We should probably read.
Thursday, August 11, 2011 Not blogs or tickers at the gym, my friends. I'm talking books. This is my list and it's mostly presented without comment because there's nothing worse than someone saying "THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER," thus creating impossibly high expectations, followed by the actual reading of the book and the crushing disappointment that you would have never experienced had you not heard the rave review. But I would not tell you about a book if I didn't think it was generally excellent. Here we go:
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
One Day by David Nicholls. Don't even think of seeing the movie before you read this. Avoid the previews as well, if only to spare yourself from the bad hair. Don't even get the book with whatsherface on the cover. Your experience needs to be UNTAINTED.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe.
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
What are you reading?
And YES, if you must know, I am struggling with recent--yet not so recent--events on Flipping Out.
EDIT: Also Beginner's Greek by James Collins. Lovely.
Reader Comments (13)
Great list! I just finished The Privileges by Jonathan Dee. If you loved The Corrections, you will love this - I promise. Follows a couple from their wedding through middle age, as they become super wealthy in NYC. Fascinating.
awesome I need a new book.
The Help - I feel the same way about the movie. I know they've F*cked it up. I couldn't put it down one of my favorite all times.
Just finished Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom'. Loved it - it was a split in my book club. Those who like a challenging read with flawed characters and great writing thought it was fantastic. Those who are more conservative or who like to read for escapism hated it. It made for fantastic conversation.
I LOVED The Goon Squad...oh my goodness.
I just finished If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster. If you grew up in the 80s and loved John Hughes movies, you will laugh your arse off. I also read her memoir My Fair Lazy, which is all about how she tries to wean herself off reality tv and US magazine and get her culture on. Again, hilarious, and also strangely inspiring.
Since our opinions in All Things Entertainment sync up, I trust you enough to add these to my "To Read" list, thanks for posting this!
well, seeing as I read in just one day...The Help was phenomenal!!! and by that I mean gripping to read! even if the hooked on phonics verbage makes u crazy, all you can hear while you are reading this incredible book, it is soooooo worth it...read the book....then go see the (probably Oscar winning) movie coming out soon!!!
Great list-Also have loved, Bossypants by Tina Fey (you will think YOU wrote this funny book), Cutting for Stone, The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, and Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.
I too loved The Corrections. At the moment, if I'm honest I'm reading A Dance With Dragons, which is way outside my reading comfort zone and I don't recommend it unless you want to not sleep for the next five weeks and totally neglect your job because you get sucked into reading the whole series in one go.
However, a book I recommend to anyone who'll listen is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. All at once it's devastating, depressing, uplifting, and hope-filled. By the time you finish it you won't have any emotions left, but it's worth reading.
Thanks so much for this, and also to other commenters for suggestions.
I loved Lamb -- laugh out loud funny .... also Cutting for Stone and The Book Thief and The Invisible Bridge.
LAMB!!! Yes, I recommend that one to all people I believe have a sense of humor.
The Corrections wasn't my thing but that's because I read to escape. And anything that deals with old people being frail, my little ol' heart just can't take.
I just read Shadow of the Wind. I didn't expect to like it but it was really good!
City of Thieves was a favorite of mine this past fall.
I'm not that strong of a reader. Don't you have any short stories to recommend?