Friday, June 1, 2012

a book, please

Lately I have been reading books - a lot of them.  I think it has become some sort of escape for me.  I love to read books, but I have never hungered for books before - in my entire life - like I currently am.  I have to have a book with me wherever I go.  I sneak in reading every extra minute.  I try to figure out how to read while I cook dinner and do the dishes.  Last week I had to keep myself in check so that I would not feel resentful towards any member of my family when they wouldn't let me just sit and read my book, (a continual problem - with four children needing me constantly).

So, I need recommendations for books.  I've read all of the books now that I've been wanting to read for years.  Where do you go to find good books?  Have you read any lately that you have loved.  My only requirement is that the story is not scary - books influence me greatly and I cannot handle scary - or evil stuff, well or dirty stuff either.  (For example, I couldn't sleep for days after I read the first book in the Hunger Games series.) 

I remember my mom telling me about a friend of hers that survived residency with her husband by reading huge novels.  I didn't get it at the time, but now, I think, I totally do.  It is an immediate and lovely way to escape.

8 comments:

Jen said...

Considered joining goodreads.com? It's kind of a fun online book club/rec'd from friends. They also just have some good book lists.
Happy Reading!

Britt-Marie said...

I just started reading more. I have the same problem, when I get into a book that's all I want to do until I finish. So I haven't read much since I had kids, but this year I started again.
If you're looking for a huge novel, I just read Atlas Shrugged. Loved that. (Helped that I watched the movie- part 1- so I had a feel for what was going on, but it didn't give away the end.)
We have a great book group in our ward where I've found some great books. I'm sure you've heard of the Gernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. That was a good one.
I also enjoyed Prayers for Sale, by Sandra Dallas.
This month's book is These Is My Words, Nancy Turner. I hear it's great, but I just started.
What are some of the books you've been reading?

Liz said...

Wow, thanks Jen, for the idea. And thanks, Britt, for the list of books! I will get each of them!

I have read some random ones during the last few weeks - Treasure Island (I know, it was free on my phone), The Wednesday Letters, The Secret Life of Bees, Poor Economics, Wuthering Heights, Hunger Games (still regret that one), and others I can't think of... Right now I am reading the Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling one, and a book about Islam (No Other God but God, I think), but those are kind of deep and I needed something lighter to "enjoy" and mix in there. I have started a few books lately that had "stuff" in them that I was not comfortable with so I decided that I need to get recommendations... or is there a place that rates books???

Anyways, thank you tons!!

Barb's blessings said...

Hi Liz,

I just finished Steve Jobs biography. I found it very interesting. He was such a creative genious but not such a nice guy. I love biographies. I love anything by David McCullough -- satisfies the history lover in me. I read Atlas Shrugged in my 20s and was deeply influenced by it's free market philosophies until I visited Europe and became a Socialist :-). Okay, just a Democrat but according to my church friends I may as well be a Socialist. For some highly enjoyable light reading try James Herriot's All Things Wise and Wonderful series --there are four each named after a stanza from the poem. The books are delightful and you could even read many of the stories to your kids. They are good because you can pick them up and put them down easily as they follow a time line but are individual stories. Loved them!! I read the entire Little House series as an adult and loved that too. So many books . . . so little time! Love you! Aunt Barb

PS Ask Shauna for some recommendations. She is a voracious reader.

Katie Tyler said...

I just finished the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society that your friend recommended and I really like it- especially for something light and sweet. I also just finished Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister- which is a story of Cinderella told from the step sister point of view. It was also fun- and very clean (no bad language, or themes or anything). The last ones I would recommend are two of my favorites but you may have already read them years ago (they were really popular in Book Clubs a few years back) The Poisonwood Bible- take place in Africa and is really well written, and The Book Thief (which does have some bad language) but is really beautifully written.

Anyways- hope you like some of those. It is always a funny thing to recommend a book, because there are things I love that others can't stand- or vice vera. Luckily my sisters have the same taste in books- so I always ask them for a good one. :)

From A Doctors Wife said...

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - great.
The Happiness Project - she isn't my sister, but could be.
Matched - similar themes as Hunger Games without the violence.
These Is My Words, Sara's Quilt and the Star Garden (trilogy) by Nancy Turner - loved them.
Gone With the Wind - big o'l classic period novel.
Anything by Jane Austen
City of Tranquil Light (about a Christian missionary couple in China - fascinating)
Mans Search for Meaning
Riding the Bus With my Sister
The creature from Jekyll Island (the history of the federal reserve - fascinating, a huge book but read like a mystery novel)

Good luck finding some great books to read this summer!

Liz said...

Thank you, everyone. I have a huge list now. I appreciate it - a ton!

Matilda said...

Hi Liz,

you can find books on the internet:

http://www.newyorker.com/books?intcid=books

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books

http://www.asymptotejournal.com/index.php

http://www.apublicspace.org/

Have you read PS: I love you, from Cecilia Ahern? It`s a wonderful book, highly recommended! :-)

Best wishes,

Matilda