I just read a whole bunch of Beverly Cleary books because I saw "Ramona the Pest" at the library. Then I had to read Black Beauty. I think I'm going to go on a Dean Koontz (Strangers, Watchers, Lightning) kick next. Have you read any of his stuff? If you like Stephen King, you might like them and they all sort of have "perfect guys" in them.

I did get rid of a ton of books since I used to have over 1000. I still miss a lot of them. I kept my favorites and there is a lot of Orson Scott Card, James Herriot, weird sci-fi, kids books, Erica Jong and craft books in there. Yes it's a weird mix.

Oh! And if you need a good funny book, check out Gerald Durrell's "My Family and Other Animals". Honestly, no other book has been able to make me laugh til I cry. I've laughed so hard I couldn't make any noise while reading that one in PUBLIC.

Love books, love to read. I just moved bookcases and out of hundreds, found 4 (four) books I'd be willing to part with. One of my favorite books that I've re-read over and over is "Flambards" by K.M. Peyton. I saw the mini-series on PBS when I was a kid in the country and fell in love. Fox hunting, old run-down mansions and the advent of airplanes - brilliant!

After your comment a few weeks ago, I'm re-reading The Stand. I hadn't read it since highschool, so I'm enjoying it the second time around. It sucks you in - yesterday someone sneezed in the elevator and I panicked for a moment thinking they had SuperFlu before I remembered it was just a book!!!

Geez, how am I first? I must admit to just now this very moment finishing one of the Cedar Cove books (the Christmas one, something has to get me into the mood) by Debbie Macomber. Reading her books is like slipping into my favorite pair of yoga pants and sipping a glass of wine. All very comfy and non-demanding and relaxing. The Magician's Assistant is now on my list. I am in the middle of a Phillipa Gregory right now but the history and intrigue is just too much work for this season, which is already a lot of work. Have you read anything by Alexander McCall Smith? I think you would like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and the Isabel Dalhousie series is quite good too, with a lot of little reflective ponder-y asides. I tend to spend more time on the computer than watching TV (gotta find the time to read all these blogs somewhere) but I do love The Office.

It's kind of sad really; I just don't find the time to read anymore. I keep up with all my magazine subscriptions; but I went to a used book sale by a local library this spring and now realize that I still haven't read any of those books. I find time to knit, watch TV and surf the net; but often I'm doing two or three of those things at once. I like to read books in big chunks of time so I can get lost in them. I haven't had a big chunk of alone time in forever!

But hoarders? OMG! I love that show. I find it fascinating especially that these people lose their ability to smell the ickiness. I also feel the compulsion to clean something after I watch it. Also interesting is that my current boyfriend is a fireman who used to be an EMT and says that he sees a lot of hoarding behavior in his line of work. He suspects it's how a lot of hoarders are found out - they get injured because of the hoarding. Also, can you believe I'm dating a fireman? He'd die if he knew how much I love that.

I also love to watch HOARDERS the same way you have to be a looky-loo at a car wreck. I have the same reaction you describe because I finish watching HOARDERS and then start grabbing up thngs to cram in the cluttered car and take to GOODWILL... and when I arrive at Goodwill I tell the nice gentlemen/ladies that the episode of HOARDERS has forced me into declutter mode. I do ache for those people that hoard...it really cannot be a good place to be...

I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain - a must read for any animal lover since it is beautifully written from the point of view of a dog. I just finished The Soloist - the true account from an LA Times journalist of a homeless Julliard-educated man on the streets of LA - excellent.

I never watch TV - it makes me anxious - but I can definitely read up a storm!

I really like things that make me laugh..so one of my all time favorites is Lamb by Christopher Moore...and just about anything from David Sedaris.

Love books, love TV (although I am glad I don't currently have cable - it keeps me in check). I just had to post to say that the one book that I give to A Lot of people is "Blue Jelly" by Debby Bull. Love, love, love. If I am having a bad time, I re-read it and it always helps. And I love the cover (of the paperback) - http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Jelly-Love-Lessons-Canning/dp/0786883200/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2

The Stand is one of my all time favorite books, and Stu is the man who I have judged all others against since I first read the book. I am probably on my 5th copy of the book, since I have read it soooo many times. I wish there were more good books like that (end of worldish, etc.)
PS I am glad you turned the comments back on, when you get one that sucks just delete it, because tlike you said the other day, you are always going to upset someone, that is just the way the world turns.

Disaster movie recommendation: Knowing.

Repeat: Disaster movie recommendation: Knowing.

It had my interest and I don't actually love disaster movies so do rent it!

I have 23 boxes of books and when I wanted to re-read my favorite "The Third Day" by Joseph Hayes a few years ago I had to go thru all of the boxes to find it. So I decided to catalog my books as I hunted for that one particular book. I also numbered my boxes. Now I have a couple of spreadsheets (by author & by box#) with all my books listed. I haven't been able to afford good bookcases yet so that I can put them all out on display.

P.S. Thank you for your wonderful and uplifting blog and I wish the negative commenters would just up and stop reading (and writing to you).

I also like end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it books! My long-time favorite is "Lucifer's Hammer" by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. I pull it out and re-read it periodically - the last time was after Katrina hit New Orleans. Another disaster book that I enjoyed but have not re-read in a long time is "Watership Down", by Richard Adams. It, too, has the theme of individuals (rabbits, this time) banding together to create a new "world" when they lose their familiar one. I like to believe that life will go on, maybe not the same as it used to be, but it will go on.

And also, my rereads are Robert Heinlein's adult fiction. I have read most of those books probably six or more times. Oh, and Ray Bradbury. I weened myself on the old masters of science fiction... *happy sigh*

OOOO - Glee! and Castle! Did you know they actually published Heat Wave - the book referenced in the show? It appears to have garnered 4 stars on Amazon. Its on my Christmas list since I have been ordered to find a Kindle Anonymous group by my family.

Best book I've read: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, by William Kamkwamba. A true story that gives me hope and joy and all things good. I went out and purchased the actual paper copy so I could loan it out to all my friends.

What books I'm hoarding: Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Nalini Singh, Charlaine Harris. Magic and werewolves and vampires, oh my!

I'm on a major fantasy reading kick after my Iraq and Afghanistan War book binge. Which was kicked off by WWII stories, which you started when you mentioned "The Lost" back in July. Amazon should thank you.

Lisa

Hi!

I agree with Mary from NorCal, Lamb by Christopher Moore is excellent. In fact, I recommend anything by Christopher Moore. My personal favorite is Fool, which every high-schooler should read to truly appreciate Shakespeare and King Lear. I'm on the library's reservation list for Bite Me, which comes out in April. Mr. Moore is also eminently re-readable. :)

For TV, try Fringe. (Take a weekend and go back to the beginning.) Unlike The X Files, it actually delivers.

Have Fun!

I watch The Forgotten and I LOVE Castle! I'm so very happy Castle is on for a second season! I Tivo Craig Feguson cuz he absolutely cracks me up...he could not be on any earlier, the censors couldn't hack it...I have The Awakening in my pile to read...I read the Stand while pregnant and morning sick with my son...I don't think it had any effect on him...???...but reading it might have made me sicker-haha!...Loved your posts about your kitty in the Christmas tree...gotta love kitties...

The problem with reading is that it's really hard to knit at the same time... Which is why TV is awesome.

I am absolutely terrified of becoming a Hoarder. I watch that show with an expression of open-mouthed horror on my face. Hoarding runs in my family, and both my boyfriend and I exhibit hoarding behavior. Such as hanging on to something that's broken because we'll "fix it someday" even though we never do. Such as buying stuff because "it's a good deal" even though a better deal is to not spend the money at all.

And did you know there are people who hoard PETS until they have way, way more than they can take care of and the animals start to starve and die?! So sad!!

Thanks for the list of books. I'm at a dry spell right now. I'm lucky the San Francisco Public Library has a City Read program. I've read books I would never consider and have loved some of them. We have so many books that when my kids were in High School they didn't have to go out and buy the reading selection. They just had to go thru the boxes of books in the house. They got strange looks because everyone else had new books and they had old often hard back books.

1) Yay, comments!

2) Mmmm, Nathan Fillion...I used to watch him play a teenager on One Life to Live when I was in college. Now I watch him play the FATHER of a teenager. It's not right, man.

3) I LOVE television! TIVO changed my life - I never watch live tv, and avoid all commercials. Love The Closer, Burn Notice, Numbers, NCIS, The Good Wife, Top Chef, cheesy SciFi movies like Snakehead Terror.....Yay TeeVee! And how could I forget all those I-Love-To-Hate-Those-People Real Housewives and Girls Next Door?

The only books I have ever read more than once are the ones from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. It is a big, complex, FABULOUS story, that I cannot recommend enough (mmmm, Jamie). I also second the Christopher Moore recommendations...his stuff makes me giggle like a ninny.

And thank you for continuing to write your wonderful, insightful blog, and not telling us all to eff off because of a few trolls. :)

I love to read along with my husband. In fact I read out loud to him for a hour or so every night. (Silly habit,but fun!) We got into reading all the books that we loved as kids and are no addicted to Oz stories. I read the more adult fiction on my own the rest of the time. Give me a library or bookstore and I could spend months there very content.

I love Castle - I've been a fan of Nathan Fillion since Buffy and Firefly, and would probably follow him to any show, but he really shines as Castle. I think he has a great chemistry with his costar.

Books I go back to: Jurassic Park, Ender's Game, His Majesty's Dragon, anything written by Melanie Rawn, Harry Potter. I own many, many books (and a Kindle), but those are ones I could happily re-read anytime.

"I love survivalist stories and end-of-the-world the-apocalypse-is-coming fiction"...

You might have already heard of these two but have you seen the books "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and "The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood? Sounds like they might be right up your alley! And thanks for the book recommendations...i added The Magician's Assistant to my Christmas list!

We just finished Ann Patchett's Run in my book club and all concluded that Bel Canto was really her best book. I'm also really having fun with Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. Who knew a book on the Puritans could be so funny?

If you like end-of-the-world the-apocalypse-is-coming fiction then Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett is one of always come back to, read 100 times books. Apocalypse, good/evil and funny as hell. What more do you want?

Also - Hoarders: I want to watch, by my TV time is just about filled up! I TiVo but barely have time to watch the shows I record.

I just recently asked from recommendations from friends. I haven't made it through the whole pile yet but I did finish a few and am almost done w/ my favorite of the group(so far) - Death Comes For The Archbishop. I can always reread Rebecca and Gone With the Wind.

The Stand- oh my what a terrific book- just finished Under the Dome- not anywhere near as good as The Stand in my opinion but an enjoyable read- I tried to think of the world as being under a dome not just a small Maine town and make the jumps of environment,politics etc.,. but it made my head hurt so I had to stop. Probably my all time favorite book is A Cry of Angels written by Jeff Fields- as far as I know his only book -written in 1974 and has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird- set in the south early fifties maybe- funny,sad - one of those when I'm feeling really down never fails to push those ole' blues away-love your blog

Castle - can't ever get enough of Nathan! Love Burn Notice, The Closer, Grey's, SYTYCD, love, love, love TV. Have no Tivo though - need to get that!

I usually have at least 3 books going at a time, will read anything. I just go to the library, pick an aisle and get the first book with an interesting title. Got some great reads that way. Right now, I'm listening to Cardigan Crescent by Anne Perry (so I can knit at the same time), reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (my weekend coffee time book), and The Assassination Business (non-fiction), by I-forget-the author's name as my bedside book for going to sleep. Love King, Koontz, Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Anne Perry, Robert Ludlum, the list goes on and on.

As has this comment!

i was watching the Forgotten too!! i thought i was the only one, but then grad school got in the way and numerous football games, but the semester is almost over and i do love hulu!!

One more: Lamb by Christopher Moore. I've read it at least 5 times and it still makes me laugh

I am a major re-reader. I dive into favorite books to satisfy a mood- like someone grabbing a chocolate chip cookies to satisfy a craving.

Like Water for Chocolate, anything by Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Robbins and Kurt Vonnegut, and all things Harry Potter. The book I go back to most often though, is The Time Tavelers Wife, it always feels like falling in love.

I really had to pare down my personal library; first when I moved to London to live with my husband, and then, even more drastically, when he went and got a job in North Carolina.
It was incredibly hard, and I still find myself looking for books that I used to have sometimes. sigh.

My always re-readable pile is a mish-mash of golden era crime and kid's books. I particularly love Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey and Gladys Mitchell for the crime stuff; and Diana Wynne-Jones, Joan Aiken and Margaret Mahy for the jids/young teens stuff.

Right now I'm reading "A Life in Letters: The collected letters of Arthur Conan Doyle" which is fascinating.

Please also add me to the Nathan Fillion fan club and the Gary Sinise appreciation society.
I also love the team dynamics in "Bones", "Lie to Me" and "Criminal Minds".

I have read, and read, and re-read some more, "The Loving Spirit" by Daphne Du Maurier. I first read it when I was in high school, and it is one of those books that just grabbed me and would NOT let go! I haven't thought of that book for years, and no longer have a copy - - and I am getting the urge to read it again. Need to go find myself a copy somewhere . . . :-)

Haven't watched "The Forgotton" yet - - barely have time to watch TV! But I never miss an episode of NCIS . . . I have a serious Leroy Jethro Gibbs infatuation . . . *sigh*

I absolutely went crazy for The Emigrants, by W.G. Sebald. It is so beautiful.

I only watch Hoarders when I need to inspire myself to clean! All the addition shows are kind of painful for me to watch, but that one is SO effective for getting my place shaped up. Perhaps I should watch it right now, in fact...

I have to thank you, also, for this:

"If only we all got to stay home all day and read books while our trust funds collected more golddust... ah, that's the life."

I'm a (currently very miserable) literature grad student, and though I'm not paid much at all, certainly nothing in the gold dust real, reading (endless though it may be) is my job. Thank you for the reminder that I should stop bitching all day long and attempt to enjoy it a little more.

I am currently reading a book about Victoria and Albert that I thought was historical fiction until I opened it up. But it's history that reads very story-like (the author has a very good style of writing that makes it almost seem like historical fiction), so it's not boring.

I re-read the Harry Potter books after I saw the last movie...that always makes me happy.

And Hoarders? I love it. Even though it sometimes makes me get all anxious and tight in the chest.

Yay! Book talk!

You might like Cell, by Stephen King, if you haven't read it already. It's also a survivally-sort of story.

I'm right there with you - every time I move whomever is helping me complains about the eleventyzillion boxes of books...I've tried paring them down but that really doesn't work for me. I love all of them and I'm always re-reading. I just need to find a house with a built-in library and stay put once I get there. Then all of those books are not a problem.

I'm reading Made to Stick right now, by Chip and Dan Heath. I super-highly recommend it. I don't usually read books about marketing/branding but there are so many ideas in there that I can apply to plain old "real" life that I am really getting a lot out of it.

