Have you read a book twice lately? I need some reading suggestions

[wurzelkind]

Hi there~

having been frustrated with the novels I read during the past weeks and realizing that not one of them is worth reading twice (if anybody is interested, I read "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", two books by Marianne Frederiksson as well as "The Memory Keeper's Daughter") I turned back to non-fictonal books and started to re-read "Buddhism for Mothers" as well as "Finding your Inner Mama".

So - I am looking for some suggestions on novels as well as non-fictional books. So far I plan to order "Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children", "Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting" as well as "HypnoBirthing".
I think for recreational effects some novels wouldn't be wrong I dislike books à la "Shopaholic" and the like, it doesn't need to be about parenting or mother-child relationships and fantasy won't do it for me either.

So what can you suggest to me?

TIA!

[Tra1978]

Have you read The Birth House by Ami McKay? I really liked that one and kept it around to re-read. Other than that, I'm not sure. I don't think the books I re-read you would really enjoy. But try The Birth House if you haven't already!

[wurzelkind]

And what are the ones that you didn't suggest?!

[mamalisa]

I really enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love and keep it next to my bathtub if what I'm reading starts to bore me. I don't buy many books so I rarely read them more than once because I get them from the library.

Did you enjoy Benjamin Button? I've got it downloaded on my phone and honestly, I'm finding the story really boring. I keep forcing myself to read it, but it's lacking detail and I just can't get into it.

[beanma]

I really liked Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen. It's not very parent/family related, but it was a very good book. Just read The Time Traveler's Wife and while it was compelling and a page-turner, and I know a lot of people love it, I found it flawed and overall not satisfying. I rarely go back and reread books, but I could see doing that with Water For Elephants.

[Think of Winter]

I'm kind of addicted to Neil Gaiman right now. His books are fantasy, but I would say I don't even like fantasy. He's just an incredible wordsmith and storyteller (and I love happy endings.) Anyway, try The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, or Anansi's Boys. They are fabulous. : He's got a book of short stories called Fragile Things if you don't want to invest too much time. Or try Coraline. It'll only take a few hours to read.

Another book I really enjoyed recently was The Outlander. The female protagonist was strong, smart, and brave. It's a historical romance/adventure. I read it shortly after the Twilight books (which I could not put down), it was so much better.

[zinemama]

A book I recently re-read (for the nth time) is A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer. She's known for her Regency romances - light but not stupid and very well researched.

This one is different. It starts with a marriage instead of ending with it. Basic plot: young viscount suddenly inherits estates that his wastrel father has nearly gambled away. To save himself and sisters from financial ruin he marries a wealthy merchant's daughter. She's plain, sensible and shy. It's about how these near-strangers forge a marriage in very awkward circumstances.

[A&A]

One of my all-time fave non-fiction books is The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother.

Also, I'm currently reading The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. It's really good.

[amydidit]

One of my absolute favorites is The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Pretty much everything else I read is fantasy or chick lit.

[madskye]

I've been on a WWII kick--all of these books are set in that time period.

The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak is an amazing read. This is from the Amazon page:
Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--here's Amazon description:

The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories.

Skeletons At the Feast

In his 12th novel, Bohjalian (The Double Bind) paints the brutal landscape of Nazi Germany as German refugees struggle westward ahead of the advancing Russian army. Inspired by the unpublished diary of a Prussian woman who fled west in 1945, the novel exhumes the ruin of spirit, flesh and faith that accompanied thousands of such desperate journeys. Prussian aristocrat Rolf Emmerich and his two elder sons are sent into battle, while his wife flees with their other children and a Scottish POW who has been working on their estate.


They are all good--The Book Thief is really the best, I really felt like I was reading a book that was not only good, but brilliant! He's just a beautiful writer. Guernsey is much lighter, but a fun read, will make you laugh and cry. And Skeletons at the Feast is just kind of a sweeping epic potboiler.

[zinemama]

Oh, yes, The Sparrow! It is a fabulous book and you do not have to be into SF to like it.

[Tra1978]

Oh, the ones I didn't suggest but re-read all the time are

anything by L.M. Montgomery
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
the Mitford series by Jan Karon
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charolette Bronte
a few Stephen King (the only one that I've re-read recently is Eye of the Dragon)

I totally recommend all of them (I guess that's obvious if I'm re-reading them all the time) but I was trying to think of ones that might be more in the way of your interests

[Murihiku]

Fifteen years ago, I read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James in one sitting. Finished it about midnight. Turned to the introduction. Read something there that made me re-read The Turn of the Screw right then and there. Finished it for the second time about 2 a.m.

Those who know the book will know why I did that.

[prescottchels]

Here's another vote for Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Series!!
Currently rereading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.
Mutant Message Down Under I reread recently.
Also love anything by Chris Bohjalian.

[femalephish]

I have read both of Wally Lamb's novels 3 or 4 times since I first read them in High School. I Know This Much Is True is the best. It's maybe 800 pages, but it really flies. It follows twin brothers, one who has schizophrenia, through over 50 years of there life. Everyone should read this book!

[yentroc]

I actually just started "Buddhism for Mothers" for the second time, man I got sooooo much out of that book!

And also on your non fiction list, I'm re-reading "Everyday Blessings" right now and LOVE it.

For fun fiction/novels... I second the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Those books were my escape last year.

[Think of Winter]

Give David Sedaris a try.

[hdeering]

I just listened to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle on CD with my husband after reading it six months ago.

Does that count as reading it twice?

I enjoyed it, and so did hubby.

[Ms. B. Sprout]

Originally Posted by Think of Winter

Give David Sedaris a try.

Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day are two of the funniest things I've ever read.

Originally Posted by zinemama

Oh, yes, The Sparrow! It is a fabulous book and you do not have to be into SF to like it.

Another vote for The Sparrow!

I just finished Olive Kitteridge, and I was deeply moved by it. I kept wanting to mark every page with a post-it note because it was all so insightful.

[mata]

Beth Helms' Dervishes

http://www.powells.com/biblio/7-9780312426194-0