I'm reading the Da Vinci Code right now. In the past month I've read a couple of murder mysteries. One that I liked is title Toyer. Can't remember the author's name (it's his first book). But I'll be ready for a new read in the next couple of days so I'm anxious to see what others recommend.

For all those fans of the Da vinci code books, I highly recommend Dan Connolly if you just can't stand the wait for another Dan Brown book. Also here are some titles I've recently read.

Favourite Authors:
John Connolly
Augusten Burroughs
Dan Brown
William S. Burroughs

Recent Reads:
"The Black Angel" J. Connolly
"100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37)" Bernard Goldberg
"Daughter of God" Lewis Perdue
"The Killing Kind" J. Connolly
"The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke" Suze Orman
"Universal Principles of Design" William Lidwell
"Naked Lunch" William S. Burroughs
"Cities of the Red Night" William S. Burroughs

Harold and the Purple Crayon being the story of our very own Curtis as a tike. :)

I'm loving "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell (the guy who wrote the "Tipping Point".

Blink 'splains why designers see things they way we do...and can parse good from not-so-good real fast.

Try Christopher Whitcomb's "Cold Zero." It's nonfiction, his real life account of his years in the FBI. It's an education, especially if you think you know "law enforcement" from TV. I read his fiction follow-up, "Black"--it will astonish you, if you haven't been paying attention to what's going on "out there." He just wrote "White," which I just bought. Artists, designers, and thespians will like Dan Pink's "A Whole New Mind." Oh, by the way, I work with designers and architects. I am CONSTANTLY referring people to this wonderful Website. Whose idea was it?

Wow, I really hated "The DaVinci Code" - its literary style is so poor, and it's totally cribbed from the entertainingly wacky "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (which has at least gotten a sales bump from it). If you liked it, maybe consider trying "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears, and do slog through those middle sections - I promise they are going somewhere.

This is a good year for books - the Booker shortlist doesn't suck (try the Ishiguro), Jonathan Carroll and Neil Gaiman have both just released books, Kostova's "The Historian" was decent (albeit slow in the latter half), Eco has a new one out... really, an embarrassment of riches.

I just read Richard Adams' "The Girl in a Swing," which is interesting and creepy and sad, and almost totally out of print in the US. Thomas Mallon's "Bandbox" is entertaining but on the slight side.

Every day is reading day in Mirandaland! :)

I just finished reading "Un dimanche a la piscine a Kigali" by Gil Courtemanche. It's about a Canadian journalist in Rwanda who falls in love with a young Tutsi woman during the time of the genocide. (It's also been translated into English: "A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali".)

The Alienist by Caleb Carr -- a must read for anyone who loves new york and CSI/law and order/cold case/without a trace, etc.

I just finished the Da Vinci Code last night. I liked the history and "games" but on the whole I didn't think it was all it was cracked up to be.

I read Forever by Pete Hamill last year. As a true NYC history buff it was so interesting. The 1st part of it takes place in Ireland but soon moves to NYC. I recommend it. (Hates the last 2 pages, though).

I'm going to give The Alienist a try. I started it many years ago and never finished it. Not that it wasn't good but I was distracted by a lot of other things at the time. I'm on my way to the library today so I'll look for it and others that have been recommended here.

"The Da Vinci Code" was trash. Would have rather read any Grisham book instead. And I don't really like Grisham!

Def. check out "The Alienist." One of my all-time favorites. I also thoroughly enjoyed "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." It's long, but fully engrosses you in a slightly altered reality.

Reading is fun-damental.

I would love it if there were more posts like this. . .I know it's not so much about apartments, but I tend to agree with the AT readers' sensibilities and I'm always looking for good books to read. The typical suggestions I get revolve around chick lit and the like. Does anyone know of anywhere you can put in a list of books you like and get appropriate suggestions? amazon.com just doesn't cut it.

"Da Vinci Code" was trash, but also a good read. Introduced concepts that I definitely had not heard of before.

I started Alienist, also got distracted, but will get back to it - keep hearing good things. The author was featured in NYT H&H not so long ago.

I'll add to my reading list generally from this thread.

I recently read "Generation X," which I picked up in a used bookstore--really amusing read. I'm reading "Brightness Falls," by same author as "Bright Lights, Big City." It was a freebie. After boring start, have gotten into it. Wouldn't particularly recommend it, but am enjoying it. Great recent read (from my freebie pluckings at the casual library at work), highly recommend: "Memoirs of a Geisha."

I have read a couple of James Patterson books lately. The reason - I like chapters that are no more than 2-3 pages long. I can breeze right thru a book if it's set up that way. Long chapters lose me after a while. I know - I'm a lazy weenie :) I also like intrigue.

Recent reads that I have loved:

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Euginedes
"Franny and Zooey" by JD Salinger
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggert

and currently reading
"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffennegger

I think all of the above (except maybe the last which is more of a romantic story) would appeal to anyone. They are generally character development focused, as opposed to plot-focused with a lot of the author's dry sense of humor and sarcastic tone coming through while telling the character's story (obvious if know AHWOSG since it is a memoir). Enjoy.

one of the best books i've read in a long time is 'middlesex' by jeffrey eugenides - i read it when it first came out and have been praising it ever since.

