# What's the last book you read (and would you recommend it)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201 "2004-02-14T11:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/41 "2004-02-15T06:32:24Z")
At my granddaughter’s recommendation, I read _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. Actually, my husband read it aloud to me. All three of us were overwhelmed with its ability to be both profoundly moving and absurdly funny. There are mysteries on several levels that entice the reader to explore just one more chapter. And the character of Owen Meany himself is so finely drawn that I haven’t stopped missing him since the book ended. Although the framework is a boyhood friendship, the story is a journey. It is John Irving’s masterpiece and on my top five list. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/42 "2004-02-15T06:40:06Z")
_Camp Concentration_ by Thomas Disch. Just outright fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/43 "2004-02-15T07:21:04Z")
I have enjoyed all of _Iain Banks_’ books. The most recent one I read was called _Dead Air_. Don’t let the cover or back-cover-blurb put you off. It may lead you to believe that it’s about England post 9/11. It is, but only in the sense that it provides the cultural/psychological backdrop for the story. 9/11 occurs on TV and the psyche of the characters is subtly different from how it would’ve been pre 9/11, but the story itself is unrelated. Don’t be confused by another author _Iain **M.** Banks_, he writes science fiction. He’s actually the same person, but his science fiction is removed enough from his “normal” writing, that liking one doesn’t mean you’ll like the other. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/44 "2004-02-15T14:33:11Z")
was called kisscut by Karin slaughter it was about 2 women who ran a child/teen porn ring with their own children that ended with a police shooting of the main teen girl involved (which set the whole investigation off) it wasn’t bad and a bit disturbing especially the justifications of t he people involved (supposedly based on real profiling) If you like Kay scarpetta novels you’ll find this somewhat better as the characters are more likeable The pedicritian/part time coroner here seems more human and less complicated although there is the usual subplots for a crime novel of this type I.e there’s a female cop that was getting over a rape The police chief and the coroner were married until he cheated (they start over again) as the novel progresses The unwed sister is thinking of having an abortion which the doc who cant have a child goes into fits about Although the endings a bit weak i give it a b ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/45 "2004-02-15T15:13:18Z")
> [@1920s Style Death Ray](#): > > Don’t be confused by another author _Iain **M.** Banks_, he writes science fiction. He’s actually the same person, but his science fiction is removed enough from his “normal” writing, that liking one doesn’t mean you’ll like the other. But doesn’t mean that you can’t like both I hope 🙂 I’ve finished off a smorgasborg (spelling??) of book buying on EBay, mostly Phillip K Dick. **Martian Time Slip** is about a schizophrenic boy who can tamper with time, and the effects he has on those he meet. **The Zap Gun** is about a world where the West and East are kept in line by the threats of (If I understand it correctly) weapons that can’t actually work that are dreamt up by individuals in a drug induced haze. Problems begin when aliens turn up and actual weapons are needed to fight them. **The Game players of Titan** almost finished, couldn’t be bothered explaining. I suppose you’d have to like the style of writing more than the plot of each to like them. Martian Time Slip is good, Zap Gun and Game Players quite good. I find them interesting, but I suppose I’m not enough of a critic to know whether they are good outside of my own personal opnion. Worth reading at least one I’d say 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/46 "2004-02-15T15:32:51Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > But doesn’t mean that you can’t like both I hope 🙂 Correct. I like both although his sci fi ones tend to have fairly ambiguous endings. Sometimes I don’t really know what’s happened and even if I do know what’s happened, I don’t know if I’ve got it right because I’m not spoon fed the ending. I like that though. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/47 "2004-02-15T16:49:07Z")
_Island of the Sequined Love Nun_ by Christopher Moore. Cargo cults, talking fruit bats, and shark-eating men. Highly recommended, though if you’re new to Christopher Moore I’d say start somewhere else. _Lamb (or, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal)_, or maybe _Coyote Blue_. And now I’m in the middle of _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_, by Michael Chabon. Which, despite having not finished it, I unreservedly recommend. If the end is a tenth as good as the beginning, it’ll still be great. ---
**Author:** ![Miaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@Miaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miaz)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/48 "2004-02-15T17:10:25Z")
Last book I read was **The Bridge** by Iain Banks. I suppose I’d suggest it if they really needed something to read, although it takes half the book to get interesting and I found I loathed the protagonist from start to finish. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/49 "2004-02-15T17:19:43Z")
