The Oprah Book Club: Back in 1996, when Oprah first started her book club, I read most of the books she recommended in the first year and loved nearly all of them. This was the first time since perhaps high school that I read what I would call "literary fiction," so it really opened my eyes to the quality of fiction that was available. After the first year, I grew tired of the heavy depressive stories Oprah was recommending and stopped reading them.
Bookaccino: Not long after my "year of Oprah," I discovered an AOL chat room called Bookaccino. They were the most well-read people I had ever "met," and chatting with them was always interesting (and usually hilarious)--not to mention that they were a pot of gold in terms of reading recommendations. During the years I was active there, I had scraps of paper taped around the edges of my computer containing lists of book titles that had been recommended to me. Like my first year with the Oprah Book Club, through Bookaccino I discovered authors I'd never heard of and read some amazingly high-quality work.
These days, I mostly split my reading time between nonfiction, mystery thriller fiction and literary fiction. Here are the books I am currently reading:
- The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. (mystery/thriller) A page turner about the re-opening of an allegedly cursed ancient Egyptian tomb in a NY museum, it requires much suspension of disbelief, but has proved to be highly enjoyable thus far. I would have probably never bought this book if I picked it up in the bookstore, but I saw it on a "borrowing rack" where I volunteer and asked if I could read it.
- The World Below by Sue Miller. (literary fiction) This was passed on to me at my retirement party, with a huge recommendation, by a former coworker. It is a nice, quiet story about a woman who inherits her grandmother's house; upon moving there, she finds and reads her grandmother's diaries and comes to understand more about her. This is a very well-written book and a lovely story but, unlike the above, it is not (for me) an exciting read. Just right for a few pages every night at bedtime.
I just recently finished reading two books at very different ends of the likability spectrum:
- Waiter Rant by The Waiter (aka Steve Dublanica). (nonfiction) Steve tells stories about being a waiter in a high-end NY restaurant--from crazy chefs & owners to addiction-prone waitstaff and annoying customers. He also provides do's and don'ts for restaurant patrons and outlines tipping ettiquette. This was not only a thoroughly enjoyable read (the guy definitely has writing talent), but included some very helpful information as well.
- Blind Speed by Josh Harkan. (fiction) I have never been so glad NOT to have paid for a book in my life. Like The Waiter, Mr. Harkan seems like he may have writing talent--it's just not displayed in this book. It is a wacky tale of a sad-sack guy who gets a reading from a psychic telling of terrible things to come. Both of his brothers are hugely successful, which only puts a bigger spotlight on what a loser he is. This is 1 of only 2 or 3 books I've ever thrown against the wall when I finished it. The only reason I finished it is that I had an obligation to provide a review of it and didn't feel I could fairly review it without finishing. It was a slow, painful slog, let me tell you.
Feel free to use the comment link at the bottom of this post to let me know what you're reading these days!
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