Read any good books lately?

i recently re read micheal crichtons jurassic park as i loved it when i was younger. really glad iv read it again, its so much better than the film!

If you would like to branch out in a different category, my husband and I just finished reading John Jakes' series of 8 books, "The Kent Family Chronicles", and it was fabulous. we passed it on to our friends and they couldn't wait to get the next book.

Yes. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime"; a story told from the perspective of an autistic young man. Excellent read. "Girl on the Train"; a psychological thriller; can't put it down once you start.
"The Shack"; about a man who tragically loses his daughter to a child abductor and his struggle to overcome the trauma via faith.
All are so worth the time invested.

I read mostly non-fiction, mainly social commentary and memoirs/biographies. I just reread two very interesting books: Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (about the reality of working unskilled minimum-wage jobs in America), and The Long Walk, about a group of prisoners who escaped Siberia during WWII and travelled on foot through Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and into India. I tried to reread "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman, but found it hopelessly dated after the events of recent years. Also interesting was "The Imam's Daughter", about a Pakistani girl growing up in a Muslim enclave in England, who fled to escape being shipped back to Pakistan for an unwanted arranged marriage. I like to know how the other half lives (and lived). Except it's way, way more than half -it's almost all the people living everywhere in the world who have a very different experience than we have here.

I just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I actually listened to it on CD, and yes, it was grom the library.

"Behind Every Dark Cloud - A Caregivers' Heart (authored by Bernita A. Glenn). It is written to encourage and shed light on who a caregiver is and how and why we are a chosen people. I would hope that it would help every Caregiver on his/her journey. It is a small book which can be read over a period of a couple of hours. God bless you. We are a special and extraordinary people.

For those of you with ereaders, please check out your libraries. I get all of my ebooks for FREE from my local library. It's wonderful and no having to drive to return them. Just a click and they're checked back in! Sweeeet!!

I love to read, I just devour books. I would go to the library and take out several books but I would always find myself running out of things to read. Over Christmas I got a Kindle and it has completely changed my life! Now I have books anytime I want them and all the books I can handle. Most are less than $10.

Right now I'm reading "One Thousand Splendid Suns" by the same Afghan writer who wrote "Kite Runner" (his name escapes me right now). It's such a good book, such a good story.

I love these same books and am lucky because I live by one of the bookstores that Steve Hamilton comes to speak at, every once in awhile here in the Lower Peninsula.

For the other side of things, another series set in Michigan is the Chocoholic mysteries by JoAnna Carl.

I enjoyed the Smilla movie with Julia Ormond (although it doesn't capture the whole shoe thing, which I thought was interesting) and the Millennium series movies done in Norweigian with subtitles. Peter Hoeg's "Borderliners" is an interesting book, which I claim is about how traumatic the passage of time, any simple thing actually, can be traumatic to a damaged person. It was available at the libraries when it was translated to English but not sure if it's still readily available.

Also want to mention Camilla Lackberg while she's on my mind.

Also, find it a treat to read some of the older classic mysteries. Anything by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross McDonald, Ed McBain, etc... And I enjoy reading Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and watching the Bogart movie version right away to catch the few differences, as they are really quite close.

Hey Geo, I also love dark Scandinavian mysteries. If you like to watch them, you can see episodes of different foreign series for free at http://www.mhznetworks.org/programs/full-episodes. They just started new Wallanders with Krister Henrickson, one of my favorites.

I also love Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankel, Hakan Nesser Karen Fossum. Smilla's Sense of Snow is one of my favorite books. I also love mysteries by US authors, C.J. Box (his all take place in Wyoming) and Steve Hamilton (his all take place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan).

Thanks bookluvr. I didn't know that rule AgingCare had about links.

Also, for something not-so-scary and light, I've been reading the silly combination books such as "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame-Smith and "Queen Victoria Demon Hunter" by A. E. Moorat. I thought they were fun. I tried watching the movie of the Lincoln one but just couldn't get into the on-screen gore. As a book, though, I just kind of laughed as I tried to imagine Lincoln doing all that.

