The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,925
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Sept 20, 2015 19:01:12 GMT
Hey there readers!
I read one book this week, Carved in Darkness. This was a BookBub discounted book. I don't know how much I paid for it, but it was really good for the genre. If you like disturbing murder mystery damaged cop books, you will like this one. I gave it 4/5. It is a series, and I do plan on starting the next soon.
What did you read this week?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 0:30:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 19:10:56 GMT
No reading this week, but I listened to the audiobook England my England, Anglophilia Explained by Mark Dery. It's only 29 pages and I found it interesting but wish I would have read the book so I could look up all the things and people he mentioned.
I started listening to Mosquitoland by David Arnold. It's about a teen girl who runs away from her dad and stepmother's home in Missouri (or was it Mississippi?) to find her mom who has cancer. It's in the genre of John Green books. My daughter liked the book so I'm giving it a try. So far, it's okay but not normally one I'd pick.
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Post by auntkelly on Sept 20, 2015 19:56:04 GMT
I finally finished Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson. It was an interesting book, but the writer wrote in a very academic style which sometimes was hard to follow. I learned a lot about Queen Victoria which I didn't know, including the fact that she could be an extremely harsh critic of her children and grandchildren.
I'm now reading The White Queen: A Novel (Cousins War Series Book 1) by Philippa Gregory which has been a quick and fun read so far.
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Post by Karene on Sept 20, 2015 20:07:13 GMT
I read Linda Castillo's books Sworn to Silence, and Pray for Silence which are a mystery/crime series with Kate Burkholder as chief of police for a small town that has a lot of Amish residents. I also read Lyn Anderson's books Torch and Drifnet which are also mystery/crime. The other books I read was Borrowed Horses by Sian Griffiths.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Sept 20, 2015 20:09:30 GMT
I'm on the 2nd book of the Poldark series by Winston Graham. Really like them. Only 10 to go. Ha
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Sept 20, 2015 21:49:55 GMT
I read a New Yorker article about Agatha Christie, and that made me get a couple of her Hercule Poirot books. I think I read almost all of her books when I was a teenager, but that was long enough ago that I consider these new reads. I certainly don't remember reading them before! I read Dead Man's Folly and Dumb Witness, both good, and now I'm reading a collection of Poirot short stories that is nice and thick and should keep me busy for a while. Very enjoyable.
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
Jun 26, 2014 18:26:03 GMT
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Sept 20, 2015 22:35:16 GMT
I'm in the middle of Noah Gordon's The Jerusalem Diamond. I've read and enjoyed his books before. I'd describe this as a historical fiction thriller. The diamond in the title refers to a jewel from the Temple that was hidden as Nebcuchadnezzar is about to attack the city. It follows the jewel thru history. Lots of intrigue and historical detail.
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Post by AussieMeg on Sept 20, 2015 22:46:03 GMT
I am reading Finders Keepers by Stephen King. It is the second book in his character Bill Hodges trilogy, the first being Mr Mercedes.
It's funny, I hadn't read a Stephen King book for YEARS, and then last year my aunty bought me Mr Mercedes for my birthday. I was surprised to find that there were no supernatural creepies in the book. It was just a good old regular detective novel similar to David Baldacci and Michael Connelly who are 2 of my favorite authors. I lent it to my FIL who was very reluctant to read it because he doesn't like Stephen King novels. I kept telling him "Just give it a go, you will like it, it's nothing like his other novels." Well he must have enjoyed it, because next time I logged onto our shared Amazon account I saw that he'd purchased the second book!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 0:30:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 23:38:44 GMT
I'm re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Oh my gosh, I love this book ... again! So many laugh out loud moments, mostly courtesy of Scout. I'm a Californian but I read her lines in my head in "Southern" and just bust up! So many life lessons as well, about the nature of humans, morality, kindness vs hatred, etc. It's almost Shakespearean in its depth. Atticus is da' bomb!
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lesley
Drama Llama
My best friend Turriff, desperately missed.
Posts: 7,177
Location: Scotland, Scotland, Scotland
Jul 6, 2014 21:50:44 GMT
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Post by lesley on Sept 20, 2015 23:50:14 GMT
I don't think I posted last week, because I hadn't finished anything. I've now read Ian Rankin's The Beat Goes On which is the complete collection of Rebus short stories. Every one was wonderful, every one made me wish that Rebus was a real person that I could meet for a drink occasionally! If you like crime novels, you have to read Ian Rankin's Rebus novels, he is a fabulous character. The other one I finished this week is You Knew Me When by Emily Liebert. It's a story of two friends who were more like sisters. They fell out when they were in their early twenties, and are brought back together when they jointly inherit a house. It was very good.
