Hooked on Books discussion

Did you read a 5 star read? Share it with us. Let's talk books!!!

One of my favorite authors is Doris Kearns Goodwin, and so far, all of her Presidential Biographies are 5 stars.

This year, I read No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.

I loved that she wrote so much of Eleanor as well as Franklin. A really great read.

I adore listening to Kearns Goodwin talk about her books, and I want to have drinks with her and pick her brain, but I have yet to read any of her books. So, as someone who is not a big fan of biographies, please give me a rec for one of them, and I will add it to my TBR.

Jenny wrote: "I adore listening to Kearns Goodwin talk about her books, and I want to have drinks with her and pick her brain, but I have yet to read any of her books. So, as someone who is not a big fan of biog..."

Wow, tough one. I enjoyed Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. I wouldn't be able to tell you which one I enjoyed more. I fell in love with Taft, I want to read more about him.

Right now I am reading Wait Till Next Year, which is about her life growing up during the golden years of the Brooklyn Dodgers. So, if you love baseball, this would be good. It isn't just about baseball, it's about growing up in the fifties. I would read just about anything by her, she is such a good writer.

I just added Wait to my TBR. I will start with a shorter one, and if I fall in love with the writing, I will likely add more.

Jenny wrote: "I just added Wait to my TBR. I will start with a shorter one, and if I fall in love with the writing, I will likely add more."

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is really short in comparison, it's 361 pages.

I have so many 5 star reads that I want other people to experience that it is hard to narrow down the list.

I will start with two of my top 5 authors ever.
by Tony Vigorito
This has turned into a cult classic, with rabid fans, and rabid detractors. Glancing at the GR reviews, there are 5 stars and 1 stars, and very little in between. I stumbled across this book while looking for a Vonnegut in the bookstore years ago, and I am so glad I did. This is, I suppose, speculative fiction, but I just find the prose beautiful, and the characters ridiculous and compelling. If you try it and love it, just know that you can still buy the "Argue Naked" t-shirt.

The other one is from another author with a cult following,Jonathan Carroll, and the first book of his that I read, .
Talk about gorgeous writing, and really interesting characters. His fiction takes ordinary life and upends it just a bit.

Jenny wrote: "I have so many 5 star reads that I want other people to experience that it is hard to narrow down the list.

I will start with two of my top 5 authors ever.
[bookcover:Just a Couple of Days|419916..."

Thanks Jenny, I have never heard of either of these. I am adding these to my list!

I just started Strange the Dreamer, and I am really liking it. We'll see if it ends up being a 5 star read or not. In the end, I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped, more like a 3 star read.

It was for me. Great characters.

I have been reading a short story collection by Malaysian authors. It had a short story by an author that is just incredible: Tan Twan Eng. He wrote: The Garden of Evening Mists and The Gift of Rain. They are so beautifully written, that I still think about them.

Absolutely loved this book. Inspired me to create a challenge based on it.


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I read and and they are my favorite books so far!

is a fabulous read. I love anything Juliet Marillier writes.

I finished the Aurora Cycle series yesterday and all 3 books got 5 star ratings. It definitely is a must read for all ya sci-fi fans.

I kept forgetting that the third Aurora book came out! I did like the first two as well. Now I have to go get the third one.

I have read a few books that I gave 5 stars recently, but my favorite of them was .
I picked it up in a recommendation, and I don't know if I even read the description, so it was a total surprise that it was based on Norse mythology. (Not a spoiler). As a child I mainly read the Greek myths, and I was enchanted by those stories. I didn't know much about Thor and Loki et al. This book takes you into that world from a very different direction than the Marvel movies, or even the excellent Neil Gaiman Norse book does. The Witch of the title impressed me and stole my heart.

I am a huge fan of retellings. And when I read Heartless by Marissa Meyer I thought this was such an AMAZING Alice in Wonderland Retelling. I love this villain back story and this is one where you get why she turned out the way she did.



A middle grade I read this year called The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu was such a great fantasy story. Loved all the characters and plot!

Epistolary and written in verse are my all time favorite formats for books. Non-fiction is one of my least favorite genres. I ran across this YA book at my library and LOVED it!!!

A beautiful but very powerful memoir. Definitely a book I will read again.

Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes

Hi,

My favourite fantasy series of all time was absorbing, entertaining, thrilling.... 5 star gems;






I also loved Stieg Larson's series - the originals only. Three books I believe.

Now that's entertainment.

My favorite 5 star book so far this year, is a non fiction biography titled, The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear. The book was very well-written and is a great choice for those of you who don't normally read non fiction, since it reads like a fiction book.

Even the first paragraph of the blurb reads like it's fiction:
"1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened - by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So Theophilus makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum."

I couldn't put it down!

My favourite 5 star book this year is Atonement I can't believe I left it on my shelf for so long!

The Unified Theory of Motivation and Living by Manohar Man Shrestha, definitely a five star reading!

My most recent 5 star read was:



By: Laurie Notaro

I laughed so much! And being close in age to Laurie, I could relate to almost the whole book. I definitely recommend it.

My first 5 stars of the year. This book was amazing! I went thought a whole box of tissues while reading about half way in ( until about the end).

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