Books Recommended by Our Members (September 2010)

[scififan]

I know this is going to sound strange (especially considering I call myself scififan)  but I just finished Dune.   I never got around to reading it.  If you have never read it, You MUST!  It was brilliant!

[MariaESchneider]

Just finished "Learn Me Good" by John Pearson.

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Me-Good-ebook/dp/B002C75GXK/ref=sr_1_3?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1284996112&sr=8-3

It's nice light reading; I enjoyed it a lot.  Engineer turned teacher of 8 year olds in a public school.  Great format of emailing an old colleague about his various "adventures" as he learned to teach.  This was my pick for a plane read because of the nice short entries.  I didn't have to fear being interrupted.  Funny, sad (sometimes the truth hurts), funny.

[JohnJGaynard]

THE PURGE by Sofi Oksanen

My Review

I finished reading this a few days ago. Although it is not presented as a mystery novel the final few pieces of the puzzle don't fall into place until the last couple of pages.  It tells the stories of three generations of Estonian women and the different manifestations of political evil they have managed to survive through.

The novel starts off with the sex trafficking of a young Russian-Estonian girl, Zara, at the beginning of the 1990s and her escape from the men who have been selling and torturing her in Germany. Zara's mother and grandmother were exiled by Soviet collaborators from Estonia to Vladivostok after WWII (so that other people in the village could steal their farm). Her Great Aunt still lives in Estonia.  Zara seizes the opportunity to escape from the men who exploit her when they drive her briefly through Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia.   With nothing in her possession except the clothes she stands up in and a black and white photograph, she manages to find the small village where her great aunt lives, but she is frightened to tell her who she is. The men from whom Zara escaped are desperate to track her down and she knows it is only a matter of time before they arrive in the village...

Through a series of flashbacks the plot builds by ranging over the lives of three generations of Estonian women (well, two and a half generations, the mother is rarely mentioned, all the focus is on Zara and the generation of her grandparents), and what they lived through  over a period of about 50-60 years, during the (short) Nazi occupation of the country, the (long) Soviet occupation and, for some of them, exile to the furthest reaches of the Soviet Union.  It is a BLEAK page turner.  But I have the feeling that even the worst descriptions don't go as far as the terrible reality Estonian women, and women in other Nazi or Soviet-occupied countries, lived through in the 20th century.

I am not surprised that this novel by a 32-year old writer has already been translated into 28 foreign languages.

The Kindle Version can be found at :
http://www.amazon.com/Purge-ebook/dp/B003XVYZ8G/ref=sr_1_1_oe_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285012947&sr=1-1

[billieh]

A couple of wonderful reads to recommend here:

Dawn Deanna Wilson's Welcome To Shangri-La, North Carolina, which is an ebook of connected stories - great writing, zany characters, a really good read.

and

Susan Henderson's Up From The Blue, just out today, a novel that is very well written and getting a lot of attention from reviewers.

[Basil Sands]

If you like Historical fiction, then Bernard Cornwell is an author to look to. His books range through history from the building of prehistoric Stonehenge to the Viking Saxons and Britain's King Alfred in the 800's, and through the American Civil War of the 1860's. In particular my favourites of Cornwells are:

Stonehenge
The Saxon Stories Series
Agincourt
and
The Sharpe Series (Napoleanic Wars through the eyes of an illiterate private who grows to famous officer)

Cornwells stories are written in such a manner as to give one the sense that we are living in the period of time. His knowledge of daily life, the hardships of surviving in the old ways, the common feelings of humans as we travel through life regardless of the era, is incredible.

Highly recommnded.

http://bernardcornwell.net/index.cfm

[pidgeon92]

Just finished this mystery.... One of the best novels I've read this year...

[Steven L. Hawk]

I just finished K.C. May's book, The Kinshield Legacy.  Very good book that I'd rate as 4.5 stars. 

Here's the review I posted on Amazon:

I don't read a lot of Fantasy books. Science fiction, zombies, and adventure books are my usual fare. But I was intrigued by the blurb for The Kinshield Legacy and downloaded a sample of the book to my Kindle last week. Upon reading, I was immediately absorbed in the story. I didn't make it halfway through the sample before downloading the full version for $2.99.

K.C. May does an excellent job of story telling as she relates the story of Gavin Kinshield, a reluctant hero in search of answers to his past, present and future. While Gavin is the central character, May's writing abilities bring all of the book's supporting cast to life. The broad cast of players, and the world in which they live, are vivid, delicately flawed and wholly believable.

One of my favorite passages describes the blacksmithing process by which an enchanted sword is hammered into being for Gavin's use. The details of the smithing process, and of the sword itself as it unfolds, are described wonderfully. Through May's literary stylings, the sword is born and becomes a character in its own right. And, as a reader, I felt honored to watch it happen.

I heartily recommend The Kinshield Legacy and rate it as 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for Amazon! It is a great book for lovers of the fantasy genre or for those who simply love a good story.

Amazon Link:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XT5IYI/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

[Neekeebee]

This was a very good start to a cozy series set in post-Civil War Boston: .  And currently a bargain at $2.99.

N

[CNDudley]

Just finishing this one. If you read The Worst Hard Time, you know Egan is a great writer. This book combines history (with the scene-stealing Teddy Roosevelt) and apocalyptic disaster. Which is just about one of my favorite combos.

A wildfire the size of Connecticut burns out of control in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho/Montana, threatening resources, people, and the fledgling U.S. Forest Service.

[Ann in Arlington]

This thread is locked.

For October recommendations look here:  http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,38084.msg681752.html#msg681752