Favorite nongardening book

It may be March but it's still winter. Let's keep on chatting.
I have been going on about some of my favorite books on our threads, and I was wondering what were the books that were your favorites.
There are so many that I really love, but if I had to pick a favorite, I would go for A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving.
What's yours?

Well, besides Lord of the Rings, my second favourite books are: The Sparrow and Children of God both by Mary Doria Russell - this is Sci-Fi based on relationships - not gee-whilikers gizmos etc.

Russell has graduate degrees in anthropology. She was inspired to write the books in 1992 during the celebration of Columbus' "discovery" of the New World. She imagined a new "New World" and who would be the likely first explorers and what would be the consequences.

Amazing storyline. characters who act and talk like real people (they almost become personal friends!)

I highly recommend these two books (they are a dual - Sparrow is first).

Tuesday's with Morrie....i've read it twice and I will read it again!

I also read Prayer for Owen Meaney - it was a great book too.

I read alot of Jeffery Deavers and James Patterson novels. I would have to say "The Bone Collector" was the one that got me started. It was a highly intense book and the movie was even better than I had imagined it would be. (Usually the movie bombs after reading the book) Since then I have read several of the "Lincoln Rhyme's" series. This winter I haven't read to many non-gardening books. I am trying to learn more on the growing of rose's in Maine as I seem to only have good results with the old fashioned bush type.

I enjoy all of John Irving's books! Now reading East of Eden, Steinbeck. A beautifully written, if a bit morose, book! The Secret Life of Bee's was a good read. Can't pick a favorite as it is just like plants, too many too choose!

Dave,

This is a nice thread. I love to read and it's always nice to hear what books people like and are reading. I can't think of a favorite though--too many. I read alot of fiction (mostly family sagas, mysteries) and non-fiction (mostly memoirs, biographies) that are set in Italy, France and England. E.g., I liked the The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (mystery/Italy) and Howard's End by E.M. Forster (family fiction/Enlgand). I really liked both of the movies based on them as well.

Some family memoirs that I enjoyed recently are My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell; The Summer of the Great Grandmother by Madeleine L'Engle; and Paths of Desire, the Passions of a Suburban Gardener by Domenique Browning (It's not a how-to book. Is that allowed?).

(Speaking of gardening books, I bought The Well-Tended Perennial Garden which you recommemded somewhere in another thread. It's great. Thanks.)

Loretta

The dictionary - it has every other book in it! Just kidding. For classics, I love Huck Finn, The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath, among others. Great one for my kids - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Dave - I'm not a big reader, I have a hard time to rent a movie and sit still to watch it all. I do like my Field Guide To American Houses by Virginia & Lee McAlester. I liked The Green Road Home by Michael Bamberger(it's a golf book) What else.......I like 1984.

Wow! Great to have all these responses!
Seandor,I'm not big on Sci-Fi but you made me want to give Mary Doria Russel a try.
Pixie, Are Deavers & Patterson mystery writers?
Layanee, I'm a big fan of Irving too. Sadly, I feel the last couple have gone downhill. What do you think?
Loretta, I loved both of those films(Ripley, Howard's End) but haven't read the books. I also loved (With or without my children to read it to) A Wrinkle in Time. That was L'Engle right? Glad you liked "Well-Tended Per. Garden" Some people think it's too practical, but it was just what I wanted in a Gardening book.
Victor, You do go for the classics don't you? Same as when we discussed musicals.I love Steinbeck, Twain and Hemingway, not Fitzgerald though. (I have a low tolerance for upper-middle class angst).
Kids stuff! One of the great part of being a parent. Probably my all-time favorite in children's lit is The Secret Garden but I have a bunch that I would unashamedly read without a child around.
Al, I remember when 1984 seemed like a date in the distant future. Great book. Similar,and closer to predicting the future is Brave New World. So you're kind of hyper, heh?
Well, as you can tell I get psyched about books...

Dave47, I remember when 1984 was a loooooong time away, too. (Brave New World scared me.)

I love John LeCarre novels. The BBC produced two of them - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People starring Sir Alex Guinnes and they are great if you can find them to rent. Tinker, Tailor is about 6 hours long and worth every minute!

Definitely try the Sparrow and The Children of God. They were alternatives in the Book of the Month Club when they were first published in the late 1990s. You might be able to find them at a local library. (They even have guides at the back for bookclubs!)

To call them sci-fi is rather misleading - they are really great novels that just happen to involve interplanetary travel.

the lead character is a Jesuit Priest! (so certainly not your typical sci-fi!)

Anybody else like Pat Conroy? Like John Irving, I think his last couple fell off but I really liked Prince of Tides, The Great Santini & the Citidel.

Dave, yes.....Patterson & Deaver's are both mystery writers. You never seen "The Bone Collector"? With Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhymes and Angelina Jolie as his assistant Amelia?? Well Deaver's wrote more books with Lincoln & Amelia as his main characters, and of course more crimes. I got hooked and spent one whole year reading just about everybook I could get my hands on!
I did like Prince of Tides, but didn't read the other two you mentioned.

No I never saw it but I am very willing to watch Angelina and my DW would gladly watch Denzel. I guess I should rent it.

LOL Dave! You are to funny! Ok besides the actor/actress are nice to look at...it's a very well done creepy who-done-it kinda movie. DW may not like the fact Denzel plays a parapalegic, no view of his backside. But Angelina is his "legs and eyes" at the crime scenes. Like I said, it was very well done and usually I don't like the movie if I've read the book first. They never measure up to my imagination.(grin)

I thought both the Prince of Tides and the Great Santini were very good movies--never read the books though.