If you like _Timeline_, you should check out Connie Willis' _The Domesday Book_ if you've never read it. It's a similar idea, but with very different results.

If you're ever in the mood for whiplash with your disaster, try _The Swarm_ -- it's 800 pages long and the first 400 pages are plagiarized from someone's graduate marine biology thesis and then *wham* tsunami and it's an action movie.

As far as my TV addiction goes, I'm in a bad way because I have yet to get my DISH hooked up. However, when I do....TiVo here I come!!!! I love "Glee" and have really gotten into watching "V". I also have a few guilty pleasure shows with "One Tree Hill" being at the top of the list.

When it comes to reading I am a voracious reader. My favorite book is "1984" by George Orwell, but I'm into CS Forrester's "Horatio Hormblower" books (just finished one today). I also have a HUGE list of things to read.

And of course, I have a deep abiding passion for trashy romance novels. :)

Ooooh, I love apocalyptic & post-apocalyptic books! Some I really enjoyed (& also revisit): On the Beach (Nevil Shute), Lucifer's Hammer (Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle) and Fail-Safe (Eugene Burdick). Mostly enjoyed The Postman (David Brin)on which the movie was based. A really good Stephen-King-screws-with-your-brain book is The Long Walk. I also recommend his The Running Man which was much MUCH better than our Govenator's movie of the same name. Both are early novels that he wrote as "Richard Bachman".

I haven't read The Road yet, but am really looking forward to it and seeing the movie too. I mean really, post-apocalyptic story AND Viggo? I'm there with bells on baby.

Also, I did read "The Magician's Assistant" and thought it was really good...very interesting to be sure.

http://www.amazon.com/Prosperos-Children-Jan-Siegel/dp/0345441435

This is the first of a great series, good characters, fast action, and a magic(!) shawl.

and the author is Hemmingway's daughter.

I think I must have been under a rock, because I didn't realize that Rachel had been published. I just remember reading her excerpt and voting like mad when she was in the contest!

I've been reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, because I was writing smut for NaNoWriMo (not that I finished, but I was writing smut) and the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. I love books with very strong female protagonists.

Yes, please tell Corey that Tivo IS what she is missing in her life. I have two boys - 8 & 6 along with my full-time job. I am forever grateful for TiVo. I LOVE The Good Wife - a great new show, Dexter, Law & Order - any and all editions - mostly CI, Football - GO BIG BEN!, Catty woman shows...sad, I know! :) FOOD NETWORK!

I also love to read! Mostly trashy romance novels - who needs a real life man when you can have a perfect one in a book! I was forced to read Twilight and then ended up getting sucked into them all and loved them. The movies are cheesy but who doesn't love a little cheesiness in real life. Non-trash books - It Happens Everyday, Why is God Laughing and what was that book about being divorced and covered in cat hair...? Laughed my ass off reading that goldmine. Can't wait for the next one.

Have a great day!

Currently reading Water for Elephants. A number of people raved about it. Just finised A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve. It was ehh. And, last month, I re-read your book - Drunk, etc. I was in need of a smile and a reminder that things will get better in time.
I love to read but it is a question of which leisure activity to pursue with limited free time so I tend to go in fits and spurts.
For survival stories, I really liked Lost in the Wild - Danger and Survival in the North Woods. I think I could be additict to TiVo if I were to have it and if I were to have cable. I watch less tv when the only option is network tv.

I picked up "American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot" by Craig Ferguson, and I really dig it. I also really got into and loved his first book, "Between the Bridge and the River."

Squeeeeee! Comments! I just wrote everyone's book suggestions down and will head to the library tonight. Thanks Laurie and all. My favorite earth apocalypse book from waaaaay back, "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart.

Oh, and,genie slippers - got 'em, love 'em.

I LOVE the Amelia Peabody series from Elizabeth Peters. Good fun - romance, thriller, mystery . . . all with a sense of humor. What's not to love?

And I just introduced my 9-year-old to the Miss Piggle-Wiggle books. After re-reading them myself, of course!

(And I, too, wish that the ducks would quit pecking at you!)

TV shows: I love Hoarders, and yet it turns my stomach at the same time. I also love Clean House, especially the "Messiest Home in the Country" episodes--watching that led to a huge home cleanout for me a few months ago! I haven't gotten into Castle, though anything with Nathan Fillion in it has to be fantastic (yes, Joss Whedon fan here). My regular shows include: Dollhouse (sadly, has been cancelled), Cougar Town (much funnier than I anticipated), Glee, and The Biggest Loser (totally got sucked into that one)...

As far as books go, my favorite books are the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel. I don't know why, but I can read them over and over again, and it's just like wrapping up in a warm blanket. For twisted humor I love some Augusten Burroughs and for very simple, easy-read mysteries I love Patricia Cornwell and JD Robb (not a Norah Roberts fan, romance doesn't do it for me).

Congrats on the manuscript being sent on its way!

The Stand. I loved that book. I think I will have to re-read it. Once I find the box it is packed in. I just moved as well and I'm still unpacking.

When packing to move this time I did not do my usual cull on the books. I normally (I've moved way too often in the past decade) cull old books I'm not likely to re-read and donate them to the local library. This move I had neither the time nor inclination. I think I've pared my insanely large collection down to only the 'must keeps'. I read history or biography, for the most part. There is little in the way of fiction in my stockpile.

On television it's just NCIS right now. I cannot do anything else when that is on. Sean Murray and Mark Harmon... damn it's getting hot in here!

I crochet/knit/cross stitch to a variety of 'reality' tv programs but it's really just background noise. I never remember what happened in the episode once it has gone off. I haven't seen Hoarders yet, so I'll have to look for it - not that I'll remember the episode afterwards!

I love re-reading my books and re-watching favourite movies. (Books are not clutter :-)
It's a chance to visit with old friends and special worlds.

I think my favourite re-read is Robin McKinley's Sunshine (and it's a post-apocalyptic setting and a survival story too :-)

A great fictional story about people during a time of epidemic is Connie Willis' The Doomsday Book.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to say too.
Thanks for your post!

Good Lord Almighty, I watch Hoarders and I wish I didn't. I grew up with one. Seriously. My Mom. It sucked. I myself don't hoard, and even after being raised by one, I still can't wrap my brain around what they must be thinking. But, dammit, I watch it and I feel guilty doing it.
I still widely promote The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I love fiction for the most part, but I read this in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Amsterdam and it's converted my to autobiography-lover. (Remember me? I emailed you with all sorts of European travel questions last Oct). I'm building my arsenal of reading for an upcoming trip to Ireland.

Currently I'm reading Treason by Don Brown because I got a new Kindle and it was free so I figured why not? I haven't read much yet, but it's not bad so far.

I don't reread a lot of books because I love mysteries and they aren't nearly as interesting once you know whodunnit, but I do love Little Women. And the Harry Potter books.

Oh! Another book I have read many, many times is "Daughters Of The Sunstone" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc. It's a really good read if you like science fiction.

And! How could I forget Crazy Aunt Purl's book? It is a DEFINITE re-read! :-)

Somebody else mentioned the Outlander series and I'm giving a second shout-out for those!! I wait and wait for the newest one to come out and then I re-read them all over again. My friend says she'll find herself getting grumpy with her husband when she reads them because he is not more like Jamie. hee hee The Magician's Assistant is next on my list! Thanks for all the recommendations! :)

I'm so glad you are reading Bel Canto! I liked it even better than The Magicians Assistant.

My all time favorite book is Anna Karenina. I love long, involved, epic tales. What's better in that category than Anna? Unfortunately, it's SO, SO LONG that re-reading it doesn't happen often.

I'm currently reading a non-fiction book called Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick and realizing just how little I know about history. Apparently I need to read more non-fiction.

Yay, comments!

Unfortunately, I don't have anything exciting to say. I have a 3 year old who sticks to me like glue and a 3 month old. My Mom gave me a book for my brithday when my baby was 2 weeks old. I laughed at her and asked her what the hell I was supposed to do with it. I think it was by Jodi Picoult. Now that the baby is sleeping on a more predicatble schedule, I should get back to reading.

I get hooked on authors too. I was on an Anita Shreve kick for awhile, and Dean Koontz.

I've never been a re-reader unless you count all the times in High School that I chose to read the Old Man and the Sea since the book was so short :)But I can re-listen. The only book I've ever downloaded from audbible, I've listened to countless times. Weird.

My choice in books is similar to my choice in movies. I prefer chick flicks and chic-lit. I just prefer to keep things light and blissful. I don't like watching or reading things that cause me to think a lot. Then movies and books are more stress relieving for me that way. It's more of an escape.

I'm cluless about TV. Unless it's on HBO on Sunday night I probably haven't seen it. Shows I've watched regularly are Big Love, Entourage, and Bored to Death.

I think I might have to go back and look through your suggestions and branch out to something different for the next book I read, whenever that may be :)

It's so strange that you mentioned The Stand in your blog today because I was JUST talking with a friend about it last night and how I need to buy it to read!

I'm also really glad that your comments are back (at least for now) and I'm not going to be the first to mention Harry Potter.

I first read HP when I was 12 and now that I am 21, I still love to read the books and the more I read them the more I understand and it's amazing (I have read each book multiple times. I'm a Potter-holic).

Also,

Hearts in Atlantis and Insomnia by Stephen King are phenominal.

My three current reading books are:

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin (it's her memoir/autobiography,

Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia, and

In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (I read this in Spanish but thought the English version would be the most accessible for everyone).

I'm not very into end of the world books- they freak me out and I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to die after reading them. But I'm glad others enjoy them :D

Post Apocalyptic book: Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson

It takes place after an economic collapse of the world. One of my favorite books (and there are animals, too, which is cool).

TV: I got totally sucked into "V" and I don't usually like science-fiction myself. Did you watch that? And I'm really liking "The Good Wife" but I usually like the legal stuff because I wish court really worked as fast in real life as it does on TV. Also, I love that actress, Julianna Margulies.

Books: Nuts for everything (so far) by Alexander McCall Smith. Started for me with "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" and has now led to the Isabel Dalhousie series and the Scotland Street Series. Maybe because I used to live in South Africa and I love Scotland, but I really like his stories and the slower pace.

I have to throw out a recommendation for The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen.
(http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780812975925-3)
and (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Town-Earth-Novel/dp/0812975928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=bootks&qid=1259870422&sr=8-1)
Here's why:
1. It has a lot to do with the flu epidemic of 1918. I haven't read The Stand, but it sounds like if you like that kind of topic, you'll love Last Town on Earth. It's even more engrossing because the flu epidemic is played out in the context of the political climate during WWI in a remote logging town.
2. I've met the author and he's great!
3. He happens to be married to a fabulous knitter whom I met through a local SnB group.

SO timely.

I just picked up this little historical romance because I had read some good reviews, and I was looking for some fluffy bathtime reading. So I took a bath last night and I started reading this little throwaway book, and OHMYGOD, it was so good. I was laughing out loud. I had that knot in my stomach that you get when you're nervous about stuff, because I really could FEEL what the characters were going through. And the author had some really perfectly written lines.

I mean, it's fluff (I'm not a book snob either!), but I haven't had a book keep me up TWO HOURS past my bedtime in a long time. A very long time.

And even though I'm tired today, reading a really great book for the first time--what a phenomenal feeling. I've just been in a fantastic mood all day, just because I read a lovely book last night.

God. I'm such a dork.

Wait .... Nathon Fillion is back on TV, and I *didn't**know*? Eep!

In all honestly, though, I, um, well. Time to 'fess up. I own a tv so I can play video games on it. It's true. I know that as a middle-aged female I'm supposed to love TV and all, but I play video games. And, um, in for a penny, in for a pound: I also watch football.

Books, though. I have to make myself go through my books twice a year. Books that have sat unloved go into big boxes that I take to my local used book store ... which gives me store credit ... and so I can bring home new books! In a postage stamp apartment, it's about the only way I can manage to keep it all in check. I have about 300 or so that never, ever get culled. All the old (and newish) fantasy authors are in there.

And Christopher Moore. Lord, yes, Laurie, read Christopher Moore. Any of it would probably make you laugh, but you'll probably really enjoy reading the Pine Cove novels. (Try The Stupidest Angel. It's a Christmas story! With zombies!)

I find it so funny that I'm making book recommendations to someone I don't really know based on there blogsonality. As if I knew what you'd like!

Lots of recommendations that I'll say DITTO to: The Outlander Series, Lamb, Fringe... also on TNT, check out Leverage when it starts back up in January (season 1 is on DVD)!

I just finished Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry - it's zombies + Rainbow Six-type-espionage. LOVED IT.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

One word- Audible

You can listen to books while you knit.

P.S. Laurie, you rock.

Wait -- CT -- you didn't post the name of the book!!!

And I'm glad I am not the only one watching Hoarders with mixed feelings. I too have hoarding tendencies as all ya'll know from all the stuff I've written here before so watching it is almost like the Scared Straight of housecleaning.

And I realized too late after I posted this I was mostly on a fiction kick lately but like many of you all I am also a rabid non-fiction reader, mostly WW2 stuff but also the entire "Don't know much about... history" books.

Today is fun, love reading everyone's comments. Thanks!

The Lovely Bones. Read it a gazillion times and decided to read it again this week. LOVE it.

I'm going to look the Magician's Assistant up. I need something new to read!

I love anything by Christopher Moore...Lamb, Fool, Island of the Sequined Love Nun (the book is as good as the title). If you have a wacky, black sense of humor his books are perfect.

As for TV, I'm completely addicted to Modern Family and Cougar Town. They are both so funny and sweet at the same time.

I totally agree with Roggey - Earth Abides was written in 1949, is set in the Bay area and rocks the post-apocalypse story! It's ranked as one of the top 100 Sci-Fi books of all time.

And I too love the Stand. Have you read From a Buick 8, by Stephen King? A cross between Christine and something other-wordly!

I loved Bel Canto and everything by Anne Patchett. Also try Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Great read.

I just worked my way through the #1 Ladies' Detective series and I loved it. I started the 44 Scotland Street series because it is by the same author and I'm not as in love with it. The pace worked better for Botswana than it works for Scotland. Or maybe it is that I love Mma Romotswe and am only mildly interested in Pat.

I'm on a complete Bones kick for TV. I can't see enough of it. I need a marathon of episodes. I love the gory, scientific stuff. Even with NCIS I really just watch it because of Abby.

I started getting into Burn Notice last season and would like to catch up on it. It is a pretty cool show.

Could my books BE any more different than my TV?

The only books I've read more than once are The Stand (there are 2 versions, I had to reread it!) and Stranger in a Strange Land (again, author's cut!).
I reread the Stand about every 7 years or so, I've read it 4 times now, and I still love every page of it. And Lt. Dan as Stu worked OK for me because when that movie came out, I had a little crush on Gary Sinise so it worked.

