The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,929 
|
Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 20, 2016 5:08:50 GMT
Hi Peas!
I am on Hawaii time. Sorry!
I haven't read a dang thing either. Crazy!
So, what did you read last week?
|
|
gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,752
|
Post by gottapeanow on Jun 20, 2016 5:52:14 GMT
Oh, I hope you are having a great time in Hawaii despite reading nothing yet!
I am nearly done with What Alice Forgot. Enjoying it lots!
I finished a Christian book about doing church differently, modeled on the author's thoughts of the meaning of several different Bible passages.
The Complete Wineskin offers a picture of what the church should look like today. Eberle encourages congregations to move past the ineffective model of pastors running a church to a more balanced model where the five-fold - apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher and evangelist - oversees the congregation as a team. He theorizes that this will allow greater involvement and greater numerical and personal growth in the body. He also emphasizes that the burden of church oversight will now be removed from one person.
In addition to scripture, he supports his views with practical applications and wisdom. 5/5 stars.
Lisa
|
|
|
|
Post by smokeynspike on Jun 20, 2016 6:08:59 GMT
Oh, shoot, I had just posted this in last week's thread:
I read the latest collection of novellas from the I Am Number 4 series by Pittacus Lore. The final book in the series comes out at the end of this month.
I just started We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman. He wrote Domestic Violets too, which I loved. It took me a whole 25 pages before I was literally laughing out loud in this new book. I'm excited to see where it goes.
Melissa
|
|
sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,046
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
|
Post by sueg on Jun 20, 2016 6:13:33 GMT
I finished Gone, but not Forgotten by Phillip Margolin. Really enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who likes crime/suspense books.
I'm now reading Scent of Almonds and other stories by Camilla Lackberg. I have read a number of her full length crime novels and enjoyed them and am also enjoying this set of short stories.
|
|
|
|
Post by AussieMeg on Jun 20, 2016 6:31:14 GMT
I have just finished reading The Girl in the Ice by British author Robert Bryndza. It is a crime thriller and his first novel in the DCI Erika Foster series. I really enjoyed it and so I immediately started the second one in the series called The Night Stalker. I'm only one chapter in.
When I googled Robert Bryndza I discovered that he usually writes romantic comedies. Has anyone read any of these? I prefer crime fiction but I'm thinking I might try his rom coms as well.
Prior to that I read the latest Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffery Deaver, The Steel Kiss. I really enjoyed that one too.
|
|
sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,046
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
|
Post by sueg on Jun 20, 2016 10:48:47 GMT
I have just finished reading The Girl in the Ice by British author Robert Bryndza. It is a crime thriller and his first novel in the DCI Erika Foster series. I just went to Amazon to buy this, and found I had already bought it last week!  It is only €0.99 for kindle, so a good way to try a new to me author. |
|
tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
|
Post by tuesdaysgone on Jun 20, 2016 10:57:44 GMT
Thanks to an excellent recommendation from Mystie , I read How to Be a Victorian. It's full of information about the day to day life of a Victorian family and it was fascinating reading. I'm almost done with re reading A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole). If pressed, I'd probably have to say this is my all time favorite book. I enjoy it every time I read it. It really is a classic. |
|
|
|
Post by pjaye on Jun 20, 2016 11:24:09 GMT
Last week I finished listening to The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. It's no longer any secret that this is about zombies, I think every review I read mentioned this and it certainly becomes obvious quite soon into the book. The thing is I *hate* everything zombie related, I don't think they are scary, I just think they are gross (and boring). I read this because a number of opinions told me this wasn't a typical zombie book. They lied. This was everything gross I already knew I hated, dead people eating living people, descriptions of decomposing flesh, descriptions of people shooting zombies in the head, removing heads, tearing off limbs etc. The writing was good and the main character was sympathetic, but I disliked everything else about it, especially the prolonged "fight the zombies" descriptions and the obvious zombies killing and eating live animals. Blech. If you're like me, then don't believe the hype that this is a "different" zombie book because it's not. If you already like this sort of stuff, then you'll probably love this one.
