The Books List, Part Eight

 

20 Books I Would Recommend Reading, 5 Books I Wouldn't, and 50 from my Reading List

The COVID 19 pandemic rages on, as we go into the third weary year. Time to curl up inside and ring in the new year right with another Books List!

My likes/loves: These are books that entertained me, moved me, taught me things, made me think, inspired me, and that I would heartily recommend. They are not ranked – they are merely in the order in which I read them.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling

2. The Onion Girl – Charles de Lint

3. Spiritwalk – Charles de Lint

4. The Wild Wood – Charles de Lint

5. Please Don't Come Back from the Moon – Dean Bakopoulos

6. At Risk – Stella Rimington

7. Waifs and Strays – Charles de Lint

8. Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World – Leah Hager-Cohen

9. Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death – Jessica Sachs

10. YOU on a Diet – Dr. Mark Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz

11. The Rice Diet Report – Jusy Moscovitz

12. The Key to Midnight – Dean Koontz

13. The Husband – Dean Koontz

14. The Good Guy – Dean Koontz

15. At Fault – Kate Chopin

16. Still Summer – Jacquelyn Mitchard

17. The Quickie – James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - Click here to read my review:  https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2022/02/review-of-james-pattersons-quickie.html

18. Bayou Folk – Kate Chopin

19. The Working Poor: Invisible in America – David K. Shipler

20. Kim – Rudyard Kipling

My meh/yuck list: Did not find these appealing for any number of reasons – some were boring; some had an interesting subject but did not do it justice; some were flat-out terrible. All simply left me cold in some way. Although I am likely to read multiple books by authors I like (you will see a lot of Dean Koontz, Jonathan Kellerman, Margaret Atwood, Charles de Lint and Toni Morrison), I do not excuse those authors when they write a book I didn't like, so they might just show up here, as well.

1. Lifeguard – James Patterson and Andrew Gross

2. The Vision – Dean Koontz

3. Rage – Jonathan Kellerman

4. On the Road – Jack Kerouac

5. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James

My Reading List: these are books I haven't read yet, so I don't have a reaction for you. However, I could semi-recommend them, based on the reasons they made it onto my list:

1. They were on one of those “100 Greatest Books” lists;

2. They are other books written by authors I really enjoy; or

3. I read a review, and it sounded like something I'd like.

#1 can be a bit hit-or-miss; #2 is almost (but not always) foolproof for me (but maybe not for you), and #3 usually works out pretty well, as it's a combination of the first two. As always, your results may vary, but consider them suggestions. These may tend to come in chunks of stuff by author (apologies).

1. The Day of the Locust – Nathanael West

2. Possession – A.S. Byatt

3. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark

4. Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain

5. Why People Believe Weird Things – Michael Shermer

6. Predator – Patricia Cornwell

7. Blow Fly – Patricia Cornwell

8. Black Notice - Patricia Cornwell

9. Point of Origin- Patricia Cornwell

10. Unnatural Exposure - Patricia Cornwell

11. Cause of Death - Patricia Cornwell

12. From Potter's Field - Patricia Cornwell

13. The Body Farm - Patricia Cornwell

14. Body of Evidence - Patricia Cornwell

15. Night – Elie Wiesel

16. Where Are You Now? - Mary Higgins Clark

17. Scarpetta – Patricia Cornwell

18. Your Heart Belongs to Me – Dean Koontz

19. A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul

20. A Boy's Own Story – Edmund White

21. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

22. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court – Mark Twain

23. A Day Off – Storm Jameson

24. A Disaffection – James Kelman

25. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

26. A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia

27. A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

28. A Heart So White – Javier Marias

29. A High Wind in Jamaica – Richard Hughes

30. A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham

31. A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines

32. A Maggot – John Fowles

33. A Man Asleep – Georges Perec

34. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro

35. A Patchwork Planet – Anne Tyler

36. A Question of Power – Bessie Head

37. A Room with a View – E.M. Forster

38. A Scot's Lair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Gibbon

39. A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne

40. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch

41. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

42. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again – D.F. Wallace

43. A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift

44. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

45. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

46. A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec

47. A Woman's Life- Guy de Maupassant

48. A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen

49. A Year in Japan – Kate T. Williamson

50. Aaron's Rod – D.H. Lawrence

That's all for now; hope you find these lists useful as you think about things you might like to read.

In case you missed the prior lists, here and the handy links: 

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-books-list-part-one.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-books-list-part-two.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-books-list-part-three.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-books-list-part-four.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-books-list-part-five.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-books-list-part-six.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-books-list-part-seven.html

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/coffee-food-drink-hottest-leaves-3025022/

 

The Books List, Part Seven

20 Books I Would Recommend Reading, 5 Books I Wouldn't, and 50 from my Reading List

Ah, spring! Nice enough to get outside for reading on the porch, a hammock, or what-have-you. Time for another Books List post!

