Weekly Reading Thread: Dec 18-24th

Read about half of Before the Fall, but returned it because I couldn't get into it. Now trying You Should Have Known, but having trouble getting into it. Will try a few more pages and see how it goes. Has anyone here read it?

I'm chugging along with the invention of wings and Shantaram.

I listened to Fishbowl by Bradley Somer. This book had gotten its own email from Audible editors giving it high praises. And it was I'm not sure what I thought about it. Initially I was a little disappointed, but as the story developed I was definitely entertained. And it all wrapped up nicely at the end. I suppose quirky would describe it well. So if you are looking for something a little unusual, this may be up your ally.
Here's a summary:
A goldfish named Ian is falling from the 27th-floor balcony on which his fishbowl sits. He's longed for adventure, so when the opportunity arises, he escapes from his bowl, clears the balcony railing and finds himself airborne. Plummeting toward the street below, Ian witnesses the lives of the Seville on Roxy residents.

There's the handsome grad student, his girlfriend, and his mistress; the construction worker who feels trapped by a secret; the building's super who feels invisible and alone; the pregnant woman on bed rest who craves a forbidden ice cream sandwich; the shut-in for whom dirty talk, and quiche, are a way of life; and home-schooled Herman, a boy who thinks he can travel through time. Though they share time and space, they have something even more important in common: each faces a decision that will affect the course of their lives. Within the walls of the Seville are stories of love, new life, and death, of facing the ugly truth of who one has been and the beautiful truth of who one can become.

Sometimes taking a risk is the only way to move forward with our lives. As Ian the goldfish knows, "An entire life devoted to a fishbowl will make one die an old fish with not one adventure had."

It seems that we haven't heard from pjaye in a few weeks. I miss her weekly posts here.

I read Behind Closed Doors--I agree with some of you that it was rather a far-fetched book! But I did enjoy it for what it was, and I'd be curious to read whatever else that author comes up with.

Then I read Two If By Sea by Jacquelyn Mitchard. It was about a guy who loses his whole family in a tsunami in Australia, and rescues a little boy who may or may not have extraordinary powers. It wasn't a great book, but it held my attention.

Now I'm reading Precious and Grace, the latest book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. These books go down like marshmallows--sweet and fluffy! They're not the best literature I've ever read but I find them comforting in a weird way.

I was a week late to last week's thread so I'm copying my post here:

I'm late to this thread but wanted to add that I finished Jodi Picoult's SMALL GREAT THINGS about the black nurse, white supremacist father, and white lawyer. While there wasn't a lot of action, I felt very compelled by the characters and had to keep reading to see what the outcome was. By the end I felt very invested. I kept asking myself why I was so invested when the story seemed slow but the character descriptions / details were strong and I felt like I knew these people. We learn a lot about the characters through their own memories. Eventually I couldn't put the book down and really enjoyed it. Easy to read but parts of the story are, of course, disturbing. I do believe that racism is everywhere and that even those among us who say they're not racist have biases. It was definitely eye-opening.

We are heading on vacation soon and would love some book recs. I don't like fluff on vacation, but I do like books that draw me in quickly and are easy to read. Not too deep but a good mystery, thriller, or easy to read - like the one I just read - are fantastic in vacation. I think I'll check out The Girl in Cabin 10. And What She Knew??

One more question - I made it half way through Before The Fall and then I lost interest. Should I pursue that? Is it worth it?

Paige

- I just want to add today that I started THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL by Nadia Hashimj. She also wrote When The Moon Is Low, which I loved. I'm really enjoying this book about a family in need of a son so they turn their middle daughter into a boy so that they can send their other daughters out of their Afghan home since the dad is a drunk. I see this author has a new novel - House Without Windows.

For my trip I downloaded Karilina's Twins by Ronald Balson (I loved his earlier books with the same characters: Once We Were Brothrrs and Saving Sophie). I also downloaded the woman in cabin 10 and What She Knew as I just don't know what I'll feel like reading.

I still have 2 days of work this week and plenty to do before Christmas, but I went by the library yesterday and got a stack of books. I started two last night. I'll end up reading both; I just wanted to dip into each and see which one I'll read first. Both are non-ficiton.

