Last truly great book you read?

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Replies

  • iwannabeonthebeach
    iwannabeonthebeach Posts: 146 Member
    edited February 2015
    The last book that kept me completely mesmerized in the OMG-what-the-hell-is-going-on mode was "One Step Too Far" by Tina Seskis. Total page-turner, highly recommended.
  • oORosadaOo
    oORosadaOo Posts: 97 Member
    I just finished Popular by Maya van Wagenen and it was fantastic! Not at all only for children or YA.
  • martrhod
    martrhod Posts: 7 Member
    I just read one of the most amazing books. It's called Moloka'i by Alan Brennert.

    It's about a 7 year old Hawaiian girl in the 1890s who is diagnosed with leprosy and exiled to a separate island away from her family, friends, life in Honolulu. I HIGHLY recommend it. I LOVED it. It will definitely be a book I return to read over and over.

  • martrhod
    martrhod Posts: 7 Member
    I also read this book and loved it. Definitely recommend. I'd love to visit this place. Last time I checked there was still a survivor there who gave tours.
  • martrhod
    martrhod Posts: 7 Member
    mwazwi wrote: »
    I really loved Ken's Book "Pillars of The Earth." Couldn't put it down.
    I'll have to add the one you mentioned to my Reading List.
    "A Dangerous Fortune" by Ken Follett.

    I haven't found anything from him that I haven't enjoyed. :wink:

  • martrhod
    martrhod Posts: 7 Member
    I loved this book too! I read it about 25 years ago and it still stays with me. I read the sequel recently but did not enjoy it as much.
  • martrhod
    martrhod Posts: 7 Member
    finchest wrote: »
    What's the last great book you read -- other than the Hunger Games?

    The kind of book that you couldn't put down, or that you wanted to recommend to every person you know?


    It's ok if it was a long time ago! GREAT books are hard to come by :)

    For me, it was probably "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak or "City of Thieves" by David Benioff -- both the kind of books I would recommend to anyone. (Similar titles merely a coincidence!)
    I also really loved "Theophilus North" by Thornton Wilder, but I'd recommend that to someone who already loves and appreciates classics.

    Here are some of my most favorites--ones that I want to recommend to everyone.
    "A Woman in Amber" true story of a girl from Latvia during WWII.
    "Lost Horizon" I re-read this every once in a while.
    "The Glass Castle"
    "Pillars of the Earth"
    "Gone With the Wind"
  • oORosadaOo
    oORosadaOo Posts: 97 Member
    martrhod wrote: »
    I also read this book and loved it. Definitely recommend. I'd love to visit this place. Last time I checked there was still a survivor there who gave tours.

    Thank you both for the recommendation, I put it on my list of books to read! Have you read Shark Dialogues by Kiana Davenport? Fantastic book!
  • mazed13
    mazed13 Posts: 2 Member
    edited March 2015
    "A Dangerous Fortune" by Ken Follett.

    I haven't found anything from him that I haven't enjoyed. :wink:



    Ken Follett's books are great, just finished the 3 book series "Fall of Giants", "Winter of the World", and "Edge of Eternity".

    A few others I'd recommend: "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
    "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
    "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty
  • guinevere96
    guinevere96 Posts: 1,445 Member
    edited March 2015
    TFIOS was truly an amazing book.
  • oORosadaOo
    oORosadaOo Posts: 97 Member
    mazed13 wrote: »
    "A Dangerous Fortune" by Ken Follett.

    I haven't found anything from him that I haven't enjoyed. :wink:



    Ken Follett's books are great, just finished the 3 book series "Fall of Giants", "Winter of the World", and "Edge of Eternity".

    A few others I'd recommend: "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
    "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
    "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty

    I recently downloaded them, too. :smile:
  • Jenaonfire
    Jenaonfire Posts: 17 Member
    I couldn't put down The Red Tent by Anita Diament and all the females in our family received it as a Christmas gift from me this year.

    Previously mentioned that I second: The Children of Earth series, Little Big lieS and All the Light We Cannot See.

