paigepea
Drama Llama
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Posts: 5,609
Location: BC, Canada
Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Apr 12, 2015 21:50:38 GMT
I'm sorry to say I'm still reading The house Girl. It's still good  My girls go back to school tomorrow after a long spring break, so my goal is to finish the book quickly!!!! Paige. Eta - totally embarrassed I had that Satin spelling error in my post - I hate auto correct! |
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Post by scrapsuzy on Apr 12, 2015 21:52:50 GMT
I am nearing the end of The Vampire Lestat and about to start on Queen of the Damned. I'm not working as much this week, so hopefully will be onto Prince Lestat by this time next week.
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Post by RobbyKay on Apr 12, 2015 22:08:05 GMT
I just finished the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood title, The Shadows. I think this series has jumped the shark for me, but I still enjoy the world JR Ward has built, and every book revisits some of the original characters. I enjoyed this one, it made me cry, and I'll read the next one.
I just started Ian McEwan's The Children's Story. So far, so good.
Happy Reading!
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Post by soggycheerio on Apr 12, 2015 22:11:37 GMT
Still working on Lost & Found I was hoping to be finished this week but life got in the way. Still a pretty good read though.
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Post by annabella on Apr 12, 2015 22:20:55 GMT
I finished two memoirs last week that I just loved:
On My Own Two Feet: The Journey from Losing My Legs to Learning the Dance of Life
by Amy Purdy She's a Paralympic Snowboarder and was on dancing with the stars with two bionic legs.
Desert Flower by Waris Diris She grew up a Nomad in Somalia, had female circumcision, and went on to be a model.
Tomorrow I start The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg
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Post by peano on Apr 12, 2015 22:25:03 GMT
I just started H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. It's a memoir about her grieving the death of her father through learning the art of falconry or I guess whatever it's called when you use a goshawk.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299 
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Post by Mystie on Apr 12, 2015 22:34:13 GMT
I read Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown, about Mary Rowlandson and her Indian captivity back in the 1600s. I think the author took a lot of liberties with the story, but it was well-written and I enjoyed it.
And I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This one won the Pulitzer Prize--but I really didn't care for it at all. The idea of telling a character's story through different short stories is a really good idea, but this was just too depressing.
And I read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. This was better than I had expected, about the death of a teenage girl and its impact on her family. The story if told from the POV of each member of the family, including the dead daughter, and I thought the author did a great job exploring some of the dysfunction that families carry around and pass along.
Right now I'm reading Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War by Annia Ciezadlo, which centers around the time she and her husband spent in the Middle East--Iraq in particular--in the early-mid-2000s. Ciezadlo explores the culture of the Middle East through its food. I'm really enjoying it so far.
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Post by not2peased on Apr 12, 2015 22:39:21 GMT
I just started The Girl On the Train-based on so many people here reading it-really like it-reminds me of a Gillian Flynn novel
I also just started The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying-pretty interesting as well but of course, totally different
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Post by smalltowngirlie on Apr 12, 2015 22:39:44 GMT
I finished Between Shades of Gray yesterday. I really enjoyed it, read it pretty quickly, for me at least.
Today I started The Plum Tree. I really enjoy historical fiction around WWII. I am making a point to read some each day, even if it is only a couple pages. I have too many books I want to read to not read some everyday.
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,752
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Post by gottapeanow on Apr 12, 2015 22:53:41 GMT
Three for me this week - they were all really good.
First, I read The Fragile World, about a family who loses their son, a child musical prodigy, in a tragic accident and then the parents eventually separate after his death. A younger sister is left, and the story is told from her perspective and that of the dad. Decent premise. The ending is a little unrealistic to me, but still decent enough. A super quick read - 4/5 stars.