Next (unfortunately) was another dud. We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. About a dead beat mother who has a 15yo son & a 6yo daughter, she's spent all their lives partying while her mother raised them, then one day her parents suddenly leave and go back to Mexico to live and leave her alone with the kids for the first time ever. The rest of the book is totally unbelievable, she goes from worst mother in the world to supermum in a few short months. One minute she's leaving her kids alone for days, getting her son drunk and the next she has a great new boyfriend, new house and adores her children and is miraculously wise and resourceful. Even for fiction this story was a stretch and not something I would recommend.
Now I've just started The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, which has already been mentioned in these threads a few times, with some good and some bad reviews. Literally just started though, so I can't comment yet. |
|
|
|
Post by tara595 on Jun 20, 2016 11:58:45 GMT
I just started Elin Hildebrand's new book - Here's to Us and I'm liking it so far. I have just a few days left of school so I can't WAIT to get started on all the books I want to read this summer!
|
|
lisaknits
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,356
|
Post by lisaknits on Jun 20, 2016 12:15:17 GMT
This week I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I have had this book on my list of books to read for a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a great-uncle who played trumpet in a circus band and this book held special interest for me. (I haven't seen the movie and was surprised to see that Reese Witherspoon was the lead actress - not who I would have cast.)
I also read The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs. I picked up this book at the library because it was a story about a quilter. The story takes place as a mom and daughter make a cross-country car trip to drop the daughter off at college for her freshman year. The story looks at the mom/daughter relationship and also the time in a woman's life when she wonders what she'll be when she's not needed on a day-to-day basis by her child. Anyone facing this transition would enjoy this story. It's sentimental, but in a sweet and relatable way. |
|
SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,350
Location: Dallas Texas
|
Post by SabrinaP on Jun 20, 2016 12:22:20 GMT
I read three good YA books this week.
The first is Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay. I read it from the library a few years ago and loved it. It was on sale this week at Amazon, so I had to get my own copy. I only reread books I absolutely love, but usually end up skimming a lot in the reread. Not this one! I read and loved every word. The ending is amazing. If you like YA, I highly recommend.
The second books I read was A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole. This book was sweet and a pretty good read. I shed some tears, so if you need a good cry, this book is for you.
The last book was The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon. I think I've read all of Amy Harmon's books and all of them are great. This book was fantasy which usually isn't my genre, but it was really good. It was about a girl who had a gift. She can speak a word to an object and that word come true.
|
|
|
|
Post by kckckc on Jun 20, 2016 15:21:33 GMT
I finished two books this week.
Breakdown by Jonathan Kellerman. This is the latest in the Alex Delaware mystery series - I believe it is #31. This is a solid addition. Kellerman has done a good job of character development throughout the series and it hasn't fallen flat like so many long running mystery series seem to do. The secondary characters in the series only made cameo appearances in this one. 4/5
The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church. Meridian is an ornithology student at the University of Chicago in the early 40s. She falls in love with her professor and gives up her own studies to marry and follow him to Los Alamos where he works on nuclear research. She independently continues her studies of crows, but ends up feeling lost, unvalued and unfulfilled. The story is one of how women's roles and opportunities have changed in the last 75 years. I really enjoyed this one. 5/5
|
|
|
|
Post by GamGam on Jun 20, 2016 20:11:34 GMT
I finished reading The Romanovs: the Final Chapter by Robert Massie. It is the history of what happened to the remains of Emperor Nicholas, his wife and children. They were massacured in 1918, and rumors swirled for years that some of the family had escaped and not murdered. This book traces the efforts of scientists to discover the truth. It reads like a detective story, and is very interesting. Not until more than 60 years after the murders were definite answers made public. I learned a lot from this book,and really enjoyed reading it.
