Read any good books lately?

[meadowlandsnj]

I was on Amazon.com and I read the review for a book The Road:

'Concurrent with keeping his son alive is the more metaphysical challenge of sustaining his son's innate goodness while forcing him to witness the corruption of all moral behavior. "Are we still the good guys?" the boy asks in moments of confusion and shock. His father insists they are. "This is what good guys do," he tells him. "They keep trying. They don't give up." Why, then, his son asks, won't he help the stragglers they run across instead of running from them or shooting at them? "We should go to him, Papa. We could get him and take him with us. . . . I'd give that little boy half of my food." How to explain the necessity of abandoning others to certain death (or worse, in one particularly terrifying scene) while maintaining that they're "the good guys," the ones "carrying the fire"? Washington Post

Cormac Mccarthy has given us a glimpse of a world none of us want to see or visit, but we are there. It is desolate, singulatory, stark, bleak; all of these words and more are needed to describe a world after a nuclear explosion. We are left to imagine the events, the place, and the time. All we have are these two souls, dad and son, no names. They are moving from one place to another to get to the coast, why, we do not know, are left to wonder. Along the way Mccarthy describes the world we never want to see. Smoldering even after a few years, everything black and stripped of any semblance. Not many people, and those they meet, they are afraid of. Looters, and murderers and eaters of flesh. These two souls, father and son, the two evidences that love can keep you going, can keep you on the right path, and can keep you "One of the good guys". There is not much to keep you going or to keep you safe. Death, no food, no shelter, no clothing, harsh and cold environment, only your wits, and then it is hard to keep them together. A harsh and cold path and if it is what we have to face, Cormac Mccarthy has given us the most beautiful prose and surreal writing.

This is a book to be read by everyone. This is a book to be remembered, to be revered and to be kept in the recesses of our brains, to come out only when necessary. This book begs to be discussed. So many nuances, so many allegories, and so many scenes that are reminiscent, but still new.

"He knew only that the child was his warrant," it says of the father and his mission. "He said: if he is not the word of God, God never spoke." The love of a father and his son, the greatest love of all.
Highly, highly recommended.

I have to get this book!  It sounds great.  I like books like this that make you think. 
I am reading Jesus Christ by Anne Rice
and
Just got done reading Middlesex about a girl/boy who was a hermaphrodite, very interesting reading. 
I have a whole shelf of books I have to start reading. 
Donna

[jbeany]

Just read "Standing in the Rainbow" by Fannie Flagg - I do love her work.

Read "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven" recently - for all the hype, I didn't like it that much.

The last two weeks I've read just about everything Robin McKinley's ever written - I borrowed the entire collection from a friend who's a huge fan.  Good stuff, even if most of it winds up in the "Young Adult" section of the library.

I finished off the last of the Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Puffy little romances, but at least they talk about quilting, and that gives me ambition to sew more of my own.

Read "Cold Mountain" - saw the movie first and that's always a mistake.

Reread "Bridge to Terabithia" - just in case I go see the movie!

In the middle of Toni Morrison's "Love".  Hoping it gets better. . .

Finished "Inheritance," second in the Earagon series.  This one leaves the story hanging even more than the first one.  I've heard the same complaint about the movie, though.

I'm the best customer our teeny little branch library has.  I read quite fast, so it's not unusual for me to go thru two novels a dialysis session.

[Jill D.]

Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for years....Gump and Company. It's the continuing story of Forrest Gump. In the book he is more like a "born loser" than he was in the movie. The book had me laughing out loud! Some of the people he gets involved with: the maker of "New Coke"; Ayotolla (?) Khomeni, Rev. James Baker, Ivan Boelsky, Bill and Hillary Clinton - he even causes the Berlin Wall to come down!

[George Jung]

Right now I am reading "A User's Guide To The Brain".  I really like it!

[kitkatz]

I recently read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. An interesting read.

[Sluff]

Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for years....Gump and Company. It's the continuing story of Forrest Gump. In the book he is more like a "born loser" than he was in the movie. The book had me laughing out loud! Some of the people he gets involved with: the maker of "New Coke"; Ayotolla (?) Khomeni, Rev. James Baker, Ivan Boelsky, Bill and Hillary Clinton - he even causes the Berlin Wall to come down!

