I work for Borders

[Richardo]

122. That little mom & pop outfit: Barnes & Noble

;-)

[RebelOne]

119. Thanks. Sounds like a typical Dean Koontz story.

but I can't wait to read it.

[SnowGoose]

42. If you're interested in non-fiction

You might check out "Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan. It's about how various plants have evolved to get us to cultivate them, and how we've changed them. There are chapters on apples, cannabis, potatoes and tulips. Dig it, did you know that Johnny Appleseed was planting apples not for eating, but for alcohol production? Fun.

And if you're not in the mood for non-fiction, you might try something funny. Suggestions: Kotzwinkle - "the Fan Man" or "Midnight Observer". Really funny.

[cade]

45. bury my heart at wounded knee

that was a good book , although an old one. I do like history, however grim.

[Frangible]

46. "Armor" by John Steakley

Steakley's great. Both "Armor" and "Vampire$" were page turners for me.

[11 Bravo]

48. I'm in the middle of Seabiscuit and find it engrossing.

Also any of the Elvis Cole novels by Robert Crais. (If you like Spenser or Travis McGee you will love Elvis!)

[bloom]

49. Read War and Peace?

It was pretty easy to turn the pages until the last 25 or 30 when it turned into pure rhetoric.

My next large novel project is the Brothers Karamasov - which someone on the board recommended.


I also recommend anything by Barbara Kingsolver - (Pigs in Heaven, Bean Trees, Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summer) usually some interesting social commentary as part of the plot.

:)

[soupkitchen]

55. The Best of DU (Postings for Posterity)

Of course you'll have to compile it first

[chiburb]

57. "Carter Beats The Devil" and...

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay"

[VRSCAman]

58. hehe, I was going to suggest that one.

[johnnie]

59. Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen cracks me up. Also if you can find the whole Mad series on cd rom.

[Richardo]

98. My favorites are Lucky You, Native Tongue, Tourist Season and Striptease

Sick Puppy, Double Whammy, and Basket Case are second tier, but still better than 90% of the writing out there, IMO.

[LynneSin]

61. I'm a non-fiction book and I've enjoyed these 2 books greatly:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465054846/qid=1069273804/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/102-5452660-5212163?v=glance&n=507846

The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slavery to the War on Terror by Christian Parenti

I thought he did a wonderful job of discussing how our country has spent centuries finding ways to monitor the activies of anyone they didn't like. Makes you think even more about what the Patriot Act is all about - we passed it because it's our nature to have ways to snoop on people


and

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner

This guy was featured in Michael Moore's moving Bowling for Columbine. The book talks about how the use of fear to control the public. His first chapter starts off great with all the statistics about Road Rage (something like less than 1% of all traffic accidents are attributed to road rage, according to the Insurance folks. But according to the media they made it seem like everyone is banging up other cars due to it)

[jus_the_facts]

62. Darwin's Radio....and.......Darwin's Children by Greg Bear......

....The Stand~Stephen King
....Desperation~Stephen King
....Robots of Dawn~Isaac Asimov
....Stranger In A Strange Land~Robert Heinlein
....Twilight Eyes~Dean R. Koontz
....Richter 10~Arthur C. Clark

some o'my favorites :)

on edit...Winter In Eden and West of Eden~Harry Harrison are really a TRIP too!!

[northzax]

64. non-fiction ones?

why must a page turner be junk fiction?
Crypto by Steven Levy. Good stuff, a history of the crypto movement in the US.

[Zomby Woof]

66. in honor of the Gettysburg Address anniversary

Gore Vidal's "Lincoln". Historical fiction, but makes Lincoln into the three-dimensional figure we know him to be, but so often depicted with such reverent distance. He still remains quite enigmatic, but accessible with Vidal's treatment.

For non-fiction, I recommend the latest Al Franken, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", which WILL make you laugh out loud.

[proud patriot]

68. If you haven't Read the Witching Hour series by Anne Rice

I loved them :thumbsup: and flew through them

[RebelOne]

120. Yes, she is one of my favorites.

Have read just about all of her books.

[proud patriot]

126. Me too

:evilgrin:

[chaska]

70. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

YOu won't be able to put it down.

[prolesunited]

71. Oryx and Crake

by Margaret Atwood. It doesn't quite reach the level of Handmaid's Tale, but it was a page-turner for me. I love how she takes current trends and projects them into the future and creates a world that creates misery for its inhabitants.

In this book, she deals with gated communities, medical patents, biowarfare, ecological disaster, reality TV and a stratified society. I liked the ending as well because she didn't tie it all up with a pretty bow and instead left you asking more questions and writing the own ending in your head. I was disturbed by the book for a good week after I finished reading it.

[SOteric]

72. I could recommend a great Page Turner

But I hesitate to give you her address without knowing how Mrs. Skinner feels about it.

[GOPisEvil]

74. I thought I heard a rim shot a few minutes ago.

Holly Wood came by and mentioned it to me.

[not_in_my_name]

73. To Kill A Mockingbird

Completely transports the reader to a different time, different place - which has to be better, yes?