Oh, and I ALWAYS end up with a cold while reading The Stand, so I have to plan carefully when I read it! It has to be psychosomatic or a conspiracy to implant cold virus in the pages.

Mists of Avalon is a often read book as well as all Austin books. I am a TiVo fiend with gLee, CSIx3, Ace of Cakes, Good Eats and various odds and ends on the menu. I have reserved The Magician's Assistant at the library as if I add another book to my wee house my shelves will break. Yarn is so much lighter but I have also paused that purchasing as well...

Looking forward to doing the "Unclutter Your Life in 1 week" over winter break.

Love TV and reading! I watch tons of "geek tv" - meaning the Discovery, Science and Smithsonian channels, along with PBS - but I still manage to find time for Castle, SYTYCD (totally obsessed), NCIS, Medium, Glee, Fringe. Actually, I think I'm addicted to so many shows, I can't list them all. Love the Chelsea Lately in the late night too.

I rarely re-read anymore, but I did go through the entire Harry Potter series when the last book came out. As I'm reading everyone's list, I'm thinking that I have to take more time to remind myself of these old books. At this time of year, I love a good Christmas yarn, and one of my favorites is "The Autobiography of Santa Claus." Fun!

When we bought our house, I suddenly started collecting hardbacks. I can't imagine what will happen when we move. However, I have managed to pick up a few signed first editions by authors like Christopher Moore, Terry Pratchett and Helen Humphreys. She wrote my current favorite book, "The Lost Garden." WWII, gardening, England and prose like poetry. Can't beat that!

I'm like Mary from NorCal--TV makes me anxious. I love to read though (and, like her I enjoyed the Art of Racing in the Rain). I do re-read books, but haven't done so for a while, as there are so many books I have yet to read. Between my own reading selections and the book club I belong to, I'm usually reading 2 or 3 books at a time...

I know you're a sucker for historical fiction and spy thrillers, so I wanted to see if you have the "Maisie Dobbs" series (by Jacqueline Winspear) on your radar. Female private eye in late 1920's England--most of the stories deal with the domestic repercussions of WW1 and the last one begins to foreshadow the rise of fascism in Europe. If you aren't reading these yet, they should definitely be on your 2010 list!

If you're digging Ann Patchett, you're on the right track with Bel Canto and your next one should be Run. Fantastic - enjoy!

Congrats on the manuscript.

I don't have Tivo, but I am soooo grateful for hulu.com. Lots of my favorite TV shows there... Castle (oh god, I remember Nathan Fillion on One Life to Live too!), Lie to me and such.

My favorite book is Dune and anything by Jane Austen. Not a really big fan of apocalyptic stuff, though I always get sucked in to anything about it when the History channel has programs on it. Sigh...

Favorite Stephen King - Insomnia
Favorite Dean Koontz - Odd Thomas
Big Love for Harry Potter - I have noticed that people either LOVE HP or have no interest at all.
So many books so little time

I have read "The Time Traveler's Wife" about 10 times in the last 2 years...LOVE IT! I can also reread and reread and reread "Johnny Tremain" by Ester Forbes, "Ashes in the Wind" by Kathleen Woodiwiss (my guily pleasure/romance go-to book), all the Twilight & Harry Potter books, "The Friday Night Knitting Club" and anything by Patricia Cornwell or James Patterson. I'm one of those people who always has a few books going at one time - currently I'm reading the Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels, "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Piccoult and listening to the 3rd book of the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini.
Oh, and I watch "The Forgotten" too...only a matter of time before it's cancelled :(

I love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. It starts with the book "Outlander" and continues on. The 7th book was just released in September. It's about time travel, romance, and a lot of great drama. At the end of each book I couldn't wait to pick up the next to see where the story was going.
http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1/188-5292298-9831165

I love rereading books! I do it all.the.time. In fact, it's usually darn hard for my friends to get me to read a NEW book, because I'm always wrapped up in the middle of something I've read eleventy billion times.

I saw mention of Crazy Lace on the Ravelry Lace Knitters group; it certainly looks like it could be a trip!

Currently I'm reading (or trying to, what with the knitting and the computering and all) The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, and The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross.

Way of Shadows started out slow. Really slow. Painfully, if I hadn't been promised that it gets better I wouldn't be reading this, slow. But hey, I'm about 3/4 of the way through and actually yeah, it's picking up a bit so I guess I'll see how it goes.

Atrocity Archives only barely makes it onto my current reading list, because it was lent to me by a coworker and I only snuck the first few pages in before I had to put it down and go back to actually working. But those few pages were great! I'm looking forward to reading beyond them!

Sara-- I have not read the Maisie Dobbs series, thanks for the heads up! I am loving all these book recommendations.

I think TV used to make me anxious, too, but after several years now of living alone it's almost like someone else in the house. Like I hang out with Brenda Lee when I watch The Closer, or I see what Oprah is up to today, or I check in with Jon Stewart for my news. That probably sounds pathetic but meh, whatever. I also don't sleep very much so in the middle of the night I either pick up a book or catch up on some Tivo.

I'm also really into "International House Hunters" on HGTV right now. I may not be able to afford a house in Los Angeles, but I might be able to buy a flat in Prague 8!! LOL

Comments make me very happy!! Try "The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant. I loved that book. Comment people: Play nicey nice. We like our comments!

Oh books, I miss you! I am currently rereading all the Little House on the Prairie books and all the 1950s editions of Nancy Drew I own. Beats nursing school texts by a mile.
No TV until I graduate, but I will watch some TV shows on Hulu (www.hulu.com) - free and addicting. Anywhoo, thanks for opening comments! Love books! Oh, Bel Canto is amazing!!

I too read anything and everything. Favorites vary due to mood, but honestly if I want to truly escape reality I go back and reread the ones I read as a kid. Watership Down, Black Stallion, Phantom Tollbooth. Makes all the adult thoughts just float away and I feel like a kid again.
But then depending on mood, I can also go scary, Stephen King, John Saul etc, quirky-Charlaine Harris or Maryjhanice Davidson, Fantasy-Gotta read Anne Bishop and Jennifer Roberson. I could go on and on....

I'm a tvaholic. I love Glee and So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, Top Chef (Voltaggios!)and Rachel Zoe. Just about anything in the way of competition, but I also am addicted to Real Housewives (am I the only one who is bored by the Orange County cast?). I never miss Big Bang Theory. It is always good for a few hearty laughs, just like your blog posts. I'm addicted to them, too.

I too love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

I'm so glad you opened up comments for book talk. I need some new reading material now that winter is finally upon us here in Utah.

You rock Laurie, can't wait for your new book, and I was wondering why you don't do a short romance novel with the characters you wrote a few posts about...the lovers that were running away...remember?

I read your blog everyday (or at least whenever you have a new post) but this is the first time I've felt compelled to comment.

My favourite books that I've read to death (literally because I still have the original books I first bought even though they don't have covers or even a spine and are held together with tape and string) are:

The King Arthur trilogy (actually four books) by Mary Stewart. I'm not one for smarmy romantic stuff but these books are so darn good that I've read them twice a year for the last 30 yrs. I know them off by heart but love them anyway. And actually, I'm a sucker for anything King Arthur - I love that whole myth and Merlin, oh Merlin...swoon...thud. Must be something about the magic...You know he has the ability to make things larger...or smaller. ;^)

Lamb, Christs Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore. I know some other people have already commented on it but is is the funniest book I've read in ages. Or Bloodsucking Fiends or The Stupidest Angel or Pratical Demonkeeping. All are really good books to read when you're feeling down and need a good laugh.

Any Nero Wolfe book I can get my hands on. I read them over and over and over and over...

The Rumpole books as well. I've read them countless times.

Don't get me started on TV. Especially sit-coms. Addicted doesn't even half cover it.

Lordy me! What a lot of comments. You might already have been recommended these, but I have food in the oven and want to type this before it's ready and don't have time to read through everything. Disaster/survivor books - I also love - especially apocalyptic landscape stuff. So: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (the follow up is just released - Year of the Flood, which I haven't read yet), Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, and a couple on my shelves which have been recommended to me but I haven't read yet are The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Mara and Dan by Doris Lessing. Hmmm. Lots of women - are women more into doom writing? Who knows. Off to rescue my dinner...

The Stand is one of my all-time favorites, too. Great story. For classics, Anna Karenina is my go-to re-read.

More contemporary. . . have you ready anything by Wally Lamb? She's Come Undone is awesome. So is I Know this Much is True. And I'm almost finished with The Hour I First Believed. (can you see the theme in his titles?) Awesome author.

Rohinton Mistry is good too. Novels based in India that really give you a feel for the people and culture. A Fine Balance is my favorite of his so far. Great stuff, but be prepared for some heavy topics. SOmetimes you have to be in the right mood, ya know?

Oh, and I just got Stephen King's new one, Under the Dome. It's BIG and sounds interesting in the same sort of way that The Stand is interesting. We'll see. As soon as I finish Wally Lamb's book, this one is up next.

Oh, and I'm a TV addict, too. Have been since I was a kid. It's usually on in the background while I do most anything. Thank goodness I work at home! :)

Love when you open comments on books. I remember when we all talked about favorite books we read as kids.

I get on author/character kicks also. Right now I'm working on Tess Gerritsen murder mysteries. Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is great fun. Jason Pinter. Kay Hooper - her series about FBI agents with paranormal cases, not her earlier romances. Jim Butcher has a terrific series about a detective/wizard which needs to be read in order to fully appreciate character development.
So many books, so little time.

I am reading Truth and Beauty by Ann Pachett. It is a non-fiction book.

I will continue to watch a lot of TV until my cats become good conversationalists. It is one of the perils of living alone. I have to hear some other voices than my own.

I watched Hoarders a few times but I find it too sad in the end. Only one of the shows featured someone who got better.

I love Hoarders! It makes me do some cleaning, and then give thanks that my nueroses are incredibly minor.

Book reccomendations - A Winters Tale by Mark Helprin - beautifully written modern fairy tale and/or Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

If you don't mind sci-fi writers, check out The Parable of the Sower series by Octavia Butler.

You will LOVE 2012. Is it the disaster end-of-the-world movie to end all disaster end-of-the-world movies. Plus, Woody Harrelson's butt crack.

I just started an end of days survival story on audio: One Second After by William R. Forstchen. I'm not too far into it yet, but I am enjoying it.

The Stand is also one of my all time favorites, though I haven't re-read it for a long time.

Sadly, I've been stitching and sewing my heiney off lately, I don't have the time to read that much anymore. It may be time for me to join a book club again. I read Bel Canto for a book club and it was a great read. Like Water for Chocolate is one of my all time favorites!

Now tv...that I can talk about all day. I may as well be married to my Tivo. CSI, NCIS, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, Top Chef, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Glee, Ghost Whisperer, The Closer. Did I miss anything?! I love TV...my BF hates all my shows too. It's amazing we're still together.

I love that you describe yourself "busy, busy yet hermity". Trust me...I can relate. That description fits me to a T too.

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy.

If you have Netflix, watch To Be and To Have on the watch instantly option.

I guess it's a teacher thing.

yay for comments!

My all time BEST purchase was an unabridged, paperback copy of The Stand, from Boders. I was normally like $8.99, but then I had a $5 off coupoun, so I got it for $3.99!!! I almost crapped myself, right there in Borders, I was so happy and excited. I reread it last year, but as Christmas break is coming up, maybe I'll reread it AGAIN!

Other than textbooks on Urban Planning and Community Development, I haven't done much other reading since classes started back up. But I kept buying books that I wanted to read. Finally, I got smart (and I can't remember if I got this idea from you or another blog): all the books I haven't read yet, or definitely want to reread in the near future, I put on a different bookshelf, like my own little lending library. Now that they're not sitting in a pile on my nightstand, I don't feel so bad about not reading them all right away. And I like looking at that shelf, knowing what's in store for me, when I have time...

But like another commenter said- it's hard to read and knit at the same time. How do you choose between two such comforting and relaxing activities?!?!?! How, I ask you?!?!?

Thanks for opening up comments on this one - I've picked up a bunch of recommendations for postapocalyptic books (my favorite!). I'd second the recommendation for Sunshine and add:
Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling (first in a series, but it stands alone pretty well)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

LOVE books. And now that I've re-discovered the library as an adult, I can read all I want, guilt-free.

I will read anything by Dean Koontz. He's one of the few authors whose books I still buy as soon as they hit the stores. My favorite of his is "Watchers". Or maybe "The Taking". I've re-read both several times.

Another favorite re-read is "Prey" by Michael Crichton.

TV - Long story short, when we all went digital, I abstained and started watching via Hulu. Free, easy, watch when I want. My favorites are House, Burn Notice, Fringe, Glee, Lie to Me, Modern Family, Warehouse 13, and White Collar (that guy has seriously beautiful eyes!).

Hey, Laurie. I'd like to comment on a previous post - the one with Carmex. I completely agree that Carmex is the best; hands down. But have you seen the new Carmex tubes? They're slim and silver and fit perfectly into even the smallest purse. Carmex in a feminine package, at last! If you don't find it in LA, let me know and I'll send you some from Houston. (p.s. Speaking of books we love, I'm re-reading Drunk, Divorced... I'm still trying to master knitting. Christmas is coming and I've got knitting tools on my list!)

catch-22 and gone with the wind. kind of a strange combo for faves, but there you have it.

Shiree-- I am actually working on my first fiction book. But it's not Katie and Armando, though I have not let them go. I just think Katie makes me a little sad. I like my new character better, she's funnier and says all the wrong things.

Debbie, you just summed up my TV habits!! "Until my cats become better conversationalists..." I love to read but sometimes the house is cavernous at 3 a.m. so I like to watch TV when I get insomnia.

I just upgraded to the Tivo that lets you watch Netflix, I may have to take a vacation day just to stay home and jump inside it. Because TV is my cardio. There is nothing better than a day spent knitting, drinking hot tea and watching Netflix documentaries or a whole season of a show you're into (that's what I did when I got the pig flu -- I watched a whole season of Dexter!! Boy that gave me some weird dreams.)

If you like romance and mystery, you must read Bitter Tide by Ann Stamos. It takes place in early 20th century New York. Lots of atmosphere, politics, detecting, and misunderstandings. I loved it. Cheers, and happy reading/TV-watching.

Hey, given your love of cold, and history, and adventure, you might enjoy The Terror by Dan Simmons.

You can read about it here to see if it piques your fancy...

The Terror

(Hope I did that right...)

