Cheree, I like a lot of different books, Lots of psychological thrillers, sci fi, fantasy. Up to try anything and the longer the book/series the better as I read super fast
If you like fantasy, you might like the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan) - it is currently 14 books including the prequel. Like I have mentioned before, this series is very descriptive and, especially in books 6-10, gets a little tedious. That being said, I've enjoyed my return to the series. These fantasy books I would only recommend to fantasy fans, whereas my fantasy book recommendations below, I would recommend to anyone.
I confess, my favorite fantasy series is the Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. This series is coming out as an HBO series in April 2011, which I am so excited about. It is different than traditional fantasy in that it really consists primarily of political intrigue and is much more adult themed than traditional fantasy (akin to the Tudors or Rome if you watched either of those series). I have to warn you that the series is not finished and the author is SLOW in writing. In fact, I seriously doubt he will finish the series.
The other fantasy series that I love, love, love is the discworld series by Terry Pratchett. This series is many, many books long (I think 30+). They are short, witty reads and I really enjoy the break they provide. This is a British author, who lends a quirky, fun humor to his books. There are several sub-stories focused on key inhabitants of the discworld. I like the witches and DEATH best, but the night guards' story line is great too. I have been reading them in the order they came out, but you can also read them by story line (e.g. read all of the witches books first), since they can all be thought of a stand alone stories. There is a sub-series in the books (around the witches) that focus on a young witch called Tiffany Aching that would be fun to share with your kids.
The other fantasy book that I will mention is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - one of my favorites of all time. It is a funny book that is more of a love story/historical fiction than fantasy, but it is fantastic.
If you are at all interested in historical fiction, my favorite series of all time is the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. She was absolutely brilliant. These books took me a good long while to get through as they are very dense (they are NOT multi-tasking books where you can be looking on the computer, watching TV and reading at the same time). It took me a while to get into these books, but once I did, I couldn't stop. I read only Dorothy Dunnett books exclusively for 2 years in graduate school (there is another series called the House of Niccolo and a stand alone book called King Hereafter, which is about MacBeth).
As far as thrillers, I don't read too many of these, but I may have a couple of books that might qualify... I read the book Blindness by Jose Saramago when it came out in 1998 - it floored me. I didn't see the recent movie and I would not recommend seeing the movie. The book is graphic and disturbing. The author chose not to give his characters names (I think) to lessen the impact of some of the acts that occur in the book. Giving the characters a face (in the movie), I think was crazy - it shouldn't have been made. I highly recommend the book. Not only is the story amazing, but the style is so unique and wonderful. It reads a little like a Kerouac book in the style (obviously they are nothing alike in storyline) - almost a stream of consciousness that sort of becomes part of you - fantastic!
The other book I might recommend is more of a murder mystery, but it really makes you think like a thriller does...It is called An Instance of a Fingerpost by Iain Pears. It might also be classified as a historical fiction (which is my favorite genre). This is a story repeated 4 times by each of the 4 main characters. You don't find out 'whodunit' until the end of the 4 points of view.
I hope this gives you some ideas! I read a ton (and also read fast), so I am always looking for the next good read!
Lucky, hope you get off your restrictions after the 3 weeks!
and that is one impressive bump!
The heat wave has been tough too, I really hope you're right and it cools this weekend.
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I miss ice cubes especially on hot days like we've had this past week.
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