|
|
trollie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,580
|
Post by trollie on Jun 20, 2016 20:15:36 GMT
I am reading Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick. (Author of Silver Linings Playbook) Half way through. Easy read and hooked me from the start. |
|
bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,530
|
Post by bethany102399 on Jun 20, 2016 21:43:21 GMT
I had to jump in and say I'm reading Stiletto: A Novel (The Rook Files) which is the sequel to The Rook. If you like supernatural, modern mystery it's a very good series. it's his second novel, and he does tend to wander a bit in the middle but it's an excellent premise and I'm really enjoying the series. |
|
|
|
Post by epeanymous on Jun 20, 2016 21:54:48 GMT
I am reading the new Allison Weir novel, Katherine of Aragon, which is, duh, about Katherine of Aragon. If you read her Elizabeth novel, I like the voice on this one better (I thought that Elizabeth was kind of haughty and flighty, which, hey, maybe she was, but that's a tough voice to weather for 500 pages), although I warn you that the first 150 pages or so are basically "I am sad, and I am sick. Wait, now I am sad, and I am sick, and I am alone." Anyhow, I love Tudor things, so I am enjoying it.
|
|
|
|
Post by epeanymous on Jun 20, 2016 22:55:44 GMT
Last week I finished listening to The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. It's no longer any secret that this is about zombies, I think every review I read mentioned this and it certainly becomes obvious quite soon into the book. The thing is I *hate* everything zombie related, I don't think they are scary, I just think they are gross (and boring). I read this because a number of opinions told me this wasn't a typical zombie book. They lied. This was everything gross I already knew I hated, dead people eating living people, descriptions of decomposing flesh, descriptions of people shooting zombies in the head, removing heads, tearing off limbs etc. The writing was good and the main character was sympathetic, but I disliked everything else about it, especially the prolonged "fight the zombies" descriptions and the obvious zombies killing and eating live animals. Blech. If you're like me, then don't believe the hype that this is a "different" zombie book because it's not. If you already like this sort of stuff, then you'll probably love this one.
Now I've just started The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, which has already been mentioned in these threads a few times, with some good and some bad reviews. Literally just started though, so I can't comment yet. I really liked the relationship between the teacher and her little zombie pupil in The Girl with All the Gifts, but found myself flipping through anything that actually had to do with zombies. I didn't know it was a zombie book when I picked it up -- it was billed to me as "an apocalypse book, like The Stand," and do I ever love The Stand. I read The Nest a few months ago, and I thought it was OK. I liked the premise, and some of the characters were fun; it was sort of "beach reading, if you like Manhattan rather than beaches," but I found the rogue brother unreadable, which made it so that I wasn't a fan. Let us know what you think. |
|
finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
|
Post by finaledition on Jun 20, 2016 23:01:48 GMT
pjaye I completely agree. I read it for book club and it was split about 50/50. But I didn't mention it on here since everybody was saying how much they liked it. But I've decided, zombie books are just not my thing. Read some fluff-not worth mentioning books, but currently enjoying my 3rd Kate Morton book The Forgotten Garden. I was also alerted that The audio of the thorn Birds is available from Overdrive so I'm looking forward to this-been at least 25 years since I read it.
|
|
|
|
Post by birukitty on Jun 20, 2016 23:21:29 GMT
I read "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Septeys. It's a YA book about a 15 year old Lithuanian girl in 1941 who gets deported with her mother and brother by Soviet officers forced onto a crowded and dirty train car and sent into the unknown. They are separated from her father and have no idea where he is or what has happened to him. They have no idea what they have done. Or what the future holds.
This book is about what happened to the people of Lithuania, Latvia, and Finland during the war and it's a part of history I hadn't read about before. It's well written but since it's Ruta Septeys first book it lacks the perfection of her later book, "Salt to the Sea" I could see a big difference in the writing style. But for a YA book it's well written.
This book wrenches the heart and is important to read if you are interested in learning this part of history, if you don't mind reading YA. I gave it 4 stars, but it has a lot of 5 star reviews on Goodreads. I give out 5 stars very infrequently.
