Question of the Week: Recommending Books, Part 1
by Jenners • 06/22/2010 • Book Recommendations • 21 Comments
This week’s question comes from Nise’ at Under the Boardwalk who asks:
What book or books do you find yourself recommending over and over?
This is simultaneously an easy question and a hard question. For a book recommendation to be worthwhile, it has to fit the needs of the person asking for the recommendation. For example, I wouldn’t recommend the same book to Mr. Jenners that I would recommend to my mom … they are two very different readers. Plus so much depends on your mood and what you are looking to read at the moment.
So I thought I would take this question and break it down into specific categories and the books I would recommend in those categories. I was going to do this in one big post and had just put the finishing touches on it when f@$#ing Blogger deleted 3/5ths of the post that I had worked on for over an hour. This put me in a Very Bad Mood, and I’m NOT going to recreate the post tonight. Instead, I’ll present the three categories that Blogger didn’t delete, and I’ll do three more categories each week until I run out of categories. (I figure this will take me through the summer nicely.)
If you’re looking for big, long epic tales that will sweep you away, I’d recommend:
- Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
- Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett
If you’re looking for worthwhile “bathroom” books, I’d recommend:
- Overheard in New York: Conversations from the Streets, Stores, and Subways
by S. Morgan Friedman and Michael Malice
- More Information Than You Require
by John Hodgman
- Triumph of the Straight Dope
by Cecil Adams
- Our Dumb World
or Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of the Onion
or any Onion book for that matter by Editors of the Onion
- PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
or any of the other PostSecret books by Frank Warren
If you’re looking for top-notch collections of short stories or essays, I’d recommend:
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon
- Books by David Sedaris, including Me Talk Pretty One Day
, When You Are Engulfed in Flames
and Naked
- State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America
by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
- Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
And be sure to leave YOUR recommendations for books in these categories in the comments below. I’m always on the lookout for book recommendations!
For next week, I’ll share my recommendations for thrillers, women’s fiction, and memoirs that don’t deal with drug and alcohol abuse.
Note: I am an Amazon Affiliate and earn a percentage of sales if you purchase a product using Amazon links on my site. So, if you do, thank you!
I love both Lomesome Dove and Pillars of the Earth. I read World Without End and loved that too. Oh and I second the Rutherfurd books.
The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls is one of my current favorites. I could not get it out of my head for weeks.
Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson was so interesting. I like history, but admit I really hadn't read much about the American Revolution. This book is about Paine's life, but also about everything going on around him.
Sophie's Choice is one of those books like A Color Purple that I'm glad I read but never want to read again —too heart wrenching.
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell —also about history, but Vowell has such a unique perspective about past history and how it affects resent events —the book is very witty, too.
Any of Lee Child's Jack reacher books.
Mark Twain, Man in White —is about Twain's final years (1906-1910.) Whereas most Twain scholars have depicted him as a bitter old man during this time, he really seemed to enjoy his super-star status in the years before his death.
I've given Girl by Blake Nelson as a gift several times.
ooohhh, i just love those postsecret books! aren't they so awesome!!!! another bathroom book is any dr. seuss book….even my teenagers love those!
I recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog to EVERYONE I possibly can get away with that recommendation.
I've recently started recommending Sarah's Key to a lot of people, also.
I have a lot of patrons who ONLY read thrillers and mysteries (Which I rarely read), so I try to help them break out of that by recommend something I've read. Usually, they come back asking for more!
golly, there is not one there I have read.
What a great post and I am so happy to see the books you have shared in each category. I'm familiar with a few but there are many new to me also!
Can you define 'bathroom read'
I liked Pillars of the Earth, but have always thought that Lonesome Dove would be too westerny for me.
I was just thinking of doing posts on genre recommendations and here you've already started it!
You cracked me up with "bathroom reads" lmao!
I have the Lonesome Dove DVDs and I am thinking of watching some for my Dad Project.
I have Sedaris' Naked now and I need to read it when I get a chance. I know you highly recommend him!
I can't wait to see where Jen Lancaster fits into your recs. I need to get Such a Pretty Fat so I can read the 4th and 5th books and send them to you!!
Sorry to hear that blogger is causing you problems.
I love your lists. I haven't read any of the books you mention, but own most of them! I'm planning to read Lonesome Dove in the Autumn and Pillers of the Earth at some point – it's length is scaring me, but I do really want to read it.
Not too many people want to read a book that is really long, so I rarely get the opportunity to recommend "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth. One of my faves, though!
When "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand came out, I was recommending it to everyone I knew for a long time after. Still one of my all-time faves. I understand she has a new book out (if not already) so I'm eager to read it.
In just the last week I another blogger mentioned that Lonesome Dove was one of his favorite books. I guess I need to add that one to my list!
Lonesome Dove is a great movie. I've never read the book. For long epic books, I liked Russka. I'll be interested in seeing your next list – it seems like everything you read has some drug crap in it.
Oh Pillars Of the Earth, one of my favourites and a book I'd also recommend again and again.
I've never read any of the others but will be certain to look them up. Thanks for that list, I'm looking forward to part 2 next week.
Okay…I know it's not funny, but I had to smile at your rant about blogger. Been there, done that!
I've only read one on your list: Pillars of the Earth. I have the sequel sitting on my shelf but haven't gotten around to it. For epics, I really love Edward Rutherford's books.
I look forward to your other recommendations.
I usually like Nise recommened books as well. and reading Cavalier and Klay is on my list TBR. what grand list.
Sorry you had blogger problems answering my question! I look forward to more answers!
Big Long Epic Tales – Outlander series, Into the Wilderness series, I agree with Lonsome Dove and Pillars of the Earth!
Big Long Epic Tales – Clan of the Cave Bear, Gone with the Wind
I love Jhumpa Lahiri? Have you read The Interpreter of Maladies? It is a book that I recommend to just about anyone who asks for a recommendation.
I was going to recommend Middlesex and the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (do they count as epics?) but I see that they are on your banner and thus have probably already been read and loved.
Speaking of your banner, I just bought Zeitoun (I love Dave Eggers) and am really excited to read it!
Stupid Blogger! Don't you hate that? I would totally agree with Pillars of the Earth (sequel World Without End was really good too). I have not read Unaccustomed Earth (TBR before the end of the year!) but her other book Interpreter of Maladies was incredible. One book that I recommend to everyone (literally every walk of life) is The Help. I have yet to run across someone who doesn't like it, whether they are my mom, my book club, a 23 year old woman or a 65 year old man.
My mom was raving about Lonesome Dove just last week. Sounds like one I need to check out.