The Book Page

By Brenda

September 4, 2007 8:22 AM | Link to this

I am glad you mentioned the book Twilight— My daughter has the set of 3—- just got the third one— your comments made me decide I am going to give them a try.

By Jeff

September 4, 2007 8:26 AM | Link to this

Best Nonfiction:

One Bullet Away by Capt. Nathaniel Fick. Dude was on his first post-OCS cruise as a Marine Leiutenant on 9/11. He was in Australia at the time, and when the Marines on his boat heard about what was going on (they were on shore leave), they ran back to the boat. He was among the first in Afghanistan and the first in Iraq. The book spends a LITTLE time on his background and why he went into the Corps, then details his experiences in OCS, TBS, California, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Overall a GREAT book and should be a REQUIRED read for EVERY American.

Fiction:

Tie. Book of the Dead by Preston/Child and Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.

Book of the Dead is a satisfying conclusion to the Diogenes trilogy that is FULL of surprises and horror and includes the return of virtually all of the main characters from within the Preston/Child universe.

Bad Luck and Trouble is a very satisfying addition to the Reacher series. In this one, Reacher gets a coded message that only he could understand from an old friend. Turns out that half of his old team has been killed, and the other half must find out who and make the person(s) responsible learn the full meaning of You DO NOT MESS with the special investigators. Within the story is a typical Reacher-style tale of fights, mystery, weapons, and Bond-esque woman-of-the-book. Child continues his short, choppy, ultra blunt style that I love so much, and this is another written in limited third person. (He alternates between limited third person and first person, depending on how he thinks the particular story is better told.) Overall, probably one of the three best Reacher books thus far.

By Dee

September 4, 2007 8:39 AM | Link to this

Dan Brown’s other two books (besides The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons) - Deception Point and Digital Fortress. Different Heros in these two books. Both very good and written in the same Dan Brown fashion - if you like his style of writing. He has a new one in the works, but I don’t know when it will be in print and on the shelves.

By Nita

September 4, 2007 9:03 AM | Link to this

Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer. Sean Penn is releasing it as a movie soon. It’s a true story about an Emory grad who shucked it all to embark on a life (and ultimately death) journey into teh wilderness of ALaska. It will get under your skin because I think all of us have experienced wanderlust, along with annoyance of modern rituals full of consumerism and societal standards. Right?

By Nita

September 4, 2007 9:04 AM | Link to this

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Sean Penn is releasing it as a movie soon. It’s a true story about an Emory grad who shucked it all to embark on a life (and ultimately death) journey into the wilderness of Alaska. It will get under your skin because I think all of us have experienced wanderlust, along with annoyance of modern rituals full of consumerism and societal standards. Right?

By Nita

September 4, 2007 9:06 AM | Link to this

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Sean Penn is releasing it as a movie soon. It’s a true story about an Emory grad who shucked it all to embark on a life (and ultimately death) journey into the wilderness of Alaska. It will get under your skin because I think all of us have experienced wanderlust, along with annoyance of modern rituals full of consumerism and societal standards. Right?

By Kim

September 4, 2007 9:14 AM | Link to this

Did you just spoil the book & movie? “on a life (and ultimately death) journey” I agree with “A Thousand Splendid Suns” & add “Three cups of tea”— a mountaineer who decides to build schools in Pakistan (& eventually Central Asia).

By mmk

September 4, 2007 9:18 AM | Link to this

Read ” Loving Frank ” about the love affair of this internationally renowned American architect with the wife of one of his clients. Also ” Florence Broadhurst ” an excentric, opinionated Australian designer of beautiful wallpapers, her murder is still a mystery. Some interesting people who defy society’s principles.

By Bill

September 4, 2007 9:29 AM | Link to this

Dear Hunting with Jesus focuses on the author’s home town of Winchester which is decidedly in Virginia, not West Virginia. It’s a very good read.

By Ed

September 4, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

It was actually a re-read for me, a book I enjoyed years and years ago and enjoyed as much or more the second time around. The book is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. The storyline is set in what is now England and surrounding areas in the eleventh century. Excellent read!

By Phil Kloer

September 4, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this

Nita and Kim: I’m gonna let the “spoiler” about “Into the Wild” stand. There’s never gonna be consensus on this darned spoiler issue, but the reason I’m letting Nita’s spoiler stay is because the book has been out for about 11 years. The very first paragraph of the lead summary on amazon.com says that the guy dies. I don’t have the book handy, but if memory serves, my paperback copy said on the back cover that he dies. On the same subject of “Into the Wild,” I saw the movie trailer this weekend, and the trailer sure makes it look like a cool, upbeat, follow-your-bliss kinda flick. That doesnt meant the movie has been twisted that way, though. This circles back to last week’s blog about making books into movies.