    Just finished the most amazing (yet not for the sensitive) novel about a Haitian woman who is kidnapped and tortured for thirteen days and mentally erased her life to endure the torture. It's called an untamed state by Roxanne gay.
  • crunchergirl
    crunchergirl Posts: 184 Member
    PaytraB wrote: »
    Hi, I'm new here.
    This year has been an odd one for me. Many books were rather so-so. I enjoyed them (some quite a bit) but they didn't wow me in any way.
    The last really good book I read was back in July when I read Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland. That was a really good read.

    I had the same type of year. A recent read, The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones was really good.
  • helenarriaza
    helenarriaza Posts: 517 Member
    And the mountains echoed by khaled hosseini
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
    I had the same type of year. A recent read, The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones was really good.

    I read that a few years back, crunchergirl, and really enjoyed it. I'm glad that you found this book.

    Helenarriaza, I just finished listening to And The Mountains Echoed a couple of weeks ago and also enjoyed it a lot.


    As an update, I just finished Peace Like A RIver by Leif Enger this past week and thought it was absolutely wonderful.
  • I really got into Days of Blood and Starlight, which is the second book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. It's 500 pages finished it a day. Great plot, amazing writing.
  • csmullins78
    csmullins78 Posts: 61 Member
    Kate Atkinson's Life After Life... I loved this book and would consider it one of the most interesting/enjoyable books I've read lately.
  • oORosadaOo
    oORosadaOo Posts: 97 Member
    I really got into Days of Blood and Starlight, which is the second book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. It's 500 pages finished it a day. Great plot, amazing writing.

    I loved the first book and also the novella about Suzana (that chick rocks!), whereas in the second and third book I skipped whole passages because I just couldn't be bothered. But then angels have never interested me much. :smirk:
  • Brooke2530
    Brooke2530 Posts: 4 Member
    "How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" Julia Alvarez
    Beautiful. :)
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 11,543 Member
    "Armor" by John Steakley. Stayed up all night long to finish reading, couldn't put it down.
  • lilithsrose
    lilithsrose Posts: 752 Member
    I recently devoured the first three books in the Alpha Girl series by Aileen Erin. I'm impatiently waiting for the 4th book that comes out next month.
  • iwannabeonthebeach
    iwannabeonthebeach Posts: 146 Member
    edited May 2015
    Just finished Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Very powerful and moving, have your tissues handy :'( Now I want to see the film.
  • kaniob
    kaniob Posts: 363 Member
    A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman was absolutely fascinating
  • blossomingbutterfly
    blossomingbutterfly Posts: 743 Member
    Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
    Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
    Still Alice by Lisa Genova
  • lfjeff
    lfjeff Posts: 6 Member
    finchest wrote: »
    What's the last great book you read -- other than the Hunger Games?

    The kind of book that you couldn't put down, or that you wanted to recommend to every person you know?


    It's ok if it was a long time ago! GREAT books are hard to come by :)

    For me, it was probably "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak or "City of Thieves" by David Benioff -- both the kind of books I would recommend to anyone. (Similar titles merely a coincidence!)
    I also really loved "Theophilus North" by Thornton Wilder, but I'd recommend that to someone who already loves and appreciates classics.

  • lfjeff
    lfjeff Posts: 6 Member
    Dead Wake by Erik Larson.
    City of Thieves was awesome. Highest recommendation.
  • wdnisbet
    wdnisbet Posts: 518 Member
    To Kill A Mockingbird. By far. I didn't read this until a few years ago at about age 50. Don't know how I missed it as a kid but I may have benefited from this. Reading it from an adult perspective the first time was, I believe, a completely different experience. I was truly astounded and moved. That may be about as close to perfect as a book gets.
  • aliceocean2
    aliceocean2 Posts: 35 Member
    There's a lot of amazing ones, Here's my top that truly hit home:

    Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
    The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
    Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk (to be fair... every book by him would make this list)
    Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Seth grahame
    Horns - Joe Hill
    The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
    The Great gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and M. Hyde - Robert Louis Stephenson
  • BelladonnaWinter
    BelladonnaWinter Posts: 7 Member
    The particular sadness of lemon cake
    And
    The curious coincidence of coconut cake.
    They are easy reads by two different authors. Yes, I'm drawn to food things.
  • wdnisbet
    wdnisbet Posts: 518 Member
    If you like food things, have you checked out Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series? Light mysterious staring a caterer and include recipes.
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