Read Any Good Books in the Past Eight Years?

[verbal_kint]

Hey Folks,
Hope you are all thoroughly enjoying your Sunday, but I've come up with a new way to bother you. To lead into my senior English class we have to read 3 books (fiction or nonfiction) that have appeared on the NY Times Bestseller list since 2001. I consider myself pretty well-read...at least for a highschooler (so no, not well-read at all), but I'm having trouble finding books that interest me (that I haven't already read).

As far as fiction goes, I'm mostly a stupid sheep. I like things that will hold my attention and aren't melodramatic, and that's kind of a steep order considering the stuff that normally finds its way onto the Bestseller list. I love Angels and Demons, Jurassic Park, The Stand, etc. But I also love Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime, and everything P.G. Wodehouse has ever touched. Plus, I think I might've read everything Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has ever breathed on. Needless to say, my tastes vary, but I'm quite picky.

In the non-fiction department, I'm just weird. I'm easy to please because I've got several odd interests, such as serial killers, psychology, media, the Titanic, religion, and outlandish conspiracy theories.

Any ideas?


P.S. of sorts: Thanks to anyone who actually read through this. Geez, I'm annoying.

Comments

[jane-hidell.livejournal.com]

You're not annoying at all, silly~ and I'm going to try to help but I read very very very few things that end up on the bestseller lists. D: Fortunately though I have worked in bookstores since 1996, so I know bestsellers. I'll try to brainstorm at work and think of things that have been on the bestseller lists that I would consider recommending. ...No promises but I'll try. :)

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

Okie Doke. Sounds good, and you get a virtual cookie for appropriate icon usage (it makes me like irrationally happy for some reason). *feeds*

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

It would seem I am hopelessly out of touch. I don't think I've read anything that's been on the bestseller list in the past nine years. The last chance I might have had was Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen (wonderfully demented book, and I recommend it) or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Unfortunately, both were published in 2000.

I can't help you, but I bet Nightdog can. She reads constantly.

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

Haha, I just looked up Sick Puppy, and now of course I'm desperate to read it despite it not being published recently enough. Damn you and your massively intriguing books!

[magie-05.livejournal.com]

Okay I'm going to rant for one second: Most of the crap on the bestsellers list is - crap, at least lately. I think that's kind of a dumb requirement - you should read what interests you, not the general idiotic masses.

Anyway, sorry /rant. Check out Neil Gaiman - he's got American Gods and Neverwhere which (I think) are both on the Bestseller List, and they're good; he's also the author of Coraline, which is awesome and might be fun to read right now - I haven't even seen the movie yet, but anyway. Vonnegut's got a million things on the bestseller list, so might be a good time to brush up on his stuff. Oh, oh, and you MUST read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which won a Pulitizer as well as being on the list (he's also the author of The Virgin Suicides.

As far as nonfiction, you could try to get away with David Sedaris's books; they're like essays he writes about random life experiences - he's awesome. I actually think you'd like his style and tone of writing anyway. I'd start with Me Talk Pretty One Day which I'm almost sure was on the list. Oh, oh, and you could read Stiff by Mary Roach which is about human cadavers :) She's also got one about the science of sex called Bonk which I haven't gotten to read yet, but I know Stiff was on the list.

Don't worry about posting too much - it's your journal and we like hearing from you <3

ETA: Oh, whoops, since 2001? You'll have to check some of these then; I've got no idea when most of them were written :\

'kay I'll stop editing now :)

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

Argh, it's such crap--and it's for an AP Literature class. I mean, I suppose if there wasn't the bestsellers requirement, people would be picking Dr. Seuss books and such, but Stephenie Meyer? Gag me.

I thought Coraline was pretty dern cool, it'd be interesting to read the book and other books by the same author. I'm game. :D

Haha, I love David Sedaris' comedy, and I'm definitely willing to give his books a go; Stiff sounds pretty cool too. Thanks!

[magie-05.livejournal.com]

I know, Stephanie Meyer, that's kind of disgusting. There are other ways to make sure people don't choose Dr. Seuss, and I'd like to think that for an AP class, people wouldn't be choosing him anyway. Arg. I absolutely HATED my high school English teachers, seriously. I had wars with them. They made me hate writing with their idiocy and small-mindedness.

Oh, yeah, go with Coraline, then. It was on the list (lol I just looked at my copy) and it says it was published in 2002. It's also short :) And eh. I'm not usually into...science fiction or fantasy-type things at all, but I really enjoyed American Gods, so :)

Omg, yeah, if you like David Sedaris, you gotta read Me Talk Pretty One Day and maybe When You Are Engulfed in Flames - <3

Yay that you're going to check out Middlesex. One of my favorite books ever - actually I think I gotta reread that this summer.

