I didn't mean that to be sarcastic, the not asking you why...
just that many times our connections to a book are somewhat past whys...
You got that right, Osso. Even though you didn't (and aren't going to) ask, I'll answer anyway. I think Hillerman's plotting is damned clever and, being somewhat familiar with the locales he describes, I find his descriptions on target and enjoyable reading. I've also learned a bit of Navajo lore from his books. But, as you say, to each his own.
I just bought the newest Arkady Renko book - I adore that series - guilty pleasures....
Oh, me too.. Martin Cruz Smith is great. even with the fish book...
Thanks for reminding me, Osso. I've got to read more Martin Cruz Smith. All I've read of his so far are Gorky Park, Polar Star and Stalliongate. All first-rate and more.
Red Square! Read Red Square!
OK, dlowan, I'll pick it up, thanks. Have no interest in reading Nightwing. Saw the movie and I thought the whole premise stunk to high heaven.
We interrupt this thread to ask for your recommendation of the best novel of the year. This is intended to be a gift to my oldest and dearest friend, someone who reads everything. She wants a novel that would be as good as The Lovely Bones, something better than the last Wally Lamb book she read and present a challenge to her mind while we sit on the beach in Florida a week from today.
And you say?
Joe( I'm a block from Barnes and Noble with my Amex in my hand.) Nation
My recommendation for a good beach read that falls on the more literate side of beach reading would be "Shot to the Heart" by Mikal Gilmore. He is a writer for Rolling Stone and also the brother of Gary Gilmore, the notorious murderer. It has that crime novel element that makes so many beach reads fun but it isn't a crime novel.
Oh!
Right now I'm reading "The Emperor of Ocean Park" and it has a good suspense element -- I get mad every time I have to put it down because I think I'm always about to find out what happened.
Joe Nation--
Two somewhat fey sagas that have been reprinted this year in Trade Paperback and are eminently suitable as love gifts for a somewhat fey woman::
Matt Ruff: Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy.
and/or
Sheri S. Tepper: The True Game
Both are excellent beach reading for natural-born romantics romantics.
i love reading books by DH Lawrence, sons and lovers and rainbow
Welcome!
What do you especially llike about lawrence - and why is he a "guilty pleasure"?
Saturday I was gleaning in the second hand paperback store for murder mysteries for my d-i-l who is frequently too busy to get herself to the library for her own trashy, relaxing reading.
I came across several sagas for my own guilty pleasure. The sagas I'm fondest of are sent in a colorful--but not unbelievable world. (I don't do conspiracies). The characters must be vivid individuals, but I don't mind a bit of stereotyping--as long as the molds are free of malice. The time span of the novel is generally limited to a week or so.
Lots of people on a cruise ship. Lots of people on a bus tour. Lots of people in a theatrical production. Lots of opera singers.
Yummy.
I have no problem admitting I read Romance novels (preferably historicals).
I think of them as erotic fairy tales.They are aphrodisiacs for women, perhaps the way Playboy is for men. Romance novels of the last 15-20 years are very different from the "Bodice Rippers" of the 70's and 80's. Violence is just not P.C. anymore in this genre and the women aren't helpless saps - usually the opposite.
I had an aunt who taught English at an ivy league university and sometimes made fun of my occasional "low brow" reading habits. After she died I found dozens of romances carefully stacked behind her leather volumes of Tolstoy, Austin and Dickens. Too bad I thought, we could have swapped paperbacks. Basically, I'll give any book a try- guilt is just not a problem for me.
Just don't get me started on that awful cover art...
Lol - welcome to A2k, Green Witch.
That is actuall sad that your aunt could not enjoy a guilty pleasure happily!!!
I'm also a sucker for the entertwining stories of three or four women, friends over many years.
Osso--
In the last few years, I've come across several of the "twining friendship" novels dealing with Blacks and Hispanics. I'm glad to see them--and fascinated by reading them.
Also, Black women are starting to write Black Romance Novels with Black Heroines. that cheers me.