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,751
Member is Online
Jun 25, 2014 20:56:09 GMT
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Post by gottapeanow on Sept 21, 2015 0:51:18 GMT
I didn't post last week either. I finished just one book in the past two weeks. Here is a very brief review.
You Can Trust Me started off really well, and I was having a hard time putting it down. But the ending just fell flat. This is a mystery with two murders, the second made to look like a suicide, and the unexpected connection between them despite the fact that they occurred 18 years apart. I don't know if it was too far-fetched or why I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. 3/5 stars.
Lisa
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Post by freecharlie on Sept 21, 2015 0:56:59 GMT
I am reading Finders Keepers by Stephen King. It is the second book in his character Bill Hodges trilogy, the first being Mr Mercedes. It's funny, I hadn't read a Stephen King book for YEARS, and then last year my aunty bought me Mr Mercedes for my birthday. I was surprised to find that there were no supernatural creepies in the book. It was just a good old regular detective novel similar to David Baldacci and Michael Connelly who are 2 of my favorite authors. I lent it to my FIL who was very reluctant to read it because he doesn't like Stephen King novels. I kept telling him "Just give it a go, you will like it, it's nothing like his other novels." Well he must have enjoyed it, because next time I logged onto our shared Amazon account I saw that he'd purchased the second book! I didn't know it was the second book. I really liked Mr. Mercedes. I also liked 11/22/63. I read Doctor Sleep and it was just okay. It was really slow in parts. I have never read The Shining.
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Post by ntsf on Sept 21, 2015 1:00:45 GMT
I read Gentleman and Players by J. Harris. a real page turner--very very well written and a mystery to the very end. set in a english boys boarding school both present and 15-30 yrs in the past.
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Post by tampascrapper on Sept 21, 2015 1:16:04 GMT
I listened to The Boston Girl be Anita Diamant. Read by Linda Lavin. I really enjoyed it.
From Goodreads: Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today?" She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
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Post by sugarmama on Sept 21, 2015 1:29:04 GMT
journeyfan, you would probably enjoy COLD SASSY TREE by Olive Ann Burns. Lots of "Southernisms" and life lessons in that book.
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Post by ~summer~ on Sept 21, 2015 2:05:13 GMT
I am currently reading "We are all completely besides ourselves" - for some reason I am having a hard time getting through it.
I love reading about food and cooking and for some reason I just started getting Bon Appetite magazine so I have been reading that as well...
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Post by pjaye on Sept 21, 2015 5:09:26 GMT
Last week I had started The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman. The problem with it for me was that despite everything the main character went through, she was still not a very nice person…actually hardly anyone in the book was. They all scammed and cheated and stole from their families and their friends. I know there are people like that in real life, but so many of them in one book doesn’t make for an enjoyable story. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but thinking about it now will change it to 2 stars for the “it was OK” category. Next was The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley.
This is magical realism, set just after WW2 in the USA. Evelyn is 17 and she is sent to work the family farm alone after her aunt dies. One day she finds what she first thinks is a badly burned soldier during a rain storm. This is a character driven story and not much happens and there is no ultimate explanation about the person Evelyn finds (you have to be able to suspend logic)…but I really enjoyed this. I was a bit surprised how much. The audiobook narration was excellent and I got totally caught up in the story and was sad when it ended. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads but would have been 4.5 if I could. Now I am listening to My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (also titled My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises in some countries…same book). This is by the same author as A Man Called Ove and written in the same style. Elsa is a precocious 7 “almost 8” year old who gets horribly picked on at school and her only friend and defender is her very eccentric Grandmother…but then she dies. Her Grandmother leaves Elsa a series of letters to deliver and as she does so she learns more about the people who live in the same apartment block. Like Ove, sad, but funny in places. My favourite quote is “Elsa’s throat started to burn, just like the time her Grandmother made those jalapeno smoothies”…lol. I’m listening to the audiobook and the narration is fantastic. I’ve only got about 10% left and it will be either 4 or 5 stars. Really liked it.
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janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
Posts: 5,633
Jun 26, 2014 14:35:07 GMT
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Post by janeliz on Sept 21, 2015 12:11:13 GMT
I finished Harlan Coben's Missing You. It was a suspenseful page turner, which is how I would describe most of his books. His more violent moments and characters can be gag worthy, but I think he's a great storyteller.
I started Elisabeth Egan's A Window Opens last night.
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Post by powderhorngreen on Sept 21, 2015 15:14:50 GMT
I have been traveling, so I can't remember what I posted last. So, here are the last few I have read:
Life Among The Savages by Shirley Jackson. She is the author of the famous short story "The Lottery". This book is nothing like that story. It is a humorous look at living with young children. Cute in parts. 3.5 stars.
