A Great Book I've Read in 2008 Because of LT . . .

Here's a new thread for a 2007 topic.

I have many book purchases and gifts in my TBR pile which were inspired by a LT recommendation or, in some cases, multiple recommendations! Here's a place to note your LT-inspired reading in '08 and credit, if you like, the user or users who recommended it to you.

Due to a thread a few months back, I'm currently reading The Camel Bookmobile, and very much enjoying it. Thanks LT!

Great idea for a thread! Many of the books I jotted down as recommended I would have gotten around to in any case, including The Gathering by Anne Enright and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. But I got curious about Anthony Trollope after seeing him on the lists of so many readers with whom I share interesting books. I recently finished The Small House at Allington and am now totally hooked on Trollope! And I also started my burgeoning collection of Virago Modern Classics after reading about them here.

I read the The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because of LT. Thank you!

>2 LadyN: LadyN

Thanks for reminding me of The Camel Bookmobile. It's on my shelf and I'm going to make it my first read of '08.

Thanks LT for this book suggestion--was it Kageeh who started a thread about it? The ensuing discussions reminded us of how lucky most of us are to have liberal access to books.

Great thread topic!

I read Suite Francaise and The Book Thief because they were so frequently mentioned here on LT.

Although I had purchased it within the month it was released, The Thirteenth Tale vaulted to the top of my TBR list in August thanks to repeated comments on LT. And while I haven't read them yet, I also purchased The Book Thief and Suite Francaise because of recs on LT. Hopefully they'll come off the TBR shelves in 2008!

I'm going to take this opportunity to bring up the "lt-inspired" tag - the more people use it, the more interesting the tagged book list becomes!

The lt-inspired tag is a good thing indeed. :)

I've chosen tons of books this year because of LT, including:

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. It was one of the group reads over at the Green Dragon. It ended up being on of my Top 10 books for this year.

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. I've always loved his Prydain books, but I'd read very little of his other work. A few people, (including, I think, MrsLee), mentioned reading this one, so I figured I'd branch out and give it a go. I wasn't disappointed.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. This one was actually an LT-inspired reread. I read and enjoyed it seven or eight years ago, but for some reason I never went any further with the series. So many people on LT spoke highly of Robin Hobb that I figured I should give it another go. Hobb has since become one of my absolute favourite authors.

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay. Lots of people on the Green Dragon kept mentioning Kay's work, so I figured I'd give him a go after I found this in a thrift shop. He, too, has become one of my very favourite authors.

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. Another GD group read. I've gotten a big kick out of this whole series.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Another choice based on frequent mentions. I wasn't as impressed with this, but I did enjoy the sequel.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Another frequent mentions choice, and another series I was a little disappointed with. I've read the first two now, and they're nothing particularly special. It seems like the series has potential, though, so I'll give the others a try one of these days.

Blood Price by Tanya Huff. Someone, (I can't remember who - sorry!), told me they were surprised I didn't own anything of Huff's. I picked this one up at a used book market and am glad I did. I'm getting a big kick out of the Blood Books and have shared them with my mother as well.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. Another reread. Many people, (including, I believe, bluesalamanders), have raved about McKinley's work, so I decided to give her another go. I really enjoyed this one, but unfortunately I didn't get as much out of The Blue Sword when I reread it.

Vanishing Point by David Markham. An experimental "novel" that's easy on the eyes. Anyone else read it? I'm dying to have a talk about it...

#10
Possible spoilers

I read Vanishing Point and have raved about it. I think the facts were so well chosen and definitely moved in a sequence from youth to death. Some of the facts put me to shame - such as Seurat been 31 when he died. Im 31 and I have no notable work to leave behind. And then, the snippet about the author - what a gripping, sad but birlliant novel.

Hands down, I owe The Book Thief to this LT group. I am so glad that I read this book - my favorite of 2007.

I also read The conjuror's bird by Martin Davies, based on recommendations from LT. This is a more obscure book but very enjoyable if you like mysteries and books that go back and forth between time periods.

Thanks to all for your recommendations!

I think 99% of what I've read since being found and adopted by LT was due to LT suggestions, reviews, or perusing others' libraries... including this thread (next up: Vanishing Point)...

