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Read any good books lately!

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Posted 5/10/2008 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
I LOVE to read, not only for obvious reasons, but b/c as a person w/chronic illnesses/CP it helps me escape. I really miss going to the book club I use to belong to a couple years ago; the best thing about it was getting new recommendations. So, since I don't have that option right now, I thought maybe those of us that love reading can share some books that made us, if for a moment, enjoy something.

I just finished a very interesting book, but I recommend it with a disclaimer: it's a sad book (subject matter--nerve-death diseases: ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's), science, DNA, genetics, stem cells, brain vaccines, but, a lot of human interest, and just a great story--very readable.

It's called, His brother's Keeper by Jonathan Weiner. Weiner is a Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist and this book is about a guy (and his family) who is trying to find a cure for ALS through gene therapy for his brother who is steadily declining. If this book at all sound interesting, I highly recommend it.
Posted 5/10/2008 12:05 PM (GMT 0)
I read mostly fiction books but I did recently read a book about a woman who suffered from multiple personality disorder. This book was written by her pdoc and he found that she had 17 different personalities. The book is called Switching Time by Richard Baer. This lady had endured some pretty horrific things in her life and it's amazing that she was able to pull her life back together after having over 10 years of therapy and intrigrating her personalities. There was so many times I wanted to cry while reading her book because of what she had to endure but by the end I was crying with happiness. This is one of the rare books that actually brought out such intense of emotions in me.
Posted 5/10/2008 3:07 PM (GMT 0)
I love reading too. I just finished up the Last Lecture by Paul Rausch a Professor at Carnegie Mellon. It was a short read because it was actually based on a lecture he did after finding out he had pancreatic cancer. It's about life lessons and mostly leaving life legacies. I found the book to be a refreshing look at life.
Posted 5/10/2008 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
Man's search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

Cause no matter how bad I got it, this book brings me perspective.
Posted 5/10/2008 7:08 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, that's an oldie but a goodie, NAVY. Teaches all of us that no matter what we have some control over our responses to situations, even how we respond to our body.

Over the past several months I've been reading some books about people who have gone through tough times, illness, etc. trying to get some inspiration. I think my favorite was Blindsided by Richard Cohen, about his struggles with MS. He's married to Meredith Vierra. His latest book is Strong at the Broken Places, which details the lives of 5 others with chronic illnesses. I enjoyed it but not as much as his autobiography. I also read Left to Tell by Imaculee Illibegeeza (sp?) who was a survivor of the Rowandan genocide - sort of a modern day Ann Frank. And currently I'm reading A Journey:Creative Grieving and Healing by John S. Campbell, M.D., about his journey with chronic illness.

Nice thread, Big Lucy! Hope you're doing well.

PaLady
Posted 5/10/2008 7:33 PM (GMT 0)
Anything by Jodi Picault, Pat Conroy or Robert Jordan. I also love poetry so Patrick Lawler and Arienne Rich.
Sj
Posted 5/10/2008 11:35 PM (GMT 0)
I definitely agree...I love Jodi Picoult...I just got done reading Change of Heart and Nineteen Minutes...couldnt put either down!

Mala
Posted 5/11/2008 2:12 AM (GMT 0)
I love to lose myself in a good book! I enjoy thrillers, suspense and occ a bio. Harlen Coben, Joy Fielding, Stephen King. I'm at the end of a good one right now...No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay.

I also love love love Fannie Flagg's writing, and a series by Philip Gulley about a Quaker pastor's life.

Posted 5/11/2008 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
I love to read, what an escape!
My favorites are Nora Roberts, all the trilogies
The ones that they turned into TV movies were okay, but the trilogies are really fantastic
There great at hooking you in and forgetting about everything else!
Posted 5/11/2008 4:20 PM (GMT 0)

Great question/thread!  Reading is such a wonderful escape & diversion---really absorbing, puts the pain on the back burner for awhile...

When doc gave me the 6-9 month recovery timeline from my PLIF, I saw it as the Golden Opportunity to finaly read "War & Peace"--&found a "new" translation that is so alive, vibrant and compelling....I started in Februrary (once I could concentrate again, sort-of) and have been savoring each page (1258 ppp + footnotes & end notes) and am totally smitten with it.  At then end of my projected "recovery" (!) I should be done, but intend to begin again, the next time finding things I missed this time & just re-living the vast-ness of it all.  There is an excellent BBC series, made in the 70's, of 6 episodes (whole book) that is also excellent, should you not want to try to balance a 2# book on your tummy....I am watching the episodes as the book progresses---right no Natasha is pining for her fiancee, Andrei, who has promised to return & marry her w/in the year...but I fear this may not be the case....Napoleon is marshalling his forces to overtake the Russians & things look grim, as winter is approaching....but the dialogue!  And the lofty-yet-timeless thoughts Tolstoy envokes....ohhhh!  Really, give it a try!  You'll be one of the few people on earth who can finally say "I read War & Peace"---one positive side-effect of this long & laborious recovery period!

