The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,936
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Apr 25, 2022 1:06:53 GMT
I finished three this week
🔷 I Must Betray You ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 Historical YA fiction Thriller that takes place in 1989 in Romania where one cannot trust neighbors, friends or even family. Who could be a spy recruited by the oppressive regime? Can you trust anyone?
It’s a chilling tale of what life is like in an isolated dictatorship, but similar to what another friend who reviewed this said, it’s a little disconcerting when “historical fiction” occurred while I was in high school.
🔷 Hivemind: The New Science of Tribalism in our Divided World ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ I started this one about a month ago and finally finished it.
Human beings tend to have more similarities to bees than we think. We tend to spend time with those who share our own religion, cultural, and other interests. Why do we do this? This book attempts to explain how and why we do.
This is another nonfiction book I’ve read that was written pre-pandemic, so I found reading the anecdotes through that lens interesting and sometimes naive. Everything is amplified since the pandemic.
🔷 The Midnight Library ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ For me, this novel had all the ingredients of a perfect novel: existential crisis, time travel (sorta), books, dogs, regrets, cool concepts and a new spin on an old trope.
If you haven’t read this, it’s such a good, relatively slim, read. A lot is packed into this philosophical adventure.
What did you read?
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,760
Jun 25, 2014 20:56:09 GMT
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Post by gottapeanow on Apr 25, 2022 1:46:07 GMT
I apparently didn't post last week. LOL.
In any case, I finished The Match, which is Harlan Coben's newest book. It's quite far-fetched and jumps the shark in a few spots. Still solid. 4/5 stars.
I also read Scrublands, which was a mystery a bit like the books by Jane Harper. Set in Australia. It's super hot, dry, and dusty. There are a few different storylines that are somewhat intertwined, and the author did a great job of developing these. This is the first of a series. The MC is named Martin Scarsdale. I would keep reading this series for sure. 5/5 stars.
I am now reading a short little book called The Swimmers. I'm not sure if I like it.
Up next: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. Excited to start it!
Lisa
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Post by cadoodlebug on Apr 25, 2022 2:09:37 GMT
I finished Nine Lives by Peter Swanson *If you’re on the list, someone wants you dead. * It didn’t pull me in like most mysteries do. There were too many POV’s and I kept getting the characters confused. The investigation into what was happening to the nine seemed almost non-existent. Just wasn’t a satisfying read which is sad because I like the way the author writes. 3/5 I agree with the Pea who enjoyed the ending ~ what happened to the FBI agent. Now I'm reading Find Me by Alafair Burke. So far I'm enjoying it. I have 5 library books that will have to be returned in two weeks as we'll be going on vacation. I hate when that happens ~ having to return unread books, not going on vacation!
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Post by freecharlie on Apr 25, 2022 2:19:20 GMT
I read the first novella in Connie Willis's Terra Incognita: Three Novellas. This one was called "Unchartered Territory." It was not a favorite and I would probably give 2...maybe 2.5 stars. I just couldn't get the visualize I normally get. I'm hoping the next novella is better because she is one of my favorite authors.
I just downloaded Run Rose, Run a collaboration between Dolly Parton and James Patterson. I'm super excited to read it.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,355
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on Apr 25, 2022 2:38:35 GMT
This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. The Great Carpezio I loved The Midnight Library. It’s my book club’s book pick for this month and even though I’ve already read it, I’m planning to re-read before the meeting.
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hutchfan
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,158
Jul 6, 2016 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by hutchfan on Apr 25, 2022 3:38:05 GMT
I read The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Marissa and Matthew seem to have it all until Marissa is unfaithful. She wants to repair things for the sake of their 8 year old son. Enter therapist Avery Chambers who lost her professional license but she still counsels those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. When they glide through Avery's door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden and it's no longer simply a marriage that's in danger. I loved this thriller a 4 star read.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 25, 2022 4:35:59 GMT
I finished one book, Hearts of Sand by Jane Haddam. This is a mystery in her series about retired FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. I started reading that series in 1994 and then lost track about 2/3 through the series. I was thinking about it the other day, and saw that Jane Haddam had died in 2019 and her sons helped get her 30th and final book in the series finished and published in 2020. I decided to catch up on the ones I haven't read.
