Weekly Reading Thread: March 4-10

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. This one fell a little flat for me. I kept waiting for intrigue and twists that never really materialized.

I missed posting last week due to a crazy schedule personally and with work. I only read two books in the last two weeks.

1. Force of Nature by Jane Harper. This book follows Aaron Falk, who first appeared in Harper's freshman novel, The Dry. This is a great sophomore effort. Falk and his partner try to find out what happened to a missing woman after she disappeared after a team-building event in the forest. 4/5 stars.

2. Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. This books follows a six-year-old boy after his brother dies in a school shooting. Told from his perspective, this book looks at how the father, mother and child deal in the aftermath. Very well done. 5/5 stars.

Lisa

My husband was out of town for a few days so I got a lot of reading done. 

I read Stories from Jonestown by Leigh Fondakowski. I had watched this A&E documentary on Jonestown on Monday night and I went looking for books to read about it. I've read a few but not for several years. This one was a compilation of oral interviews that the author did with Jonestown survivors and relatives in the early 2000s. She is a playwright and she created a play based on these stories. It was a very good book...she really wanted to show that these were people like everyone else, each with their own unique story, and not a bunch of brainwashed idiots the way people sometimes think. I recommend it.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. I've had this on my TBR list for a while and finally got around to it. It was just okay. I was amused by the main character's very British disdain for the "backwards" Irish, but the Irish people in the book totally earned that attitude. LOL.

Strange Weather by Joe Hill. I just grabbed this at the library for a quick read. This is a compilation of four short novels. Hill definitely shares his father's ability to yank you right into a story and hold your interest. That said, I didn't really care for most of these stories. The one about a mass shooting is especially brutal and hopeless.

The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin. I've read all of Benjamin's books, and I've always thought she does a really good job with a tricky genre--taking real historical people and writing fictional stories about them. This one felt like a miss to me, though. It's about an era and a topic I love to read about, the silent movie era, so I thought I'd love it, but she didn't seem to have a good grip on the dialogue or any of the characters besides the main characters (Mary Pickford and Frances Marion.) I was disappointed.

www.amazon.com/Need-Know-Novel-Karen-Cleveland/dp/1524797022

This one is good

Such a good book. It's one of the books I think everyone should read. They are making it into a movie with Michael B. Jordan.

I finally finished Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine . I give it 3/5. I didn't love it as much as others have. I hated the ending.

I finished two, and started another two. 
First up was Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney. To be honest, I don’t quite know what to make of this book. It's about a 21 year old student in Dublin who has an affair with the husband of a couple she and her ex-girlfriend have befriended. It was intelligent, but in a very conscious "look how intelligent I am" way. I did quite enjoy it, but I can’t score it, and I don’t think I would recommend it either. 
The second one I finished was Only Child by Rhiannon Navin, which I really enjoyed. It’s narrated by six year old Zach, whose school was involved in a shooting where his older brother was killed. It was sensitively written, although there were a few times I wanted to shake his mum, who acted as though she was the only one grieving. But a great book, so 5/5. 

I’ve started An American Marriage and also Woman Last Seen In Her Thirties by Camille Pagán. Enjoying them both so far. 

I read three last week. First was White Houses by Amy Bloom. I am fascinated with Eleanor Roosevelt and looked forward to reaing this and learning about her relationship with Lorena Hickok. But I just didn't like the writing and ended up abandoning it. I found it to be very choppy and disjointed and awkward. I kept having to reread to figure out what was going on and which time period I was in. I just didn't care for it, unfortunately.

Next was Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly. I am fairly certain that someone here recommended it. A super quick read comprised of 52 short thoughts about the author's life. It is touching in places, crass in places, a head scratcher at times, but overall, worth the small amount of time that it takes to read. In the acknowledgements, she says her grandma told her there were an awful lot of penises in the book. And that is true. So funny, other not so much.

Lastly, I read The Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I started this book the day before the school shooting in Florida, so it was an interesting juxtaposition to read the fictional book and listen to the current news. It very well written book from the point of view of the girlfriend and possible accomplice of a school shooter. I thought that the book showed the raw emotions of all the parties, particularly her parents. There are quite a few books in this "genre" any more but this is, in my opinion, one of the best I have read.

I'm in the middle of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and am loving it! Just a fantastic story.

I am reading A Wrinkle In Time with my 9 year old DD in anticipation of the movie!

I am trying to get back into reading for myself. I just started Sara's Game since it came recommended here in a free Kindle book thread.  SaveSave

I have An American Marriage sitting on top of my TBR pile. Really looking forward to reading it -- it's due back March 10 with holds on it, but I will turn it in a day or two late if I can't finish it.

I hate doing that with holds, but life, and I really want to read this one!

Lisa

I finished Departure by A.G. Riddle which I was halfway through last week. It's a science fiction book about a airliner that crashes after leaving New York and heading towards London. It crashes in the countryside of England and luckily there are about 20-30 survivors. As they wait for rescue crew they realize something is odd and I'm not going to tell you what because I don't want to spoil the book for you. I really like the first half of the book. I read until I got through 2/3 of the book and I just had to put it aside and not finish it. The last part of the book just didn't work for me. It got so boring and unbelievable that I noticed myself dreading having to read more of this book. That's when I knew it was time to give up on it. A year and a half ago I would have forced myself to finish it. Lately I've discovered that's a waste of time. There are so many great books out there to read. It's okay to put a bad book aside and not finish it. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads. 

Next I read My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege. I first heard about this book when I saw the short film that had an interview with Jennifer Teege about 2 years ago. I put it into my TBR list on Goodreads and came across it on my local library's shelf 2 weeks ago. I think someone here reviewed it awhile ago, maybe last year? Teege is 38 year old mother with two small children living in Germany when by chance she finds a library book about her grandfather Amon Goeth. If you've seen the film "Schindler's List" he was the one standing on the balcony of his villa with his rifle shooting down at the prisoners in the concentration camp killing one here and one there. He was the brutal commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp. The woman in the film who is annoyed by this behavior is on the bed and pulls a pillow over her head. That woman was Jennifer's grandmother. Her mother gave her up for adoption when she was born and she was raised by a foster family so she had no knowledge of this family secret. She knew who her mother and grandmother were and would see them occasionally. Can you imagine? The book is her story of dealing with this news and also describes her life growing up. I really enjoyed this book and found it well worth reading. I gave it 4 stars out of 5 only because the writing itself could have been better. 

I was at my library on Thursday taking some books back and picking up some books on hold. I always take a look at the New Books shelf but wasn't really expecting much and I had plenty of books which had come in on hold to keep me busy. I spotted The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah and my heart beat faster and I grasped it to my chest. (yeah, I know-I'm a real book nerd). But you see, I had it on hold and I was number 157 which meant it'd probably be 9 months before it got to me. That happened last time with The Nightingale.  And here was not just one, but two copies! It's only a 7 day loan, but I can do that. I'm half way through and loving it so far. Last year I bought a copy of The Nightingale to keep for myself. I can see already I'm going to do the same with this book. I only do that after I've read a book and really love it. I'll review it next week.   

Finished DON’T LET GO by Harlan Coben. One of my favorite authors and also a TwoPeas Recommendation. Definitely 5/5 Stars for me.

I’m about 1/2 way thru Michael Robotham’s THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS which was another TwoPeas Recommendation. All the twists & turns are starting now. Can’t wait to get back to reading !

     Is the author for this book Bryan Stevenson? I'm looking it up and wanted to make sure I got the right one. It sounds like it but I thought I'd double check.