> [@1920s Style Death Ray](#): > > Correct. I like both although his sci fi ones tend to have fairly ambiguous endings. Sometimes I don’t really know what’s happened and even if I do know what’s happened, I don’t know if I’ve got it right because I’m not spoon fed the ending. I like that though. Yeah, I think I’ve gotten through the whole SF collection and most of the standard fictional books. Had a hunt through EBay for them and I think I’ve collected if not read them all. Great choice of author, I can’t wait for the next SF novel to come out, hopefully it’ll be another **Culture** novel 🙂 > [@Miaz](#): > > Last book I read was The Bridge by Iain Banks. I suppose I’d suggest it if they really needed something to read, although it takes half the book to get interesting and I found I loathed the protagonist from start to finish. Grrrrrr, I bought that second hand and someone had written in at the start of each chapter what was happening inside the guys head. I had to get my Dad to go through it with an eraser for me first. The girl who’d had it before me had also left a note along the side of the book, if you rolled the book up so the pages slipped over each other there’s a lipstick mark and the message “I love this book” along the side :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/50 "2004-02-15T17:24:43Z")
I just finished John Grisham’s latest one, _The Last Juror_. I didn’t like it at all, I just read it for lack of something better to read. Curse that stupid book club for sending it to me for free! I didn’t even really finish it, I just skipped to the end to see what happened about halfway through. It wasn’t actually a bad book, just kind of boring. Nothing really happened. There was the potential for a lot of action and character development, but unfortunately neither one of those occurred. I don’t recommend it unless you are a die-hard John Grisham fan and feel the compulsion to read everything he puts out. If you aren’t familiar with him and want to read a GOOD John Grisham, I recommend _The Firm_ instead. This weekend, I’m cleansing my mental palate by beginning the first book in the Fire and Ice series, _A Game of Thrones_. I’ve heard nothing but lavish praise for this series, especially from fellow Dopers. I’m only 75 pages in so far but I’m already completely hooked. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/51 "2004-02-15T19:35:05Z")
> [@MrVisible](#): > > And now I’m in the middle of _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_, by Michael Chabon. Which, despite having not finished it, I unreservedly recommend. If the end is a tenth as good as the beginning, it’ll still be great. It is, and I second the recommenation (or do I just get an assist?) It does drag a little bit when the story leaves New York (not really a spoiler), but it’s worth it. By the end I was “crying like a mafia widow,” to borrow a friend’s expression. ---
**Author:** ![grisham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@grisham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grisham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/52 "2004-02-15T19:53:49Z")
I just finished The Oath by John Lescroart. It was decent but not overall spectacular. Before that I read the first two books of the Divine Comedy. Those were absolutely terrific. Highly highly recommended. If you want a good grisham my opinion is The Rainmaker. The Firm is also one of his best. Lyllan-- sorry but I thought Odd Thomas was to close to the Sixth Sense and it lacked much actual “new” thoughts. Also David Baldacci books are great just for plain plot twists and surprise endings. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/53 "2004-02-15T20:57:21Z")
My last read was ``Means of Ascent,’’ the second installment in Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson. And yes, I would recommend it without hesitation. (Although I might advise patience - three volumes and 2,500-plus pages, and LBJ is still in the Senate.) I think most superlatives that could be applied to Caro’s work have been used already by people who are much better qualified than I to judge it, so I’ll just call it a stunning achievement and leave it at that. I’d also strongly recommend ``The Power Broker,’’ Caro’s (1,246-page) biography of Robert Moses. I thought it would take about six months to read, but I was done in four weeks, and it is compelling reading, IMHO. I didn’t read the first volume of Caro’s Johnson biography, but number three, `Master of the Senate,'' awaits. It's getting bumped back, though, for a book I picked up yesterday - who could resist `An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War’’? ---
**Author:** ![Termital](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Termital](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Termital)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/54 "2004-02-15T21:21:39Z")
I just reread ‘The Big Sleep’ and ‘The High Window’ by Raymond Chandler. The first one is _the_ classic noir tale, full of dying southern henerals, women with platinum wigs, gansters sympathetic and brutal and a gumshoe hard enough to beat a crook with a pipe and vulnerable enough to be jammed inside a car tire. The second pne features much of the same only on a smaller, filthier scale. Must reads if you ever found any crime story interesting. I’m currently reading Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ .It’s the story of the Devil’s fall from grace, and the chain of events that lead to man’s fall. Read it for the most beautiful language, and thought provoking arguments on free will and the nature of good and evil. Avoid it if long sentences, astrally cold elegance, and a caravan worth of references to anything from Ptolemaic Astronomy to Babylonian mythology scare you. As is obvious, I suggest you go ahead and read it 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/55 "2004-02-16T12:48:20Z")
