Weekly Reading Thread: October 16-22

I read The Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware, and am now reading her book The Woman in Cabin 10. Ruth Ware is coming to our small town at the end of the month for an author talk, so I wanted to read some of her books.

I just finished one this week, it was a horror novel called The Dead Path by Stephen Irwin. I don't find many horror novels really scary, but this one gave me very pleasant creeps. It takes place in Australia, which was also a neat change of pace. I have to note there is gruesome child death and also lots of spiders, so avoid if those things bother you.

I'm currently listening to Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. She's a YA author who wrote All the Bright Places which I enjoyed very much.

I've been mia here for a bit but still reading. I finished The Last Mile, second in the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first one. It's proving to be a really good series.

I also finished No Good Deed by M. P. McDonald. Eh, it was only okay. But, it was a freebie so I wasn't expecting classic literature.

Next, was What's Your Poo Telling You? by Josh Richman and Anish Sheth. I got it just for grins and giggles and that's what I got from it. It was somewhat informative and it had its laugh out loud moments. A cute little book.

Now I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. Set in Boston after WWI, it's a multifaceted family epic of social and political unrest and racial prejudice. A riveting read, I'm enjoying it.

I just finished reading Furious and Outrage by T.R. Ragan. She is a great mystery writer and I've read several of her other series. This is the Faith McCann series about child trafficking. The third book comes out in March.

I'm currently reading the latest Jodi Picoult book. It's good and I am about halfway through. Lots of talk about race and white supremacy. I know there will probably be a twist at the end like most of her books.

I've been stuck in a dead zone for reading of late. I tried and gave up on a couple books. Currently I'm reading The Palest Ink on my Kindle. It's set in 1966 China during the Cultural Revolution. It's a tad predictable, but I'm enjoying it. I've read some non fiction books about Mao and his incredible influence in China. This fictional account adds another layer to my understanding.

I really enjoyed her book. Worth the wait!

Ooh, I really liked All the Bright Places - I will have to put her new one on my list.

Good use of your credit. I love his books and really enjoyed Redemption Road.

I only finished one book this week and I really liked it.  To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey.  (Ivey is also the author of The Snow Child.)  In the late 1800s, Colonel Forrester sets off with a small group of men to explore a remote section of Alaska.  His pregnant wife stays behind.  The story is told through letters, diaries, photographs, and drawings.  I am not a big fan of magical realism, but this one does an excellent job with it.  5/5

Thanks! I'm really enjoying this one so I probably will continue the series, though I am getting a little weary of every author writing a series now instead of one.stinkin'.novel! I can't tell you how many series I've started!

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.
This morning I finished three books (my current read, a bit at a time book, and a kid's book that took me the amount of time to work out on the treadmill to read.)
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Abbotson. This reminded me a lot of Downtown Abbey - it's the story of a manor house in 1919 facing many of the same issues that Lord Grantham did, it tells the story of both the servants and the gentry, it features an upcoming wedding of a landed woman who will bring funds to the household, but it features a Russian Countess who is hired as a new maid. Sweet, predictable, cute, funny. A good read.
I read a book about a man's conversion from Protestantism to Orthodoxy, Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells by Matthew Gallatin. It doesn't sum up my story, but I found it interesting in historical background.
The kid's book was the second Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald. Cute and formulaic.
On an airplane this past week, I read Murder in Murray Hill by Victoria Thompson. This is a cozy mystery series that I enjoy about a midwife and a cop in early 20th century New York. This one was a bit more gory and gruesome that some of the others.
I also read The Book of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. It is hard to rate as the fiction was fantastic and I enjoyed this part. However, it was very cruel, violent, and misogynistic, and I didn't enjoy that part at all.
Finally, I read The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. It's very Catholic in theology, since I'm Orthodox I don't necessarily agree with some of his conclusions, but I did appreciate his writing about the dry times of our faith.

One of the few books that I never finished.  

I just finished A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.  I loved it so much.  The characters were so beautifully written.  

Now I am reading Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead.  It is okay, not great, although I wonder how much it is suffering for coming directly after a book I loved.  SaveSave

I am almost finished with Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. It is really good, but I am afraid of the ending because her books have disappointed me with the endings.

Nightingale By kristen Hannah! WWII historical fiction set in France.  It was excellent

I finished In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware and just like her other book I recently finished (The Woman in Cabin 10) I loved it. I hope she will write another within the next year. They are great page-turners!

I also keep going back to my Mary Higgins Clark book, The Melody Lingers On, in between my other books. I'm about halfway or so though and it's typical MHC. I know her books are cheesy with one dimensional characters but yet I still cannot stay away. I also have a few books from the library that are in to read pile: Smoke by Dan Vyleta, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehad and The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore on my Kindle (This one hasn't captured me yet and I was ready to fall in love because I loved her other book, The Admissions). And now I've added that Couple Next Door book or whatever it's called. I have to get to reading!

For my audiobooks (because I always have one of those going on in my car) I just finished listening to Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. I thought it was very well done, kept me engaged. I agree with some of what the other peas said about some of the sexism--macho, powerful men, in control and rather weak or at least under-utilized women. Despite that though (and I'm going to say it wasn't intention--just a male writer who doesn't write women as well ). I saw several people complain about the ending though, and that made me very nervous. I actually thought the ending was really well done. Now my newest audiobook (I'm about two hours in) is I Let Go by Clare Mackintosh. I think I'm really going to like this one. Has anyone read it? I almost got Snow Child instead--hope I made the right choice (Snow Child is still on my "to read" list).