|
Post by kckckc on Apr 13, 2015 13:55:35 GMT
I finished two good books this week.
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore. This one is a few years old - I picked it up at the library book sale. It's set in post-WWII Russia. The story of a doctor and his wife living under Stalin's regime. Very good. (This is actually a sequel to The Siege, which I haven't read - this one was fine as a stand alone.)
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce. This is the companion book to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I really enjoyed this one. If you read/enjoyed Harold Fry, I would definitely recommend this one. (I do think it would be best to read Harold Fry first.)
|
|
|
Post by Fidget on Apr 13, 2015 16:35:19 GMT
I finished She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, I really enjoyed this book, I give 4.5 out of 5 stars. I read this for my book club. This is the only book I've ever read by this author, I'll have to try another!
I just started The Last letter from you lover by Jojo Moyes. This is the first book I've ever read by this author as well. I'm only 40 pages in, but so far so good, seems like it'll be a quick read.
|
|
Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
|
Post by Mystie on Apr 13, 2015 17:06:38 GMT
These are two of my all-time favorite books!
|
|
|
Post by craftygardenmom on Apr 13, 2015 19:42:34 GMT
I'm currently listening to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins...am I the last person left who hasn't read this one yet? Enjoying it so far!
I am Kindle reading A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley, one of my favorite womens fiction authors. Enjoying it too!
I am (print) reading When I'm Gone by Abbi Glines - pure guilty pleasure/fluff and romance reading.
|
|
GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,298
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
|
Post by GiantsFan on Apr 13, 2015 19:52:43 GMT
I'm currently listening to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins...am I the last person left who hasn't read this one yet? Enjoying it so far! I am Kindle reading A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley, one of my favorite womens fiction authors. Enjoying it too! I am (print) reading When I'm Gone by Abbi Glines - pure guilty pleasure/fluff and romance reading. I just got A Desperate Fortune on audio. Starting on my commute tomorrow. Susanna Kearsley is one of my favorites too. I "discovered" her through reading group and The Winter Sea. Since then I've read all her books.
|
|
|
Post by littlefish on Apr 14, 2015 0:15:17 GMT
Still working through Sir Edmund Hillary's account of summiting Everest (View from the Summit), which is interesting but very, very wordy.
Also reading another book from Donald Miller called Father Fiction: Chapters for a Fatherless Generation, which tells about his life growing up without his dad. It's a tough one to read, but I'm learning a lot. I was fortunate to grow up with my dad and have a close relationship with him, but DD's story is different. Trying to gain some perspective.
|
|
|
Post by mom2luke on Apr 14, 2015 16:23:07 GMT
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 am another one that did not like Olive Kitteridge. There was just nothing to like about the main character.
Right now I am reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. This is the fifth in the Outlander series. It has been a while since I have read one of these and I am having a hard time getting into it. I am in a bit of a reading funk.
|
|
|
Post by mom2luke on Apr 14, 2015 16:27:01 GMT
I finished She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, I really enjoyed this book, I give 4.5 out of 5 stars. I read this for my book club. This is the only book I've ever read by this author, I'll have to try another! I just started The Last letter from you lover by Jojo Moyes. This is the first book I've ever read by this author as well. I'm only 40 pages in, but so far so good, seems like it'll be a quick read. She's Come Undone is one of my all time favorite books. I love Wally Lamb.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 2, 2024 9:47:25 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2015 16:38:21 GMT
I'm still listening to Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and laughing lots! I'm reading Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. It's about a poor black family living in rural Louisiana 10 days before and 2 days after hurricane Katrina. It's a tough read. Graphic descriptions of dog fighting and issues like poverty. The main character is a 14 year old pregnant girl who lives with her father and 3 brothers. Up next is Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones is about a teacher that chooses to stay on an island while a war is being fought in the area. I'm going to skim over The Passage by Justin Cronin. I'm on the wait list for the next book The Twelve. I didn't realize The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens is over 700 pages. This one will take a while because there are other books I'd rather read first. I'll try reading a few pages a day.
|
|
|
Post by birukitty on Apr 14, 2015 22:47:37 GMT
This week I finished reading "The Girl Who Came Home-a novel of the Titanic" by Hazel Gaynor. It was fantastic. It was so good in fact that I woke up early one morning and read for four hours straight to finish it. I really enjoyed this book. As I mentioned last week I'm a true Titanic buff and have been since the late 1970's when I read Walter Lord's classic book, "A Night to Remember". My favourite genre is historical fiction so when I saw this book and knew I wanted to read it.