[ulysses]

75. Have you read _The Poisonwood Bible_ yet?

Kingsolver rocks.

[stanwyck]

88. Yep.

Poisonwood Bible really has stayed with me. Fascinating time and place.

[TrogL]

77. More page turning suggestions

A friend of mine uses a photocopier/reducer to shrink her music down so tiny that she can get it all onto one page.

I couldn't read it with a microscope.

One recital I tried memorizing the music and had a memory slip.

[Rowdyboy]

79. Black Dahlia Avenger

by Steve Hodel is solid non-fiction "cold case" book.

If you haven't read John Connolly, his series (starting with "Every Dead Thing" is exception and somewhat gruesome. Very well drawn characters, solid action, and a really fascinating storyline. All the books in this series are worth your time.

[LynneSin]

80. Hey Skinner: This book comes highly recommended!!!!

[bikebloke]

81. James Lee Burke

All are good, especially his Dave Robicheaux novels. I like his languid prose.

[stanwyck]

86. Me, too

I like the whole mood and setting of his books. Often with some humor. And really evil villains.

[OneBlueSky]

85. well . . . if you liked the DaVinci Code . . .

try Angels and Demons, also by Brown . . . I'm reading it now, and it's definitely holding my interest . . .

[elfwitch]

87. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

n/t

[leftchick]

90. The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver

My Absolute favorite this year! I have passed it around and all agree it is a breathtaking pageturner!

[DS1]

91. Cryptonomicon

Neal Stephenson

[OneBlueSky]

92. another one that totally engaging is "The Pillars of the Earth" . . .

by Ken Follet . . . following the life of one Tom, a cathedral builder in early England . . . couldn't put it down, strange as that may sound . . .

[Maddy McCall]

93. Bill Clinton would suggest Richard Preston's "THE COBRA EVENT"

In "Germs," Judith Miller asserted that Clinton made staffers read the book and recommended that everyone involved in policymaking decisions read it--legislators etc.

It is a fiction that is so grounded in reality that it's scary. This is the book that Miller remarked "kept Clinton up at night."

Comes highly recommended by Bill and jchild :-)

[Richardo]

94. along the same lines: The Hot Zone.

The non-fiction precursor to Cobra Event

[blm]

104. Hmmm...thanks for the tip.

.

[Maddy McCall]

105. you're quite welcome...I promise that you won't put it down until

you read the last page. It's awesome!

95. From Yale to Jail

by David Dellinger

[geniph]

99. The entire Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

the one they made the Sharpe's Rifles BBC TV miniseries from. The first book, chronologically, is Sharpe's Tiger. The one you should start with is Sharpe's Rifles. The best one is Sharpe's Enemy. This series is WONDERFUL. I loved the TV miniseries, but the books are orders of magnitude better.

[geniph]

100. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

While often marketed to a "women's" audience because of the romantic subplot, it's not a romance novel, it's a humorous historical time-travel sort of romance set in Jacobite Scotland. It's the first of the series, and I literally couldn't put it down.

[geniph]

102. Darwin's Radio, by Greg Bear

(if you like hard science fiction) - it's my favorite book of about the last five years.

[jus_the_facts]

106. It won the 2000 Nebula Award....

....hope Skinner sees this book was mentioned 3 different times on this thread!! Have you read the sequel yet Darwin's Children...it was good too! :)

[Ignoramus]

101. Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Organic Agricultural Wastes

by A.M. Bruce, A. Kouzeli-Katsiri, P.J. Newman.

It totally rocks.

[Catshrink]

107. Did you read Al Franken's latest?

I'm sure you have, but it's a good quick and funny read.

Another one if you want something serious, but yet fun to read, try Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." Some of the chapters are a bit dense, but skip those.

[marigold20]

108. The Key to Rebecca

I can't tell you much about this book - I just remember reading it in the 70's and it counted as a page turner.

My all time favorite wish-I-hadn't-read-it so I could read it for the first time is Lonesome Dove.

[MrSoundAndVision]

110. One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and make sure you get the edition that was translated by Gregory Rabassa. Or even try "Love in the Time of Cholera" also by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.

If you're looking for a political book that will turn your face red with anger read "America: Who Stole the Dream?" by Bartlett and Steele.

All are page turners, but the first is my favorite.

[Rhiannon12866]

111. I am reading "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence"

by William Rivers Pitt. I kid you not, and find it is quite engrossing, LOL!:-)

[dreissig]

113. Here's The List

Fiction Books

Erdrich, The Beet Queen
Waugh, A Handful of Dust
Lessing, The Four-Gated City
Morrison, Beloved
Dunleavy, The Ginger Man
Kosinsky, The Painted Bird
Updike, Rabbit Is Rich
Salzman, The Laughing Sutra
Glasworthy, The Forsyte Saga
Patterson, Along Came a Spider
Grisham, The Pelican Brief
McMurtry, Buffalo Girls
Hobbes, Leviathan
Maugham, Of Human Bondage
Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Wolfe, Look Homeward Angel
Stendahl, The Red and the Black

[NNN0LHI]

114. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Or any book by Kurt Vonnegut n/t

[jus_the_facts]

115. Forever Amber by Kathleen Windsor....

...the book for which I was named after no less...it was surprisingly good! :)

[onebigbadwulf]

116. Any Chuck Palahniuk book but I suggest

Choke or
Survivor

[politicat]

117. Long but fast; hard to put down: The Crimson Petal and the White by

Michel Faber.

