Please, recommend a fictional book for me to take on my vacation with me.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

We're going to Buffalo National River next month. We're buying stuff between now and then, and I think we're taking a trip to Barnes and Noble tomorrow. Please give me a recommendation on a fictional book for me to take with me. I say FICTION because I want to be entertained and not stressed out on my vacation. I enjoy mysteries, crime novels, and romance. And please tell me what it's about, too. Thanks for the help.
Duckie

[rug]

1. The Federalist Papers.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. I've heard of it...

What's it about?

[rug]

4. It's about a plan for a democracy. All fiction.

[Midlodemocrat]

47. .

:rofl:

:applause:

[lizziegrace]

2. The Summer House

by Jude Devereaux. I don't like most of her work, but this book was haunting. 3 women get a chance to go back and relive 2 weeks in their past. It's a terrific read.

:hi:

[speedoo]

5. 1984 by some guy named Orwell.

Oh wait, you said fiction.

Sorry.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. LOL....I've read that already.

But it is a good suggestion. EVERYONE needs to read that.
Duckie

[DawgHouse]

6. The Poisonwood Bible

[stanwyck]

15. A great read

my favorite Kingsolver -- and that's saying something because she's always good.

[Flaxbee]

29. two other Kingsolvers that are a little lighter...

The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven. The Poisonwood Bible is wonderful, but can be very intense, and there are some very sad moments.

A few sad moments in The Bean Trees, but altogether uplifting, funny, and excellent. Pigs in Heaven is the sequel.

Here's an excerpt about both - I really highly recommend them:

Bean Trees:

Feisty Marietta Greer changes her name to "Taylor" when her car runs out of gas in Taylorville, Ill. By the time she reaches Oklahoma, this strong-willed young Kentucky native with a quick tongue and an open mind is catapulted into a surprising new life. Taylor leaves home in a beat-up '55 Volkswagen bug, on her way to nowhere in particular, savoring her freedom. But when a forlorn Cherokee woman drops a baby in Taylor's passenger seat and asks her to take it, she does. A first novel, The Bean Trees is an overwhelming delight, as random and unexpected as real life. The unmistakable voice of its irresistible heroine is whimsical, yet deeply insightful. Taylor playfully names her little foundling "Turtle," because she clings with an unrelenting, reptilian grip; at the same time, Taylor aches at the thought of the silent, staring child's past suffering. With Turtle in tow, Taylor lands in Tucson, Ariz., with two flat tires and decides to stay. The desert climate, landscape and vegetation are completely foreign to Taylor, and in learning to love Arizona, she also comes face to face with its rattlesnakes and tarantulas. Similarly, Taylor finds that motherhood, responsibility and independence are thorny, if welcome, gifts. This funny, inspiring book is a marvelous affirmation of risk-taking, commitment and everyday miracles.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --


And this is Pigs in Heaven:

Taylor Greer and her adopted Cherokee daughter Turtle, first met in The Bean Trees , will captivate readers anew in Kingsolver's assured and eloquent sequel, which mixes wit, wisdom and the expert skills of a born raconteur into a powerfully affecting narrative. Now six years old and still bearing psychological marks of the abuse that occured before she was rescued by Taylor, Turtle is discovered by formidable Indian lawyer Annawake Fourkiller, who insists that the child be returned to the Cherokee Nation. Taylor reacts by fleeing her Tucson home with Turtle to begin a precarious existence on the road; skirting the edge of poverty and despair, she eventually realizes that Turtle has become emotionally unmoored. In taking a fresh look at the Solomonic dilemma of choosing between two equally valid claims on a child's life, Kingsolver achieves the admirable feat of making the reader understand and sympathize with both sides of the controversy, as she contrasts Taylor's inalterable mother's love with Annawake's determination to save Turtle from the stigmatization she can expect from white society. The chronicle acquires depth and humor when Kingsolver integrates the story of Taylor's mother Alice, a woman who believes that the Greers are "doomed to be a family with no men in it" (that she is proven wrong adds a delicious element of romance to the story). Alice's resolve to help her daughter takes her into the heart of the Cherokee Nation and results in an astonishing but credible meshing of lives. In the end, both justice and compassion are served. Kingsolver's intelligent consideration of issues of family and culture--both in her evocation of Native American society and in her depiction of the plight of a single mother--brims with insight and empathy. Every page of this beautifully controlled narrative offers prose shimmering with imagery and honed to simple lyric intensity. In short, the delights of superior fiction can be experienced here.

***************

Otherwise, if you haven't read Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey mysteries, start with Strong Poison, go to Have His Carcase, and then Gaudy Night. These are the ones where Lord Peter meets Harriet Vane, the great love of his life, so the books are great mysteries plus a love story.

Happy reading!

