Washington Post Reads discussion

What are your favorite books of all time? What books did you recently purchase? Are you impatient for the next book by a certain author? Discuss here.

My favorite books are by J. California Cooper. Her folksy voice, humor and characters bring me a great deal of enjoyment. I become comfortable with her characters, and then hate to leave them when the books end. So I would love to have another book from her to read. Loving Frank is one of my favorite recent reads, which surprises me - that I love this historical fiction book so much. I generally read novels. A week ago I finished reading my most recent purchase, Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou. It was an enjoyable memoir that offers some insight into the remarkable woman that she is.

Choosing my favorite books of all time is like trying to hit a moving target. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is always on the list, though, as is "The Dead" by James Joyce and The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.

Recently, I've been on a tear, reading some terrific books. My favorites include the following:
When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel;
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
Building Stories by Chris Ware
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson (and also Human Croquet
The Round House by Louise Erdritch
(better stop here--there are probably ten more I'd like to include.)

As to what I've recently purchased: most of the above, as well as Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell, The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker and 10th of December by George Saunders.

Loved TransAtlantic and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Love the way McCann writes and Maara is already on his way to be a superstar. Read Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories a while ago and there are still some stories I cannot get out of my head.She has a fantastic imagination. Just finished Tom Cook's Sandrine's Caseand thought it was great.

Well I'm about to finish "The Final Empire" series by Brandon Sanderson and it is my favorite book/series for now:)
I'll be ordering soon "The Way of the Kings" and waiting for books by a certain author sometimes proves to be very painful simply when they kept postponing the release date of books.
Currently I'm waiting for "Shooting Stars" by Karina Halle which was originally set for release on May 13 and now it is releasing August 20 now :(

Favorite books of all time: like many others, I have a hard time with this question. If I think back to my youth,The Count of Monte Cristo always stuck with me (and I recently read The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo about Dumas which was really good). More recent favorites are Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds. The Hangman's Daughter books are pretty good and the Morgue Drawer Four series is light and fun.

Recently purchased: Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence, Backward Ran Sentences: The Best of Wolcott Gibbs from The New Yorker, Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World, Red Moon, The End of the Wasp Season, and The Gods of Gotham (It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so got a mix of books all at once.)

Impatient for: I don’t really get impatient for books. I have a stack of books waiting to be read (can e-books be considered a stack?), so there’s much to occupy my mind while I wait for an author’s next book.

I'm partial to both fiction and nonfiction (particularly history), and I tend to read both genres simultaneously. As for favorite authors, I'm a big fan of John Irving, Wally Lamb, Dennis Lehane, Jhumpa Lahiri, Thrity Umrigar, and Khaled Hosseini. When reading nonfiction, I gravitate towards historians like David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin, although one of my favorite reads from last year was Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon. I'd describe my reading style as "I like to be entertained, and I like to learn new things." And when I find a book that lets me accomplish both of those things at the same time, I'm in heaven! :)

Like many people, I've become very caught up in certain styles of writing during different periods of my life. Or, I'll become completely intrigued in an author's body of work. One particular book that had a pronounced and lasting impression however, is The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. It hit me immediately when I first read it - I devoured the dialogue, the descriptions, the way she put phrases together, the rhythms she created with words and words themselves that seemed new and created. It has been so many years since I first read it and I have read it many times since and still, I can pick it up after several months or a year and open a random section and become thoroughly engrossed once again.

I've read many different authors and I'm loathe to pick a favorite book (or books) of all time. Stranded on a desert island, I think I'd try to rig my kindle for solar power. :)

As to what I've read recently, I adored David Shenk's The Genius on all of Us . Also read a cute book called The Marriage Bargain and re-read Clotel. I've also ordered 12 Years a Slave, the book that the new movie is based on (starring some big names like Chiwetel Ejofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul Giammatti). So, I'll start reading that when I get a chance.

My new ebook MEGA DOLLAZ MEGA PROBLEMS gives an inside look at what happens when the average person wins the lottery. If you won the lottery would you be able to maintain control of your life?