It's the victorian novel that could never have been published in the Victorian era....

I missed the twists in the plot and that's hard to do. I'm still feeling a bit odd about it, in fact. It was really catching, but different.

Someone else suggested Laurie R. King, and I second that - a A Darker Place is my favorite of her not Mary Russells; I love the Mary Russells (The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, O Jerusalem and Justice Hall) but I a) love Sherlock Holmes and b) love the structure and pacing of the early 20th century novels.

For older stuff you might have missed.... there's always Dorothy Sayers.

Politicat ( who has far too many books for her own good and loves them all like children, even the bad ones that are a travesty to the trees.)

[greyl]

118. Lila or Ishmael

by Robert Pirsig and Daniel Quinn respectively.

[ScreamingMeemie]

121. Last Year's Jesus by Ellen Slezak.

It's a compilation of short stories by an author who used to live here in the Detroit area. I remember you saying your wife's family was from Michigan. It should be familiar then, and it is a good read.

Another is Captured by the Indians,15 Firsthand Accounts,1750-1870
Edited by Frederick Drimmer. This was an excellent non fiction book.

Hope you find books that you enjoy. :)

[WoodrowFan]

123. what, reading all those applications for mod wer e not enough?

I figured all those applications for mederator would keep you in bathroom reading material for a month!



If you like sci fi try "The Forever War" one of my favs.

[blondeatlast]

124. If you like to be creeped like I do, try

"Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by Peter Straub. Stephen King's short story collection" Everything's Eventual" is pretty good too. Niether is Shakespeare, of course, but you won't be bored. This I can promise.

[Rhiannon12866]

125. Most anything by Dick Francis, I have trouble putting down

My favorites would probably be "The Edge" or "Straight." He writes excellent mysteries, usually surrounding horse racing in England, but not always. He has branched out to embrace other topics. He is a retired steeplechase jockey who used to ride for the Queen Mother.:-)

[The Lone Liberal]

127. Two worth the read and will keep your attention.

Chicago Death Trap, The Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903, Nat Brandt.

The other,

The Buffalo Creek Disaster, Gerald M. Stern.

[scucci]

128. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Dunno if it's up your alley. I read mostly silly mysteries these days as an escape.

There's always "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane for a good re-read. My favorite book of all time and I don't know why.

[Ilsa]

129. Anne Rice's

Taltos or The Witching Hour.

[scucci]

132. I enjoyed "Feast of All Saints"

IMO it was her best book. Beautifully written without all the vampire crap.

[grasswire]

133. Bill Clinton's favorite books list

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou.

"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius.

"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.

"Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963," Taylor Branch.

"Living History," Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Lincoln," David Herbert Donald.

"The Four Quartets," T.S. Eliot.

"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.

"The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century," David Fromkin.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes," Seamus Heaney.

"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa," Adam Hochschild.

"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.

"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.

"The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis," Carroll Quigley.

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.

"The Confessions of Nat Turner," William Styron.

"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.

"You Can't Go Home Again," Thomas Wolfe.

"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," Robert Wright.

"The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats," William Butler Yeats.

http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=3&aid=D7UV3S680_story

[grasswire]

134. Eye of the Needle

(If you haven't seen the movie.) It's the most compelling book I ever read.

[MIScott87]

135. "Joined at the Heart" by President Al and First Lady Tipper Gore

I haven't read the whole thing, and some may call it boring.

Still, it's a good read, IMO.

[VOX]

136. "The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander.

Just finished it, and it's a terrific read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067003133X/qid=1069502398/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-6542285-5987861

"Surely this exhaustingly-researched, enthralling and enthusiastically-written tome is the last word on the most famous of all seafaring mutinies, that of shipmate Fletcher Christian and against Lieutenant Bligh on the Bounty. More than 200 years have gone by since the ship left England after dreadful weather kept it harbored for months, on its mission to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. The mutiny in Tahiti left the mutineers scattered about the paradisiacal islands and found Bligh and 18 of his loyal crew members set adrift in a 23-foot open boat. Bligh, who'd served as Capt. James Cook's sailing master, fantastically maneuvered the crew on a 48-day, 3,600-mile journey to safety. Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance, is never in over her head even when weaving together densely twisting narratives, or explaining the unwritten rules of the Royal Navy, of the complexities of class and hierarchy that impelled much of what happened aboard the Bounty. The book centers far more on the effort to round up the mutineers than the actual mutiny itself. The book is enlivened by the colorful commentary of the crew members themselves, gleaned from letters and court documents. Alexander does us all the favor of presenting Bligh the way he was understood and received in his day--as a brilliant navigator who, when placed in context, was not a brutal task-master at all. She roots the tyrannical figure we know so well from the movies on the last-ditch efforts of one well-connected crew member to save his own hide from hanging."