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Post by maryland on Feb 16, 2016 2:14:36 GMT
Only one for me this week. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica. Reminiscant of Gone Girl. I liked both books but found the characters to be very unlikeable. There was just no one to root for! The mom was annoying, the sister was bitchy, Mia and Colin were shady, the dad was an a**hole. I think that is part of the appeal maybe?! You just don't see some of the stuff coming so it sneaks up on you in surprise to make you keep reading?! Anyway, I gave it 4 stars. I noticed today that I have read 9 books, and am halfway through 10, out of my reading goal of 40 books this year. I have made it 1/4 of the way through my yearly goal in 6 weeks.... Maybe I should raise it? Or maybe I should leave it and then blow it out of the water! I loved The Good Girl! I agree with you on none of the characters being likable. I just finished her book Pretty Baby, and I liked that even more!
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Post by jackie on Feb 16, 2016 2:22:22 GMT
That's definitely not what happened--at least not to their story. Room was published in 2010, the three girls Castro kidnapped weren't discovered until 2013. I didn't say that, I said "someone", those 3 women are not the only people held captive for a long period of time. Sorry. I guess I misunderstood.
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Post by birukitty on Feb 16, 2016 2:30:07 GMT
This week I read The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory. This is the last book (actually it's book number 4 but I read them out of order) of the Cousin's War series, or the War of the Roses as it is also known. At first I was going to skip it because I thought it'd been covered enough in the Starz series The White Queen, and I was a bit anxious to be finished with this series and move on to the next by the same author. But in the end I decided to give it a go anyway, and I'm so glad I did. This book is told from the viewpoint of Anne Neville, and by reading it I not only learned a lot about her, but saw everything about the War of the Roses from her point of view. Of course, keeping in mind that this is historical fiction.
I liked this book very much and give it 3.5 stars.
Currently I just started the next series by this author The Tudor Series. The first book is The Constant Princess and is about Katherine of Aragon. Up to now every book I've read was told in the 1st person of who the book was about. This one is different. There is a first person voice, but it is only sometimes and appears through the pages in italics. The rest of the time it's told the standard style-what is that called? Anyway, I'm really enjoying it so far although I'm only about 1/6 of the way into it.
Debbie in MD.
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paigepea
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Post by paigepea on Feb 16, 2016 4:06:24 GMT
I read Saving Sophie by Ronald Balson, the author of ONCE WE WERE BROTHERS. It highlighted the Arab/Israeli conflict through a child kidnapping / lawyer / investigation type story. It had a lot of history about the conflict, which at times was boring because I already knew it and at other times was very interesting / new to me. It read like a page turner for me, but the author won't win any eloquent writing awards - there is no room for poetic language. It comes across as predictable but wasn't as predictable as I first thought. In the end, I enjoyed it.
I'll be looking here for a recommendation.
Paige.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Feb 16, 2016 5:02:05 GMT
leannec after I read her book I had to read the other girls' book to get the full story. You know the two girls don't speak to Michelle now. Then I made a donation to their fund which I finally realized was why she kept mentioning it in the book. When I see all the acclaim for the movie Room it just feels weird, as if an author took someone's horrible story and fictionalized it to be a bestseller. Right now I'm reading My Fight / Your Fight by Ronda Rousey. I only heard about her last fall, had never watched any of her matches. The book is very inspiring as I read about how driven she is. I've since gone online to check out videos on her in the ring to see the stories she talks about. I believe Room came out before the girls were found. IIRC, my book club was reading Room when they escaped. It did seem eerily similar at the time.
