"The Painted Veil" by W. Somerset Maugham

Loved this book! I will have to see the film to see if it lives up to the book, but gosh, I really need to quit reading all of these love stories.

Anyways, the book ( set in the 1920s in London) is about a woman who is absolutely gorgeous and has her choice of suitors, waits too long and ends up settling at the age of 25 for someone who is rather plain and ordinary. He soon takes a job in Hong Kong, where she will take a lover.

When the husband discovers that she is having an affair, he gives her a choice to run off with her lover (knowing that her lover is married and would never divorce his own wife) or to join him on a trip to a Cholera-infected mainland of China. She tries to talk her lover into taking her, but he lets her down - and she sees him for the rat he always was.

She soon joins her husband on the trip, believing that he wants her to get Cholera and die for her atrocities. What unfolds is true love, albeit a little too late.

I would recommend reading it - it's a quickie!

"The Shining" by Stephen King

I know, I know. I just watched the movie, and I did all of this because I saw the Stanley hotel on Ghost Hunters. Don't really care what you think, but what I do care is that this story seems to be scary not just because of the ghostly happenings.
I think King's idea that a father could go crazy and try to kill his family (and yikes! it really does happen from time to time...) is one of the scariest things that could possibly happen. As much as I have a serious fear of serial killers, the thought of someone close to me losing it and doing such things is far more terrifying.
This, for me, is about as terrifying as the concept illustrated in Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon" - this notion of one person being able to take out many, without any sort of superhuman strength. I know a lot of people didn't really care about Red Dragon, but the ideal of a serial killer being able to kill 5 people within a matter of minutes is definitely something to be afraid of - especially because there are so few defenses.
I don't want to get off subject, but I guess for me what really makes this book good is not the parts about the dead woman in the bathtub, or the hedge animals, but the mere fact that anyone at any time could go insane and kill their family - regardless of what drives them to do it. Ironically, I just saw an E! THS on Andrea Yates yesterday....
I will have to go ahead and give props to the movie, however, because it followed the storyline very closely. I enjoy that a lot, although it's better to read the book first if that kind of thing is going to happen..... needless to say, if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, go ahead and read the book and then see the movie. If you have seen the movie, don't worry about it.
Good stuff.

"Love the One You're With" by Emily Griffin

This book was solely for us chicks - it falls right in line with things like Sex and the City and Confessions of a Shopaholic.
And I have to say that I don't usually read books with pink or pastel covers (surprising, I know, because I love pink and pastels.... and I'm a complete girly girl) but this one really did tug at my heart, so I might just have to start.
Anyways, it takes us through the story of Ellen and Andy, newlyweds. Ellen is living her dream in New York City - she's a renowned photographer, she has the absolutely perfect (and rich) husband, and she is happy as all can be. Soon, she runs into Leo, her ex-boyfriend from ages ago that brought out the worst in her. Yet, as she describes, her relationship with Leo was always intense. She soon finds herself wondering what might have been - even though it was almost inevitably never going to work.
I sort of wondered if Griffin was inspired by Sex and the City, because the picture was all-too-reminiscent of Carrie when she is cheating on Aidan with Mr. Big. I can't tell you whether or not Ellen actually cheats on her husband, but the tug at her heart was imbearable. Remember how you yelled at Carrie for being so stupid for giving up the perfect guy, yet you know she had something so real with Mr. Big? This book plays on just that.
I'm not going to tell you who she ends up with, so I'm going to recommend that you take the time to read this one for yourself.

Madame Bovary

I definitely had to read this book in high school, but I find that any book is automatically more enjoyable when you aren't being forced to read it.
Madame Bovary is the story of Emma, a beautiful countrygirl. Set in France in the 1800s, Emma marries a dull doctor named Charles, and finds herself longing for more romance and the luxuries described in her imaginative novels.
She soon finds a lover to give her everything she desired, but he eventually leaves her. She then moves onto another lover. I can't tell you much more, I would never give away the ending.
One of my favorite things about Madame Bovary is that is seems to be a timeless piece. Read it and you'll find many of the themes reminiscent of current times - in a world where worldly goods are of extreme importance. The focus on luxury out of one's reach seems to ring particularly true with the state of the US - as the average American has how many dollars in debt now?
I definitely recommend this one. You'll be shocked at the eeriness of the timeless traits.