Favorite books and authors

[Stacey Jewell Stahl]

Since it looks like there are lots of book eaters here (phrase coined by Karen B), I thought we could share our favorite books and authors.

I'll start: I love ANYTHING by Ted Dekker. I just reread "Three" and will be re-reading "Blink" on my vacation next week. He doesn't have a specific genre, but I'd classify him as fantasy/suspense/romance. He's the only author that both my husband and I both love to read.

[Amanda]

Not that I get to read all that often...but I love Mary Higgins Clark. I've read every book she has ever written. She writes murder mysteries.

I'm leaving on a cruise in a couple of weeks and will need some books to read. I'd love recommendations.

I love Murder mysteries, clean romance novels, etc. I prefer "clean" books...no strong language and clean subject matter :)

[valeri]

I have no time to read anymore. I am really trying to finish Harry potter #5 right now.. its not progressing very fast though! lol

[Stacey Jewell Stahl]

I'm leaving on a cruise in a couple of weeks and will need some books to read. I'd love recommendations.

I love Murder mysteries, clean romance novels, etc. I prefer "clean" books...no strong language and clean subject matter :)

Oooh, I have a recommendation for you! I've read the five books in The Million-Dollar Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. Very clean, interesting, well-written. The mysteries are great and their is a romance that spans all five books with an unexpected twist in the last book. I bought the series and have lent it to friends and family for the last 18 months - it has never sat on my bookshelf.

Another great clean mystery writer is Dee Henderson. She wrote The O'Malley's series. All of the central characters are orphans who "adopted" each other as siblings. Each book focuses on one of them and their stress-ridden, high stakes job like criminal profiler, fireman, hostage negotiator. This is another series of books I own that has never sat on my bookshelf.

[Lauren]

Im a voracious reader - I cant go to sleep without reading ( even if its 2 or 3 in the morning)- My favourite authors are Lee Child and Harlan Coben. (Ive read all of Lee Childs books and 4 of Harlan Cobens, I also loved the Da Vinci Code but didnt think it was nearly as good as Angels and Demons by the same author - I have Deception Point in my pile to read next.

[Meg]

Oh I wish I could read before bed, if I do, I end up reading the night away. I'm a fast reader and quickly get to the point where, gee, I COULD put it down and go to sleep, but since I'm SO CLOSE to the end, why bother? The next morning I'm always mad at myself. Not necessarily because I'm sleepy, but because I have nothing to read while I drink my coffee! :p

I've read all of Dean Koontz's books, I usually like the ones of his that are more realistic, not the monster type.

My favorite author right now is probably Jodi Piccoult. She wrote My Sister's Keeper, Salem Falls, Plain Truth (there was a Made for TV made of that one, didn't see it though), and several others. Her books are fictional but usually resemble an ethical dilemma that's been in the news recently.

And of course, Harry Potter!

My MIL is a high school English teacher, so I'm always calling her for recommendations. I love visiting her because then I have access to her library!

[Meg]

P.S. I love the term "book eater"!!!! I'm going to use that to describe myself from now on!

[Amanda]

Oooooh Meg...we sound so similar! Dh gets mad at me cuz when I read a book I READ A BOOK! I can't put it down until it is done.

Lauren - loved both DaVinci Code and Angel and Demons. Need to read deception point.

I'll have to make a list of books to get at the library. With no kiddos on my cruise I could get a LOT of reading done. Maybe a book a day???

[shazzt]

I love the term "book eater" - although it does mean I have been on a diet for a long time now.

My all time favourite books include "Lord of the Rings" (I have loved it since I was 12), Wuthering Heights, Pride & Prejudice, Dune by Frank Herbert, Enders Game by Orson Scott Card (and many of his other books), The Thomas Covenant Trilogy, Harry Potter of course, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (a huge book but a really intersting story) and many more that don't immediately spring to mind. I seem to be mostly a magazine reader these days (don't seem to get the time to read anything longer) although I have just finished "Common Sense' by Thomas Paine - a work I'm sure US members would be more familiar with than I was

[bpalmer]

