can anyone recommend?

[Buh4Bee]

Currently, I am not able to concentrate well due to the fact that I am pregnant. I am having a difficult time finding a decent book. Usually I like to read classic literature, non-fiction, and biography. I am not a huge poetry fan, nor do I particularly enjoy short stories. I am looking for a good book that is well written, but moves along at a good pace. For example, I read The Rum Diary by Hunter S.Thompson and I enjoyed it for what it is. The crap you find at the library is breaking me down. I cannot read any more "best sellers" or house wife chick-lit.

Does anyone have a good recommendation?

[Calidore]

Most of Dumas' and Dickens' works were originally written as newspaper serials, so they're pretty pacey. The Three Musketeers especially is terrific as pure entertainment.

And congratulations!

[Scheherazade]

Congratulations! When is the ETA? :)

Just some random suggestions:

World According to Garp

White Teeth

Three Men in a Boat

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Bel Canto

Dolores Claiborne

[mona amon]

Ooh, congratulations, Buh4bee!

I recommend My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell and all the James Herriot books. All light reading, and pure joy. :)

[kev67]

Black Ajax by George MacDonal Fraser. It's about a black, American prize fighter who comes to 19th century London to fight the champion, Tom Cribb.It was based on a true story.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres.
About a Boy, How to be Good or High Fidelity by Nick Hornby.

[qimissung]

Hi Buh4Bee, I wonder if you'd like "This Book Will Save Your Life," by A.M. Homes? FifthElement recommended it to me, and I really enjoyed it. Also, have you ever read "A Girl Named Zippy-Growing Up Small in Mooreland" by Haven Kimmel? It's a memoir, short and highly readable.

[Calidore]

Black Ajax by George MacDonal Fraser.

I've never read them, but I've heard good things about his Flashman novels as well.

And I'll enthusiastically second Mona's recommendation of James Herriot's books.

[mal4mac]

Most of Dumas' and Dickens' works were originally written as newspaper serials, so they're pretty pacey. The Three Musketeers especially is terrific as pure entertainment.

I agree with the Dickens recommendation, but I'm not too sure about Dumas. I recently gave up on the Count of Monte Cristo, the first two hundred pages were superb, but then it really started to drag. It was like, after a brilliant start, he was churning out filler for those long newspaper runs, a soap opera in print. (Dickens avoided this somehow, he's a true genius!)

[kev67]

I've never read them, but I've heard good things about his Flashman novels as well.

And I'll enthusiastically second Mona's recommendation of James Herriot's books.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I thought they were good. I have read all of them. Flashman is a cad, a bully, a toady, a philanderer, a coward and an officer in Queen Victoria's army.

James Herriot's books were great too.

[kiki1982]

PG Wodehouse?

He's funny and from my first meeting with the man, a gather he's got a mind that flutters from the one analogy to the other without real apparent cause. I find that quite enjoyable. Maybe such a somewhat disorganised style is nice if you can't concentrate.

As to Dumas: I found indeed in Monte Cristo that the first 1,000-odd pages of my edition (apart from the first 200 where he sets up the story) were a grand preparation for an even grander culmination. It's so clever and so good that you literally can't put it down for the last 500. I neglected my work at that point even, and I usually don't get why people say 'I couldn't put it down'. It just doesn't happen to me. But that book just kept me glued. The detail of his set-up was filler (no doubt) to get his weekly fee as long as possible, but it also serves to make you feel the full devastating blow of the revenge at the time it comes. It's very clever. He gradually builds up the tension and you feel the counter of the time bomb is coming to 0.
If you want something nicer then you should maybe read The Three Musketeers. That's much shorter and snappier. It does have an intrigue for its plot, but it doesn't drag (much to the contrary). Although I think meticulous set-ups are a French thing. Their films are often also like this. You need to like it to be able to appreciate it because the meaning of what you are reading/watching most of the time is at the very end.

[edit] Oh, yes, and congratulations. How long to go?

[AuntShecky]

Best wishes to you! Good thing you're taking time to read now, because when the blessed event arrives you'll have little time for anything. You should probably stack as many z-z-z-z in now as well.

Whatever you do, don't read anything disturbing right now. I like the previous recommendation for P.G. Wodehouse. His books are fun and fly by quickly. As a matter of fact, you should read as many light-hearted authors as you can. Peter DeVries (except for "Witch's Milk," which was great but not really appropriate for your present condition ) and Elliot Baker are really entertaining authors. I just finished a collection of stories by Damon Runyon which I thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe the library has a copy of the Treasury of American Humor, edited by the incomparable Russell Baker. Anything that brings laughter or puts you in a good mood.

