Please order all of these to first and last
1.Flush- Carl Hiaasen
2.How to be Popular- Cabot, Meg
3.Antsy Does Time- Neal Shusterman
4.Greek Love-Katherine Dunn
5.Dogsong- Gary Paulsen
6.House of Scorpians- Nancy Farmer
7. Bubbles all the way- Sarah Strohmeyer
8.Street Magic- Tamora Pierce
my will-be highschool gave me a list of about 60 books to choose from for our summer reading. i narrowed it down to eleven, but i can't really pick. i want to make a good first impression on my teachers with out totally crapping myself trying to understand it. haha. if any of you have read one or more of the books below, please tell me whether you liked it or hated it or whatever. thanks in advance! :]
1. Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
2. Rule of the Bone - Russell Banks
3. Welcome to the Monkey House - Kurt Vonnegut
4. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
5. Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
6. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
7. At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
8. Regeneration - Pat Barker
9. Go Tell It On the Mountain - James Baldwin
10. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
11. Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh
I love Sarah Dessen's novels. Completely. Favorite author, hands down.
Also Jenny Valentine's The Ant Colony and Broken Soup.
I thought Geek Love by Katherine Dunn was epic.
Based on that can you reccommend anything else? I'm running out of stuff to read. Thank you, so much. I really need help finding a good read.
-Caroline
I read. A lot. That may be an understatement. Whatever the case, I have a long, empty summer ahead of me that I'd like to fill with some books. I really love Sarah Dessen, she's my favorite author. I like how I can relate to her characters, they feel real. I also really loved The Any Colony and Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine. They were very intriguing, a little different, but also felt quite real.
And also, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. I am without words. If you've read it, you'll understand it's utter brilliance.
Now, I'm going to list the books I've read and loved. Just to give an idea of my preferences:
All novels by Sarah Dessen
All novels by Jenny Valentine
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
Audrey, Wait! - Robin Benway
Good Girls - Laura Ruby
And here are some books/series I've read already, to prevent relisting them:
Gossip Girl (all books + prequal)
Gossip Girl: The Carlyles (all books so far)
The It Girl (all books so far)
The A-List (all books but didn't continue to Hollywood Royalty)
The Clique (stopped somewhere during the summer books, too boring)
Pretty Little Liars (still reading the series)
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up (and sequal)
Such A Pretty Girl
13 Reasons Why
Bittersweet Sixteen
I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Poseur (all books so far)
Twilight (all books)
Wicked Lovely (all books so far)
Blue Bloods (didn't finish, didn't like)
Bras and Broomsticks (all books so far)
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet (and sequal)
Secrets of My Hollywood Life (didn't like)
Girl of the Moment
Diva (by Alex Flinn)
A Girl Like Moi
Violet on the Runway (all books so far)
The Uglies (didn't really like)
Perfect (Natasha Friend, didn't like)
The Host (didn't like, didn't finish)
I'll stop there. It's a really long list that's grown in the three years since 7th grade. As you can see, I'm running out of things to read. I mean, sure, there are tons of YA books still out there, but I'm tired of sifting. It's hard to find the really good ones, you know? So I'm just looking for someone to reccommend a really good book. I don't like Meg Cabot or fantasy books. I know I sound really picky, but this is the ultimate quest for a good book!
I'd really, really appreciate your help. Is there any book thats just struck you, left you smiling. Please, help me on my quest. (Think Eli, from Along for the Ride :} )
-Caroline
I have put together a list of books I would like to read in the near future. Are there any on my list that I just shouldn't waste my time on? ********** PLEASE NO SPOLIERS!!********
I just want your opinion and a breif description about why. Please remember don't spoil them for me, I may read them anyway.
Any I should add? I would appreciate that too.
Mister Monday / Garth Nix.
Wasteland. by Antony Johnston
Lullaby / Chuck Palahniuk.
Naked lunch / William S. Burroughs.
Geek love / Katherine Dunn.
The reader / Bernhard Schlink
Glass / Ellen Hopkins.
Burned / Ellen Hopkins.
Identical / Ellen Hopkins.
Impulse / Ellen Hopkins.
Book of a thousand days / Shannon Hale.
Obernewtyn / Isobelle Carmody.
The hot zone / Richard Preston.
BoneMan's daughters / Ted R. Dekker
The vanishing / Bentley Little.