I don't know about any of Madeleine L'Engle's other books, Dave--I just happened to come across her Greatgrandmother book when I was browsing at the library.

Seandor, ever read any of Arthur Clark's novels? He was my favorite sci-fi novelist when I was a teen. Then Frank Herbert. Let's see what others...Animal Farm, Charlotte's Web, 1984, anything by Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, Thomas Wolfe, John Irving, Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, omg, the list goes on and on. Impossible to pick one. Maybe picking the top 5 in each genre would be easier.......oh I have to mention Watership Down. Absolutely one of my favorites!! My biggest problem now is that as soon as I sit to try and read, I fall asleep 15 minutes later. One that I read recently that I liked was Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow. There was the Ann Rice phase and the DaVinci Code was good ole fun to read.

Here is what happened to me. I read Lord of the Rings when I was 11. I was convinced I would never read any novel as good, so I only read non-fiction for decades. Honest. I was the geek who read university textbooks in grade 9 when everyone else was reading Nancy Drew!

I started university when I was 29 - finally finished 16 years later - and of course spent all that time reading academic stuff. So, I didn't really read any fiction until about 7 years ago (except children's books I read to the kids). Well - except the novels required by the English dept when I was an undergrad.

Now my youngest has me reading Dragonlance books - and Tad Williams series "Otherland"
In addition, my husband and I are reading Harry Potter outloud and recording it. We hope to figure out how to take the tapes and convert them into CDs (or even better, record directly to CD) and then give these to our daughters.

Gee, do any of you know how to record to a lap-top? I mean, besides a short sound bite?

I burn tapes and albums with Roxio CD Creator, they also have other newer software. I can record anything that will go in to the 1/8 mic jack on the computer. I even have the kids playing their toy guitars.LOL

Sorry, I don't Seandor. But I love Harry too. The whole family does.

Loretta: http://www.madeleinelengle.com/books/ She is the same author. Never knew she wrote so many books.

There are free programs that will do that. Don't remember any offhand though. They record (via the microphone Al mentioned) directly to mp3 format.

Just discovered this thread, it is a good one. Wish I could contrubute about new boooks but unfortunately I need a magnifier , this get very tirering, I used to be a voracious reader , my favorite books were usually biographies and histories. When I studied English as a second language, some bome books we were assigned to read where 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' 'Gone with the Wind' and many others, one I will never forget was 'the Grapes of Wrath' was that ever taugh,with that type lof ingo but thought how strange I asked the professor how can anyone be poor owning a truck, LOL. After reading it again many years later and living in this country I could philosophically understand many english written books I read in school a lot better. Another funny story I should tell you, one day after the war, the Professor handed me the New York Times and said once you can interpret this headline you will speak English, :-))

Maria, most libraries have many audio books available for loan. In fact, my library participates in a program where we can download audio books and they remain active on your computer for a few weeks. The selection is limited now but will expand in the future. No reason to be denied one of life's great pleasures!

Thank you VG I know about them and have quite a few on hand my chidren bought for me, but they put me to sleep never know where I am at then I am very cross with myself, it reminds me of the times when I read to them, and eventually it put them to sleep too, lol

Funny you mention that. The one and only one time we bought one, Shelley's Frankenstein, had the exact same effect on us. We joke about it to this day. The reader was very monotonous and each time we put it on, we were out in minutes. It was as if we were gassed or something. I joked that SWAT teams should play the tape in hostage situations.

guess it is better then a sleeping pill but it does that to me any time of day but the funny thing is I still buy some books hoping I can manage but after one page everything becomes blury. Oh well it is hard growing old sometimes

Welcome Maria! I love audio books. I listen while I drive, fortunately I stay awake. Some readers are better than others. Some are boring, some are annoying but many are great. Jim Dale, who reads the Harry Potter series, is probably the best I've experienced.

thanks Dave, bought the potter books for my grandchildren but I have not read any

I'm waiting for a Shakespeare read by Stallone.

I love Harry Potter! Grandchildren aren't into him yet, too young,but that doesn't stop me. I made my DS GF come to the movies w/me to see the last one, I had always wondered how it would be to watch it, not read it. I loved it and was pleasantly suprised by that fact.

7th Harry Potter book will be published July 21st called: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - something to console me if the gardens don't work out.

I agree, Pixie. Never read the books - kids still too young. But we all loved the movies. They are very well done. Movie 5 - Order of the Phoenix, will be out on July 13th. Of course, Harry has been dropping the cloak of invisibility lately!!

I just read that in an article....can't say I care to see, but I guess that means he's not shy anymore! LOL

Thanks for the Madeleine L'Engle link, Dave.

well, as to books to movies and movies to books...oops the latter rarely happens, but I am watching one of my favorite movies of all time....English Patient...was it a book first? and by who? whom??

Here you go Venu: http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/patient/
IMO:
JK Rowling is a great author and the books are more than fit for adults. In fact, as Harry grows older and the books get more complicated & scary, they stop being appropriate for little kids. The movies are good but not nearly as good as the books.

The English Patient was a book first, written by Canadian Michael Ondaatje. He won the Booker Prize ( a rather pretigious award given in England.

I liked The English Patient very much (the movie), Venu, but I didn't read the book.
Very funny, Victor, re: Shakespeare/Stallone.