Question of the Week: Recommending Books, Part 4
by Jenners • 07/28/2010 • Book Recommendations • 13 Comments
What book or books do you find yourself recommending over and over?
To answer this question, I decided to break up my answer into a series of posts where I recommend some of my favorite books in a variety of categories. This week, I’m recommending books about real-life survival, writing, and spirituality. Be sure to leave me your recommendations in these categories in the comments!!! I’m always looking for new books to read.
If you’re looking for books about real-life survival, I recommend:
- Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
- The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by Sebastian Junger
- Alive
by Piers Paul Read
- The Last Place on Earth
by Roland Huntford
If you’re looking for books on writing, I recommend:
- On Writing
by Stephen King
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott
- If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
by Brenda Ueland
- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg
- The Elements of Style
by William Strunk and E.B. White
If you’re looking for books on spirituality, I found much of value in these books:
- Gift from the Sea
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- Creating a Charmed Life: Sensible, Spiritual Secrets Every Busy Woman Should Know
by Victoria Moran
- Inner Simplicity: 100 Ways to Regain Peace and Nourish Your Soul
by Elayne St. James
- Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet
by Benjamin Hoff
Tune in next week when I’ll be sharing my recommendations for historial fiction (that ISN’T about kings and queens), travel narratives, and one year quests.
What are other book bloggers saying about these books? Find out at the Book Blogs Search Engine.
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Love On Writing even though I'm not a big Stephen King fan. It's one of my faves.
I have Gift from the Sea around here. Looks like I need to find it!
I love survival stories and recommend all the ones on your list.
Loved Into Thin Air and have everything by Anne Lamott. Actually have Bird by Bird on the table beside my tangerine mama bear chair!
Love Into Thin Air, Tao of Pooh and everything by Anne Lamott! I've recommended this many times myself. Fantastic list!
well, at least this time I have read one! I loved The Perfect Storm…and I own Into Thin Air.
I've read 3 of the 4 real-life survival stories and will check out your other recommendations too!
I'm not much for real-life survival stories, but I will be reading Into Thin Air next month for a book club. Glad to see it made your list!
For survival stories I would recommend Miracle in the Andes, which is the first person account of one of the survivors in "Alive." I also liked "Touching the Void" by Joe Simpson.
I have the Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet buried somewhere in my bookshelf. Guess I need to dig it out!
So glad you also included the links to your earlier posts so I could go back and see which Sedaris books you recommended. My son is already reading one of them, but I may have to get him the other two on your list.
Ahhh, King's On Writing, a book that has been sitting on my shelf so long it actually looks read despite the fact I haven't cracked it open. Bad Trisha.
I have read every one of those books on writing and agree that they are all fantastic – perhaps I should stop reading about writing and just do it
I absolutely adored Gifts from the Sea. Have you ever read any of Joan Anderson's books (most notably A Year by the Sea). Not a book on spirituality, per se, but about getting away to find yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Though I'm not an aspiring writer, I'd really like to read King's book at some point. I've been told it's an excellent read, and very useful even if you're "only" an amateur like me who simply writes on her blog
Also, for real-life survival, what about Crazy for the Storm?