Weekly Reading Thread: January 3-9

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I think it would make a good TV series, actually. Quick, light read.

One of my goals for this year is to read enough that I have something to contribute here, at least every second week!

I have been on a bit of a Scandi-crime kick again.
Finished. Dregs, by Jorn Lier Horst. This is the first of a series, set in Norway in a rural area southeast of Oslo.
From the amazon listing: 'A severed left foot in a training shoe washes up on the shore in Stavern. Then another, and yet another: four left feet in a single week. Neither police Inspector William Wisting nor his journalist daughter Line have ever seen anything like this.'
I first came across this series when I picked up a book at random while browsing in a bookshop - I didn't realise at the time it was late in the series. There is also a TV series based on 3 of the books that come after this one.

Currently reading: When I finished the previous book, my kindle gave me a list of 'If you liked this, we suggest' books. One was For the Missing by Lina Bengtsdotter. This one is set in rural Sweden. Again, the Amazon blurb:
'THE MISSING
Nora's daughter Annabelle has disappeared, last seen on her way home from a party.

THE LOST
Gullspång's inexperienced police are wilting under the national media spotlight - and its residents desperate for answers.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING
Stockholm DI Charlie Lager must return home to find Annabelle, and then get out of town as soon as she can. Before everyone discovers the truth about her . . .'

I'm about half way through this and it really has my attention. The descriptions of teenagers in a country town rings so true to what I saw growing up, and still see today in my nieces, even though they are in a different country. Charlie - the lead character - is so flawed, but again, very real. My heart aches for her, and I also want to reach into the book and slap some sense into her.
I have no idea how the story is going to pan out, but there is a second book in the series, so I know that Charlie must pull through in the end.

Happy New Year everyone !  Hope you all enjoyed your holidays the best we could.  I enjoyed 3 books over the holidays.

DEAR CHILD ('20) by Romy Hausmann  :  4 STARS
Description:  Debut book for this author.  A windowless shack in the woods.  A dash to safety.  But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmares.  She says her name is Lena who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior.  She fits the profiles.  She has the distinctive scar.  But her family swears that she isn't their Lena.  The little girl who escapes with "Lena", knows things she isn't sharing.  
Review:  maryland was reading and thought it was very good, so I had to give it a try.  I definitely like the writing style.  Interesting beginning from the point of view of the kidnapped girl's child that she had in captivity 12 years ago, at least that's what I believed early on.  At 25% getting a little confused between the Lenas, who's real and who's Jasmin.  Just keep reading; everything comes together.   Love the cliffhangers at the end of the chapters.  Very good read that kept me intrigued the entire way.  Lena's epilogue was touching and beautiful which helped bump this book to 4 stars for me.  

GIRL GONE MAD ('20) by Avery Bishop  :  4 STARS
Description:  Emily Bennett works as a therapist in Pennsylvania, helping children overcome their troubled pasts, even as she struggles to forget her own.  Once upon a time, Emily was part of a middle school clique called the Harpies, six popular girls who bullied the new girl to her breaking point.  The Harpies took a blood oath - never tell a soul what they did to Grace Farmer.  Now 14 years later, karma has caught up to them.
Review:  New author for me but tried because of Rhondito 4-star twisty recommendation.  I was lucky and got it on sale for $1.99 but definitely would have paid full price.  I liked the writing and it really moved along and help my interest.  Usually books make the boys the bad ones, which they did in this book too but glad it showed that girls can be just as bad.  This book just kept getting better and better.  I think this would make a great movie.


THE WRONG FAMILY ('20) by Tarryn Fisher  :  4 STARS
Description:  Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juna thought Winnie and her husband Nigel had the perfect life.  Only now that she's living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling façade are too deep to ignore.
Review:  First book by this author for me was The Wives and I gave it 4 stars.  I like now this author takes plots that have been written before and takes them in a whole new direction.  Like looking at the characters and their pasts from a different angle.  Kept me entertained the entire way.  Another book  that would make a great movie.  

THANKS for all the great recommendations in 2020.  I found so many great new authors that I would never have tried if it wasn't for 2Peas !

CHEERS to 2021 and finding more great authors and books !