Geo, MsDaizy did put her daughter's blog. But AC does not allow us putting any outside websites on here. When I want to share a funny YouTube video, I have to say, "Google dinosaur office prank-college humor video". That was soooo hilarious.

If you hit MsDaizy's name, it will take you to her profile. She has on her Wall the poem her daughter did with the perspective of her grandma (who had dementia).

I love all kinds of books: light romance, humorous romance/mystery, etc... fantasies, light sci fi and supernaturals (werewolves, vamps, etc..) It's been years since I read Nina Kiriki Hoffman. I saw her short ebooks on Amazon, and paid $0.99 each. I forgot how her books have a way of keeping my attention on it. When I'm work, I couldn't wait to go home to read the ending. When it ended, my mind kept dwelling on the story.

Yesterday, I just finished reading one of my favorite author, Patricia Briggs, on the Mercy series. Am now reading another favorite author, Ilona Andrews, other series (not very fond of this Edge series since it tends to be a lot of fighting, head flying off, being eaten alive, being turned to another creature/monster while alive, torture, etc...). But since I started her 1st book, I'm compelled to read the rest of the series. My favorite series from her is actually the Kate Andrew series. I'm on a break from reading because I just finished reading a gory fight and needed a break from that Edge book. I would skip the fightings but I learned from the past books, that the supposedly dead man was alive. I had to backtrack to the fighting and read carefully and saw where there was a possibility that he survived. So...

A couple things that I forgot to say:

I should have mentioned that I can easily afford to be a compulsive reader with the library nearby.

msdaizy, you didn't tell us how to get to your daughter's blog.

I'm a compulsive reader. I love mysteries, especially the truly grim Scandinivian stuff. I also love the cheezy stuff and have just started "Death al Dente" by Leslie Budewitz, which is the opposite of scary. Next in the to-read pile is something really different, the biography of the soul singer Bettye LaVette "A Woman LIke Me" as I'd picked up her recent CD.

Lately, though, with my mother having moved in and having memory problems, I've become focused on reading books about memory. It has made me think I can better understand and help her AND that I'm probably preparing for my own future, too.

A couple good memory/caregiving books: " Counting on kindness : the dilemmas of dependency" Wendy Lustbader and "Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss" by Martha Weinman Lear,

I also cross-stitch like a maniac and like jigsaw puzzles. Plus, I love music. Both mom and I like movies and I'm lucky to have TCM (Turner Classic Movies) where I can find plenty of movies for both of us, but I also get free movies from the library quite often, too.

I am also lucky in that I can still keep my outside activities and once every other week get out to something or another on my own. I'm lucky both because Mom doesn't need 24/7 care but also because my spouse would take that for the couple hours that I'm gone. I do know how lucky I am.

My book recommendation is "The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo. For anyone that like the Millennium series ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and the like), that series was disturbing. Jo Nesbo's books aren't just disturbing but downright scary. I was reading them at night in the winter when there was snow and kept thinking how glad I was that the doors were all locked tightly.

All the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, very inspirational. Erma Bombeck, humorous and funny. Watching musicals, especially Rogers and Hammerstein. Scrapbooking old family photos. Researching your family history. Machine stitched quilts. These activities give me just what I need when stressed out. It takes my mind off my problems and into to a world of enjoyment.

I strongly recommend "A Grace Disguised" by Jerry Sittser. Excellent Book.

The library provides free books in paper format and as ebooks. Great if you can't afford to buy everything you want to read or even if you can. Also there are usually lots of events and activities if you manage to get time away. Libraries also have book groups and there are book groups online which you can access any time you have a moment - as long as you have the Internet but then the library provides free access to that too!

Hey caregivers...check out what my daughter wrote...she has her own blog. It's a beautiful written piece...with a view of what my mom might have been thinking...I'm so proud of her. Please check it out and respond if you like. Thanks.

@ jinx,
finds herself eh? my ex found herself, working 12 hr shifts while her gutbag husband lays in bed till noon. i do love happy endings..