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Post by hollymolly on Feb 16, 2016 16:10:58 GMT
I read *Master of Petersburg * by J M Coetzee. It was about Dostoevsky returning to St. Petersburg after his step-son's death. The story was ok, but it definitely was a meditation on art, love, death, Russia, books. I enjoyed those thoughts. I finished *Map of Time * by Felix Palma. I didn't like it very much I really liked The Map of Time! I'm sorry you didn't like it. I also liked the second book in the series, Map of the Sky. I think I liked it a little more. That said, they are terribly long books. I'm looking forward to the third in the trilogy, Map of Chaos. I have way too many books on my list, so I'm going to hold off on buying it for a while and try to catch it on a big sale.
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Post by hollymolly on Feb 16, 2016 16:15:58 GMT
I am reading the Martian by Andy Weir. I'm at almost 60%. It's good but I don't find the characters on Earth that interesting. Also, the book needs photos so I know what all these space things look like. I guess that's why there is a movie... Also I probably missed the explanation, but why can't he grow more potatoes after the first crop is ripe? Otherwise it's a pretty good book. I think they explained it a little better in the movie. When he had the blow-out and all of his plants froze, it also killed the bacteria. He needed bacteria to fertilize the soil so the potatoes would grow. No bacteria, no potato plants. He probably could have made more fertilizer with his own poop, but I think he needed a variety of different bacteria from different people's guts, or maybe he just couldn't produce enough fertilizer by himself. There's no bacteria on Mars.
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pudgygroundhog
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Feb 16, 2016 16:18:20 GMT
I read:
Morning Star by Pierce Brown. 5/5 stars. This was the final book of the Red Rising trilogy and I'm so glad Pierce Brown stuck the landing. This is a fantastic plot driven action sci-fi trilogy.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. 4/5 stars. I've read Life After Life and A God in Ruins (enjoyed both of those a lot) and this is the first I've read of her Jackson Brodie books. I liked it and plan to read more.
I'm currently reading Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian. Pretty dark, but good so far.
On deck I have: Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, The Golden Son (by Shilpi Somaya Gowda), A Manual for Cleaning Women, The Language of Secrets (follow up to the great mystery book The Unquiet Dead), Vanessa and Her Sister, and Refund: Stories.
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pudgygroundhog
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Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Feb 16, 2016 16:22:54 GMT
I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. It was a somewhat interesting read in terms of Chinese culture and the relationships between Chinese moms and daughters, but overall, I didn't find it anything to get all excited about. It was slow moving and angsty and a bit of a pain trying to keep the character relationships straight. I should probably just stick to my mysteries. Have you seen the movie? I thought the movie was great and some years later I read the book. I was expecting to really love it, but it fell flat to me. Maybe I was influenced by seeing the movie first, which I thought was really well done (this is why I typically read the book first!).
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Post by jackie on Feb 16, 2016 16:33:51 GMT
I agree about The Joy Luck Club movie. It was wonderful. I also always wanted to read the book because of how much I love the movie. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll leave the book alone.
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Post by lynnek on Feb 16, 2016 16:48:46 GMT
My daughter had to read a book that had a score of 1,000 or higher Lexile score. It was difficult to find a book that high period but then throw in that she is 12 and there were some she is not interested in and some that I didn't think were appropriate, it was a tall order. We finally settled on I Would Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. It was a great choice. She really loved the book, it was a nice first YA book for her to read. There was a strong, smart girl protagonist that attends an elite secret spy school. She meets a "normal" boy in town and doesn't know how to deal with a normal boy. She can speak 14 languages, but going out with a regular boy is just not in her skill set. LOL! So, it is cute. And my daughter liked the idea of reading a book about a high school girl. I like the idea that there was nothing questionable in it. As far as my rating it would probably be a 3.5 stars.
I also decided to go a totally different route and start A Little Life. That one is going to take a bit longer. I like it though!
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pudgygroundhog
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Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Feb 16, 2016 16:48:50 GMT
I agree about The Joy Luck Club movie. It was wonderful. I also always wanted to read the book because of how much I love the movie. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll leave the book alone. When I look at Goodreads, a lot of my friends give it high ratings - so who knows. It's been five years since I've read it - so not fresh, but from what I remember it felt more like sparse short stories and generally I like more depth in my books. I think the stories and themes are interesting, but the structure just didn't do it for me.
