I recently finished Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards. His writing is poetic and blunt and so truthful it hurts. I might give a more detailed review of it when I have the time to write one up. I almost throughly enjoyed the novel. It’s scary how well Richards knows the maritimes. I just wish something good happened to the people in his books. Anyway, I’m looking for a new book to read. Any recommendations?
What’s your favourite novel of 2006, and why?
Out of the 35 or so books I have read this year, there are three that stick out in my mind. I like novels that not only have a great story but where I learn something.
1. One Vacant Chair by Joe Coomer. This started slow but finished strong. Great story and I learned about chair painting and Scotland – a country of which I was unrepentantly ignorant.
2.Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God also by Joe Coomer – I learned some things about archeology in this one. Coomer is also “laugh-out-loud” funny!
3.A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines – excellent read. Deep insight into life in the south in the 1930′s.
Looking back at my notes, I really liked Sarah Vowell’s Partly Cloudy Patriot, Dan Savage’s The Committment, Anthony Bourdain’s Typhoid Mary, Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s I Am Not Myself These Days, Terry Pratchett’s Thud, Pamela Ribon’s Why Moms are Weird, and Rachel Cohen and David Levitan’s Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
I just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife and loved it muchly.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I couldn’t decide, so I picked a random book from my shelf: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, by Jules Verne. It’s really good.