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Post by pjaye on Apr 20, 2015 5:04:44 GMT
Just did a search and no reading thread yet, so thought I may as well get it started.
I finished You by Caroline Kepnes.
A look inside the head of a crazy stalker. Strangely compelling although lots of sex and bad language, which is in keeping with the context of the book.
A challenging story, but this writer nailed it I think. Feels odd to say, but I ‘enjoyed’ it (by that I mean I was interested in the story and wanted to keep reading, not that I actually enjoyed the psycho stalker) I’d recommend it, but you have to be prepared for what you are getting into. I’d equate it with watching a show like Criminal Minds
I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Next was Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman. This is a bit chick lit and a bit historical fiction. Told in two parts, back in the 1930s it tells the story of Beattie, a young Scottish girl who get pregnant to her married lover and runs away to Australia with him. In modern day it follows the story of her granddaughter who inherits her house after she dies. It’s a nice story with no real surprises…and I needed a lighter read after my previous book! I gave it 3 out 5 stars.
Then I listened to Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Set in Mississippi and alternates between 1970s and modern day. Larry is a young loner who takes a girl on a date and returns without her, for the next 30 years everyone thinks he killed her and disposed of the body. He lives a sad and lonely life, then another girl goes missing and stirs everything up.
This one was gut-wrenching and I found myself feeling desperately sorry for Larry.
I wavered between 3 and 4 stars…so 3.5 stars, and I’d recommend it.
Just now finished A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Ove (pronounced ooo-va) is a crabby 59yo Swedish man whose wife died 6 months ago and 3 days ago he lost his job, so now he’s decided to kill himself, but his noisy neighbours and a pesky cat keep getting in his way.
This is similar in style to “The storied Life of A.J Fikry” and “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” If You liked (or LOVED in my case) both of these books then you’ll like this one too, if you were bored by the others, then don’t bother with this!
I loved Ove and his neighbours too and this was definitely 5 stars for me.
So what has everyone else been reading/listening to?
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Post by smokeynspike on Apr 20, 2015 5:20:01 GMT
I finished rereading Insurgent by Veronica Roth and started reading Allegiant. Now I feel like I can go see the movie since I refreshed my memory.
Melissa |
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by gottapeanow on Apr 20, 2015 5:21:22 GMT
Thanks, pjaye, for starting this thread. I debated starting one as well but got distracted. Last year, I read another book co-authored by Tom Franklin, and I really liked it. So I will be reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter at some point. Only one for me this week The Stranger by Harlan Coben. He rarely disappoints, and this is no exception. Without spoiling anything, the ending was a bit convoluted. Even so, I couldn't put this down. 4/5 stars. I am wading through I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. However, I just picked up The Nightingale at the library, and I need to return it by Saturday. So I will be happily focusing on that this week. Lisa |
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Post by DinCA on Apr 20, 2015 5:40:57 GMT
I'm still reading The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. I haven't had much time to read lately. I am really enjoying it when I do have time.
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Post by auntkelly on Apr 20, 2015 5:44:18 GMT
I'm just about done with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's a good read.
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tuesdaysgone
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Apr 20, 2015 10:27:43 GMT
I re-read The Long Winter for the online class I'm taking. It's excellent and I appreciate it more thru adult eyes. Wilder is wonderful as she builds up to the great blizzards and captures the tedium and despair of that difficult time very well.
I'm just reading "lite" books at the moment because both work and home are intense enough. I'm well into another Discworld book by Pratchett. This time it's Raising Steam. The book is full of fantasy and humor and takes me away in a very pleasant way.
Isn't reading a great escape?!!
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Apr 20, 2015 10:29:12 GMT
I'm just about done with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's a good read. I enjoyed it too! Try the sequel too; I believe it's Bringing Up the Bodies. |
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janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
Posts: 5,633
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Post by janeliz on Apr 20, 2015 12:21:33 GMT
I finished up Colleen Oakley's Before I Go. I absolutely loved it. It was about a woman with terminal cancer who becomes determined to find her husband another wife. It was sweet and funny and wonderful. I highly recommend.
I just started Maria Murnane's Wait for the Rain. Divorced woman goes on holiday with her girlfriends and gets her groove back. I like it so far.
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Post by leannec on Apr 20, 2015 12:25:37 GMT
I'm still making my way through The Shadows by J.R. Ward ... it's not my fav of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series which is why it's taking me awhile to finish ... oh well, they can't all be great  |
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Post by scrapsuzy on Apr 20, 2015 13:12:08 GMT
I'm still reading Queen of the Damned. Almost done and will move on to Prince Lestat. I'm ready to be in a different world, but the whole point was to get to here, so I'll push through (and I don't really mind, I'm just in a mood right now.)
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Post by annabella on Apr 20, 2015 13:38:17 GMT
I had a busy week so I got little reading done so I'm still reading The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan
by Jenny Nordberg which is about girls who dress as boys in Afghanistan, it's very interesting!
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Post by RobbyKay on Apr 20, 2015 13:43:21 GMT
Hey Reading Peas!
