Book Suggestions For Our Menu

[Kathryn]

I have a couple of suggestions for the to be read bookshelf: The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery and also Seventeen by Booth Tarkington

I have read and enjoyed both of them. :)

[Melanti]

I wanted to nominate The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao this month but I feel obligated to point out that it's around 100 pages too long, and the edition shelved (which doesn't have pages listed) probably ought to be deleted cause it doesn't actually exist... (It looks like it's bad data from Amazon and should be a duplicate of this edition: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao)

Not sure if you care about books that are too long to fit the group definition?

[LaLaLa Laura]

yep size does matter. I will take it down if it's in error.

[amber]

Hi Laura, Push was made into the movie Precious so it could go on the Masterpiece Theater shelf too. Sorry I didn't mention that when I suggested it.

[Lauri]

I would like to suggest Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford, I believe it would fit on the Humor shelf and the classic shelf.

[Julia]

Laura, I didn't realize this book is just 240 pages, so I'm excited that it can be added: A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin.

It's one of my 5 stars, and I don't give those often. Amazon said:

"Kurt Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems sent shivers through Vienna’s intellectual circles and directly challenged Ludwig Wittgenstein’s dominant philosophy. Alan Turing’s mathematical genius helped him break the Nazi Enigma Code during WWII. Though they never met, their lives strangely mirrored one another—both were brilliant, and both met with tragic ends. Here, a mysterious narrator intertwines these parallel lives into a double helix of genius and anguish, wonderfully capturing not only two radiant, fragile minds but also the zeitgeist of the era."

"Janna Levin is an astrophysicist and writer. She has contributed to an understanding of black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. She is the author of the popular-science book How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space and a novel, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, which won the PEN/Bingham prize. Janna was recently named a Guggenheim Fellow (2012)."
http://www.jannalevin.com/bio.html

[[deleted user]]

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
(The most current 2012 paperback version on Amazon is 108 pages.)
Genres: Historical fiction & Classics

[[deleted user]]

Juniper and Anise by Marion Cornett and Delaney's People: A Novel in Small Stories by Beth Duke.

Both are in the historical fiction genre and both are currently accepting entries for Goodreads giveaways. :)

[Book]

Can I add The Humans by Matt Haig .

[Julia]

Von, the book looks really interesting, but the books for this group have to be 250 pages or less. However, I'm definitely adding this to my TBR list :-)

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

I recommend: To School Through The Fields.

[LaLaLa Laura]

Some good suggestions. Thanks! I added where appropriate!

[Melanti]

Laura,

I'm browsing for a good classic, and I noticed you've shelved The Importance of Being Ernest by Ernest Cline.

Did you perhaps mean to shelve The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde?

[LaLaLa Laura]

Sandy wrote: "I would like to suggest Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (190 pages) - a winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1975."

done!

[LaLaLa Laura]

Melanti wrote: "Laura,

I'm browsing for a good classic, and I noticed you've shelved The Importance of Being Ernest by Ernest Cline.

Did you perhaps mean to shelve [book:The Importance of Being Ear..."

I had them both shelved it turns out. I removed the Cline edition. Sharp eyes, Melanti! Thank you!

[amber]

Laura I just realized there aren't any August Wilson plays on S&S's bookshelf.

[Lext]

Is there a way we can search for a book in our bookshelf? I previously thought you can click on "Bookshelf", and then when you're in that window, you can enter a book name in the search box (in the column on the left hand side) and it'll search the bookshelf only. But it looks like that box searches the whole website. I was looking for Bossypants and "Yes Please" to recommend, and I found them, but when I go through the Biography bookshelf I don't see them.

Anyway, if they're not there yet, I'll recommend those books to the Biography shelf. They're both funny books, written by two of the funniest comic writers of our time. The first one was a NYT bestseller, the second one was a GR selected book last year.

[amber]

Lext wrote: "Is there a way we can search for a book in our bookshelf? I previously thought you can click on "Bookshelf", and then when you're in that window, you can enter a book name in the search box (in the..."

It does search the whole site. The way you tell if the book is on the group shelf is that a book on the shelf already will appear fainter in the results then a book that isn't. They did just do a major reprogram on GR and there are a lot of bugs still being worked out. There might bugs in search as well that are messing up the results, but that is how it should work.

[amber]

Also both of those books are listed as being over 250 pages long.

[Lext]

Oh, it's too bad then. Those books don't feel that long to me (I feel like they're shorter than Anne of Green Gables). "Yes Please" also has a lot of fodder inside (it's constructed in scrapbook format, and there are lots of photographs of things in there). But rules are rules, I don't want to make any exception here.

Still, pretty good books to read if you enjoy Saturday Night Live and humor in general.