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue. She is the author of "room", a book I loved. This one, not quite as much. It was entertaining, but did not pull me in the same way. It is the story of a prostitute in San Fransisco in 1876 amid the small pox epidemic and great fire. It was good, but not riveting. It is a fictionalized story based upon true events. I guess I expected it to be more riveting - it drug on in many spots. 3 stars.
The Girl Who Wrote In Silk by Kelli Estes - Another historical fiction. I liked this one better. It is written intuit now overdone (IMHO) literary method of intertwining a current day character's life with that of a historical character. The book explores the genocide of Chinese immigrants on the West Coast after the completion of the railroad. The stories folded back on each other in a nice way and the characters were likable enough. I gave this one 4 stars.
Inside The O'Briens by Lisa Genova - This one has been discussed several times and I really enjoyed it. It moved quickly and I liked how the story delved into how the different characters reacted to their father's diagnosis of Huntington's disease and how they each reacted differently to its potential (and then sometimes revealed real) effect on their life. I liked the inclusion of denial, anger, acceptance, frustration, as emotions that are very real when dealing with such a disease in a family. At a couple point sit was a bit to pat and syrupy, but a solid read that I would commend. 4 stars.
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes - This one is hard for me to decide what I thought of it. It kept me entertained and I enjoyed the psychological thriller portion of the book, but there was this weird mystical/paranormal twist at the end that made it hard to swallow after all was said and done. 3.5 stars.
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Post by annabella on Sept 21, 2015 15:21:56 GMT
I just finished Second Life: A Novel by S.J. Watson and it was just ok. It's supposed to be a thriller but it started off too slow and was just too cheesy.
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
Jun 26, 2014 0:30:34 GMT
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Post by finaledition on Sept 21, 2015 15:33:43 GMT
I finished Harlan Coben's Missing You. It was a suspenseful page turner, which is how I would describe most of his books. His more violent moments and characters can be gag worthy, but I think he's a great storyteller. I started Elisabeth Egan's A Window Opens last night. I finished A Window Opens this week. I think it was on a list of must read books for the fall. It was a 3.5-4 star read for me. I really enjoyed it. It reminded a lot of Rainbow Rowell's Landline, but without the fantasy portion. I really liked the main character in this book-she wasn't perfect, but really struggled with her situation of returning to work full time, managing the kids and being a good daughter. Her struggle felt authentic. I also finished The Martian. Enjoyed it, but I have to say I'm really looking forward to the movie. I think it will translate well to the big screen. I tend to read a lot of books that appeal to women, but I found myself finally being able to recommend a book to the men in my life. Lol pjaye Finishing up Heft at your recommendation. Not quite done so can't review it yet, but so far I've enjoyed it a lot.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 0:30:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2015 15:34:02 GMT
journeyfan, you would probably enjoy COLD SASSY TREE by Olive Ann Burns. Lots of "Southernisms" and life lessons in that book. Thanks sugarmama!
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Post by pjaye on Sept 21, 2015 16:04:35 GMT
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue. She is the author of "room", a book I loved. This one, not quite as much. It was entertaining, but did not pull me in the same way. It is the story of a prostitute in San Fransisco in 1876 amid the small pox epidemic and great fire. It was good, but not riveting. It is a fictionalized story based upon true events. I guess I expected it to be more riveting - it drug on in many spots. 3 stars. Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes - This one is hard for me to decide what I thought of it. It kept me entertained and I enjoyed the psychological thriller portion of the book, but there was this weird mystical/paranormal twist at the end that made it hard to swallow after all was said and done. 3.5 stars. Two of my all time favourite books. I LOVED Frog Music, it was a 5 star read for me, I adored Blanche, she starts off so insipid and then grows so much. I really like tenacious women like this in books, especially historical fiction. I thought her relationship with Petit (the ugliest baby in the world...lol) was well written too. Then Heft ...I know they are both fictional (I haven't lost my mind...honest!) but even after a year I sometimes think about Arthur Opp & Blanche and wonder how they are doing. I hope Arthur lost some weight and got his stuff sorted. I loved the narrator for him too, he really came alive for me.
I did feel the same about Broken Monsters, I didn't mind the paranormal aspect during the book, but didn't like the way it ended, I think she could have ended it well without that aspect. I thought the paranormal thing worked much better in her first book The Shining Girls.
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Post by Fidget on Sept 21, 2015 16:13:01 GMT
Like another poster I'm also reading Finders Keepers by Stephen King, just started it last night and can't wait to get back to it!
I finished Jodi Pioult's The Storyteller, let's just say I was not a fan of this author before I read this book and I'm still not. The only reason I read it is it's the book club selection this month.