Last year out bookclub here on 2Peas read a novel called, "The Dressmaker" which was another historical fiction book about the Titanic. While the storyline was fairly good, the facts about the Titanic were wrong so often in that book that it was frustrating to me-I just didn't understand why an author wouldn't check such basic facts before writing about them in a historical fiction novel. I had concerns about this novel-"The Girl Who Came Home" too because of that experience.
Well, I shouldn't have worried. Hazel Gaynor is an amazing author. Not only were all her facts correct, she also included ones I didn't know, or didn't remember until she wrote about them in this novel. In the back of this book she has a very nice information section that explains about the facts of the Titanic that are in the story. About the story-the story is much better in depth and scope too. She takes you from the 3rd class portion of the ship to the mid 1980's (there are two story lines-one is a girl on the ship, one is her great granddaughter in the mid 1980's), a village in Ireland where the girl is from, New York where a relative awaits a passenger from the village in Ireland and in a very haunting scene describes very clearly what it was like for those folks waiting in the rain as the ship Carpathia docked bringing the Titanic survivors. Even though by then there had been lists of the survivors printed (and those who died were missing from the lists) there were some folks who hoped against hope that a miracle had happened, that a name had been misspelled, and they came to wait in the rain anyway, just in case.
This novel touched me deeply. It was the first novel from this wonderful new writer and she has another one out already called, "A Memory of Violets". I'll be looking for that one next.
After I finished that book I moved to another one I'd found at the library from Maeve Binchy called, "Chestnut Street". It was published after her death last year. I was hoping it was a novel, but it turned out to be a collection of short stories. I'm enjoying them, but not as much as I would have a novel. Maeve Binchy was my favourite writer for years and I'm going to miss her.
Debbie in MD.
|
|
|
Post by birukitty on Apr 14, 2015 22:53:16 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. I know just what you mean! I did the same thing-read all of those same books back to back for months. I finished the last one about a month ago myself. And you are right-it is very hard to give up that family and those wonderful words, and that incredible style of writing. The good news is that right now the Starz production of "Outlander" is on for us to watch! While it is nice to get back to reading something lighter in style (not to mention weight-tee hee-I bought all of the books in hard back), the other part of me misses that incredible writing style. All other books seem to be "lacking" just a wee bit, if you know what I mean. I read that Diana Gabaldon takes four years to write one of those novels, which means we have about 31/2 years to go for the next one. Ah, the agony. Debbie in MD.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 2, 2024 9:47:25 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 0:17:46 GMT
|
|
|
Post by tampascrapper on Apr 15, 2015 1:14:53 GMT
I read Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary Confinement with the Bard and really liked it. I definitely recommend it
|
|
ComplicatedLady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,037
Location: Valley of the Sun
Jul 26, 2014 21:02:07 GMT
|
Post by ComplicatedLady on Apr 15, 2015 3:32:45 GMT
I'm reading Dragonfly in Amber, the second Outlander book. I'm only 9% of the way in, but I'm enjoying it so far.
|
|
|
Post by pjaye on Apr 15, 2015 3:36:04 GMT
These are two of my all-time favorite books! I can understand why! I was studying at the time and working shifts (nurse) days and nights and reading just wasn't something I had time for. Now with audiobooks (I have joined two libraries that have audiobooks) I can finally start to catch up on some of those older stories I missed out on back then.
|
|
|
Post by fkawitchypea on Apr 15, 2015 10:45:30 GMT
I just finished The Circle by Dave Eggers. I've been having terrible insomnia so I read this one in 2 nights. It is centered around a young woman who goes to work at a tech company. Without spoiling it, it is pretty preachy about privacy rights and the overuse of social media. It was a quick read though.
I am trying to get through Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich. I gave up on the Stephanie Plum books after binge reading several in a row. They just stopped being enjoyable. Since I was looking for something fast and easy I thought I would try these again, but I'm just not loving it.
I think I must be the only person on earth who didn't like The Girl on the Train!
|
|
Rainbow
Pearl Clutcher
Where salt is in the air and sand is at my feet...
Posts: 4,103
Jun 26, 2014 5:57:41 GMT
|
Post by Rainbow on Apr 15, 2015 21:16:03 GMT
I just finished Prairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert (Laura) and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim (Nellie). I've started the Little House class and found these while looking for the required reading books.
|
|
mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,022
Jun 25, 2014 19:25:50 GMT
|
Post by mimima on Apr 15, 2015 21:42:48 GMT
I finished two good books this week. The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore. This one is a few years old - I picked it up at the library book sale. It's set in post-WWII Russia. The story of a doctor and his wife living under Stalin's regime. Very good. (This is actually a sequel to The Siege, which I haven't read - this one was fine as a stand alone.) I have The Siege on my "to-read" pile, I didn't know there was a sequel, thanks I finished The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. It was non-fiction and an interesting read.
|
|