[[deleted user]]

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Exactly 250 pages. :)

Genres: Historical fiction and romance.

[LaLaLa Laura]

♥ Lisa ☯ wrote: "The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Exactly 250 pages. :)

Genres: Historical fiction and romance."

Thanks Lisa! You are awesome!

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

The House on Mango Street at 110 pages. Just finished last night, enjoyable snapshot of life in the inner city for Latin American youth in 1960s Chicago.

[[deleted user]]

Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "The House on Mango Street at 110 pages. Just finished last night, enjoyable snapshot of life in the inner city for Latin American youth in 1960s Chicago."

You find some really good books Jen! :) I just read your favorable review and am amazed that my library has it. The ebook version is now downloaded to my kindle waiting to be read.

There are also some really good books suggested here that I am adding to my tbr shelf. Thanks everyone!!

Also, you are very welcome Laura!! I recently bought The Lady and the Unicorn and noticed it was 250 pages. Bonus!!

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

I enjoyed The Lady and the Unicorn :)

[[deleted user]]

For Rosamunde Pilcher fans:

The Day of the Storm and The Carousel
Genres: Contemporary fiction and Romance

They have mixed reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, but both are under 250 pages. (I checked number of pages on Amazon, as it seems some of the descriptions on Goodreads are inaccurate.)

Also, (today only) kindle versions are on sale for $2.99, along with some other popular Pilcher books.

[Greg]

Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "The House on Mango Street at 110 pages. Just finished last night, enjoyable snapshot of life in the inner city for Latin American youth in 1960s Chicago."

I did enjoy that one when I read it years ago Jen - a quick, absorbing read!

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Greg wrote: "Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "The House on Mango Street at 110 pages. Just finished last night, enjoyable snapshot of life in the inner city for Latin American youth in 1960s Chicago."

I did enjo..."

I enjoyed her introduction to the story :)
And, the story, too.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

♥ Lisa ☯ wrote: "Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "The House on Mango Street at 110 pages. Just finished last night, enjoyable snapshot of life in the inner city for Latin American youth in 1960s Chicago."

You find s..."

Thank you, Lisa :)
Let me hear your thoughts on the book after you read it.

[LaLaLa Laura]

Thanks, Jen!

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

My pleasure, Laura :)

[[deleted user]]

Our Souls at Night: A novel by Kent Haruf; 192 pages (hardbound version)

Genres: Contemporary fiction

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Two of my bookclubs are reading Euphoria at the moment. An interesting read on anthropology and relationships, well written, and 250 pages (may be too long for the group).

[Margo]

Fire in the Blood by irene nemirovsky. 137 pages. Hard to classify. Themes are love, family secrets, youth.

[LaLaLa Laura]

April wrote: "I'll try this again, spooky story for Halloween, 80 pages.

A small group of women try to call up Dickens' Christmas ghosts in a seance. Reading it now for a Halloween read and really enjoying it!
..."
Added, April! Thank you! Looks good!

[LaLaLa Laura]

Margo wrote: "Fire in the Blood by irene nemirovsky. 137 pages. Hard to classify. Themes are love, family secrets, youth."

added. Thank you, Margo. It looks like romance and historical fiction to me...

[Tom]

I'm just getting into short stories (mainly because I like the feel of a book rather than something electronic). Some good suggestions here that I will look into, but can I suggest a short story I read recently. Carly it's 33 pages, Carly is stalked by her neigbour, after she escapes his clutches she kills him. But she won't tell the police where the body is. There is a good twist at the end.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Thanks RO, will add :)

[Margo]

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "Margo wrote: "Fire in the Blood by irene nemirovsky. 137 pages. Hard to classify. Themes are love, family secrets, youth."

added. Thank you, Margo. It looks like romance and historic..."

Yes, the best books are sometimes hard to classify.

[Tom]

Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "Thanks RO, will add :)"
Great. Thanks

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Thanks April :)

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Thanks Carey.

[Alisha ‘Priti’]

Thank you. Thank you. I love reading and writing short stories. This group is a blessing for writers like me.
Please do check out my ebook released today on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/dp/B019RAKH1U

[[deleted user]]

With short stories, memory is a sieve. I forget them as quickly as I read them.

[[deleted user]]

I recommend three stand-alone graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. They are:

Violent Cases,
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch and
Signal to Noise.

All are excellent in their own ways.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Thank you.

[Andre]

Hi how are you?

[Amelina]

Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet by Xinran

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Thank you, Amelina.

[Melanti]

I just noticed that Breakfast at Tiffany's is tagged as a romance on the shelves...
I've got to ask... Romance between whom?
There's not a drop of romance in that book, that I can recall...