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The Birdhouse Lady
Drama Llama
Moose. It's what's for dinner.
Posts: 7,162
Location: Alaska -The Last Frontier
Jun 30, 2014 17:15:19 GMT
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Post by The Birdhouse Lady on Sept 21, 2015 16:47:04 GMT
I finished Jodi Pioult's The Storyteller, let's just say I was not a fan of this author before I read this book and I'm still not. The only reason I read it is it's the book club selection this month. That's funny, because that is one of my favorite books!
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The Birdhouse Lady
Drama Llama
Moose. It's what's for dinner.
Posts: 7,162
Location: Alaska -The Last Frontier
Jun 30, 2014 17:15:19 GMT
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Post by The Birdhouse Lady on Sept 21, 2015 16:54:49 GMT
I finished reading Unnecessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
I really enjoyed it but, I like always like stories like this. It reminded me of another book I read a few months ago.
The Kitchen House
I started reading the Nightingale by Kristen Hannah
I have heard such good reviews about it on here. I have only gotten a few pages into it so far. I signed up for the Christmas card swap and all my spare time has been dedicated to making those cards.
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Post by leannec on Sept 21, 2015 17:45:37 GMT
I haven't been reading a lot this week so I'm still making my way through The Bourbon Kings by JR Ward ... it's definitely not a BDB book I'll have to leave it anyway because I need to start reading my Book Club selection now ... the ladies picked some total fluff this month: Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner ... I don't have high hopes
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Post by kellybelly77 on Sept 21, 2015 18:11:06 GMT
This past week I only read one book! I had been reading 2 per week for the last while but we have been super busy lately! I read Maude by Donna Mabry. It was a book that followed the life of Maude from her birth in 1892 to her death. It was sad, fascinating, funny all wrapped up. Just reading about medical issues specifically labor and delivery was fascinating! All the sadness, marriage to someone you didn't love just to secure a future and losing so many babies. The Great Depression, being separated from your family. So sad!
I gave the book 5 stars but there are some 1 star reviews that state the book followed a depressing woman who lived a boring life. It was so much more than that though.
Things don't look much better this week for reading but I am halfway through The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared. Pretty interesting so far!
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Post by utmr on Sept 21, 2015 18:47:11 GMT
I finished the Bob Ray Swagger series with Soft Target. Good, fast, interesting and a little scary.
Barry Eisler's Graveyard of Memories - 4.5 / 5. A prequel to the John Rain series.
Harlan Coben's Deal Breaker and Fade Away. 3-3.5 / 5. Quick reads so far. Now I've started Drop Shot, so far so good.
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Post by birukitty on Sept 21, 2015 19:09:55 GMT
Last week I read two books. The first was a book recommended to me by a friend who works at Barnes and Noble once she found out I like historical fiction. It's called, "Year of Wonders-A Novel of the Plague" by Geraldine Brooks. This takes place in an isolated village in England in 1666 (so it's not during the Black Death which took place during the 14 century), and is about a housemaid who emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. I really liked this book although it had words in it that were not in my vocabulary (which is pretty darn good) that I assume were prevalent in the time period, but since I always read in bed and don't have a Smartphone like 95% of the population I didn't bother to look them up. I should have taken a dictionary to bed with me, but I kept forgetting. I just assumed what I thought they meant and kept on reading. Even with this the book and the writing was very good. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, but that's being very harsh. I think if I'd bothered to look up the words it'd probably be 4 stars.
Next I read Girl Underwater by Claire Kells. I'm pretty sure I read about this book here. It's the story of a college girl who's a competitive swimmer and while on a major airline going home for Thanksgiving break the plane goes down. How does she and her teammate survive in the Rockies when the plane crashes in a lake along with the other survivors 3 little boys? I loved the story. I love survival stories! What I didn't like was the sequencing of the chapters. OK, so you already know there's going to be a plane crash and who survives. I haven't told you any more than what's on goodreads.com description of the book or what's on Amazon's description of the book. So we know this before we even read the first sentence. What I hated about the sequencing of the chapters was (and I'm sorry I already returned the book to the library) after you get to the part where the main character, her teammate, and the little boys get to the shore of the lake, and survive the first day, the next chapter (from what I remember, could be the following) moves forward in time to after they were rescued and starts talking about what's going on in their lives! What?!!!!! I'm reading a survival story here. I don't want to know when the last paragraph I read is these 5 characters hunkering down to spend their first night in the cold Rockies end of chapter, turn the page, next sentence that they've already been rescued and in 6 months in the future! I want the story line to play out scene by scene, day by day to see what happens, who lives, who dies! That's how survival books should be written! Ugh! 2 stars and that's being super generous. All because of the sequencing of the chapters.
Debbie in MD.
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