I just finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (non-fiction), but my recent favorite is The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson (fiction).

Did you like Devil in the White City? I was thinking about picking that up.

at least miami and tenn are closer. and not in texas.

and you added an effect to that photo, no?

no, no effect. the sky looked like that on saturday afternoon, right before it poured.

I did like it. Pretty much every famous person in the 1890s makes an appearance, and then there is the added bonus of the serial killer plot.

It is packed with trivia and tidbits. You will annoy everyone you know with the things you'll learn.

Fortress of Solitude - it was awesome. Also, AMerican Pastoral by Philip Roth and the Corrections. Those are the three best books I've read in the past couple of years

i meant at the edges of the photo.

I read like a maniac...seriously, if I weren't so broke I'd spend hundreds of dollars on books. I find that non-fiction tends to "last" longer than novels that you get so soaked into you can hardly put them down. I just finished Ghengis Khan: A World History (or History of the World or something like that) which was actually very interesting. Other books I've read recently that I really liked: Yellow Dog by Martin Amis, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Phillip Dick (of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ie. Blade Runner fame)Also the Baroque Cycle trilogy by Neal Stephenson is a nice combination of novel, history, science and lots and lots of pages that will take more than a day or too to read.

Re-reading the above, I just realized how big a dork I really am.

I've read a bunch in the past year, but the real standout for me was Under the Banner of Heaven, by Krakauer. The rundown of Mormon history and fundamentalism is FASCINATING.

One of my all-time favorites: Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin. If you haven't already read it, you might want to check out the reader reviews on Amazon to see whether it sounds like your cup of tea.

Can't wait to hear other people's recommendations -- I'm looking for something to read now, too.

Forgot to include the link for Winter's Tale.

Being Dead and Quarantine, Jim Crace (Quarantine, especially, I think would appeal to you)

Any Ian McEwan

Mating Norman Rush (dense, smart and long, perfect for binge reading periods. One of my top ten, all time best novels.)

Possesion and The Matisse Stories A.S. Byatt (save the stories for the train, that book won't last long if you're devouring stuff, but Possesion should take some time)

"birds of america" by lorrie moore. "white teeth" by zadie smith (?), "spirit catches you adn you fall down," by anne fadiman (non-fiction. amazing), "the deptford trilogy" by robertson davies, and i second the motion on krakauer's "banner of heaven."

If you just finished Jonathan Safran Foer's book, I recommend picking up THE HISTORY OF LOVE, written by his wife, Nicole Krauss, which makes for a very interesting comparison.

I have THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I have heard from all of my sources that it is wonderful. Also I think I suggested this to you last year some time - FIVE POINTS - The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented TAp Dance, Stole Elections and BEcame the World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder. I found this a very interesting read.

Well, sweetie, many of the above books are luckily in our very own library at the Red Hook homestead. Since you will be part-time summering there, looking after the kitties, feel free to raid the shelves.

I still think you should read The Power Broker.

I miss you.

Hi Corie! My first suggestion: JUSTINE (Faber Fiction Classics S.), by Lawrence Durrell, Faber and Faber Ltd , Paperback - June 7, 2000 . The most beautiful book I ever read was “Alexandria Quartet”, of which Justine is the first. Synopsis: Set amid the corrupt glamour and multiplying intrigues of Alexandria in the 1930s and 1940s, the novels of Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet" follow the shifting alliances - sexual, cultural and political - of a group of quite varied characters. Follows the books: Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea.
My second suggestion: DISGRACE, by John Maxwell Coetzee, Penguin, USA. Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. It's a great book!! Synopsis: "Set in post-apartheid South Africa, J. M. Coetzee’s searing novel tells the story of David Lurie, a twice divorced, 52-year-old professor of communications and Romantic Poetry at Cape Technical University." Have fun!

I'll seconf the baroque cycle and the time travellers wife!
Hmm. Try Only Forward by Micheal Marshall Smith, The Kon Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Mr Nice by Howard Marks, Imagica by Clive Barker, and A Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick (before keanu ruins it). I think thats a suitably eclectic mix!

Oh the power broker is GREAT! There is even a cheapie play about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs down at 45 Bleecker if you want to go

The blue afternoon - William Boyd

Try - 'All Creatures Great and Small'

I read it while in the hospital with Pnumonia.