Good Book Recommendations ?

[Francesca]

Hi, All

I'm looking for book recommendations.
Here are my requirements:

First, Last, and Always, I like a book that has a beginning, a middle, an end, and a POINT.

I don't like books about existential angst- I have more than enough of that in my life already.
I read to escape all that!

I read fiction and nonfiction with equal interest, but nonfiction had better be provable.
Or at least believable

My secondary requirements are:

I don't like to be left hanging...
If it's a mystery, I want it solved.
If it's a love story, I want boy to get girl.
Please don't recommend anything that puts me On Notice on the very last page that I'll be required to wait for the NEXT book to find out what happened to Lord Throttlebottom.
Or whoever.

I don't care if the book is "old"- I've probably missed a lot of good ones...

Also, details are important...
If it's a Historical story I want the author to have done the research- please don't point me to a book set in the Civil War where people say things like "you're kidding me!" or "that's fabulous!"
If it takes place in a foreign country (or for that matter, this one) I expect the geography, weather, and customs to be correct.
If it's a story about children, they must speak and act like children, not like miniature jaded grownups.
And by the way, every good story about children has grownups as secondary characters if they're present at all.
Lastly, no "heaving bosoms", please. YUK!

My local library can get me ANYTHING I WANT to read.
All I need is a title, and a recommendation from you...

So-

Read any good books lately?

Thanks!

Francesca

[njs42]

With all your requirements--I hate to even try---but here goes:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and if you like it then read Seabisquit---same author.

Nothing like it in the world----Steven Ambrose

[njs42]

The Civil War a narrative by Shelby Foote---Volums one, two and three-----it will keep you occupied let me know how it turns out.

[hondo122]

My first thought after reading your post was the Bible, but I rethought and figured you might get offended by that choice. My second choice is the Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follet it's a long read (700 pages) but I think it fills your thoughts on a historical novel. Plenty of research, historically accurate and an interesting story line with plenty of twists and turns. Follet is one of the authors I follow, but I think this is his best work. JMO

[njs42]

Francesca: It sounds like you read a lot and enjoy it-----?
Have you thought of getting a Kindle?----yes they cost money and the books cost to download--but the range of reading is great and you have a great many books "classics" that you can download for free.

Just a thought----easy to travel with as well---one little binder contains more books than you can ever read---adjustable font----etc;

[Mochisme]

I second the suggestion of a Kindle, very handy and compact for travel. I use to carry three or four books with me on vacations, now just the Kindle. I have just finished three Ivy Malone Misteries by Lorena McCourtney and look forward to finding more, but I tend more towards Star Trek and Star Wars books. Have reread several Jack London books that I read back in the 50s such as White Fang and also Treasure Island, The last of the Mohicans, The Legend of Sleep Hollow and H. G. Wells "The Time Machine. Tons of free books to down load anyplace you have WiFi.

[Diwizi]

Kindle books can be read on your own computer, your iphone, and your ipad as well as on a Kindle.... I use all..... You can start your book on one and continue on another.... The Kindle has an advantage of keeping a battery charge for almost a month.... When waiting in Dr office for example, i let DH use ipad to web surf while i use Kindle to read.... My family gives me gift cards and I download what i want..... Efore Kindle i used Ereader..... And read on my laptop.... kindle is much smaller and lighter and slips into purse nicely..... I also found that this way i can browse the books at my leisure and add them to my wish list if i am undecided..... I also now have a record of what i read.... AND my local library now has downloadable books for loan.... As to what to read.... Your criteria makes me afraid to make suggestions......

[Ragingbull]

I 3rd the Kindle!

[ljr]

"Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose" Its the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I read it as I followed the Missouri River along their route. I particularly remember reading about how an advance hunting party hung a deer from a tree on Farm Island in SD for the group coming up the river to find, as I sat under a big tree at Farm Island State Park wondering how old the tree was.

[njs42]

Anything by Ambrose--he well documented WWII and is an authority on Eisenhauer---a book by the same name is excellent reading---by Ambrose.

[LadyFitz...]

I also favor e-books and e-book readers although not the Kindle (Amazon has made it into a walled garden much like Apple). Except for public domain books, Amazon's e-books are DRM (a nastier version of copy protection) encumbered which means you cannot read them on any other readers unless they are capable of running Amazon's reader software. I also find the Kindle too large to be very portable.

I use a Jetbook Lite e-book reader. I allows me to read anything that isn't DRM encumbered and also PDFs (which Kindle will not), which the vast majority of my e-books are, and it fits very nicely in my purse. It runs on four AA batteries. They last for only 15-20 hours but the batteries are field replaceable. Since I carry a supply of rechargeable batteries in my purse for cameras, flash, etc., changing them out is not a problem. I can then continue reading and charge the batteries later. Most e-book readers will last considerably longer between charges but one has to remember to charge them. If they die away from a power source, you are S.O.L. Even if you are near a source of power, the thing is tethered until it has charged up. Some kinds of e-book readers will not even let you read them while charging.

If you want to try e-books without any monetary investment, thousands of public domain classics are available online for free. An excellent free program for managing them on your computer is calibre (the C is lower case per the developer) which also has an onscreen reader so you can read them on your computer. I have my 32" TV patched into my computer so I can read from the TV while laying in bed (I use a wireless mouse to scroll the pages). I read conventional e-books with calibre's built in reader and PDFs using Adobe Acrobat. Of course, I can read both on my Jetbook Lite.

As far as recommending specific books for you to read, it would be a crapshoot whether my tastes would match yours.

[Francesca]

Hi, all

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!
Every one is a great one- of the suggestions the only one I've already read is "Seabiscuit"- I really liked it, too, and didn't know about "Unbroken"...
So many suggestions- I'll have to prioritize and organize.
The Civil War would make an excellent long winter's read, and
the "Lewis and Clark" story- perfect companion for my upcoming trip to The Columbia Gorge.
I'll be standing in some of the places they did!

And I think you were kidding a little about the Bible, Mike, but guess what?
I've read it! Or most of it...
You hit the nail right on the head, really- every single thing that makes a story great is in that book.
Murder! Mayhem! Treachery! War! Peace! Corruption! Redemption!
And of course,The "Begats"...

It's the greatest adventure story of all time, when read that way...
And I have!

I should have added that I have an E-reader but don't travel with it...
I'm usually too far out in the boonies to even get a cell phone signal.

But what do you E-reader users READ on your readers?
That's what I want to hear about!

Thanks, Fellow Bookworms!

Keep 'em coming, please...

Francesca

[Senior Chief]

Try the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall. Available on your Kindle!

How about Kipling? Plenty of his wonderful short stories, books and poetry, all available for free in e-books.

Jane Austin? H.G. Wells? P.G. Wodehouse? (some of the funniest pre-war British upper class comedies in print- you may have seen the show Jeeves and Wooster?) All free.

Incidentally just load your e-reader BEFORE you head off into the woods- no need to be downloading stuff when you can't get 3G.

I've got something around 600 books on my Kindle, about half of them read or browsed. Always something that appeals.

[njs42]

Nothing Like it in the World ---by Ambrose about building the transcontinental railroad----talk about visiting places in the book!!!! And you understand with books loaded on a Kindle you do not need wifi or anything else---it holds more than you can read---51/2" by 8"---go where you wan to go read what you want to read.

Thanks for asking (excusing a rather dauting prelude of restrictions) this has inspired me to read some things around here.