readers advisory for all discussion

You’ve mentioned some of my favorite books and given me some new books to add. Thank you! I think you and I are on the same page (ha!) when it comes to book picks.

My absolute favorite book of all time is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafon Ruiz. Another favorite is The The Power of One Bryce Courtenay. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalaed Hosseini made me cry for the last 10 chapters and The Road by Cormack McCarthy is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read.

I also recommend:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy) by Stieg Larson
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

All three of Gillian Flynn’s books
Gone Girl
Dark Places
Sharp Objects
Anything written by Ken Follett (He is amazing!)

I keep an actual list ready to whip out whenever anyone is looking for suggestions. When you’re finished with these recommendations, let me know. I’ve got more suggestions for you!

I recommend you A Confederacy of Dunces. A great and funny novel with an amazing story behind it. The writer won the Pulitzer posthumously

Nicole,
I was not crazy about Gone Girl either but read Sharp Objects for my book club. LOVED THE BOOK!!!! I think I enjoyed this book so much because I really liked the main character, Camille. I found her to be endearing and mostly sincere. I did not care for the main characters in Gone Girl.

I would highly suggest Sharp Objects, one of my favorites this year!

Nicole wrote: "Claire,

Hey :) Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. We certainly do appear to have a lot of reads in common!

I have already read All the Light We Cannot See, [book:The G..."

Hahaha, me neither! But I enjoyed this ;)


Nicole wrote: "Molleca,

Thank you for the recommendation. Is this a very literary piece of literature? The Pulitzer prize win is what scares me about this one. I don't seem to have a lot of luck with award winne..."

I agree that Gone Girl is not for everyone. It's a book no one is on the fence about. Either you love it or you hate it. I liken Gillian Flynn's style to Stephen King and think she is a wonderful writer.

Try her other books, you may like them better. Sharp Objects is a good one to read and the movie for Dark Places is coming out soon.

Another dark mystery to put on your list is The Girl on the Train. It has another unreliable narrator, so of course, there are several twists.

Happy Reading!

books you might enjoy:
any books by Kent Haruf, starting with Plainsong

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Cannery Row
by John Steinbeck

Small Change: The Secret Life of Penny Burford
by J. Belinda Yandell

Heart in the Right Place
by Carolyn Jourdan

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx