Good Reads and Recommendations

L

LindaB

Member
I am a voracious and somewhat eclectic reader. Having said that, I am partial to mysteries and thrillers. Some of my favorite authors include:
Linwood Barclay
Harlan Coben
Lee Child
Michael Connelly
Stephen King
Dennis Lehane
I am always iso new authors and am interested in reading a large spectrum of genres. I belong to a monthly Book Club that that has introduced me to some genres that I may have never read including YA books.
What books and which authors do you recommend?
 

LindaB:
Used book stores are treasure houses, but be prepared to spend 3-4 hours
Mamas don't let your babies grow up to play Football by R.E. Blount published
1985
High school and college football coaches from 1930-1970, cursed, slapped, knocked,
down, intimidate, challenge their manhood to 'make'um tough''

"Of all the high school coaches ...I would conservatively estimate that one-forth to one-third were not fit to oversee a prison chain gang."
he describes 'over half high school coaches as sadist or psychotic.'

The author qualifications: played high school, college ball and pro ball, became a respected coach and ended his career as an official. He appears to know his topic well. He had frequent contact with high school coaches throughout his life.
The author was well known and respected in Texas.
He makes you aware of how savage some coaches can make football.
 
I highly recommend books by Jane Harper. Set mainly in the Australian outback. The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man. Fourth one due out in September.

The Dry -
Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well…

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret… A secret Falk thought long-buried… A secret which Luke’s death starts to bring to the surface...

http://janeharper.com.au/Books/The-Dry

I also enjoy the Joe Pickett series by C J Box, set in Wyoming where Joe is a game warden.
 

Lots of really bad snakes and spiders in Australia, not counting the jellyfish and crocs.
Darn, I wanted to ask you about an Aussie author, but he is hiding somewhere in my senility, it'll come to me. darn!
 
You might consider Oaths and Miracles by Nancy Kress. It was originally a science fiction novel, but science has caught up so it's considered a murder mystery now.

If you're at all interesting in science fiction I can give you some suggestions but I know not everyone enjoys science fiction.
 
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. It is very good but a bit of a struggle for me. I am on the second book in the series The Name of all Things. The books have footnotes, which I dislike cause I don’t seem to notice them till I’m at the end of the page, even though I know they will be there.

The books are a story within a story. In the second book, It’s a story within a story and there is a book within book. Best way I can explain it. While I read it, I can not do anything else. I don’t know it’s just complicated or I just can’t concentrate very well right now.

I have always read a lot, but the last few years not as much as I used to. The best book I ever read in my whole life is “The Name of the Wind”. If I could only read one book in the world, I would read this one.
 
LindaB said:
Thanks, I actually do enjoy some good science fiction from time to time:)
Click to expand...

I'll start with some favorite books that are the first in a series that I loved

A Million Open Doors - John Barnes (Giraut series 4 books) - The only science fiction novel I've read with an economist as the main character. Very cool series with great characters and interesting interactions.

Titan - John Varley (Gaea trilogy) - A well written series with an interesting setting, characters and flow.

Neuromancer - William Gibson (Neormancer trilogy) - An early cyberpunk novel with a very gritty future earth and interesting cyberworld interaction.

Sundiver - David Brin (Uplift Saga, two trilogies in the same universe) - The first book introduces a lot of different types of aliens working with (and against) humans and a very interesting concept that works well in the universe and makes for some interesting stories.

Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler (Earthseed series, 2 books) - Interesting not to future earth setting with some parallels of things happening in the present day.

Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress (Beggars trilogy) - A wonderful book with an amazingly simple premise that has much broader implications than one would originally associate with it and a great way of exploring the implications.

Here are some stand alone science fiction books I've loved

Gun With Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem - A strange but entertaining and sometimes humorous novel with unusual pacing that worked for me.

Kindred - Octavia Butler - An interesting story of a woman who jumps back and forth between the past and the present and how her life is so different in each place.

Novels from newer authors (Both are the first novels in series that are not complete yet)

The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi - A wonderful book about the politics and intrigue in a galactic empire

The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin - A very interesting novel that mixes some elements of fantasy with science fiction with great characters and an interesting universe.

Novellas from newer authors

Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor - A really interesting story that is the start of an interesting series. I've only read the first one.

The Black Tides of Heaven - JY Yang - A good story that actually has two versions told from different points of view. I haven't read the companion book yet.
 
I thoroughly recommend two autobiographies of William Woodruff. 'The road to Nab End' and 'Beyond Nab End'.
In them he tells his story from his impoverished childhood in a cotton weaving town in northern England, through his journey to London as a teenager, gaining a place at Oxford university and serving in the second world war.

He went on to study at Harvard and became a professor of history at the University of Illinois. In later years he was a visiting professor at a number of prestigious universities. It's an absolute masterclass in what it is possible to achieve. He died in Florida aged 92 in 2006.
 
asp3 said:
I'll start with some favorite books that are the first in a series that I loved

A Million Open Doors - John Barnes (Giraut series 4 books) - The only science fiction novel I've read with an economist as the main character. Very cool series with great characters and interesting interactions.