LT has been a wonderful source of new reads for me! My reading horizon has been immeasurably broadened due to LTers sharing their favorites, and I've avoided a few "clunkers" too. :)

This year, I discovered a number of awesomely talented new (to me) authors because of LT recommendations and reviews, including Carol O'Connell (the Mallory mysteries and Judas Child), Guy Gavriel Kay (The Lions of al-Rassan and Tigana and Ysabel), Eoin Colfer (the Artemis Fowl series), and Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files series). The Book Thief was also a book I read because of LT, as was Team of Rivals, Devil in the White City, The Road, and Thirteenth Tale. And I'm reading Jane Eyre for the first time because 99.9% of LTers have loved that novel. (I am loving it too!)

Boy, there are so many that I could name and a bunch more that I have on my TBR stack. Ones that I have read include: The Book Thief, The Giver, The Warden, Einstein's Dreams, Three Cups of Tea, Crow Lake, and I could go on. I have checked out of the library for reading: How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Loud and Clear, The Master, Run, Cultural Amnesia, Christ the Lord, Water for Elephants, Envious Casca, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Mister Pip and The Founders of the Western World. Library Thing has very much expanded my reading horizons!

BTW: Shouldn't the thread be a Great Book I've Read in 2007? Can't see that anybody has read anything in 2008 yet . . .

#12 mrstreme: I read The Conjurer's Bird by Martin Davies prior to joining any of the groups on Library Thing and enjoyed it very much. Glad you discovered it.

Oh my gosh, practically my whole 2007 list! Some highlights:

Out Stealing Horses
The Lizard Cage
Astrid and Veronika
84 Charing Cross Road
A Month in the Country
Quartet in Autumn
The Pursuit of Love
Away (Early Reviewer)
The Story of Forgetting (Early Reviewer)
Ethel and Ernest
Amphigorey
Fingersmith
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

And my TBR list? Don't get me started!

*Wow, barely 2008 and you all have gone nuts over this:-) I sort of meant this for 2008 reads but what-the-hey.

I do have to credit rebeccanyc's recommendation for pushing Half of a Yellow Sun to the top of my TBR pile last year and amandameale for pushing me to read Remember Me, and Swallow the Air.

Well, today I finished another one. I couldn't put it down until I reached the conclusion. It was a young adult book called Looking for Alaska by John Green. Not only did I receive it as a gift from my Secret Santa (fyrefly98), but it was also written by LT author John Green.

Now that I finished the book, I can recommend it enthusiastically. It's about a group of friends in an Alabama boarding school. Although marketed as YA fiction, I found enough substance in this book to have me roar out loud in laughter as well as cry real tears. I'm truly glad I liked it so much! :-)

#19 SqueakyChu - I agree that Looking for Alaska is a great book. I enjoyed it very much.

#19 and 20 - SqueakyChu and GeorgiaDawn - I second (third?) the Looking for Alaska recommendation. A wonderful book and story. I loved the "dying words" quotations too.

Well, you have done it now - I am going to have to have a new notation in by book journal - "LT" for all the books I have learned about here on LibraryThing!

TeacherDad: Vanishing Point definitely deserves your attention.

For one thing, it's an "experimental" piece that goes down as easy as a particularly rigorous round of Trivial Pursuit. For another, I selfishly want to spark more discussion about the thing.

Just make sure you get the Markham book. I think the touchstone devoted to "Vanishing Point" will lead you astray.

keren7 - While reading it, part of me thought that -- if all of the facts present were, in fact, facts -- it was a cleverly easy way to produce a "novel."

But -- as I digest the book -- my reverence for VP can go either way: if the information presented is true, than hats off to Markham's seemingly effortless handle on arcane lit trivia. If he made it all up, than that's almost triple the genius.

As for it putting us aspiring writers to shame... there are plenty of late-in-life literary successes, not to mention those artists who weren't truly appreciated until post-mortem. Cheer up!

Lest the rest of you think I'm abusing this forum and taking a bunch of side trips, let's bring it all back home:

another author I've discovered thanks to LT is M. R. James. For someone who has exhausted every Lovecraft tome ad absurdum, I'm happy to have found another minor master of the weird tale. Huzzah for LT! Happy 2008!