I do read books over. I have some I read at certain times of the year and I do that with movies, too. I'm going to look through the comments for good book tips, but I just read a couple books by Nicholas Christopher that were really good - A Trip to the Stars: A Novel and The Beastiary. They remind me a little of Isabelle Allende, sort of mystical realism or fantastical realism or something like that. The characters are in the real world, not a fantasy world, but sort of magical things happen. Also, about reading books over, my friend's mom keeps books because after a while she will forget them and she can read them again and it's like a new book! :)

Well, I didn't. Cut and paste...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(novel)

I haven't watched Hoarders, but do get sucked in by Clean House - and I love NCIS, CSI, and Warehouse 13 (I hope it will be back and I wasn't the only one watching)

Reading - yes... just finished the Scarpetto Factor. I'm taking notes, I haven't read The Magician's Assistant and need to make a trip to Barnes & Noble (I should use the library, but returning seems to challenge me.)

I'm so glad someone else out there watches castle!! I love that show and I don't know a single person in real life who watches it too. I watch a LOT of tv, but I do love reading too! it's just been a while, unless you include reading stuff on the internet...

Book --- "The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California" by Curt Gentry. It's from the '60s, but you may be able to find it online...earthquake...California falls into the ocean...need I say more?

Wow, so many comments!! I haven't read them all, but I saw that someone already mentioned Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I love Jamie and Claire! I don't know if you like audio books or not, but the unabridged versions of the Outlander series (Davina Porter narrates) is very good. I love audiobooks - makes my 90 minute round trip commute bearable every day. I've also read, listened to Harry Potter multiple times. Oh, and The Shining and The Dark Tower series. I read both versions of The Stand, does that count as multiple readings? I was/am a Stephen King junkie.

TV - LOVE-LOVE-LOVE NCIS, CSI (mostly the original) and 24 (but only on DVD, because the weekly cliffhangers would make me crazy).

OMG! Comments again! And just when I was thinking that I would love to tell you that I watched Hoarders too. LOVED IT!

I don't have TV. I have Netflix and I Netflix everything. Right now I'm watching Deadwood. I just went to my in-laws for a week in FL and spent most of my time watching cable TV. Did you know there is a show on TLC called "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant"?!??!! Can you stand it?!

I am officially addicted to TVahol. I can't wait until I am an old lady and my kids stick me in a nursing home so I can sit around and watch TV all day while the nurses bring me my meals and medication and I don't have to worry about a thing except when my shows are on!

I love Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, John Irving, and T.C. Boyle. I frequently re-read Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind, The Thirteenth Tale, and lots of books from my childhood.

Great post! I was nodding my head in agreement at every sentence!

Nathan Fillion was seemingly equally surprised as you to get a second season of Castle, but we're all grateful for it. You've inspired me; I may have to reread The Stand for the millionth time, right after I finish Audrey Niffeneger's new book, Her Fearful Symmetry.

Yea! Comments! And Reading Comments!

I've read all the suggestions and have a huge list of books to read now. Keep them coming.

I just read "It takes a Village Idiot" by Jim Mullen and laughed out loud. Loved it. I also just read "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd.

I'm plowing through Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel" and I have "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall in the stack. "Born to Run" was highly recommended to me, but I haven't read it yet.

About Christopher Moore's "Stupidest Christmas Angel": I had never read any Christopher Moore. Didn't know who he was. At the library I got the book on CD and was going for a walk listing to it. I had to stop walking and sit on the curb because I was laughing so hard. I'm sure the people driving by were staring and pointing, but I didn't care. IKEA! IKEA! BRAINS! Holy weirdness! But it is funny.

I also love anything by Bill Bryson, but my favorite is "A Walk in the Woods". Robert Fulghum's essays are great as well. I love anything by Stephanie-Yarn Harlot-McPhee too.

Let's face it. I love to read. Love it. Everything from fiction to non-fiction - I'm no snob. If it holds my interest, I'm in.

I just want to tell you while the comments are up how much your blog means to me. When you do have comments I love the interaction/community that your readers have as well. I can't wait for your new book. It ought to be a blast. I've reread your first book several times as well.

Wow, thanks for all the new ideas for post-apocalyptic fiction! One of my favorite themes.

Thanks to you, I have been watching Glee (on the internet, I don't have a tv). Also V, Lost and Flash Forward--which is kind of post-apocalyptic. From no tv to fairly much, thanks to the new internet options... I'm going to check out some of these recommendations, too.

I just read The Children's Blizzard and it was AWESOME. Like, "I almost called in sick to work" awesome, and in this economy with jobs so shaky, that's saying something. It's a nonfiction work about a blizzard in the Great Plains in 1888 that essentially came out of nowhere and tons of people froze to death, including children on their way home from school. Sort of an adult version of Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. It even mentioned The Long Winter. Loved it!

Ohmygodlaurie! I am *so* obsessed with 'Hoarders'! I love it but it also gives me the willies. I force my husband to watch it with me just to prove that just because we have five cats and I have a ton of yarn and knitting supplies that I am NOT a hoarder. I think he saw the light on the first episode. And he may have been a little traumatized by it. By the end of each show I find myself obsessively cleaning my kitchen with bleach. :)

Just finished reading "The Invisible Wall" by Harry Bernstein. I'm super into memoirs right now and he wrote this at the age of 93! I loved it so much I just ordered his two follow up books from Amazon. Great book.

I'm currently reading The Reincarnationist from your recommendation a long time ago. It's very good. I also loved Water for Elephants and The Time Traveler's Wife.

My favorite author now is Dean Koontz. His Watchers, By the Light of the Moon and Sole Survivor were very good.

I have Lovely Bones on audio tape and it was wonderful!

I love Glee and So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, Amazing Race, The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, and Survivor. Have you ever watched Cash Cab on Discovery? - that's fun, too.

End of the world, natural disasters, or anything with a nice fatal disease epidemic---- and a complete 180, all the old Georgette Heyer books.
The Mentalist, NCIS, Flashforward, and BBC police detective stories like Collision or Inspector Lynley, or the very very best, Foyle's War [all on Netflix.]

Just to add to your growing list of books to read...check out Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. It's an end-of-the-world-post-apocalypse type of story. The whole series is on my re-read list.

The Stand is My ALL time favorite book...close behind are all of the Dark Tower Series books by King (I reread all of the above once a year). I grew up reading him...starting way back in the olden days with Carrie and Salem's Lot and have read everything since....multiple times!!

Time Traveler's Wife is a big favorite.

My name is Beth and I am a 40something year old Stephanie Meyers, Twilight reader...(not too ashamed to say).

Then there is this great new writer Laurie something or other...you may have heard or her something, something covered in cat hair book???

You do rock Laurie!!

I rarely get rid of books and I rarely loan books either. I just think they are too precious. That may be selfish of me, huh?

I read Bel Canto last year and LOVED it. No one else in my bookclub did though!?! I've read The Magician Assistant and just finished Patron Saint of Liars. That may be my second favorite of hers.

Also I just plowed through The Devil in the White City. I couldn't put it down. And last night I started The Help. It's looking like there may be many late nights in my future.

I think that Tivo is the greatest invention EVER! But I find myself trying to Tivo the rest of my life...the radio, a conversation, etc.

And I agree, your blog is awesome and I hate that a small group of people cause you to turn off your comments. It's sad that some people just don't have a life. Take care!

I also adore end-of-world books and movies! My boyfriend is totaly shocked/bemused by it because it totally doesn't fit with the rest of my personality either, but I dragged him to 2012 the day it opened! I enjoyed the movie - it's not like the BEST movie or anyting, but it was fun! Oh, I'll read absolutely any type of book too. Reciently I read The Book Theif and just loved it.

Glad you opened the commnets! Hope the crazies stay away.

I too always find myself trying to do the 5-second replay with the radio like you can on Tivo. Crazy!

I have a terrible time getting rid of books--even when I run out of shelf space and room for another book shelf...I used to read lots of Stephen King, but somehow I haven't ever read The Stand. Must go find it at the library...I also read while I watch tv, but a lot of time the tv is just background noise for me. I can't stand total silence for very long. I start feeling twitchy. Definitely love The Closer! Hoarders makes me want to clean my house. Then I have to lie down until the feeling goes away.

Woohoo! Love me some books. I'll second Elizabeth Peters--I like both the Amelia Peabody series and Vicki Bliss series. Also anything by Rhys Bowen, Jacqueline Winspear, Donna Leon, Susan Wittig Albert (and her books written with her husband under the name Robin Paige) and Bruce Alexander--all cozy mysteries (not lots of sex and violence). I'm sure there are more but I want to get this in before comments close.

Thanks for the suggestions, ladies. I've added a few of these to my reading list.

Anything and everything by (no particular order, love 'em all):
Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker,Ivan Doig, Pat Conroy.

I read The Stand in high school and again a few years later and now because of your post I've been hankering to reread it.

I'm currently rereading Outlander by Diana Galbadon for the umpteenth time. Fortunately I got it on audible so I can listen and stitch or knit or crochet(have those gifts to finish!)

Recently I reread all the Cherry Ames books, you know Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, Cherry Ames R.N.?

I have read A Moveable Feast a hundred times. I want to be in that Paris, all the American ex-pat artists and writers.

I've read The Great Gatsby more times than I want to admit, I crushed on F. Scott Fitzgerald big time in high school and wanted to be Zelda. I devoted a whole term paper to her. Can you say obsessed?

I also love Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier(I'm sure I spelled that wrong)another book I read in high school and I must be drawn to dark characters and impossible life situations.

Other books I love and reread all the time, Bird By Bird by Annie LaMott, Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg.

TV? We are so addicted to Glee and Dexter and Californication(Rick Springfield! Nekkid! I'm such an 80s girl). Also True Blood and Big Love and The Closer. And my guilty pleasure, South Park.

Just finished reading the book 'never after' which is short stories. Loved it so much that I turned it over to my daughter. It's four really good stories, about love and the power of women. I picked it up on a whim and I totally recommend it

Ditto what everyone has said about Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. They are incredible!

One of my all time favorite books is Swan Song by Robert McCammon. It follows the survivors of a nuclear attack and is a wonderful book. I actually liked it better than The Stand.

Watchers is my favorite Dean Koontz book.

Another favorite that I have read 3 times now is Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair. That one got me through "the bad year." =) Thanks, Laurie. You will never know how much reading your book helped get me through. It is one that I have gifted to many friends.

Anything and everything by (no particular order, love 'em all):
Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker,Ivan Doig, Pat Conroy.

Yay, comments! I love all books equally just bc they are books, but I'm partial to the ones with satisfyingly wrap-it-all-up endings. (No O Henry for me!) The BEST book for that, hands down, is 100 Years of Solitude. It's a bit hard to get though, what with all the Aurelianos and Buendias, but the last paragraph makes it all worthwhile. Anyone else feel the same way???

If you haven't read it... no fair peeking! The end won't make sense if you haven't read the book anyway.

Bel Canto is amazing.

I had an apocalyptic reading period a bit ago. Here were my favorites:
The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Recently I read "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks. LOVED IT. Great book.

Holy cow!!!! Another Castle watcher?! Whoo hooo! I thought I was alone. :) How much do you want them to hook up??!!

Thanks so much for opening comments!!! Thanks to you and your readers, I'll have a whole pile of good stuff to read for my upcoming very long flight to Australia! Y'all rock!
I enthusiastically second the Doomsday Book by Willis. And the Stand is one of my re-reads too. I also loved your book, even if I'm not a knitter, you have such a great writing voice.
I am such a dork about reading that I often cry at the end of a book - because I can't stand to have the story end.
Not much of a tee-vee'er, but I do love me some Glee on hulu.

I feel the same way about 100 Years of Solitude (which I first read in Spanish!!) and all Isabel Allende. I am too someone who prefers a tidy ending to my fiction, which I know makes me an outcast in the intellectual circles. Though the best ending is one which ties up the original central premise but lets the characters live on in your mind, so you wonder what happens next!

And to think all this time I feared I was the only woman reading post-apocalyptic stories!!! I love all these suggestions, my to-read list is now two pages long!

Can't watch TV, too addicted. Netflix and knitting keeps things in moderation.

A great book...
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Keasey

End of days book
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Anything by Jane Smiley

I am rereading Connie Willis books right now, "Doomsday Book" that others here have mentioned, and "To Say Nothing of the Dog" a more humorous take on time travel, and just finished "Bellwether" on fads (also humorous). I enjoyed "Passage" but it was too intense to reread anytime soon.
And thanks to the comments, I have a list of new things to check out.

I read Bel Canto in my bookgroup and loved it. I've not read The Stand as sometimes I get too scared by Stephen King books. The best, best book I've read in years is "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel" by Lisa See. It is just the most beautifully written story of friendship, love, loss, pride, etc. written with the background of 19th century rural China. The descriptions of foot-binding are rather graphic but that is really the smallest part of this lovely book.

BTW I LOVE Hoarders. It makes me want to clear out things (and sometimes I actually do it) and also makes me feel like I'm not as bad of a slob as I think. You feel the same way about these people as I do, they do not have an easy life, it must be v. difficult. Then I look and think...why am I keeping x. I haven't used that in years. Goodwill has gotten 4 car loads from me since I found this show.

Thanks for opening comments and telling us about the Target sweater. I'm buying one now!

I just love a good book but I'm always a little late to the party with the latest 'must read' book. I didn't read any Harry Potter until the last book had been out a while - and then read all seven, back to back over a two week period.

I've just finished reading The Book Thief, that came highly recommended,....and it's taken me since August to finish it. Kept distracting myself with Ravelry and knitting magazines because I was scared that nasty things would happen to the main character!

One of the best books I've read recently is The Time Traveler's Wife. Loved it. Read it in two days. Finished it in tears at 1am!!

I could go on.....and on....but I won't.

Happy reading :)

xxx

I totally just got hooked on Hoarders as well - holy cow, I just want to reach into the TV and shake them all by the shoulders and say "Throw it all out!!". It must be really hard to not be able to get rid of things like that, and i can't imagine what it must be like to live like that. My heart definitely goes out to them.

I'm currently reading The Lovely Bones, which I am loving. Two of my all time favorites are Lamb by Christopher Moore (funniest darn book I have ever read! Seriously, had me literally laughing out loud every few pages), and the Time Traveler's Wife. That was a hell of a love story, told in such an original way. I didn't see the movie because I knew it would never live up to the book. I also just finished reading the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. It was a plane ride read, and not really my favorite book of his. But, it helped pass the time, so it did the trick!

I also go through reading spurts since I am hopelessly addicted to my Tivo too - have been since 1999. If Tivo went away I think I would seriously cry. Not just a tear or two, but the full blown ugly cry. :)

For a good "end of days" type read, _The Forest of Hands and Teeth_ was a great, fast read, and there are sequels coming as well. I think it's technically considered a "Young Adult" novel; I only wish the YA fiction was that racy when I was a teenager. ;)

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, which won the Pulitzer prize. Bought it, haven't read it yet, but the movie is coming out with VIGGO MORTENSEN.

I also would like to suggest The Art of Racing in the Rain. I thought of you when I read it, it strikes me as a book you might really enjoy. Fun, yet thoughtful. A very quick read too.

Run, by Anne Patchett. Really good!