[mal4mac]

Wodehouse is another one to be careful with. I think I've been unlucky with Wodehouse. The couple I borrowed from the library were tedious. Try reading "Arguably", the last essay collection from the wonderful Christopher Hitchens. He provides a superb essay on Wodehouse's oeuvre, amongst dozens of other gems. It's a great read, and guides one to other great reads.

[kiki1982]

To be fair, I base that judgement on Wodehouse solely on what I've seen on the Beeb (2nd series coming soon! By the same astute writer as Lost in Austen apparently, that's why it's so good), Something New/Fresh (1915) and a few scans through short stories of his. I don't know how he changes later in life, although I don't think you can ever lose that originality and unorthodox approach to analogies that make your work humorous. I suppose he was despised for so long because he saw the funny side of being interned in a Nazi camp. For shame. Too naïve as well, but I like the way how he puts characters on the page by a few firm strokes of his pen.

Although I have to admit that the very start of Something New was a bit long, but that was maybe because I knew Lord Emsworth was going to come onto the scene and I wanted to get there. I don't think it was really tedious at all. Maybe you were indeed unlucky. Neely has read all the Jeeves and Wooster stories. Maybe he can come to Plum's defence ;).

[Emil Miller]

Books best avoided include:

The Midwich Cuckoos

Rosemary's Baby

The Exorcist

Books recommended include: Virtually anything by P.G.Wodehouse, whose writing is a delightful antidote to boredom whatever the circumstances.

[mal4mac]

Good article on "Best of Wodehouse" by Michael Dirda here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324165204579026630877565234.html

His "Classics for Pleasure" book looks very interesting, I might have to buy it. I can't see any author he recommends who I haven't found great pleasure in reading, though there are many I haven't read, I'm ashamed to say! Of those I have read, I don't think the OP can go wrong with:

Italo Calvino - Cosmicomics
Zola - La Bête humaine (1890)
Samuel Johnson - selected prose
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (very apposite, highlights that women have a better way of delivering new life than men :))
Bram Stoker - Dracula
Daniel Defoe- Moll Flanders, Robinson Crusoe
Jules Verne - any
H.G. Wells - any
Anton Chekhov - any short stories
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes, any
Rudyard Kipling - Kim, Indian Tales (short stories), Jungle Book

[Emil Miller]

Good article on "Best of Wodehouse" by Michael Dirda here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324165204579026630877565234.html

His "Classics for Pleasure" book looks very interesting, I might have to buy it. I can't see any author he recommends who I haven't found great pleasure in reading, though there are many I haven't read, I'm ashamed to say! Of those I have read, I don't think the OP can go wrong with:

Italo Calvino - Cosmicomics
Zola - La Bête humaine (1890)
Samuel Johnson - selected prose
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (very apposite, highlights that women have a better way of delivering new life than men :))
Bram Stoker - Dracula
Daniel Defoe- Moll Flanders, Robinson Crusoe
Jules Verne - any
H.G. Wells - any
Anton Chekhov - any short stories
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes, any
Rudyard Kipling - Kim, Indian Tales (short stories), Jungle Book

I notice that you have included Zola's great work 'La Bête Humaine', but on absolutely no account should she read his novel 'La Joie de Vivre'.

[Snowqueen]

Boy: Tales of Childhood is quite an interesting autobiography by Roald Dahl and I enjoyed reading it.

[NedSiegel]

Most of Mark Twain's books: good flow, lots of humor, great writing. I especially recommend:
* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
* Pudd'nhead Wilson

[Buh4Bee]

Most of Mark Twain's books: good flow, lots of humor, great writing. I especially recommend:
* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
* Pudd'nhead Wilson

Thanks for the suggestion, but I never have the motivation to finish any of Twain's work.

[Buh4Bee]

Thanks for people taking the time to suggest something. I put a few on a list that I will try out as I go along. It's hard to gauge what someone needs when you really don't know them.

I really love Camus, Tolstoy, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway.

The Sun Also Rises
The Beautiful and the Damned
(The Great Gatsby)
The Plague
War and Peace
Anna Karenina

I also LOVED Norwegian Wood by Murakami. I have downloaded Kafka on the Shore, maybe I'll try that.

These books were easy to read and highly enjoyable- kind of like Lit 101. Not sure if there are others out there along these lines. To be blunt, I can't read something that needs to be studied- light reading. I need a well written plot with about 5 main characters.

[qimissung]

I think you should really try my recommendation, Buh4Bee. (:D) It may not be great literature, but it is a well-written memoir and highly entertaining. "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed is also very good.

Anna Karenina is awesome, however. Take your time with it, and savor it. It does require some thought, but it is so gorgeously written, you will be drawn in despite yourself.

Happy reading!

[mal4mac]

Why not try Tolstoy's shorter novels? I found them to be of the same standard as his masterpieces. Hemingway is usually considered to be consistently good, I found that. So why not try his other novels? Same goes for Camus. As you like Camus, why not try Sartre's Nausea (though I wouldn't recommend anything else by him!)

