Book Recommendations

[monkey]

I'll second chiquita's recommendation and add that I've found some good ones just by browsing Catholic websites.

Can anyone recommend a good book about the Bay of Pigs invasion?

[Deleted]

Thanks!

[bossyboots]

I need something engrossing for my plane trip later this month and I think I want to give Neil Gaiman a try. Which of his books would you Gaiman fans recommend?

I'm open to any recommendations in general, actually -- I like fantasy fiction, particularly stories of parallel worlds (Pullman's His Dark Materials, for e.g.) or stories that exist in parallel to other established stories (The Red Tent, Lamb, Wicked). I also like general fiction and I'm not above any chick lit but I normally power through those too quickly for them to be worthwhile travel reading.

Thanks, Greecies!

[Ripley]

My favorites in order are American Gods (won a Hugo), Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and Stardust. Mind you, I like them all, but if forced to put them in order, that's how they'd go.

I've never read any of his Sandman or Death graphic novels, and I keep thinking I need to rectify that.

[viridian]

He also has two short story collections - I prefer his first book, Smoke & Mirrors, over his more recent one, Fragile Things. Both are great, though.

Ripley, I hope you get around to reading The Sandman - my copies are all beat up because I loan them out all the time, since I love the series & recommend it so highly to everyone.

[Deleted]

Anyone got any good, readable fiction set in the ancient world (especially Greece). Camp is good, as is well written. Preferably not anything with a very blokey plot of the prooving self as warrior kind.

[Deleted]

Just posted this in the other thread..
I am reading "He, She and It" by Marge Piercy. Great reading.
I read when I get into bed at night. Can't sleep without the daily ritual and I look forward to it. But when I have one of those books that you can't wait to get yourself into and when your not reading it, your still kind of in it's world, or it's spell? You know what I mean? Your thinking about it as you go about your day.
Those are the rare ones and this one is one of those kind of books for me. It would make a great movie and I'm surprised no one has not had the rights to it. It was published back in the 90's.

From Amazon:
"In the 21st century the world has been ravaged by environmental disaster and war, with much of the populace living in corporate domes. Depressed over child custody problems with Josh, her ex-husband, Shira Shipman returns to her childhood home, one of the few free Jewish towns. There she falls in love with Yod, an illegal cyborg created to defend the town against attack. Filled with fantastic technological description, the plot zooms to a page-turning climax. A story of a golem in 17th-century Prague told by Shira's warmhearted grandmother mirrors the action."

[petals]

bossyboots said:

I need something engrossing for my plane trip later this month and I think I want to give Neil Gaiman a try. Which of his books would you Gaiman fans recommend?

I second the nod to American Gods. It was the first book of his that I read and it's still my favorite.

ripley said:

I've never read any of his Sandman or Death graphic novels, and I keep thinking I need to rectify that.

You will not be disappointed.

I'm reading Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice. I honestly think it should be a must read for pretty much everyone.

[bossyboots]

Thanks for the Gaiman recs, everyone! Our city employees are on strike so I can't go to the library -- I feel like my arm has been cut off! I am too cheap to buy books new. I might try a couple of used bookstores this weekend to see if I can locate American Gods.

Oh, and I have read the first Thursday Next book and quite enjoyed it. I love time travel stories.

[Deleted]

Anyone wanting to read Neil Gaiman cannot go past the Sandman series. I can't recommend it highly enough.