I love watching Hoarders but feel an almost uncontrolable need to shower after I watch it. And then go dig everything out of my closets and throw it away.

(after you close them, can we still read them?)

I re-re-re-re-read In Cold Blood. My first 'true crime' love......

Yeah. Hoarders caused me to *actually* pack up all those magazines instead of piling them artistically around the living room for Someday. Yikes.

Castle. Yum. Yumyumyum. Yum.

My all time favorite books: To Kill a Mockingbird, and Diminished Capacity. That book made me laugh out loud. I'd read it again, except I loaned to some $%^&^*& who never returned it. I HATE that!

Favorite movies: I LOVE christmas movies, all of them, but during non christmas months, Oh Brother Where art thou, and anything with nicolas cage

TV: I'm a Sci Fi Geek. I'm getting into Stargate Universe now, and old re runs of any star trek shows and movies...

As you can see, I'm easily entertained :-)

I have been addicted to biographies since reading Augusten Burroughs "Running With Scissors." But not historical biography, only present-day stuff so that I can relate better to another person's experience. And I love food writing. So, as a perfect merge of the two genres, I have just discovered (and devoured) Ruth Reichl's "Garlic & Sapphires: The Secret Life a Critic in Disguise." It is the story of how she became to be the restaurant critic for the New York Times, and the fascinating things that she learned through the disguises that she used doing the reviews. I am now reading another of her books, "Tender at the Bone", which is the story of how she became a master of food. You would love both!

I'm afraid the only time I've read a book twice is if I forgot I read it the first time. I'll get half way through it and realize I've already read it before, but since I rarely remember the ending, I'll finish it.

I like the show Lie to Me. Don't know if it is new but it is new to me.

My favorite shows right now are Bones and The Mentalist.

And my favorite book is probably Was by Geoff Ryman. It's a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, but not like Wicked. More of a behind the scenes of Dorothy, L. Frank Baum, Judy Garland, etc.

Bel Canto is a beautiful book. I haven't read The Magician's Assistant.

Also, I love Castle and Glee. Have you seen Firefly, the TV series that Nathan Fillion (aka Richard Castle) also starred in? Unfortunately, only one season (...so I'm guessing you MIGHT have seen it?), but also one movie called Serenity that kind of tied up some loose ends. I also love Psych (USA) and Eureka (SyFy), but we catch those on Hulu or DVDs. And also Gossip Girl, but that's my dirty little secret.

My fave rereads are Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott and the Anne of Green Gables books. And the Harry Potter series. And Jane Austen books. And...and...and...

I also love books and TV. :)

I love Hoarders, though it terrifies me a little too. I definitely fight that tendency to hang on to things way too long. I LOVE Castle--makes me happy to watch it.

I will reread Jane Austen anytime, but my most often reread is Gone with the Wind. Every time I move, I pull it out and read it to feel at home again. I also reread To Kill a Mockingbird from time to time. And definitely Mists of Avalon.

I love biography, too. Just finished Matches in the Gas Tank: Trial by Fire in the Armstrong Cult by Carla Powers. Riveting story of the author's upbringing in the Worldwide Church of God, including abusive father and heroine mother. Well written, well researched.

Thanks for comments.

I, too, am a lifelong re-reader. Two books I've been reading for years are Little, Big and National Velvet. And I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as a straight go about every 5 years, it seems.

Timeline is another favorite. I listened to the book on tape so many times I had to dismantle cassettes in order to do an emergency repair with a tiny piece of scotchtape so the tale could continue. Several times.

It's funny that you mentioned Olive Kitteredge! I had never heard of it - or the author - but I borrowed the book (on CDs) from the library a week ago. Then I sold my van and bought a little old(er) car that has only a cassette player, so I have to do some research and buy some sort of adaptor and portable CD player or something Very Soon. Driving would be very, very difficult without audiobooks now :)

I, too, love post-Apocalyptic fiction! I actually wrote an annotated booklist on my blog (hi, I am a librarian!) called The End of the World As We Know It - it's here: http://blog.threegoodrats.com/2008/04/its-end-of-world-as-we-know-it-booklist.html

I just read Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick, which is all about the books those of us in our 30s grew up on (like Judy Blume, for example). It has made me want to go back and re-read so many of them! I love YA books anyhow, and recently read Fat Cat by Robin Brande, which was fantastic. It's a sort of body-image-meets-science-fair kind of book. If that makes any sense.

I solved my wanting to knit and read at the same time dilemna by picking up one of those book weights that holds your book open for you and learning a couple of very easy patterns that I can knit by touch so I don't have to watch every stitch. (Gotta love garter stitch!) I'm also one of those crazy knitters who takes their knitting to the movies, the pub, school performances, pretty much anywhere I think I can get away with it. :)

Another set of reading recommendations (if you're looking for some good smutty stuff) are the Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey and the Meredith Gentry books by Laurell K. Hamilton. So many hotties!

Have Fun!

Oh I LOVE Ann Patchett. I also went on an Ann Patchett bender a few years ago where I read everything she wrote. I can't remember which book I started with, it may have been Bel Canto, which I LOVED.

I'm glad to see you like Castle too. One of my weaknesses is detective shows and I love if they are funny too. I bet you would like White Collar, which is about an art thief and forger helping solve art and forgery crimes with the guy who caught him.

We've been calling it Captain Tripps since last year. :) I love that book.
Lucifer's Hammer is a fun apocalypse read.

I LOVED Olivia Kittredge - top ten books of all time. My new books are "Zeitoun" by David Eggers and "Changing my Mind" by Zadie Smith and I am SO EXCITED to get them!!!

I love Hoarders. My heart goes out to those people. It helps me to keep my own clutter somewhat under control.

I have a Kindle and highly recommend it. It's great for those books you want to re-read because they are just a click away. Also, I can knit and read the Kindle at the same time. I could not do this with a printed book. The Kindle stays open and I click 'next page' with my pinkie.

An author that I like who I haven't seen mentioned here is Jodi Picoult. I've read all of her books. A new favorite: Kathleen Valentine (who is also a knitter). She wrote "The Old Mermaid's Tale" and just released "Each Angel Burns".

Recent good books I've read: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout, No Time to Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James (and her one about Jane Austen was very good, too) and Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton.

Ooooh, comments are open! I never email because I feel silly doing it, but there are so many times I want to comment on something you've said - so I'm going to take the rare opportunity to do it now!

I LOVE Stephen King, and The Stand has to be one of my favorites! I haven't read it in ages, and now I want to - as soon as I'm done reading what I'm reading now (The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood - another absolute FAVORITE author of mine!) A book that I've read through several times and always go back to is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver...she writes characters that, to me, engender different facets of what could be one person, so you find yourself really relating to each person she writes. Great book. For some really fun reading I LOVE John Le Carre - I've never been much of a spy novel kind of person, but he writes great espionage! I adore Little Drummer Girl, probably my favorite Le Carre book ever.

Wow, I could go on and on and on (and probably have already!) between my insatiable love of books as a little girl, to my lit degree, to my efforts to balance knitting time with reading time (I find the best reading time I have right now is nursing my son to sleep at night, lying in bed with a dim light on and reading while he falls alseep!)

My favourite books are the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (yes, 2 x F's). A great romp for the literate and some just plain silliness. Love his writing! Also there are his Nursery Crimes books. Enjoy.

Ooh, I was just scanning comments and saw someone mention finishing The Time Traveler's Wife in tears at 1 am (I did, too!) - another book that will leave you in tears at the end is Last Days of Summer, by Steve Kluger. It's a "boy and his favorite baseball player" book, but it's not...it's just amazing. Definitely read it if you have the chance, I think you'd like it!

Favorite TV: Castle, The Closer and the recent "V"

Favorite recent fiction: Olive Kitteridge, The Help. Ditto on the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series recommendation!

Favorite classics: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Rebecca, East of Eden and To Kill a Mockingbird. Harry Potter for recent classics. Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are both fabulous audiobooks. For some reason I enjoy the "old English" language novels in audio form better than reading them.

Speaking of audiobooks, for fun "brain candy" audiobooks to knit by (yay for multi-tasking!) I highly recommend the Sookie Stackhouse books (the HBO series True Blood is based on these) by Charlaine Harris. The books are much lighter than the series and Sookie is laugh out loud funny, especially with the narrator of the audio version.

I love reading and have so many favorites I could write a book but I have to stop here. Thanks for opening up the comments; how fun to see what everyone is reading.

And liking animals, you should check out Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte - it's about how his wife basically takes every animal she comes across in, and he learns to love having his home overrun...

The name says it all, right? I also love to re-read books--something that my husband does not get at all, although he will watch "The Magnificent Seven" any time it's on TV. Which is often.
Haven't read all the comments, so don't know if anyone above me has recommended the "Change" novels of S. M. Stirling. They're set in a post-apocalyptic world that has experienced a massive power failure: electricity, internal combustion engines and gunpowder no longer work, so the survivors of the apocalypse have to resurrect medieval farming and fighting technologies. Good stuff.

I've just moved overseas (from Canada to Australia) and don't get as much time to watch evening TV as I used to. I think it's mostly because I'm still getting used to all the strange channels AND a lot of shows don't start at the top or bottom of the hour like I'm used to. Things start at 10 past or quarter to. It's weird and kind of frustrating because when one show finishes you can't always guarantee that you'll be finding a show that hasn't been going for 10 minutes already.

As for books, I love John Irving and re-read A Widow For One Year all the time (A Prayer for Owen Meany is a good one too).
I'm kind of the same way with movies (and CDs), I'll watch the same movie over and over again :-) Drives my BF nuts!

Have you read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society yet? It's one of those books that I didn't want to end. SO fabulous.

I'm a TVaholic, too, and unemployed. Yea. Ellen, Judge Judy and re-runs of Bones are daily events in my life. I don't know what I'd do without my DVR, either.

I use to reread Transactions in a Foreign Currency by Deborah Eisenberg and Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz over and over again. I haven't read any books over recently that I'm aware of! I'm presently reading Push, by Sapphire, the book that Precious, the movie, is based on. Don't know if I'll see the movie, though. Usually,movies are disappointing.

I have OCD. Hoarding is an aspect of OCD. Though, I'm not a hoarder. I am a slob, though. Sometimes it's a fine line. If network tv is exploiting hoarders, schizophrenic and bipolar people can't be far behind.

As for end of the world stuff, The Road by Cormac McCarthy is very VERY post apocalyptic, by like 10 years. It creeped me out a lot while making me think... I read it 18 months ago I think and I still think about it at odd moments. I can't say I like the book, exactly, but it's certainly evocative. I don't plan on seeing the movie with Viggo M., but the trailer is available online and is in keeping with book...

I LOVE Castle, and like you, I was surprised that it wasn't cancelled. It sort of reminds me of the 80's show "Moonlighting" with Bruce Willis. The rest of the time, I watch SyFy channel (B disaster movies on Saturday nights), Discovery channel (Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, and Mythbusters), and most anything on the Science Channel (I'm a geek, though the boyfriend calls me a nerd).

Lisa -- I don't know if they're exploiting hoarders, exactly, though it is a fine line. I read the Hoarders message boards once and many of the actual people who had been on the show (as the hoarder) commented that it was an overall vastly positive experience for them and had helped them more than just for the episode -- like they continued to get counseling and some were even able to keep their homes (and kids!) because of having participated.

And I am a firm believer in the idea that if you do not want to be exploited on TV, do not go on the program as its subject. People don't get forced to be on TV or anything, they do participate and they do seem to get follow-up counseling offered.

That show really sucked me in because I have the sort of tendencies that could lead that way and I carefully guard against them, but I totally get how you can end up in the middle of a life you don't know how to change and so my heart goes out to them.

And I think in a way it demystifies that type of behavior so maybe more people will at least understand that it happens, and for those who are hoarders maybe they see they aren't alone, and maybe will get help.

I have a HARD time parting with things and so watching the show helps me keep my emotions in check about "stuff." It is after all just stuff.

Right now, I'm on a textbook kick but that'll be over Dec. 11. On the side, I'm reading The End of Overeating which is fantastic. And when I've got a few spare minutes, I'm working on Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. I loved the series on HBO and hope it continues.

Oh, um, I'm back! Another good suggestion for post-apocalyptic writing is Y: The Last Man - it's a graphic novel, and you can buy it in paperback collections: http://www.amazon.com/Unmanned-Last-Brian-K-Vaughan/dp/1563899809/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259884036&sr=8-1

Brian Vaughan write great characters, and the entire thing is about an epidemic that wipes out all of the men on the planet, except for one man and his pet monkey. EXCELLENT stuff, don't look down on it because it's a "comic book"!

You may have already read these - but I love Barbara Kingsolver's Bean Trees (and the sequel - Pigs In Heaven). She has a wonderful sense of humor in the writing and the characters are strong women.

I'm reading Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" and I'm enjoying it more than the other ones.
I LOVED Nelson DeMille's "The Charm School" dated cold war spy but a stay up till 2:00am to finish it read for me
I also loved "The Red Tent" wonderful book.
and of course YOUR book - I've gifted and recommended it so many times now! I loved it !
:-)
Sue

I really like disaster movies. Tied for 2nd place are dis-topian movies (check out Equilibrium and Aeon Flux) and inspiration sports movies (The Rookie, Miracle, and Invincible).

On the TV from I am loving Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Monk (which ends for good tomorrow night!), Psych, The Office, V, Big bang Theory, and I am anxiously waiting for the final season of LOST to start.

Now I have to write down all these titles and head to the library with the list.

On my list is The Stand, Pride and Prejudice, the Outlander series, I Capture the Castle, the Unthinkable (a great book for those of us who think the worst will happen in any situation), Tim (by Colleen McCollough).

For TV, you must rent Jericho from Netflix. You simply must. Or Tivo it from SciFi channel, they show marathons of it every couple of months (but it's better to start from the beginning).

Oh love your suggestions but a few are not released till next year such a drag to have to wait but since we actually instituted a book budget I can always find something to catch my interest for reading. I mean how in the HECK do you go without a good book to curl up with. An unfortunate episode did occur a while ago since we live in a rural area we have a small local bookstore that I try and use as much as possible but sometime just have to break down and drive the 30 miles to Barnes and Noble and of course my biggest solution is to purchase online but our mail is very slow up here and as I ramble a bit back to the unfortunate episode I was out of new reading material and had not been able to access the old favorites due to some remodling at home found myself reading the back of the cereal box with in some ways is quite entertaining but doesn't have the same ability to hold your attention for more than what 20, 30 minutes okay yes I can be easily entertained if left to my own devices. Oh well love your thoughts and ramblings match my own so much I am not from the south but with my family history so many of your saying and responses crack me up and I feel a real connection with many of yours. Thank you Traci

This is the most fun I have had in days! Thanks for all these great comments!