Anyway. :) You like science? For non-fiction, you could think about The Hot Zone (about the Ebola/Marburg viruses) or Demon in the Freezer (about smallpox - awesome), both by Richard Preston. Even if you're not hugely into science, they're awesome. Maybe even Genome by Matthew Reilly which is hugely interesting and also an easy read. These are all books I had to read for my AP Bio class, my favorite academic-type class.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

For psychology/non-fiction, you could try "The Blank Slate" by Stephen Pinker. He's a cognitive psychologist, and sometimes the book can get dense, but he challenges the idea that people are 'blank slates'--that our environment shapes us totally--and it's a fascinating read. There's some issues with it, too, among academics, but it's thought-provoking and I think you might like it, as it also brushes up against some religion-ideas, as well (if I'm remembering correctly, and it's possible I'm not).

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember hearing about that somewhere. That sounds awesome, though. Pinker's the guy who wrote How the Mind Works, right? I was wanting to read that too. Maybe I'll kill two birds with one author. :) Thanks!

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Yep--Pinker's that guy (I'm actually 'in the middle' of How the Mind Works right now, sorta). I think The Blank Slate might be a little more general-audience, though, and it's 2002! SWEET.

I'll second the rec for Stiff, too.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*smiles*

I can give you some book suggestions tomorrow -- magie_05's suggestion of Middlesex is brilliant, and Amazon says it was published in 2002, so you'd be safe with that. There's also Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, which is very nice, and you'd probably get very many extra points for reading something by a non-American author ... heh.

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge fan of the Virgin Suicides, so I'll definitely be checking out Middlesex. I read Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman last year and I really liked his style, so I'll definitely check out Kafka on the Shore.

Thanks for the help!

[jonne17.livejournal.com]

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Safran Foer.
I know many people hate this book, but I went into it without knowing anything about it, and it blew me away.

I love that you don't think Angels and Demons and Jurassic Park are melodramatic, LOL!

[verbal-kint10.livejournal.com]

Okie doke, that sounds like one to check out for sure. Thanks!

Haha, once The Scarlet Letter, Bless Me Ultima, and Their Eyes Were Watching God have been shoved down your throat for a semester, you can literally watch a soap opera and think, "Wow, this show is downright cynical. I love the realism!"

[primarycolors92.livejournal.com]

Seconding Extremely Loud. I also knew nothing, and I found it totally compelling. If you're into Stephen King, he's published Cell, Lisey's Story, and Duma Key the past few years. Out of the three, I love Cell the best, but the other two are also great. The Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield is quite charming, but it is most definitely written for book lovers, so be warned.

If Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon was on the best-seller list, I recommend it very, very highly. Also, I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold this year in the original Spanish, and loved it. I can only assume it translates well, but no guarantees!

AP classes that continue trying to be SRS BZNS after the AP exam takes place drives me a little nuts! Good luck!

[rusted-halo.livejournal.com]

Yes, you have to read "Sick Puppy" and everything else Carl Hiaasen has ever written =)

The "Eldest" series by Christopher Paolini all made the NYT Bestseller list (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr) - though I've only read the first and don't know how you'd like it if you've seen the movie first.

Surprisingly, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom wasn't as painful as I'd thought it would be (borderline good, actually) but it's been years since i read it and could be way off.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Siebold was a book I really had no interest in reading - it's about a young girl (maybe as old as 13?) who is kidnapped and killed. The story is told from her POV after her death. It's about her famliy's struggle to cope with her disappearance. She watches them for years but I think she decided to stop watching them when her bones were found (like now she could rest in peace that they had their closure or something). The story was actually quite heartbreaking and I really liked it - despite my resistance to all the crappy chick-lit books my mother sends me.

I've looked over the NYT Bestseller lists since 2001 and most everything on there is utter crap (either because I read it and hated it or because it just looks like it must be utter crap

The only qualifying non-fiction that I know of is The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester - it's an ok read, but Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman is so much better! Alas, it was published in 1998(ish) but you should read it, anyways. I think I even still have an extra copy around here I could send you if you want.

[2801rosie.livejournal.com]

I've got a book for you. I believe it was on the 2007 NY Times best seller list. The Terror by Dan Simmons. I absolutely loved this book. I cannot say enough about this book. I was hesitant to get it because it takes place in the frozen artic and really didn't seem like something I would like. I'm going to type in the first review on the inside cover since explains better than I could.

"I am here to tell you this tale of a doomed expedition is the best and most unusual historical novel I have read in years. Based on real events and historical figures, it extrapolates from them to provide a haunting, precisely imagined fictional solution to one of history's most disquieting mysteries."

The disquieting mystery is what happened to the two ships of the Franklin Expedition that completely disappeared in 1845. It was a little confusing at first, I kept having to go check the map at the front of the book and checking the dates but it is now my most favorite book. The ending was beyond great. I highly recommend it.

[spotandpunk.livejournal.com]

Okay, here we go: 'One Hundered Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'Enduring Love' Ian McEwan (in fact, anything my this man), 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genious' by Dave Eggers, 'Intimacy' by Hanif Kureshi, 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by Milan Kundera... this is just for starters. Oh, and there's this brilliant new author with a work in progress that is crying out for comments, what's her name now..? Oh yeah, it's Spot-something? (I am joking of course!)

[spotandpunk.livejournal.com]

Ok, so I read but obviously not very carefully... I have no idea if these books are on your list but they are ace so you should check em out anyway - teachers be damned.