Weekly Reading Thread Week of August 31

This week I finished reading If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Now, I'm in the middle of Where She Went.

Also, I've been reading a writing textbook & Sin Boldly for English 101.

I just finished The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures The title pretty much sums things up. It follows the story of a young girl with epilepsy and the clash between her immigrant parents and her doctors. It was an interesting, albeit sometimes difficult, read.

Today I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Literally just started, so i have nothing to say about it yet.

This week I finished Mr Mercedes by Stephen King. It typical SK. Not my usual genre, but I liked it. It is a thriller and it does have some hard family dynamics issues (not to give any spoilers), and the bad guy is a psycho, so if you're sqeemish, this may not be for you.

I haven't read this but glad to know he's got another book out.  I loved his book, EXPATS or The Expat.

Just one for me: Natalie Baszile's Queen Sugar. It's about a black woman born and raised in California who inherits a sugar cane farm from her father. i enjoyed the book; lots of family angst with a healthy dose of southern quirk.

Next up is Graham Joyce's The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit. I'll report back next week.

Happy reading!

I read Reconstructing Amelia which I thought was good, but a little predictable.

I also read

I read Four by Veronica Roth and I have now started The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore. After that I will be reading The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness and If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

Melissa

I'm on the last chapter of a great book, We Are Completely Beside Ourselves (Fowler)
This book is long listed for the Booker prize this year and it's a wonderful read. I have to be careful because there are many spoilers, so I'll just share some comments from the book jacket.
"...a dark and beautiful journey into the heart of a family. An exploration of the meanings of memory, a study of what it means to be human."

For me, it's been one of those books that's hard to put down.

I finished listening to The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and really enjoyed it. It tells the story of Vida Winter, a now elderly, famous author who hires a little known writer to write her biography before she dies. Vida has a very dark and complicated past, with a strange family & lots of secrets.
I'd class it as part Gothic mystery and part historical fiction. I'd recommend this one of those are the genres you like & I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It certainly kept me interested all he way through and I even worked out the main family 'secret' before it was revealed. 
As I mentioned last week, I loved the narration by Jenny Agutter (Sr Julienne in Call the Midwife). I also dicovered this was made into a movie starring Vanessa Regrave, so I'll be tracking that down as well.

Lots of novels are mentioned in The Thirteenth Tale, but Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, is one that I had never heard of, so I listened to this one next. It was originally written in 1862 and was one of the most popular English (i.e. British) novels of it's day and considered quite shocking. It has a female villain, murder, seduction, bigamy & madness.
It's held up quite well as a story despite it's age and I gave it 4 stars also...I enjoyed this one too.

I've just now finished Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. The story of a family: parents, 17yo girl and twin 15yo boys. The first part of the book is just the story of their everyday lives and I was getting a little bored, waiting for and wanting something to happen. Then the really bad "something" happens (and then I felt guilty for wanting it happen, even though I didn't know what it was going to be). It's horrible & tragic and the rest of the book is about loss and coping with grief and life afterwards.
It made me cry and stirred up a few emotions. I thought it was well written and it felt very believable. If you like character driven books (and need a good cry) then you'll be moved by this. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I read One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper yesterday - I liked it although not quite as funny as some of his others.

Before that I read Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult and liked it, but her endings always aggravate me.

Finished The Twelve just before that.

DD wants me to read Where She Went before we see If I Stay at the movies.

After that I plan to read Outlander again just because watching the show has me itching for more and once a week is not enough!

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarity and The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. I recommend both. 

I finished three books this week.

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.  I think King is a terrific story teller.  This one is a mystery/thriller. 4/5

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.  The oldest daughter in a mixed-race family is dead and the family doesn't know how/why.  This one covers family, love, race, expectations and loss.  Very good. 4/5

The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect by Myquillyn Smith.  If you've read Smith's blog, you've probably read most of the advice she has to give in this book. She does tell the story of all the houses she has lived in, and sprinkles her stories liberally with religious references. (After reading her stories, I would never want to rent to her - she painted over the brick fireplace in one house without asking the landlord - said it was okay because she was willing to lose her security deposit). 3/5

I finished Labor Day by Joyce Maynard. Overall I enjoyed the story, but there were parts I didn't like reading about! After I finished the book, I read more about the author, wow, she has lived a very interesting life!!