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I've been trying out different books at B&N, including a Columbine-related novel by Wally Lamb (The title escapes me at the moment.). Having read the account of the tragedy only a couple months ago I figured this might be a good time to read it while the details are still fresh in my mind. Has anyone here read it/recommend it?

 

The Lamb book is The Hour I First Believed, and I read it a few months before I read Columbine. I would recommend it, with slight reservations (it has a subplot that didn't work for me).

I read this recently and really liked it:

And I'm currently in the middle of this one and enjoying it:

I really liked Things Our Grandchildren Should Know too. Strange and lovely!

I recently read Columbine and still feel haunted.

MChris, I am eagerly awaiting the new Krakauer book too! Already have my hold placed..

Just finished this one, and cannot wait to read the sequel:

The intro to Silence Kid by Pavement is one of my favorites.

Now reading:

 

Believe it or not, it just hit me: Fern Arable. Oh, arable. (Well, I haven't read this since early elementary school.)

Oh how I love that book! The annotated version is wonderful, too.

I think I had that same lightbulb moment about Arable a few years ago! Templeton might be my favorite character. His speech before they leave for the fair kills me every time.

My recent reads:

Read this last month and am still thinking about it a lot:

I thought this was great (I wasn't sure I'd like it..):

Happy, happy Birthday, B!

Just finished this and LOVED it. It was wonderful-- great characters, warm, sad, funny-- just a marvelous read. I am a huge fan of Miriam Toews' other novels, too.

I just listened to this podcast from NPR's Book Tour featuring Diaz doing a reading from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao last month in DC. It's sort of long (I'd advise you stop listening when the audience questions begin. Or maybe it's just that I have a very low tolerance for questions from the audience) but it's great to hear him talk and read.

Voila

Speaking of Afghanistan, I just finished this one. I loved it, but the information it imparted was totally infuriating.

I also read this book last week. I love Miriam Toews' fiction-- very wry and unique, with wonderful characters.

Maudie, if you need a co-coordinator, let me know!!

I'd love to participate.

 

If you were ever a fan of Little Golden Books, you should absolutely pick this one up. I'm loving it - anecdotes about the authors and illustrators as well as the company, and fantastic illustrations from Golden Books through the years.

How had I not heard about this?!!! Thank you for the heads up, B! Please tell me that there's some Richard Scarry content.

My Golden Book collecting is getting a little out of control...

I'm starting this today.

You'll have to let me know what you think of Drop City! I am so grateful to have been clued in to the world of TC Boyle. How delicious it is to be introduced to a new author and then you find out they've written 19 books?!! In the last two months, I've already read four of them.

How is Thunderstruck? It's on my 'to read' list.

Currently reading this. I am a big fan of Steve Coll's writing (he also wrote Ghost Wars, which I thought was great):

All you Tim O' Brien fans have tempted me into submission....thanks to a couple of leftover birthday gift certificates at Amazon, I've just now ordered "The Things They Carried" and "In the Lake of the Woods".

 

Now, which should I read first?

 

Laura, let us know how you liked "Unaccustomed Earth" when you've finished it. What's it about?

I'd read In the Lake of the Woods first, because I think The Things they Carried is so stunning that it's going to be hard to follow.

Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories with themes of love, family, identity-- the usual, but her writing is wonderful and very subtle and lovely. Lahiri's first book, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. She has also written a great novel called The Namesake.

If nothing else, at least Oprah has brought readers to books who might not have read them otherwise. Grapes of Wrath, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Love in the Time of Cholera ... read by lots of people just because of that Oprah sticker. Whatever gets people reading and talking about books is fine by me.

 

 

Adding to my list. Funny, but it seems like anytime I'm considering a book, you recommend it and I add it to the list.

I completely agree with you about Oprah. Anything that encourages reading is a positive thing!

Funny that we are on the same book wavelength! This is a fine trend.

This is great so far..

Speaking of sublime, "More Like the Moon." I love that song so much, and the quiet version last night was just perfect. (I know it wasn't my request, but I figured I'd take the odds that someone else would request it. Thank goodness I was right.)

But hey, he did ask me if it was ok if he played the quiet version. I could've opted for the loud and raucous rendition.

The night was a perfect mix of so many great things-- friends from far and wide, delicious food and drink, babies!, and some truly exquisite music. I had a wonderful time.

Great read, though. I think it's great because it reads as fiction even though it's non-fiction, which plays into the story even a non-history buff can appreciate.

 

When you finish it get the companion book (I checked it out from the library) to check out some of the landmarks described in the book. It's a coffee table-type picture book and I forget the name of it. Pretty nice companion piece.

Count me in as another huge fan of Manhunt. Nonfiction at its best!

I also really liked the companion book that Lammycat mentioned. It's called Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution and the photos included are stunning.

I just finished this and loved it. It was one of those (rare) books that I thought about all the time and wondered what would happen next:

Happy Birthday, dear Drew!!

Happy, happy Birthday, Judy!!

I'm not enthralled by this one yet, but have high hopes for it, based on his other books:

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Happy Happy Birthday, dear Heidi!!

(ps it's currently 37 degrees in Cheltenham)

Happy Birthday to you, K.

How I love to see the Now Reading thread get so much action!

(confidential to M. Christine and Dreamin' Judy: Thanks for lurking! )

I wholeheartedly second the recommendation for The Things they Carried (one of my favorite books ever) and the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (read it a few weeks ago and am still reveling in its absolute beauty)

I'm reading this. It's one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" books:

I'm loving this to the extent that I've been rationing how much of it I read, because I don't want it to end.

Happy Birthday to you, K-Train!