And Bill, you are correct, “Deer Hunting With Jesus” is set in Virginia and I have corrected my entry. Thank you sir! Now, everyone go read “Deer Hunting With Jesus.”

By Amy

September 4, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

My new favorite writer this year is Elizabeth Berg, and her latest Dream When You’re Feeling Blue was a wake-up call about war and the country pulling together “for the boys”. A read and re-read, I think. Elizabeth Berg is the best author I’ve read in the ability to express the feelings of her characters.

By Doctor LongGhost

September 4, 2007 12:35 PM | Link to this

John Swartzwelder’s “How I Conquered Your Planet.” Important reading from an important literary voice.

By RUChinaDoll

September 4, 2007 12:39 PM | Link to this

The Twilight series is a surprisingly good read and very addictive, even for adults. I can’t wait for The Host to come out! Deathly Hallows was also good, but predictable. My favorite author for the summer has been Christopher Moore. I would recommend Fluke of The Lust Lizard of Melancoly Cove.

By RUChinaDoll

September 4, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this

Sorry folks, that should be an *or not of

By Sheila

September 4, 2007 12:47 PM | Link to this

I’ve read most of Christopher Moore’s books this summer and the one I like best is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus’ Childhood Friend. It was hysterical. I’ve been reading light this summer….it was too hot for anything else.

By BPJ

September 4, 2007 12:53 PM | Link to this

One favorite from this summer is “The March” by E.L. Doctorow. It begins with Sherman’s departure from Atlanta and follows a cast of historical & fictional characters through Georgia and the Carolinas. Not just for civil war buffs, though they should enjoy it too. Doctorow is a master at historical fiction (Ragtime, The Waterworks);The March suggests the vast changes sweeping over the nation in the wake of the war, while enthralling the reader with memorable characters and their experiences - some sad, some hilarious.

By Fulton County Mom

September 4, 2007 1:09 PM | Link to this

So many books so little time/space:

1. HP 7 - Deathly Hallows although not up to the hype—-there is a ‘dry’ spell in the middle—-it was still a great book.

Got introduced to the Miss Julia’s by Ann B. Ross. Good poolside reading.

High Noon by Nora Roberts. Also read a couple in her JD Robb series. Interesting but predictable on the Robb one. High Noon had a couple of twists that blew me away.

By Phil Kloer

September 4, 2007 1:17 PM | Link to this

Sheila: Christopher Moore is going to be at Wordsmith Books in Decatur on Sept. 29, talking and signing and probably not being quite as weird as his books might indicate. I’ll be writing more about him near that date. I’m a fan as well.

By Kate

September 4, 2007 1:28 PM | Link to this

My two favorite reads this summer were All Aunt Hagar’s Children by Edward Jones and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen(sp?).

A Thousand Splendid Suns” was good but it’s hard to resist comparing it to *Kite Runner which was much better, in my opinion.

By Phil Kloer

September 4, 2007 1:33 PM | Link to this

And Stephenie Meyer is going to be at Barnes & Noble Alpharetta on Sept. 14. O.M.G.

By Linda

September 4, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this

Just stayed up past midnight to finish “Orbit” by John J. Nance. Kip Dawson has always wanted to go into space. He signs on as a passenger on a privately funded space ride, only to find himself stranded in orbit with no communications and no way back to earth. Waiting for death, he begins to record his thoughts on a computer. Unknown to him, the whole world can read what he’s writing … won’t give any more plot away. I couldn’t put it down.

By grabbingsand

September 4, 2007 1:55 PM | Link to this

On the insistent advice of a friend, I read Christopher Moore’s Lamb. What an amazingly good book that is. And the funny thing … it all makes a certain kind of sense. Is it likely that a particular Messiah learned all of his ways and means from encounters with monks, gurus and self-proclaimed wizards? Not really, but the magic of Moore’s work is that you come away wishing it were all so true, because the explanations he offers would answer so many questions. As it is, we’re left with an mind expanded by fiction … which is a gift in its own right, eh?

By Jeff

September 4, 2007 2:13 PM | Link to this

grabbingsand:

Try Bill Myers’s Eli. Different basic assumptions about Christ (from what you say in your post - I’ve never read Lamb), but a similar story.

The basic idea behind Eli is that a car crash sends a skeptic into a parallel reality where Christ was born in 1969 Santa Monica rather than Roman-era Palestine. A person familiar with the Gospels will be able to see how Myers retells familiar stories and translates them into a modern setting, but prior knowledge of the Gospels is COMPLETELY UNnecessary to enjoy the book.

Without giving away any of the plot really, I’ll give away a scene that many (I think) are familiar with: the feeding of the multitude. In the Bible, it is with 5 barley loaves and two small fish. The basic idea is that Christ blesses this small meal and the entire crowd is fed to their stomach’s content, with 12 baskets of food left over. In Eli, it is something along the lines of a couple of hambergers and a small bag of fries from McD’s. Same basic strory, same 12 bags of food left over after the crowd was full. Completely modern and interesting retelling. (Contains no language even remotely close to the “thee”s and “thou”s that hang up so many in the KJV!)