Well, since we are really doing 2007 here (you'll just have to start another thread, avaland, for REAL 2008 recommendations);

Troubles by J.G. Farrell
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

Because of all the talke on LT, I read Possession by A. S. Byatt & also The shadow of the Sun & The Virgin in the garden. I now seem to be on a roll with UK authors, Ian McEwan Iris Murcoch Edna O'Brien Rumer Godden & all the Jane Austen's I hadn't read yet.

I just went through and tagged my 'lt-inspired' books. There are 42(!) of them. Of the ones I've read, here are some that I particularly enjoyed.

Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell
The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Blessed Is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

In 2007 Mister Pip is the only one I went out and got because of LT recommendations (and thoroughly enjoyed, thank you). However, I moved both Blood Done Sign My Name (excellent) and Half a Yellow Sun (currently reading) up on Mt. TBR because of the great comments in LT. I'm sure there will be many more in 2008.

I just went through and tagged my 'lt-inspired' books...

I like the idea of a tag for this, but the more I use LT the more of my books are LT-inspired. That tag would take over my library. Kinda like the "tbr" tag has already done!!

My Secret Santa sent me the collected short stories of Somerset Maugham and they are right up my alley.

An LT friend sent me Mosquito by Roma Tearne, a tale of love and war in Sri Lanka which was quite good!

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, and I'm glad I picked it up - a really fun and clever book.

So far, the two that I've been inspired to read because of LT (not including my ER books) are Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (because of the Most Disturbing books list) and Good Omens. I've been adding plenty to my TBR list because of LT, though.

I found a recommendation for Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling and thought it looked good, so on to my Amazon wishlist it went. Coincidentally I went to a convention a few months later where the author was speaking, but didn't put her together with the book until I saw the cover in the dealers room.

That book, along with its two sequels, are my absolute favorite books I've read so far this year and I would probably have never given the book a second glance unless I had heard about it on here first.

Atonement and Life of Pi have been the only two this year that were directly inspired by people's reviews on LT. I liked the second one, but I liked the first one not at all.

Three that I have tagged lt-inspired, read this year and were good are: Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner, Summer of Night by Dan Simmons and Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. I realize that those are three pretty different books - Hooray for LT.

I'm surprised that only two of the books I read this year are because of LT, but then I realized that I'm really focusing on reading Mnt TBR, which was formed pre-LT days. Anyway, the two books I read were Indigo: or mapping the waters, which was interesting but not great (this tread did specify "great") and Half of a Yellow Sun.

Nickelini, LT has had a more indirect effect for me in that it has influenced the arrangement of my TBR pile. For example, I had bought Half of a Yellow Sun because I had read the author's previous book but it stayed in the TBR pile with LOTS of other books until rebeccanyc praised it. I then moved it near the top.

LT has paid off this year. I've read Out Stealing Horses , Cry, The Beloved Country , Half of a Yellow Sun and Late Innings. All were wonderful and LT gets the blame.

The two best books I've read (so far) this year were both the result of LT- Fingersmith and Never Let Me Go. Before LT, they were both on the "maybe someday" list, and now I've completed them and love them.

The three best books I've read this year that I would never have picked up if I weren't on LT are Black Ships by Jo Graham, an ER book, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

btw, dchaikin, I saw on the other thread you have read and enjoyed Heart of Darkness; have you read King Leopold's Ghost? A great (but grim) book and a nice companion to the Conrad (who is mentioned in the book, of course).

#41 avaland - I hadn't heard of King Leopold's Ghost. I'm curious.

I'd like to second the recommendation for King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild, a sad story ultimately, but really riveting history.

Year of Wonders - thanks Teelgee
The Road
Pride and Prejudice
I hope to finish Middlemarch and get to Never Let Me Go. Thanks LT!

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon comes to mind. I saw several people raving about it and picked it up.

>43 LouisBranning: agree, riveting.

#43,46: I just requested it from my library...

I read A Dog About Town by J.F. Englert. This book was a fun, light read, but I especially liked it because the author, an LT Author featured on Author Chat, sent me a personally signed copy!!

I found Recommendations...just for me...on Librarything for books by Thomas B. Costain that display a wonderful panarama of the Middle Ages and the Plantagenets. I didn't know they existed before. They are awesome....The Conquering Family, and The Three Edwards for now, The Magnificent Century and The Last Plantagenets for later. They're great.