My first book of the year was The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little. It tells the story of Coco Chanel and her sisters who grew up in an orphanage and how they made their way in the world. I really enjoyed this one and realized I had NO idea of the life of Coco Chanel. 5 stars.

Finished...

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam - It wasn't a standout for me, tbh. I especially didn't like the ending.


Started...
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

I may be the only person who doesn't like this though . It seems to get rave reviews everywhere...

Last week I finished Before the Crown by Flora Harding it was about the courtship of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth. After watching The Crown, I was picturing some of their mannerisms. 

I read #13 of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series, Glass Houses. I've been slowly making my way through the series and it's always good to go back to Three Pines.

And I'm almost done The Orphan House by Ann Bennett. It's not really a book about an orphan house itself. Today, the house attached to what once was the orphan house is up for sale because the daughter of the reverend who ran the orphan house back in the day is now in a nursing home. The young lady who buys the house is slowly uncovering some secrets. I've been on the couch the last couple days with a migraine so I've had time to read. 
  
I read The Queen of Paris by Pamela Binnings Ewen recently. It was about Coco during WWII, it mentioned her childhood. Your book sounds better. This one was another WWII book except from the life of a rich women who was barely effected by the war unless it was when her driver couldn't get the car around the dirty poors fast enough when she had to leave the Ritz. She was just worried about her business partner stealing her formula for her perfume. 

I'm about halfway through Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and it's really good. Super interesting. (I also loved Homegoing by the same author).
www.goodreads.com/book/show/48570454-transcendent-kingdom

Starting a reading journal this year in addition to Goodreads. I find myself highlighting quotes in my Kindle and then it's hard to return to them. My goal this year is 50 books! It was last year, too, but I only got to 33. Pandemic. I'm forgiving myself.

mnmloveli so glad you liked Dear Child! My middle daughter is going to try to read it now before her school starts back.

I read The Other Mrs. - Kubica last week and liked it! I am reading This Secret Thing - Marybeth Mayhew Whalen and I'm almost finished. I like this one too! I got a few from the library pickup last week - Girl in the Mirror, Layla - Colleen Hoover and Pretty Things - Janele Brown so I have to decide which to read.

I’m reading THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ALLIE LARUE. I think the writing is wonderful and the story is interesting. Very engaging so far. I’m about 1/3 of the way through.

I read How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior. Definitely a strong book. I rounded up to 4 stars . I really enjoyed reading it and was traumatized by Veronica's life. You understand why she is who she is. I felt like there were, however, huge sections that ignored. You see who she was at 14-15 and then BOOM! She's an 85-year-old lady. You get a nibble of who she was for a very short time somewhere in the middle, but I would have liked to have learned a bit more.

I didn't appreciate that the book cover explained a part of the book that didn't happen until 2/3rds of the way in. It was definitely something that spoiled the book a bit for me. I bet the author didn't enjoy that either. You pretty much know what is going to happen the entire book then. There was a lot left unclear with the grandson. I don't want to add any spoilers, but his story could have been great, but was just an add-on bit for the grandmother.

As a bonus, you learn a lot about penguins, although some of the information is VERY wrong (the amount of species, for example, is undernoted by a lot).

FWIW: I see the British version has a different title and a MUCH better cover description. I cannot understand why they'd not keep that one for the American version.

I am now reading In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle. The premise is interesting. Someone, who has a GREAT life, wakes up 5 years in the future. When she goes back to sleep, she's back in the past. But her future doesn't look like anything she has planned. 

I finished City Of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm starting a book club with 5 friends and this is our first book for Friday evening. I was disappointed in how much time was spent on the part of the book that wasn't the focus, but I'm glad I finished it.

I love getting ideas from you ladies.

Long, Bright River was indeed a well written, memorable book. There were several twists I did not see coming. The main character was well defined and as a reader I could empathize with her competing loyalties and sense of guilt. 

I also read Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Excellent book, told in a style that matched the subject matter, at once harsh and unsparing, yet poetic yearning. 

The travails of the Blue People and the prejudice they faced, as well as both the willfill ignorance by some in the community, and yet the extreme value many impoverished persons put on books and reading all swirled into a story that had me feeling as if I were there, every insult and heartbreak my own.