favorite NDR book(s)

man, i LOVED this series, and completely forgot about it until you mentioned it! i shall have to unearth it and re-read.... THANKS

 
I know.. they are really great aren't they?  And yes, it has been a LONG time since the last book... by the time it comes out I will have to reread them all... []

ORIGINAL: badrap

ORIGINAL: ashland

The Clan of the Cave Bear series, Jean M. Auel - I LOVE this series. So far, there are 5 books in it, I think. I have been waiting far too long for the next one. I'm starting to get worried. It's been years. About a group of Neanderthals who adopt a young girl named Ayla who is one of the "others". Ayla grows up with them and the series follows her story from there. SO good!

man, i LOVED this series, and completely forgot about it until you mentioned it!  i shall have to unearth it and re-read.... THANKS 

You're welcome! I fell in love with this book so much that when I first read it I would say, "If I ever have a daughter, I'm naming her Ayla!" [] I  have re-read all of the books at least 3 times each. I will be one of the first at the bookstore when the next one is released.

Lisa Marie and Coleen - I have been hearing from many others that The Kite Runner is wonderful. So I bought it and since I was reading another book at the time, I let my mom borrow it and she is currently reading. This past weekend she called me CRYING saying, "This book is so good. I can't put it down. It's so moving. I'm only half way through it and I'm bawling my eyes out." So I can't wait to read this one. The last time she called me crying was over "Marley and Me". I cried at that one too. []

One of my favorite funny books is "The Complete Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams...there are so many funny and amusing things in this series of books ,that you will need to read it a few times to take it all in..I read the series for the first time in my 20's,and it is still the only book to make me litterally laugh out loud...They have NEVER made a successfull radio or movie version of this book...The book is fantastic though..

 
Oh how COULD I forget HG2TH!!!  Brilliant, highly recommended....
 

  The Clan of the Cave Bear series, Jean M. Auel - I LOVE this series. So far, there are 5 books in it, I think. I have been waiting far too long for the next one. I'm starting to get worried. It's been years. About a group of Neanderthals who adopt a young girl named Ayla who is one of the "others". Ayla grows up with them and the series follows her story from there. SO good!

 
I really liked these too... Not my usual cup of tea but thoroughly enjoyed nevertheless. 
 
Tom Holt is also funny, I particularly liked Paint Your Dragon. 
 
And, moving away from the sci fi/fantasy/comedy stuff, I love most stuff by Anne Rice.  Her books are so well written.... you can SEE the scenes and the characters played out in your head and the detail is lush and crystal clear.  And I really like books where you can really identify with "the bad guy".....

I read a ton of books.  I'm not gonna describe them all, cause it would take all night, but I'll add a blurb about the kid lit and some of the series that I really enjoyed.  Here are some of my favourites:
 
Adult fiction
 
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
1984 by George Orwell
anything by Margaret Atwood (especially Alias Grace, the Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake)
most books by Carol Shields (especially Larry's Party, Republic of Love)
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
The Stone Carvers by Susan Urquhart
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (WARNING: do NOT read this book if you don't want to feel as though you've been thrown down in the mud and repeatedly kicked in the ribs.  While it's beautifully written, it is by far one of the most depressing books that I've ever read)
 
Adult series:
 
No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (light, funny, excellent sense of place...about a woman detective in Botswana.  These aren't mystery books though.  More character and place studies.)
 
The Dark Tower by Stephen King  (I don't even know what to say about this series.  It is gripping and very un-horror-book-ish.  I enjoy most of King's books, but not in quite the same way that I got sucked into the Dark Tower story.  I adored the first 5 books...unfortunately, I could only tolerate the last 2.  The ending was good, at least.  Warning: you may find yourself speaking like the characters in the book.  I got a very strange look when I accidentally said "Say thankya" to the grocery store clerk after reading Wolves of the Calla.)
 
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
 
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams  (FUNNY.  I started out copying my favourite bits from the book, until I realized that I was copying just about every second sentence)
 
Kid lit books/series:
 
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (very dark dystopian book about a cloned little boy in a future when drug cartels run the world)
 
Exodus by Julie Bertagna (another dark book about a future when the ice caps have all melted and the world's last islands are disappearing under the ocean)
 
The Giver by Lois Lowry (gut-wrenching book about a perfect futuristic society in which everything is recise and structured and uniform)
 
Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix (yet another dark dystopian book about a future when third children are put to death...hmmm...do you sense a trend in my book choices?)
 