I would never have discovered Kazuo Ishiguro without LT, for which I owe every LTer who recommended his books my undying gratitude. The remains of the day will always be on my list of favourite books, and I enjoyed never let me go as well.

Also George R.R. Martin's series A song of ice and fire was something I would never have picked up without LT, and I am in love with it (only on Book 3 so far and enjoying every page).

Keep it up! :)

I haven't done a whole lot of LT-inspired reading this year, but it's mostly been good stuff.

For starters, I've begun working my way through the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology series after seeing people mention it on here. I've read three volumes so far and have enjoyed them quite a lot. The stories are both literary and entertaining, pointed me in the direction of some great new authors.

I'd seen some people, (most notably Jenson_aka_DL, mention Holly Black, so I tried her YA stuff back at the beginning of the year and found it very interesting. It was dark and creepy and kind of uncomfortable. I got a kick out of it.

I'd seen a lot of people mention Megan Whalen Turner's books in the YA groups - mostly because everyone seems to have a crush on Eugenides - so I bought the first one from my local independant's bargain section. It didn't exactly blow me out of the water, but I decided to give the next couple of books a try... and they did. They're among the best books I've read so far this year.

I'd never heard of John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series before some folks at the Green Dragon started talking it up. I took the first book out of the library and was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I raced through the next two and am looking forward to #4. If only his North American publishers would get these out faster! They, too, are currently among my Best of 2008.

I bought The Thirteenth Tale largely because of all the raves in the What You're Currently Reading threads. I enjoyed it quite a lot and especially liked what it said about the role stories play in our lives.

Someone in the 50 Book Challenge group reviewed Gods Behaving Badly on their list, and I instantly put in a request at the library. It took a long time to get to me, but it was absolutely worth it. Another candidate for the final Best of 2008 list.

Finally, I read Melusine by Sarah Monette just a few days ago. I'd been interested in it for quite some time, and received it from my SantaThing last Christmas. It blew me straight out of the water and sent me running to the bookstore for the rest of the series. I'll be very, very surprised if its sequel, (The Virtu), doesn't make my 2008 Top 5 list. I may even have to cheat and just count the whole series as one so I can fit 'em all on there.

And that's it so far.

Agree about King Leopold's Ghost.

This year so far, off the top of my head, I can think of Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, which I read because of LT (and then went on to read the rest of the trilogy; The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim, which I moved up in my TBR pile because of LT; and Dear American Airlines, which I've just started. May come back and add others.

Much of my reading this year has been inspired by LT. Before I joined here, the BookMooch recommender did a lot to add to Mt. TBR. The discovery of free books in the way of ARCs and reviewer copies through the LT thread "other places to find ARCs" has also added to my TBR pile.

The best book I've read in 2008 is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I would have never known about it but for LibraryThing. If you'd like to read my review of The Gargoyle, it's on my blog: In the Shadow of Mt. TBR

>53 thekoolaidmom: I like the name of your blog :-)

I've bought and read 10 or 11 books because of reviews or recommendations on LT some of the one that I have enjoyed the most were (not in any order);

The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington) by David Weber
The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Watery Grave (Wiki Coffin Mysteries) by Joan Druett
An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943,Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson

#54 Jenson_AKA_DL: Thank you... It was also LT Inspired. :-D

#53

That is one hell of a reccomendation. That is a must read and I'm getting it next week.

Thanks

#57 yareader2: I told a friend today that if there is any justice or fairness in the world, Gargoyle will be on the best sellers list by Christmas.

It is that good.

I've just read The Collector by John Fowles because Booksloth recommended it to me here on LT. I have to say, it really is good, I wish I had found it ages ago.

It was published in 1963 and is all the better for being so different to the way it might be if it was just being published in 2008. It was a slow, creeping kind of thriller rather than a body-parts everywhere kind of a book.

And I might never have found it had it not been for LT and Booksloth. Thanks to both.

I loved The Collector when I read it back in the 60s or 70s. I also loved The Magus, though it is not universally appreciated by everyone on LT. I read both after The French Lieutenant's Woman, which, though I enjoyed it, I didn't find as compelling as the others for some reason.

#60 - I'm looking forward to reading those now too. I really would have loved a sequel to The Collector, I loved it so much.

