Someone talk books with me, please!

If you like to talk books - check out www.goodreads.com I LOVE that site!!

My books are available on Kindle now (all but one): www.jimwcoleman.com - Enjoy!

I read and enjoyed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as well. For something lighter, I agree with young adult fare like The Hunger Games. I also loved Divergent by Veronica Roth, which is the beginning of another YA series. I thought Attachments by Rainbow Rowell was adorable, yet still intellectual. Good luck

I am absolutely in love with Sarah Addison Allen's books - especially The Girl Who Chased the Moon and Garden Spells. Beautiful, beautiful prose and incredible story lines. (light fantasy/chick lit)

I adore vintage books and humor, so Donald Ogden Stewart's "Perfect Behavior" is one I read almost every year.

The Princess Bride book... is way better than the movie, and I loved the movie.

And... I have kids, and I read to them, even though the 'baby' is almost 10. We just finished reading My Sparkling Misfortune by Laura Lond. It was a Kindle freebie. Now we're working on the sequel - My Royal Pain Quest. And, also kids, but awesome... the Septimus Heap series. I would seriously read any of these, even if I didn't have kids.

Some recommendations from me, in no way a complete list and in no particular order:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith: could read this one over and over
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls: poignant; couldn't put it down
Garlic and Sapphires - Ruth Reichl: makes me laugh thinking about it
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger: way better than the movie
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova: non-sparkly vampires
River God - Wilbur Smith: adventure, true love, blood, and not really a book men wouldn't like, but I love it

I've read some of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries.

From looking at your list, I think you would like the Aunt Dimity mysteries by Nancy Atherton.
I'm about to start another Den of Antiquity Mystery by Tamar Myers.

I think I am the only one who didn't love girl with the dragon tatoo! The story was good but the female character was soooo over the top to me. and the names gave me a eyetwitch. lol

The lovely Bones was an AWESOME book - I read it with one hand over my face. lol

The Hunger Games has been promised to be in my hand soon *taps foot

Anyone read Virgin Suicides or Middlesex? Eugenides is the author - crazy good!!!

I need to come back with pen and paper to make a new list!!!!

Middlesex is one of my favorites

And don't forget the girl with the dragon tattoo and the followups.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. (fiction) This is a story about a racecar driver told from the point of view of his dog. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy or get into the other two books by this author. I was sure I would love him after this book!

East of Eden by John Steinbeck (classic)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (sci-fi)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (classic)

Love Wins by Rob Bell (pastor of the church I attended for a few years) (EXTREMELY inspirational and makes you think and is NOT religious!). This is also the author of all the NOOMA videos.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (a crazy book, that's all I can say)

The Space Trilogy (three books) by C.S. Lewis (sci-fi that somehow involves God too)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence by Robert M. Pirsig


There is no rhyme or reason to this list. These books are as different as they can possibly be from one another. They're just ones that have stuck with me since I read them. Some I have read multiple times.

Current Fiction: I also highly recommend The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I aso read the Hunger Games (young adult) Book 1 was ok but I wasn't thrilled, are Books 2 and 3 any better, I might read them...Book 1 wasn't bad just a bit dragged out in parts I thought

Light and fun I would recommend anything by David Sedaris, very funny essays (Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroys, Hollidays on Ice, Barrel Fever, etc.)

Classic mystery: The Moonstone or The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Other recommended fiction: She's Come Undone or This Much I Know is True both by Wally Lamb.

Memoirs: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls or Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.

Fantasy/Sci-i: His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman (Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass

Favorite young adult: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (great for all ages)

My all-time favorite and a very funny read: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I thought I was the only person who liked The Woman in White! I enjoyed it because it wasn't full of gratuitous sex and vulgar language like so many modern mysteries are. I liked how Collins developed the relationship between the three protagonists. Count Fosco was also menacing and creepy. His Dark Materials are good as well; however, the second and third books were increasingly bitter towards the Catholic church. I'm not a religious person at all, but it made me feel jaded to see the fantasy of the first book devolve into vitriol as the trilogy concluded. It was especially jarring because the first book was clearly for children--it was a relatively simple adventure involving a little girl and her "pet," for lack of a better word. The change in tone in the other books, especially the third, really threw me for a loop.

The 2 that I have read recently that stick in my mind are 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by the same author as 'The Kite Runner' , about a female in Afghanistan. And also 'Prisoner of Tehran'. You can guess what that's about.

Greg Mortenson wrote these^^^^^ and Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools as well. Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair was good. I started The Hunger Games but I found its parallels to life to depressing so I bailed halfway through number two. I will try t ofinish them in the summer. This summer onvacation I read Runing with Scissor: A Memoir by Augustine Burroughs. (if youare offended by rape or homosexuality it may offend you. It is an autobiography about someone who survive some real horror but it is very good. I also liked A Dog named Slugger by Leigh Brill. Hope one tof these works for you.

The Kite runner was written by Khaled Hosseini I am sure. Possibly wrong.

I like the sound of running with scissors though. may give that a go. thank you

I think I am the only one who didn't love girl with the dragon tatoo! The story was good but the female character was soooo over the top to me. and the names gave me a eyetwitch. lol

The lovely Bones was an AWESOME book - I read it with one hand over my face. lol

The Hunger Games has been promised to be in my hand soon *taps foot

Anyone read Virgin Suicides or Middlesex? Eugenides is the author - crazy good!!!

I need to come back with pen and paper to make a new list!!!!

i loved 'the lovely bones' too.... hated the movie, it ruined it. Also by Alice Sebold, if ytou havent already read it is 'Lucky'. Another fantastic book. Its about a rape victim. Told so well

I agree about "The Lovely Bones". I read it a few years back and was excited when the movie was coming out but the movie was awful. I have not read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. My son is reading the Hunger Games. One of those will be next on my list.

-I got a Kindle for Christmas and the first book I got was Hunger games, and I am already into the 3rd book they are real page turners.

-I loved the Twilight series and The Host by Stephanie Meyers

- If you are from or live in the South I recommend anything by Joshlyn Jackson, I have read every single book she has written and (she is coming to a book signing in Jackson, MS on the 31st!) loved all of them. Even if you aren't from the South tho I think they are good reads. "Gods in Alabama" was probably my favorite.

- 100 years of Solitude- this is a good book for men or women. Beware though it is very long and seems to drag on forever but it really is a must read IMO.

-The "Something borrowed", and "Something Blue" books by Emily Giffin, they are kind of soap opera-esque though IMO so don't expect too much in terms of intellectual stimulation.

-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Steig Larsson

-Water for Elephants- The book is 10000x better than the movie IMO

-Midwives by Chris Bohjalian- It has been several years since I have read this book, but it was awesome!

-Some Classics I love are: The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, and Dandelion Wine.

Sorry it's so long lol, I'm a bit of a book nerd.

Someone just let me borrow a copy of The Hunger Games. I'll be starting that tonight.

Ohhhhhh The Hunger Games.... by far on of my favoirte books that I have read! I just finished the first book of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo... way better than the movie that just came out. Definate must ready as well!

The latest TV Guide is a "MUST read".

I found the plot a bit weak - like I already knew what was going to happen.
Also, some of the show descriptions are a bit choppy.

I must go with THUMBS DOWN!