This week, I read The Children Act by Ian McEwan. It's the story of a family court judge who has to rule over a case where a young man and his family's religious beliefs prevent them from accepting lifesaving treatment. The judge's ruling sets forth a series of interesting events. This one is good, but it's short, and I'm not sure the male author quite catches the female protagonist's voice accurately, but it will definitely make you think.
Now I'm reading The Dead Wife's Handbook by Hannah Breckerman. A wife and mom dies suddenly, and then gets to peak down on her family a year after her death. She works through the stages of grief as she watches her family cope. It's good, just a little painful to read.
Happy Reading!
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Post by craftsbycarolyn on Apr 20, 2015 13:44:47 GMT
I just started "The Storyteller"by Jodi Picoult
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Post by pjaye on Apr 20, 2015 13:47:18 GMT
I'm still reading The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan
by Jenny Nordberg which is about girls who dress as boys in Afghanistan, it's very interesting! I recently finished The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi, which is fiction, but one of the daughters is also a bacha posh. |
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paigepea
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Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Apr 20, 2015 15:13:08 GMT
Thanks for starting this thread. I had a very busy day yesterday and was just popping in now to do it.
I finished The House Girl by Tara Conklin. It was ok. I felt like I skimmed a lot because it was a bit slow, and I normally never skim.
Will be looking here for inspiration for something up next.
Paige.
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Post by lynnek on Apr 20, 2015 16:21:23 GMT
I have had a slow reading spell lately. I finally gave up on We Are All Completely Beside OUrselves. I moved onto The Sound of Glass by Karen White which I got through NetGalley. I have never read anthing by this author. It is chick-lit-esque. But I am really enjoying the story and thinking I have figured out the twists - I only have about an hour left to read so we will see if I am right.  |
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Post by shannoots on Apr 20, 2015 16:24:52 GMT
I think this might be one of the first weeks in a long time where I haven't read a book. I just wasn't feeling it. I have a ton of books at home that my mom sent with me but none of them are speaking to me. My SIL (who is not a reader) said she was reading Twelves Years a Slave and was really enjoying it so I might have to try that one.
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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 20, 2015 16:26:36 GMT
This week I finished Shakespeare Saved My Life : Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates. This is written by a literature professor who brought Shakespeare to convicts in prison. I didn't think it was a must read, but it was interesting and enlightening. I've never read anything from WS, but know the usual stories - Romeo & Juliet, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, etc. It was interesting how the convicts related it to their crimes/situations.
Next was Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. I enjoyed this one. It was rather mundane and kind of sad. I really liked the writing style. It about a 60 yo photographer who was on the top but is now down and out. So she moves from NYC to the country to save money and try to make ends meet. It just seemed real life to me. I'll probably pick up something else from this author.
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Post by ntsf on Apr 20, 2015 17:10:17 GMT
i just finished Fourth of July Creek...about a social worker in montana dealing with some very disfunctional families and his own daughter who runs away..set in the 1980's very good read.. lots of violence sad situations
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Post by annabella on Apr 20, 2015 17:12:08 GMT
pjaye that book has been on my to read list for awhile! Now I want to read more books on Afghanistan.
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Post by lynnek on Apr 20, 2015 17:13:46 GMT
i just finished Fourth of July Creek...about a social worker in montana dealing with some very disfunctional families and his own daughter who runs away..set in the 1980's very good read.. lots of violence sad situations That is my book club selection for this month. I am starting it next. |
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finaledition
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Post by finaledition on Apr 20, 2015 17:49:33 GMT
I finished listening to The Spool of Blue Thread. The narrator of the book reminded me of Jane Fonda and it really turned me off.
Actually it got to about 1/3 or 1/2 the way in and the main character while discussing her grown children said something to the effect that you are only as happy as your least happy child (and she credited it to someone else saying it, but it was new to me) and DING DING DING, that was my connection. And suddenly it went from a book I couldn't wait to finish to one that I wanted to hear what else she had to say.
This was a book club read and most thought it was okay 3 star, but it was a great discussion, a lot more going on than what was on the surface of the book. Might be one that if read again, there would be a better appreciation for it.
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The Great Carpezio
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Apr 20, 2015 19:01:37 GMT
I read The Pleasing Hour]. I gave it 4/5 but I wasn't sure about that...I almost gave it three stars. This is the story of a young American au pair in Paris. She left home because she gave her sister her child (a product of a teen pg), and she is angry, empty and grieving. She arrives in Paris and is thrust into the daily life of a French family with an aloof Parisian mother.
There were things I enjoyed. The narration skipped around which I didn't like at first but ultimately grew to enjoy. I also grew to like the protagonist (didn't care for her at first), but I am unsure about how I felt about the other characters. Plot wasn't why it got 4. I enjoyed the setting, and the unraveling of the story, but the plot itself was a bit weak. Maybe I should just give it 3/5, huh?
The other book I read was Bird Boxwhich I am pretty sure I got from this thread. In a post apocalyptic world where people cannot go outside without blindfolds, people hide from unseen and unknown monsters...and of course, the monsters that can lie in all of us. It follows a young women who has two 4 year old children, who have never seen the outside world, that she wants to get to safety ...and through a series of flashbacks, we get to know what led her to this place and time. I gave this a 4/5.
