Books you've stumbled upon (novels, literature, character, author)

[NOEM1226]

Stumbled up AN ALMOST PERFECT MOMENT by Binnie Kirshenbaum. Now I have read almost eveything she has written.

[elston]

"The Samuri's Garden" by Gail Takayama

It is an intimate story told as if you picked up a journal and are following the narrators experiences in a small Japanese seaside village just at the beginning of the war. It is a history of the village, and of three love stories. The story is extraordinary; very beautiful. I heartily recommend it as one of the most beautiful stories I have read in recent years. (I have read it three times and given away 3 copies of the book. )

[karibear]

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey. I found it in a thrift shop, had never heard of her or the dragons, but that one hooked me. I spent a lot of time chasing down, ordering from the library, going to used book stores whenever I went to the city. I still enjoy them after all these years. And I've come across other writers she collaborated with that I also like.

Same with a 'chick-lit' regency romance called Aunt Sophie's Diamonds, by Joan Smith. That was far and away one of the funniest books I've ever read, and - unfortunately - her best, of the others I chased down.

[hutch5]

"Man & Boy" by Tony Parsons. I found if in a market in the UK. It was a wonderful surprise. I knew nothing of the author but the plot seemed intresting. At the end of it I was so glad I bought it.
It is the story of the relationship between a man going through a separation and trying to cope with it and his young son who lives with him. I loved the way he would describe his son.
I read a few other stories by the same author and although I still enjoyed the writing style I have not felt the same as with the first book I read

[KKRA]

Originally Posted by RDSLOTS

S-h-a-l-l-o-w or not, I have been known to pick up a book based on what its cover looked like, or even if *gulp* just the title or the author's name intrigued me for some odd reason. Some books I have had to take on another's recommendation -- like A Confederacy for Dunces, which is one of my all-time favorites. Quirky story, even quirkier character.

I bought "A Confederacy of Dunces" (author, John Kennedy Toole) a few years ago, not knowing anything about it. I loved all the characters in the book and how Ignatius affects their lives with his antics. It was well written and I laughed a lot while reading it.

I also bought "The Book of the Dead" by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, at an airport two years ago and read it quickly. Since then I've read quite a few of the other books written by this team.

[RoaminRed]

Okay, this is going to sound really weird -- but when I was quite young and just beginning to read, our family had very few books in the house other than textbooks. One day when I was probably 7 or 8 years old I was so deathly bored that I picked up one of my father's medical textbooks at random -- a 1st year surgery text -- and started to read it. That's the first time I can recall actually being fascinated by a book. Plus...it had pictures, which were grotesquely cool as well, the kind that have several clear layers with different cutaway views on them so that you can see different levels in the body...

...that book was really cool. I spent a long time with that one, and after that moved on to other textbooks that he had.

[Mayvenne]

I stumbled on a series - I dont remember how or why but I read them all and when I finished them I was so mad that there were no more and teh author had died years ago.
The series is Mapp and Lucia. Totally entertaining British humor. Great read!
I hope someone else take my suggestion becuase you will adore the series. Trust me

[RDSLOTS]

Sometimes, I have seen a movie -- quite by accident, ie. up late and can't sleep, surf the channels -- and enjoyed the story in the film so much until I had to find books on the subject such as the character Johnny Depp portrays in The Libertine. I found the biography, A Profane Wit, on the Earl of Rochester, and loved it, and that led me to want to read more about Charles II and his reign, and that led to my reading about the Restoration in general.

And so on . . .

I discovered a French writer, Marguerite Duras, the same way when I caught a beautiful film about a forbidden love of sorts, and watched the credits for mention of a book or title of a work. . . and there it was. I went on to read all of her works that I could find at the local library.

Never knew who Laura Ingalls Wilder was until I saw The Little House series on TV, as a young woman, and wanted to read the books, and then, everything I could find on her.

Strange, how things work that way. Many claim people don't read because they watch tv.

[golfgod]

I can't remember the title of this, it was either "Black May", or perhaps, "May 1943". That was the month that the allied naval and air forces began sinking German U-boats faster than the third Reich could build them.

Along the same lines; "Shadow Divers" about scuba divers who found a hitherto unknown German U-Boat that had sunk off the coast of New Jersey.

"The Cop Who Would Not Quit". This may be difficult to find but it's the true story of a murder in Houston in 1978 and how inept (and borderline) corrupt the Houston PD was back then. It's a real page turner.

golfgod

[gemkeeper]

Shortly after I started teaching school I was searching for books appropriate to read to my fourth grade class after lunch each day.

I stumbled on "The Crystal Caves" by Mary Stewart and was absolutely mesmerized by the fictional story of Merlin and King Arthur. This was followed a year or so later by her second book in the series, "The Hollow Hills", "The Last Enchantment", and finally, "The Wicked Day".

I read them each in their own turn, late into the night and finished each one of them in two or three days. I never did read them to my classes because of the mature subject matter. I have adored Mary Stewart's tale weaving ever since.