Need books to read while recovering from knee replacement

[Thirtieschild]

Know I've got to put a lot of time into physical therapy, but also plan to make time for good books. Prefer books that tell a good story over those that say "Look, Ma, I'm writing." Don't want bad writing, but not pretentious writing either. Find Barbara Kingsolver too obviously "literary". Favorite books are Little Big Man, Pride and Prejudice, Lonesome Dove. My daughter raves about Angela's Ashes, which is at the top of my list. Also planning to read Secret Life of Bees (if I can figure out just where I've stored it). Appreciate any, all suggestions.

[loveable liberal]

1. Robert Ludlum, before he died, rocked the hoose!

I love every one of his books! (when he was alive)

[Thirtieschild]

20. Thanks for the Ludlum suggestion.

Used to love suspense, not sure how much I can handle now. One of my favorite books is Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household. Keeps you holding your breath throughout. Also loved his Fellow Passenger, 45 years ago thought it was hilarious, not sure how I'd like it now. Found an old copy and plan to read it again this summer. Highly recommend.

[WCGreen]

2. Empire Falls...... By Richard Russo.....

Wonder Boy

[Thirtieschild]

21. Have to look this one up.

The title sounds like a small town story. Thanks.

[WCGreen]

33. It is....

and very well written....

[saltpoint]

3. Hi, Disorganized. First, let us wish you a speedy recovery with

a minimum amount of inconvenience and pain.

LONESOME DOVE is a tremendous novel of the American West. You might also enjoy McMurtry's three novels, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, then TEXASVILLE, then DUANE'S DEPRESSED, which follow the same people through a small Texas town. Absolutely top-drawer stuff. You can't go wrong with McMurtry.

Philip Roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA is a fictional tale about a Lindbergh win over FDR and a swing toward Nazism.

John Irving's A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY is on the long side, but two of its chapters had me howling like a monkey. He can be really funny. There's a religious vein AND a profane subtheme, all at once.

And there's Don DeLillo's LIBRA, a novel of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. The way he draws Jack Ruby will make your skin crawl.

Mainly, though, you get better & feel better, and get movin' around again.

[darkmaestro019]

6. Second vote for Prayer for Owen Meany

It was hysterical, and oddly moving and beautiful near the end. Fantastic stuff.

[saltpoint]

16. darkmaestro019, nice to see you. Yes. Irving got it beautifully right

in OWEN MEANY.

[Thirtieschild]

22. McMurtry is like the little girl with the curl.

Sometimes he's marvelous - Lonesome Dove, Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment - and sometimes he's horrible. I'm about the same age as McMurtry, also grew up in a small town in West Texas, and found The Last Picture Show right on (except that if a girl lost her virginity on the senior trip - and well she might - she wouldn't broadcast it). I even knew Jayce and the Methodist preacher's son, and the NV club we heard about wasn't in Wichita Falls but in Borger. Amazing. Or maybe not.

A Prayer for Owen Meany sounds intriguing. I'm writing a novel with a religious theme - mainly, the damage extremism can do. I'm a S L O W writer and hoped to finish this summer, until the knee thing demanded attention. I'm ashamed to say when I started it. Let's just say it's mostly the book I'm not writing. Sigh.

And thanks for the get-well and welcomve wishes. Feel like I've found a home at DU.

[countmyvote4real]

4. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

You will only be disappointed when there is nothing left to read. I love this story.

[Thirtieschild]

23. Sounds interesting. I'm adding it to my list.

I'm going to spend Tuesday checking out the library files here, and what I don't find I'll put on a buy list when we go to Tucson Wednesday. Great used bookstore there - Bookman's.

[Sequoia]

41. Oh, I remember that one.

They should've been arrested for child endangerment but then we'd have no story, eh? Aqua Boy....and Tail Girl...yeah!

[saltpoint]

5. Ok, where are my manners? Welcome to DU, Disorganized.

I just looked back and saw the no. of posts and wanted to say hello officially, and extend a warm welcome. A little late, but no less sincere.

[Journeyman]

7. "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison. . .

one of the finest works of American fiction in the second half of the 20th Century.


Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. . .

One of the most inventive, uplifting stories ever penned. A great pro-peace novel (as opposed to anti-war).


Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. . .

A moving tale about the search for identity and the power of love.


Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner

Remarkably well-written, disturbing (yet ultimately hopeful) look at what the past foretells and what the future may hold.



Good luck with your recovery.

[Thirtieschild]

24. Cadillac Desert sounds like a must read.

I grew up in the Texas Panhandle and hate what's happening to the Ogallala Aquafir (sp??) And we retired to southwestern NM, where we've had 1.10 inches of rain since October. We're doing everything we can to prepare for fire season.

