Recommend to me a book, if you will

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Looking for a fresh read or two to take on beach vacation.  Something easy to drop in and out of and engaging enough for a 5 hour plane flight.  I can be pretty highfallutin' in my reading, but I like me some trash as well.  Open to fiction, memoir and biography, essays, nonfiction. What y'all into this summer?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465068413/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s...

A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca

 

These guys were the first Euros to walk the Rio Grande valley all the way to Sinaloa. Great read.

"Origin" - Dan Brown

Fast paced, thought provoking, interesting read...

 

I have the Hardcover.

I'll send it to you if you want it?

Thanks for the offer TOD, but hardcover no bueno for travel.  Haven't read Dan Brown since Da Vinci Code.  The Cabeza de Vaca one sounds good as well.

Anyone else got anything?

Warlight – Michael Ondaatje

Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danler

Mrs Fletcher – Tom Perrotta

American War: A Novel – Omar El Akkad

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Cuckoo’s Calling - Robert Galbraith*

Shantaram: A Novel – Gregory David Roberts

New York: 2140 – Kim Stanley Robinson

The Chemist – Stephenie Meyer

Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi

Seveneves: A Novel - Neal Stephenson

*pen name

 

Dirty Boulevard - Lou Reed biography, just finished it, pretty good reading if you're a fan. 

I swim in the shallow end when it comes to books, but every few years I go back and read Catch 22 again, and it takes me away every time like new.

I usually choose “The Best American Short Stories of xxxx”. The short story format keeps me from getting lost in a book during vacation.

An oldie but a great one brought up in a recent thread.. "the world according to garp"...

 

An actual laugh out loud book, at times, written by a great author.

I commute 2.5 hours a day and listen to books during that time. So I go through a lot of books. Here is the list again with a little description.

Warlight – Michael Ondaatje

        WWII story about spying, but told through the eyes of the children that the spy parents leave back at home. One of my favorite writers best known for The English Patient

Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danler

  • 20 something girl moves to NYC and lucks into a job as a waitress at a super high end restaurant. It is a series on Showtime now.

Mrs Fletcher – Tom Perrotta

  • From the author of The Leftovers. A great exploration of sexual relations in 2018. Made me very glad to not have to be dealing with life the way it is now.

American War: A Novel – Omar El Akkad

  • Near future story about the second and third civil war told from the point of view of everyday people  living in the south

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

  • Best Sci-Fi I’ve read in years. Two stories in one. There is a good generation ship story, and a great terraforming story.

The Cuckoo’s Calling - Robert Galbraith*

  • This is from the person who wrote some mildly successful stories about a wizard boarding school. Straight forward detective who done it set in present day London

Shantaram: A Novel – Gregory David Roberts

  • Fictional Bio about a westerner who ends up joining the mafia in Bombay India in the 70’s 80’s

New York: 2140 – Kim Stanley Robinson

  • Post-apocalyptic story about New York City dealing with catastrophic flooding caused by global warming  

The Chemist – Stephenie Meyer

  • From the author of Twilight but don’t let that stop you. Bad-ass female protagonist fighting corrupt CIA deep state folks. If you like Tom Clancy you will probably like this.

Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi

  • Post-apocalyptic story about water wars in western US after massive drought  

Seveneves: A Novel - Neal Stephenson

  • This is really two books. The first is about what we would do today to survive with current technology if the earth became unlivable. Don’t give up on this book without getting to the second part.

Deadbase X

I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks now, and loving it. Read The Secret Lives of Bees on the airplane a couple of weeks ago and highly recommend it. Leaving Time was decent with a good plot twist about 3/4 the way though so stick with it if you pick up the book.  If you haven't read The Handmaids Tale, do it. I just gave my Mom my  copy of The Art of Racing in the Rain, also a good read if you like dogs. And on a lighter note, the Chet and Bernie Mystery "Dog on it" is a good summer read. Start with the short story prequel. 

Sounds like you’re looking for something lighter than some of the previous selections. 

If you haven’t read Steve Berry’s “The Columbus Affair” it’s a good stand alone read without being part of any series. 

If you prefer non-fiction, try Douglas Preston’s “The Lost City Of The Monkey God”. 

Thanks guys, keep them coming.  Nino, thanks for the blurbs, it helps a lot especially with a long list.

One more - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Fascinating book in the voice of an autistic teenager. Really doesn't have much to do with dogs, but of course I picked it up thinking it might. 

Educated: A Memoir

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Children of Time - El Nino recommended already - very good

Fourth of July Creek

Breakthrough 

No Way Back

The Nightingale- Kristen Hanna

Just a fantastic book.

The Nightingale is a historical fiction novel, written by Kristin Hannah and published in 2015. It tells the story of two sisters in France during World War II, and their struggle to survive and resist the German occupation of France.

For some old school sword and sorcery I recommend the Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Melnibone" series, if you read the first book you wont be able to resist reading the rest of the series! Still my top vote for book-that-should-be-made-into-a-movie. It would also make a killer animated movie or series. Generally an easy read, but yet complex and multi-layered with his ideas of multiple characters across multiple dimensions of reality and alternative universes. Give it a shot! More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9

 

cats cradle

diamond age/snow crash?