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Post by candygurl on Apr 20, 2015 19:45:46 GMT
I just started "The Storyteller"by Jodi Picoult A great book! Really kept my interest when I read it. I'm still reading the same book as last week. Haven't really been into reading so hopefully I will finish it this week. It's called The Charming Man by Marian Keyes. |
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irener
Junior Member
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Post by irener on Apr 20, 2015 19:47:49 GMT
i usually lurk and get great book suggestions....so i'm leaving Lurkdome and participating.....  I just finished Eleanor & Park for book club and i loved it but hated the ending. We are reading The Husband's Secret for next month. I'm still pushing through Game of Thrones while i read some Sarah Addison Allen books...(Waking Kate, Lost Lake, Garden Spells, First Frost and The Peach Keeper) I also finished The Queen of bright and shiny things which was just okay. I'm also starting Where they Found her and Inside the O'Briens. (i usually like to read 3-4 books at a time) |
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Mystie
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Post by Mystie on Apr 20, 2015 19:58:10 GMT
I read a couple I didn't really care for. Her by Harriet Lane was an understated psychological thriller about a woman who spots another woman she hasn't seen in years and begins to subtly stalk her and her children. It didn't strike me as too creepy while I was reading it, and then after I was done, it started to creep me out! So I went back and gave it 3/5 stars instead of the original 2/5 I'd given it.
And I read Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell. I ordinarily like reading books about the 1920s, but this just didn't do it for me. The women profiled (Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Josephine Baker are the most well-known) just seemed to lead very vapid, sad lives. The author notes at the end of the book that the six women had no real role models for the kind of lives they wanted to lead, and I thought that was a good reason why they made such a hash of themselves. I just gave it 2/5 stars.
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Post by kellybelly77 on Apr 20, 2015 20:33:26 GMT
I'm still making my way through The Shadows by J.R. Ward ... it's not my fav of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series which is why it's taking me awhile to finish ... oh well, they can't all be great I just finished that one last week! And it was my least favorite of all the BDB books. I hated the ending. But now I am caught up for the next one which goes back to Rhage. I just finished (at 1am this morning!!!) At the Waters Edge by Sara Gruen. The same gal who wrote Water For Elephants. I loved it! A story about a priviledged young woman's awakening as she experiences the devastation of WWll in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands. I read it in two days and stayed up entirely too late at night to do so! |
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Post by leannec on Apr 20, 2015 20:44:52 GMT
I'm still making my way through The Shadows by J.R. Ward ... it's not my fav of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series which is why it's taking me awhile to finish ... oh well, they can't all be great I just finished that one last week! And it was my least favorite of all the BDB books. I hated the ending. But now I am caught up for the next one which goes back to Rhage. I just finished (at 1am this morning!!!) At the Waters Edge by Sara Gruen. The same gal who wrote Water For Elephants. I loved it! A story about a priviledged young woman's awakening as she experiences the devastation of WWll in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands. I read it in two days and stayed up entirely too late at night to do so! Yay! Can't wait  |
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MsKnit
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Post by MsKnit on Apr 20, 2015 21:45:53 GMT
I've been reading the same two books. The one has been my reading material for months. I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I want to strangle the main character. It wasn't so bad at the beginning. But, she has become uber nosey. I'm fed up with her being in every one else's business and thinking she knows best. LOL!
The second I picked up last week, I think. Well, it arrived from Amazon. It's on slavery, from the point of view of the slaves. I'm not too far in. But, I think I'm going to start over. I don't do well with reading more than one book at a time.
With school, I haven't had time to read too much beyond the required reading.
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luckyexwife
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Post by luckyexwife on Apr 20, 2015 22:07:37 GMT
I just finished Only the Innocent by Rachel Abbott. It was well written, and I enjoyed the authors style, but the subject matter was much darker and twisted than I was expecting. I've read all 3 of Gillian Flynn's books, and this was more disturbing than any of them. This is the authors debut book, and it was self-published. It was such a success that she has been picked up by a publisher, and now has 3 more. I'll read more from this author, but I'm not sure if I would recommend this one due to the dark turn it took. It's been a while since I've written on this thread...I've read several books since last posted. I'd Know you Anywhere by Laura Lippman, I've read other books by Lippman, while this was good, it was not my favorite. 3/5. By Starlight by Dorothy Garlock was a book I picked up at a used book store. I'd never heard of the author, but I guess she has written 50+ books. It was a fast read, and I loved that it was set in the 1930's. I enjoyed it. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks, also picked up at the used book store. Typical Sparks, it was a good story. I didn't know there was a sequel to this one, I need to request it from the library. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, I put my name on the library wait list after reading about it from this thread...I enjoyed it. I figured out most of the twist, but I still stayed up late to finish it and see how it all played out. I just started The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. I've read and enjoyed all of her other books, so I'm looking forward to getting into this one tonight after the kids are in bed. Thanks, readers, for keeping this thread going every week!  |
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