The Next Best Book Club discussion

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Revive a Dead Thread > What are you reading?

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message 19601: by El (new)

El Bridgit wrote: "El - have you read the whole series? I read the first one a few months ago and really liked it, but didnt feel inspired to continue on. Worth it?"

Hi Bridgit, sorry for the late response. I was outta town for the weekend and just saw your question now.

I liked the whole series. The first is absolutely the best, but I wasn't offended by any of the original books. I just recently picked up his son's Dune books, but the first one of his didn't seem to be as good. I'll keep reading them, just because I'm curious enough and I don't hate them. But I think if you weren't that inspired to read the others in the original series after reading Dune, you shouldn't push it. I think a lot of people force themselves to read the whole series, hate all of them but the first one, but then wind up hating the first book just because they didn't like the rest.


message 19602: by Shona (new)

Shona (anovelobsession) I'm reading Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War and it is absolutely riveting.


message 19603: by Bhumi (new)

Bhumi | 524 comments Jo wrote: "I'm reading Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)"

Jo, I adore the Vampire Academy series! They're amazing. I hope you enjoy Frosbite.


message 19604: by Katie (new)

Katie Flora Wilkins (kflora) | 0 comments Shona wrote: "I'm reading Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War and it is absolutely riveting."

Glad to hear that it's good, my husband and I just purchased the ebook, and we're looking forward to reading it. He's a vet that spent 14 months "in country." Fortunately, he came out unharmed for the most part.


message 19605: by Flora (new)

Flora Smith (bookwormflo) I've just started The Lightning ThiefI see alot of similarities with Harry Potter so far. And I'm getting ready to read A Bend in the RiverI've heard its really good.


message 19606: by Carol (new)

Carol I am reading Turbo's Very Life And Other Stories. A nice selections of short stories. Something light to offset the other book.


message 19607: by Bhumi (new)

Bhumi | 524 comments Flora, I also loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. Enjoy!


message 19608: by Lianne (new)

Lianne (eclecticreading) I just finished reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall so I'm now onto Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker for a change of pace =)


message 19609: by Lori, Super Mod (new)

Lori (tnbbc) | 10631 comments Mod
Just finished "Newspaper Blackout" by Austin Kleon. Check out my blog review to see more about the book - http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

I think everyone should grab a copy of this book!!!


message 19610: by Joseph (new)

Joseph Currently reading Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays to give myself a little break from Fitzgeralds This Side of Paradise, which I'm having trouble connecting with.


for-much-deliberation  ... (formuchdeliberationreads) Currently I'm on 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' by Charles Dickens


message 19612: by Mary (new)

Mary (madamefifi) | 358 comments Just finished This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George--excellent! I have Let the Great World Spin with me at work but haven't started it yet.


message 19613: by Jenna (new)

Jenna (backwoodsbabble) | 52 comments Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The Collected Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor (loved her short story "the Turkey" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find"


message 19614: by Amanda (new)

Amanda | 10 comments I'm working on Brave New World.


message 19615: by Flora (new)

Flora Smith (bookwormflo) Bhumi wrote: "Flora, I also loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. Enjoy!"

I am really enjoying it but I am finding this to seem alot like Harry Potter. Does this trend continue?


message 19616: by Sasha (new)

Sasha How's Brave New World going for you, Amanda? I haven't read it since high school. I remember liking it, though I found it a bit difficult in parts.


message 19617: by Lori, Super Mod (new)

Lori (tnbbc) | 10631 comments Mod
Just started Pain Killers by jerry stahl.


message 19618: by Bridgit (new)

Bridgit | 475 comments Thanks everyone for the Dune commentary. Think I will wait awhile before (if) pursuing the next in the series. I am content with it as a standalone i think.

Just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Mad Dash: A Novel. Starting Speaker for the Dead and am SUPER excited about it. Enders Game was one of my favorites ever.


message 19619: by Sasha (new)

Sasha Oh man, I loved Ender's Game but hated everything else Orson Scott Card ever wrote. Not to discourage you or anything; maybe you'll get something out of it that I didn't.


message 19620: by Edith (new)

Edith | 256 comments I'm just about to finish Fireworks over Toccoa which is so good. Beautiful story! Then I'll start Making Toast: A Family Story.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (susannag) | 1736 comments Started 206 Bones, by Kathy Reichs, last night.


message 19622: by Bridgit (new)

Bridgit | 475 comments Alex wrote: "Oh man, I loved Ender's Game but hated everything else Orson Scott Card ever wrote. Not to discourage you or anything; maybe you'll get something out of it that I didn't."

