Weekly Reading Thread - Sept. 24 - 30

Sourdough and Home Fire are on my list - glad you liked them!

It was a very good reading week for me - two five star reads - a rarity for me! (I've only given 17/86 books five stars this year):

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. 5/5 stars. Loved her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You and her new one is another fantastic read. Love her writing and family driven stories.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter. 5/5 stars.  Great character driven mystery/suspense. 

Currently reading The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish.

Thanks Gottapea. I totally forgot last night.

I am currently rereading Ready Player One. I get to teach it with my Mass Communications class! Yay!

I finished three books this week.

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin.  Aviva is an intern who has an affair with the married congressman she works for.  The affair is made public and Aviva's life is changed.  She changes her name and occupation and moves across the country, where she raises her daughter. Eventually others find out her identity.  Likeable and believable characters.  I liked this one. 4/5

Sourdough by Robin Sloan.  Lois is a software engineer who after being gifted a strange sourdough culture becomes a baker.  A fast, easy, light read.  This one had a touch of magical realism, but I don't think it was very well done - it was not written well enough for me to suspend my disbelief.  The supporting characters fell a little flat.  All in all, I was disappointed in this one.  3/5

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.  A family drama set in Shaker Heights, Ohio.  I really liked this one.  The time, place and characters were all very well drawn.  5/5

I'm reading North Haven (Sarah Moriarty) which is about four adult siblings who come back to a summer cottage in Maine after their parents have passed. Before long, family tensions and dysfunctions come to the surface. It's an easy, light read and I'm enjoying it. If you're interested, the Kindle version is $1.99 right now.

pudgygroundhog , I'm curious to see how you like Weight of Ink. I just returned it to the library after giving up after about page 250. It began with so much promise, but I found it lagged too much and trailed off on storylines I didn't care for. The central story was compelling, but the rest didn't hold me. We read very similar books and often like the same books, so I'm anxious to see how you like it (or not).

I tried to read Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (Girl on the Train) and just couldn't get it into it.

Then I read Fatal by John Lescroart. It had many twists and turns while I tried to figure it out. I'd give it a 3.5/5.

Now I'm reading The Black Book by James Patterson. I love his style of short 2-5 page chapters. Easy to read. My kind of book.

I'm panicking because I have several books on hold at the library that look like they will be available in the next day or two. So many books, so little time!

Three for me this week. The first one is one I've read decades ago, but when I was at my local library recently I spotted it on the shelf and decided to read it again. It is

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom This is an amazing non-fiction book about a family who lived in a town called Harrlem in Holland. Corrie was born in 1892 into a loving family with a big sister named Betsie, a father who had his own business as a watchmaker downstairs in their narrow house called the Beje. Three aunts, her mother, another sister and brother filled the household. The family were devout Christians and the biggest part of this book is what happens during WW2 when Holland is invaded by the Nazi's. Her brother begins working to help hide Jews on neighboring farms and one day it happens-a Jewish person arrives at the Beje who can't be moved that night and seeks shelter. Corrie's father without question invites the person in and so begins the Beje's place as a shelter for Jews. Corrie's father has an architect come in who can be trusted and he builds a safe space where they can be hidden if a Nazi raid occurs. Which eventually does and Corrie, her father and Betsie, her brother are all sent to concentration camps. This is an amazing book and if you haven't read it I encourage you to. As a side note-my family has family friends who live in Harrlem and we've visited a few times over the years. I've been lucky enough to visit the Beje twice which is now a museum and was able to stand in the Hiding Place myself. It's a wonderful museum. 5 stars

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne I happened to be visiting my parents and my mother gave me this book because she doesn't like fiction. I was so happy because I've been meaning to read it for some time. If you've seen the film the book is told from 9 year old Bruno's voice. This is very interesting that it's told through his eyes and what he sees. He doesn't understand why his family has to move and he's not happy about it-moving from Berlin to what he calls Out-With because he can't pronounce Auschwitz. His father is to be the new commandant. When they move into the new house his window overlooks the rows of fencing and he can see the men's and boy's area where so many people are all walking around wearing striped pajamas. He's upset because he has absolutely no one to play with and yet just across the fence there are so many people that could be his playmates. A man called the Fury (he can't pronounce Fuhrer either) is responsible for all of his predicament and he hates him. It was a great book which gave a little bit more insight into the novel than the film. The ending was a bit different though (the parents don't find him right away) and I have to admit I prefer the film version myself. 5 stars 

Survivor's Club by Michael Bornstein  is a non-fiction book about a 4 year old boy who is filmed by Soviet soldiers being carried out of Auschwitz in his grandmother's arms. This book tells the amazing story of how his father's wit, "a mother's fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved Michael's life, and how other's in his family from Zarki, Poland dodged death at the hands of the Nazi's time and again with incredible deftness and luck." from the book jacket. I really liked this book. 5 stars 

What I might do is request it from DH's account too. That way if he wants to read it, we can overlap if it becomes due on my account.

Just read Jen Hatmaker's newest books and Of Mess and Moxie . It was really good and a quick read. If you liked For the Love you will love this!

Still reading The Obelisk Gate and just started another cowboy romance: Down Home Cowboy by Maisey Yates.

I only got one done last week - This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. On the surface this is a book about a little boy who feels like a little girl and the family who supports her. But it is really so much more. The writing is truly amazing and the little bits and pieces of absolutely saying the right thing at the right time had me mesmerized. I loved the husband in the family and his quiet wisdom. I loved the brothers who were wild and ruckus and oh so supportive. And just the whole story of a family who loves so much and tries to do the right thing and secrets and how secrets can be the best and the worst. A very good read!

Now I am quickly reading A Stranger in the House the new one by Shari Lapena who also wrote The Couple Next Door before I have to return it to the library in a few days.

I read "I liked my life" a debut novel by Abby Fabiaschi.

Here's the summary by Amazon:

Maddy is a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother, host of excellent parties, giver of thoughtful gifts, and bestower of a searingly perceptive piece of advice or two. She is the cornerstone of her family, a true matriarch...until she commits suicide, leaving her husband Brady and teenage daughter Eve heartbroken and reeling, wondering what happened. How could the exuberant, exacting woman they loved disappear so abruptly, seemingly without reason, from their lives? How they can possibly continue without her? As they sift through details of her last days, trying to understand the woman they thought they knew, Brady and Eve are forced to come to terms with unsettling truths.

Maddy, however, isn’t ready to leave her family forever. Watching from beyond, she tries to find the perfect replacement for herself. Along comes Rory: pretty, caring, and spontaneous, with just the right bit of edge...but who also harbors a tragedy of her own. Will the mystery of Maddy ever come to rest? And can her family make peace with their history and begin to heal?


There was a lot I liked about this book, but the ending was such an enormous let down for me that colored everything that came before. So 5/5 until the last 10% - last 10% gets a 3/5 lol.

I read Last breath by Karin Slaughter. It is a short story prequel to The Good Daughter. I liked it. I really liked the main character and am looking forward to the Good Daughter. I have it on hold at the library.

Currently reading Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. I'm about half way through and I like it.

I too loved her first book and can't wait to read this one. I have it on hold at the library. Added bonus that it takes place in Ohio, where she's from (or lived for a while) as I am a fellow NE Ohio girl.

I read Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen. I thought it was a good book about a depressing subject-domestic abuse.