Debbie in MD.
|
|
|
|
Post by shannoots on Jun 20, 2016 23:51:32 GMT
I just finished Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. I absolutely loved it. I really felt a connection to the characters. My only negative is that I felt that the end could have been tied up a little better. It seemed a bit rushed but it was still so good.
|
|
|
|
Post by hollymolly on Jun 21, 2016 1:17:06 GMT
I read And She Was by Alison Gaylin. The main character is a PI with a perfect memory, she can remember every day of her past in perfect detail as if she were reliving it. The mystery was pretty good, and even though the bad guy was known pretty early, there were still surprises. As good as the story was, the writing was not that great. It wasn't terrible, but it definitely affected my enjoyment of the book. I also don't like when the writer throws in a lot of pop culture references. It makes the book feel dated, even though it wasn't written that long ago. It also feels a lot like name dropping and trying too hard to be hip/relevant. So that was distracting to me.
The main character's older sister disappeared when she was a teenager, and there are a couple of sequels that may or may not provide answers. I thought I might still read them just out of curiosity, but I read a little bit of a teaser for the second book, and realized I didn't care what happened to the sister.
I am now reading The Bat by Jo Nesbo. He's a Norwegian crime novelist. This is the first of his Harry Hole (that's pronounced Hoo-Leh, not hole) series. I'd read one of the later books of the series, and I'd forgotten how much I like both the writer and his main character. I'm starting from the beginning now and intend to read them in order. Well, not back to back, but when I get to the next Jo Nesbo on my shelf, it will be the second Harry Hole book. This one takes place in Australia, so I'm enjoying both the Scandinavian characters and the Australian setting. It's also a fast read, which is good because I'm officially one book behind schedule and my next book is huge.
I hope to finish The Bat before Friday so I can read The Crimson Petal and the White on the plane. I always get so much reading done on travel days, so that should give me a good headstart and keep me from feeling overwhelmed. It's looking pretty overwhelming on the nightstand right now.
|
|
janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
Posts: 5,633
|
Post by janeliz on Jun 21, 2016 14:41:11 GMT
I finished Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. It was excellent. A really moving and sweet story with great characters. It's a YA novel, but I would recommend it to anyone.
I'm now in the middle of Flight Patterns by Karen White. I'm enjoying it, though the unexplained angst from a few of the characters is beginning to get old for me. I'm hoping it wraps up in a satisfying way.
|
|
|
|
Post by pjaye on Jun 21, 2016 22:42:07 GMT
really liked the relationship between the teacher and her little zombie pupil in The Girl with All the Gifts, but found myself flipping through anything that actually had to do with zombies pjaye I completely agree. I read it for book club and it was split about 50/50. But I didn't mention it on here since everybody was saying how much they liked it. But I've decided, zombie books are just not my thing. I agree, I think the writing was good and the relationship with the teacher was well thought out but I just wish the author had just stuck to those aspects of the story and left out all of the descriptions of dead humans eating live humans and sucking on cat intestines 
When it comes to that part of the story every single zombie story/movie is the same.
But I am prepared to give the author's newest book a try based on the things I did like about the first book: Fellside
I don't mind a bit of a creepy story so this one might be more to my liking. |
|
marianne
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys. . . My monkeys fly!
Posts: 4,176
Location: right smack dab in the middle of SC
Site Supporter
Jun 25, 2014 21:08:26 GMT
|
Post by marianne on Jun 21, 2016 23:54:06 GMT
I finished The Revenant by Michael Punke. Not my usual genre, but a thoroughly enjoyable read! Whether completely true or not, the man had remarkable stamina and determination, not to mention luck, in his ability to survive all that happened to him. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie now. I gave it a solid 4 stars.
So having finished that one, I'm back to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. "This is Victorian fiction that combines romance, mystery and Gothic horror with a psychological twist." - this quote from a Goodreads reviewer sums it up very nicely. I haven't gotten to the mystery part yet, but am enjoying the Victorian, 19th century writing style.
|
|
gina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,221
|
Post by gina on Jun 22, 2016 3:55:43 GMT
But I am prepared to give the author's newest book a try based on the things I did like about the first book: Fellside
I don't mind a bit of a creepy story so this one might be more to my liking. Ooooh this one sounds good. Report back when you're done!  SaveSaveSaveSave |
|
_on_the_beach.jpg)
