I’ve read a lot of really great books. These are the really great books I’ve read (or reread) since starting my blog. Now and then I write reviews; when I do, I’ll link to my fantastically insightful analysis. ;-)
Fiction
Margaret Atwood
Blind Assassin: Took a while, but it broke me open in the end.
Shalom Auslander
Beware of God: A collection of hilarious, scandalous, smart stories.
Robin Black
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Short stories: Ordinary life made beautiful.
Charles Baxter
Through the Safety Net: Stories that are wise, funny and sad.
A Relative Stranger: Stories about ordinary, extraordinary people.
The Feast of Love: Love is messy, brutal, inconvenient, essential. LOVED this.
Aimee Bender
Willful Creatures: LOVE this collection, especially, “The Meeting.”
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: Unusual, beautiful, mesmerizing.
Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower: Very cool literary sci-fi about humanity and faith.
Truman Capote
Breakfast At Tiffany’s: Way better than the movie.
Michael Chabon
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union: Alternative history-mystery-love story. LOVE.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: Wowza!
Summerland: A wild, fun ride; great for kids (12 and up).
Wonder Boys: Every writer will get it; Grady Tripp is all of us!
Alan Cheuse
The Fires: Two novellas, emotionally dead on.
John Crowley
Little, Big: This book confused, frustrated and mesmerized me.
Don DeLillo
White Noise: A strange, darkly funny tale that stays with you.
Jennifer Egan
A Visit From The Goon Squad: Wow. Beautiful, dark, funny, chaotic, precise.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby: As graceful as prose gets.
Neil Gaiman
American Gods: Holy shit, how did I miss this AMAZING book?
Miranda July
No One Belongs Here More Than You: Funny, poignant, sweet, odd.
Nicole Krauss
The History of Love: A wonderfully chaotic unraveling of story.
A Man Walks Into A Room: Intriguing look at what makes us who we are.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
100 Years of Solitude: Profound and enchanting.
Toni Morrison
Jazz: The writing, the story, the way it all comes together – literary jazz.
Ann Patchett
Bel Canto: Had me from Page 1. Politics, love, art, opera, hostages, oh my!
Run: Emotionally clear, strong. Loved the ending.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
The Little Prince: Weird, charming, profound, unique.
Gary Shteyngart
Absurdistan: Smart, cutting satire skewers international politics/diplomacy.
Brian Selznick
The Invention of Hugo Cabret: Picture book/Graphic novel/Film hybrid.
John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men: It earns your tears.
Emma Straub
Other People We married: Loved this collection, look forward to Emma’s novel.
Cheryl Strayed
Torch: Heartbreaking, funny, maddening. This is the best, truest look at grief I’ve ever read.
David Wroblewski
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: Wow. Best boy and his dog(s) story EVER.
Laura Zigman
Animal Husbandry: A fun look at men through the eyes of women.
Nonfiction
Martha Beck
Steering by Starlight: Practical guide to magic. Very cool.
Augusten Burroughs
A Wolf At The Table: Chilling, tense, revealing, sad. NOT funny.
Julia Cameron
The Artist’s Way: Every artist should read this. Cannot recommend enough.
Michael Chabon
Manhood for Amateurs: Poignant, poetic, hilarious and true.
Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking: This is grief, graceful and blundering.
Stephen Elliott
The Adderall Diaries: Gripping coming-of-age-addiction-crime-story memoir.
Jonathan Fields
Uncertainty: Great guide for getting comfortable leaning into uncertainty.
Gay Hendricks
The Big Leap: About finding and living in your genius zone. Cool stuff.
Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh: I knew about Pooh. I learned about Taoism.
HuffPo Editors
Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging: Informative, funny, enlightening.
Jiang Stein, Deborah
Even Tough Girls Wear Tutus: Inside the world of a woman born in prison.
Christina Katz
Get Known Before The Book Deal: Practical “guide to platform building.
Julie Klam
Please Excuse My Daughter: Julie is funny, poignant and wise.
You Had Me At Woof: Brisk, breathless and beautiful.
Love at First Bark: No one writes about dog rescue better. <3
Jack Kornfield
A Path with Heart Loved this practical look at spirituality in the real world.
