I just finished Towelhed by Alicia Erian which was funny and disturbing. I’m reading The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff right now and I really like it.

I forgot to say I love these posts - I always add books here to my wishlist to pick up at some point.

Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious by Gerd Gigerenzer. This guy’s research was quoted a lot in Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Blink’. An interestring book, although it feels like it wanders away from the central topic at times, and isn’t quite as ‘upbeat’ in style as most of the popular takes on academic subjects.

On Desire: Why We Want What We Want by William B Irvine. A really fascinating look at the biological and psychological mechanisms behind desire, why it’s important, and the views that different religious and philosophical tranditions take on managing it.

Thanks for doing this — my “to read” pile was getting low.

Btw, I loved BOTH books that Carolyn Parkhurst wrote (the other one is called The Dogs of Babel) even though (or especially) because they’re so different from each other.

I just finished Black & White by Dani Shapiro. Like all her books (fiction and non-fiction), it was dark. Very dark. Yet very good.

I also read Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life which I thought was totally cute, especially since I thought it would be too silly for my liking. Amy Krouse Rosenthal is very clever.

I can’t think of anything else that I’ve read recently, even though I know that I did. Oh yeah, something by Michael Cunningham. Flesh and Blood. It was OK — it just went on too long, I thought. And got too ‘out there.’ But I was desperate for something to read.

Currently in my pile:
1. The Late Bloomer’s Revolution (Amy Cohen)
2. The Emperor’s Children (Claire Massud)
3. The Things Between Us (Lee Montgomery)
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)
5. Anything else that your Mom says is great
6. Anything else that your readers recommend, as long as it’s not historical, chick lit, or political.

That’s a great book! Enjoy I just finished Water for Elephants and have moved into Shopaholic and Baby.

I read and enjoyed Lost and Found, but The Dogs of Babel (also by Carolyn Parkhurst) is one of my top 10 books.

I’m reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Just finished HP #7.

My to-do list includes the Outlander Series, Freakonomics, and a couple of cookbooks inspired by Kingsolver’s book and my local farmer’s market.

I’m always on the lookout for good fantasy books. If I’ve haven’t recommended it before, Tigana is one of my all time favorite books.

Just finished two Roxana Robinson novels, Sweetwater and This Is My Daughter. Recommend both (especially the latter). She writes beautifully about divorce/family/love. I also read and enjoyed A Small Island, which was recommended on here last time; and Heat(a Kitchen Confidential-ish book. Before that I read Animal, Vegetable Miserable and thought it was preachy and smug, except for the part about turkey sex.

Oh, forgot to mention that on your recommendation I read _Say When_ and liked it a lot.

I finished THE KEEP by Jennifer Egan just a few hours ago. I really enjoyed it and the perspectives from which it was written kept me completely engrossed.

I also recently read OPEN ME by Sunshine O’Donnell…very strange but also good. It’s a fictional tale about professional mourners, and how young girls are bred to become wailers. Creepy.

I’m about to start THE BOOK THIEF because it was so highly recommended by your other readers!

I forget one! GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn. It centers around a family that runs a carnival and how the mom takes all of these crazy drugs so she can create freaks to enhance their show. Very disturbing. The narrator is a bald, albino, hump-backed dwarf…that will give you an idea of the craziness.

What? No one has mentioned Harry Potter? What is wrong with you people?! LOL

Seriously, I did finish reading the latest Harry Potter book. It’s a good read, but a bit contrived.

Right now I am reading Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America’s Founding Fathers by Michael Barone. It’s a history of the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 in England (in which James II was deposed by WIlliam III and Mary II). There are a lot of characters and dates to keep track of, but the book has some great nuggets about the development of legislative processes, religious liberties, political parties, and early propaganda wars. Barone also points out who were some of the illustrious ancestors of people like Winston Churchill and Princess Diana. Yeah, I know, you think it’s dull history, but the book is pretty readable.

My wife is reading The Secret Life of Bees and my SIL loaned her The Book Thief.

I just finished Dedication by the girls who wrote The Nanny Diaries. really liked it. Am on their second book now; Citizen Girl. Before that I read The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz which was ridiculously entertaining and Jen Lancaster’s (of Jennsylvania.com) two books - she is obscenely funny.

I just found a new author that I like, Erin Hilderbrand, The Love Season (I think that is the title) and I read The Blue Bistro by her. Also am reading The Feminine Mistake, (I may have put that last time, it is an ongoing read, love the premise), and another favorite author, Jonathan Toper, How to talk to a Widow, all of his books are fantastic. And one more, just finished A J Jacobs, the know it all… READ IT, laugh out loud funny and so educational!

I’ve recently discovered Robert Rankin. He writes sci-fi/fantasy-type stuff, which I don’t usually enjoy, but how can you pass up a book called The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse?

And speaking of not enjoying sci-fi/fantasy stuff, a couple of months ago, I read Stranger From a Strange Land and I liked that, too. Go fig.

Julia - We have very similiar taste in books. I loved the Know It All (read it last year) and recommend it to everyone I know. I also just recently discovered Elin Hilderbrand and have been recommending her to friends. She has a new book out, Barefoot. You will enjoy it. And I absolutely loved Jonathan Tropper’s new book, How to Talk to a Widow.

Just finished the new Megan McCafferty book Fourth Comings. Anyone who hasn’t read any of her books should pick up the first one Sloppy Firsts (be aware that its about high school in NJ and its hysterical).

I highly recommend Amanda Eyre Wood’s books. I just read her latest Forgive me.

Also recommend Your Not You which is about a college student who becomes a caretaker to a woman with ALS.

OK, I just ordered like 6 books on half.com based on the recommendations here! I’m now waiting for your Mom’s list of goodies now so that my mailbox and “to read” pile will be TOO full!

I have the newest Jane Green, newest Annie Dillard, newest Jodi Picoult and newest Ann Brashares on reserve at the library, as I have since June for one and mid-July for the others. Grrrr Boston Public Library and its slowness!

Shapiro’s Black and White (mentioned above) is waiting on my coffee table, as is North River (Pete Hamill’s latest). I think North River will be my next read since my mom lent it to me, wants it back soon and won’t stop talking about how great it is.

Ok, maybe I shouldn’t have answered since these are all TO BE READ books. But I finish teaching summer school on Friday and anticipate finally having time to read, read, read starting then. I’ll report back the next time you post one of these…

Hi all:

Just finished the new novel by the author of “Kite Runner,” Khaled Hosseini :”A Thousand SPlendid Suns.” Ending a teeny bit contrived, but story is riveting. Writing is excellent. A very unusual novel by Dara Horn, “the world to come” deals with present day, the war years (WW2)and Marc Chagall!!! Interesting book, unusual. Quite a quirky story!! Also, for a summer read, try David Baldacci’s “Simple Genius.” Goooooddddd story. Love mysteries and legal thrillers,too. Gotta run, more soon.

MOM

man, my stupid new yorker subscription has slowed down my book reading - and i barely even touch the magazines, it’s just the guilt from not reading them!! haha

i am in the middle of cormick maccarthy’s ‘the road’ and it’s very good but certainly not very upbeat. also just started ‘water for elephants’ because i forgot the other one at home and i’m stuck in an airport and am really enjoying that so far. that’s about it for me since the last post!

Chuck Palahniuk’s “Choke”
Kafka’s “The Castle”

I just finished IV by Chuck Klosterman and am just starting Rant by Chuck Palaniuk. If you want a recommendation for something funny (and not written by a man named Chuck), I thought My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler was hilarious.

And whatever I read next, I totally want to put in one of these: Bookcovers by Scout