LOL Lauren,
I am the same way... can't sleep unless I read first! I also love Orson Scott Card, Harry Potter and lots more... I just finished reading Ink Heart last week which is a kids book, its going to be made into a movie soon .... it was really good... I love all kinds of books and have tons of them! I can't wait to check out some of the recomendations! :D

[sempson]

I too have to read before I go to bed! It is hard to get to sleep if I don't! LOL! :) I love to read old book....I love all the Nancy Drew books, Bobbsey twins, Box Car Children, Beverly Grey, Trixie Beldon, Little House on the Prairie, The Little Women Series, Happy Hollisters,The entire Harry Potter collection, and anything written by Beverly Cleary L.M. MOntgomery, and Janette Oak. I have a small collection of books that is growing bigger by the minute that I have picked up from the Salvation Army, Good Will, and garage sales. I still read them today although they are childrens books. I just really love to read books that take me to a happy place and have happy endings. I can read them over and over again and I NEVER am tired of reading them. I am finishing up with the Anne of Green Gables series now. I am going to re-read Harry Potter Order of the Phonix before The Half Blood Prince comes out on July the 16th so I can be ready for that one. 'Hello My Name is Stephani Empson......I am a bookeater!' :p

[cyberchick]

I love the term 'book eater' although my initial image was something out of a Stephen King novel! LOL I can't read before going to bed (can't last that long) and I find myself rereading the same page night after night. I tend to play Solitaire on a small handheld (I make it thru 4 or 5 games before I zonk out). I'm a voracious magazine reader. I guess between teaching and working on yet another Master's degree I have a hard time fitting in reading for pleasure. I'm also going on a cruise mid-July (to Alaska) and know that my suitcase will be half filled w/ books to read. I'm currently reading 'Alibi' (don't know the author off-hand and am too lazy to go downstairs to look it up). Have 'The Reading Club' on my nightstand (along w/ about 27 other books -- I'm one of those who goes thru withdrawals if I've less than 10 books waiting to be read). If you haven't yet, you need to look into 'The Red Tent' by Anita Diamante. I'll try to get my list together over the weekend sometime.

[Amanda]

and anything written by Beverly Cleary L.M. MOntgomery, and Janette Oak.

I've read every LM Montgomery Book too!!! I love her! I've even been to P.E.I. and to the REAL Green Gables :)

[suzyq77]

I love anything by Wally Lamb.

[sempson]

Oh Amanda I am so jealous. I want to go to P.E.I more then anything in the world. When I was in the seventh grade I had an AWESOME english teacher and if you got an A in her class for the six weeks then you got to pick a book from this HUGE box filled with brand new books. I had NO idea what to pick and she picked it up out of the box and said 'I think this would be perfect and I think you will really like it.' I have read and re-read that series over and over and over. I am 30 years old now and I still go back and read them every once in a while. They are the best books! Oh what I wouldn't do to go and see Green Gables and learn more about L.M. Montgomery...she must have been a fabulous lady! :)

[Starling]

I went to PEI years ago when Debbie was very young. We didn't do the Anne of Green Gables things since I'd never read the books, but we did go back through Nova Scotia to get the ferry to the US on the Evangaline Trail.

[sempson]

Starling that is wonderful I am so jealous! If you or Amanda have any photos you would like to share I would love to see them scapped! :p

[Samara]

A few years ago I was required to take an adolescent literature class. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this genre is. A few of my favorite titles from this class and after...

Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Seventeenth Summer
Mic Harte was Here
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

I'll have to think about this more and post more titles.

[JoyCrazy]