Titan - John Varley (Gaea trilogy) - A well written series with an interesting setting, characters and flow.

Neuromancer - William Gibson (Neormancer trilogy) - An early cyberpunk novel with a very gritty future earth and interesting cyberworld interaction.

Sundiver - David Brin (Uplift Saga, two trilogies in the same universe) - The first book introduces a lot of different types of aliens working with (and against) humans and a very interesting concept that works well in the universe and makes for some interesting stories.

Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler (Earthseed series, 2 books) - Interesting not to future earth setting with some parallels of things happening in the present day.

Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress (Beggars trilogy) - A wonderful book with an amazingly simple premise that has much broader implications than one would originally associate with it and a great way of exploring the implications.

Here are some stand alone science fiction books I've loved

Gun With Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem - A strange but entertaining and sometimes humorous novel with unusual pacing that worked for me.

Kindred - Octavia Butler - An interesting story of a woman who jumps back and forth between the past and the present and how her life is so different in each place.

Novels from newer authors (Both are the first novels in series that are not complete yet)

The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi - A wonderful book about the politics and intrigue in a galactic empire

The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin - A very interesting novel that mixes some elements of fantasy with science fiction with great characters and an interesting universe.

Novellas from newer authors

Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor - A really interesting story that is the start of an interesting series. I've only read the first one.

The Black Tides of Heaven - JY Yang - A good story that actually has two versions told from different points of view. I haven't read the companion book yet.
Click to expand...
Wow! You have quite a reading repertoire there! I will definitely choose one to test the waters. Thank you for taking the time to give me some details.
 
Aneeda72 said:
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. It is very good but a bit of a struggle for me. I am on the second book in the series The Name of all Things. The books have footnotes, which I dislike cause I don’t seem to notice them till I’m at the end of the page, even though I know they will be there.

The books are a story within a story. In the second book, It’s a story within a story and there is a book within book. Best way I can explain it. While I read it, I can not do anything else. I don’t know it’s just complicated or I just can’t concentrate very well right now.

I have always read a lot, but the last few years not as much as I used to. The best book I ever read in my whole life is “The Name of the Wind”. If I could only read one book in the world, I would read this one.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for your recommendation!
 
I find it interesting that books I may have read in my younger years seem to strike a different chord when read in my older years.
One of my very favorite books, "Youngblood Hawk" by Herman Wouk, I first read in my 20's. I remember hating the ending so much that I threw the book across the room when I finished it. Still, it stayed in my memory as a great book. I re-read it two years ago and I had a very different take on the story. It is still one of my very favorites.
 
Below are some of the books I've enjoyed during this Covid stay at home period. I've picked up others and decided against them. Although I typically read a pretty good mix of fiction and non-fiction, these days I'm sticking closer to historical fiction and straight up fiction. Easier on my brain.

The Long Earth series (6 books) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. (Have you read them, @asp3? I quite liked the entire series.)
Just yesterday, I finished the extraordinarily beautifully written, "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles.
"The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion
"The Secrets of Midwives" by Sally Hepworth
"The Silent Patient" by Ales Michaelides
"The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" by Kim Michele Richardson
"One Day in December" by Josie Silver
"Celestial Bodies" by Jokha Alharthi
"Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate
"The Bookish Life of Nina Hill" by Abbi Waxman
"Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman

I'll read virtually anything by Alexander McCall Smith, JoJo Moyes, Lianne Moriarty and Elin Hildebrand.
 
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Pam said:
I highly recommend books by Jane Harper. Set mainly in the Australian outback. The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man. Fourth one due out in September.

The Dry -
Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well…

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret… A secret Falk thought long-buried… A secret which Luke’s death starts to bring to the surface...

http://janeharper.com.au/Books/The-Dry

I also enjoy the Joe Pickett series by C J Box, set in Wyoming where Joe is a game warden.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation! I just put The Dry on my library queue.
 
StarSong said:
Below are some of the books I've enjoyed during this Covid stay at home period. I've picked up others and decided against them. Although I typically read a pretty good mix of fiction and non-fiction, these days I'm sticking closer to historical fiction and straight up fiction. Easier on my brain.

The Long Earth series (6 books) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. (Have you read them, @asp3? I quite liked the entire series.)
Just yesterday, I finished the extraordinarily beautifully written, "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles.
"The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion
"The Secrets of Midwives" by Sally Hepworth
"The Silent Patient" by Ales Michaelides
"The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" by Kim Michele Richardson
"One Day in December" by Josie Silver
"Celestial Bodies" by Jokha Alharthi
"Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate
"The Bookish Life of Nina Hill" by Abbi Waxman
"Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman

I'll read virtually anything by Alexander McCall Smith, JoJo Moyes, Lianne Moriarty and Elin Hildebrand.
Click to expand...