Next up was The Auschwitz Escape. Here is my GR review: Wow. I could not put this down and zipped through it in just a couple of days. Here are a few things I really liked:
1. It's loosely based on a true story.
2. The portrayal and struggles of the characters.
3. The perseverance of so many in the concentration camps who were true heroes. I wonder at all the untold stories.
4. The fast-moving pace of the book.
5. The way Christians and Jews worked together and the life-saving friendships they developed.
5/5 stars.
And finally, I just finished Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman last night. A pea read it, but I only know her name on GR, not on here - sorry! She felt it was a bit formulaic. I agree, to a point. Even so, I thought it was pretty decent, and I loved the heroine as well, a retired FBI agent who is now a private investigator. Another quick read. 4/5 stars.
Happy reading!
Lisa
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Post by leannec on Apr 12, 2015 22:55:54 GMT
I'm reading vampire porn this week  The newest J.R. Ward installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series ... The Shadows ... it's not my fav so far but I'm so invested in this group of characters that it isn't even funny   |
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Apr 12, 2015 23:26:20 GMT
I read By the Shores of Silver Lake for the online Laura Ingalls Wilder course. I hadn't read it for many years and enjoyed it very much.
I was very excited to get Dead Wake (Larson) from the library and read it all during one long, lazy afternoon. It was fantastic! It has been read by several on this board and no doubt will be read by many more. As with all his books, he weaves together two stories in a seamless style. In this case the chapters alternate between the German U boat and the Lusitania. His books are so well written and researched. This one ranks up there with Devil in the White City.
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Post by mom2jnk on Apr 13, 2015 0:13:15 GMT
I tried a new author this past week. I read Unbecoming: A Novel by Rebecca Scherm. The story line was intriguing; the main character, a young lady named Grace, lives in Paris and makes a living restoring antiques. She is living under a false name, in hiding, after a robbery that she was involved with in her small home town went badly, and now the other two young people involved are about to be paroled. The book alternates between present time and flash backs so that the reader gradually gains knowledge of what put Grace into her current situation.
I wanted to like the book. I really did. I thought that the antique restoration angle would be really interesting and I thought that there might be a good bit of suspense/danger/drama. But instead, I just came away disappointed by the lack of plot twists and thoroughly disliking all of the characters in the book. It reminded me a bit of Gone Girl in that I was just disgusted with the characters and disliked them all by the end!! I would give it 3 stars out of 5. I finished the book, but felt rather resentful of the valuable reading time that I wasted on it. Hopefully better luck this week...
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purplebee
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,734
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Post by purplebee on Apr 13, 2015 0:16:38 GMT
Finally read Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Really good!
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Post by GamGam on Apr 13, 2015 0:30:35 GMT
Two very different books read this week. The first: Being Mortal: medicine and what matters... by Atul Gawande was a thought provoking look at medical options as we age and face end of life issues. The need for geriatric doctors and for doctors trained in addressing quality of life and medical intervention or not will only increase as those of us in our 70s face these issues. A very interesting book. Dh also read it and found it well done.
Then I breezed through The Girl you Left Behind by JOjo Moyes. I really liked this one, and read it quickly. It begins with a story set during WW1 and jumps to modern England. Very well developed characters and a quick read.
I've just Started Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant. It was recommended on the other reading thread recently, and so far, very good. Thanks so much to those who listed it.
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Post by sues on Apr 13, 2015 1:16:26 GMT
I read One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper. (Aging ex-band member who never got his life together. He's disappointed family and friends his whole life. He finds out he has a heart condition and decides not to have surgery to save himself- because 'why extend my life, just so I can disappoint people for another 10 or 20 years?' He decides to spend his time sort of mending fences with the people who love him.) I didn't like it at first, but the characters grabbed me, much like they did in This is Where I Leave You. In the end, it was OK- I wasn't thrilled about the ending. But I wasn't sorry I read it.
