What NEW(ish) books have you liked lately?

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Have you read anything really good lately?

I like all kinds of books -- "beach" reading, heavy reading, fiction, non-fiction, and I've gone through quite a few books lately but nothing has really just wowed me.

I have "S" sitting on my shelf but haven't delved in yet since I like to read at night so usually use my Kindle as to not bother Mr. B with the light. It isn't a book that looks like it should be read on Kindle.

I'm especially interested in new/emerging authors and books written over the last few years. (I'm not knocking the classics, just looking to discover something new.)

Tell me booklovers -- what have you loved reading lately?

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Type: Question • Score: 6 • Views: 1,359 • Replies: 10

@boomerang,

Last book I really appreciated, I haven't finished (I'm too shallow, need rest phases) is Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red. I buy books at goodwill now, so it's not all that newish. He opens up a whole world.

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@ossobuco,

I love Goodwill. One of their stores near my house has a HUGE book section.

I found this there a little while back for $5.00!

http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring_03/articles/gr/neme_9b.jpg

I don't know what it's really worth but at one point it had a price of $75 written inside and has a card from some book shop tucked into the pages. I just really liked the photos and illustrations.

I'll check out "My Name is Red". Thanks!

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While the book is far from new, it is wonderful. It's "Peter the Great," by Massie. He took Russia out of the middle ages, created the country's first navy, put the people in Western-style clothing, created the first orchestra, etc. With all his wars and close calls, it reads like the Perils of Pauline. I cannot recommend a book any higher.

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@Advocate,

That sounds interesting. Thanks Advocate!

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@boomerang,

Another great book you can't put down, is "Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 ..." by Barbara Tuchman.

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The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker and Sam Taylor.

Way too twisty and turny to explain here....big book, but an absolute page turner.

Brilliant holiday read.

"That summer, struggling author Harry Quebert fell in love with fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan. Thirty-three years later, her body is dug up from his yard, along with a manuscript copy of the novel that made him a household name. Quebert is the only suspect......."

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Right now i'm reading A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly . . .

http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/38321128.JPG.jpeg

It's a kind of historical novel/murder mystery. It's based on the death of Grace Brown in 1906, for which Chester Gillette was eventually tried, convicted and executed. Theodore Dreiser's 1925 (?) novel An American Tragedy is based on that case. It is supposedly a book for "young adults," but i find it has too many explicit references to sexuality, pregnancy and child-birth to buy that claim. I'm enjoying it immensely.

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Thanks guys, I'll check those out.

"Page turner" is exactly what I'm looking for right now.

I'm reading "The Rosie Project" right now. It's hilarious in a very dead pan way (which I love).

I loved the book "An American Tragedy" (and "Sister Carrie") so Set's book looks especially tempting....

YA novels make great summer reading because they're so plot driven. I'm looking forward to "California" (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774020-california)

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Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books are brilliant.

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@boomerang,

The murder is a central theme through the novel, but it's not going to be like Dreiser's book. It's really a coming of age novel about the central character. I thought it was too explicit about sexuality and reproduction to be considered a "YA" book, but the central character is about 17. Noting wrong with that--it's not as though Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Philip Pirrip were all grown up in those three of Dickens' most well-known novels.

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What NEW(ish) books have you liked lately?

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