Posted on 12/13/2006 6:38:44 PM PST by randita
Have you read any great books in the past year? Ones that inspired you, intrigued you, informed you, kept you on the edge of your seat? Ones that, if you hadn't read them already, you would have been delighted to receive as Christmas gifts?
If so, please share your choices with your fellow Freepers. Some of us still have shopping to do and one of the suggestions may just be the perfect ticket for one of those hard to buy for relatives or friends.
As far as I'm concerned, recommended books do not need to be recent releases -- just recently read and appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Merry Christmas to all!
1776 by David McCullough, it will make you proud...if you are an American.
I can highly recommend, "The Kite Runner", "Life of Pi", and "Shadow Divers".
I second this. Also "Undaunted Courage."
Anything by Brock and Bodie Thoene
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame
by Michael S. Class
www.MagicPictureFrame.com
Ragamuffin Gospel for adults.
Chronicles of Narnia for kids.
(scroll down the page).
For LOTR fans: The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien
Therefore, one of our Christmas gifts (a major one) to ourselves was the Oxford English Dictionary, Shorter Edition. Now keep in mind the the full Oxford is twenty volumns. The shorter is two volumns each the size of the unabridged dictionaries you used to see in your high school library. It is a luxury we have always wanted and finally decided to purchase. We took the Barnes and Noble Card, a Barnes and Noble Coupon and hit them on our personal discount shopping day because it is an outlandish price otherwise.
Political books: "America Alone" by Mark Steyn, "Party of Death" by Ramesh Ponnuru, anything by Bill Sammon.
Fiction: (Scary) "Prayers for the Assassin" by Robert Ferrigno, (Romance, history) "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, (Merlin, English fictional history) "The Crystal Cave" and "The Hollow Hills" by Mary Stewart. (I love anything by Mary Stewart)
Inspirational: "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World", can't remember the author, and "Everyday Grace" by Marianne Williamson
Happy reading!
I received, two Christmases ago The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods. While both informative and enlightening, it was also an easy, entertaining and quick read.
Im also a fan of Historical Biographer, Alison Weir, author of, among others, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Children of Henry VIII, The Life of Elizabeth I, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, all of which Ive read and enjoyed.
The last work of fiction I really, really enjoyed was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Bookmarking.....
If you're into the fantasy genre, this year I have re-read the Drizzt series, starting from the Dark Elf Trilogy and all the way through The Hunter's Blades trilogy. Also, I am currently awaiting the next installment of A Song Of Ice And Fire, "A Dance With Dragons". There's not much non-antasy that grips me; if I want historical reading I crack open my history books, as I am a history major.
I just finished "Turning Angel" by Greg Iles, and I loved it.
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