My likes/loves: These are books that entertained me, moved me, taught me things, made me think, inspired me, and that I would heartily recommend. They are not ranked – they are merely in the order in which I read them.

1. Stolen Lives: 20 Years in a Desert Jail – Malika Oufkir

2. Affluenza – John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas Naylor

3. YOU: The Owner's Manual – Dr. Mark Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz

4. Shotgun Alley – Andrew Klavan

5. Damnation Street – Andrew Klavan

6. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

7. The Consumers' Guide to Effective Environmental Choices- Michael Brower and Warren Leon

8. The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean Auel

9. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

10. Widdershins – Charles de Lint

11. Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman

12. Phobias and How to Overcome Them – Gardner and Bell

13. The Dress Lodger – Sheri Holman

14. Howard's End – E.M. Forster

15. London Bridges – James Patterson

16. Beach Road – James Patterson and Peter de Jonge

17. Judge and Jury – James Patterson

18. Someplace to Be Flying – Charles de Lint

19. Right, Wrong, and Risky – Mark Davidson

20. Forests of the Heart – Charles de Lint

My meh/yuck list: Did not find these appealing for any number of reasons – some were boring; some had an interesting subject but did not do it justice; some were flat-out terrible. All simply left me cold in some way. Although I am likely to read multiple books by authors I like (you will see a lot of Dean Koontz, Jonathan Kellerman, Margaret Atwood, Charles de Lint and Toni Morrison), I do not excuse those authors when they write a book I didn't like, so they might just show up here, as well.

1. Everything Bad is Good for You – Steven Johnson

2. Cell – Stephen King

3. Lisey's Story – Stephen King

4. Silent Partner – Stephen Frey

5. The Deep End of the Ocean – Jacquelyn Mitchard

My Reading List: these are books I haven't read yet, so I don't have a reaction for you. However, I could semi-recommend them, based on the reasons they made it onto my list:

1. They were on one of those “100 Greatest Books” lists;

2. They are other books written by authors I really enjoy; or

3. I read a review, and it sounded like something I'd like.

#1 can be a bit hit-or-miss; #2 is almost (but not always) foolproof for me (but maybe not for you), and #3 usually works out pretty well, as it's a combination of the first two. As always, your results may vary, but consider them suggestions. These may tend to come in chunks of stuff by author (apologies).

1. Evil – Lance Morrow

2. Moon Pies and Movie Stars – Amy Wallen

3. The Untouchable – John Banville

4. Killing Time – Linda Howard

5. Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress – Susan Jane Gilman

6. Sick Puppy – Carl Hiaasen

7. The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maugham

8. Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maquire

9. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed – Alan Alda

10. The Devil of Nanking – Mo Hayder

11. Gods in Alabama – Joshilyn Jackson

12. Early Bird – Rodney Rothman

13. A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby

14. Soapsuds – Finola Hughes and Digby Diehl

15. You Shall Know Our Velocity – Dave Eggers

16. The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow

17. American Pastoral – Philip Roth

18. Apointment in Samarra – John O'Hara

19. Loving – Henry Green

20. Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis

21. Money – Martin Amis

22. The Assistant – Bernard Malamud

23. At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O'Brien

24. The Berlin Stories – Christopher Isherwood

25. The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler

26. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood

27. Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy

28. The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Thornton Wilder

29. The Movie Goer – Walker Percy

30. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

31. The Painted Bird – Jerzy Kosinski

32. A House for Mr. Biswas – V.S. Naipaul

33. I, Claudius – Robert Graves

34. Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace

35. Ubik – Philip K. Dick

36. Undre the Net – Iris Murdoch

37. Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry

38. Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

39. White Noise – Dan DeLillo

40. White Teeth – Zadie Smith

41. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys

42. Call It Sleep – Henry Roth

43. Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov

44. Play It as It Lays – Joan Didion

45. A Passage to India – E.M. Forster

46. Portnoy's Complaint – Philip Roth

47. The Confessions of Nat Turner – William Styron

48. The Corrections – Jonathan Frantzen

49. The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon

50. A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell

That's all for now; hope you find these lists useful as you think about things you might like to read.

In case you missed the prior lists, here and the handy links: 

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-books-list-part-one.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-books-list-part-two.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-books-list-part-three.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-books-list-part-four.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-books-list-part-five.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-books-list-part-six.html

Image from Freepik https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/stack-red-green-books-with-dry-flowers-pink-warm-knitted-sweater_13820266.htm#page=1&query=books&position=5