[DawgHouse]

55. I've read both of those too. Great reading!

it's been while, I might dig those up and read them again. :)

[BrightBlueDot]

59. Absolutely!

Astonishing work.

[jane_pippin]

8. Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliott Perlman

It's a mystery, a crime novel, and in a twisted way, a romance. I just finished it last week and it's great. It's kind of hard to get into at first. You're not quite sure who's narrating or what they're talking about right away but as it unfolds--and it starts to fairly quickly, at least in part--things become more clear. Or you think they do, and then you get another part of the story from another character and things get more complicated as they become even more clear.

I hope that made some sense. It was a great read though, and I highly recommend it.

Here's a link from Amazon for this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Types-Ambiguity-Elliot-Perlman/dp/B000FDK7FA/sr=1-1/qid=1159493107/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3444653-0634434?ie=UTF8&s=books

OH! Or if you want something really dark, there's this new book, "Smonk" that's supposed to be great. My friend won't shut up about it. It's a gritty, violent, but funny book set in the early 1900's. Here's a link/description from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Smonk-Novel-Tom-Franklin/dp/006084681X/sr=8-1/qid=1159492917/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3444653-0634434?ie=UTF8&s=books

"From Publishers Weekly
E.O. Smonk is an ugly, unwashed, murdering rapist who has terrorized the small town of Old Texas, Ala., for years. In 1911, the town summons Smonk to stand trial, and a nonstop blood-orgy of brutality and destruction is the result in Franklin's gloriously debauched second novel (following Hell at the Breech). After Smonk's goons assault the Old Texas courthouse and kill the town's menfolk, reformed former Smonk associate turned lawman Will McKissick pursues Smonk. Meanwhile, a posse of Christian deputies chase teenage whore Evavangeline through the Gulf Coast, but the girl is a skilled killer, too, and the trail of her victims spans the region. McKissick follows Smonk's trail out of and back into Old Texas, while Evavangeline drifts into the town, where all the children are dead except McKissick's 12-year-old son and the widows lay out their dead husbands on their dining tables. The town's sordid past, about to be exposed, involves a rabies-ravaged one-armed preacher, a rabid dog named Lazarus the Redeemer, incest and a church full of dead boys dressed in Sunday best. Fast-paced and unrelentingly violent, Franklin's western isn't for everyone, but readers looking for a strange and savage tale can't go wrong. (On sale Aug. 22)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. "

[Jean Louise Finch]

26. I second "Seven Types of Ambiguity"

It's a really addictive, brilliant little mystery/drama/romance. It's beautifully written and populated by people I would like to meet. Highly recommended. It takes some time for things to start coming into focus, and it's immensely satisfying once they do.

I also strongly recommend another Australian author, Tim Winton. He's written a number of books, but I most strongly recommend Dirt Music. It's exquisite. It's a kind of love story, but there is enough mystery to keep you going. And the landscape is as much a character as any of the people.

And finally, another recommendation, that got lots of discussion in the Books: Fiction group, "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. This is a beautiful romance about time travellers, which sounds a bit goofy but is incredibly well executed. I'm anti-scifi and I thought it was brilliant.

[jane_pippin]

39. And now I'd like to second "The Time Traveler's Wife"

Excellent choice. :thumbsup:

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. The Secret Life of Bees; Huckleberry Finn; Ahab's Wife

The Sun Also Rises; A Moveable Feast; Death In the Afternoon; The Great Gatsby; This Side of Paradise; Call of the Wild; Moby Dick; Dune

[Shine]

31. I absolutely LOVED The Secret Life of Bees!!!! Best book, EVER.

For a long time I was giving that book away as gifts to my women friends, along with a jar of honey. Very sweet, indeed. Incredible writing.... :thumbsup:

:hi:

[reyd reid reed]

38. Have you read The Mermaid Chair?

That one was wonderful, too.

[Shine]

46. Oh yes, definitely.

truthfully, though, I didn't like it quite as much. I heard recently that Kim Basinger is in a move version, for TV, I think...

:hi:

[WCGreen]

10. Two......

The Red Tent about the women behind Jacob and his clan...

And The Jane Auten Book Club...

It's not nearly as grim as it might seem...

It's about six people and how they are brought together by a love for Jane Austen...

Very charming, witty and entertaining....

[devilgrrl]

11. Read some Dennis Lehane if you like crime fiction

http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/

[pitohui]

32. oh i suggest shutter island

that's a terrific vacation book, it just slowly grows more and more bizarre and you're scratching your head until you start to realize...what you start to realize

mystic river is good too but she may have already seen the movie or read that book since it got so much exposure

[Richardo]

41. Seconded

:thumbsup: loved that book.

Anything by lehane is worth it.