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded (Winchester) and Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (Hammer). I believe this one was a title I saw in this thread a while back.

I can't wait to turn on the Christmas lights, get warm on the couch (this usually means 2 cats on my lap), and read!

I just listened to two that were very good: "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi and the latest Harry Bosch detective novel, "The Wrong Side of Goodbye" while they were very different, both were very good.

I recently listened to "Behind Closed Doors" and while I found the narrator delightful, the story itself was implausible in the extreme.

I am reading "The Girl in Cabin 10" and while I'm only a few pages in, it seems pretty good so far

I finished two books last week. First was Life after Life by Kate Atkinson.  I have a love/hate relationship with this book. I loved everything about it-characters, vivid descriptions of everything in the scenes, wonderful storytelling. I hated the constant reincarnation theme because it kept happening over and over and over and over! Much too much! I like fiction books about reincarnation. But this book has it happening at least 30 times! I'd get going on one stream of the main characters life and within 3 pages she'd be dead, and boom on to another story of her life. How frustrating! I almost gave up several times while reading this book, but the characters and their lives kept me reading. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. 

Next was a book I picked up from my local library's stash of new books. It was called Invasive by Chuck Wendig. I picked it up and the first thing I noticed was that there were tiny ants printed in between the pages at the bottom and the far right. Hmm, I thought. This book was a bio-tech thriller and in the beginning of the book we are introduced to a female consultant with the FBI, Hannah Stander. There's a body she examines that looks unlike any anyone has ever seen. It's her job to figure out how this person was killed. I loved this book. It was fast paced, the writing tight, exciting and well yeah, thrilling. I gave it 4 stars. Highly recommended. Not for lofty literature, but for a fun read. 

I finished Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things, too. I did not predict the 'twist'. I was trying to guess what it might be all along, but did not come up with what it actually was. Although it all wrapped up a little too neatly, there were definitely some things to think about. I wonder what sort of research she did. As a Caucasian woman, I would think it would be hard to write in the voice of an AA woman. So I wonder how authentic it really was.

I read:

The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Man Booker Prize Winner). 4/5 stars. Biting satire about race in America. Highly entertaining.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. 4/5 stars. Typical Picoult book - interesting moral/ethical questions, although veers into melodrama at times. Engaging read. I especially liked her afterword. 

Currently reading the final book of the Tearling trilogy - The Fate of the Tearling. On deck I have: Evicted, Scrappy Little Nobody, Underground Airlines, and Night School (Jack Reacher).  Really trying to hit my stretch reading goal for the year, although it will take some serious reading by the 31st (seven books, lol).

I read 113 Minutes by James Patterson with Max DiLallo and Killer Chef by James Patterson with Jeffrey J. Keyes. They are part of James Patterson's BookShots series. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment. Both were less than 200 pages. I enjoyed 113 minutes more. I figured out most of the "who done it" in one and not in the other. They are fine if you want a quick, suspenseful read.

I finished Gracie: A Love Story by George Burns. Wow! I have so much respect for Gracie Allen. She died before I was born and I remembered her husband George Burns more from his Oh God movies. Overall, they had one amazing marriage and for most of it they worked together. I enjoyed reading about the parties they would throw, what it was like to work in Vaudeville, and mostly her amazing work ethic.

I'm going to read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens next. One of the few books I love to read over and over again.

I'm reading And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East by Richard Engel .

It's written by a journalist who has spent the last two decades reporting from the Middle East. He is a good story teller and he weaves a lot of history in the book in a way that keeps it interesting and fast paced. I highly recommend the book for anyone who wants to learn a little bit about recent history in the Middle East or anyone who enjoys reading about other cultures.

I finished two this week:

Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark.  The characters were a little one dimensional, and the plot a little predictable. This would make a good Hallmark Christmas movie.  It was a quick, easy Christmas read.

Home by Harlan Coben.  The latest in the Myron Bolitar series.  I thought this one was very good.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but I'm reading the Assassin's Creed series  (yes, I played the games years ago).