> [@grisham](#): > > Also David Baldacci books are great just for plain plot twists and surprise endings. I just picked up a couple of his at the thrift store… brand-new HBs, uncracked spines, never been read, $1.00 each. I got _Saving Faith, Last Man Standing_ and another one - the title escapes me at the moment. I just started _Saving Faith_ and I’m hooked. I’ve never read any of his before. What are some good ones? I just finished _The Virgin Blue_ by Tracey Chevalier. She also wrote _Girl With A Pearl Earring._ This is her first novel, never published in the US before. It was very good. I’d definitely recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![grisham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@grisham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grisham)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/56 "2004-02-16T13:46:33Z")
Bibliocat-- all of them that i have read are very good though I havent read them all. Last man Standing, Split Second, the Simple Truth,Total Control,those are the recommended ones. From me at least. Baldacci is simple a great suspense/ mystery writer. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/57 "2004-02-16T13:55:34Z")
My self assigned reading project is to read the works of Lindsey Davis and her wonderful detective: [Marcus Didius Falco](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345369076/qid=1076939591/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books) This would be the first in this series. I am presently working my way happily through \*\* The Iron Hand of Mars \*\* Another doper(s) recommended this series to me and _I adore_ it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Every paragraph has a nugget of humor or insite. My favorite, from another book, was " You could tell they were married by the way she ignored him." HAH! My bathroom read since June has been: [Tobacco: A cultural History of how an exotic plant seduced civilization.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802139604/qid=1076939481/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4301505-1606444?v=glance&s=books) Just fascinating. A bit dry at times, but wow. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/58 "2004-02-16T15:38:43Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > I recently finished Polgara the Sorceress, but I never recommend David Eddings. People laugh at me when I do. ☹ > > I think a fried of mine (who is an actual published writer ) said it best in reference to Eddings and his work: Gourmet feasts are a treat for the eyes and palette, but sometimes you just crave a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and fries!\* > FB > > \*paraphrasing Stephen King once called his work “the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries.” For me, the last book I read was a simultaneous reading of David Halberstam’s _The Fifties_, and _The Best and the Brightest_. For those who didn’t live in the 50s and 60s, I recommend _The Fifties_ more as TBATB assumes that the reader has more than a passing familiarity with a bunch of names that have become obscure as time passed, i.e. McGeorge Bundy, a person whom Halberstam spent a lot of time on and who I never even knew existed until the book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/59 "2004-02-16T16:23:09Z")
I’ve been reading Old Science Fiction recently. Ralph Milne Farley’s **The Radio Planet** is a Burroughs-like Earth Guy meets up with a Martian Princess story, but with an interesting twist – the hero has to build a working radio transmitter and receiver from scratch – raw materials and all. Farley doesn’t chicken out, but describes the process. Interesting reading. I recently obtained a bunch of obscure Jules Verne books (I’ve been collecting his stuff for years – most of his ouevre is pretty much unknown to the General Public). I finished **Captain Antifer** , a book about an unusual treasure hunt. I seriously doubt if anyone would really go to all this trouble to hide a treasure (except Verne), but the description of how they go searching through the Persian Gulf, Africa, and parts of Europe makes it worthwhile – I’m impressed with Verne’s research. And the solution is cute. I’m in the middle of **Dick Sands** , also by Verne, about an orphan boy apprenticed as a sailor, who unexpectedly becomes captain of his ship through the death of the original captain and much of the crew =-- and he’s only 15. I’m also starting **The Lihjthouse at the End of the World** , also by Verne – I seem top have lucked into a trio about sea captains by him. This one was turned into an obscure Yul Brynner movie, ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201/60 "2004-02-16T16:39:56Z")
Well, I like David Edding, FaerieBeth. Ironically I just finished Stephen Kings latest Dark Tower book Wolve of the Calle and loved it (I LIKE a Big Mac and fries ;)). Can’t wait for the next one. Before that was Ring of Fire, by Eric Flint (and others), an anthology set in the 1632/1633 universe. -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-last-book-you-read-and-would-you-recommend-it/229201.md?page=4)