I moved on to Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer. It's about 4 friends, who meet and bond after meeting at their kids' school. It starts with one of them dying and leaving behind a note re: a giant secret. The three remaining friends have something to do re: the secret... tie up loose ends or something. I'm not sure. I guess that will be the bulk of the book, but I am still in the first 100 pages. It's good so far. Pretty standard chick lit, I guess. I generally like Strohmeyer for purse books- they're easy reads and mildly entertaining.
When I'm up in the middle of the night and need to read via my iPad, I'm re-reading the story Riding the Bullet by Stephen King.
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Post by auntkelly on Apr 13, 2015 1:40:44 GMT
I read By the Shores of Silver Lake for the online Laura Ingalls Wilder course. I hadn't read it for many years and enjoyed it very much. I was very excited to get Dead Wake (Larson) from the library and read it all during one long, lazy afternoon. It was fantastic! It has been read by several on this board and no doubt will be read by many more. As with all his books, he weaves together two stories in a seamless style. In this case the chapters alternate between the German U boat and the Lusitania. His books are so well written and researched. This one ranks up there with Devil in the White City. I have loved all of Larsen's books, including Dead Wake. My very favorite book by Larsen is Issac's Storm, which is about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. i'm currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I'm really enjoying it. I've read several books about Henry VIII, and it's interesting how each author tells the same story, but each author puts his/her own spin on the story. Which characters are villains and which are good guys depends on who is telling the story. |
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janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
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Post by janeliz on Apr 13, 2015 1:53:06 GMT
I'm reading Colleen Oakley's "Before I Go".
It's about a young, married woman who finds out she has terminal cancer. She decides that before she goes she must find a new wife for her husband. It's obviously a sad subject and seems like something we may have seen in a sappy movie somewhere, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's well-written with likeable, relatable characters, and I've even chuckled to myself a few times. Two thumbs up so far.
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Post by pjaye on Apr 13, 2015 1:59:49 GMT
I finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. I saw the movie when it first came out but have never read the book.
For anyone not familiar with it, it’s the story of Edith who goes to visit her husband’s aunt in a nursing home. While she is there she starts talking to another elderly lady who tells her stories from her life and the people she knew. I really enjoyed this and gave it 4 out of 5 stars & a definite recommendation.
Next was another book I missed when it first came out The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.
The story of Macon and the disintegration of his marriage after their son is killed. It’s a bit of an ‘odd couple’ love story, he is neat and organised and he meets Muriel who is a messy free spirit. It’s about moving on and change.
I really enjoyed this as well. 4 out of 5 stars.
Currently listening to a book that is totally out of my comfort zone You by Caroline Kepnes.
This is one really psycho story.
It’s about Joe who works in a bookshop and one day a customer comes in and he decides that their short interaction ‘meant something’ to both of them and from that point on her becomes her crazy obsessed stalker. It’s seriously creepy but with a little black humour that lightens the subject matter every now and then. This book won’t be for everyone, it is sexually explicit and contains lots of bad language…but it is surprisingly engaging.
It’s also scary just how easily Joe can find out almost everything about Beck via Facebook and twitter & by reading her emails, (I know this particular work is fiction, but I’m pretty sure most of it would be possible in real life) take out the inappropriate sex and language and this should be compulsory reading for all young women.
Creepy, thrilling, scary & unhinged… I’m surprised to say it has me hooked!
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Post by shannoots on Apr 13, 2015 2:00:43 GMT
I just finished The Lost Wife and I just loved it. I really liked the writing style, the story, and that it was told by two characters. I need to find another book to read now.
