book recommendations - staying cozy?

[sunshan]

hey everyone! I need some good, solid "pleasure reading" books for this month to balance out all of the work for grad school apps...recently, I've really been enjoying Eugenides, Patchett, etc...

hope everyone can make their app process as cozy and holiday-y as possible!!

[GuateAmfeminist]

Rick Riordan books - either the Percy Jackson series or the newer Heroes of Olympus series. He also has a popular series based on Egyptian mythology (I believe it's the Kane Chronicles) but I haven't read them yet.

[Gauche]

Grab a copy of The History of Love. I've been recommending that book to everyone. It's such a beautiful read and fairly quick to get through too.

[Datatape]

Reading? For... pleasure?

[ghijklmn]

If you like historical fiction, the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell! Or if you like fantasy, the Song of Ice and Fire series.

[thestage]

snuggle up with some leisurely Heidegger, obviously

[marlowe]

snuggle up with some leisurely Heidegger, obviously

I thought you didn't do works in translation.

[thestage]

auf gemächlich deutsch, natürlich

[ProfLorax]

If you like historical fiction, the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell! Or if you like fantasy, the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Here's a second for the Song of Ice and Fire series. I blew through the first three during the busiest period of the year because they were just. so. good. Also, I finished The Night Circus a few nights ago; I recommend it for folks who like fantasy-lite novels with a bit of whimsy and romance.

[ohgoodness]

Do all the John Le Carre Books. Perfect for the commute, perfect for winter.

The year of magical thinking to get some perspective on things

Ender's game #1 as prep for life to come...

[1Q84]

Murakami's "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" has some very good chilly winter scenes that made me happy I was inside all warm and cozy!

[thestage]

Murakami's "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" has some very good chilly winter scenes that made me happy I was inside all warm and cozy!

murakami in general is pretty good light reading, mr. murakami name/avatar

A Wild Sheep Chase is his best

[rems]

Murakami's "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" has some very good chilly winter scenes that made me happy I was inside all warm and cozy!

I second this -- Hardboiled is one of my fav. books.

[Magical Realist]

I'm always on board with Murakami! Also, I like to revisit Auster's New York Trilogy and In the Country of Last Things from time to time. And, has anyone else read any of Jasper Fforde's books? They're incredibly silly and not too deep, but a lot of fun, too, but I don't know how you could begin to get much into it without some substantial training in literature.

[Stately Plump]

Reading? For... pleasure?

Haven't read anything non-school related since starting grad school. Get ready to give up that luxury

And, has anyone else read any of Jasper Fforde's books? They're incredibly silly and not too deep, but a lot of fun, too, but I don't know how you could begin to get much into it without some substantial training in literature.

Looove Jasper Fforde. The Thursday Next series is really brilliant. Silly and not too deep, perhaps, but also wildly creative in a rather unique way. So much fun.

[GuateAmfeminist]

I don't know about not being able to read for pleasure - someone in my department started a contemporary book club and that has been a great way to read books I've wanted to read anyway and take a break from studies. You can do it, you just need to make time for it.

[antecedent]

I read more for pleasure now than I did during my undergrad, mainly because reading some light fiction (even if it's only a few pages) really helps unwind my brain so I can fall asleep. For a while it was the only way I COULD fall asleep. As I'm in Edinburgh for the year, I've been reading Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels, which are fun mystery/crime procedurals rather light on the thinking and heavy on the Scottish culture/history references. I just started reading The Name of the Rose to get me through term papers though, and I'm struggling to read something that actually engages my brain right before bed Maybe it's back to the crime fiction for me...

[rising_star]

I regularly read a chapter of a book for fun just before bed... Helps my brain relax and unwind and it's a good distraction from all the more serious work. Lately, I've been reading travel accounts. I'm guessing I've got some wonderlust built up so reading about other people's travels to places I've never been is interesting.

[t1racyjacks]

I found Trainspotting quite leisurely. Of course, I could be wrong. I usually like to read 's/f' books -- good ones! -- to relax. I like Philip K Dick, and then I recently read Olaf Stapleton's First and Last Men, which I thought was excellent.

[wreckofthehope]

I usually like to read 's/f' books -- good ones! -- to relax.

Me too! Sadly, this was great in undergrad and my MA, but is slowly becoming less of an escape genre as my academic work veers into SF territory. I'm on a detective fiction kick right now, years ago I started reading the Wallander books in the middle of the series, so I've recently gone back and started at the beginning. Henning Mankell is great.

[practical cat]

If anyone is into young adult feminist political satire, I'm finishing up Libba Bray's Beauty Queens right now and it is basically restoring my faith in humanity. It's not even good but it is pretty great.

[dazedandbemused]

It's not even good but it is pretty great.

That basically sums up my opinion of Libba Bray's entire output. Ah, the teenage memories.