What book do you recommend I read next? What book should I have already read??
Iām not sure whether Iād say āembarrassedā not to have yet read, because there are only so many hours a day in anyoneās life, but I read a book by Alice Hoffman several yearās ago called Property Of which was a very ugly topic (drugs, gangs, etc), but such beautiful, poetic prose that I ended up loving the book. Recently I started reading another of her books: Practical Magic. Whilst I have seen the film of this book, I chose to read it to savour the language. I have not been disappointed. Her voice is incredible, but I canāt pinpoint exactly how she makes her language so fluid. For me personally, I will probably work through the remainder of her reasonably extensive repetoire both for the pure enjoyment of her stories, and also to garner a better understanding of how she uses language.
So there is my recommendation for you: anything by Alice Hoffman.
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I hope play scripts can be classified as books. Anything written by Christopher Fry. Heās humane, deeply observant, and gently humorous. Iāve returned to his writings in these strange times, just to get some reassurance that we donāt have to scream to get our point across. Special mentions: A Phoenix Too Frequent; The Ladyās Not For Burning; The Dark is Light Enough.
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Interesting! I will read.
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I love that sort of book, where the style is lovely and yet not too showy.
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This was the first play I directed (2007) and costumed, Daniel. Great cast. My husband designed the set and a dear friend and artist created the Attic-style urn and drinking vessels which still have pride of place on a top shelf in our sitting room. Great memories from start to finish.
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I love The Ladyās Not For Burning. Itās one of my favorite plays. Definitely worth rereading.
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I need to check it out!
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I have yet to finish, āMoby Dickā. Required reading 11th grade senior lit. Calvin Hanrahan. We turned his attentions to James Joyce and āUlyssesā. The man thought we were champions unto the literary world.
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Ugh - āMoby Dickā! Yes, I had to read it for 11th grade senior lit and hated every minute, sadly. Iām now much older (dare I say, four decades later) and I still remember with horror the need to read that book. Fifty odd pages of a description of sperm whales and their uses still makes me recoil.
Having said all that, Iāve met so many people over the years who loved the book. And it is a classic, after all, but if we had no differences in tastes it would be a very boring world. Iād add, however, that I loved the rest of that class, so it was only one book of many that I could not relate well to.
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For me, the absolute requirement is to skip all the āwhale factsā chapters. Then the book is much shorter and the genuinely terrific writing becomes easiest to absorb.
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Perhaps thatās what I should have done, and maybe one day will re-read (minus the whale facts chapters), but we analysed it to death too, which probably didnāt help. I stil recall being told that the three masts represented the holy trinity and other similar analogies. It didnāt ādoā it for me. 
But donāt let me put others off. Youāve got to make up your own mind on such important contributions to the literary universe.
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My mother loved the book. At her encouragement, I tried my best to read it, but I only made it about halfway. I kept getting bogged down with too much information or else my mind would start to wander and Iād lose track of what was going on. I doubt Iāll ever try again.
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I mentioned having bought the Kindle (via Amazon) version of Rachel Aaronās book ā2k to 10k - Writing Better, Writing Fasterā - in the Facebook group. I hope this is where you suggested I might repeat that post, Daniel.
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Michael Endeās Momo.
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Chapter 133 seems cherry.
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Her writing style as described in your post was enough for me - and Iāve just bought two of her books, Kas. 
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@Lita Which two did you go for? Iām still reading Practical Magic at present (very different, so far, from the filmed version) and thoroughly enjoying it when I get the chance to read, but she has written quite a few, so Iād be interested in your view once youāve read it/them.
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I am embarrassed to say that I struggle to read some of those old British classics. I know they are supposed to be good because they portray the era the author lived in but many are so sordid and depressing. I find DH Lawrence particularly difficult.
An new author I did enjoy reading was Diane Setterfield. I loved the writing of the ā13th Taleā and the initial idea but wasnāt so sure about the plot, in the end. I also liked āonce upon a riverā which was similarly told in a very interesting way.
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Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic, Kas. Iāll post my review/s here once Iāve read them.
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