Changing it up
February 15, 2008Erin 6 Comments »I’ve changed one of my goals on my 101 in 1001 list. I originally had “Read 35 books in one year” which translated into 86 books over the course of the 1001 days. I have now upped that to 50 books in one year which is 137 books total. I am already at 24 books for 2008 so I may have to adjust this again. Now that I am not in school full-time I have so much more time to read, and boy have I missed it.
Does anyone have a reading suggestion for me? I am pretty open to most genres, although I don’t read horror.
Posted on February 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Have you read any of Phillipa Gregory’s books? She writes rather entertaining historical semi-fiction on the Tudors… I have a perverse fascination with English royalty, so I can’t help but adore them.
Posted on February 15th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I read “The Other Boleyn Girl” and quite enjoyed it but I haven’t read anything else by her. The Tudors in general and Henry the VIII in particular are not my favourite royalty. Have you read any of Sharon Kay Penman’s books? Those are fabulous – the War of the Roses, Edward II’s conquest of Wales, etc.
Posted on February 16th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Anything by Iain Banks…British…very gritty. Not to be confused with Iain M. Banks the Scottish Sci-Fi author.
My favourite book has been Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins) for years. I’ve read it so many times, though I’m not sure why I like it so much.
Posted on February 16th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Guess who spent most of her working life in bookshops? Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks are the same guy. He alternates between writing straight and science fiction and uses his middle intial on his sci fi stuff to help fans keep track of which style book it is. Yep book geek, that’s me!
There’s another Scottish author called Christopher Brookmyre who I love. There’s a lot of really black humour and again, being Scottish, they are gritty but not Irvine Welsh gritty. The man’s a genius as far as I’m concerned. Have you tried any Joanne Harris? Steer clear of Chocolate, but some of her other titles are real page turners and they’re just different. I’ve just started reading her and I’m super impressed. I loved Gentleman and Players which is set in an exclusive boys boarding school – very clever.
Posted on February 16th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I love Dave Eggers. His first book is a memoir (which reads like a novel, and i seem to remember when it came out there was some confusion and it was often in fiction sections… i guess because some of the stuff would have to be at least a little fictional, like childhood conversations that you can’t exactly remember, or something) called “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.” And right now I’m reading his newest one called “What is the What” which is basically a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. It’s the life story of a guy from Sudan who escaped Sudan on foot when he was a kid and made it a refugee camp in Ehtiopia, and now lives in the states and it trying to adjust. It’s a true story, but again technically partly fiction. And all the profits go to this Sudanese man’s charitable foundation. It sounds depressing but it’s actually really wonderful and even funny sometimes.
Posted on February 21st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Thanks Tracy, I always wondered about that. You’d think with the ease of this internet thingy, I’d have looked that up by now.
Irvine Welsh changed my life by yanking me out of the niceness of Danielle Steele and Maeve Binchy.