books I seriously couldn't put down

Ok, this is the first in my series of “Books I……”

I’m going to put the disclaimer right out there that some of these books are Oprah Books. There I said it. Also, some of these books might not have ever won any sort of award, but they did cause this reader to experience some sort of emotion that causes her to keep them in her bookcase when she should really sell them to make room for more books.

And now, without further adieu……

I Know this Much is True – I love books about twins. I love books about mentally ill people. I love books about small town, blue collar America. I love books with a rich family history. I love books that weave in and out of the past and present. And this book has all of that. It also has one of the most shocking opening few pages I have ever read. Don’t be put off by its almost 900 pages. I stopped talking to my friends and family for about 2 weeks while I read this book about 8 years ago. I still love it and would read it again.

The Secret History - Think coked out college roommates. Think murder mystery. Think peer pressure. Think ancient Greek lessons. Think bizarre fraternity rituals. This page turner centered arouund a set of college friends at an East Coast ivy-league college school. They kill one of their classmates in a bizarre ritual and set to work at covering their tracks. This book was awesome. Don’t read the reviews on Amazon. I loved it. I read this book New Year’s Eve Weekend in Tahoe and came up for air only at midnight to drink an obligatory glass of champagne.

Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting Buy in America - The writer spends a year trying to survive on wages earned in jobs such as housecleaning, waiting tables and at Wal-Mart. It wasn’t particularly ground-breaking material. Clearly, it’s impossible to survive on $7.50 an hour. There were a lot of incompetent bosses attempting to exert power over subservient employees. However, I was very touched by the men and women the author worked with and I thought their stories were much more interesting than her experiment.

As a result, I immediately began emptying my own recycling at work in my personal effort to make the job easier for the housecleaning department at my office.

The Time Traveler’s Wife - I know, I know. There are a lot of other books about time traveling that I should be reading. All my friends who are fans of science fiction tell me this. However, I’m not a sci fi fan…..so this book was right up my alley. The book’s protagonist is a librarian who suffers from a disease which causes him to time travel without any warning. During his travels into the past, he meets a 6-year-old girl who later becomes his wife, who has known him all her life when they first meet in the present (get it?). The challenges the time traveler and his wife face were so interesting (how long would he be gone when he was traveling? Would he be able to get money and clothes since he traveled naked? Would he be back by the weekend? Would their child be a time traveler?). I highly suggest this book for book clubs.

Ok, that's it for now. My next post will be "Books I'm Embarrassed to Love So Much"

Enjoy!