aka Fleshhouse outside of the US.

A really fun series by a Scottish writer based in Aberdeen.

Second in a series about a black woman attorney in post-apartheid South Africa. Much of her extended family was killed during the anti-apartheid struggle, and she is surprised to receive a phone call saying that a cousin she never knew existed is a political prisoner in Zimbabwe.

Purse book: "Dead Man's Footsteps" by Peter James, one of my newer favorite mystery writer. I'm not very far into it, but so far, there are four plots: 1) A failed scheming-and-dreaming Englishman is in New York on September 11, 2001, and is rushing to make an appointment in the World Trade Center, 2) A woman's skeleton is found in a disused sewer and draining pipe; 3) A young woman returns to her hometown but hides her presence from everyone except her mother. However, she is in danger of being exposed because of a newspaper reporter, 4) A young couple swimming in a pond in Australia find a sunken car with a body in the trunk. I'm waiting to see how it all comes together.

I had never heard of this book, but it has been referred to here a few times and I had it on my list of books to read.

It could be made into a wonderful movie, if done right.

I am about half way through right now. And I am starting to feel just as frustrated as Jeff is. I'll have to see how he deals with it. Interesting idea for a story.

It does not seem to be that well known, although I believe it has stayed in print ever since it was first published.

Let me know how you like it and if you want any more book suggestions from me.

as the favorite book no one ever heard of

I agree with you--not a name you hear a lot, but when I start talking about it, there's always someone that pipes up "Oh, I loved that book." Has ended up on some top 100 lists, too. Predictably SF, but the one that surprised was a "100 Favorite Beach Reads" from a couple of years ago.

I really enjoyed "Replay", although I had never heard of it, nor Ken Grimwood. After a while, I was beginning to think that the book was going to get boring and repetitive. Ha. New twists and turns all the time. And I was blown away by the end. It reminded me of a vinyl record that has a scratch, then you have to push the needle a bit.

If you have any books that you want to recommend, I would like to hear about them, although I have to admit that I have a rather long list of books I want to get to from posts like "what one book would you....."

Thanks for the interesting recommendation on this one though.

In science fiction, I've been recommending "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis for years now. Also, most anything by Robert Charles Wilson and Robert Sawyer. They're Canadians, and so don't seem to write as much by formula as a lot of Americans. Wilson's early books had gone out of print, but I see they're back. Hooray! His novel "A Bridge of Years" is one I love to recommend. Man buys an abandoned home and discovers that in the basement there's a walled-up tunnel that leads to NYC 1962. Why that tunnel exists, and who is responsible for it make up the bulk of the novel. I like everything of his. For me Sawyer is a little bit hit or miss, but I will still go ahead and pick up anything of his. Oh, and I've actually met both men at different science fiction events. They're both very nice in person.

In non s-f, another Canadian author I'm partial to is Andrew Pyper. "Lost Girls" which I think is his first novel is absolutely amazing. The language is lyrical, and I kept on reading parts out loud to people, which is something I almost never do. I need to get around to re-reading it soon. I've also read "The Wildfire Season" by him and liked it. He's got other books out there but I haven't ready any of them yet.

I will also recommend Stewart O'Nan as an author. I first discovered him with "The Circus Fire" which is about the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey fire on July 6, 1944. Chances are you've heard of this fire because of the mystery of the one unidentified girl, known forever as Little Miss 1565. I happen to be oddly obsessed by books about fires, and this was a very, very good one. But O'Nan is better known as a novelist. So far everything I've read of his has been more than worth it. He writes novels about ordinary people living out ordinary lives. "Last Night at the Lobster" is about the final day and night of a Red Lobster Restaurant. "Emily Alone" is about an 80 year old widow who lives in a Pittsburgh suburb, and whose life is defined by the limitations of age. "The Good Wife" (one of my all time favorite novels ever) is about a woman whose husband is a burgler, unbeknownst to her. A woman is killed during a burglary, and he is sentenced to 25 years to life. She's pregnant with there first child, and the novel is about her building a life for her and her son while maintaining as best she can the connection to her husband in jail. There are no big dramatic moments (there never are in O'Nan's novels) just the day by day, month by month, and year by year unrolling of a lifetime.

Another favorite author of mine is Thomas Mallon. "Henry and Clara" is a book I've actually gotten total strangers to buy when I'm in bookstores. It's about the young couple who went to the theater that night with President and Mrs. Lincoln. Bet you never heard of them, right? They actually grew up as step-brother and step-sister from about the time they were ten and twelve, when his widowed mother married her widowed father. The father was a U.S. Senator, so they were always around political power. What eventually happened to them, how their entire life stories played out is incredible. I read the last twenty pages or so with my mouth dropped open, because it was so astonishing. Everything I've read by Mallon is good.

When you need more suggestions just let me know.

I want to read them all.....one of these days. The authors are now on my list or authors to check out.

Thanks.

I really ought to work in a good bookstore.

I really have grabbed total strangers and persuaded them to buy a particular book I think they'll like.

I'm also trying to write. If I'm ever published, I hope people grab total strangers and say, "Oh! You must read this book by SheilaT!"

I dont' know if you've read other books by Stephenson but here's my totally unsolicited opinions on some of them.

The Baroque Cycle is also fantastic IMHO.

Anathem is really good although I found it sometimes dwelled a little long on the philosophical debates.

Reamde is bit more on the conventional techno-thriller side of things, all in all fun but not as original as his other books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reamde

Last edited Mon Apr 8, 2013, 10:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Anathem struck me as a failed, 900 page thought experiment. Reamde was good, but below his usual standard. The Baroque Trilogy is in a class by itself. Snowcrash has got to be the definitive cyber-punk novel, whatever that means.

Mark Twain wrote it , so enough said

It is awesome

On my way to the library to pick up Oath of Office (by the same guy) and Saucer by Stephen Coonts.

Interesting premise--former Bow Street Runner (Scotland Yard) transported to Australia in the early 19th century takes up a new profession, running patterer, which is basically a news-teller. He reads the papers and is paid to recite/summarize the information by both the time challenged and illiterate. This brings him into contact with a large array of folk in the Sydney colony and that with his background make him the go-to choice when mysterious murders start happening.

Unfortunately, Adair has WAY too much exposition going on. The details of colony life and history are interesting, but would seem to belong more in a "Life in the Day of..." type book than a mystery. I like some and will file away most to entertain and astonish later, but it's bogging down the plotline right now. Perhaps the sequel is tighter, if he's gotten all the educational bits out of the way, but at this point I'm not inclined to do more than finish this volume.

Listening: _The Name of the Wind_ by Patrick Rothfuss. Reader: meh. Story: pretty good so far.

2013: 31 and counting.

It's not the best in the series, but it's still good.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/D_Authors/Doss_James.html

Since I started Seti this book has laid there for 2 complete days while I'm learning something new. Used to belong about 10 years ago, but my pc crashed (not from seti), lost my password and couldn't regain my credits without it, and didn't want to start from scratch). It has changed a lot...

15th of 2013

Finished it in a day, it was so good. Just couldn't put it down. Like watching a trainwreck.

I'm fifty pages in. So far it's very good.

...started The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon, and The Grifters, by Jim Thompson.