Weekly Reading Thread: April 17-23

Has anyone read The Serpent King? It is a YA new release that was highly recommended in my Entertainment weekly magazine. It was $12.99 and today it's only $1.99 on Kindle.

The book What She Knew - Gilly Macmillian was so good!

I'm enjoying Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid. I saw it on Overdrive, sounded like a cute YA novel, then started reading and realized it's set in my town. Super cool! Boy/girl best friends who stayed on their own page all through high school decide to do what 'normal teenagers' do at the end of their senior year. Adventures, humor, and unrequited love <3

I'm also enjoying an indie novel called An Order of Coffee and Tears about workers and customers in a diner. It's held my interest.

I'm reading Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica. I'm not sure I can deal with the writing. It feels like it was written by a high school student, with long, rambling stream-of-conscience sentences and improper comma placement all over the place.

I'm listening to The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, and so far I'm really enjoying it.

merry27 , I just bought the Serpent King. It sounds interesting and I'm a sucker for a bargain.

Hi Readers!

I read the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood title, The Beast. I think this series has jumped the shark, but I still enjoy revisiting the old characters, and I admire JR Ward's world-building abilities. The hot vampire porn factor is a little tired, and the political intrigue is lacking, but it was nice to visit with old friends.

I've been listening to The Librarian Is In podcast; two librarians from the New York Public Library discuss library issues and make book suggestions. One of the books they recommended was The Bunker Diaries by Kevin Brooks. It's a YA title about a group of people who are kidnapped and imprisoned, and what they do to survive. It's written in the form of diary entries of one of the kidnappees, and it's part survival story, part political-science commentary, and quite intense.  I started it late last night, and I'm already 100 pages in. So far, it's really good.

I also started Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, about a rowing team from the University of Washington who had great success at the Olympics in the thirties. Several of my friends have recommended it to me, so I'm eager to see what the fuss is about.

Happy reading!

boys in the boat is very good..and the movie is being made. my dad said he knew one of the guys on the team. I thought it was a good description of life in washington in the 1930's..and many of my dh's relatives lived those experiences.

I've been missing this thread for the last few weeks and I've got a lot of catching up to do. Here are the books I've been reading lately: In backwards order (which ones I've recently finished first):

The Other Me-Saskia Sarginson-I really liked this book. 3.5 stars. It's the story of family and starts with the story of two brothers in 1931 in Germany during the Third Reich's rise to power. Ernst and Otto are orphans that have been taken in by a neighborhood farmer who makes them work for their keep. They are competitive with each other as most brothers are, and as they grow their world quickly changes around them. In 1986 Klaudia goes to school embarrassed by her German father the janitor. Kids tease her about his funny accent and say he's a former Nazi. She doesn't know what he did in the war because the topic is closed at home, so she can't dispute them. 1995 Eliza is in love. She has dropped out of University to pursue dance. She falls in love with a young man named Cosmo but wonders how much longer she can continue to get away with lying to everyone about her past. The book moves back and forth between these time lines. 

Flight of Dreams-Ariel Lawhon-This book is a historical novel about the Hindenburg. I pulled it off the shelf at my local library because I'm interested in the Hindenburg and thought it might be a good book. Sadly it never really took off for me. I got about half way through before giving up on it. I have so many other good books waiting for me to be read, and I gave it a good chance. I usually don't do this with books, but this time I did. 

Me Before You-JoJo Moyes-I loved this book. 5 stars. I thought it was wonderful! Everything about it. Terrific character development, excellent story line and wonderful writing style. No wonder they are making a movie of it. Or have made a movie of it, as I have seen previews already. I can't wait to see it. This book pulled at my heart strings, and made me laugh at some parts. Like when the main character went back to her home and her little nephew had been using his marker on his grandfather when he was asleep and had painted his face half blue. I was laughing so hard! And earlier up the page he'd written the names of the day on his mother's pants and she'd remarked that she hadn't needed to have the days spelled out on her pants and that if she had, she would have spelled Thursday correctly. It doesn't sound funny the way I tell it, but reading it it was hilarious. JoJo Moyes must have had a boy that age at some time in her life because she caught the character of boyhood perfectly. 

While parts of this book were very sad, I do think it was handled with a lot of dignity and understanding. I won't mention the ending for those who haven't read it yet, but if you haven't I urge you to read the book before seeing the movie. This book is a gem. Well worth reading. 

After You-JoJo Moyes-the follow up, sequel to the book above, I give this one 3.5 stars. I'm very strict in my reviews. Very, very few books get 5 stars. After You was good, but seemed to drift a bit, never seeming to quite be that masterpiece that Me Before You was, but then how could it be? I did enjoy it quite a bit. I do think it's worth reading. I guess after having gotten to know the characters so well in the first book, Me After You, I was feeling a bit let down (and readers of that first book will know what I mean) when it came to reading this one. That is the sign of a great author. One that makes you feel that much when characters aren't even real and yet you feel as though they are. 

Debbie in MD.

   I loved Firefly Lane because I was the exact age of the characters in the novel. I was 16 in 1976 so all of those references reminded me of things I'd forgotten about and I could relate to every single one of them. The Earth shoes and the Tiger Beat magazine, and all of the rest of them. It put me right back to living in that time. 

I think if that's not your time period I could easily see why those references would get overwhelming and seem forced. But for me they were wonderful. 

Debbie in MD.

What She Knew is only $1.99 for Kindle today! It was $12.99

I just finished The Admissions a couple weeks ago and What She Knew last week.  Both were recommended here and I loved them both!

I'm reading The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin. It started out a little too precious, but then it got interesting. I've really liked her other books, so I'm giving this one a good chance.

Debbie, I'm actually the exact same age as the characters as well.  I'm enjoying the story and I was just feeling a little cranky when I wrote the review.  I had just read a sentence where Tully was going to have a serious discussion with Kate and she stopped to grab a Tab out of the refrigerator.  It just seemed like a weird time for Tully to drink a soda.  For some reason, it reminded me of obnoxious product placement in movies.

I am so looking forward to the movie. I wasn't aware it was based on a book until I had seen the preview while I was buying some movie tickets for my son and I one day.

I am now wondering if I should read the book before the movie, sometimes a person is disappointed by a movie if they read the book first if you kwim.

Good to know about the sequel I saw it had one on my Kindle app.

I have a son in a wheelchair and it's rare to see a main character being portrayed in one.


ETA Not sure why that quote came up was wanting your review on Me before You quote