As you said, “as it is, we’re left with a mind expanded by fiction… which is a gift in its own right, eh?”

By Lily Toad

September 4, 2007 3:06 PM | Link to this

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay. A bibliomystery set fictiously in NYC’s famed Strand Bookstore. Bookstore clerks find evidence of a secret manuscript by Herman Melville. The narrator is from Romania and has just moved to NYC.

By Whatever

September 4, 2007 8:37 PM | Link to this

Is this what passes for book coverage at the AJC these days?

By Jen

September 5, 2007 9:06 AM | Link to this

The best book I read this summer is Double Down by Tess Hudson aka Erica Orlof.

The heroine is a gambling addict who is very very very likable. The premise for her addiction is very archetypal but…well, aren’t messed up people usually archetypes?

By David Edelstein

September 5, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

Thank you, Mr. Kloer, for mentioning Joe Bageant’s marvelous book. My wife was its editor at Crown, so I’m very biased, but I read the manuscript at every stage and was repeatedly thrilled by its passion, lucidity, and good-old-boy raucousness. It comes from a place that most of us don’t know and need to. It deserves a wider audience and I hope it will still find one. (PS—I’m shilling here, but I value my critical reputation too much to shill for books I don’t care about enormously.)

By Curious

September 5, 2007 12:39 PM | Link to this

Is the above comment by David Edelstein, the film critic for New York magazine and NPR’s “Fresh Air”?

By Phil Kloer

September 5, 2007 1:18 PM | Link to this

Dear Curious: David Edelstein of “Fresh Air” and New York mag has a wife who is an editor for Crown, according to my Googling. Of course, this could be yet another of those notorious pranks of people impersonating David Edelstein on blog comments, and we’ve all been taken!

By Rachel Klayman

September 5, 2007 3:12 PM | Link to this

Dear Phil Kloer, 1) I am the editor of Joe Bageant’s book, which I do hope will be discovered by more readers, and which I thank you for mentioning. 2) I am indeed married to David Edelstein, critic for New York magazine and Fresh Air. 3) David really did write the comment a few lines up from this one. All best, Rachel Klayman Crown Publishers

By Phil Kloer

September 5, 2007 3:26 PM | Link to this

So, readers, this does not appear to be one of those David Edelstein impersonators after all. That’s a relief! Now just be on the lookout for someone claiming to be Ira Glass.

By Judy

September 17, 2007 8:42 PM | Link to this

On Aug. 26th, I read about a book about a little boy that was standing on the side of a road and his mother had been killed in an auto accident. It took place in the old south. I think the author had “martin” in their name. Can you please find the name of the book for me. I attended a funeral that evening and did not get the opportunity to get the name again. Thanks, Judy

By Julie Bookman

September 18, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this

Hi,Phil. What fun to share books that left strong impressions this summer. I actually re-read “Gone With the Wind,” to refresh myself for the forthcoming “Rhett Butler’s People” (parallel story by Donald McCaig, coming in Nov). I had read GWTW 3-4 times back in my younger days, but had not cracked it in more than 20 years. I was blown away by the richness, the attention to descriptions, the vivid historical detail, the wealth of strong characters, and the breadth & scope of the plot/storytelling. My daughter is now in Africa for her junior semester abroad & she took a paperback of GWTW & i understand it is being passed around among the dozen or so students in her program, as they are hungry to read “anything in English,” so a bunch of collegiates who likely would have never otherwise read this magnificent book are doing so. I hope very much that “Rhett Butler’s People” brings GWTW the the forefront for the next generations. Also, i go to the Oregon coast every year with the same two women and our assorted daughters. This August, ALL of us read/devoured (and then discussed at length) “The Glass Castle,” astonishing memoir by Jeannette Walls. I continue to push it upon friends & coworkers, and every single one has been grateful. It is a sure bet. Highly recommended for an airline trip, for a reluctant teen reader, etc. What a story. Knowing, from the onset, that the author emerged successfully in the end (not unlike Frank McCourt from “Angela’s Ashes”) helped me get through it. Finally, I still cant stop thinking about “The Scandal of the Season” by Sophie Gee. She may now be unknown (not to mention on the young side for a Princeton professor), but that wont be for long. This splendid, ambitious literary achievement had my pulse racing at times. The story is inspired by Alexander Pope’s famous poem, “The Rape of the Lock.” It is set in 1711 London, but once you get going, it reads like a very modern book. Great choice for book clubs. I’ve never blogged in my life, but Books R Us here in Lit Land at 10th & Peachtree, where we have terrific authors every week! Thanks for starting this blog, Phil, and thanks for linking to us!