Oh really?? so strange. I guess people either love or hate SotD. Someone in another group just said they think that it should be the one book 'everyone' should read. I've heard lots of others say that it is even better than Enders Game...

You've killed my dreams Alex. I hope you are happy. *moping back over to my bookshelf...*


message 19623: by Sasha (new)

Sasha That's me. Killer of Dreams.

Well, I hope you're one of the ones who loves it. Entirely possible that I just missed the point or something. I sorta soured on Orson Scott Card himself when I learned that he's turned into a crazy old man who doesn't believe in global warming or gay marriage, so I went into it probably predisposed to dislike it. But really, one shouldn't judge a book by the author's personal beliefs.


message 19624: by Carol (last edited May 04, 2010 09:34AM) (new)

Carol Now Alex you are someones dream maker(wife, children and parents to be exact)


message 19625: by Sasha (new)

Sasha Just wife and mom, actually, and only if my wife's dream was to be married to a guy who builds giant Q Tips out of PVC and foam so he can duel his friends in the back yard. :)


message 19626: by Carol (new)

Carol Sounds like an enchanted evening in the back ways of Boston. Her own personal Camelot, are you Robert Goulet?


message 19627: by Amanda (new)

Amanda | 10 comments Alex wrote: "How's Brave New World going for you, Amanda? I haven't read it since high school. I remember liking it, though I found it a bit difficult in parts."

I'm not too far into it yet - just one chapter. It starts out with the babies in the test tubes. Weird.


message 19628: by Sasha (new)

Sasha Of course! I am always Robert Goulet!

I've never been sure how much of my liking Brave New World was just that I wanted to like the slightly more obscure book instead of 1984, to be all "more obscure than thou." Which is why I'd like to re-read it sometime.


message 19629: by Sasha (new)

Sasha By the way everyone, fair warning: Amanda's blog, "Adventures Between the Covers," does not turn out to be as dirty as it sounds.


message 19630: by Carol (new)

Carol I can't remember much about Brave New World. I won't re-read it unless forced to.


message 19631: by Sarah (new)

Sarah Honenberger (sarahhonenberger) | 20 comments Sharon McCrumb's The Devil in the Lawyers, an advance review copy. We talked at the recent VA Press Women conference where my novel Waltzing Cowboys won second place in their communications contest in novel category. Life is glorious.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (susannag) | 1736 comments I certainly preferred Brave New World to 1984. We had the latter shoved down our throats - but I guess we were asking for it.

I was a member of the Class of 1984.


message 19633: by Amanda (new)

Amanda | 10 comments Alex wrote: "By the way everyone, fair warning: Amanda's blog, "Adventures Between the Covers," does not turn out to be as dirty as it sounds."

Haha, thanks for warning everyone. :-) I wanted a catchy title - apparently I succeeded.

I read 1984 for the first time last summer and LOVED it so I figured I'd like BNW, too. Although my reason for reading it is because it's a LOST book, and I'd like to make my way through all of those at some point.


message 19634: by El (new)

El Ooh, everyone should read Zamyatin's We. It's the one that inspired Huxley and Orwell to write Brave New World and 1984, and I think it's better than both of them. Just a shout out to the Russians. :)


message 19635: by Sasha (last edited May 04, 2010 10:58AM) (new)

Sasha Amanda wrote: "it's a LOST book, and I'd like to make my way through all of those at some point. "

Ha...sortof a fun plan. I'm a Lost fan too. You've got your work cut out for you though!

I've actually read 36 of those. Huh.