My favorite authors are Naguib mahfouz from Egypt , Mo yan from china , Orhan bamook from TURKY ,all are Nobel prize winner, from USA , I have read lastly eat pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert ,I have learned from her , to try to approach the reality and core of the places where we travel ,to hear to the people , I think that this would make bridges between different cultures
Manal elkady (an Egyptian author )

One of my favorites is We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I'm trying to decide how badly I want to read Big Brother. I enjoyed So Much for That, but it didn't live up to my expectations for the author. I think high expectations are the biggest killer of a book for me. For that reason I am sometimes hesitant to pick up another book by an author that I initially loved. Is that odd? Has anyone read Big Brother and liked it?

I have enjoyed reading many interesting books, but the two of which I keep on reading over and over are Ryszard Kapucinscki's 'Shadow of the Sun' and 'The power of positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I recently purchased Melissa Forster's 'Chasing Amanda'. I haven't finished reading yet but it's an interesting book.The Power Of Positive Thinking

I am surprised by how much I am anxiously waiting for the final book in the Lev Grossman Magician's series. I will most likely have to reread the first two but for some reason those books have really stayed with me and I can't wait to see how he ends the trilogy.

If you'd like to get the flavor of Washington in the '50s, check Allen Drury's novels, especially, "Advise and Consent." AMC ran the film version recently, but the book is the real thing.

I loved MARCH by Geraldine Brooks. The idea of writing an entire novel that takes place in the interstices of another quite different work -- fascinating. I think IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN, a fantasy novel by Phyllis Ann Karr, does the same thing.

Without books, I have no idea how this world would have been. In Africa many are hungry to read but lack of money prevent them to buy the right books they are looking for. In Europe my favorite books are easy to reach, I am therefore making good use of this great opportunity. The book I am reading at the moment is 'I am Michael Bennett' by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge.

Diane S. wrote: "Loved TransAtlantic and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Love the way McCann writes and Maara is already on his way to be a superstar. Read [book:Vampires in the ..."

Yes -- "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" was my favorite book this year.

Brenda wrote: "I loved MARCH by Geraldine Brooks. The idea of writing an entire novel that takes place in the interstices of another quite different work -- fascinating. I think IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN, a fantasy nov..."

MARCH was my favorite book of 2005.

Ron wrote: "Diane S. wrote: "Loved TransAtlantic and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Love the way McCann writes and Maara is already on his way to be a superstar. Read [book..." Diane and Ron, "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" and "TransAtlantic" were 2 of my favorites this year, also.

In case you missed the authors' events at Politics & Prose, you can watch the video of these two authors speaking about these works at the following links:

http://www.politics-prose.com/video/c...

http://www.politics-prose.com/transat...

A good way to spend some time on this freezing Sunday afternoon...

Josie wrote: "Ron,
Please tell us: What are your favorite books of all time? What books did you recently purchase? Are you impatient for the next book by a certain author?"

Favorite books of all time? Too hard! They're all my children….

What books did I recently purchase? Embarrassed to say I get all my books for free!

Very much looking forward to Richard Price's new novel, "Orfeo."

I read so much it is hard to pick favorites. If I have to travel a long way, or do anything tedious and soul-sucking, like renew my driver's license, then it's space opera. Lois Bujold has written 14 or 15 novels about Miles Vorkosigan, and with these on a Ipad I can endure the most irritatingly delayed flight. Another good author for this purpose is Carl Hiassen -- when you want a book to just fall into and take you away.
When I'm feeling more intellectual, the English classics come into play: Austen and Dickens. From there it is a fast descent into English mystery novels; many happy days can be spent rereading the Lord Peter novels. From there I can take a turn into more Anglophilia (Horatio Hornblower! and then on to C.S. Lewis and Tolkien) or the other direction, into American mysteries. There are, what, fifty Nero Wolfe novels? Enough to keep you happy for half a year.
But then I have to gafiate (as we say in SF) and go read comic books. There are some grand graphic novels out there, that have the weight and heft of any conventional novel.
But I actually have less time that I would like to re-read. I have to read things for research. Next up: La Vita Nuova, by Dante.

Ron wrote: "Josie wrote: "Ron,
Please tell us: What are your favorite books of all time? What books did you recently purchase? Are you impatient for the next book by a certain author?"

Favorite books of all t..."

Okay! I am intrigued reading the synopsis for "Orfeo" and have added it to my "to-read" list (release date 1/20/2014).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...

Enjoyed your review of Ishmael Beah's latest book. I read "A Long Way Gone" in 2012 and was stunned by his outlook following such trauma. I hope to be able to attend the author event at Politics & Prose next week.