Knock your socks off novels?

[MelodyO]

I'm embarrassed to say that while I was writing my novel, I stopped reading fiction. I know! Stop looking at me like that.

Now I'm making up for lost time, but I'm out of the loop when it comes to good reads. Has there been any book written in the last five years that really knocked your socks off?

(And while I'm here, are there any urban fantasies you could recommend?)

Thank you, o knowledgeable denizens of AW. ::blows kisses::

[gerrydodge]

Richard Ford's THE LAY OF THE LAND, Jon Clinch's, FINN, Peter Ho Davies' THE WELSH GIRL, Richard Power's THE ECHOMAKER, John Burnam Schwartz's RESERVATION ROAD, Cormac MCCarthy's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and an old one that few people have read, I think, Richard Yates' REVOLUTIONARY ROAD.

[Death Wizard]

Cormac McCarthy's The Road also is cool. Plus, it's short ... if you're looking to break yourself in.

[zahra]

Lionel Shriver's 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' springs to mind.

[callalily61]

Urban fantasy--the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I forget the first one's title, but they all have "Dead" in them. By book 4 or 5 she got way off the deep end for me--lost the original focus and is using a kitchen sink approach. But the first few rock.

[aadams73]

I'm working my way through Simon R. Green's Nightside series. I highly recommend them if you like urban fantasy.

[lkp]

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of the Wind knocked my socks off. I'm still looking for them. I think they're under the bed.
Margaret Elphinstone's Hy Brasil isn't exactly urban fantasy but it is contemporary imaginary island in the middle of the North Atlantic complete with volcanoes, drug dealers, and the descendants of pirates fantasy.

[Will Lavender]

Steven Hall's brilliant The Raw Shark Texts absolutely blew me away.

[glendalough]

I cant say how old exactly, but there are a few I got in hardcover, and around here, that means something:

The Secret Life of Bees - SO well written, a total summer book. It will make you want to move to the south, keep bees and make honey cakes.

The Memoirs of a Geisha - I got this title from Mrs. Soprano and ohmygosh, super amazing from page one. A huge book and by a few chapters in you will be thankful there is so much to read.

The Evanovich Stephanie Plum series - The first three are now in one hardcopy edition and that's all you need. She's a bounty hunter in Jersey...enough said. Add to that her first job is an old boyfriend that is now a cop! Her gun toting granny, her mom always feeding her, her sexy bounty hunter friend named RANGER and a prostitute as a side kick? I mean honestly, can life BE any better?

Where The Red Fern Grows - In case you have not read it. I homeschool and we read it out loud..wow.

[Inkdaub]

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of the Wind...

This is the one I was going to mention. I'll add Salvador Plascencia's 'The People of Paper' and my main man Jonathan Lethem's 'Fortress of Solitude'.

[Just Me 2021]

"We Don't Live Here Anymore" by Andre Dubus - fabulous look at love and marriage, "The Cider House Rules" by John Irving - best ending to a book ever.

[althrasher]

"My Sister's Keeper" and "The Posionwood Bible" if you haven't read them. They're amazing.

[Little Red Barn]

I cant say how old exactly, but there are a few I got in hardcover, and around here, that means something:

The Secret Life of Bees - SO well written, a total summer book. It will make you want to move to the south, keep bees and make honey cakes.


Where The Red Fern Grows - In case you have not read it. I homeschool and we read it out loud..wow.
Also her The Mermaids Chair was a delightful read.

[Tia Nevitt]

I am reading THIEF WITH NO SHADOW by Emily Gee right now, and it is AMAZING. Don't be fooled by any initial dislike you may have of certain key characters at first. This is the best book I've read in a long time.

[swvaughn]

What's-his-name's series with the wizard detective... uh, Harry somebody... no, Jim...

Ah! The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher. Great UF series. :D (The books, I mean, I've not seen the TV show)

[WriterInChains]

I'm working my way through Simon R. Green's Nightside series. I highly recommend them if you like urban fantasy.

I second this! The Nightside books are supercool! :)

This is hard scifi, but I'd also recommend Nick Sagan's trilogy. I'm halfway through the 3rd book, but so far the whole story has been great post-apocalyptic fun.

Recent "socks off" books: Animal Dreams, Rant, Drive, The Big Sleep, Clown Girl, Motherless Brooklyn, Clearcut, Paint It Black.

[Symphony]

The Kite Runner is my fave so far this year - just couldn't put it down

Perfume (Suskind) is a great read, too - the descriptions of the senses and no, it's not a girly book (maybe there's a message in there about choosing titles??)