All that said, I didn't especially enjoy this one. It moved super slowly and the murderer seemed obvious even to my oblivious self. I really like and recommend the early books in the series, say the first 12 or 14, but she changed the style and focus slightly in the later books. She liked to explore religion and politics in her plots, which was usually really interesting. Anyway, her first several books are very cheap on Kindle. The first is Not a Creature Was Stirring. The books all take place around American holidays, although that element is less prominent in the later books.
I'll probably read the rest of the ones I haven't read yet and then enjoy the final book that wraps up all the characters' stories.
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
Jun 26, 2014 0:30:34 GMT
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Post by finaledition on Apr 25, 2022 5:23:07 GMT
This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. The Great Carpezio I loved The Midnight Library. It’s my book club’s book pick for this month and even though I’ve already read it, I’m planning to re-read before the meeting. Huge Beartown fan here! I’m planning to reread them for the third book which comes out in October (??). HBO Max has a Swedish adaptation. I thought they did a pretty good job.
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ComplicatedLady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,037
Location: Valley of the Sun
Jul 26, 2014 21:02:07 GMT
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Post by ComplicatedLady on Apr 25, 2022 6:05:43 GMT
I started Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen. I’m about 1/3 through it and the character development is impressive. It’s going to take me a while to get through it especially since I’ve been used to reading quick 250 page easy-read mysteries and thrillers. I’ve heard so much about this book though and I had to get it when I saw a nice used copy at my local bookstore.
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Post by trixiecat on Apr 25, 2022 13:07:56 GMT
I just finished The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh and really enjoyed it and would give it 4.5 stars. Next up for me is A Moment In Time: A Novel by Suzanne Redfearn. I have always enjoyed her books.
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Post by fotos4u2 on Apr 25, 2022 16:30:43 GMT
Two more for me this week. I've been pretty happy with the pace I've been reading and realized I've finished 52 books already this year. It's been a long time since I've read this many in a year let alone in 4 months.
The Heirs by Susan Rieger. 3 stars. This book is hard to describe. The book jacket implies that it's about a family who after the father dies they find out he may have had an affair and had two more children, but that wasn't really that huge a part of the storyline. It really was more about the origin of the family as a whole. The chapters jumped around characters (even within each chapter) and between time periods. By the end of the book I suppose you had a full history of pretty much all the family members. I gave this 4 stars initially, but after thinking about it docked a star because it really was a jumble even if it was an enjoyable enough read.
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. 4 stars. Another one that rotates between time periods as well as characters, but thankfully it was just two. The first is Odile who is a librarian during WW2 in Paris and the second is Lily a teenage neighbor of Odile's in the 1980s. Both my daughter and I read this book and we both agreed that the Lily portion was completely unnecessary as it didn't really move the story along. I may have given this book 5 stars if she'd written it without the alternating voices.
I'm currently waiting for some library books to come in, probably today, but in the meantime re-started "The Friendship List" by Susan Mallery.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,936
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Apr 25, 2022 17:27:26 GMT
This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. The Great Carpezio I loved The Midnight Library. It’s my book club’s book pick for this month and even though I’ve already read it, I’m planning to re-read before the meeting. It was awesome! I also loved Bear Town....one of my all time favorites (I am also a hockey mom, so that may be why)
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Post by tommygirl on Apr 25, 2022 23:56:52 GMT
Recently I finished reading The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. It was very good historical fiction. 4/5 stars for me
I also read Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad. It was excellent. She is Jon Batiste's wife and a very talented writer. 4.5/5 stars for me.
