Friday, April 07, 2006

Books to Read

Many thanks to all who weighed in on the "What should I read next?" post below... For my own sake I thought I would compile them... and since I did that, I figured I could share the compiled list (along with some of my own notes, in purple) with everyone...
Enjoy!

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (This is one of my all-time favorite books; I will buy copies at used-book sales just to have on hand to give to people.)
Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner (It's on my shelf, just waiting to be read...)
Travelling Mercies - Anne Lamott (one of my favorites)
The Small Rain & A Severed Wasp - Madeleine L'Engle
A Place on Earth - Wendell Berry

The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell (This and two of her other books "Children of God" and "A Thread of Grace" have been pivotal in my life. I really, really recommend them to other readers... As St. Casserole commented, The Sparrow could be subtitled "Jesuits in Space.")
Unless - Carol Shields
Jan Karon books. (I have read them.... and in all of their corniness, they continue to be one of those guilty plesures, like I imagine Esther Bollick's cake to be. In the most recent book, Cynthia describes Father Tim's newest church as her favorite, saying, "Because it's so hungry and imperfect." It's an image of the church that I've been chewing on for awhile now.)

The Merrily Watkins mystery series by Phil Rickman.
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Peabody Sisters, Megan Marshall

The Death and Life of Charlie StCloud.-Ben Sherwood
*The Year of Yes- Maria Hedley (I read this recently and wanted it to go on... In fact, I wanted to move to that town and be friends with the people.)

Despite the falling snow-Shamin Sarif
Life After God, Hey Nostrodamous, or Eleanor Rigby all by Douglas Coupland
"A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian"
"The Map of Love" by Egyptian woman author Ahdaf Soueif.
The Secret Life of Bees (Stunning story)

Mermaid Chair
The Blue Castle, by LM Montgomery
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,
Pride and Prejudice and the Princess Bride (Classics)

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris (I've always thought this would make a great small group study book)

Possession by A.S. Byatt
Looking for Mary by Beverly Donofrio –
Telling Secrets by Buechner
I heard Buechner speak a few years ago and he was amazing; I vowed to read some of his fiction at that point, but sadly haven't (yet).

Some authors...
Diane Mott Davidson
Susan Wittig Albert
Madeleine L'Engle
CS Lewis
Susan Howatch (Church of England books)
Diana Gabaldon (Outlander books)
Barbara Kingsolver (She's such an amazing writer)
Jane Green
Julia Quinn (Bridgerton series)

What have we missed?

3 comments:

NOLA said...

No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.

Anything by Sherman Alexie.

Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera.

Anything by Isabel Allende.

Pink Shoes said...

Fabulous suggestions... Thanks! Unbearable Lightness of Being was one of those books that I read in college and just thinking about it transports me back to a place and a time.

I might have to keep a weekly post for suggested reading...

Anonymous said...

a weekly post for suggested reading would be GREAT

be blessed