Thursday, December 30, 2021

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/