You mentioned enjoying historical fiction, if that includes English history then the Shardlake series are excellent. "C. J. Sansom’s historical crime series takes the reader to the dark heart of Tudor England with gripping realism, sensational storylines and a host of unforgettable characters. As he brings the sights and sounds of Tudor times to life, Sansom provides a masterclass in suspense.You will embark on an epic journey that you won’t want to end."

https://pages.panmacmillan.com/c-j-sansom/
 
Capt Lightning said:
I thoroughly recommend two autobiographies of William Woodruff. 'The road to Nab End' and 'Beyond Nab End'.
In them he tells his story from his impoverished childhood in a cotton weaving town in northern England, through his journey to London as a teenager, gaining a place at Oxford university and serving in the second world war.

He went on to study at Harvard and became a professor of history at the University of Illinois. In later years he was a visiting professor at a number of prestigious universities. It's an absolute masterclass in what it is possible to achieve. He died in Florida aged 92 in 2006.
Click to expand...
I was given these two books many years ago. It was a real insight into his life and his struggles. Would also recommend.
 
"Heart of the Country" Greg Matthews
I've read this book three times, love it, but if there is a message the author is trying to
communicate it went over my head.
I've never read a book that puzzled me more.
An excellent novel, but I feel I'm missing something.
Anyone read this book?
 
StarSong said:
The Long Earth series (6 books) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. (Have you read them, @asp3? I quite liked the entire series.)
Click to expand...

I loved The Long Earth, liked The Long War a lot, enjoyed The Long Mars but The Long Utopia lost me.

I'm a big fan of Stephen Baxter's work in general too, but also lost interesting in the last book of his Manifold series.
 
asp3 said:
I loved The Long Earth, liked The Long War a lot, enjoyed The Long Mars but The Long Utopia lost me.

I'm a big fan of Stephen Baxter's work in general too, but also lost interesting in the last book of his Manifold series.
Click to expand...
So, hmm, were they too long? 😆
 
asp3 said:
I loved The Long Earth, liked The Long War a lot, enjoyed The Long Mars but The Long Utopia lost me.

I'm a big fan of Stephen Baxter's work in general too, but also lost interesting in the last book of his Manifold series.
Click to expand...
These are the only books of his that I've read. My son-in-law recommended them.
 
A couple favorite books I read last yr and loved:
The Fly Girls-Keith O'Brien, 5 women who defied the odds,became world class aviators
The Overstory-Richard Powell,story of people who love trees,try to save them,author won Pulitzer Prize
The Lost Girls of Paris-Pam Jenoff,female secret agents during WWII- she writes historical fiction
Before We Were Yours- Lisa Wingate
3 books by Kristin Hannah
1.The Nightingale-,2 sisters seperated during WWII in France
2.The Great Alone- family living off the grid in Alaska
3. Firefly Lane-Kate&Tully's 30 yr friendship thru the yrs
At the moment,I'm reading,The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek-Kim Michele Richardson
 
moviequeen1 said:
A couple favorite books I read last yr and loved:
The Fly Girls-Keith O'Brien, 5 women who defied the odds,became world class aviators
The Overstory-Richard Powell,story of people who love trees,try to save them,author won Pulitzer Prize
The Lost Girls of Paris-Pam Jenoff,female secret agents during WWII- she writes historical fiction
Before We Were Yours- Lisa Wingate
3 books by Kristin Hannah
1.The Nightingale-,2 sisters seperated during WWII in France
2.The Great Alone- family living off the grid in Alaska
3. Firefly Lane-Kate&Tully's 30 yr friendship thru the yrs
At the moment,I'm reading,The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek-Kim Michele Richardson
Click to expand...

I just finished reading The Nightingale and have to rate it as one of the top two books I have ever read. The story was masterfully written with realistic characters and an entirely believable plot that was true to the historical timeframe and events as they happened in France. The writer did a lot of research into the events of the time and based the characters on composites of actual people.

I totally agree with the writer's assessment that this story of heroism of French women during the Nazis occupation HAD to be told. These two sisters "put it all on the line" knowing the penalty they would pay if caught by the SS or Gestapo. They both suffered immensely.

Most stories about "heroes" are written about men, but the heroics of these two women far surpass anything I have ever read before.

If you are ready for a story about heroic women, look no further than The Nightingale. For me it was an extremely emotional read.

I was very favorably impressed by how readable the book was: by the fact that the author never fell into the trap of trying to impress the reader with 50 cent words, by how easy it was to follow the story, and by skill of the author in not leaving any dangling questions at the end of the book. She wrapped it up beautifully. BRAVO!
 
@moviequeen1, our reading lists are quite similar.
Agree that The Nightingale was superb. As were The Great Alone and Before We Were Yours.

Just added The Overstory and Firefly Lane to my library queue. Thanks for the recommendations!
 

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