I just read "The Pull of the Moon" by Elizabeth Berg. It's about a woman going through the change who runs away from home to "find herself." It gets a lot of stuff right about women and long marriages. Mostly upbeat.

Oh oh, yes, love John Saul, Koontz and , of course King! king is coming out with a sequel to The Shining!!!! -called Dr. Sleep-, maybe around Christmas. That is daring of him, I think!

I am not very tech savvy myself , Standing Alone. I just got a disposable cell phone as I had to drive with my Mom for quite a distance alone and my husband insisted that I get one. I do not know the number! -haha.
But my Kindle-love it! I do miss book stores and , yes, that smell!!!, but I had books all over and did not want to get rid of them- And I now can go to my "bookstore" at 1 AM when I cannot sleep and have nothing to read. And it is cheaper, I think. But I do still enjoy a good paper back. But I do miss being able to click on a word I do not understand and get the definition. Ahhh, they are both good-as long as I can reeeeaaadd!

As for Twitter-I resisted for a long time -I do not like Facebook- but I made a twitter account not using any personal info- used a childhood nickname and use it as entertainment. I like the Real housewives series ( blushing-I KNOW-horrible but ,hey, it is a guilty pleasure) and you can tweet during the show with other fans and it is a HOOT! I do not use it for family just fun stuff. Lots of people tweet during GOT I bet. People will pick up on things and share them via Twitter. If you notice shows now show a hashtag - # - and a word to share your thoughts. It is just fun. OK-just saying' I did not think I would like it but I do! It makes me feel less , well, alone. Isolated. (sigh)

You sold me on GOT!! I will have to check it out after I read these new books I got. This Dead Size seems to be a weird twist on Gulliver's Travels.

Anyone ever read Phillip K. Dick? He is a science fiction writer from the fifties. He has some great short stories! I think short stories are awesome quick reads if you do not have time or energy for a whole novel.

Deb, I read John Saul ages ago, but remember totally enjoying those books, even if the details elude me... I might have to dig them out again and revisit old friends.. And yeah, I totally agree about Stephen King...I loved almost everything he wrote...there was one I didn't like...what was the book about that alien weasel, or whatever it was, that grew in people's guts and then chewed their way out through people's.... All I could think of was....really? lol

Dean Koontz is another great author for some awesome creepy, crawly reading... He injects humor in there, and you don't know whether to giggle insanely, or be horrified... Love him... lol

If you like Michaelbrent Collings, you will definately enjoy reading the books of John Saul. He wrote Suffer the Children, Punish the Sinners, etc. He hasn't written a novel in a while, but you would definately enjoy all the books he has had published. The older books of Stephen King are great. Dan Brown is also a great author, he wrote The DaVinci Code and other novels in that genre.

Hi MishkaM, no that dragon isn't from Game Of Thrones...I've had that little guy as an avatar on almost every site I'm on for a long time... And yes, please do check out GOT...it's unlike anything you'll ever read.... I don't want to spoil it... but it's rare for a book series to bring out actual, intense emotion in me... I literally could not put that series down, and became totally obsessed with that whole crazy world... You will cry reading this book, and you'll laugh your ass off. You will become so ANGRY at some of the twists and turns, and dips and dives and highs and lows, and it's such a crazy thrill ride that you look up and it's 2 a.m and you started reading at 10 p.m.... and that time flew... There were times I wanted to kiss George R. R Martin, and times I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands for what he did to some of my favorite characters, what he put them through... lol I'm going to be in a black funk when it's all over...and it doesn't look like it will be for a long time... I don't have HBO either, I bought the series on cd at Walmart. I do GOT marathon nights sometimes, complete with popcorn and chocolate... lol

I am so far behind the times it's sad...but at the same time, I'm kind of happy about it, too..

.I don't own a cell, and I've never twittered, watched Netflix, nor do I own a kindle, or any device besides my computer...*blushes* it's kind of weird, but I like my life simplified, and with all the new technology out there...to me, it's confusing as hell, and really complicated...