That list probably is more exhaustive than you really need to get, though. I noticed Bluebeard is on the list solely because Sawyer called Tom "Bluebeard" once. Bit of a stretch there.


message 19636: by Sasha (new)

Sasha Oh - and Brave New World isn't even on that list!? I could swear I've hear that it was referenced by the show too, though.


message 19637: by Flora (new)

Flora Smith (bookwormflo) Carol (kittykat) wrote: "I can't remember much about Brave New World. I won't re-read it unless forced to."


I agree, I remember reading it in high school and all I remember was that I didn't like it then.


message 19638: by [ JT ] (new)

[ JT ] | 22 comments Bridgit wrote: "Oh really?? so strange. I guess people either love or hate SotD. Someone in another group just said they think that it should be the one book 'everyone' should read. I've heard lots of others say that it is even better than Enders Game... "


Let me bring a bit of sunshine to your choice-- I absolutely LOVED Speaker For the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. ;)

Ender's Game was good, but not amazing by any means. The following three, however, were awesome! My opinion appears to be in the minority since most people are all ga-ga over Ender's Game.


message 19639: by Bridgit (new)

Bridgit | 475 comments Amanda (JT) wrote: "Bridgit wrote: "Oh really?? so strange. I guess people either love or hate SotD. Someone in another group just said they think that it should be the one book 'everyone' should read. I've heard lots..."

Yay! Bouncing back to my happy place!


message 19640: by Maria (new)

Maria (minks05) | 481 comments i set aside Pillars of the Earth for now, i need something lighter to give my mind a break! who knew running could be such a mentally challenging activity? anyway, i picked up Deep Dish yesterday and i'm more than halfway through, so that's the fluff i need to get me back in to the reading groove!


message 19641: by Lori Ann (new)

Lori Ann | 105 comments I absolutely think Brave New World is superior to 1984 because it forces you to question whether this "new world" is that terrible. What is wrong with no free will if everyone is happy? As opposed to 1984 where its very clear there are no redeeming qualities about the world Orwell created. Aldous Huxley Island is just as good.

El I am in total agreement with you about We! Not as well known as it should be.


message 19642: by Madeline (new)

Madeline | 293 comments You're all making me think I should read Brave New World, which I was hedging around because I hated 1984. I generally enjoy dystopia, but 1984 was so unredeemable, a little too bleak for me.

I loved Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow almost as much. I plan to read Speaker, but haven't picked it up yet.

I just finished Animal Farm, which was much better than 1984, and am now reading Dragonhaven. Though I normally love Robin McKinley, the young writer autobiographical style she's using is getting on my nerves. I hope it improves.


message 19643: by Carol (new)

Carol I think someone needs to nominate it next month for a group read . That is about the only way i will re-read it. haha I will be Brave and face the New World.


message 19644: by Karen (new)

Karen (karenvwrites) | 112 comments Trial by Fury (J.P. Beaumont, #3) by J.A. Jance J.A. Jance

number 3 in JP Beaumontseries


message 19645: by Carol (new)

Carol I like Joanna Brady series better, than Beaumont


message 19646: by Marti (new)

Marti (marjay) | 985 comments I just received Beachcombers: A Novel by Nancy Thayer. I picked it up to look at the beginning and the next thing I knew, I was 52 pages into it. I am moving this to the front of the line!


message 19647: by Liz (new)

Liz I am reading The Maze Runner & really love it so far! It's hard to put down!


message 19648: by tiasreads (new)

tiasreads I just finished The Help and loved it! Now I'm 1/3 of the way through The Poisonwood Bible. Next up is Daughter of Fortune. Isn't this sad- these books are a few years older and my library just got them in.


message 19649: by F1Wild (new)

F1Wild Vaashti wrote: "I'm just over halfway through with Moloka'i by Alan Brennert and am still undecided whether or not I like the book. Neither the writing nor the story is very compelling, but something about it is ..."
Wow, I'm totally surprised as I absolutely loved Moloka'i. Hope it gets better for you!


message 19650: by F1Wild (new)

F1Wild I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today, actually making a doctor wait a minute or two until I finished the last page (yes, I have cajones) - and of course loved it.

Instead of jumping right into ...Played with Fire I decided to start the newly released (for Kindle) Pearl of China: A Novel by Anchee Min mostly because of my deep love for Pearl S. Buck and love of Anchee Min's writing.


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