Enjoy your reading!

[Danger Jane]

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli. Not all her books draw me in, but this one is just great. I love the way she writes.

[Doug Johnson]

"The Cider House Rules" by John Irving - best ending to a book ever.

Funny, I thought the best ending ever was A Prayer for Owen Meany. I guess Irving knows how to write good endings.

[aadams73]

What has knocked my socks off lately? Neil Gaiman's STARDUST.

[tammieofmi]

Hmmm, I'd have to say recently Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - couldn't put it down. Also the Time Traveler's Wife, not sure how old it is, I was sort of late getting to it because "time travel" sort of turned me off, but what a huge mistake on my part. As a writer, I thought the author moved from past to present in a seamless manner. Great story to.

[Just Me 2021]

Funny, I thought the best ending ever was A Prayer for Owen Meany. I guess Irving knows how to write good endings.


I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany, too. But the ending to The Cider House Rules always lingers with me. I've actually gone back and reread the last three pages on their own, just to relive that "Ahhhhhh...." feeling Irving inspires at the end of his books.

[ChunkyC]

I'm embarrassed to say that while I was writing my novel, I stopped reading fiction. I know! Stop looking at me like that.

Now I'm making up for lost time, but I'm out of the loop when it comes to good reads. Has there been any book written in the last five years that really knocked your socks off?

(And while I'm here, are there any urban fantasies you could recommend?)

Thank you, o knowledgeable denizens of AW. ::blows kisses::
The Kite Runner blew me away too. As for urban fantasy, have you read any Charles De Lint (http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_ss_b/701-6902731-0037924?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Charles+de+Lint&Go.x=10&Go.y=11&Go=Go), MelodyO? I just finished Spirits in the Wires (http://www.amazon.ca/Spirits-Wires-Novel-Magic-Streets/dp/0312873980/ref=sr_1_89/701-6902731-0037924?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183242278&sr=1-89), great book.

[reenkam]

Hairstyles of the Damned - Joe Meno (punk rock/high school/the eighties)

The Tutor - Peter Abrahams (psychological thriller, I think. Pretty intense)

[Penguin Queen]

I really really loved Leaving Earth by Helen Humphreys.
(Mind you, having just looked it up, I realise it was published almost 10 years ago, but I only read it a couple of years ago, because I buy virtually all my books in charity shops, so have no idea what's new in terms of newly published. Anyway, I thought it was bloody brilliant.)

Also "Fugitive Pieces" by Anne Michaels.The language in that is just stunning.
Actually, I think both Humphreys & Michaels are poets first and novelists second, and it does show in their use of language.

I'm just now reading "Pigs in Heaven" by Barbara Kingsolver, and I love it, like I do everything Ive read by her so far. (She's a poet as well... er. Spot a pattern here? :D)

And lastly, this will only do you any good at all if you read Spanish, but if you do, give this a try: "Pequeños Hombres Blancos" by Patricia Ratto; this one is new, it was published in Argentina last year; a very slim novel, and apart from some descriptive passages that make perhaps 20 to 30 per cent of the book, it's entirely written in dialogue. Again, I thought this was stunning writing, the way she says lots of things with absences and has pared down her language to its absolute bare bones. Just bloody brilliant.

Er. None of this is urban fantasy though. BUt they did all knock my socks off!

[reenkam]

Oh, you wanted urban fantasy. Woops...

Well, there's anything by Kelley Armstrong. It's all great but I really like Dime Store Magic and Haunted the best. She just came out with a new book in the series called No Humans Involved. That was good, too.

In YA there's the Black Tattoo. It was a pretty good story. Interesting. Funny somtimes. The MC was fun to read about. Of course, if you don't like YA then you wouldn't like it, probably...

[Penguin Queen]

Oh oh oh oh and how could I forget -- The God of small Things, Arundhati Roy. Glorious, glorious, glorious language. Glorious.


AND Beloved, Toni Morrisson. The things she does with words are ... beyond words, really. If you are going to read one book, read that. Seriously.

[gingerwoman]

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - couldn't put it down

[jennifer75]

I really enjoyed the Kite Runner and Water for Elephants. I read them in - what for me is - record time.

[KTC]

anything by Michael Chabon. The Kite Runner. Uncomplicated Kindness.

[gingerwoman]

The Pact and Perfect Match are by Jodi Picoult are also very good. I'm falling in love with her.
Oh anyone who hasn't read The Robber Bride by Atwood your missing out.
I adore Cat's Eye too but Cat's Eye wouldn't appeal to some.