The story of Edgar Sawtelle / David Wroblewski.
The sleeping doll / Jeffery Deaver.
Driving with dead people / Monica Holloway.
Last seen leaving / Kelly Braffet.
Blood meridian/ Cormac McCarthy.
Panic / Jeff Abbott.
Gone / Lisa Gardner.
Bunker 10 / J.A. Henderson.
Bliss / Lauren Myracle.
Secondhand world / Katherine Min.
The shadow of the torturer / Gene Wolfe.
Monster / Christopher Pike.
The wasp factory / Iain Banks.
Poison study / Maria V. Snyder.
Comes the blind fury / John Saul.
The God project / John Saul.
Battle royale / Koushun Takami
My sister's keeper / Jodi Picoult.
Promise not to tell / Jennifer McMahon.
Survivor / J.F. Gonzalez.
Living dead girl / Elizabeth Scott.
In odd we trust / Dean Koontz
World War Z / Max Brooks.
Neuromancer / William Gibson
Marked / P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.
The magus / John Fowles.
Speak softly, she can hear / Pam Lewis
In the woods / Tana French.
Ender's game / Orson Scott Card.
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins.
Veronika decides to die / Paulo Coelho
Before I go / Riley Weston.
A prisoner of birth / Jeffrey Archer.
Johnny got his gun / Dalton Trumbo.
My sister's keeper / Nora Kelly.
Unwind / Neal Shusterman.
Nineteen minutes / Jodi Picoult.
Alanna / Tamora Pierce.
Blindness / Jose Saramago
A great and terrible beauty / Libba Bray.
Lullabies for little criminals / Heather O'Neill.
As I lay dying / William Faulkner.
The alchemist / Paulo Coelho
The book of unholy mischief / Elle Newmark.
Life of Pi / Yann Martel.
Deadly harvest / Heather Graham.
Crank / Ellen Hopkins
The virgin suicides / Jeffrey Eugenides.
Middlesex / Jeffrey Eugenides.
The five people you meet in heaven / Mitch Albom.
Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury.
Hold tight / Harlan Coben.
alaqua, I will get rid of Bliss, I don't like "teeny-bopper" books. Being 30 and all. Ugh! Thanks to you for saving me the time.
wlucynsky, I have read all of the other Odd books, but I thought the last one sucked. They all kinda declined throughout the series. But I love Dean Koontz so I figured I'd give it a shot. Thanks for offering your advice.
avidreader, many thanks for the heads up. I had my doubts about that one. It didn't sound like one I would have chosen for myself but someone on B&A recommened I check it out. I think I'll skip it.
Tamara, I don't ususally read the "classics" so if it is dull I will NEVER get into it. I appreciate it. The only other classic I have on my list is To Kill a Mockingbird. I totally intend to read it.
thewriter, no one could pry me away from the oppurtunity to read those two books. They have been recommended to me by several of my peers. Thanks for your encouragement
what book would you recommend I read next?
(Not anything by the same authors please)
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (didn't really like though)
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
The Return by Victoria Hislop
Sarah - are you a little slow today? I've already read all these books - a new recommendation please.
Mushu - you as well.
Felicity - thanks, but I've read most of Kafka already.
Allatsea - thanks. The book does sound like a self-help and I probably wouldn't have given it a second glance if you hadn't mentioned it was a novel. I can't abide self-help books.
Amazingwoo - Already read Atonement, found it underwhelming, but thanks for the other suggestion.
And Qwerty - thanks for your recs too.
Grace - have already read The Other Boleyn Girl, it's my favourite of Gregory's books - but I did ask for recs from other authors and not the ones already listed. As to My Sister's Keeper - the premise was interesting, and the lead character Anna was compelling, but I found it very cliched and poorly written. I also disliked most of the other characters.
Upsy - I loved the Night Watch. One of the best books I've read this year.
Deb - thanks - i've read most of the books you have listed already but haven't had a go at Plath's Bell Jar - should try that out soon. thanks again.
Caring Carer - thanks for the list. I've read most of the classics listed and Jonathan Strange which I loved. I really cannot stand Tolkien though. But there are a few books there that I may check out.
Okay...whose signatures do you have in your collection? I have Katherine Dunn's, Tim O' Brien's, Michael Stanley's and Howard Stern's.
If you have Neil Armstrong's, I'm already jealous!
