Any good books?
I’m getting ready for this surgery thing next week, wherein I’ll lose several pounds of “previous-womb”, and be off work til after Labor Day. (Can you say AMEN?) The surgery itself I’m not even thinking about. What I AM thinking about is all the stuff I have to do (or feel I have to do) before the surgery…clean and straighten and stock the freezer and clean the garage and clean the basement and clean the yard…something about cleaning out my abdomen is also producing a spring-cleaning of just about everything else in my control. I managed to clear a small space in my bedroom last night, to get to the stacks of books that have been waiting for me to pick them up. I looked them over and, while I’m excited about reading them, they aren’t “fun” books. They’re analytical books, preachy books, books about atomic level composition, and social upheaval, and the makeup of societies. Thought-provoking, yes. But. Not the kind of thing that’ll keep me from reaching for the morphine.
Damn Barnes & Noble sent me an email today and this book caught my eye. Fack. More cerebral reading. But I’ll still buy the book.
I need your help.
What books would you recommend I pick up to while away the recovery hours? Something funny, or light, something that’ll keep my mind off all the physical crap, something that’ll keep me entertained but won’t tax my brain so much that I spend hours marveling at the complexity of the whorls of my thumbprint?
posted by Mona Buonanotte @ 7:40 AM
21 comments
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21 Comments:
Good luck with your surgery. And here is a funny book for ya. Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure
I just re-read the James Herriot, vet in Yorksire books until I got sick of them. Extremely entertaining for awhile. We have the videos too, excellent viewing.
The wife and I were talking about Dean Koontz if you wanna read thrillers/horror. And she and I are currenly reading mysteries by Martha Grimes. All about different characters, really, and drinking, with plenty of funny notes.
Hey, travel safely down this path an goodluck.
Good luck with your surgery! I read the Oprah Book Club selection "The Road" recently and loved it, though it is dark and heavy about an post-apocolyptic world it's a quick, absorbin read. Also, "May I Kiss You on the Lips, Miss Sandra?" which is a bunch of funny short pieces you might enjoy.
Oh, I've been coming and going and not reading blogs. Are you having THE surgery? (If it's THE surgery, I've had it...and I love it.)
Jeffrey Eugenides - MIDDLESEX - is great. I read it years ago. Apparently it's Oprah's pick for summer 07.
Anything Philip Roth. Or Cormac McCarthy.
You've probably already read it but The Poisonwood Bible is worth a re-read...or any other old favourite.
Of course you could always do mindless and a little juicy....Danielle Steele...okay, maybe not....you'll be reaching for your self-activating morphine then!
Have you ever read Confederacy of Dunces? This is one of my all time favorite books. Made me laugh out loud when I read it years ago. An Excellent read.
Meaning of Tingo
Word Fugitives
Being the Word Nerd that you are, I figured you would love these if you haven't all ready perused them.
Tuesdays with Morrie or Five People You Meet in Heaven are both wonderful.
Even if you're not really into the whole vampire series by Anne Rice, I would still recommend Memnoch the Devil as it comes from such a cool perspective.
Now here's the really risky recommends I have:
Kings of Infinite Space
Truck: A Love Story
Marley and Me
Risky because I haven't read them, but heard about them or had them recommended and the descriptions totally fascinated me. If you do read one of these, I want to hear what you think for sure.
Patches recommended this one to me Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Easy, well-written, not too gut-wrenching.
You like scary? Joe Hill (son of Stephen King -- ever hear of him?) just wrote a book called 'Heart-Shaped Box'. He outdoes his dad, IMHO.
Funny -- there's David Sedaris 'Me Talk Pretty One Day.'
Anything Christopher Moore writes is a crazy hoot. Try 'The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.'
Short stories. You can't go wrong with the great Ray Bradbury.
Pre-surgical Mona, I second the Bradbury nomination--tons of excellent sweet horrific melancholy spacey short stories, just the thing for filling in little blocks of time. I just finished a great book, an excellent cross between Phillip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler: Jonathan Letham's Gun, With Occasional Music. Seems he based it on a line in one of Chandler's stories about a suspect being as obvious as a kangaroo in a sport coat, so one of the heavies is... wait for it... a kangaroo in a sport coat. It only gets weirder, but an excellent read if you think you'd like P. K. Dick served noir.
And you realise that I just broke my rule about not recommending books. *sigh*
If you like sexy vampires and smart-ass female detectives, I recommend Tanya Huff's "Blood" series. The first one is "Blood Price". They just came out in two book omnibus editions so you don't even have to put down the book between pieces of fluff.
Hubby has recently become addicted to David Webber's Honnor Harington books. He says they're the Nepolionic wars in space.
If you don't feel up to reading, BBC just did an excelent version of Robin Hood. It's out on DVD.
Water For Elephants - a very fun, easy read that has been on the best seller lists for a long time. I guarantee you will find it nontaxing yet entertaining for the brain :-)
Some good old-fashioned murder mysteries might suit you. Agatha Christie, P.D. James, Arthur Conan Doyle, Elizabeth George -- all will work your mind without wearing it out.
If space opera is more your style, re-read Robert Heinlein's classics. The Star Trek novels are often entertaining light reads, and Spider Robinson's "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" books are pretty funny.
One of my faves is a series by Peter David, entitled "Sir Apropos of Nothing." Quite picaresque, humorous, and takes a rather fond and affectionate riposte at the entire fantasy genre. I read the first two books during a forced stay in an isolation ward when I was being tested for tuberculosis - they'd managed to rule out SARS... Haven't read the third one yet, but looking forward to it.
Amazon.com links:
Sir Apropos of Nothing (Book 1)
The Woad to Wuin (Book 2)
Tong Lashing (Book 3)
A few for you, Mona: I've been burning through the Harry Potters like nobody's business. Six of them in just under 8 weeks ... :-D
I also really enjoyed The Execution Channel if you're into post-apocalyptic political-type stuff.
Take care of yourself, and keep us up to date!
I'm having fun with PG Wodehouse, currently. Light, farce, upperclass British twits, what's not to love. I also liked The Devil Wears Prada. The Charlotte McLeod mysteries are light and fun, as are the Sarah Caudwell mysteries (there are only 4 of them).
Ok, you have enough book recs to last you through at least 18 hysts, now, so I'm gonna skip suggesting any myself. Particularly because I don't know what you like to read, really. I have a feeling we'd like different stuff, for some reason.
I DO want to let you know that you're in my thoughts, and I wish you the best with this whole thing! I hope you'll be able to post again soon after the surgery, but if not, you know we'll be missing your ass after a little while. Maybe you should have girl-child guest blog when you don't feel up to it. :)
Shit! Meno, took mine.
If you read dysfunctional try:
Lightning Song, by Lewis Nordan
Back Roads, by Tawni O'Dell
Songs In Ordinary Time, by Mary McGarry Morris
And for a smart funny roll in the hay:
Spending, by Mary Gordon
Essence of Ninjutsu: The Nine Traditions, By Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi.
Spending is really good. My brother gave it to me. How's that for weird?
Mona,
I'm with Gordon... Harry Potter ALL THE WAY.
- M
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