I've read Ragtime and Song of Solomon which. But a long time ago.

[Sequoia]

42. I read "Cadillac Desert" years ago

and was very impressed. I was even looking for "Ragtime" last night in the library but didn't find it there. Another really great nature book is, "The Secret Knowlege of Water" by Mark Childs. Right now I'm reading "Cast of Shadows", by Kevin Guilefoile which is about a doctor who clones his daughter's killer so it'll grown up and he can see who did it. I read about this book in the NY Times Paperback reviews and found the hard copy in the library.

I didn't like Secret Life of Bees that much because that girl's guilt complex just went on and on but the Black Madonna was well worth it. The real Black Madonna is in a church in Poland in the village where the prior Pope grew up.

Happy Reading!

[OKDem08]

8. Welcome to DU, Disorganized!

:hi:

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Sophie's World
Night by Elie Wiesel (sp?)

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Thirtieschild]

25. Not sure about Dan Brown. Have read Weisel (sp?) in the past

Am I right that OKDem is Oklahoma? You must feel awfully lonely. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle, six miles south of the OK line, and don't think there's a redder spot on earth. Have all sorts of ties to OK, was even born there.

[OKDem08]

34. Yes, it is lonely being a liberal Dem in OK

but I have my husband and we are of similar dispositions.
My home is my sanctuary.
We also attend a church in OKC w/similar sentiments.
Take care.

[tech3149]

9. Good Luck with the recovery Dis!

My suggestions would include anything by Homer Hickam. Back to the Moon was my favorite. It's great for a geek, but he does such a great job of drawing you into the story and making the characters someone you care about. I'd be surprised if you didn't read it end to end in one sitting. If you like something topical try Dean Koontz "Dark Rivers of the Heart". Spencer Grant and Roy Miro and their cat and mouse take on new meaning in light of the actions of this misadministration. For light reading, I'd go with Lilian Jackson Braun and something from the "Cat" series. Entertaining and keep your brain engaged.

edit: Welcome to the world of DU, I'm sure you'll be happy in this neighborhood. Also show us some of your quilting work. I like to help my Mom plan the work she does in the local quilting club.

[Thirtieschild]

26. Homer Hickman sounds like what I'm looking for.

Think the best books are the ones that draw you in, where you live the story with the characters. Much prefer that to Literary writing, which can get in the way of the story. In fact I find it easier to go with a good story teller over a good writer. Nevil Shute is a case in point, such a good story teller that you overlook the bad writing, and in his case, it often is bad.

Don't think Koontz is my cup of tea - I'm not particularly enamored of topical, but thanks for the suggestion.

How nice of you to check my profile. Because I truly am Disorganized, and could never match points, I decided the only way I could quilt was to adapt it to me, which means mostly crazy quilts. Right now I'm finishing what I call a This Is Your Life lap quilt for my granddaughter, who just graduated from high school.

My true love is writing, or perahps I should call it my true love-hate. I struggle with it mightily, but can't get beyond the need to do it. I'm 2/3 finished with a novel. True to my disorganized ways, I was trying to stuff four novels into one, finally had to choose the theme that resonnated the strongest. I'd hoped to finish it this summer but the knee has interfered.

Thanks again for your interest. Feels good.

[OneBlueSky]

10. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett . . .

you won't want to put it down . . . guaranteed . . .

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451166892/qid=1148724445/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-4316486-4633712?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

enjoy . . . and a speedy recovery! . . . :)

[Thirtieschild]

27. Thanks.

I'm not sure about Follett - I'm not much of an action reader and have the impression that's what he's about. But will check Pillars at the library.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Anything by Sinclair Lewis

1. Elmer Gantry
2. It Can't Happen Here
3. Mainstreet
4. Arrowsmith

Feel better and do whatever your physical therapist tells you.

And be patient. Knees take time.

[Thirtieschild]

28. Sinclair Lewis takes me back ....

Read him back in what most of the people here would consider the dark ages and liked most of his work, particularly Gantry. Read Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Thomas Wolfe, etc. about the same time. Had trouble with Hemmingway - loved the writing but didn't know any of the people he wrote about. Sacrilige probably. Thanks for taking me back.

[eShirl]

12. Patrick O'Brian's 20-novel Aubrey-Maturin series looks very promising

if you enjoy historical fiction. I am just starting the first one, "Master and Commander" (haven't seen the Russell Crowe movie version). Richard Snow of the NY Times is quoted on the back as calling this series "The best historical novels ever written."