I can roll with it to a certain degree, adapt to it, learn how to use all this stuff...but to replace the real thing with a machine? No way!

I just want to go to the book store, the one that smells so deliciously like wonderful brand new books, and just...step into all these fantasy worlds in person, up close...where I can grab and see and smell books.... I hope no one denies themselves that delicious pleasure...

....or the caramel brownies they sell at their little shop in the back... And that delicious dark coffee they have that smells so good a mile away... Now I have an urge to hang out at the bookstore awhile. :) Now I'm rambling..


Dead Size....sounds creepy! Is it? I love a good, scary read... Let us know!

Hi StandingAlone. I have been off the forum for the Summer and just now saw your post :) is that little dragon in your avatar from Game of Thrones? Cute. I do not have HBO. But books are usually better than TV IMO anyway! Maybe I will check out this series.
Right now I have found some cheap reads on Kindle that I am trying out-new authors that are selling their wares for cheap-it is a hit or miss kinda thing. Funny I am on Twitter and followed a few of the new authors I found and now other authors are following me trying to get me to read them. So weird how Twitter and Kindle and HBO and Netflix has changed the face of entertainment.

I am rambling. It is late and I cannot sleep. I guess I will read my new download-Dead Size. I'll let you know if it is a hit or a miss :0)

I love to read myself, and right now I'm into the 'Song of Ice and Fire' series, by George R. R. Martin. (Game Of Thrones on HBO) Awesome read, awesome escape!

Oops-capnhardass-didn't see your post. OK-I trust you on the video. I actually started watching Cops and Jail just this last year and am pretty addicted. I do a lot of reading and TV watching now cuz I gave up cigerettes and booze. So I turned to reality TV instead-hmmmm, I wonder if wine was better for me.

Hi sharynmarie, for some reason I find myself not wanting to read books that are popular-like the dragon tattoo series or The Hunger Games -I don't know why!!-I think I am afraid I will get let down by all the hype -that or because they are too expensive on my Kindle-haha. I should go back to my old way of reading-second hand book stores, yard sales and Goodwill for those books.
I love ESP books too!! Anything paranormal.-except paranormal romance books -I read sooooo many romance books in my teens I think I exhausted my interest. Still like the romantic movie , though. I will have to check out the one with Andrew McCarthy-a good eighties boy for ya!! ( ahhhh, St. Elmo 's Fire) .
Christina W-that is cool about researching the authors behod the books. I guess the closest I have come to that is meeting Stephen King!-love him!!!-and getting him to sigh my dog earred book-The Stand. No one make fun of Mr. King!!!-I adore his books!!! I saw him and his wife and son at their Three Kings reading. I met all three. They were all delightful! I never really researched into the author's though, that is a neat idea.

This topic makes me happy!! I am going to look up all the books talked about!!!

@ mishka,
im mischievious but honestly its just a youtube documentary about law and order in philly. nothing gory, just cops babysitting derilects day in and out. theres a relatively new strategy in this country right now. drug dealers are taken downtown and threatened with some very serious prison time. then theyre told to go home and make sure one bullet doesnt fly in their respective neighborhood. the dealers are actually the ones preventing the violence. its crazy but its working and we are training european law enforcement in this concept. drugs are the only revenue these people have. weve settled for just stopping the gunfire.
americans arent going to give up weapons either. as eastern states are putting the pressure on gun manufacturers indiana is right now creating incentives to bring the manufacturers here. just good paying manufacturing jobs to us. we,ll take it..

Lol Overboard!!! "A falsetto child."
Mishka, I watched a documentary on Agatha Christy this morning. I read all of her books when I was pregnant with my son! I am intrigued with her. I love mysteries, love to figure out the motivation of perpetrator. Have not read Dick, but he is another interesting character. I enjoy analyzing authors and what makes them tick after reading at least one on their books. I love Alistair MacLeod from Nova Scotia. Dark, Celtic stuff.