 

Check out Jesse Jarnow's "Heads" it's in paperback now

Any one of these James Michener books. Hawaii, Alaska, Centennial, The Source, Chesapeake.  He wrote one about Kent State also, but I have not read it yet.

American Tabloid  ~ James Ellroy

CIA/FBI/Mafia conspire to kill JFK. you'll want to read the next two in the trilogy.

 

11/22/63  ~ Stephen King

a guy finds a wormhole in time that takes him to Sept 9th 1958 each time he steps through it, and he's talked into going back to prevent the JFK assassination.

Liquid, sounds like you need to read Don DeLillo's book Libra, his novel about Oswald and his fictional account of the event.

I have read almost all of Ellroy.  I went through a phase.

i'm not a jfk nut, those are just two really good books i've read in the last couple years. until i typed them both out i didn't realize the obvious connection.

 

The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy ~ Kliph Nestoroff

a history of stand-up comedy, from vaudeville to the present

NOIR

(The latest Christopher Moore)

Trump: The Art of the Deal

Summer of 49 - david halberstam ...if youre a baseball fan

 

Or his book on vietnam...best and brightest i think its called, if youre not...just a great author (im reading Teammates, of his, right now)

 

Second the emotion on michener....but, you best be ready for a long read w him etc....

Astoria, by Washington Irving.  Non fiction.  Early settlers, botanists traveling west, studying plants, land, rivers etc.  Passing though many indian tribes....it is not copywrighted!  Very informative book, old fashioned style.  An amusing incident on the boat off the shore in Astoria, Oregon.  

If you prefer non-fiction, try Douglas Preston’s “The Lost City Of The Monkey God”. <<<

Actually just finished a book by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child titled "Thunderhead" after finding it in the freebox in town.    Living in SW Colorado, the summary of it taking place in southern UT seemed interesting & had also read a couple other Lincoln Child books that were entertaining ... this also was, although some minor bits of cheese thrown in here and there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderhead_(novel)

The devil's chessboard.

 

Fun light-hearted stuff. Order Thom a copy...

just finished:

Mother American Night _ JP Barlow.  not only a gifted lyricist but a true renaissance man

Russian Roulette _  Isikoff/Corn.  It will all make sense

Fare Thee Well _ Joel Selvin. do not enter TXR with this book

HomeGoing  _ Yaa Gyasi 

Manhattan Beach _ Jennifer Egan

Killers of the Flower Moon _ David Grann  

Giant of the Senate _ Al Franken. some funny Ted Cruz hate

 

>> Killers of the Flower Moon

Outstanding.

I've been reading a lot of sci-fi, mostly short stories from Harlan Ellison's "Dangerous Visions." Next for me is either "Neuromancer" (William Gibson) or something from Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" series.

Just been loving the trashy sci-fi & fantasy thing lately so I appreciate the recommendation for "Elric of Melnibone," sounds like my kind of trash.

Hey, botb. Have you ever read What's the Matter with Kansas? 

Who is the Parker Posey chick?

Franken has a post senate book out already?

Third vote for Seveneves.  I started it several months ago and got through the first part, fast forward five thousand years and I’m finishing it up on the kindle.  Good for reading in airports and beaches. 

>>> Who is the Parker Posey chick?

 

Parker Posey

image_1390.jpg

 

I just started this one on a 5 hour plane flight.  It's a well-written description of the history behind many well-known American folk songs. Hunter was obviously well-versed in this stuff, and no doubt Jerry was too.  Just finished the chapter on Betty and Dupree, which is the origin of Dupree's Diamond Blues.  It's good whether you want to sit for a spell or just dive in for a chapter here or there.

>>Who is the Parker Posey chick?

She dated Ryan Adams.

 

Bought The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a few years back for my mother.

You've probably already read Travels With Charley...

>> Dying Earth

This was awesome. Highly recommended for the fantasy dorks.

>> Neuromancer

Just started this, the writing has a real ‘Blade Runner’ feel.

>>  Elric of Melnibone

Picked this up, stoked to start into it.

I finally started Kesey's "Sometimes a Great Notion."

 

It's funny. And long.

I have never read Whats the Matter with Kansas.  As to Sevenses I am frightened by books that are described as "hard science fiction".  Got the Monkey God book as well as the John McPhee that someone suggested here (although I prefer a book that size for home reading, not travel). Yes, I've read Travels with Charley but not in a while, so that's a thought.  Am also considering finding a Graham Greene I haven't read.  Quite enjoyed the Quiet American and Brighton Rock. That Barlow book sounds promising if its in paperback. No politics!  Except maybe fictional politics or historical stuff.   Bought homie the Sleepwalkers about how WWI started and I might swipe it.  That Washington Irving book sounds good, reminds me of the premise of Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose (one of my all time faves). Sometimes a Great Notion is indeed long.

>> I appreciate the recommendation for "Elric of Melnibone," sounds like my kind of trash.

And it definitely was. Nice, brisk read. Thanks again.

I picked something up today called Goodbye to a River, by John Graves. It recounts a canoe trip made down a Texas river where plans were being made to dam, and even briefly thumbing through it, it feels like it would be a great read.

Currently into Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. Again, the writing jumps off the page. Recommended.