I’m doing it. I’m determined. My first book is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I’m cheating right off the bat, since I actually started the book in 2007. I’m about 100 pages in. It’s a 600 page book, though, so it’s just a small head start.
At the suggestion of Jim, I created a bookshelf at Shelfari. They have a neat little widget so you can put your bookshelf on your blog, but it’s not compatible with WordPress, so I’ve created my own thing over there in the sidebar. I’ll display what I’m currently reading, plus there are links to what’s up next and to books I want to buy. I know I can read for free courtesy of the public library, but I have to admit that books are one thing that I’m materialistic about. I like having the book. I like the book to be mine. I like filling my shelves with books. I like that I currently need to buy yet another bookshelf to accommodate my books (and HK’s). Yes, it makes moving a pain in the ass, but I don’t care.
I would love it if other people would participate. (I’m talking to you, lurkers!) And keep those recommendations coming!
I love that book! Especially the part about water and the well. Nice start to the year.
I lean toward history/non-fiction so two of my recommendations would be:
Thunder At Twilight, by Frederic Morton, about Vienna and the Hapsburgs just prior to WW I. Reads like a novel. One of my favorites.
Soul Made Flesh, by Carl Zimmer, about the evolution of medicine in general and the beliefs of physiology and spirituality in particular. Also easy reading but it will make you think.
From my long-ago days as a history degree-seeking undergrad:
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andic
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal
If you want any fantasy or mystery recommendations, I’ve got tons.
In fact:
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. Sonchai, the son of a Thai prostitute, is a detective in the Royal Thai police. The book is not only a mystery, but a fascinating look at Krung Thep (Bangkok). This is one the best books I read last year. Assuming of course that you don’t mind reading about drug use, prostitution, and corruption with sympathy and as a way of life.
Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Anton is a member of the Night Watch in Moscow, sister organization to the Day Watch. These groups keep watch on one another, to keep the other from getting the upper hand and changing the magical balance of the world.
Fables, by Bill Willingham et al. (comic) The characters from folk and fairy tales have had to escape their homelands, where a terrible war is raging, and are now centered in New York, hiding out in the open as the case may be.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. The title says it all. A look at what happens to those who donate their bodies to science, and how that research helps us.
and hard to find but well worth the effort (try abebooks), the Julian Kestrel series by Kate Ross, starting with Cut to the Quick. Kate Ross only wrote four books before she died, but every one of those is fantastic, and the final book, The Devil in Music is all but perfect.
And my favorite time to read is before I go to bed, though I can and do read anytime, anywhere. But curling up with a book is a lovely way to wind down.
I just finished Water for Elephants. I have a perhaps unnatural love of all things circus (and no my spinster cave is not covered with elephants or scary clown paintings), but it was a great read to kick off the new year. Or end the last one.
Thanks for the idea… I’m joining in. You can find most of my favorite books listed at librarything - http://www.librarything.com/catalog/iremonger.
Searching the web for others like myself reading 52 books in 52 weeks. I look forward to seeing what books you read!
Oops . . . forgot to mention, I’m like you, I love to own books. It’s a great satisfaction isn’t it to look at the books you own! But I still visit the library at least twice a week, though. Check out a book first sometimes and always going for storytime for the kids!
Good luck Red!
Try “A Trial By Jury” by D. Graham Burnett or “Summer of the Gods” by Edward Larson. Both are very good books that I think you might like and the go by fast.
If you think you know about the Scopes Trial based upon “Inherit the Wind” then you really don’t know the Scopes Trial as “Inherit the Wind” was fictionalized and was targeted more toward McCarthyism than the facts of the actual Scopes Trial. Right up your alley too on the issue of religion and the schools.