I'm finishing up a couple of books before April gets here but they won't make the Top 3.
1.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. A huge sprawling epic that covers a lot of ground, both physically and mentally. Prubaker is one of the most endearing characters of all time although he's not the main character.
2.
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. The opposite of Shantaram. A sparse succinct novel done well.
3. A tie or cop-out whichever you want to call it. My not for everyone warning applies to both of these which are surreal, bizarre and out there but I really enjoyed them.
Zeroville by
Steve Erickson and
Weight of Numbers by
Simon Ings.
Now I have to whittle my best of Jan/Feb/Mar 2008 into best of the first quarter 2008 for the other thread. I usually struggle with that task.
Not in any order;
1.
Bill The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison - A sci-fi spoof of
Star Ship Troopers by
Heinlein and
The Foundation series by
Isaac Asimov. If you enjoyed either of those this one will have you laughing out loud.
2. "The Black Ship" By Dudley Pope - Naval history - an account of the worst and bloodiest muntiny in British Naval history. This book makes the H.M.S. Bounty look like summer camp.
3.
A Prayer For A ship by Douglas Reeman - Naval fiction (WW2) - Douglas Reemans first novel,
A Prayer for the Ship, is biographical in nature, and is based on his service in the Royal Navy aboard Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) during the Second World War. A very good read for any who like naval books of that era.
Douglas Reeman might be known to some readers as
Alexander Kent author of The "Bilitho series" of books his entry into of the age of sail genre.
VisibleGhost, I loved
Shantaram and Roberts has already finished writing its sequel, out next year.
The month's not quite over yet, and I'll probably start and finish Tobias Wolff's
Our Story Begins before April 1, but anyway, I've read plenty of awesome stuff already:
Lush Life by
Richard Price - pure dynamite, impossible to put down, and my favorite novel of the year so far.
The Blue Star by
Tony Earley - the richly satisfying sequel to Earley's
Jim the Boy, and just a lovely book.
The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham - Maugham himself is a character in this prime example of storytelling genius, his last novel and probably his greatest too.
In non-fiction, I mightily enjoyed David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America, but
Larry Woiwode's new memoir
A Step From Death totally blew me away and I'm not sure I've come back yet, staggering.
Leonardo's Swans was fantastic
Even though it had quite an agenda, I really enjoyed
Queens of England, plus, it was a remarkably quick read, considering it includes a thumbnail of every Queen of England since 1066.
Michael Pollan's
Botany of Desire. I didn't enjoy it as much as Omnivore's Dilemna, mostly because it seemed less applicable to my life, but it was still a very interesting book
If I don't count rereads, (and I never do for Best Of lists), there was only one book this month that really spoke to me. It was an unpublished manuscript I critiqued. Maybe two more will blow me out of the water over the next few days, but I really doubt it.
#5 I didn't know
Shantaram had a sequel. That makes me nervous, wondering if the quality will hold up. Remember
The Godfather, Dune, and whatever the follow-up to
Catch 22 was called? I will give it a chance when it comes out though. Crossing fingers.
Message edited by its author, Mar 28, 2008, 4:31am.
This message has been deleted by its author.
I keep trying to whittle March done to three (or even one) and can't seem to do it. Maybe my reading was too varied this month. A mystery, social history, biography, fiction, essays...maybe nothing really stands head and shoulders above the others.
But, there's hope for April...Amazon tells me I have a new Karen Joy Fowler and Joyce Carol Oates on the way...
Message edited by its author, Mar 31, 2008, 9:50am.
Agreed about Ross Thomas...he was great and I'm slowly acquiring more of his books. Too bad he's kind of slipped through the cracks.
>28....You are right. I will restrain myself next month!
This is easy for me this month. And, they're actually in order:
1.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's gut-wrenching, a little depressing, but by far one of the best written books I've read in a long time. Two questions though, 1) Why doesn't this book have Touchtones? and 2) Why isn't it on the "1001 books you must read before you die" list?
2.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. A great epic of the destiny of a pair of recessive genes. It's humorous where appropriate, sometimes irreverant, and made me want to be Greek... I so want a ya-ya!
3.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. I loved this book! I love how Lowry builds a world complete with it's own rules and history. I especially appreciate that it follows the natural conclusion of a growing trend that the whole world should be safe and comfortable with no stress or danger. It's perfect dystopia; utopia for some at the cost of others. But I especially love the fact it's a great book I can enjoy with my kids!
koolaid - your first two are two of my all-time favorite books.
Hi thekoolaidmom,
I love all three of your choices. Don't know why the touchstones are not working. And I agree that Kite Runner should be on list for books to read before you die.
Message edited by its author, Apr 4, 2008, 9:35pm.
Great bunch, zanix.
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