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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Book Recommendation Thread
I'm trying to do more reading and less facebook refreshing!
Name the book or books or author you think everyone should read.
and/or
What is the best thing you've read recently?
Re: Book Recommendation Thread
I think everyone should read The View from Saturday and A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg -- they are children's books, so you can polish them off in a day, but tI think they are fantastic. I also recommend Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schulz and Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series, as well as Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series.
The best thing I have read recently has been The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister and Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.
As for as classics, everyone should read Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and The Three Musketeers, but I have found nothing by L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott or Alexandre Dumas that I would not recommend. The Black Tulip is particularly good, and a book I had never heard of before I picked it up in a second-hand bookshop.
For fun, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is great, especially if you are of a literary bent. The view of "Book World" in the series really makes you wonder about the alternate lives of favorite characters.
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver was one of my favorites when I was a kid
And I love Jasper Fforde! Thursday Next books are great stuff. I'm waiting for The Last Dragonslayer, from his new series, to come in the mail.
My recs would be anything by Roald Dahl (his writing for adults is fascinating and distubing). Dorothy Sayers is fantastic for anyone who loves classic mystery. George Eliot is a great as well.
My favorite recent read was probably The Night Circus. But Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter and The Hunger Games were good reads as well.
2012 Reading Challenge
If you enjoy Fantasy/Sci-Fi I would definitely read the Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels.
I have also really enjoyed Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. They're very entertaining and amusing.
If you like Comedy then you should read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
I also read a book that my high school aged sister brought home for me because she enjoyed it so much called The Westing Game - something I really enjoyed.
Speak was another good one, although very emotional.
If you don't mind reading plays, Proof is a good short one that I absolutely loved.
And - last one - if you liked the Twilight series, Stephanie Meyer's The Host was a good read, and is coming out as a movie.
Rambley Blog
I can see pokepoke and I are going to have to exchange reading tips more frequently, as we seem to have similar tastes! For fantasy series, I can also recommend Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara series and all its surrounding books. In total there are about 24 so far, so that should keep you busy for a while :-) My library has them online and I've been checking them out for my Kindle. As pokepoke, I can also recommend Piers Anthony and have been wanting to get around to Anne McCaffrey. And I also liked The Host.
Since I read fast, I tend to either go for long novels or series, and can also recommend Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth. I'm currently reading the sequel, World Without End (again, checked out on my Kindle).
I read Dewey the Library Cat and loved it. First book of the Sookie Stackhouse series. And even though I'm not a really religious person I liked Heaven is for Real by Todd Burbo.
Up for this week is All Creature Great and Small by James Herriot.. Holy Ghost Girl by Donna Johnson. First Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book.
2012 Reading Challenge
Now Nesting from Chicago, IL My nail blog:
The Bronze Horseman
The book is so great. I found out about because I was lurking over on the Nest Book Club board. It is really popular over there so I decided to buy it. I cant put it down. You really should read it.
A word of warning if you read Dewey the Library Cat: I made the mistake of finishing Dewey during lunch one day in the busy office kitchen. It was hard not to bawl at the table.
Vonnegut, Vonnegut, Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse Five is my fave book ever.
2nd favorite is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. 3rd fave is On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
If you haven't read them I implore you, do it!
We had to read The Things They Carried in college. I can also recommend it.
These were the books I recommended the most last year : Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons and Just Kids by Patti Smith.
I think everyone should read Harry Potter.
And the best books I've read recently are : Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
Oooh, I agree! I think it's one of the only books I can think of where I HATED every single one of the characters at some point in the story, but ended up still loving the book
2012 Reading Challenge
Now Nesting from Chicago, IL My nail blog:
I really enjoyed Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. Also liked The Host and The Hunger Games. (I have to admit this year I didn't read too many great books that I would recommend as must reads except for the first one I listed)
Some classics I would highly recommend if you haven't read them yet: The Count of Monte Cristo and Les Miserables.
Am bookmarking this for myself too.
The Bronze Horseman is great but I didn't love the rest of her series (if we're talking about the Paullina Simmons books?).
I really liked the Hunger Games trilogy although it's not usually my thing. I am currently reading the George RR Martin series which I really can't recommend, it's totally addictive but I'm not sure it's actually good!
I keep track of my reading on librarything.com and I appear to have spent most of the year reading chick-lit. Oh - and I agree with the Lisa See recommendation, all her books are fantastic.
I absolutely love Ursula Under and reread it regularly as well.
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks, Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks
Melissa Fay Greene's book There Is No Me Without You about the AIDS orphans of Ethiopia is fantastic. She also has a parenting memoir called No Biking in the House Without a Helmet that is maybe the funniest thing I've ever read.
I recently read and loved the Hunger Games trilogy.