Weekly Reading Thread: January 29 through February 4

The Wish by Nicholas Sparks. 3.8 / 5

Told in dual timelines (which is one of my favorite style of novel!): 1996 & 2019, we meet Maggie Dawes as a 16 year old and again as a grown woman on the brink of death. An accomplished photographer, she has a young assistant who is interested in hearing all about her life. Enter the 1996 flashbacks on Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

This was a solid story, don't get me wrong. I just think it was extremely predictable (maybe it wasn't supposed to be a surprise? lol I mean, the 'twist' I figured out extremely early on). I also read that when this novel was first released, the author promised tears - and a lot of reviewers said they cried uncontrollably. I'm a pretty emotional person but, I did not a shed a tear here. *wince* Again, I think its because I saw the big reveal well before it was actually revealed? I don't know. Either way, a solid storyline and if you are a big Sparks fan, I think you'll like it!


Currently, 80% through Dave Grohl's autobiography The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.

I finally got to start and finish a book.
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner.
I throughly enjoyed this book and The Bloomsbury Girls by this Author.
She is coming out with a new novel next year and will definitely buy it.

I listened to Spare by Prince Harry. I was something like number 80 on the waiting list at my library, so I was shocked when it became available so soon. I'm not a big Prince Harry, but I actually thought the book was pretty interesting, especially when he talked about his military service. He obviously had a ghost writer, because the book was well written w/ a lot of metaphors and other literary devices, but you very much felt it was Prince Harry's story and not a Hollywood writer's version. Prince Harry did a good job of reading the audio version of the book. I wish he would have spent more time talking about the mundane details of growing up royal, such as what it was like spending Christmas with the royals at Sandringham or what it was like spending summers in Scotland with his grandmother, but that obviously wasn't the purpose of the book.

I've just started a Tik Tok challenge of reading the book Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. It's the longest novel in the English language, which sounds like a daunting task, but we are going to read it over the course of a year. It's written all in the form of letters by various characters, which are all dated. The first letter begins on January 10th. We'll read the letters over the course of a year on the day they were supposedly written. The professor is making Tik Tok videos about the letters and we are invited to join in the discussion by commenting on the videos. I think it will be interesting, but it remains to be seen if I can keep up w/ the challenge!

Two for me this week ……..


JAN 2023 - 4 STARS
HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE (‘23) by Grady Hendrix.
DESCRIPTION: When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world. Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market. But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them.

REVIEW: Recommendation from Goodreads article “The Most Anticipated Horror Novels of 2023” dated 1/2/23. First book by this author for me. The reviews caught my eye. I’ve been meaning to try The Final Girls Support Group but jumped on this one first.

Don’t let the title of this book fool you; there’s nothing funny or comical about it. The eeriness starts right away. Love creepy dolls & puppets! Good writing draws you in as the family drama unfolds. About half way thru when the brother Mark starts narrating, I felt it was a lot of rambling from someone on a drug induced rant. But this whole section did bring the whole story together in a clearer light. This book confused my mind a little bouncing from family drama to eerie horror puppets. The good writing kept me reading. The good, satisfying ending pushed this book from 3 to 4 stars for me.


JAN 2023 : ‘22 - READ ‘23 - 3 STARS
THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT by Kimberly Belle.
DESCRIPTION: Dark side of the digital world when an influencer’s assistant goes missing.
When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming an influencer. Overnight it seemed she’d amassed a huge following, and her hobby became a full-time job—one that was impossible to manage without her sharp-as-a-tack personal assistant, AC. But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way and her assistant AC goes missing.

REVIEW: Previous books by this author for me were My Darling Husband (‘22 - 3 Stars), Stranger in the Lake (‘20 - 3 Stars), Dear Wife (‘19 - 4 Stars), Three Days Missing (‘18 - 3 Stars) and The Marriage Lie (‘16 - 4 Stars).

Fast moving book. The direction this book is heading is revealed quite early on. I’m hoping I’m wrong. Kept me interested as pieces of the puzzle start being revealed in the second half of the book. Some of the plot was quite unbelievable. I felt the book split at 60%-70% and turned into a different type of story. Felt like 2 books mashed together.


Happy Reading !

I didn't post last week as I was on a dream vacation and only had my phone. So I got a bit of reading done!

Before I left, I started Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger and then finished it while I was there. I'm so gushing on this one and rank it right up there with my favorite coming-of-age books: To Kill a Mockingbird, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Kite Runner, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell.

This might be one of my top-ten reads of all time, I loved it that much.

The Last Breath by Kimberly Belle. I almost stopped reading. Super graphic CW and TW for r@pe 2.5/5 stars.

Carnival of Shadows by R. J. Ellory. This jumped into some conspiracy theory territory, but it was still solid. I usually love Ellory (he and John Katzenbach are my favorite psychological thriller authors), but this was not one of my favorites by him. 4/5 stars.

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zetner. A heartwarming and sweet YA story that nonetheless tackles difficult topics, especially addiction and death. 4/5 stars.

Lisa

We did too!

No.

I thought it was just OK - I couldn't get past everyone treating a 13yo boy like an adult, asking his advice and including him in things he was far too young to be a part of.

I finished A Man Called Ove by Fredick Backman. I'd give it 4.5 stars. I deducted half a star because I can't pinpoint why I liked the book so much. Nothing really happened and yet it something was always happening and it kept my attention and i couldnt out it down. I saw my dad in Ove and I an irritated that he was only 59 when the books starts.

They've made this into a miniseries which I think will be released in March...with Lisa Marie's daughter in the main role

I also finished Demon Copperhead and I gave it 5 stars. The narrator's perspective was a fabulous point from which to write this story and Ms. Kingsolver did a fabulous job of it. 

I started a non-fiction book about Catherine de'Medici by Leonie Frieda.

I just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. I really liked it.

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.