We had this discussion recently on another forum so I can cut-and-paste. My teardrop is stocked with books to read, including in the cue:
"Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
"Annapurna - A Woman's Place" by Arlene Blum
Am presently reading
"Truman" by David McCullough
Other recent faves:
"One Minute to Midnight -- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro On the Brink of Nuclear War" by Michael Dobbs
"The Private Life of Chairman Mao" by Li Zhi-Sui
"102 Minutes" -- about 9/11 from the perspective of those in the Twin Towers that day -- some who survived and some who didn't. Their narratives are interwoven with back story on the New York City building codes that were liberalized in 1968 to make way for the Twin Towers. Despite all you think you know about that day, this book is instructive. And powerfully suspenseful and heart-wrenching. Highly recommend.
"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd: South Carolina, 1964. Really an outstanding novel. Once I picked it up I could hardly put it down.
Any novel by
Nelson DeMille: I've enjoyed all of his novels and buy them in hardback as soon as they are published.
Any novel by
John R. Maxim: The Bannerman series, especially, but also his other novels. If you like Robert Ludlum, I think you'd love Maxim's Bannerman books. They are out of print so hunting them down may be a challenge. Amazon.com does have used ones. Search his name on that website if you're interested. I really loved these. Bummed he doesn't publish more. But it looks like he may be coming out with something intriguing. He's been writing it for the past five years:
John's latest novel, "The Aisha Prophecy," is finished and, he hopes, will be published this year. The prophecy - a real one - could turn the radical muslim world on its ear. Google "The Aisha Prophecy" and see for yourself. It foretells the arrival, right about now, of a sort of muslim Joan of Arc who, accompanied by an avenging angel named Qaila, is coming to "show men how they have fallen into error" and "to raise up the women of Islam." It ends, "Woe to those who would deny her or kill her. The angel Qaila will send them to hell."
http://www.geocities.com/john_r_maxim/
"Pillars of the Earth" and the sequel
"World Without End" by Ken Follett
Long-ago favorite chick books:
"The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough
"Tim" by Colleen McCullough
"A Woman of Substance" by Barbara Taylor Bradford
- and the sequels:
"Hold the Dream" and
"To Be The Best"
"The Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean Auel
- and the sequel:
"The Valley of Horses"