<p>^^^^I agree. Very thought provoking and brilliantly written.</p>
<p>mamom - I was one of quite a few who suggested Outlander. Sorry.</p>
<p>I am also doing a too much reading of the Evanovich series and too little of anything else. I started two weeks ago and I’m not going to confess here what number I am already reading. Let’s just say I’m moving right along. I love the characters and agree with Lafalum 
that Grandma Mazur is a hoot and Morelli and Ranger, well…</p>
<p>Glad to see the fans of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I second the love for Grandma Mazur. I read the series every summer at the beach. I can be seen laughing to myself under my beach umbrella. I just bought the new book yesterday and have to wait till I get to beach this weekend to start it.</p>
<p>The Steig Larssen trilogy was not as heavily literary as I thought it might be. I wish I had saved it for beach reading; it would have been perfect! But I like crime /detective/spy fiction on the beach.</p>
<p>“The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest”</p>
<p>Loved the Steig Larson trilogy. Saw “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo” movie last night. Liked it but if I hadn’t read the book don’t think I would have liked it as much. Seemed like lots of stuff left out (as usual with movie vs book). They are violent but engrossing.</p>
<p>The Lonely Polygamist - a long, funny and very humane novel, very well written.</p>
<p>I’m another fan of the Janet Evanovitch books. They are even better as audio books. The reader, Lorelei King, manages to make Grandma Mazur and Lulu even funnier than they are in print. Be careful where you listen–you’ll be laughing your head off.</p>
<p>Sue Grafton’s U is for Undertow is out. Looks like the copyright is 2009 so it’s been out for a while, but after picking up the S one about 3 times and realizing that no, it wasn’t new, I sort of gave up looking for the next one for a while. So now I have T and U to read. And if you haven’t read any of them, each title starts with a letter of the alphabet so start with A is for (I think) Alibi and enjoy Kinsey Milhone. Great mystery series.</p>
<p>can you read the dragon tatoo series out of order? I have the second one</p>
<p>Also, I am a guy and not caught up on my reading but I just read Water for Elephants and really liked it.</p>
<p>Futureholds, nah don’t read them out of order. Every other person and his brother seems to have copies of the books these days so you’ll probably be able to find the first one if you ask around.</p>
<p>OK, I’m into the 5th Outlander book (The Fiery Cross) and I’m shaking my head.</p>
<p>Book one was uneven but overall I liked it. Books 2, 3 and 4 were excellent. Couldn’t put them down. Book 5 started out promising, but… did Gabaldon lose her editor or something? The first 244 pages of book 5 cover ONE day. Way too many new minor characters being introduced. Now I’m in another section where I’ve read 103 pages that take place in a single day, and that day isn’t over yet. Once again, a whole bunch of minor characters being introduced, lots of descriptive detail, and at least 3 sub-plots going on at once. And suddenly she’s changing voices - most of the time the books are told from a single point of view, occasionally from another point of view for reasons that make sense. But in the past 103 pages I’ve gotten 3 different people’s points of view for no discernible reason. Characters are acting in ways that are out-of-character, random scenes seem to be thrown together… I feel like I’m reading a first draft or a fan-fiction version of the Outlander series. Diana Gabaldon, what happened?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, you have to read them in order.</p>
<p>^^I’m currently reading The Girl Who Played With Fire. I hope to finish it by the weekend because the film is playing at a little nearby theatre. I think it would be too confusing to try to read this one w/o having read The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo first. It’s dense with references to characters from the first novel.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I just read “Hellhound on his trail: the stalking of Martin Luther King Jr.”, same comments. There’s an interesting twist that the author exploits that makes you feel as if the book is fiction in parts.</p>
<p>NPR does poll on top thrillers:</p>
<p>[Audience</a> Picks: Top 100 ‘Killer Thrillers’ : NPR](<a href=“Audience Picks: Top 100 'Killer Thrillers' : NPR”>Audience Picks: Top 100 'Killer Thrillers' : NPR)</p>
<p>I’m reading South of Broad by Pat Conroy currently. I highly recommend this book.</p>
<p>I recommend The Little Book by Selden Edwards</p>
<p>Chick Lit- Elizabeth Noble has several fun reads with a serious side</p>
<p>Guy detective stuff- Robert B Parker (the old 70s/80s TV show Spenser for Hire) is fun & easy</p>
<p>Demille’s recent book The Lion had a very easy casual feel to it, though I don’t know if it would be as good if you were not familiar with the characters already.</p>
<p>my favorite way to “read” a book at the beach is to download the audio book into my MP3 player…close your eyes, relax, and listen to a great narrator bring the story to life while you keep one eye on your kids (and no crick in the neck!)</p>
<p>if you want some great ones to listen to: I LOVE the narrator on “#1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series (Alexander McCall Smith) and he has another great series called “44 Scotland Street”. Great characters…LOL! If you haven’t read all three books in the “Angela’s Ashes” autobiography series by Frank McCourt, he narrates those in his awesome “brogue”. Cold Sassy Tree is also a great “listen.”</p>
<p>I know listening to books is not everyone’s favorite, and it does take a little practice (just like books, sometimes i space off and have to “rewind” a little) but it is also a great way to pass the time in the car, and when you are doing housework!</p>