Books to Read in 2006

Here’s my list of books to read in 2006. Since I know many of you are well read, I’ve decided to let y’all pick five books for me to read this year. Laura Leigh already picked the first one here, please make your recommendations on this thread and I’ll chose four more to add to my list for a total of 15 planned books. I like leaving plenty of room to add books as the year goes along.

21 responses to “Books to Read in 2006

  1. Definitely Sophie’s World! The Name of the Rose is on my list for this year, too, so it would be fun if we both read it.

  2. As for books NOT on the list yet… hm. “Seal Up the Thunder” by Erin Noteboom. Fantastic, god-soaked poetry. “Cloudstreet” by Tim Winton – Australian literary soap opera with a healthy dose of magic realism. “Walking on Water” by Madeleine L’Engle” – her thoughts on writing and faith. “A Moveable Feast” by Hemingway. “Handwriting” by Michael Ondaatje. “Sailing Alone Around the Room” by Billy Collins – the most accessible book of masterful, contemporary poetry I’ve ever read, and he was your poet laureate recently. “Meadowlands” by Louise Gluck if you’d like some more challenging poetry that reinvents the Odyssey, also a recent US poet laureate. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. “Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie if you haven’t read it already.

  3. You must read Blankets! Read it first though, then go through it page-by-page and “read” the visual images that are drawn on each page. It is amazing! I would also recommend reading anything by Sarah Vowell during this year.

  4. “Gaudy Night” by Dorothy Sayers. (a yummy british mystery.) I second the “Walking on Water” suggestion.

  5. I like Eco’s _Baudolino_ heaps more than _The Name of the Rose_, which gets kind of silly at the end. I don’t know, I just never got that ending, kind of let down by it. On the other hand _TNotR_ is one of those people should read for the sake of cultural literacy, I suppose. I just think Baudolino is a much, much better book.

    I also recommend _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime_. it’s sort of a little mystery told from the perspective of an autistic child. Really good.

    I read another book I enjoyed by Jostein Gaarder (the author of Sophie’s World), The Solitaire Mystery. Sort of like SW in the way he weaves in multiple worlds into a story, with a little bit of mystery.

    More on the classics shelf: My favorite novel of all time, My Antonia by Willa Cather. And the BOOKS A Room with a View and Howard’s End (much, much, much better than their respective movies…esp HE…even though I do enjoy the movies).

  6. The Brothers K by David James Duncan

  7. Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry – It is fantastic.

  8. Sophie’s World was definitely worthwhile and enjoyable.

  9. Brianna, A Moveable Feast is my fave Hemingway novel.

    Kristen, have you read any Paul Auster? If not, check out The Red Notebook.

  10. I strongly recommend The Brothers K by Duncan, like Ellen said above. (And wait a minute, Megan! Are you done with the Berry book already? I still need to pick it up from the library…) Also, Edith Schaeffer’s books speak directly to my heart — I hope you enjoy reading L’Abri!

    I couldn’t stand Redeeming Love, though many friends recommended it to me. I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

  11. Since it’s been mentioned twice, I’ll note that I read and loved the Brothers K in 2004 :o)

    I am having fun looking up your suggestions and may just end up reading more than four by the time the year is done…

  12. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg–a wonderful nineteenth-century Scottish novel on self-deception, religious debate, possible mental illness, and hyper-Calvinism. Fun times!

  13. Congratulations, Mike. They earned that one.

  14. If you haven’t read it, you should definitely add Girl Meets God (Lauren Winner) to your list.

  15. Rebecca – Not finished with it yet, but getting close. But that’s okay, I’m still going to “discuss” it at the end of the month. My live on-campus book buddy is going to borrow my copy after I’m done and that’s why I’m trying to get it done so quickly.

    But I have to say – Wendell Berry (though an idealist which is not bad, but not always practical!) is really shaping the way we are looking at our next step after Covenant…

  16. Brianna, your phrase “god soaked poetry” entrances me. I must, MUST look that one up!

    In the last six or seven years I have read (at least) one Dickens, one Austen and one Shakespeare play every year. I’m still working on Dickens that are new to me, and will I ever complete the Shakespeare canon? I should add a C.S. Lewis to the required reading list…

    Galileo’s Daughter is one I recommend. It was wonderful on many many levels. My future DIL is currently reading a book called Fair Sunshine which is about the Scottish Covenanteers. What I’ve inhaled in quick snatches looks very good. I’ve had multiple urgings to read The Kite Runner so that’s another one for my list. Home Comforts is just plain fun and big enough to work in between other reads.

    Oh, I just love to read other people’s lists! Thanks Kristen.

  17. Oh, must mention.

    The novels by Dorothy Dunnett (two series: the Lymond Chronicles and the Niccolo books) are to DIE for. I’m VERY picky about historical fiction from the 15th-16th century, because, well, I’m a historian of the 15th c. I don’t like sap, either. Dunnett’s historical acumen is beyond compare…the DETAILS she gets are AMAZING! Her stories are so incredibly gripping that I’ve been known to yell to relieve some tension somewhere, because it wasn’t happening in the narrative. Her characters are extremely complex. After five books you are still surprised by the hero Lymond. Start with The Game of Kings. It begins in Scotland during either late Henry VIII or early his son Edward’s reign. Mary Queen of Scots is a child. The story centers around Lymond, second son of a Scottish aristocratic family.

  18. Ok, your local medical establishment person has to say that one vaccination books looks a little sketchy, if only because it’s almost 5 years old. Stuff is constantly changing, so if anything, I would suggest finding a more recent book.

    Great Divorce is a good choice. I think Kathleen would also recommend Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies, and another one I can’t remember). She liked Curious Incident as well.

    If you can do any sci-fi, I would suggest Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and if you’ve already done that, read Ender’s Shadow. And if you’ve done that already, keep on reading the various sequels. They’re pretty good, except for the last couple in the Ender storyline.

  19. thumbs up to enders game.
    may i suggest colossians remixed by walsh and keesmaat?
    and wendell berry is fabulous. we are attempting to get all of his read here. he has a lot of influence in eric and i’s transition to a self sufficient lifestyle. i read the abridged version of _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime_ it was ok.
    have you read till we have faces by cs lewis? its my favorite by him. l’engle may be one of my favorite writers ever.

  20. Kristen, have you read any of Gillian Bradshaw? She is a classicist, and her books are lovely. Titles are eluding me at the moment, but she writes fiction set in the early after Christ centuries. One was written from the perspective of Athanasius’ physician.

  21. Ok, I’ve got a few more rec’s for you:

    Snow by Orhan Pamuk and one that I’m reading right now (got it for Christmas, supposed to be fabulous) Ali and Nino by Kurban Said.

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