one of my aims for 2012 is to read at least one piece of "quality literature" each month. i use this term loosely. quality meaning non-trn (code for trashy romance novels). i consumed quality literature from age 7-33, from my first chapter book to the gman coming into my life. i guess that boy sucked the quality right out of me (in a good way). he's a little more self-sufficient now and i'd like to get back to my reading roots. i'm really at a total loss as to where to begin though. i snagged "
the hunger games" from a co-worker because i knew i'd like it. it totally lived up to the hype. i started it last night and was up till 3:00am finishing it. had a bit of a headache this morning, but it's all good. do you perchance have any book suggestions for me? i've only read a handful of what's come out in the last 8 years. below is a peek at my reading preferences. suggest away!
i like:
- modern classics - to kill a mockingbird, steinbeck, a prayer for owen meany
- southern lit - daisy faye and the miracle man, the secret life of bees
- cultural stories - memoirs of a geisha, amy tan, life in the time of cholera
- biographies - the last lion, the last lion alone
- fantasy fiction - tolkien, the shannara series, harry potter
- young adult - the giver, catherine called birdie, the house on mango street
i don't like:
- mysteries - sometimes i do, like in cold blood and james patterson
- super wordy - tom clancy
- horror - okay i kinda like these but they scare me so i don't read them
- science fiction - elves yes, robots no
i have catching fire...the second one. do you want me to bring it over later when i pick up the boys?
ReplyDeleteI loved the hunger games series!! I reread them on my travels this past weekend! I have loved the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. They look like they're trn, but they're not at all. They're fantasy fiction, about an angel that falls - for the love of a woman. It follows their story through time. So, so good. I couldn't put any of them down. I had to read them in one go like the hunger games!
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for quality YA lit, you MUST discover Kristin Cashore! She wrote "Graceling" and "Fire." Good reads!
ReplyDeleteI would suggest Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Shelved as YA, but I (at 63) loved it!
ReplyDeleteUp for some good fantasy with an awesome leading man? Try the Iron Druid Series. Starts with Hounded, I believe. They're by a "new" writer, Kevin Hearne. There are weirwolves & vampires, but most of them are attorneys or doctors! And the leading character is the last Druid. Takes places in Colorado and is fun. (Oh & there's the coolest character named Oberon, an Irish Wolfhound!)
Do you belong to Goodreads? That's usually a good place to pick up some good suggestions.
Take a few months and work through THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. It's a long book, but very good, and it contains within it many stories that are worth reading in themselves. Here's one of my favorites, told by a character named Grushenka.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; 'She once pulled up an onion in her garden,' said he, 'and gave it to a beggar woman.' And God answered: 'You take that onion then, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.' The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her. 'Come,' said he, 'catch hold and I'll pull you out.' he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. 'I'm to be pulled out, not you. It's my onion, not yours.' As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away.
yay! i'm glad you read hunger games...you must finish the series! i'm 70% done w/book 3 and loving it just as much as the first. gonna be sad when it's over. another one i loved recently was firefly lane by kristin hannah. other suggestions...the help, the art of racing in the rain, room, still alice.
ReplyDeleteHere are a few suggestions:
ReplyDeleteMiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is an excellent suggestion.
The Secret History by Donna Tratt is very good too.
i read Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson recently and loved it.
If you like Sci-fi, I was pleasantly surprised with City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.
I'm trying to post a top ten list for grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-8 on my blog. The first top ten will be posted tomorrow - for grades 4-6.
(My blog is aftagley.blogspot.com)
Do you like historical fictions? HEre are a few I have read recently that were pretty good - Catherine Coulter - The Valcourt Heiress
ReplyDeleteAlso books by Amanda Quick - start with the Paid Companion - it was a great book! She has several others that I loved - the names escape me at the moment - all period romance/mysteries that take place in London. However I stayed away from teh Arcane Society - these got a little weird and I didn't finish the first one.
One of my FAVORITE authors for good relaxing reads is Linda Howard - very sexy romantic mystery novels. That latest I have read is PREY, but she has a bunch others that I loved reading.
Hi, Doris.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the entire Hunger Games series (made the boys listen to #1 on a long car drive -- they couldn't stop listening but then didn't want to hear 2 or 3 on following trips).
I don't read anywhere near as much as I used to (or should). Have read 2 that I've loved since the summer. "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett and "The Nobodies Album" by Carolyn Parkhurst.