I love that you have the Awakening on your list. I have been daydreaming about that book for the last two weeks, and was thinking that I would recommend it to you and then poof! there it was on your list of beloved books. That book always fills me with love, hope, deep sorrow, and incredible pride....and just an awe for her incredible gift with language.

Love the Stand, one of my favourite books, and I have nearly finished "Under the Dome" read it you wil enjoy it also - Stephen King rocks!!!

A "not read in public book because you will laugh and make strange hysterical noises" is "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson.

Judi -- The Awakening is my all-time favorite book. Back in college when I read it I just cried into my elbow because I thought I could never become a writer, because I could never be as good as Kate Chopin. Something about that story just touched me so deeply.

Eventually I got over my need to be Kate Chopin and had to settle just being me. :) But that book is something very special.

I reread "Little Women" every couple years and "To Kill a Mockingbird" gets better and better every single time. When I moved to France the one thing I wished I could bring but couldn't was my books. (Well, and my vintage record player, but that's a whole other topic.) They ARE old friends and I hate even to hear when people get rid of them. Seeing discarded books hurts my feelings.

As for watching TV, I kinda miss it sometimes but seeing CSI in French IS pretty funny. "Les Experts" it's called. Ha!

On the subject of Hoarders - I would PROBABLY love that show. I once worked helping a hoarder pair down his EIGHT public storage units containing mountains and mountains of stuff, most of which he had specific reasons not to part with. In the end I just couldn't do it because we just went in circles. He couldn't throw it out! Sad!

Hooray for open comments!

(Love your blog, btw. Thought I should say that whilst I can.)

Haven't heard of Ann Patchett, so checked out the library catalogue and there she is! So will start with Matgician, then Bel Canto.

I went to a Sisters in Crime awards night (Melbourne, Australia) the other week, and went to the library and got a couple of books out. Have begun with the master, Raymond Chandler and The Big Sleep.

I also liked A Moveable Feast, have a copy and you've reminded me that i must read it again.

As another commenter mentioned, wish the negative commenters would desist! I like reading what your other blog readers have to say, it is a very enjoyable community of readers you have!

I am a big Stephen King fan and have read The Stand a few times myself.

My son recently recommended a book of short stories that King wrote a couple of years ago that is now out in papeback: Just After Sunset. It's a great book - I did just take a trip - to California - and it was the perfect companion.

I also read Duma Key recently and really enjoyed it. However, my all time favorite book by SK is one he wrote for his daughter when she was in seventh grade titled The Eyes of the Dragon. I don't think it's well known, so you might have to hunt for a copy.

Books! I love reading, too, and have been on kick of getting books through the library so I can save my $ for travel and such. Someone has already suggested Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood to appeal to your liking for apocalyptic stories, but I'll second it. She's been doing very intriguing performances (not "readings") for this book and I was lucky enough to experience the one in Chicago. Music, acting, and narrative from the author. How cool is that?

Another good author of quirky, end-of-the-world stuff is Kurt Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle, Galapagos, etc. Fabulously witty and funny.

David Sedaris and Christopher Moore are funny writers, too, and I love Bill Bryson's travel stuff (In a Sun-Burned Country, A Walk in the Woods).

How about some old-fashioned romance? Try Precious Bane by Mary Webb. It may be hard to find, but it's so worth reading. I saw a Masterpiece Theater adaptation of this story years ago and tracked down a good copy of the book. I love it.

I've read The Stand about 3 times and may be ready for another go. But the book I seem to read over and over the most is another hard to find one: Mary Brown's Playing the Jack.

Oh, I can't stop recommending books and authors! Here are a few more: anything by Sheri Tepper, anything by Diana Gabaldon, but definitely the Outlander series; Jacqueline Carey's series starting with Kushiel's Dart; and for some kick-ass science fiction, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

I.Must.Stop.Now!

As for TV, well, I don't have the "cool channels" so I stick to stuff like Glee, 30 Rock, and lots of PBS.

I also would have a hard time reducing my personal library! My favorite comfort reads include The Harry Potter series and some great young adult books I loved when I was a teenager like any of the L.J. Smith trilogies. I also love to re-read my favorite novel of all time fairly often - Jane Eyre. Tell me you've read Jane Eyre!

Do you like Thomas Hardy? A lot his work makes me feel somewhat like how The Awakening made me feel. Especially Tess of the D'Ubervilles. Heavy, dark stuff, but incredibly immersive and cathartic.

Linda - I LOVE the Outlander series! It's so involving - Clare and Jamie seem real half the time! It's crazy hot stuff too.

Favorite book (besides The Stand, which I reread every year): The Time Traveler's Wife. I can't imagine the organization and brain-power it must have taken to write this one and keep everything straight!

Favorite movie: Serendipity. The elevator scene cracks me up every time (who among us has NOT been in an elevator with a child who has pushed all the buttons), and I cry every time as he lies on the ice in the rink with the snow coming down onto his face. Sigh.

Favorite TV show: Dancing with the Stars. I dream about dancing with Tony. Any Jonathan. And Maksim. Sigh again ...

Crikey. How could I not have said how much I love Little Women and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn? I love those books. And the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder series. If you are ever depressed, a good bloody mary and blanket and a cat -- then curl up with a Long Winter. It will cure what ails you.

@Jean - I have a difficult time recommending The Road to people - you are so right that is just sticks w/ you and not necessarily in a good way. It's not what I would call a "bad" book, just some parts of it I wish I had never read. --shivers--

Re: 100 Years of Solitude

Wow, you read it in Spanish, that's so amazing! Is it easier to keep all the names straight in the original language? ;-)

And now for a non sequitur-- Bunnicula! One of the funniest, cutest tween books ever. Bonus that it's about vampires, but not HUMAN ones... hint about the species in the title! (but I'll bet you've already read that one too!)

T.V.--House! I love the humor. Surprised that he's British.

Books--"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett is my big re-read; The Twilight Series (best gothic romance since the one that started them all: "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte); the Harry Potter Series; "Winter Solstice" by Rosamunde Pilcher; all knitting fiction.

Authors--Sue Grafton, JANET EVANOVICH! (I love to laugh!), Debbie Macomber, and the classics. I was an English Literature major, with a concentration of the 19th century British novels.

Hurray comments! Please disregard the Hungry Pecking Ducks so that Crazy Flapping Chicks such as myself can indulge in comments. Your comments bring us Joy!

Thank you! You do Rock!

I'm on a reading kick now, too, probably because I've got a ton of holiday knitting to do (plus a Red Scarf to finish). I'll add the Magician's Assistant to the pile! I always say my favorite book is any where someone gets killed in the first chapter -although my all-time favorite book is probably The Great Gatsby.

And I accidentally watching The Forgotten a few weeks ago and got sucked in... I'm a TVaholic, too, and I really don't care who knows it!

Oh -- and thanks for opening comments! I always feel like I'm bothering you when I comment via email...

YEA! COMMENTS!!

I am just finishing up "a redbird Christmas" by Fannie Flagg. When I was telling someone about it they said - is that the Fannie Flag from the 70's game shows? All of the sudden I thought - well, that IS an unusual name... I looked it up and she IS the same Fannie Flagg! Now as I listen to the book on tape I try to picture what she looks like now, because to me she will always be the lady with the wild red hair on the gameshows!

I love Hoarders as I fight my hoarding tendancies. But I had a hard time with the older couple with all of the cats.

Love your blog Laurie!

I love your blog and your book. And now your choice of books.
The Stand is top on my list, and next is Atlas Shrugged.
Can't wait till your new book is out.

Darlene

I am out of commission due to a torn ankle ligament and somehow I came upon your blog while looking for new knitting patterns. I am delighted with it and it is helping me get through this rough time. I too love, or should I say am perversely fascinated with The Hoarders. My mother has this tendency, and although is not as extreme as what I've seen on the show, it still has caused problems in our family. I wanted to wring the neck of one hoarding woman whose addiction had pushed all her daughters away from her!
I'll be looking for some of the books you suggest and will read your blog from now on. Thanks!

Love Christopher Moore, I re read him so often the books are falling apart at the seams.

Right now I'm reading The Great Deluge, which is a first hand account of hurricane Katrina written by Douglas Brinkley. It is heartbreaking, and it's also huge and heavy but I drag it with me on the bus because I can't put it down.

Did you ever read a book and just not want it to end ever?

Here's a question for all of you The Stand lovers though: I only read it once ages ago so I don't know the names, but there are two characters in that book who have the same death, falling down a hill and breaking a leg on the way. King makes a point of describing the leg break in detail, but never connects the coincidence. Any one else notice this? Or maybe I am crazy and dreamed it?

Did you ever read "Fall on Your Knees" by Ann Marie MacDonald? It is one of my all time faves! Love, love love this book. Pretty sad reading, but really the artistry of it is uplifting. Read this book :)!!!!

Sooooo glad to see you still posting after the freakin' peckin' ducks....uuuggghhh!! I just started 'Eat, Pray, Love' for the 3rd time.....It's always a good reminder to come back to myself. I just finished 'The Perfect Storm', first time through after having seen the movie a couple of times. I love his writing style. I highly recommend 'Where Men Win Glory' by Jon Krakauer. Another author who has an incredible style of writing. I've read all of his books and he NEVER disappoints. I too love to read (can't wait for your new book....I read the first one on vacation in Mexico a couple of years ago)...Happy reading!

HOARDERS freaks me out! But I watch it because it makes me feel normal. Do you do Shelfari.com? You should SERIOUSLY check it out. Right now I'm back on my Margaret Atwood thing. I love all books, really.

Just skimmed through comments and I can't help myself, I have to add this non-fiction book: "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" by Gail Collins.

And, if you haven't read "Black and Blue" (fiction) by Anna Quindlan, OMG. You will never have a hard time understanding the plight of battered women again. Forget the TV movie, the book is unbelievable; I cried my eyes out and still catch myself thinking about those people as though they were real.

For funny and uplifting - what could be better than you and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, CAP and Yarn Harlot!!??

My absolute favorite series of books are the "In Death" books by J.D. Robb. Fabulous. Also love Sue Grafton.

When you posted about "The Grounding of Group Six" I felt like I just fell back into 9th grade when I read it for the first time. I didn't think anyone else had ever read that book. Good to know that I'm not alone in thinking it was a terrific book.

I love anything by Pat Conroy, Richard Russo, and Barbara Kingsolver. They are great storytellers, and write beautiful prose, to boot. For lighter reading at the beach or on vacation, I love me a good murder mystery or suspense novel--something like Laura Lippman or Lee Child.

Don't own a TV, but I do love me some Project Runway and Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert--the internet is my best friend!

Have to recommend The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's part one of a trilogy. Kind of apocolyptic, dystopian with a little bit of teen romance thrown in for interest. I'm a school librarian, but every adult I've recommended this book to has been HOOKED & I keep getting emails w/ OMG - The Hunger Games in the subject line!

Just now I am starting on my read-almost-every-year Christmas books.
Tops on the list:
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci and
A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

If you enjoy Castle, you might like
http://roflrazzi.com/page/6/
(Your comments won't accept copying a picture.)
It may take some scrolling down to get to Castle's picture...

Hi, Wow I don't know how you would ever read 209 comments and make it all the way to here! Anyhow, my husband loves apocalypse/end-of-the-world books too, and a couple I'd really recommend if you can find them are: 1) "World War Z" (I heard this as an audio book, LOVED it! It's read by a great cast of famous people including Alan Alda); & 2)"Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank.

Thanks so much for your blog, I've been a fan and reader for years! Congrats on getting your manuscript done too!

Cheers from a misplaced southerner in Australia, Julie

It's been years since I read The Stand. I may have to go to the library soon. I'm planning to read Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr again, when the next book comes out.

TV -- Glee & Top Chef (what a great season it's been!) & Tabitha's Salon Takeover

Netflix Instant View / video store -- most recently, Oz (the HBO prison series) and Law & Order: SVU (I'm about a decade behind on it!)

Books -- I don't reread books anymore. Recent reads have been "No Impact Man" (nonfiction, loved it) and a variety of books by Elin Hilderbrand -- "The Blue Bistro" has been my favorite so far, but I like all things restaurant-related so that's probably why.

I have read The Stand so many times, I even put it on the reading list for my 10th graders back when I taught 10th grade. I tried to pick some really LOOOOONG books because I 1) gave them points based on the number of pages and 2) felt there is some sort of intense gratification with finishing a seriously long novel. I too used to have a thing for survivalist literature and then I worked on my root chakra (hey, I'm a yoga teacher, too, so sue me) and it got better (hoarding is another symptom of the root chakra imbalance, FYI!). Now I can't bring myself to read The Road, no matter how good it's supposed to be. But The Stand I could probably handle.

I can't wait to read Rachael Herron's novel and I'm way jealous you've got an advanced copy! Hope you enjoy it!

I am reading "A History of the World in 6 Glasses". I recently enjoyed "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" which is weird but good, and "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks" which is technically young-adult lit but still good.

I love Louise Erdrich. So much so when I unpacked, after a move, I found duplicate copies of some of the titles. I am fascinated by authors that create a whole line of people, a whole world that circles back on itself.

Some people already mentioned these, but they are worth another vote!
-Lamb. Lamb. Lamb!!! I subscribe The Gospel According to Christopher Moore (and Dan Brown) :)
-Outlander series (The first was way slow for me, but I can't read the second fast enough)
-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
-People of the Book (Read this for bookclub, and fell in LOVE with it. Plus, if you watch Lost, one of the characters is Sayid in my mind-hubba hubba ;) )
-The Thirteenth Tale (Description of how she loves books is spot on)
-For crime, try the first few Tempe Brennen books (By Kathy Reichs, who produces the tv show Bones)

I LOVE the other suggestions...I'm making a list right now. Totally with you on book love. Can't give mine away, either!! I'm a buyer, not a library person. Trying to teach my kids the joys of the library, though. Could never own a Kindle-I need the smell and feel of real pages.

Tv is my dirty little habit. HGTV, Jon Stewart, Glee, Lost, even Grey's Anatomy even though most people think it jumped the shark. :)

I read your blog everyday, I'm glad you opened the comments up for a bit!

After your recommendation today I watched an episode of Hoarders online...oh my goodness! I'm not sure if I should be thankful or a bit queasy. But on a brighter note, things are a bit cleaner at my house tonight!

I've been reading Jodi Piccoult lately. I do the same thing you do, find an author I like then read all of their books. Jodi is great for a good cry!

Thanks for the great blog!

I will admit to being a TVaholic - heaven forbid someone else wants to DVR something while one of MY shows is 'taping'. I watch in the early morning before work. Sometimes we do watch together when we've taped something everyone wanted to watch.

Reading - I used to read a lot, but the older I get, the less time I can read without falling asleep. I do most of my reading in bed, just before lights out, or if I happen to have a wakeful night. Right now I am reading a book about a family vacation home on Cape Cod, I'd tell you the title, but that would mean going up to my room, LOL. And I have the new Dan Brown novel waiting for our vacation next month. I don't think I have ever seen such a stack of good recommendations all at once, like your book list. Thanks for chatting about all of those titles - I've added a few of them to my to-read list.