My dh started reading War and Peace (Signet Classics translation) I am tempted to read it as well but I am not sure I want to commit. Please advise.
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Post by circusjohnson on Apr 26, 2022 0:02:24 GMT
I am currently listening to Anxious People, which I love and rereading Thirteen Reasons Why by jay Asher since it is being challenged in my library.
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Post by flanz on Apr 26, 2022 0:43:14 GMT
This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. Just bought Bear Town for Kindle for only $2.99! Thanks!
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
Jun 26, 2014 0:30:34 GMT
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Post by finaledition on Apr 26, 2022 1:54:02 GMT
I finished 2 this week. The first was Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis. She wrote Dear Emmie Blue which I loved, but this one just didn't do it for me. It came together well at the end, but 3/5 stars.
Then I read Let's Not Do That Again by Grant Grinder. This is a fairly new released and a couple bookstagrammers talked this up. This is a messy family drama with a side of politics. I enjoyed it. 4/5 stars
I'm trying to rotate a backlog book from my kindle or audible into my reading selection once a month so I'm about to read Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger.
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Post by mnmloveli on Apr 26, 2022 16:59:31 GMT
snagitI’m in the middle of reading a trilogy about serial killers. It’s soooo good ! I’ll report back next week.
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Post by freecharlie on Apr 27, 2022 2:24:44 GMT
I finished Run Rose, Run and really enjoyed it. I envisioned the matriarch type person as Dolly and that made it fun. Definitely a quick read.
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Post by freecharlie on Apr 27, 2022 4:12:56 GMT
This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. Just bought Bear Town for Kindle for only $2.99! Thanks! thanks for posting that, I just got it too
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 27, 2022 7:10:58 GMT
My dh started reading War and Peace (Signet Classics translation) I am tempted to read it as well but I am not sure I want to commit. Please advise. mimima might have some advice on this.
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Post by peasapie on Apr 27, 2022 11:16:38 GMT
I just finished Verity by Colleen Hoover. I don’t usually read thriller mysteries but a friend recommended, so I tried. Wow. So much to think about with this book…
Now I’m reading Once There We’re Wolves. Still in early pages, good so far.
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Post by cannmom on Apr 27, 2022 14:16:05 GMT
I read Razorblade Tears this week. I loved it 5/5 stars. Highly recommend.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.
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mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,022
Jun 25, 2014 19:25:50 GMT
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Post by mimima on Apr 27, 2022 19:02:46 GMT
My dh started reading War and Peace (Signet Classics translation) I am tempted to read it as well but I am not sure I want to commit. Please advise. mimima might have some advice Oh, thank you for the referral! War and Peace is actually a good read - and remember, it's ok to skim war It's wordy and a lot of info, but it does read quickly. I recommend the Pevar and Volokhonsky translation, which isn't the Signet Classics traslation, but I think they do a good job. Here's an article that discusses it, so you can see what you have and if it is good. welovetranslations.com/2021/08/31/whats-the-best-translation-of-war-and-peace-by-tolstoy/One trick for reading classics that I find helpful is to read a section or two at a time, and then break it up with other books so you don't feel bogged. Enjoy!
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Post by carolynhasacat on Apr 27, 2022 19:50:54 GMT
I read War and Peace last year and "skimming war" was a must! The last book (there are 4 books) is mostly essay, so I skimmed much of that book. But I enjoyed it!
I'm ready Jennifer Egan's sequel to the Goon Squad called The Candy House and I'm enjoying it. I'm having a hard time remembering all the characters from the first book, so I would recommend reading them in sequence if you're interested in this series.
I haven't posted much this year because I've been reading a lot of short stories. Just not feeling very novel-ly this year, I guess.