[Thirtieschild]

29. What age do the books cover? Action? Adventure?

The Commander in the title suggests Hornblower???? I read historical novels avidly at one time, haven't attempted one in years. Maybe I'm missing something? Thanks.

[Warpy]

13. Discover murder

Lightweight trash is what you need when you're recovering from surgery, and some of the authors out there are hilarious, women who burned out on writing stupid formula romance novels and turned to crime.

Dorothy Cannel's books are one example. Start with "The Thin Woman," her transition from romance to crime, veddy English and how the hell did she know about my own extended family?

Janet Evanovich's numbered novels are great, a downsized lingerie buyer with no prospects blackmails her bail bondsman cousin into making her a bounty hunter to round up petty crooks who fail to appear.

Tamar Meyers has two series going, one cenered around Amish country in Pennsylvania and another around an antiques store in the Carolinas. The outrageous puns in the title are a clue to the contents of her books: the woman is delightfully out of her mind.

"Angela's Ashes" is one of my all time favorite books, but I found it an ordeal to read. Quite a bit of it reminded me of my own miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

[Thirtieschild]

30. Thanks for reminding me - trash reading is best for recuperating.

I sped through mysteries when I was younger - Nero Wolf and Peter Wimsey were two of my favories - and know I'll enjoy discovering mysteries again. I'm going to check our local library for your suggestions and look for those that aren't there when we go to Tucson for the pre-op doctor visit Wednesday.

My daughter, who was so taken with Angels'a Ashes, converted to Catholicism several years ago. Since I don't have any emotional connections to being either Catholic or Irish, I'm probably the ideal reader.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Divernan]

14. Joseph Kanon's "The Good German" & "Alibi"

Physical therapists are gods, in my book - have helped me overcome & eliminate back and knee problems when my orthopod's attitude was, "Well, it's not bad enough to operate. . .YET"
My PTs were able to pinpoint the cause of my knee problems and through therapy, reverse the condition. Good luck with the surgery - be patient with yourself during the recovery period - odds are excellent you will be in great shape when all is said and done.

You can read book reviews on the web of the two books I recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed The Good German. George Clooney bought the rights to the book and is making the movie. I just got Kanon's newest book, Alibi - out in paperback this month (Picador Press - $14.00). Here's a synopsis from the jacket:

"It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when he falls in love with a Jewishwoman scarred by her devastating experiences during WW II, he is forced to confront another Venice, a city still at war with itself, haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Everyone, including his mother's suave new Venetian suitor, as been compromised by the occupation, and Adam finds himself at the center of a web of decelption, intrigue, andunexpected moral dilemmas. When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for the perfect alibi?" Alibi is at once a murder mystery, a love story, and a superbly crafted novel about the nature of moral responsibility." (I would love to see Clooney make this into a film also.)

Reviewers comments: "a perfect companion for the thriller reader who wants a philosophical challenge, as well as entertainment"; "Joseph Kannon is a specialist in superior historical thrillers. Moody, deeply atmospheric, and as labyrinthine as the streets of Venice."
The London Telegraph said: "Alibi is a thriller with a slide-rule perfect plot. . . Wholly engrossing and one of the finest thrillers you will read this year - up there with the classics of
the genre."

[Thirtieschild]

31. Thanks for the Kannon suggestion.

He's new to me, and sounds interesting. I'll check him out at the library Tuesday.

The surgery is in 10 days, which doesn't give me much time to work on strengthening exercises. The problem turned out to be bone-on-bone at the outside edge of my knee and x-rays didn't pick it up because they kept looking at the knee straight-on. I'm following PT's orders about my back. Old bones - sigh.

[Divernan]

15. Important re: Physical Therapy

In addition to my comments on PT in my other post, just thought to tell you that when my son recently had PT on his knee - sports injury - torn ACL - he worked with his PT BEFORE surgery to stengthen supporting muscles. As a result he had amazingly little pain compared to most people, and his recovery was faster. So if you have time for a few weeks of PT before the surgery, push your doc to let you do this.

[Drum]

17. I would echo a couple of the above,

namely The Invisible Man
and
the Patrick O'Brian novels (once you click into the sea terminology they are quite captivating.)

On the non-fiction side, I also recommend:
In Our Defense (The Bill of Rights In Action) by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy
and
The Brethren (sorry, author un-remembered) which is all about the Supreme Court, circa the Burger years/Watergate/PentagonPapers/etc. Very engrossing about how the High Court works (or used to work, or is supposed to work, or)

I wish you the very best of recoveries, and hope you have a supportive and not-to-busy environment for your rehab.