Oh, great, just what I need. A new long list of books to read! I love Anne Patchett and some of Stephen King (sometimes he's too scary for me, and I hate how he kills off characters I love). I saw him speak in person once, and he's hysterically funny. His book On Writing was excellent, and also very funny in places. For funny, I love Bill Bryson (My favorites are A Walk in the Woods and I'm a Stranger Here Myself) and Dave Barry. I also love Agatha Christie, Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe books) and Patricia Wentworth (English mysteries similar to Christie).

For rereading, every few years I read through the whole Anne of Green Gables series. Comfort reading! I've had to replace a couple of my copies because I've read them to death.

And I just discovered Lisa Unger--read Die for You and loved it, and now want to read her other books.

Laurie--am totally addicted to your blog and have your book (soon to be books) on my to buy/read list. Thanks for sharing! (I could go on about TV, but this is already too long...)

Swan Song by Robert McCammon- great end of days book, a little magical mystical thrown in too!

Bel Canto is one of my favorites. I haven't picked up her newest book yet. My book group is reading My Name is Asher Lev right now. Have you read any of Chaim Potok's novels? Very good. I'm always intrigued by my cats' fascination with the library books I bring home. I imagine each book carries a delicious scent from the previous home (and cat) it spent time in. Happy reading!

I loved Castle and didn't know it came back for a second season. I have not been watching much regular TV since I got ROKU.

On to books. Currently I just finished Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler (love him!) and am now reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It was recommended to me by many and I find it a little slow but I am giving it a chance. I am also reading Gothic Charm School written by a local acquaintance.

Love Uncluterrer and would love to pick up that book!

If you like Fried green tomatoes...you will love love love Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg.
Show I love : Big Love. So. So. Good. Promise. This show sucks you in, and won't let you go.

I LOVED The Magician's Assistant! Loved Bel Canto too. Those are the only Ann Patchet books I've read. I'd like to hear if you find another one that you enjoy. These days I only listen to audiobooks. I have a toddler and can't seem to find time to sit down and read, but I can listen in the car, while I go for walks, knit, etc. It's all about multi-tasking for me. But there are some fabulous audiobooks out there (thank you audible.com). The Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was excellent - I think you'd like it. I also really enjoyed The Help. There are so many good books to be read! But now it is time for Thursday night television, my favorite tv night of the week.

Laurie, would you please keep the comments on for a little bit longer? My sweet Baby, who I had for 14.5 years since she was 5 months old had hyperthyroidism and renal failure and had to be put to sleep 2 hours ago. I would love the comfort of your and maybe your readers' comments to keep me company through this hardest time in my life to date. Thank you for posting today. As always, you, your writing and your readers are a ray of light for me. Have a good night everyone and rest in peace, my Baby girl. Momma loves you. XOXO

I love "The Stand" I must have read it eight times in the years since it came out, even once aloud to my hubby.
One of my favorites of all time is "The Time Traveler's Wife," I weep just thinking about the ending.
I love Sci Fi and fantasy and one of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett's Disc World books. They are so hilarious and fun but also they make you think.
And I agree with you about getting rid of books, how in heaven's name could I even part with them? I have about 80 boxes of books unpacked here while I'm in the middle of moving to a new home. They have moved all over So Cal with me and now up to Washington state.
A favorite quote:
Books to the ceiling,/ Books to the sky,/ My pile of books is a mile high./ How I love them! How I need them!/ I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. - Arnold Lobel

Glee! such a wonderful show, I hope it makes it to season 2. I haven't yet started Castle because I'm afraid if I start watching I'll jinx it like Firefly.
I love rereading books. The Boy isn't a rereader, so he's mystified by my book collection. I keep telling him it's genetic. my house has always been known as The House of Books. last time we moved we hired a stager to help us get it ready to list; by the time she'd finished going through the house she had a nervous tic. (we decided not to tell her that we'd already boxed up and gotten rid of at least a third of our books at this point)
A couple of people have mentioned Pride and Predjudice and Zombies (good!), I'd add Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (not as good but still good) and I'll second or third or whatever the Kathy Reichs books. Also the TV show Bones, which is based off them.

And anything Jasper Fforde, or Jim Butcher, or Patricia Briggs, The Count of Monte Cristo if you've got a looooong plane ride (or two), or this really great book called Naiv. Super. by Erlend Loe, but tracking down an english translation might be difficult, but worth it!

I have enjoyed many of your book recommendations since I started reading your blog. We seem to have very similar tastes. I just dashed off to Amazon and bought Crazy Lace, as well as a couple of other books. I'm waiting for your second book (I bought your first in both paper and Kindle editions), too.

If you want to read the Gabaldon series, which I just love, drop me a line and I'll send all of them, in trade paperback and hardbound, to you (I've got them on Kindle now). Or you can pick them up the next time you're in Palm Springs to see your family and I'll buy you lunch, too.

I love the Gabaldon Outlander series and just re-read the whole thing before buying the newest one - and reading it in two sittings. I've read my Harry Potter books so often they are falling apart. I too love love audio books - I'm finally "reading" all those classics we were suppossed to read in high-school and college! LOVED A Tale of Two Cities - and can knit while "reading" a FINE thing. I don't have cable TV, but must admit to a bit of a Netflix "TV" addiction - recently watched Gilmore Girls (all gazillion episodes), Medium, Saving Grace, and Closer.

I have to add another vote for Audible. Knitting and books at the same time!

And my favorite Ann Patchett book is "Truth & Beauty", about her friendship with the poet Lucy Greely. She reads the audiobook herself, and its both wonderful and heartbreaking.

The Forgotten is my new "find" on TV; I sure hope it sticks, there have been some really good ones that got cancelled and suffered an untimely plug pulling.

My favorite guilty pleasure is the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series - just finished the latest and can't wait to fall into Claire and Jamie's world again every time a new one is published.

I now have a Sony reader and am revisiting some lovely classics available online. Twain, Wharton, RL Stevenson along with the Spencer mysteries (Wasn't Robert Urich just perfect in the TV series?). Did you know you can check out books from the library digitally? Another favorite "strong woman" book is West with the Night by Beryl Markham. Currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. ( ... and I'm taking notes of recommendations above - thanks to all!)

Try "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen. It's about the main architect for the Chicago's world fair and a serial killer who was using the fair to lure in his victims- all true stuff but reads like great fiction and really engrossing.

TV: love it too much- Glee, The Good Wife, The Amazing Race, The Office. And I've caught episodes of Hoarders online- it is so sadly fascinating. And yes, it makes look around my house feeling slightly panicky that my shoes I left on the floor are just the start of something horrifying.

Try "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen. It's about the main architect for the Chicago's world fair and a serial killer who was using the fair to lure in his victims- all true stuff but reads like great fiction and really engrossing.

TV: love it too much- Glee, The Good Wife, The Amazing Race, The Office. And I've caught episodes of Hoarders online- it is so sadly fascinating. And yes, it makes look around my house feeling slightly panicky that my shoes I left on the floor are just the start of something horrifying.

I've been a readaholic since I was 3. That's purty darn near 60 years, and it's been one of the constants in my life - which are few and far between, believe me. So I could probably just list the roughly 40 books accumulated by the bedside... but of course I haven't read them all.

There are some books I keep and re-read over the years; several hundred of them at present, but it would be triple that if, 12 years ago, some thief hadn't broken into my storage while I looked for a new place and stolen 38 boxes of books that were my lifetime permanent collection. Still, I've managed since then to build it up again to the point where it is the only thing in my house that takes up more space than my knitting and crafting.

Anything holding permanent status on my shelves is something I'll read over and over. For what I think of as "chinese food" reading (you know, you finish the book and an hour later you want another - fills the space but doesn't assuage the hunger), I haunt used - and new - bookstores, and participate in a circle of friends who trade paperbacks of mystery, general fiction, spirituality, art, and biographies. That's where most of the 40 on the waiting list come from.

Here's my recommendations from my all-time best list:

If you are fond of historical fiction, I recommend Philippa Gregory, who's done a good series on the English queens, as well as some works set outside the Tudors' over-the-top shenanigans. Margaret George's bios of Henry VII, Elizabeth I, and Cleopatra are outstanding.

I also enjoy using fiction to experience other cultures. Two of the best in my book are Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (on the Indian/American exchange - Mistress of Spices is absolute magic, for real!) and Naguid Mafouz (Egypt of the post-Colonial era to present, set in Cairo - Children of the Alley was my introduction to him.) Another good one to experience the Middle Eastis Tariq Ali.

Tom Robbins falls into some odd branch of fiction that really speaks to me, and I've yet to read anything of his that I haven't enjoyed thoroughly. You'll certainly know of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" but my all-time fave is "Jitterbug Perfume" and I named my car after the Kudra character in hopes she would live to a ripe old age as well. Other genre-bender fictioneers in my permanent library are Terry Pratchett (his Rincewind series, his witches, Sam Vines' escapades are all right up my rather twisted alley), and Kurt Vonnegut.

I enjoy alternate-reality, science fiction, utopian, and other speculative work. Robert Heinlein (and other soft-sciences authors of the Golden Age of SF) are other "keepers."

I'll also go nuts on a particular historical era or place and read endlessly in history and fiction to get a feel. Medieval Europe, pretty much any British era but esp. early Druid, Picts and Stonehenge-ish stuff. Florence, Rome, Paris, St. Petersburg, Kyoto, anything may set me off.

A friend just turned me on to Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otari series (http://www.lianhearn.com/) set in an imaginary feudal Japan. I've been fascinated by Japan since I did a report on it in 5th grade; the first non-US album I bought was Japanese koto music, and I have a fair collection of it now. So peaceful and deep and meditative! I'm also one of those people who generally hates to see a movie made from a book I've read, though I understand these have been optioned for film. It opens with "Across the Nightingale Floor", and I've read that one and the second in the series ,"Grass for his Pillow," in 3 days - and only one of those days was a weekend.

If I had a blog, this would be a post - sorry to go overboard, but if I don't quit now I'll be up all night and I have to take a 3-year old to ballet class in the morning so that's not a great idea for me or you!

I'm glad you have comments up... I hope everyone behaves in your living room!

Ann Patchett's mother, Jeanne Ray is also an author... she wrote 3 books, all light-hearted and entertaining.

I owned a bookstore that sadly went out of business, but while it was a going concern, I had lots of authors come to visit and got lots of samples. One of the samples I actually kept (you'd be surprised at how samples can pile up) was Bel Canto - a favorite. I hope you enjoy it!

I just finished reading "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell - I've read all 4 of his books and really think he's a genius. These aren't fiction, but he's a fabulously talented writer and makes the subject compelling.

As for TV - I too have my shows... the comedramas (my own made up word for a drama that has that weird little twist that makes it funny) that I like are "White Collar" and "Chuck".

I was so excited to find out the comments were open that I had to scroll down to the bottom before reading them to quickly post this.

If you leave comments open on future blog posts, and someone gets rude. I'd like to suggest that we do a Ravelry thing, and ignore the meanies and start posting our favorite recipes. (seen this done on the forums in Ravelry when a thread starts going bad)

The meanies would be ignored, and we'd have all sorts of tasty recipes to try...and talking about food is ALWAYS fun. Just think of all the cool things that people will be able to come up with.

Besides, I love it when the comments for your blog becomes one long discussion on how to cook things, or knit something...

I have read and re-read The Stand several times, it is one of my all time faves, but I hated the mini-series because Franny kept changing her clothes every other scene while riding a motorcycle. Gary Sinise was a good Stu Redman, tho. I just speed-read a book I'd missed somehow, The Secret Life of Bees. What a great book. I'm not sure I want to see the movie tho. My girls read all the Harry Potter books as they came out but I waited until the seventh one came out then read all of them in two weeks. Those I re-read all the time too. Pride and Prejudice I just re-read again but have tried several times to read Emma and just can't--too many characters! My DH likes Castle but I don't watch much TV lately.

Thanks for braving the idiots and opening comments again. I truly have to remind myself that the majority of people are good. The bad ones just stand out more :( I LOVE Hoarders because it makes me get off my arse and clean something or declutter. I too watch The Forgotten. It's surely doomed! I'm reading Craig Ferguson's autobiography and splitting a stitch over it. I'm also working on The Clutter Diet as well.
Thanks for your blog. Always a smile and that's a precious gift!

I LOVE , LOVE , LOVE my books and every so often I peruse ( love that word) my books and find I must re-read some of them.So I don't usually get rid of books.( they don't classify as hoarding items)

I too am fascinated with the show 'Hoarders' and there is nothing that more inspires me to get rid of unwanted, long-time un-used, and unneeded clutter than to watch that show. Actually, I think that show classifies as a horror show.

Oh! If you love the stand then you will love swansong by Robert mcgammon!! ( I think that's his last name, very close anyway!) its one of my all time favorites! I also like paint the wind but I can't remember the authors name, it a woman if that helps. Some other favorites are by Christopher Moore! He is hilarious!! Lamb and Dirty Job freaking kill me everytime! I hope you'l take the time to check those out!

A great tv show: Lipstick Jungle (groan, what a name) loved the series and will never understand why it was cancelled. Smart, engrossing, really respectful of women. Brooke Sheilds, Kim Raver, Lindsey Price, Paul Blackthorne, Andrew McCarthy. Love tv like this.
Books: Harry Potter. JK Rowling is an extraordinary talent. But...big...but...best LISTENED TO as performed, with all the correct British accents by Jim Dale. Full on drama. Far more complex and sophisticated this way, when you hear the correct Brit intonations. Brilliantly directed, brilliantly acted. Surpasses a reading by one's inner American accented mind. The audio is the Best radio - type drama around, short of Shakespeare. Read the books after listening to the recordings. Really. (This from a hard core reader who cannot get to her bed because of all the books lying around it.) The HP books are mostly dialogue anyway so the performance is completely natural. For this reason, I love this series like I love Shakespeare.

A great tv show: Lipstick Jungle (groan, what a name) loved the series and will never understand why it was cancelled. Smart, engrossing, really respectful of women. Brooke Sheilds, Kim Raver, Lindsey Price, Paul Blackthorne, Andrew McCarthy. Love tv like this.
Books: Harry Potter. JK Rowling is an extraordinary talent. But...big...but...best LISTENED TO as performed, with all the correct British accents by Jim Dale. Full on drama. Far more complex and sophisticated this way, when you hear the correct Brit intonations. Brilliantly directed, brilliantly acted. Surpasses a reading by one's inner American accented mind. The audio is the Best radio - type drama around, short of Shakespeare. Read the books after listening to the recordings. Really. (This from a hard core reader who cannot get to her bed because of all the books lying around it.) The HP books are mostly dialogue anyway so the performance is completely natural. For this reason, I love this series like I love Shakespeare.

