looking for a book

[Hank Green]

Hey Nerdfighters...
Tell me a book! I'll read the first book posted here (if I haven't already read it) over the next couple of weeks. I'mjust looking for somethin' good.

[Jenn]

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Just finished it.

[Hank Green]

Alas...already read. Thanks though! I hope you enjoyed it.

[Snow White]

HOLY CRAP that was an amazing book!!! Better than the twilight series in my opinion.

[gnomes]

I agree. I thought that The Host was far superior to Twilight series

[Rosalinda]

I have to comment on how surprised I am at Meyer’s writing in this book. I think she’s grown and improved immeasurably from the Twilight Series.

I liked the premise a lot and I think she is very good at creating an interesting world for her stories (or worlds in this case =P). The whole idea was very, very good.

Characters, also very good. And the emotion and conflict was well done. I even found myself tearing up a few times (rare for me).

HOWEVER.. To me, it all felt a tiny bit wasted. I was waiting for something big and exciting to happen and it felt like nothing really did.

This book made me realize something about Meyer as an author. She really focuses on the drama (the angst?) and the characters. She makes wonderful, loveable characters and it seems like even she can’t bear but to have everything end up perfectly tidy and happy for them in the end. It’s almost like she’s afraid of hurting them.

As a reader, I think it’s important to have the good emotions and interesting characters, but then I want them to DO something exciting. I like the action and adventure, and Meyer doesn’t give me enough of that. At the end of The Host, I felt like I just got done reading a romance novel, when I was hoping for a sci fi adventure.

I felt this way about the Twilight Series, too and it’s probably why I liked Eclipse the most, because there was that big exciting finale.

So, now that I’ve bored you all with a too-long ramble, I’ll conclude. I liked the book a lot, but I wanted a bit more action.

[Catherine]

LOVEd that book!!

[Sinnymun]

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

It is awesome, if you haven't read it yet, you totally should.

[Hank Green]

The Winner! I'm gonna go buy it tomorrow :-)

[Tenley Nadine]

Yes the Bridge of Birds won! I was about to suggest that one, but I decided to read what others wrote first. That was an amazing concidence.
Anyways, it was an awesome book and I'm sure you'll love it Hank.

DFTBA
Tenley Nadine

[Decepticon]

Nuklear Age. Brian Clevinger.

A delightful deconstructionist parody of comic books in novel form.

[Brandon Kenney]

If you haven't picked up Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008 Pulitzer, National Book Award), it's nerd-heaven.
Written in street Spanglish and referencing the goodness of Doc Smith to LOTR to D&D. One of the epigraphs, by the way, is a quote from Galactus.

It's also a standout immigrant story beautifully depicted with illuminating footnotes about Dominican culture and history. Multi-cultural postmodern bliss.

[shecaptain]

The History of Love
by Nicole Krauss
I LOOOVE this book!