Soon to be Brain Dead - Need Book Recs

[The Edifying Conscience]

Last week I rolled my foot as I was taking a step and managed to fracture 3 bones in my midfoot. Since I broke my right foot and can't put any weight on it, my normal activities have come to a severe hault.

The past week has been a blur of Law and Order reruns intermixed with some season finales. In all the TV watching, I did manage to find a little gem called Run's House on VH1. That show is hilarious and it centers around Rev. Joe Simmons of Run DMC fame. It's stupid but funny and had me LOL--literally.

In hopes of not frying my brain by watching way too much television over the next several weeks, I need some book recs. At some point I quit adding to my book list and now don't know what to read. Normally I would go to the library grab 5-7 books off the extensive new book display and find a couple that interest me.

I'm not much into sci-fi or Stephen King type thrillers. Other than that I'm pretty open minded. I like fiction and non-fiction but light reading or brain candy seems appealing right now. So, what's on your must read list? What are your favorites? What are you reading?

[forinajoy]

Aww TEC,
I am so sorry about those broken bones! Are you in much pain? Prayers going your way in hopes of a extra speedy recovery......

Books.....I just finished "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austin... an old classic, but I really enjoyed it!

I also absolutely love "The Mitford" series by Jan Karon, ...it is funny and on occ a little sappy...you want to sit by the fire and drink hot cocoa when you read this....I am considering re-reading this series... there are several books and I don't remember the names of each one

I also just recently read "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier.... this reads like an old classic, but was published in 1999 and the author is quite young....I could not put this down, it was really good.

My 19 y/o old daughter's absolute favorite book is "A Picture of Dorain Gray" by Oscar Wilde...another old classic

It will be interesting to see what everybody recommends,
_________________
Connie, mom to Ina, 13 y/o with CD

[Fidissimus]

Crap. I was just about to post my *huge* list and it all went kablooie!
(Grumble, Grumble)

Anyway the top three in the lighter fluff stuff category (I'm really more of a non fiction reader or maybe a "heavier" fiction reader with authors like Eco, Rand or Clark)...(some descriptions, all copied from Amazon.com, may not be suitable for little eyes)

Kiss My Tiara by Susan Jane Gilman
Funny stuff: "Beauty: Sure, beauty has the power to excite men. But so does a box of donuts." Great laugh out loud funny cheer you up be glad that you're a woman book.
Kiss My Tiara challenges The Rules and backlash books like In Defense of Modesty. Designed to help women 18-35 catch a life, not a husband, it's funny and politically irreverent, with chapters such as "Nevermind a Penis, We'll Take a Paycheck" and "How to Deal with Lunatics, Perverts and Right-wing Republicans." Like The Rules, it's based on wisdom the author received from her grandmother--except her grandmother was a feisty, gin-drinking feminist. Gilman is indignant at the mindlessness of aerobics classes, refuses to subscribe to the belief that thin thighs are more important than brains and chutzpah, and believes that if you have trouble asking for dessert you'll never be able to ask for a raise. Sprinkled with her grandmother's affirmative aphorisms ("If God didn't want us to play with ourselves, she would have made our arms shorter"), the book covers the gamut of a woman's world--relationships, money, self-esteem, sexual harassment in the workplace, and the guilt of ordering french fries. Gilman's is a sage, insightful, and witty voice in a confusing time that will make women laugh while teaching them to feel entitled, confident, and empowered.

The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel
Also funny if you were ever a broke college student and had to wrap pennies to look like dimes so you could *afford* top ramen noodles. And it's okay to super glue the broken car together, right?
As a struggling college student at the University of Pennsylvania, she decided that to keep her mind off her empty stomach, she would keep a journal of her days and post it on the Net. The result is a series of biting, funny entries about the evil atmosphere of check-cashing offices, the horror of being two cents short for the grocery bill and the joys of making friends who buy dinner. Her wry thoughts about being flat broke will appeal to readers who enjoyed Bridget Jones's exploits and similarly sparky works. Nissel is no fictional Bridget, however, obsessing about weight and cigarettes. She's a city girl who knows the exact price of ramen noodles and the pain of counting pennies. Although she occasionally recycles material, she rants with aplomb, using colorful anecdotes (her elderly landlord comes for the rent and ends up falling asleep on the couch) to pull the reader further into her impoverished reality. She doesn't delve into the actual fear and pain associated with poverty, but views her time of hunger with amusement, like a financial misadventure that she always knew would end. Charming and sharp, Nissel's diary will be relished by anyone who's ever been a student and remembers those ramen noodles.

The Color of Water by James McBride
Like Gregory Williams's Life on the Color Line, these two memoirs describe growing up interracial from the perspective of the sons of African American fathers and white mothers. McBride, an accomplished journalist and musician, has viewed the yawning chasm of racial division from both sides and, despite carving out a successful life, has been scarred. Unlike Williams and Minerbrook, though, he focuses on a single, singular parent, a rabbi's daughter who later helped her husband establish an all-black Baptist church in her home and saw 12 children through college. His mother's own story, juxtaposed with McBride's, helps make this book a standout. Recommended for all collections. Minerbrook's father came from Chicago's African American high society, his mother from rural Missouri. He paints a detailed portrait of their family life, of relationships complicated by the fact that "human emotions, when mixed with racial issues, are prone to shatter like glass." Nearing middle age, he seeks out the white side of his family, who have rejected his mother and her offspring, and achieves a well-deserved catharsis. Still, his accounts of the almost unrelenting prejudice of white against black, black against white, light-skinned black against dark-skinned black, and so on are deeply disturbing. One is left to borrow the words of another recent commentator and say that this cancer does indeed make me want to holler. Highly recommended.
_________________
Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/

[ostrich]

[Eeyorific]

Sorry Tec, the only recommendations I could make right now would be in relation to Autism and Sensory Integration, which are both very interesting subjects, but if there isn't any personal link, it's probably not the read for you.