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Anything by Kathy Reichs!

http://www.kathyreichs.com/welcome.htm

In real life she's a forensic anthroplogist, and in her books, so is Temperance Brennan. Fast-paced, a little romance, crimes based on actual cases, and always an enjoyable read.

Here's the lsit of her books:
http://www.kathyreichs.com/mybooks.htm

Check'em out while you're at B&N and see if these appeal to you :hi:
I love'em!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

14. I've been watching Bones...

That's a great recommendation! And completely appropriate.
Thanks!!
Duckie

[stanwyck]

17. I second the Reichs

recommendation. Brainy stories with interesting locations and people.

[taterguy]

13. Anything by Carl Hiassen

[reyd reid reed]

35. I haven't read much of him...just a few things

Basket Case, which I loved, and Skinny Dip, which was okay..

[Guy Fawkes]

16. Thud! By Terry Pratchett

It's wicked funny (as is the whole Discworld series)

[BarenakedLady]

43. Is that a new one?

I love that series and I'm really in the mood to read me some Pratchett.

[Guy Fawkes]

49. The latest!

Is great- and it has the Ankh-Morpork watch!

[BarenakedLady]

52. Awesome!

I'm going out to the store today, I'll pick it up. Commander Vimes, here I come!

[catbert836]

18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

[Richardo]

42. seconded

MY favorite novel of the past 5, maybe 10, years. Excellent!

[BrightBlueDot]

60. Just in case this intrigues you...

...this book is from the point of view of an autistic/Asperger's syndrome teenager. The result is that the reader knows more about what's going on than the detective/protagonist. It's a great read.

[democracyindanger]

19. Something set in the Ozarks

John Grisham puts a lot of his books there, I think. Reading a book about the area you're travelling in enhances the trip, IMO.

[Taverner]

20. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Great book.

Bizarre and dark but great.

[pitohui]

33. lullaby will take your mind off your problems too, to put it mildly

heh! there's a road trip book for the ages!

[Taverner]

53. Most definitely

And I don't think any road trip ever ended like that one did!

[riderinthestorm]

21. Kite Runner or Shadow of the Wind

Kite Runner is set in Afghanistan and is about the relationship between two boys during the turbulent years of the Soviet days, sequeing into the US invasion. It is absolutely a fabulous book. Warm, funny, sad, enlightening - brilliant!

I also loved Shadow of the Wind. This is a mystery set in Portugal about a book, it's author and a love story that surrounds the author. It's told from the perspective of a young bibliophile whose father owns a book store and spans about 25 years of the mystery. Again, completely entertaining with some of the most beautiful writing out there today.

Good luck and have a great vacation!

[reyd reid reed]

36. The Kite Runner

was infuckincredible. God, I love that book.

Time Traveler's Wife, too.

[RetroLounge]

22. Ahem...

Anyone in particular you want, let me know...

Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger is a good read...

:hi:

RL

[reyd reid reed]

37. It took me two tries...first time I think my mind wasnt all the way there

and I put it down. A month or so later I picked it back up and it knocked me on my ass, it was so good.

Loved it.

Edited to add...Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair...both Sue Monk Kidd...outstanding.

[pitohui]

23. the falls by joyce carol oates

it is sort of one of her gothic ones, you know, people tossing themselves into niagara falls, crime, cheating spouses, love canal, it will keep you reading

[LSK]

24. 1776 is pretty damn cool

Or the Zero Game is one hell of a thriller.

[spindrifter]

25. Check out the books on

the Fiction forum here on DU. There are loads of wonderful books to chose from. While not fiction, I highly recommend Catfish and Mandala by Andrew Pham. The book is fantastic--the author's memoir--born in Vietnam, came here as a boat refugee, returned to ride his bike from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi with a 6 week stop in Japan. It is fantastic.

[ganeshji]

27. Maps for Lost Lovers

by Nadeem Aslam. This book revolves (loosely) around the murders of a young Pakistani couple. It is more of a forbidden love type of book than murder. I read this over my last vacation and it was kind of a lyrical, spacy type of read, perfect for travel. It's a bit short on plot but it makes up for it with the descriptions of culture, nature, family, that sort of thing. Sorry if that was a terrible review.

[Redneck Socialist]

28. Have you read any Dana Stabenow?

Mystery writer, tales set in Alaska. Very good. Her main character, Kate Shugak is a Native American PI, well, sort of a PI. The landscape is very much a character in her books. Well worth a read if you like mysteries.

[Elidor]

30. I recommend only taking fictional books on fictional trips

And make up something good, in case someone asks you what it was about.

[reyd reid reed]

34. Okay...here's a longshot

Go for a piece of fluff. If you're on vacation and you want to be entertained, then go all out. Take a brain-break.