Anne Lamott
bird by bird: My favorite “Writer-on-Writing” book.
Betsy Lerner
Forest For The Trees: Tough but inspiring advice to writers (from an editor).
Patricia T. O’Conner
Woe is I: I’ve got a lot of grammar books. This is the one I reach for most.
Susan Orlean
the orchid thief: If only all journalism were written as beautifully as this.
Steven Pressfield
The War of Art: Why we resist our best creative instincts, and how to stop.
Katherine Rosman
If You Knew Suzy: An unflinching, sometimes funny look at grief and all the things, big and small, that make up a life. (My review will post soon.)
Cheryl Strayed
Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail: Hard to imagine anyone would read this and not feel a little bit “found.” Intimate, sweeping, devastating, inspiring. Look for my interview with Cheryl for Used Furniture Review in March.
Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now: Taught me how to calm the hell down. (Sorta.)
Lidia Yuknavitch
The Chronology of Water, a memoir: Raw, wild, heartbreakingly beautiful. This book blew me away.
Hmmm…I just received a copy of The Power of Now. I really think I should read it after I finish “A Thousand Splendid Suns” because I totally relate to (and laughed with) your note about calming “the hell down”. Maybe it’s all those lattes we’re drinking? Or maybe it’s listening to the GOP nutjobs that makes me flipout in the middle of a perfect day. So that’s my thing Judy. I need to ‘learn’ how to calm the hell down without having to give up the lattes. If this book did that for you, than I’m in.
Darren, I actually listened to Power of Now on CDs. (Is that cheating?) Few things are more calming than Eckhart Tolle’s super, super calm voice. If you read it, let me know what you think. Should I read “A Thousand Splendid Suns?”
A Thousand Splendid Suns, like its predecessor, The Kite Runner (Khaled Housseini) is at once engaging. I read The Kite Runner in two days (thanks to long flights and lay-overs). Couldn’t put it down even with the distractions of turbulence and airport shananigans. I just started ATSS and I’m enjoying it very much. I’ll update you when I’m finished.
I’ll have to read some of these since you recommend them and since you are smart and since smart people recommended them to you. I want to be smart, too. :-)
Wolf at the Table was my least favorite of Augusten Burroughs. If you haven’t had the pleasure of his other memoirs then I would highly suggest it. You will laugh to tears. My favorite is Possible Side Effects. Magical Thinking was hilarious as well. I’m afraid since I read Dry and all his others first that Wolf came across as too serious.
And since I know you like to laugh, I will recommend anything David Sedaris.
Hey, Tricia. Actually, I need too update this. I have read Running With Scissors, which I loved. I need to read Possible Side Effects. It’s now on my list.
LOVE David Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day is my favorite, but I also liked Naked and Barrel Fever. I haven’t read anything of his in a while. I think he’s got a holiday collection I should check out about now…
Now I know what I’ll be doing this summer. Reading! Thanks for taking the time to write up a great list. :)
My husband was pretty shaken up by “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by the way. I bought it for him to read on a long flight – and he still holds it against me.
:?
Lynn, Hi! I still haven’t read A Thousand Splendid Suns. And I need to update this list with some recent reads. I’ll have it done before summer. ;-)
“Half Asleep in Frog Pajama’s” by Tom Robbins
-I think you’d like…
I’m sure I would. I have it, actually. I love Tom Robbins. Still Life with Woodpecker is one of my all-time favorite books. I’ll move Frog Pajamas up on my reading list. Thanks.
Cool. I’ve been reading a bit of Camus lately.
Wow. I’m impressed. I’ve been reading Michael Chabon. Practically the same thing, right?
I have a recommendation for you : Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral — By Kris Radish — its a marvelous book –one to read with a kleenex… and you will LOVE IT…
xox
Okay! I just started the Orchid Thief. I’ll do this one next. I LOVE the title!
Tuesdays with Morrie — for anyone who’s had a mentor pass away, or for anyone who’s failed to keep in contact with an old friend and later found that another new beginning is no longer possible, this is the book to read.
Have you read “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn? Quirky fiction with a profound message. I recommend any of his books.
Anything by Geraldine Brookes. And what about Barbara Kingsolver? Her collection of essays “Small Wonders” was lyrical.