Reading for Fun

[kybearfuzz]

I think that one of the reasons that a lot of kids in high school didn't like having to read certain books is that they don't find them overly interesting. I remember reading "The Catcher in the Rye," "The Lord of the Flies," and "A Separate Peace" among many others. Some of them I enjoyed, others were blah. I usually enjoyed reading when I got to choose the book, even if limited to classics. I usually picked "Dracula," "Frankenstein," or "The Picture of Dorian Gray." "Dracula" was one that hangs in my brain because of the unusual structure of the book, being made mainly from newspaper articles, journal entries, and letters, so the perspective continually changes.

Lately, the books I've enjoyed reading have been easy and fun. When I was in junior high I read a book by Lois Duncan, the author who wrote "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Just before my last business trip to Boston, I downloaded a couple of her books to my iPad, "Gallows Hill" and "The Third Eye," dealing with reincarnation and psychic powers. They were quick reads, but I enjoyed them immensely.

I still have a few books of her to read, but I admit that I'm looking for others.

What have you read of late?

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

I'm reading "The Nine Billion Names Of God", by Arthur C. Clarke.

It's a collection of his best early short stories, many of which helped provide the inspiration for "2001."

[barak.livejournal.com]

I remember having Lois Duncan kick in high school, and loved the Third Eye, and always hoped she'd write a series from it. Of course, this was right around when her daughter was murdered and she started writing really kooky books that explored her beliefs in certain paranormal events (ghosts, reincarnation, psychic powers, etc). Somehow, that translated into discovering and becoming obsessive about reading Christopher Pike's young adult novels, which got weirder and weirder as they went on. My favorite of his was Remember Me, about a girl who is murdered, only to come back as a ghost and solves her own murder. Then he ruined it years later by writing two shitty sequels. Having skimmed a couple of his other novels (The Last Vampire series) recently, I realize they're not all that great either, lol.

Anyhow, I always have a list of things to suggest, just ask!

What I am reading right now is mostly school work. For one class, I just finished The Handmaiden's Tale by Margaret Atwood (highly recommended), and am in the middle of rereading Dune by Frank Herbert, both for class. Later is Game of Thrones. And in the Shakespeare class, we're in the middle of Twelfth Night: or What You Will.

The last thing I read was The Girl with All the Gifts, a zombie novel with a very unique twist. As tired of the genre I am, I found this story engaging. But I still recommend Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie as the best book I've read all year.

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I have recently read a couple of gay short story anthologies - the latest of which I have yet to review. I'm now reading a couple of self-help books and then will probably read Francis Pryor's 'The Making of the British Landscape'. I have asked Mum to buy me CJ Sansom's latest Shardlake adventure, 'Lamentation' for my birthday.

[prisonbitch.livejournal.com]

The Southern Reach Trilogy

The 1st, Annihilation, I think you'll enjoy. It's very short and difficult to put down. #1 is direct lead in to the 2nd, Authority, which I'm reading now; it begins to give you a back story of what lead up to the 1st.

[man-of-snows.livejournal.com]

I am still trying to figure out who to read on my trip to the Middle East next week. Maybe a LJ poll is in order.

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

A short list of books I've recently read (or re-read):

Enders Game (much better than the movie)
The Wolf of Wall Street
Issac Asimov's I Robot and Foundation book series
The Hobbit (third time I think)

If you enjoyed Catcher in the Rye, you might want to read Franny and Zooey (a personal favorite) and Raise High the Roof Beams Carpenters.

I think I've left a couple of good books out. Such is my fading memory.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of mysteries, thrillers and historical fiction. Recently, I've been reading and collecting Colin Cotterill, Alan Bradley, Rita Mae Brown, David Baldacci and Daniel Silva.

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

I've been reading The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl...it's a true story of jewish scientists in a concentration camp in WWII who were forced by the Nazis to develop a vaccine for typhus...they did, but they made two--one crappy one that they gave to the Nazi's and one they thought would work that they planned to smuggle out to the allies...