Hey, have you thought about crossword puzzles or my fav, word finds? Just a couple more non-brain frying ideas.

Praying for a quick recovery!
_________________
Kristie M.

"The truth of God's love is not that he allows bad things to happen....
it's his promise that he will be there with us when they do!"

[Kathie]

At the moment I am reading books by Sharon Sala/Dinah McCall, fiction, mystery, suspense. Good fluff, not as gory as SK is these days. Many of her books have an underlying message, overcoming child abuse, alcoholism, etc. and of course someone falls in love. If you like mystery/suspense books I would also recommend Linda Howard, Iris Johansen or Kay Hooper. Kay Hooper's mysteries have a psychic connection, so avoid if you aren't into that. Her main characters are part of an FBI special task force of agents with more than just your usual abilities, her books also have some pretty nasty serial killer types. Heather Graham/Shannon Drake does mystery/suspense/some psychic mystery and then she does medieval romance. She also has a couple of different series that are civil war/love stories if you are into light reading with a historical flavor oh and a series of vampire stories. I hope you are up and around again soon.
_________________
CD by Biopsy 3/25/88

[ostrich]

[cruelshoes]

[Kathie]

[SoIhaveAdisease]

I just recently read "the Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya sisterhood". It was good, it had some language, but I enjoyed it alot.

Uhm...let's see- I also just finished "the Thorn Birds". It wasn't my style, but it said it was a best seller (I got it used). I'm sure it was popular.

I also recently read "The Phantom of the opera". It was awesome.

There's always the old standbys: "Anne Of Green Gables" and "Little Women". I read them every year.

There's also "The Cat who..." by Lillian Jackson Braun. I love this series so much! It's just a great one about an old reporter with two siamese, and they get into all sorts of thrills and mysteries. My favorite in the series so far that I've read is "The Cat Who Saw Red". Amazingly brilliant, if you ask me.

Hope you're up an at 'em in no time!!!
_________________
Is ferret meat gluten-free?

[ostrich]

Hehehe, it's ok Kathie. I just hear people confuse horror with gore so much it starts to annoy me. Horror is the scary monster under your bed. Gore is watching guts spill out. Horror != gore, though they're usually used together. So the cross thing you mentioned? That was due to horror.

Hope you're well soon TEC! What about other house stuff, like growing a small herb garden on your windowsill?
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[cultureslayer]

"Don't shoot the dog" is not really about dog training, but getting what you want out of those around you, human and canine.

Most of my other reading is about business (the HP way), law (The Best Defense), motorcycling (Twist of the Wrist 2), or biomedical engineering (journal articles that would bore any remotely normal and sane person to tears).
_________________
Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

[The Edifying Conscience]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It was really interesting to see what each of you recommended. I've read a few of the books listed and that too was sort of fun to see which of us have read the same.

Anyway, I've made a list of each of the books and authors you've recommended and have already ordered several from my local library system. Once I get some I'll add more to my que.
Many thanks,
TEC

Forinajoy, No physical pain now and only minimal when it first happened. I'm lucky. I've read several of the Austen books but never Mansfield Park. I've heard of Girl with the Pearl Ear Ring, I'll have to check it out.

Fidd, Thanks for taking the time to rewrite all of the info about the books. It was really appreciated. Kiss My Tiara sounds hilarious!

Os, I knew you were going to be the SK fan. I 'don't do well' with what I consider thrillers, but maybe I'm wrong about SK because I loved Shawshank Redemption. Examples of what I can't watch are movies like Cape Fear, Silence of the Lambs, Sleeping with the Enemy, etc. What genre do those fit in? Fortunately I got all of my herbs planted 2 days before I broke my foot. Next Wednesday I'll be able to put 10% and a week from tomorrow 25% body weight on my foot so then I'll be able to do a little more. I did attempt to make Peg's Fudge Puddles last night sitting in the computer chair. I quit when I realized the chocolate was (intentionally) out of reach and the peanut butter was right in front of it. I decided it's best not to use a ladder at this point.

Eeyorific, Books on Autism and Sensory Integration aren't exactly what I'm looking for , but I did see a special on tv that peaked my interest on the subject...so maybe. I haven't done a crossword puzzle in years. That would certainly be challenging!

Kathie, I haven't heard of any of the authors you mentioned. I did a quick search at amazon and they seem like something I might like.

Colleen, The last time I was at the library I saw Life of Pi and my hands were too full to pick it up. If I started making origami animals now I could have a houseful in 5 weeks.

SIHAD, I vividly remember reading the Ya-ya's in 1997. Have you read the sequel, Little Altars Everywhere? I think you might like The Bad Behaivor of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres if you enjoyed the Ya-yas. I've seen The Cat Who books at the library many times I'll check them out.

[The Edifying Conscience]

Culture,
Have you read Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson? I was considering adopting a dog(not a puppy--not a baby person ) and a friend suggested I read it before I bring a dog home.

Seems as if your suggestion is more multi-faceted. It's been adde dtothe list.

[cultureslayer]

Culture Clash is supposed to be good, but I haven't read it. It was REALLY popular around the time my dog died, and I've only recently been able to think about buying dog books again.
_________________
Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.