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my3freaks
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,206
Location: NH girl living in Colorado
Jun 26, 2014 4:10:56 GMT
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Post by my3freaks on Apr 27, 2022 20:18:57 GMT
This is another nonfiction book I’ve read that was written pre-pandemic, so I found reading the anecdotes through that lens interesting and sometimes naive. Everything is amplified since the pandemic. I started listening to a podcast after it had been on for a while (they have over 300 episodes now) and decided to just start from the first episode and listen to them in order. (It's a true crime one, so really doesn't matter except for a few multi-part episodes, but, I'm getting off topic.) I'm now up to April or early May 2020 and it's been kind of weird listening to them chat about life as it was leading up to March. They had a bunch of live shows planned at the time, and at the beginning of each episode they talk about them being rescheduled. Their optimism for how quickly everything is going to be fine does seem naive in hindsight. Every time they say "I'm sure our shows scheduled in September will be fine!" I think "Oh, you have no idea how shitty it's going to be for a long time . I just downloaded Run Rose, Run a collaboration between Dolly Parton and James Patterson. I'm super excited to read it. I hadn't heard of this books, thanks. I just added it to my huge waitlist of things at the library. I'm constantly extending my wait time for downloads on my library's site b/c I'm not ready for new books. That one has a lot of people in line already though, so maybe I'll be ok. This week I finished Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I’m so late to this party! I love this author and I loved this book. When I finished it I instantly wanted more. Thankfully there is a 2nd book which I’m about half finished with. I've had that on my "want to read" list forever. It sounds good and I'm a huge hockey fan. I swear I will get to it someday! I'm glad to hear you loved it. I'm trying to rotate a backlog book from my kindle or audible into my reading selection once a month so I'm about to read Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. I like this idea. I download free books fairly often, 'just in case', so I have WELL over 1000 books on my Kindle. I should make a point of reading one of backlog before I let myself read a library or Amazon download. I normally only read for a little while before bed, so it takes me longer than it should to get through books. Maybe I should take a break from podcasts and start listening to audio books again for a while.
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Rhondito
Pearl Clutcher
MississipPea
Posts: 4,677
Jun 25, 2014 19:33:19 GMT
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Post by Rhondito on Apr 28, 2022 16:24:54 GMT
I have just finished The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. It took me forever to get through it and I didn't like it at all. I should have given up on it, but I kept hoping it would get better; then I was at a point where I figured I might as well finish. Several years ago I read We Were the Mulvaneys by the same author and I really loved it, so I was expecting to enjoy The Falls as well. Nope. I never felt a connection or sympathy for any character and the entire book seemed like a bunch of blathering from people I didn't care about. I gave it 2 stars - only because I had so much hope for it in the beginning.
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Post by SockMonkey on Apr 30, 2022 20:19:18 GMT
I most recently finished (last week & this): Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. I liked it, but felt like the ending was a little rushed and some of the way a particular storyline was handled didn't sit right with me. SPOILER, so don't read if you don't want spoilers TW: Sexual assault
A clear cut rape was basically addressed with the character going into an alcoholic depression and then a partner suggesting therapy.
I didn't love it. I realize that's probably realistic, but it felt very unresolved, and sort of out of place and unnecessary as a plot point. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr I really loved this. 5 intertwining stories spanning vast amounts of time, all centered around an ancient Greek text. I like these kinds of multiple point of view stories. I thought it was lovely. I'm currently listening to I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, which is an older YA. I really like it. Julia Whelan and Jesse Bernstein narrate, and they're fantastic readers. I'm about to start The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.
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peaname
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,389
Aug 16, 2014 23:15:53 GMT
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Post by peaname on Apr 30, 2022 20:26:42 GMT
I finished The Loop Group by Larry McMurty I could barely finish it, it was just not good. I was looking for Lonseome Dove but there’s little chance I’ll pick that up now.
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edie3
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,497
Jun 26, 2014 1:03:18 GMT
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Post by edie3 on Apr 30, 2022 22:28:58 GMT
Blacktop Wasteland is good too!
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Post by cannmom on May 1, 2022 12:22:48 GMT
Blacktop Wasteland is good too! I will definitely look for it. I really like this author.
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