I would like to suggest

Denise — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:01:25 -0500

The Orphan's Tales - In the Night Garden

Because I had a really long, rough week - I didn't manage to get more than half way through this but it's been calling me.

And every night when I picked it up just to read a couple of tales really quickly before I crash, I was disappointed that I couldn't just stay up all night to finish it.

I am looking forward for some time to lay in the grass, under a nice shady tree, and finish this book - today.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Friday Book Recommendations on Saturday

sassymonkey — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:57:18 -0500

Book recommendations drive my reading habits. I do claim to be the "discoverer" of a book every now and then (at which point I proceed to press the book on everyone I know) but the vast majority of books that I read come with recommendations. Christopher Moore, Georgette Heyer, John Green, everything Virago has published - they've all come heavily recommended. Even though I have enough book recommendations to fill a notebook can you really ever have too many? I don't think so I was happy to find the Friday Book Recommendations meme that Patti Abbot started.

This is the first of what I optimistically hope will become Friday recommendations of books we love but might have forgotten over the years. I have asked several people to help me by also remembering a favorite book. Their blog sites are listed below. I also asked each of them to tag someone to recommend a book for next Friday. I'm worried great books of the recent past are sliding out of print and out of our consciousness. Not the first-tier classics we all can name, but the books that come next.

What book did Patti recommend for the forgotten books recommendations?

There's a mad scientist, a talking gorilla who ends up being one of the most human characters in the book, obsessed Lord of the Rings geeks, more Wagner references than you can shake a stick at, and (of course) a plot to save the world by destroying it.

And it all works. Not once do you put the book down and go "oh, come ON!" Instead, you laugh out loud with the sheer audacity of it. It's like watching someone juggle chainsaws.

What's that you say? I didn't say what book it was? That would be far to easy wouldn't it. But it's one intriguing sounding thriller that I'll remember to keep an eye out the next time I need a book to keep me on the edge of my reading seat.

The Coffee Stop has a different type of thriller that they are recommending.

The only word for this book is awesome. I loved every word, sentence and page of this book. It starts out with a bang and keeps rapidly moving, taking you on a heart-pounding adventure.

One Word, One Rung, One Day is suggesting some Southern fiction.

I'm not doing justice to the plot but for me this novel is about character and voice. Both shine, and after I read this I kept expecting to hear great things about this novel.

Water Cooler Wisdom Or Lack Thereof bent the rules a wee bit and recommended a series of books.

I love a good book, but even more I love a good series. A series gives me another book to anticipate. I also love when characters from one book show up in subsequent books. It's like visiting with old friends whom I haven't seen in a while.

Sandra Scoppettone's Writing Thoughts puts forth a literary fiction.

There is a stunning romantic betrayal and it sets in motion one of the most moving and desperate flights of the heart in modern literature.

Sandra Rutton On Life And Other Inconveniences is recommending a chilling novel.

It asks that horrid question - would you die for the one you love? - and takes it to a whole new level. It also looks at the things that tear us apart, destroy us, the relationships we give power in our lives. It's a dark, relentless thriller, the kind where you have to turn the pages to find out what happens next, although you're not 100% sure you want to know.

Josephine Damian is suggesting a memoir.

I’ve read a lot of memoirs in my day and they usually involve someone surviving the-family-from-hell but when the backdrop is war-torn Africa, and the prose, the writing is this strong not only do I remember the book many years later but am happy to recommend it to everyone I know.

Lots of great recommendations spanning across multiple genres - a great way to kick off the weekend.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

BlogHer - Friday Book Recommendations on Saturday - Comments

I would like to suggest

Friday Book Recommendations on Saturday