Other than that monumental tome, I also enjoy most non-fiction and love magazines, for those days when you just wanna be entertained & not have to "think" much at all. 

Enjoy!  Reading is my sanity-saver!

~~Lakeside

Posted 5/12/2008 2:42 AM (GMT 0)
if you like pre-history "what ifs?", my wife has found a great series by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear: The First North mericas Series. The titles all begin with "People of the ... ." Each one has a different, but connected, creation myth. i read one as soon as my wife finishes it.

great thread!

warren
Posted 5/12/2008 5:59 AM (GMT 0)
wmnak, that sounds interesting. I remember reading Clan of the Cavebear many yrs ago, loved it! Is this series of books similiar?
Posted 5/13/2008 5:45 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with everyone on this thread...Reading is a great source of pleasure and a reminder that we are still alive and have our MINDS in control even when the pain is out of control! It IS the best escape.

I recently read Water for Elephants and couldn't put it down. Also, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson was awesome.

Thanks for the recommendation of Switching Time, Red_34. Sounds interesting.
Posted 5/23/2008 7:18 PM (GMT 0)
bump
Posted 5/23/2008 11:33 PM (GMT 0)
Have the new Jodi Picoult "Change of Heart" and it is very good.
Posted 5/26/2008 2:54 AM (GMT 0)

Muzz,

yes, you have it exactly.  these books, however, are better written and have more interesting "what ifs".  hoipe you can find at least one of these to get your teeth into.

i am accepting that we are all "family" here when i mention this next book.  it's Christ The Lord by Anne Rice (of vampire novels fame).  most of you know that i am jewish.  but, even as a non-christian, i find this book exceptional.  it is jesus' autobiography as seen through his eyes as a seven-year-old.  one of the best books that i have ever read dealing with jesus' life.  i hope that i have not offended anyone by recommmending this christian book as a non-christian.  please take my recommendation in the light in which it is offered.

warren

Posted 5/27/2008 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
warren, that sounds facintating! I read a wonderful book yrs ago about Mary written from her point of view as a teenage girl and how it really was for her but I can't find it. Would love to read it again. I'm a Christian but I love to read about other religions.

Posted 5/27/2008 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
I just got done with a Charlaine Harris book called "From Dead to Worse" It's a vampire/Science Fiction book. I like the Sci/Fi books Christopher Stasheff has a wonderful warlock book series. I do read the bible now and then too....
Posted 5/27/2008 6:14 AM (GMT 0)
I have been on a Dr. Robin Cook reading spree while waiting for another Dean Koontz to come out.

Dr. Robin Cook writes medical thrillers although, for me at least, I still find Dean Koontz much better at weaving a story line.
Posted 5/27/2008 9:36 PM (GMT 0)
mochiah,

i agree 100% i really like robin cooke and went on a binge of reading his novels for about a month (i think i real almost all of them). dean koontz, when he's in the grove, cannot be beat.

warren
Posted 5/27/2008 9:57 PM (GMT 0)
Dean Koontz books are wonderful, I loved most of them, he wrote a few that I couldn't get into. I also love alot of Stephen King's books.

Chartreux, I try to read my Bible every night but sometimes I falter :)

Posted 5/28/2008 1:43 AM (GMT 0)
I used to love reading Stephen King's books until his past 7 books or so. He just got too wordy for me - I mean does it really take 2 pages to describe how a tree blows in the wind?? :) But I am also a huge fan of Dean Koontz as well as John Saul. For a while there, I was into all of Barbara Delinsky's books. One of her books that I highly recommend is called The Three Wishes (or maybe the title is minus the word THE).
Posted 5/29/2008 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
I've not read much of Barbara Delinsky, but I think that I did read The Three Wishes. I read so many books, I can't remember sometimes what I've read and what I haven't..lol

I agree with u about Mr. King, he doeth go on and on sometimes. Maybe he's trying to be too literary...lol

Posted 5/29/2008 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
King - literary! That is a laugh!!

The Three Wishes sounds familiar. Can you tell me something about it?

PaLady
Posted 5/29/2008 3:56 AM (GMT 0)
yea, I thought that was s good one too...lo I love most of his writing tho, and have read many of his books. I esp loved Heart of Atlantis, couldn't put it down!

I could tell u about the 3 Wishes book if I remembered but I don't...hahahahahahaha Oh, I'm wound up tonight...off to bed with me!  yeah

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