Looking for a good book summertime read - whatcha got?

Question

Looking for something interesting to sink into - please DON'T suggest sci-fi, romance or cowboy -

LOOKING FOR historical fiction, fiction, drama ...

Answer 1

Fanny, Being the true history of the adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones By Erica Jong, historical novel,not a romance VERY VERY interesting I could not put this book down,I read it in one night!

Answer 2

Ironwood Boys is interesting historical fiction, about the Missouri-Kansas border wars before the Civil War. Pretty terrifying, actually.
Angels and Demons was a fun read with a bit of history tossed in.
And there's always Dumas' The Three Musketeers, which is probably my favorite book, really well written. Some of Sabatini's swashbuckling books are pretty interesting historically, too, such as Scaramouche.

Answer 3

I had a hard time putting down "740 Park". That is a historical book about a luxury apartment building in New York that was the home of many famous people like Rockefeller's, Jackie Kennedy, etc. It was a great read. I also really enjoyed the book "Forever" by Pete Hamill. I read it right after 9/11 and the New York history and storyline are riveting. You will enjoy either.

Answer 4

Hi I don't usually read fiction ... However the Mauve Binchley books were great...this also includes historical information as well. I dont go looking for books but made sure I read all of her books. The people are individuals who all seem to interact at some point. Her characters are carried over into the next book and you see how they make out. You DO NOT NEED TO READ HER PREVIOUS BOOKS, nor do you have to read them in any order. One of the few books that I have read more than once. Hope you enjoy her.

Answer 5

For historical fiction, you can hardly beat Gone With the Wind. There's so very much more to it than was in the movie. (As is true of most books that are made into movies.)

Other than that, there is a long-neglected category of historical, or rather old, fiction which today's young people need to learn about. Back in Victorian times, and up through the spread of early television, there were books which were nominally written for children (or adolescents) which were fully adult stories, with fully adult vocabularies, but bowdlerized to be suitable for innocent young people. They were also read to children too young to read them for themselves. Louisa May Alcott and Frances Hodgson Burnett are the two most famous, along with L M Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series and lots more.

In a way, J K Rowling carries on this tradition, in that she does not "write down" to children, use over-simple vocabulary, and only the most PC of concepts. Her books are also good to read aloud to younger children.

So no matter how old you are, don't neglect the really good literature which has children as its main characters.

Answer 6

These are some of my favorite reads:

"She's Come Undone" Wally Lamb - popular drama
"I Know This Much Is True" Wally Lamb - popular drama
"About A Boy" Nick Hornby - comedy/drama
"How to Be Good" - dark comedy
"The Princess Bride" William Goldman - YA, but a really fun read
"The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" Avi - YA historical fiction, my personal favorite

Happy reading!

Answer 7

Try anything by Penelpe Stokes or Ann Tatlock.They write quality historical fiction.

Try the classics Girl of the Limberlost, The Grapes of Wrath,The Hobbit Little Women, Christy, or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.


Right now I am reading Big Stone Gap by Andriana Trigiani (sp?) and am loving it.

Answer 8

North and South trilogy by John Jake. Historical Fiction

A Night To Remember By ??? It is about the Titanic sinking

The Left Behind series.

A Child Called It

Soon By Jenkins

Eighty Acres By Ronald Jager

Answer 9

I suggest anything by Wally Lamb "I Know This Much is True" or "She's Come Undone". I am reading a book called "The Mercy of Thin Air" by Ronlyn Domingue and it is really good. I heard The Kite Runner is good, I don't know who wrote it and I love the book called "A Hundred Years of Solitude" really good read, I forgot the author's name, sorry. Another good read is "Speak", I'm terrible with remembering authors names though. I read a really good book and I think the title is "The Unfortunate Incident With the Dog in the NIght" or really close to that. Email me [e-mail] for more.

Answer 10

Here are a couple of my favs:

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (Fiction and FUNNY!)
Catch 22 - Joesph Heller (Fiction, funnies book ever)
1776 - David McCollugh (Nonfiction, very good account of the revolution
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (nonfiction written like fiction, phenominal book)
East of Eden - John Steinbeck (One of my top 5 books I've read)

Happy reading!