Here are some books that I have read over the last several months (maybe a bit more). I’ve only included books that I really enjoyed and I am hoping you will enjoy them too. I am telling you about them because they should be read. READ THEM!! If you find that you’ve read any one of these books -chances are you will enjoy one of the others. Also Read: My Formative Reading.
I will post short individual reviews on each -since people have asked for this. Any one of these books would make great gifts for the fiction lovers in your life.
Here are my Top Books from the Summer:
- Life of Pi
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The Poisonwood Bible
- Q & A
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
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The Kite Runner
- The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
- The Good Doctor
- Midnight at the Dragon Cafe
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Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood
More recommended reading from this past year:
This is a series called: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. All are by Alexander McCall Smith I have read the first 4 books and am curently enjoying number 5: The Full Cupboard of Life. I love them all.
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The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Tears of the Giraffe: More from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Morality for Beautiful Girls: More from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
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The Kalahari Typing School for Men: More from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (Book 6): More from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
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In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (Book 6): More from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
I’ve read or attempted to read 2 of the books in your Summer List. I cannot force myself to finish Life of Pi. It’s so tiny but I keep falling asleep every time I pick it up. Perhaps, I should pay someone to read it out loud to me. Hmmm…
I love to read but I often don’t have enough time to read everything I WANT to read, so I up my quantity with audio books [audible.com membership]. I LOVE my iPod and relaxing in Go Transit train. iPod isn’t just for music - it’s great for downloading podcasts and storing audio books. Of course, quantity is not equal to QUALITY because often, some of the audio books are really dull-ass narrated snoozefests.
The experience of reading a book is more intimate [it is after all, YOUR VOICE in your head] and unique and it isn’t the same as listening to audio books. A book in your hands is a tangible feel. Even the smell. When reading a book, it is your “mind’s” voice that interprets whether i.e. a character is sad, happy, scared, etc. and a skilled audio narrator with excellent ‘voice acting’will key you in immediately on how you should feel at certain moments. A good audio book is like hearing a great ghost story and feeling the goosebumps or listening to my father weaving stories of his youth and how spellbound I always am when I hear them.
A’great’ audio book can be like slow burn, cerebral meditation or as thrilling as a roller coaster ride.
With that said, I still prefer paper books. ;) … well, it’s like comparing theatre play and movie… different experience, both with merits…
My top 5 *** memorable reads/listens of 2005 in no particular order are:
*** memorable ranges from ‘wow, awesome’ to ‘ok, that wasn’t the best book ever written, but it sure wasn’t dull’
1. “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire
3. “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden
4. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
5. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig [audio book]
My top 5 honorable mentions of 2005, again in no particular order are:
1. “The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman
2. “My Life” by Bill Clinton [audio book]
3. “The Universe in a Single Atom” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
4. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
… although, technically, I haven’t actually finished reading it. I’m not certain as to why I can’t seem to finish it as it’s pretty good. I suppose, it should go under “2006″ list or whenever I finish it. ;)
5. “Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching” by Ursula K. Le Guin
I told you I ramble. Later days.