OMG I didn't know that was out there. I need that book. Thanks for the heads up Jill.

[Deanne]

I just finished a trilogy by Ted Dekker: "Black," "Red," and "White." It's about a man who is living in two realities at once -- one before a virus wiped out the world and one after (centuries after?). He flips back & forth between worlds when he sleeps and is trying to save both worlds at once, the current world from the virus, and the future world from their enemies. It has a lot of sub-plots that kept me hooked.

[goofynina]

Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for years....Gump and Company. It's the continuing story of Forrest Gump. In the book he is more like a "born loser" than he was in the movie. The book had me laughing out loud! Some of the people he gets involved with: the maker of "New Coke"; Ayotolla (?) Khomeni, Rev. James Baker, Ivan Boelsky, Bill and Hillary Clinton - he even causes the Berlin Wall to come down!

OMG I didn't know that was out there. I need that book. Thanks for the heads up Jill.

UMM, Hellooo!! How could they have written this and not notify me?  I went to the theater 23 times to see Forrest Gump and when it came out, i bought 7 copies, one for each of my family members (so they wouldnt borrow mine)   and i know that movie word for word, now your telling me that this book has been out for years?  Oh man, *rolls up sleeves*  someone is definetly going to hear about this!!     Going to my library tomorrow and get it, thanks again Jill

[Jill D.]

Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for years....Gump and Company. It's the continuing story of Forrest Gump. In the book he is more like a "born loser" than he was in the movie. The book had me laughing out loud! Some of the people he gets involved with: the maker of "New Coke"; Ayotolla (?) Khomeni, Rev. James Baker, Ivan Boelsky, Bill and Hillary Clinton - he even causes the Berlin Wall to come down!

OMG I didn't know that was out there. I need that book. Thanks for the heads up Jill.

UMM, Hellooo!! How could they have written this and not notify me?  I went to the theater 23 times to see Forrest Gump and when it came out, i bought 7 copies, one for each of my family members (so they wouldnt borrow mine)   and i know that movie word for word, now your telling me that this book has been out for years?  Oh man, *rolls up sleeves*  someone is definetly going to hear about this!!     Going to my library tomorrow and get it, thanks again Jill

Yeah, my parents gave it to me years ago after they read it and I can't believe it's been sitting on my shelf all this time! It has a sticker on it from a bargain book store, so if you have any problems finding it, PM me and I will send it off (after my husband reads it!)

[brenda]

Just finished Eragon now I'm reading Eldest the second book to Eragon. They are pretty good.

[meadowlandsnj]

Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for years....Gump and Company. It's the continuing story of Forrest Gump. In the book he is more like a "born loser" than he was in the movie. The book had me laughing out loud! Some of the people he gets involved with: the maker of "New Coke"; Ayotolla (?) Khomeni, Rev. James Baker, Ivan Boelsky, Bill and Hillary Clinton - he even causes the Berlin Wall to come down!

I HAVE to get this book!  Thanks!  I love Forrest Gump!

Donna

[kitkatz]

I had to laugh by the end of the book Eragon. Everytime the author wanted to do something with his hero, he had him get knocked out and carted away by the enemy ! 

[goofynina]

Allrighty, my mom has ordered my Gump and Company at the library and i am ready to read!  I will definetly let you all know what i think when i am done,  Thanks for the info Jill

[Jill D.]

You're welcome....happy reading!

[jbeany]

I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult today in dialysis.  Interesting premise - a 13 yr old who was born thru IVF to be a genetic match for her sick older sister sues her parents for medical emancipation when they want her to give her sister a kidney after a lifetime of various tissure donations.  The author totally copped out on the ending, though!

[kelliOR]

The author totally copped out on the ending, though!

I agree!!  I also thought the charcater of the mother was totally unbelievable!

[carson]

I know this won't appeal to many of you but I"m reading "Ancient Secrets of the Horse's Mind". Good learning tool if you're into horses at all.

[kitkatz]

I love to read books about horses.   I loooove horses!