[kiki1982]

Well, I think you should also really try y recommendations :D.

No, I mean, Wodehouse you don't have to study. It's people falling off stairs, telling each other off and mad coincidences. It's quite nice and light-hearted.

The Three Musketeers is not really short, but it's essentially the great story of friendship against a villain. You don't have to study it either.

That's enough for me. Please read my recommendations :D.

No, just do what you like.

[Bleeding Pawn]

Boy: Tales of Childhood is quite an interesting autobiography by Roald Dahl and I enjoyed reading it.

Yes, a very good and honest autobiography and I was disappointed when had to return the book. Go for the second one ; Going Solo, it is enjoyable too.

[Abanera]

I don't think Wodehouse's work needs 'defending' at all. You read Wodehouse knowing that the stories are straight from stock, the characters are cariactures, and that the world he creates never advances beyond that of the Gilded Age. You read Wodehouse because the man knew how to make people laugh, and had a talent for creating among the most razor-sharp sentences in all of the English language.

[Buh4Bee]

Wodehouse looks thrilling! Thank you, I'll make sure I add his work to list to try next.

[kiki1982]

I don't think Wodehouse's work needs 'defending' at all. You read Wodehouse knowing that the stories are straight from stock, the characters are cariactures, and that the world he creates never advances beyond that of the Gilded Age. You read Wodehouse because the man knew how to make people laugh, and had a talent for creating among the most razor-sharp sentences in all of the English language.

aah, he would be glad to hear it. His language is indeed superb and he knows how to make you laugh out loud, not only smile. With a few clever tweaks. It's the way he turns a sentence, or the way he adds an adjective that makes things hilarious and not just something to smile about. I quite like that. I shall definitely be reading more of that (when my husband is done with the sequel of Something New).

Victory to Wodehouse! :D

[WICKES]

Why not try Tolstoy's shorter novels? I found them to be of the same standard as his masterpieces. Hemingway is usually considered to be consistently good, I found that. So why not try his other novels? Same goes for Camus. As you like Camus, why not try Sartre's Nausea (though I wouldn't recommend anything else by him!)

God no, stay away from Sartre and Camus if you are stuck indoors all day (far too depressing). If you want something well-written but cheerful PG Wodehouse is superb beyond words: a warm, forgiving humanist who weaved a magic spell with the English language (I can quite see why some have compared him to Shakespeare). After reading Wodehouse I always feel a little better about the human species- no other writer I can think of makes me feel that way.

Evelyn Waugh is the funniest writer in the English language imho- try Decline and Fall and the Sword of Honour trilogy.
Kingsley Amis: Lucky Jim (very funny)
Dickens, well, what can you say? There are doubtless novelists in the English language who are technically superior, but Dickens' ability to create real, larger than life, almost archetypal characters is amazing. The man's imagination was extraordinary, as if he had a god's eye view of Victorian Britain.

If you like biographies why not try Peter Ackroyd's biography of William Blake? Blake was one of the most fascinating personalities in the history of English lit.
Or you could try a book of essays. For me Bertrand Russell, Aldous Huxley and Stephen Jay Gould take some beating. Christopher Hitchens and Martin Amis also wrote some lively essays.

[mal4mac]

Dickens' ability to create real, larger than life, almost archetypal characters is amazing. The man's imagination was extraordinary, as if he had a god's eye view of Victorian Britain.
.

I just finished reading "The Woman in White" by his pal Wilkie Collins, and I'd definitely recommend it if you want to read a good, classic mystery story. It has two excellent "Dickensian" villains, and a hero who must be related to Nicholas Nickleby. The "love interest" is a bit wet, but her sister is a superb Miss Marple-like character.

[Buh4Bee]

Looking back, I have to admit that these recommendations were not too exciting. Just finished Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. 8\10. But I thank people for their time, nonetheless.

[sandy14]

If you like the Sun Also Rises - then For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms are pretty straightforward.

J G Ballard's Supercannes or Cocaine Nights are pretty good.

Kate Furnivall's The Russian Concubine.

Iain Banks - The Crow Road and Whit, also the Player of Games if you like SF

In addition Daisy Hay's The Young Romantics is a pretty good biography of Byron, Keats and Shelly

[osho]

I do not recommend James Joyce r Virginia Wolf or any other exhausting books and of course Tolstoy's shorter novels, not War and Peace and Dostoevsky's all and if I should prolong the list Rousseau, though it sounds unbecomingly strange, and some Indian philosophical / spiritual treatises since they may transport you to a different exotic land and fan the fire of your imagination away from the usual. The choice of books is a difficult job and I want books to put me in a transitional state and let me emerge differently out of the cocoon of the familiarity.