I'm reminded of another recent read:
"She's Not There : A Life in Two Genders," by Jennifer Finney Boylan. Recommend.

i just finished the autobiography of mia farrow, i think it's called 'what falls away'. she really did have a fascinating life - and im not even counting her years with frank. i was most surpised to discover what a great writer she is.

but dont read it if you cant accept the fact that while woody allen was once - a very long time ago - a genius director, he is a bad, bad man.

Speaking of good reads - has anyone read a good "help wanted" ad lately? I'm looking for design work and can't seem to find one. I know it's off topic but I wanted to put that out there.

I'm just now reading this little thread and now really read that Harold and the Purple Crayon story. That's not the first time I've been compared to that. Sight-unseen, it sounds like a very flattering thing.

Speaking as a librarian, the whole hot idea now is to get back to our roots as readers' advisors. So phlox, maybe wander down to your library (or email them!) and ask if someone could suggest a book.

Phlox -- Like Kerry, I am also a librarian. In many public libraries, librarians are happy to help you find good leisure reading. There are also many good Internet sources. Librarians tend to use the term "readalikes" for books that are similar to a specific book or author. So, for example, children's librarians in the past several years have made lists of Harry Potter readalikes for children who liked Harry Potter and want more books like that. Lots of times, if you do a google search with the author name and the word readalikes, you will often get a good list.

Here are some good sites with readalikes:
http://www.hclib.org/pub/books/iyl/
http://www.cml.lib.oh.us/greatreads/browseif.cfm
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Guides/IfYouLike/
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklistmenu.html#author
http://www.waterborolibrary.org/bklistif.htm

And, last but not least, I have to recommend whichbook.net, where you can enter characteristics you're looking for (larger than life, funny, unusual, optimistic...) and get suggestions of books which fit your criteria.

Oh, and I must say that I also loved "Middlesex" and "The Time Traveler's Wife".

Ooos, forgot to give the URL for whichbook.net:

http://www.whichbook.net/index.jsp

I was going to recommend the CML site too. Columbus Metropolitan Library is one of the best in the country; I'm about to head out there after I finish reading AT for the day! You can also access it through the URL

http://www.columbuslibrary.org

which is what the locals use. Click on the "Great Reads" link.

I liked "The Alienist" a lot when I read it 10+ years ago, and I hand-sold many, many copies when I worked in a bookstore. But sadly none of Carr's other books live up to it, and I don't know if I'd even like it if I tried to read it again. I try to stay on the upper end of middlebrow these days; I'm more and more picky about the actual quality of the writing (over and above the quality of the story) than I used to be.

& that's Dave Eggers, not Eggert. :)

I love librarians...thanks for the links!

"The Alienist" is about as trashy as I get - a good fun read with a nice bit of nyc histoire thrown in..."Middlesex" was fantastic..."The Corrections" was the big popular lit book before that...I just read pulpy true crime "A Cold Case" by Philip Gorevitch, whose earlier Rwanda book is brilliant and devastating. Title is "We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda"

I'm starting "The Wisdom of Crowds" and "Pig Perfect", by Peter Kaminsky, a cooking history of pork
love that non-fiction . . .

thanks for the fun thread!

I'm chiming in about Middlesex, and about Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Both very good, both very well written, and both far from run-of-the-mill. I'm also listening to a great book on CD: Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett. Funny but not fluffy.

Dee (and others)--How did you like "Universal Principles of Design" by William Lidwell?

What one design book would everyone recommend?

thank you thank you thank you -- thank you all. i will try all of these sites. i guess the big problem for me is i choose quality of writing over all else, but "quality" is pretty subjective. i agree that the alienist is as trashy as i like to go, but i couldn't even get through 100 pages of middlesex. i'm sure it's a good read, everyone who has read it has loved it, just not me. but i am hopeful to find a good book!

looking back a few years (and up into my book shelf for those I couldn't bear to get rid of...
"Tipping The Velvet" is a good one if you like historical fiction. Ditto "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver - it has the epic multistory thing going on like "Middlesex."

for the contemporary UK novels . . .
Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" - great read although it somewhat falls apart at some point
"Brick Lane"
Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" and "The Black Album" are total classics of that kind . . .

for Americans, Augusten Burrough's first book is sick and funny

"Tipping the Velvet" is great and also kind of gloriously trashy, too. (It's basically a romance novel.) Sarah Waters has a few other acclaimed novels; I think "Fingersmith" was highly acclaimed. I didn't like "White Teeth", though I wanted to. I don't think you can go wrong with "Jonathan Strange" - hunt down some of Susanna's earlier short stories if you liked it.

Don't forget Haruki Murakami. He writes in basically two modes (a personal story with no real supernatural events, or a more epic mode with serious weirdness and a lot of commentary on 20th century Japanese history), and I don't like all of his books. Try "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" for a synthesis of his two modes, "Norwegian Wood" for one of his more straightforward stories ("South of the Border" and "Sputnik Sweetheart" follow in this mode), or "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" for the epic end of things. His latest, "Kafka on the Shore", is more like "Wind-Up Bird" than "Norwegian Wood." He also has some books of short stories, and a shattering nonfiction investigation of the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system called "Underground."

In my last post to this thread I was trumpeting the goodness of my local Columbus Library System. Yesterday I learned that CML was just rated the #1 public library system in the country via the Hennen Index (which rates public libraries). On the flip side, though, is that they are launching a site redesign next week, so those recommendation tools might be moving around a little.

could I possibly say "acclaimed" more in any given paragraph?

can I use being under the weather as an excuse? :)