Hello people!

So, lately I've been loving my books and have bought 9 new books in the last month and am currently looking for some recommendations on what to read next! Here's what I've bought:

H.G. Wells - War of the Worlds
Emily Giffin - Something Blue
Sophie Kinsella - The Undomestic Goddess
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Lynda Curnyn - Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend
Sarah Mlynowsky - Milkrun
Alisa Kwitney - Does She or Doesn't She?
Anonymous - Go Ask Alice
Clare Naylor - Dog Training

I love books that are in the chick-lit genre, so if anyone has any recommendations - or if anyone wants to share what they're reading - go ahead!

-K

I just bought Go Ask Alice for my brother for his birthday... I remember it changed me when I read it (around his age)...

I just recently read "100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed" by Melissa P. and have Salinger's "Franny and Zooey" on the next list.

~nicole g

I'm currently reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

I'm going to second Franny and Zooey as well as Salinger's other works except Seymour: An Introduction.

In the past couple of months I've read and would recommend Oryx & Crake (the hardcover edition is on sale right now at Chapters for 9.99) by Margaret Atwood and Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.

I have Oryx and Crake at home, actually - I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

You know, Nicole, I bought 'Go Ask Alice' and started reading it and thought it was an okay read. Then I did a little searching on the internet and found out that it's not actually a true diary! That was one of the reasons I bought it, but I guess the publishers have published a variety of 'Anonymous' books about teen birth, drugs, homosexuality, and anorezia. I was disappointed, but finished the book nonetheless.

You can definitely tell while reading the book that the girl is 15 years old, yet concentrates (and remembers!) on her drug experiences in great detail, yet her first sexual experience is this small paragraph. I personally loved the Diary of Anne Frank and thought that seemed a lot more realistic for a young girl.

I'm glad the book was cheap, though ...

-K

Give Me - Irina Denezhkina

- provokative and truthful look at Russian youth in the post-soviet world. It's a collection of short stories... some much longer than others. They are all very modern with many 'Western' references (Richard Ascroft, Grand Theft Auto... just to name a few). The author is only 22 years old or so and is being hailed internationally. Highly recommended!

Does anyone have any good non-fiction suggestions? I dunno why but the last year or so I've been all over the non-fiction... political-ish stuff too. I've read both of Naomi Klein's books (No Logo, Fences & Windows), Sheila Copps' new one, The Corporation, both of Jann Arden's books... random assortment really but I'd recommend them all. Does anyone have any suggestions in the same genre? I finally have TIME OFF ... but I Have no fucking clue what to do with myself! lol

are you sure about it not being a real journal?? I know it says on the cover that it is.... regardless of whether or not it's a real diary... I know that book shook me up when I was 15ish.

That would really suck if it was a marketing ploy... but I would still reccomend it, especially to kids that age.

The "100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed" is for sure a real diary (or at least the author's own adaptation of her own diary) and has been translated from Italian to English. It is about a girl's sexual awaking starting from her early teens and how she abuses/lets others abuse her sexuality. It is a brutally open and honest look at an aspect of teenage life that we are often too scared to think about let alone talk about.

~nicole g

Some books that I've read lately:

Into The Woods - Jon Krakkauer
Then Again - Elyse Freidman
Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston
Amanda Bright @ Home - can't remember the name...

Recent read for me included;

Atwood's Oryx & Crake - love it - Atwood at her brilliant best.
Wicked - Gregory Maguire - story of the wicked witch of the west, pre-Dorothy
Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit - Laura Penny

Neal - recent non-fiction reads (aside from BS) that are good include;

Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point
Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs & Steel - The Fate of Human Societies
Romeo Dallaire - Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
Tom Harpur - The Pagan Christ

enjoy....


...jim

I agree with Jim, Shake Hands With The Devil was an excellent read. Very informative to the inner workings of the UN.

I've been meaning to read some of Jared Diamond's work after watching an interview with him on Hot Type.

Jim, the BS? what BS?

[quote:11069ded56="joleary"]
Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit - Laura Penny
...jim[/quote:11069ded56]

Was referring to this non-fiction book. :P

...jim

ahhhh ok lol. that makes sense

OK, Nik ... I just read '100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed' yesterday and I have to say you are a dirty, dirty person ... ha, ha ... just kidding. Although, I read about half of it, and [i:6da5cd367f]then [/i:6da5cd367f]notice on the back of the book that it was labeled as [i:6da5cd367f]Erotica[/i:6da5cd367f]. I have to say, I don't think I've ever read an Erotica book before ...

I'm not sure if now is the time to start the next [i:6da5cd367f]Harry Potter[/i:6da5cd367f] since my head has been tainted ...

Good recommendation. I'm not sure if I liked the ending. It was all too 'there it's done' for me. I think there could have been something else that happened at the end. Personally, I liked the Professor, but he did turn out to he a weirdo.

-K

ops:

I like books with an edge... literature that is fearless in bringing to view the things in life we don�t want or let ourselves see.

I am a fan of Irvine Welsh, Chuck Palahniuk, and James Joyce for that same reason.

One of my all-time favorite books is Lolita by Nabokov. I can even recite sections of that book I have read it so many times. Nabokov is a brilliant writer.

As for the end, I would talk more about it, but in the case some others pick it up... I will say its appropriate because you aren�t really expecting it.

And I don�t know... I wouldn�t have really labeled it "Erotica" myself... its not really "Erotic" in my opinion. I didn�t notice it was "Erotica" myself until I was on the plane and had started reading it.

So there ya go... I am pleased you took me up on my reccomendation...

~nicole g

I recently finished The Princess Bride by William Goldman. For anyone who enjoyed the movie I would highly recommend reading the book it was based on. Perfect for light summer reading.

Another good read is The Tesseract by Alex Garland. It's not quite as light, but it's extremely well written.

Just finished "Incendiary" by Chris Cleave. Story is written as a letter to Osama bin Laden from the London mother who just lost her husband and son in a terrorist bombing. Book was published literally the same day as the recent real-life attack in July. Talk about prescient timing.

Anyway - brilliantly written book, evoked all ranges of emotions for me and was a helluva page turned - finished in in two GO train rides.

Some excerpts here

Halfway through Malcolm Gladwell's second book "Blink". Brilliant insight written in such an accessible way. A definite reco.

...jim