A Stephanie Plum novel (Janet Evanovich -- but ONLY Stephanie Plum...the other ones are worse than crap). One for the Money all the way up through Twelve Sharp. The earlier ones are the best ones, though. More sexual tension, less sexual satisfaction and more laugh-out-loud funny. An inept bounty hunter with an ex-hooker sidekick, and a grandma who wears tennis shoes, tries to learn to drive, carries a big-ass handgun in her purse and goes to funerals for her social life. And cars that keep getting destroyed in any number of...interesting....ways.

Mindless. But fun.

[Tyler Durden]

40. Any of the 3 "Hannibal Lecter" Thomas Harris books.

The subject notwithstanding, Harris is a word smith of epic proportion. His use of the English language is unparalleled in modern fiction (in my not-so-humble opinion, of course).

The books (especially "Hannibal,") SHAME the films. I lost a lot of respect for Ridley Scott after "Hannibal" the film.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

58. I have them.

And they were great. I really enjoyed Hannibal and you're right. The movie was not nearly as good.
Duckie

[KatyMan]

44. The Historian

by Elizabeth Kostova is awesome.

"If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cache of yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of the book are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressed to: "My dear and unfortunate successor." When the girl confronts her father, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out to concern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search was a fellow student named Helen Rossi (the unacknowledged daughter of his mentor) and our narrator's long-dead mother, about whom she knows almost nothing. And then her father, leaving just a note, disappears also."

Also, any of the Simon Serrailer mysteries by Susan Hill. Also :) the Dante Club by Matthew Pearl is great.

[Missy Vixen]

45. I'm here to represent the romance genre

Here's a list of my favorites, all available in paperback. I read (and write,) contemporary romance with one historical author. You won't go wrong with books by any of these authors.

"Bet Me", Jennifer Crusie
Thirtysomething Min meets thirtysomething Cal. Cal's business associate David has just dumped Min and bets Cal he can't sleep with her in a month. Cal doesn't take the bet, but hilarity ensues. Jennifer Crusie is an amazing writer, and this is her best, IMHO.

"Match Me If You Can," Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Annabelle is a matchmaker. Heath is a sports agent that needs a wife. While Annabelle is introducing Heath to the lovelies of Chicago, they manage to fall in love. Sweet, funny and touching. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is the gold standard of contemporary romance.

"The Kept Woman," Susan Donovan
Sam is a single mom with three kids who wonders how she's going to get her four-year-old potty trained, let alone through college. Jack wants to run for national political office and needs a wife. What starts as an arrangement blossoms into love. Susan Donovan is a GREAT writer -- I can't recommend her books highly enough.

"On The Way To The Wedding," Julia Quinn
Regency era romance. Gregory wants to fall in love, but hasn't met anyone that attracts him. He falls in love with the best friend of the woman he originally decided he must have. Unfortunately for him, Lucy's engaged to someone else. Julia Quinn's writing style is very similar to Jane Austen's -- funny, literate and a great read.

I met Julia Quinn at a writing conference in Atlanta this past summer. She's from the Seattle area, as am I. When I told her that I read nothing but contemporaries, she asked me to promise her I'd read her book. I did. I loved it. She's a sweetheart. (It was interesting to have a New York Times bestselling author say to me, "You're going to read my book, aren't you? Promise me. I can't wait to hear what you think about it.")

I have an honorable mention list, but by the time you get through the catalogs of those mentioned above, you'll be back from your trip!

Julie

[spinbaby]

48. The Time Traveler's Wife

Best new fiction I've read this year.

[Ramsey]

50. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This book is way cool, really different, and not too deep for vacation, but deep enough to be really interesting. It's not a mystery but it keeps you guessing.

For a romance, read Possession by AS Byatt.

Crime novel, read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (if you like crime novels, you've probably already read that one).

[edbermac]

51. My Pet Goat

Our own President sat with rapt concentration for twenty minutes on this book as people were jumping out of the WTC buildings; that's gotta be some great book!!

:sarcasm:

[Zavulon]

54. "Fade" by Kyle Mills.

It's about a blowback (trained operative using his skills against the government for revenge) who lets screwed by his government and then set up when he refuses to help out the Department of Homeland Security. The setup turns bloody, the point of no return has been crossed, and the blowback decides to turn his attention towards the government assholes who set him up. Very entertaining.

[Ariana Celeste]

56. Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

No, I'm serious. :)

[KamaAina]

57. Philosophical Essays of George Walker Bush

Hey, you said a fictional book, right? :-)

[BrightBlueDot]

61. My favorite mystery of the last few years

is "The Incumbent" by Brian McGrory. I'm not sure why it resonates with me so much; it's a mystery in an unusual style, starring a journalist. I couldn't put it down.

[ComerPerro]

62. The Unicorn's Death Ray - great book, but you won't find it in stores

because it is fictional