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle (sooo sweet and magical and lovely...the cartoon film from the 80s - which I grew up watching - was very true to the book)
 
Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce (4-book series about a girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can become a knight...lots of magic and sword fighting...GREAT stuff!)
 
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (fascinating series about parallel worlds, religion, morality and all that other fun stuff)
 
Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce (takes place a generation after the Song of the Lioness...about a young girl training to be a knight)
 
The Breadwinner, Parvana's Journey and Mud City by Deborah Ellis (books about girls in Afghanistan.  Gripping stuff).  She also wrote a great book called The Heaven Shop, about an AIDS orphan in Malawi.
 
Holes by Louis Sachar (far better than the movie by the same name)
 
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer (STRANGE series about a teenaged evil genius and a police force of tech-savvy underground fairies who are constantly thwarting him.  It's like a cross between a fairy tale and a Bruce Willis movie)
 
The Kingdom novels (Elske, On Fortune's Wheel, Jackaroo) by Cynthia Voigt (a series of loosely related books that take place in an imaginary mideival world.  I didn't like Wings of a Falcon as much...there were scenes in it that were too harsh and difficult to read, even for me)
 
Errr...I also like LOTS of non-fiction, but I'm getting a little carried away here.  Enough.

HOW could I forget James Herriott and Jean Auel? (smack upside the head) Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Betty MacDonald (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series), Beverly Cleary (Ramona the  Pest and others), plus more.  I like the Phryne Fisher series as well as Maisie Dobbs. I just love to read, PERIOD.

1984 is one of my favorites. I also like We and Brave New World, although I need to reread that one because I got caught up in other stuff and stopped paying attention to the details and got lost somewhere.
 
I also loved Memoirs of a Geisha. Some others that I like, in no particular classification, are Fahrenheit 451, Running With Scissors, Dry, The Godfather, and A Clockwork Orange.

The Breadwinner, Parvana's Journey and Mud City by Deborah Ellis (books about girls in Afghanistan. Gripping stuff)

 
Random..read this last year with my students.  Love, love, loved it.  They also wrote letters to my brother who was stationed  in Iraq at the same time as we read this book.  Completely enriched the reading experience. Are you a reading teacher?  I am, that's why I ask.  A MUST read for you is the Kite Runner, if you haven't already...
Coleen
 
 

Hey Random.Another Dark Tower fan here..Loved the whole series and know what you mean about slipping into character..lol

 I absolutely loved the ending.It couldn't have been any better for me.

 I remember where I was when I read all the books over the years from the 80's up until the latest.

ORIGINAL: ashland
I fell in love with this book so much that when I first read it I would say, "If I ever have a daughter, I'm naming her Ayla!" [] I  have re-read all of the books at least 3 times each. I will be one of the first at the bookstore when the next one is released.

 
I love the name Ayla too! I didn't like the last book as much as the earlier ones.  I didn't find that all that much happened.  It was ok, but it felt more like a really, really long prologue than an actual book!  I'm looking forward to the next one, though.  Any idea when we can expect it?

ORIGINAL: pndhounds
Are you a reading teacher?  I am, that's why I ask.  A MUST read for you is the Kite Runner, if you haven't already...
Coleen

 
I teach second grade French Immersion.  So I can't use any of these books in my class...wrong grade level, wrong language!  I just love young adult fiction.  Have you read The Heaven Shop yet?  I actually read that one before the others.  It was so heartbreaking.
 
I bought The Kite Runner and The Time Traveler's Wife for my mom for Christmas...as soon as she finishes them, she'll pass them on to me. I've heard nothing but good things about both of them.

ORIGINAL: MhadDog


I absolutely loved the ending.It couldn't have been any better for me.

 
I loved the ending, too.  It was actually erfect.  I was just disappointed with a lot of what happened in the last 2 books.  I found them a bit choppy and self-indulgent.  I still liked them...they just didn't seem to be on the same level as the first 5.

I totaly get the self indulgent part.The one character I would have liked to have seen left out,was going through a lot when he wrote the story.I wasn't much happy with it,but it didn't take away enough to make me hate it..

Running With Scissors

i bought this for my wife for christmas. i havent read it, but after reading a synopsis and a couple of reviews i thought she would really enjoy it. i think she was hesitant to read it for a while, but she told me the other day she had started reading it and was really enjoying it.

i intend to read it once she is finished.

Running With Scissors

saw the movie and enjoyed it.. Now I really wanna read the book![]

ORIGINAL: jjsmom06

Running With Scissors

saw the movie and enjoyed it.. Now I really wanna read the book![]

 
I loved the book!  Haven't seen the movie yet.