Ok, here's the scoop. I feel dumb lately, soooooo, I want to hold a book recommendation contest. The winner will receive a $10 donation to the charity of their choice--please make it non-political, something like Doctors Without Borders, United Way, Make a Wish Foundation, etc.
Rules: Make a recommendation, any genre (except as noted below), and explain in a good paragraph or two why I should use my brain time to read it.
IF you recommend a book such as, say, "Dude, Where's My President," you also have to recommend a book like "Treason." I will *not* read slanted material without reading the other side. And you have to have read them both as well.
If I've already read the book I will let you know.
And please please please do not recommend popular fiction (DaVinci code etc.). That is the only thing I cannot abide!
I hope to make this a monthly contest--isn't it pathetic I can only get through one book a month lately?
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Last edited by Cicerosum : 01-19-2004 at 11:06 AM.
I'm sure I won't win, because I'm not putting a terrible lot of thought into my review, but I suggest you read Pnin by Nabokov. Why? Because it made me laugh at the same time it made me sad and, since you're pregnant and vulnerable to multiple emotions, you will undoubtedly enjoy the dynamic. Plus, you'll look more studious carrying it around than your dog-earred copy of Flowers in the Attic.
My reccomendation is one of my favorite authors. The Book is Breathing Lessons By Anne Tyler. It is fiction. Do you mean that you don't like fiction at all or just the most recent fad? I guess this book was also pretty poular because it won a Pulitzer...now I am second guessing my suggestion. Oh well, here is my reason why. It is just a darn good look at human nature. It brings out the really bad in ordinary folks, it uses real, normal, and ordinary circumstances to show how spicey life really is. Plus, the main characters (pretty much the only characters) are an elderly couple and they react to the world in such a different way than I do as a younger person. It is a bitterly sweet story and VERY well told.
If all fiction is out can I please have a second reccomendation? It would be Requiem of Love , by Calvin Miller. It is and outstanding re-telling of the biblical story of creation. It is allegorical poetry, some of the best and most beautiful that I have ever read. It is also the most beautiful and heartwrenching love story I have read. It is very thought provoking while being excellent storytelling!
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Every single thing I type is full of great reams of wisdom. Take it all very seriously. Because it is. Very serious. Seriously. It is.
Rebecca,
Those are great suggestions! By popular fiction I mean things like John Grisham, etc. Fiction is definitely in, just not "easy reading" as I call it. Your second recomm. sounds very interesting.
I would recommend Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. It is written from a Christian point of view and deals with the issue of masculinity and God. I would recommend anyone with boys read it even though it is written to men in general. I found it very enlightening and enjoyable.
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Robin wife to one awesome guy for 18 years,
mama to four beautiful boys
Anything by Robin McKinley.
Yes, they are mostly YA fiction...but so well written. I'll officially nominate the book Beauty as it was the first book of hers that I read. It is a retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. But it is an uncommon retelling. Sure she keep many of the main details, but the story has such strong female characters...
Also, if you're not so into love-ish stories, I'd recommend The Blue Sword orThe Hero and the Crown
Finally on a different note (and yes, I'm nominating more than one book--I just can't stop myself), I recommend anything by Madeleine L'engle, but specifically A Live Coal in the Sea because it deals with family, faith, community and the effects we all have on one another. It also deals with the necessity of forgiveness--both of offering and giving--and how difficult life can be when you won't forgive.
blessings!
Jeni
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Alex and Miriam, off to Kindergarten. August 18, 2008
Missing Hazel Irene, born still on April 18, 2008. A Broken Hallelujah
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A great book written "In his own words" or translated into his own words. I think it is a wonderful book.
As for fiction, how about Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. Normally he is such a pig but a wonderful writer. This one is about his upbringing and it is wonderful. I would highly recommend it.
Lastly, I loved the Poisonwood Bible. It is a great novel!
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Chrissy
Mama to 2 bundles of joy
An honest, extremely well-written journal of a woman's first year with her son. A single mother who earns a living as a freelance writer, she writes bluntly of the struggles and joys of each day. Her son has colic and she nearly goes mad from sleep deprivation, but she does not lose sight of him as a blessing. There is nothing prettied up here. No "see what I can do" mother bragging. It's bare bones and it speaks to the every day heroine in any mother.
Plus it's so funny in parts it'll make you pee your pants and spit coke out your nose.
If you're already read it, it bears rereading. It is the ONLY "parenting" book my husband has ever read cover to cover (much less an entire chapter of).
If you want to read its opposite, read Ezzo, I guess
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Alaska So proud of my 7th grader and 1st graders My feedback
I made the sweater, too.
This book won the Booker Prize. I've rarely been disappointed by Booker Prize winners (or shortlisted novels for that matter). I actually bought this book on the historical strength of the prize, thinking that I might not make it through (that does happen sometimes when one reads books while nursing a baby late at night). I was delighted to find that it was a book I didn't want to put down, although once or twice I did put it down because of the emotional strength of the book
It was a horribly fascinating novel, whether you take it as fantasy, hallucination, or allegory. It got me thinking both about how we survive the "unsurvivable" events in our lives, and how we make sense of remote, inaccessible past events.
Also won't win; but I think you should make yourself smarter via Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow IS amazing. Really. And it makes you smarter in this terrific, wasted way that just does NOT apply to real life... Noone will think you're snotty; I swear!
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Rebecca
Proud Socialist mama to all my red diaper babies. Sky (7-5-96), Hunter (3-4-01), Forest (2-25-04 -- 5-8-04), and Willow (9-2-06)
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,476
The Red Tent
It is a wonderfully written book that follows the four wives of Joseph and his only daughter. Fictional characters but incredibly believable point of view from the biblical context. Centers a lot on the connection between women, midwifery, childbirth, the life cycle, and the reality of having close bonds with women friends. Wonderful and complelling story and hard to put down.
Love Val
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Originally posted by cicerosum Rebecca,
Those are great suggestions! By popular fiction I mean things like John Grisham, etc. Fiction is definitely in, just not "easy reading" as I call it. Your second recomm. sounds very interesting.
Well, I guess my suggestion of anything by John Grisham is out then! LOL!
He's the only author I read.
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