I had a knee surgery 2 yrs ago, less invasive for a dance-related injury, and the aftermath has not been so great. I'm very very curious about knee replacement for my future. Would you PM me sometime so I could pick your brain a little on the subject?

Good luck with all of it!
-Drum

[Thirtieschild]

32. Thanks for the suggestions

I'm not sure O'Brian is right for me, but am intrigued by The Invisible Man.

I'll be glad to email you privately, but need to know how to do it.

Donna the Computer Illiterate

[Drum]

35. Just click on that little envelope icon

on the top of this reply, or click on the rolodex-card thingy.

[yellowdogintexas]

18. anything by George R R Martin

but read them in order

also: Jeffrey Deaver...
Patricia Cornwell
Carl Hiaasen will make you laugh
Agree with Robert Ludlum..I loved his books

Janet Evanovich will make you laugh too.

T R Pearson
Dorothy Dunnett...GREAT Historical Fiction

[Thirtieschild]

36. I've read - and enjoyed - Cornwell and Hiaasen

Striptease was hilarious. Not so sure about Ludlum. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Thirtieschild]

19. Thanks for so many suggestions, and for so much encouragent

and for the warm welcomes. I'm having the surgery in Tucson and when we're there Wednesday for my pre-op doctor's appointment, I plan to take a list of your suggestions to Bookman's, a fabulous used bookstore - think it's a chain in Arizona, maybe elsewhere.

[MaineDem]

37. The Stephanie Plum series

By Janet Evanovich. The twelveth book in the series is coming out in June.

Light, funny reading. Nothing serious or heavy here but I truly enjoy the laughs.

And, oh yes, good luck with your recovery!

[Richardo]

38. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

Great story: funny, poignant. An insight into the thought processes of an autistic teen. My favorite novel of the past 2-3 years.

[Thirtieschild]

39. Agree - absolutely agree - re: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttim

Loved it. It came out at the same time as my husband's novel - was reviewed in the same issue of Publisher's Weekly, got a starred review, husband's didn't (though they liked it.)

Husband's novel was SHIKAR by Jack Warner, early this year came out in paperback as MANEATER but, true to our amazing bad luck, the paperback publisher immediately went bankrupt. It's the story of a maneating tiger loose in the mountains of North Georgia. The heart of the book is the battle between the tiger and an aging British hunter for the soul of a young boy. The hunter is trying to teach him what it means to be a man, the tiger what it means to be a tiger. The book was remaindered (sigh) and can be gotten on Amazon for a dollar or two.

The book sold 3,000 copies, which is respectable for a first novel, but for a reason known only to Tor/Forge, they printed 9,000 copies and then did nothing to promote the book. Because they were left with 6,000 copies, the book was considered a failure. If they'd printed 3,000 copies, it would have been a resounding success. Go figure. We sure can't.

Early on Harper-Collins wanted the book, but only if Jack would make changes that would have destroyed the premise. Jack gave them a resounding NO that certainly burned bridges. We were left wondering how many bad books started life in good shape and were ruined by publishing houses.

The book was meant to be a movie - everyone but Sean Connery sees Sean Connery as the hunter - and Hallmark has an option on it. Only about five percent of options are actually made into movies.

We were such innocents, realized how badly the material on the dust cover misrepresented the book, didn't realize how that would affect perceptions of the book, figured the publisher knew more about it than we did. Big mistake. The dust cover sounds like Jaws on dry land (or as someone said, Jaws with Claws) and it's not.

It's been an interesting, though not always happy, experience.

Didn't know when I started this reply that it was going to turn into the story of SHIKAR. Being reviewed in Publisher's Weekly at the same time as Curious Incident set me off. (I'm easily set off. Too easily.) Thanks for listening, those of you who stuck with me this far.

Edited to eliminate repetition and correct punctuation.

[jane_pippin]

40. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

It's a new book so unfortunately it's only out in hardcover but I just picked it up myself and I love it. It's a love story, but it's not overly sappy. (Appropriately sappy, but not saccharine). The bulk of the story takes place in a traveling circus during the Depression. The narrator is a runaway who winds up joining the circus and works there tending to the menagerie. He falls in love with the equestrian performer who happens to be married to his boss. I'm only about halfway through it now but so far it's a great read. If you don't have or don't feel like shelling out $20 bucks for the hardcover see if the library has it--it's worth it.

Here's an amazon link: (The review is a little down on it, but don't let that dissuade you from reading it. The negatives pointed out there are somewhat true, but as you read you get so into it that you don't really mind the odd cliche here and there.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565124995/sr=8-1/qid=1149086251/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8294606-6092756?%5Fencoding=UTF8