I just added The Gargoyle to my never ending and ever growing TBR list. Thanks! Now if I can just find the time to read more I'll be in great shape.

It would have to be my current book which is already lasting me some time, because I can hard find time to read, next to my writing and other business.

Anyway, I won't hold you in suspense any longer, and yes it is still Dune.

The Three Crowns by Stuart Cohen has filled in a whole lot of early Jewish political history for me and is written by a scholar who cares about how to turn out a sentence.

Robert

I was sent a small novel (technically a children's book) by an LT friend; it's excellent. Blueback by Tim Winton. Beautifully written.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.

I just finished The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux, a trilogy of novellas set in India. They describe the madness and diversity of that country. The second story is the best.

Hey, Whisper1, what's Mudbound about?

Hi Wickedlovely -- Thanks for asking about Mudbound. I found this to be a very disturbing story -- one that will haunt me for a long time. Jordan's first book is a masterful portrayal of the cruel, evil underbelly of the deep mucky, nasty, bigoted post WWII south. It is worth the read!

Books I've come to know because of LT

1. Replay by Ken Grimwood Fabulous time travel novel
2. The Book Thief
3. Special Topics in Calamity Physics Long winded, but utimately worth the trip.
4. Ella Minnow Pea

Hi Hairballsrus
I love your LT name...made me laugh out loud! A number of people have read The Book Thief Did you like this book?

Measuring Time by Helon Habila. I remember seeing someone's post with the title, author -that fact that the author was Nigerian - and that they liked it. The author was not one I was familiar with so I checked it out, bought it, and finally got around to reading it. It was very, very good!

The Lace Reader, for sure. I wouldn't have picked it up off our store's ARC pile if I hadn't heard all the wonderful talk about it here, and I absolutely loved it.

Read My Review

Another great book I discovered through LT is All Over But the Shoutin by Rick Bragg. I'm now reading yet another of his books after recently finishing Ava's Man

I am so very glad a co-worker told me about LT. My reading list has expanded greatly!

i read stoner by John Williams because of all the chatter on here a while back. it's now one of my favorite books

I read Out of the Silent Planet recently, and I'm currently reading To Say Nothing of the Dog, both due to recommendations. I'm loving both!

I have read:
The Thirteeth Tale
The 19th Wife
The Lace Reader is on my to TBR pile.

I must admit I picked up a couple of others I thought I would like that I did not finish.

Thanks to deebee1, I bought and just finished reading Agamemnon's Daughter by Ismail Kadare, the Albanian writer who was the first recipient of the Man Booker International Prize. The book consists of the title story, set in 1980s Albania, and two shorter works, which take place during the Ottoman Empire and in China after Genghis Khan, respectively. I plan to write a review later, but this was definitely one of the best 10 books I've read so far this year.

Soon to be read: Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (thanks akeela!).

Thanks to rebeccanyc, I'm reading If This be Treason a memoir about translation and translating by Gregory Rabassa.

The first one that comes to mind is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I've added a few books to my TBR list from this thread alone.

The Book Thief and The Gargoyle are now on my list.

I'm pretty sure that reading Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro can be blamed on LT for which I am very happy, it is an amazing book.

I went out and bought Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day after hearing to mentioned on LT, and loved it.

I've also been inspired to try to read several others that have been listed - but The Remains of the Day and Pillars of the Earth have only got as far as my TBR pile and the rest are still on my wishlist.

The 2 that come to mind right off are Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe that I'd never even heard of before LT, but loved so much that it is my only 5-star book. The other is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks that I'd seen but dismissed because it just didn't grab me. Until I started seeing the raves about it here. It was also wonderful - highly recommended.

The Gargoyle, which I just finished and which is absolutely amazing! It's one of those that you keep thinking about, trying to figure out what really happened. :)

So far it's a tie between Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm still working on the latter, but it's that good I think it deserves a mention before I've finished. For years and years I assumed I wouldn't like it so have never bothered to give it a go, but I was inspired by the group read, and I'm very glad!

I liked Infinite Jest so much that I've just ordered six more of his books. It's very sad that I won't be able to look forward to any more.

I plan to read The Gargoyle next - can't wait!

I wouldn't have known about Michael Connelly if
it wasn't for this list, nor a lot of the Scandinavian mystery writers that this site introduced me to.