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ginacivey
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Jun 25, 2014 19:18:36 GMT
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Post by ginacivey on Feb 16, 2016 17:02:05 GMT
This past week I finished listening to A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It starts in 1953 with two 11yo boys and one accidentally kills the mother of the other. I have good friend who has been raving about this book for close to 20 years…and now I’m going to have to pretend I still haven’t read it yet because I didn’t like it at all. I generally don’t have a problem discussing books I didn’t like, but she just loved it so much I don’t have the heart to tell her I don’t feel the same way. Firstly a lot of the book is about the young boys what they do and what they think and I have zero interest in any of that, secondly it has this weird religious undertone and I don’t like being ‘preached’ to in my books, I also thought the entire storyline and build up to the big ending was eye-roll worthy, and finally, Owen Meany was just an obnoxious little shit. It was only 2 out of 5 stars for me.
John Irving is my all time favorite author so this breaks my heart just a bit - but the truth is...if you didn't like this book - don't bother with the rest. a widow for one year - is my favorite!
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ginacivey
Pearl Clutcher
refupea #2 in southeast missouri
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Jun 25, 2014 19:18:36 GMT
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Post by ginacivey on Feb 16, 2016 17:21:24 GMT
I agree about The Joy Luck Club movie. It was wonderful. I also always wanted to read the book because of how much I love the movie. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll leave the book alone. oh no!!! read the book. i've read every book she's written and i enjoyed them all!! gina
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marianne
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Jun 25, 2014 21:08:26 GMT
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Post by marianne on Feb 16, 2016 19:31:09 GMT
pudgygroundhog - jackie - ginaciveyNo, I haven't seen the movie, but maybe I'll give it a try. Like pudgygroundhog said, the writing structure made it difficult to follow the storylines. I like my books to flow and not be distraacted by flipping the pages back and forth to keep up. I've seen that the book has more positive reviews than not, so I suppose it's just a matter of different strokes, etc. I may look into something else of hers for comparison. Thanks for your input,ladies!
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Post by kckckc on Feb 16, 2016 20:15:06 GMT
I read: Morning Star by Pierce Brown. 5/5 stars. This was the final book of the Red Rising trilogy and I'm so glad Pierce Brown stuck the landing. This is a fantastic plot driven action sci-fi trilogy. I am glad to hear that this is good. I bought it, but haven't read it yet - I had several library books reserved and they all came in last week.
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pudgygroundhog
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Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Feb 16, 2016 20:21:38 GMT
I read: Morning Star by Pierce Brown. 5/5 stars. This was the final book of the Red Rising trilogy and I'm so glad Pierce Brown stuck the landing. This is a fantastic plot driven action sci-fi trilogy. I am glad to hear that this is good. I bought it, but haven't read it yet - I had several library books reserved and they all came in last week. If you liked the other books, then you'll probably like this one too. I was happy to see he finished strong! And that happens to me too all the time with library books on reserve.
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finaledition
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Jun 26, 2014 0:30:34 GMT
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Post by finaledition on Feb 17, 2016 4:13:54 GMT
I agree about The Joy Luck Club movie. It was wonderful. I also always wanted to read the book because of how much I love the movie. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll leave the book alone. I thought The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan was better than the Joy Luck Club. My daughter has to read The Joy Luck club for a class so I plan to reread it in the next few months.
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finaledition
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Post by finaledition on Feb 17, 2016 4:20:58 GMT
I finished The Girl With All the Gifts. I thought I knew what it was going to be about, but it was different and I really can't say what it was that made it different without giving away the twist. Anyway, it really seemed to be a good book, suspenseful as well, but because of the subject, I just didn't care for it. Phew, I just circled around that review, huh? It was for book club so I'm interested to see what the ladies in my group thought.
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