Oh you have no idea how much I love to read. I'm the family librairy! Everytime one of my aunts or cousins come to visit they bring a big box of books back and leave with a box of new books. I usually only buy the romance's because they're harder to find in the librairy. I love all kinds of books though! Except westerns. although when I was a teenager and desparate in the summertime for something/anything to read I did read my dad's Louis L'amour (sp?) and they were quite good.
Some recommendations in no order at all
Janet Evanovich - the Stephanie Plum series, Eleven On Top is out haven't got it yet :(
MaryJanice Davidson Queen of the Undead series - warning do not drink and read at the same time snorting might result
Lynn Kurland - very romantic and sweet time travel/ghost storylines
Sherrilyn Kenyon/ Kinely MacGregor - Hot Supernatural romances under the first pen name and sweeping highland historicals under the second.
Daine Mott Davidson - Caterer Goldie catches killers and whips up tasty treats
Nora Roberts - simply the queen - Honest Illusions my alltime favorite but I'm loving her new In the Garden series.
Karen Robards - Suspenseful romance
Linda Howard - All around excellence in a romantic writer humor, drama, supernatural, sispense she does it all fantastically and holds the prize for my all-time favorite female lead Blair from To Die For is a former cheerleader with bite. Her entire family is great especially her mom.
Suzanne Brockmann - I love everything! Heartthrob and Bodyguard are fantastic and all her Navy SEAL novels rock.
Dara Joy - a great writer who's career's been demolished with lawsuits from her publishing company. Hopefully she'll be able to publish soon again. A Knight of a Trillion Stars was a breakout book in the romance world. I especially like the scene when the hero asks the heroine what world he was on. Thinking it was all one big joke she replied it was Disneyworld. That totally cracked me up. He didn't find out until the next book. I took my nick from this writer by the way
Anne and Todd McCaffrey - I was really nervous about Todd stepping up to take over the Dragonrider series but he was excellent ... made me cry for half a book.
I really could go on and on but I gotta get some sleep. :D

[Judyy]

Hey, Cyberchick--I feel ya, girlfriend. I'm currently reading for my PhD comprehensive exams, so all I ever read any more is stuff for that. Not all bad--there's a lot of postcolonial critical theory, but also lots of Irish folklore and Irish modernist fiction.

But when I CAN read what I want, I love gothic fiction--the psychologically creepy stuff, not the slasher horror--that's just gross. And I find that the classics continue to captivate me, as well: anything by the Brontes, Bram Stoker, and the gothic classics. I also enjoy enormously the Lemony Snicket books and have sent an entire set of them to my niece and nephew. Ben has plowed through the whole set already, and Mary's still deeply engrossed. Haven't seen the film yet, and not sure I even want to--the books are so wonderful!

No reading today, though--I'm just taking a break in the arduous process of battening down the hatches in prep for Hurricane Dennis. :eek:

[wfclair]

The Grapes of Wrath and every other Steinbeck book
Lonesome Dove
The Thorn birds...Best opening of any book I've ever read
Many more...

[MandyNI0]

Well William, having just been on the West Coast I can't wait to read East of Eden!

Other favourites would be most of Anne Rice's books. The Mayfair Witch trilogy and of course the Vampire Chronicles, and having read these am desperate to go to New Orleans - especially the French Quarter.

I adore National Geographic and travel books but I just love to read. My gran used to say I was "not normal" because instead of paying outside I'd be indoors squirreled away reading books.

[Samara]

Another HUGE Steinbeck fan...I started reading him in high school and couldn't get enough!! I like the Winter of our Discontent best. I love anything by Mary Higgins Clark and used to like Stephen King, but now he's just wierd!!!

[Tina]

well, betcha cant guess my fav books and author! LOL!

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling of course!!

Also on my list- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett

The Charlie Bone Series by Jenny Nimmo

(I love Childrens Books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Mary Higgins Clark

Dan Brown of the Di Vinci Code

Belva Plain's Evergreen

LM Montgomery (yes, I dream of going to PEI someday!)

[Starling]

Starling that is wonderful I am so jealous! If you or Amanda have any photos you would like to share I would love to see them scapped! :p

I had to think about it, but I already have scrapped the beach on PEI. It is here (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=36291&cat=500&page=3).

[JoyCrazy]

I can't believe I forgot JK Rowling - the Harry Potter series is pure brillance. I'm rereading five right now so I have it all fresh in my mind when six comes out.

I also love the early works of Gordon Korman especially No Coins Please and the MacDonald Hall series he wrote his first book at 12 and it was published by the time he was 15 I believe.

[Amber]

My absolute favorite authors are:

James Patterson- Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider- they made moviesa bout these books

Patricia Cornwell

I love murder mysteries and with James Patterson the Alex Cross series and the Womens Murder Club series are just awesome.

With Patricia Cornwell- in most of her books the main character is Dr. Kay Scarpetta who is the Chief Medical Examiner and helps to solve murders.

I just cant get enough of these books!