I had to read thru the comments (or at least scan thru them...open comments are still open when I hit Post)

Books I read...currently I've been reading thru all the Kindleized versions of all the Stargate novels (from the tv shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) and I'm halfway thru the last one that's Kindleized, so I had to start ordering the paperbacks.

I'm reading The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. (actual book, not Kindleized)

On my Kindle list, I've got a copy of Marley & Me (not to be read in public unless I want people to think that I'm crazy or clinically depressed...the movie just about killed me the other night. Never cried so hard for a movie, but then it reminded me of my experiences with my dog)

I've also got some Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Rudyard Kipling...some of the more modern stuff would be some mystery novels written by my favorite mystery author, Max Allen Collins. (he writes novels set in a bunch of popular tv shows like the CSI shows and some other tv shows.) My favorite of his books is "The Titanic Murders". Lead character in that book is Jacques Futrelle, a real life person who was also an author. He wrote a series of books/stories called "The Thinking Machine..." It has a much longer title, but I figured if anyone wants to read about Futrelle, they can look it up. I want to read Futrelle's books, but havent been able to find any yet.

I like books about maritime disasters, fiction and non fiction books. My favorite maritime disasters are the Titanic, and the Andrea Doria. (so far, I've only read non-fiction about the Andrea Doria). I read a biography about a woman, Violet Jessop, who was aboard the Titanic when it sank, who was also on the Britannic when it was sunk by a mine in the Aegean. She was also on the Olympic (all three ships were sister ships of the White Star Line) when it collided with the HMS Hawke. Very good book. Thought it would be boring, but it neat to read about her. Felt like it took me back to those times...I got sucked into the story of her life.

I also read fan fiction on the internet. Some of my favorite tv shows have fans that write fiction about the show(s). Usually because the show(s) have been canceled and they miss the show so much that they keep the show going in fanfic. Some of it sucks, but if you look, you can find some really excellent writers in some of the fanfic fandoms.

I cant watch Hoarders. I might have been headed that way at one point, and an experience with a couple of mice about 10yrs ago cured me of it.

I actually just downsized a lot of my stuff. I gave away YARN! (it was all Red Heart) The people who got my yarn are charity knitters and crocheters, so the yarn is all probably going to end up as hats and scarves for the homeless...or maybe some afghans for some babies.

Now I can justify going out and buying new (fancier) yarns.

Note: Hulu has all the episodes of Lipstick Jungle online for free right now.

I've never before been driven to comment on your blog even though I've been reading it for years, but books are something special. You have similar tastes to me so I would love to recommend that you read (if you haven't already) The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. I don't know a single person who has read it who doesn't rave about it. It will make you laugh out loud and cry your heart out. If I could only recommend one book in the world to others it would be this one (though The Green Mile and A Prayer for Owen Meany would be close behind). Best wishes. Love the blog.

I read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and just saw the movie. Both very powerful and about an after-the-acopalypse period. Loved them.

Can't wait for your new book. Have it pre-ordered on amazon.
Judy

I loved The Magician's Assistant. I liked most of Ann Patchett's books, but that one is my favorite. She's a Southern girl too, you know. (= Lives in my home town, Nashville. Try Taft - one of her early ones. I read it a long time ago, but I remember liking it. And The Patron Saint of Liars.

And I am right there with you - I've always had a few books I re-read. There's something so soothing about visiting with old friends.

Love your blog. Thank you for all the hours of laughter. I can't tell you how many times I've said - ME TOO!!! Can't miss a single entry.

For me it's Mary Doria Russell and her book The Sparrow. I went to see her at a book signing several years ago (the only one I've ever attended). When I told her hers was one of the three books I'd want if I were trapped on an island, she was so charming, answering authors write for those readers.

If you like Stephen King and survivalist stories, you will love his book called, "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon." It's about a little girl who gets lost on a hiking trip and must survive in the wilderness. It's not a typical Stephen King book, but you can't put it down.

Stephen King also went under the pseudonym, "Richard Bachman." He wrote a book called, "The Regulators" which is a take off of "Desperation." It is, IMHO, the most frightening book Stephen King has written.

Gotta go back and read ALL above me - but a rolling huge YES to your whole post. I mostly read "young adult" or kid books; it's what I write, too. But PUHLEEZE pick up a Sandra Dallas -- I'd say start with "Alice's Tulips" because I did, but they are a cup of tea and petitfors for sure. They're mostly about quilters, but the women characters are you, me and us; the men are interesting and well-written. I read in binges too - and if I'm knitting one of my Perpetual Toques I can read while I knit! (Barnes&Noble has a cheap, excellent bookstand; I carry mine with me always.) NOW THEN! Going back to see what my fellow CAPfans are reading!

Lawrence Watt-Evans can reliably cheer me up.
Tee Morris has only two books out so far as I know; I've reread both of them.
Terry Pratchett, of course, a regular reread. He hasn't done an all-zombie army yet, but besides Good Omens, you might also enjoy Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.
Patricia McKillip is good. Connie Willis's work varies in tone but is always well-written; Undiscovered Territory (if I have that title right) is a good one to reread.
I once had my books all listed, but couldn't keep up with acquisitions. If I had to choose between books and yarn, I'd keep the books.

I LOVE Castle. He is funny, and as Beckett says he's a 12 year old, until it comes to his daughter and his mother. Then he is loving and concerned. He is a good role model for family and we need more of that on TV.

My recent TV-aholism stems from my newfound Hulu addiction. yikes! I've managed to avoid any serious TV watching since I cancelled my cable a few years back. I was just too busy, and never home, and it just made financial sense. I think I now have to get cable again, just for the DVR. :) I'm currently into Glee, White Collar, Castle (just discovered it - Fun!!) and House. (and Greek - I know, kinda sophmoric. But everyone needs at least one guilty pleasure, right?)

I'm reading "A Long Way Gone - Memoir of a Boy Soldier" By Ishmael Beah - about a boy who was caught up in the civil war of Siera Leone when he was just 13. I received The Stand as a christmas gift a few years back. I started it, but got distracted by something. I've been looking for it in my piles of unpacked boxes - but haven't found it yet. I'm trying to get into more of the classics these days, (Austen, Shakespeare), but have also been on a major John Feinstein kick for the last few years.

Good luck with your TiVO, Reading, Knitting, hermiting. I am gearing up for a winter of it myself! :) And tell us how 2012 is - I think I want to see it also!

Gah! Comments! Happiness!

I was never a TIVO fan until my GF insisted that we get it and I agree -- it really is the best thing ever. It's like responsible-tv-obsession: yes, I must watch my shows, but I make their schedule fit ME. I'm a big fan of pseudo-reality: TBL, Top Chef, etc and I love me some Drop Dead Diva (she's smart! she's pretty! she's plus-size!) And you KNOW I tore out the Hallmark Channel's handy "holiday tv guide" insert in every major magazine. Hello tv movies.

Books are the best. I was on a Jodi Piccoult kick for awhile, then Wally Lamb, then Jen Lancaster. I'm like you, I find an author and read everything they have written. My re-reads are always, always W. Sommerset Maugham books. The Moon and Sixpence is one of those books that I re-read every couple of years and the timing always seems to be perfect, right when I'm contemplating some major life change. Definitely recommended.

I live in a very small village but literally own more books than the local library and I've been downsizing! Have to see The Stand as I'm a Gary Sinise fan. I read it ages back but never saw the movie. My favourite apocalyptic novel is an oldie called "Farnham's Freehold" that I've been jonesing for without success for awhile now. My favourite go-to novel which I heartily reccommend is "A Mass for the Dead" by Will Gibson who wrote "The Miracle Worker". (I know there's another, younger William Gibson and he's great, too, but I'm old.)

I would totally buy your friend's decluttering book except I have a shelf of those and the place is still a mess. The housecleaning books don't pull thier weight either.

Love your blog! Sometimes we share a brain but I can't always find mine.

Got completely hooked on Diana Gabaldon via audio (even though it is not my usual fare), and then read the entire series....I'll be working on the audio of the newest over the holidays, I think.

Also have developed a fondness for Carol Goodman's books. I really love her use of language.

If you get this far in reading comments, I would like to recommend, again, Burn Notice on TV. You will LOVE IT!!!

Also, reading all the comments was so much fun, it reminds me of one of my favorite sites I would also recommend, which is goodreads. It is a community all about books, where readers do just what was done in the comments, discuss and recommend books. You can keep a list of books to read, have read, write reviews, even get preview copies of new books to review. I love it!!!

also, this comment represents me too
I think that Tivo is the greatest invention EVER! But I find myself trying to Tivo the rest of my life...the radio, a conversation, etc.

it is so frustrating that I cannot rerun the traffic report on the radio!!!

Books give me more books ... I just finished SK's Under the Dome . Enjoyed it but I finished it in three days . Ok I have no life LOL I even found myself outdoors reading to the two new puppies . who sit and listen MUCH better than my 2 year old grandson .
I'll agree with the folks who liked the Outlander series of books . They're awesome reads . I also like C.J.Cherryh books ( she's sci fi) . The only tv show I'm addicted to is House . I've been a fan since the very first show . Hubby is the tv nut and he rules the remote , I either read ,knit , crochet or cross stitch so I'm not watching anyway .
it's cold in Mississippi right now I might even get to wear some of my knitted things . They're predicting snow tonight and tomorrow morning . OMG I gotta race to the store and get bread and milk before they're sold out !

This is awesome! Now I have a whole new list of books to read.

I read The Stand whenever I have a cold or the flu. It helps remind me that it could be worse.

As far as my favorite and much loved books I have read over and over (and never intend to give up or loan out my copies of): Long Fatal Love Chase and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Pet Semetary and The Stand by Stephen King, And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule, Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Freaky Friday by Mary Rogers, Socks by Beverly Cleary, the first 4 books of the Queen Betsy series by MaryJanice Davidson and of course....Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair (and I'm not just sucking up either. ha!)

My favorite tv shows right now are: Glee, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, 30 Rock, True Blood, Big Love, Project Runway and America's Next Top Model (yep, I admitted I love America's Next Top Model.)

Happy Reading (and watching) Everybody! YAY!

If you like Stephen King you will love Dean Koontz, especially his Odd Thomas series. His books all have heros and you cant put them down.Also I am like you in that books are like great friends.

I have a plan for an end of the worldish scenario that does not end with me crisped into ash. I plan to move into my local bookstore, which shares a shopping center with a grocery store, and has a coffee shop inside. I will while away what is left of my life reading happily.

And don't try to harsh my mellow by reminding me that the electricity will be gone, there will be panic in the street. It's my fantasy, and I will have electricity and will live on canned delicacies from the grocery store and fancy hot chocolate. Bliss.

Definitely read The Sharing Knife books (4 of them) by Lois McMaster Bujold. When I need some happiness inside my head, I read the whole series one after another.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is at the top of my "re-read" list also! I have three copies and one always lives in my car for those rare times I'm caught out somewhere without a book. And despite being YA books, I've read Arizona Kid by Ron Koertege and Alien Game by Catherine Dexter every year since I was in Junior High. I love Stephen King's writing, but his novels are not subjects I enjoy reading, so I'm stuck with getting my fix from his column in Entertainment Weekly. Love getting ideas about books and other things from you! Keep up the good work!

Hands down favorite book read it five times is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Actually I will re-read just about anything by Barbara Kingsolver.

And I LOVE GLEE! But none of my friends are into it, which is sad.

I love rereading favorites books. Like you, I have a hard time giving up the good ones. Weeding through the library is hard and I wish I hadn't gotten rid of some of the ones I have. I don't Tivo but I find the shows repeat so often I can catch them later and if I don't, it's no big deal. The weirdest show I'm adicted to is "Wrecked." Not sure why I love seeing the tow trucks come upright the overturned semi's.

If you like post-apocalypse books, then you will really like The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I put off reading it for a long time because it was supposed to be good, but I knew it wouldn't be a happy book. It was brilliant. I understand the movie just out lacks the charm of the book, if you could indeed say that it had charm in the first place.

I started reading all the comments, and then realized I really should get SOME work done today. Just wanted to chime in; how funny it is to see so many of my favorite things in the comments!
Nathan Fillion (Castle) - check! (If you're on twitter, he's a must follow.)

Christopher Moore - LOVE him very funny - one of a very few novelists that makes me laugh out loud. He also happens to be a really nice person and will often respond to fan mail.

The Stand. One of my favorite books of all time, and one of the very few that I deem worthy of re-reading. Two years ago I decided to pare down my books and I had every Stephen King to date in hardcover... I donated all of them except The Stand, a couple of collections of short stories and The Dark Tower series. It's just about time for me to reread it again! I think I was 17 when I read it for the first.

Glee -- Holla!

The Art of Racing in the Rain - I loved that simple book. Very peaceful.. And a great gift book - I just decided another friend is getting it for Christmas this year.

Joy to the world!
Dana

Tivo ROCKS and now apparently I must set it to record Hoarders.

here are some books to just fall into another world - The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He wrote 11, then he died, and a different author Brandon Sanderson is attempting to finish the "last book" (Although it will be published in 3 parts) Sanderson's first book THe Gathering Storm just came out last month and its wonderful. Fantasy, but with the end of the (fantasy) world looming. Seriously, there's a "last battle" they are all getting ready for. Its like 10,000 pages so far, so its a commitment.

Wow, here I thought I was weird for re-reading the same books over and over again :-) I re-read lots of my favorites because it's like finding comfort in old friends.

Right now, I'm reading Cheaper By the Dozen for about the 200th time and will read Bells On Their Toes right after. Love my comfort books.

Tivo/DVR is one of the greatest inventions ever! Love it and don't know what I'd do without it. I meant to watch Hoarders the other night after seeing a preview for it and totally forgot. It looks scary!

I have a whole stack of books on my nightstand that I need to read and one of them is Olive Kitteridge.
When I was younger i would read Anne of Green Gables series over and over. I thought I was the only one until I got to College and found out that several of my dorm-mates loved the books/movies as much as I did. We would take study breaks to watch the movies.
I also have read Little Women and Jane Eyre over and over. More recently I like the Thirteenth Tale, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,(these were 2 of my faves in the past couple of years) and I'm reading Lit by Mary Kerr. The Liar's Club is one of my favorite memoirs ever. I find memoirs fascinating. I recently read Half Brok Horses by Jeanette Walls. highly recommendable.

So happy to be able to post and let you know that I love your blog. What a wonderful gift it was to see all the book recommendations. My current faves (that I don't think were named above) are Juliet, Naked; Jincy Willet's books; and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Uh-mAZING.

This was awesome, thank you everyone! Now I have a huge, long new reading and watching list and it was so fun, because no one at work wants to talk about Tv with me (Though I can convince them to talk about books from time to time.) Thanks!!

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