Book recs?

[telophase]

Recs for books that are (a) available for the Kindle and that are (b) somewhat brainless fluff, or otherwise easy reading. Fiction (mystery, fantasy, SF, YA) and nonfiction (memoir, science, nature, travel or living in another country, history).

Example of what I'm thinking of in fiction: Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, Three Men in a Boat, the Repairman Jack YA novels*, Terry Pratchett, Bellfield Hall and its sequel, Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot and sequel, Kat, Incorrigible.

Non-fiction: Mary Roach, Bill Bryson, Tim Moore, the Freakonomics books, The Mind at Night, etc.

I've got The Disappearing Spoon on audiobook waiting to be listened to. Category/genre romance appears not to be working for me, although Regency-era settings in other genres are. Most urban fantasy isn't working for me, although Aaronovitch is an exception (probably because it's set as a police procedural?)

Also, quick reviews (Yea or Nay) on some of the book samples I have in my Possible Purchase collection on my Kindle would be appreciated, in order to help me make a decision. :)


(There may be more than one author, but I'm only listing the first 'cause that's all that shows up on the Kindle contents screen)

Author, Title

Archer, Warrior
Attlee, Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight
Barlow, The Ghosts of Evolution
^Bearman, Doormen
Bemis, The Nine Pound Hammer
Bloom, How Pleasure Works
Bodger, How the Heather Looks
Bow, PLain Kate
Brown, How I Killed PLuto and WHy It Had It Coming
Campbell, Scar Night
Carr, India Black
Charney, The Art Thief
Charney, Stealing the Mystic Lamb
Colin, Shadow of the Silk Road
Crilley, The Invisible Order, Book One, Rise of the Darklings
Davis, Strapless
Dolnick, The Rescue Artist
Erikson, Gardens of the Moon: Book One of the Malazan Book of the Fallen
Ferguson, The Fairy Tale Detectives: the Sisters Grimm, Book One
Finlayson, The Humans Who Went Extinct
Foster, How to read Literature like a Professor
Frazier, Travels in Siberia
Gomez-Jurado, God's Spy
^Gordon, Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination
Hallinan, Why We Make Mistakes
Heinrich, Why We Run
Kadrey, Sandman Slim
Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (I've read Salt)
Lambert, Walking Into Murder
Lebovitz, the Sweet Life in Paris
Lenihan, Meeting the Other Crowd
Martin, The Necropolis Railway
McClure, The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie
Morrisroe, Wide Awake
Murphy, Winter Moon
Musson, Up and Down Stairs
Nass, The Man Who Lied to his Computer
Neumeier, The City in the Lake
Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris
Ouellette, The Calculus Diaries
Pears, Stone's Fall
Pink, A Whole New Mind
Ramachandran, The Tell-tale Brain
Roberson, Book of Secrets
Robertson, The Baker Street Letters
Shermer, The Believing Brain
Shiels, The Dread Hammer**
Sholl, Dirty Secret
Shostak, Confessions of an Alien Hunter
Spelmann, The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes
Tanner, Museum of Thieves
Tidhar, The Bookman
Todd, A Duty to the Dead
Todd, A Test of Wills
Traylor, The Priest
Turner, Spice: The History of a Temptation
Waller, The Dancing Plague
^Waters, The Little Stranger


^ For these, I expect more work than my brain is willing to put in right now, but if anyone's read it, let me know if it's any good
** Was intrigued by the author's writeup on a blog I read, but the sample has some "ehhh" moments in it, so not sure if willing to commit.




* I binged on the adult ones until the unexamined general stereotypes got to me. It's the sort where if you're introduced to a non-white, non-American character, they're going to be a bad guy or a stereotyped sidekick of some ilk. Rather like a lot of action movies.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2009/05/tyson_blackhole.php

http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2009/01/mcwhorter_english.php

http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-ebook/dp/B001BAGWQE/

http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2005/03/caudwell_sarah.php (only the third is both available for Kindle and fluffy)

[movingfinger]

Sherlock Holmes?

If you haven't read the Carnacki stories by William Hope Hodgson, they are available on Project Gutenbert; Victorian supernatural mystery fluff (that could be well used as a retread, I am thinking).

[jinian.livejournal.com]

How I Killed Pluto is fun but starts a bit slowly. Ramachandran's usually good, but I don't know whether The Tell-Tale Brain is one of the really great ones.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of those, but have heard positive things about How I Killed Pluto.

I found Malazan very dense and difficult to follow; didn't get through it.

My all-time favorite go-to fluff, other than what you mention, consists of Dick Francis, Barbara Michaels, Gerald Durrell, and Georgette Heyer. I can rec specific books if you're not familiar. In that vein, I also like Marjorie Liu and Janet Evanovich. The latter is, um, problematic every which way, but fun up to a certain point. (As in, about eight books in.) You've read Naomi Novik, right?

Others in the fluffy, fun vein:

Heat: An Amateur Cook in a Professional Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GCFVUQ/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=racmanbro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=B000GCFVUQ). Loved this. Really funny, vivid nonfiction account of a journalist who becomes a chef.

The Demon's Lexicon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NLKXNO/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=racmanbro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=B001NLKXNO), by Sarah Rees Brennan. YA fantasy with an extremely memorable narrator, snarky and fun but also quite moving. Two sequels, the last just came out and completes the series.

The Dark Wife (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050K7NCI/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=racmanbro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=B0050K7NCI), by Sarah Diemer. Persephone and a gender-flipped Hades have a romance. Self-published but very good; romance needed more conflict but overall I really liked this. Generally fairly light, but there is a non-gratuitous rape of a nymph by Zeus early on.

Coronets and Steel (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00400NHQU/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=racmanbro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=B00400NHQU). Sherwood re-tells The Prisoner of Zenda with a modern fencer heroine.

The Cornish Trilogy (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140158502/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=racmanbro-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0140158502). Great deal! Three mainstream fiction novels with fantasy elements, by Robertson Davies. Very, very funny, easy reads, also kind of deep. The first in the series has a lot of academia humor that would probably amuse. Note: great female characters but sometimes old-fashioned/weird ideas about women in general.

[chisotahn]

Seconding The Dark Wife; I also enjoyed it!

(And I need to read the Demon's Lexicon...)

[inkblot14.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've tried them yet, but I can highly recommend Patrick Rothfuss' novels. His first two novels are hard to put down, and over 700 pages each, the kindle editions would certainly be easier to carry around. Despite the thicknes, I find his books to be very easy reading, with a good rhythm that doesn't make you feel hurried in some parts or bogged down in others.
The Name of the Wind (http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-ebook/dp/B0010SKUYM/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308081559&sr=1-3)
The Wise Man's Fear (http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Mans-Fear-Kingkiller-ebook/dp/B00475AYJQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308081559&sr=1-1)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Only one I've read off your list is Turner's 'Spice: The History of a Temptation', which was good but not great.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

How I Killed Pluto was pretty good. The Tell-Tale Brain is better, but also a bit heavier (not too heavy, I don't think).