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paigepea
Drama Llama
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Posts: 5,609
Location: BC, Canada
Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Apr 13, 2015 2:23:46 GMT
Two very different books read this week. The first: Being Mortal: medicine and what matters... by Atul Gawande was a thought provoking look at medical options as we age and face end of life issues. The need for geriatric doctors and for doctors trained in addressing quality of life and medical intervention or not will only increase as those of us in our 70s face these issues. A very interesting book. Dh also read it and found it well done. Then I breezed through The Girl you Left Behind by JOjo Moyes. I really liked this one, and read it quickly. It begins with a story set during WW1 and jumps to modern England. Very well developed characters and a quick read. I've just Started Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant. It was recommended on the other reading thread recently, and so far, very good. Thanks so much to those who listed it. I LOVED The Girl You Left Behind! |
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paigepea
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Posts: 5,609
Location: BC, Canada
Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Apr 13, 2015 2:24:26 GMT
I just finished The Lost Wife and I just loved it. I really liked the writing style, the story, and that it was told by two characters. I need to find another book to read now. This is one of my all time favourites! I remember that afterwards I needed something really good. I read The Glass Room (Mawer) and The Invisible Bridge (Orringer) after The Lost Wife. Paige. |
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akathy
What's For Dinner?
Still peaing from Podunk!
Posts: 4,546
Location: North Dakota
Jun 25, 2014 22:56:55 GMT
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Post by akathy on Apr 13, 2015 2:27:07 GMT
I'm reading Bread Alone by Judith R. Hendricks. I got the recommendation on last week's reading thread and I'm really enjoying it.
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May 19, 2024 4:02:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 2:28:51 GMT
I'm almost done with a Kindle 99-center called The Note by Teresa Mummert. There are lots of typos which, as a proofreader, drives me kinda' nuts. But the story is good enough and it was cheap enough that I continued reading it. It's a sweet love story of 2 sad and lonely people who find each other right when they each most needed someone. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 2:30:23 GMT
I am half way through All the Light We Can Not See. I'm really enjoying it but I find myself getting confused because it jumps around between the characters.
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GiantsFan
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Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Apr 13, 2015 3:22:40 GMT
And I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This one won the Pulitzer Prize--but I really didn't care for it at all. The idea of telling a character's story through different short stories is a really good idea, but this was just too depressing. I thought Olive Kitteridge was depressing and Olive wasn't very likeable. It was a reading group pick or else I would have ditched it. I'm in the middle of a book called "Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary Confinement with the Bard" by Laura Bates. It's about a woman who is teaching prisoners about Shakespeare. So far it's interesting. I'm took a break from audiobooks this week. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 4:07:03 GMT
And I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This one won the Pulitzer Prize--but I really didn't care for it at all. The idea of telling a character's story through different short stories is a really good idea, but this was just too depressing. I thought Olive Kitteridge was depressing and Olive wasn't very likeable. It was a reading group pick or else I would have ditched it. I'm in the middle of a book called "Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary Confinement with the Bard" by Laura Bates. It's about a woman who is teaching prisoners about Shakespeare. So far it's interesting. I'm took a break from audiobooks this week. I started the Shakespeare one on my phone and forgot about it, need to get back to it. I liked what I read. Very interesting. |
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my3freaks
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Posts: 3,206
Location: NH girl living in Colorado
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Post by my3freaks on Apr 13, 2015 5:51:16 GMT
I'm reading An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. I think it's the 7th Outlander book. I've been reading them back to back for months now. I'm getting scared at the thought that I'm almost caught up though, I'm not really ready to give up this family and their worlds yet! There is a little part of me that is looking forward to something a little less intense... I will need some fluff books or I will never met my Good reads challenge! I am about 8 books or so behind according to them. |
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Post by shannoots on Apr 13, 2015 12:58:05 GMT
I just finished The Lost Wife and I just loved it. I really liked the writing style, the story, and that it was told by two characters. I need to find another book to read now. This is one of my all time favourites! I remember that afterwards I needed something really good. I read The Glass Room (Mawer) and The Invisible Bridge (Orringer) after The Lost Wife. Paige. This is how I feel. I feel like I need a little time before I start a new book and then the next one better be good! |
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Post by whopea on Apr 13, 2015 13:04:35 GMT
I am currently reading The Last Ride by Nicholas Sparks. It's good so far. I would like to see the movie at some point and I wanted to read the book before.
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