Weekly Reading Thread: July 14-20

I read Summer of ‘69 by Elin Hilderbrand. Perfect summer beach read...

I finished Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan. Magic realism, really interesting story. At first it took me a hot minute to get into, but by the end I really liked it.

I also read Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. Great fun read. Highly recommend!

I have a few books up next. I have a bunch I want/need to read for work, but I kind of want to do as many "for me" reads as possible before I go back to work in 2 short weeks (!!!).

I think I'll do Next Year in Havana, as some nice pea let us know it was only $1.99 on Kindle. Then I think I'll read the "In Pain" book I mentioned on the thread I started.

1/2 way through: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Interesting so far.

I haven't posted to this thread in weeks and weeks, but I do check it out. I'm just not doing much reading lately. But I did finish two in the past couple of weeks.

Mary Russell's War and Other Stories of Suspense by Laurie R. King. This is a compilation of various short stories/novellas Laurie King has written over the years about her character Mary Russell, who is the star of one of King's mystery series and who is married to Sherlock Holmes. The last several books in the series have ranged from mediocre to dreadful, but these stories were mostly pretty good (except for one that took place in Mary's advanced old age in which Holmes, 30-odd years her senior, was also still alive. Beyond ridiculous!) They filled in some of the gaps in the storyline in fun ways.

The Body Lies by Jo Baker. I read one of Baker's other books called Longbourn years ago, which was a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants, I think? I remember I didn't like it at all. This one was better, a thriller about a young mother who moves to a remote northern town to teach after being violently assaulted in London. One of her writing students appears to be recovering from a trauma, and he seems to have fixated on her for help. What I found interesting was the undercurrent of the story, in which this woman is failed by almost every single man in her life, except for her toddler son. The author did a good job of describing how unsafe life can be even for a run of the mill, average woman.

I just finished Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive which was really eye opening, I liked it.

My 11th grader has a list of books she has to choose from for summer reading.  One is Educated, so let me know how you like it.

I finished Ask Again, Yes. I really loved it. I was sucked in from the first chapter. It was for book club and most gave it high marks. A few didn’t like the ending, it made for a great discussion.

Currently reading The Girl He Used to Know. The audio narrator is not among my favorites.

I almost missed your first set of blue text. lol Thanks for the chuckle. 

I happily finished The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I absolutely adored. I had to read it before the movie came out. 5/5 stars.
I also loved The German Midwife. Another amazing WW2 book. Just wonderful. 5/5 stars as well.

Both of these are on my list of favorite reads this year.

I had the new Kate Atkinson book to try, but I was not in the mood for it. I'll pick it up later if you guys say it's good.

I'm now reading The Body in Question about a girl on trial for killing her younger brother. Two of the jurors begin a clandestine affair. They discover they are on opposite sides of the case. The premise sounded great. Looking forward to it.

Lisa

I finished A Nearly Normal Family by MT Edvardsson, and I would give it a solid 5/5. I was hooked. A good courtroom who done it, from the viewpoint of the accused, her father, and her mother.

Now I’m halfway through Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. I needed a sci-fi/fantasy book for my book club, and a couple of the Peas recommended it. Not my normal genre of book. I think it’ll end up ok, but seriously it has been a slow build until about 10 pages ago. Now, I’m to a point that I need to keep reading, because something has happened and I want to know! Not sure if I’ll be able to finish it before our book club meets tomorrow after work, but I’ll be close anyway.

I think next will be something like a Nicholas Sparks or something I will read fast . It’s rediculous hot here, so I don’t have much else to do!

A few good ones in the past couple of weeks.


DEAR WIFE BY KIMBERLY BELLE  :  4 STARS
Description:  Two wives are missing, both who had abusive husbands.
Review:  This was picked as Brenda Novak's July Book Club pick.  I follow her on Facebook.  Just when I thought the book description was leading me afar, BOOM ! maybe not !  Very good twist I didn't see coming at all !  The last 30% of the book was a wild ride.

THE GOOD SISTER BY GILLIAN McCALLISTER  :  4 STARS
Description:  Martha & Becky Blackwater are more than sisters; they're each other's lifelines.  When Martha finds herself struggling to balance early motherhood and her growing business, Becky steps in to babysit her niece, Layla, without a second thought.  When the unthinkable happens, Becky is charged with murder.
Review:  I found this new author for me on Bustle.com's Summer 2019 Thriller List, which was recommend by author Robyn Harding.  I actually found 15 new authors and this is the second one I've tried and loved.  I loved how the author mixed the trial with the mom's memories of the past.  Things you thought in the past meant one thing, look differently due to the current circumstances.  Very eye-opening.  Liked the flow of the trial.  The twist at the end made for a real heartfelt epilogue.

SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO  :  4 STARS
Description:  No need for a description, since sooo many TwoPeas have read and recommended this book.
Review:  I finally got around to reading this one.  What a great story about a strong woman and actress.  First book by this author for me and loved her writing style.  Even if you didn't agree with all of Evenlyn's decisions, she made you understand why and you had to keep in mind the years this was happening in.

I LOOKED AWAY BY JANE CORRY  :  3 STARS
Description:  Every Monday, Ellie looks after her grandson Josh.  She loves him more than anyone else in the world.  The only thing that can mar her happiness is her husband's affair.  He swears its over until he gets a call from the girlfriend.  Just for a moment Ellie takes her eyes off her grandson and that will change her life forever.
Review:  Most of the book told in a flashback of Ellie's early life and Jo's life as a person living on the street.  I thought Jo's parts dragged on a little too much.  The last 10-20% did bring everything to a good closure with a little twist at the end and a surprise friend who helped Ellie escape.

Those look so good!  I added all of them to pinterest!  I will check the bustle.com website.  I love finding new authors to read.  Thanks so much!

Last week I read A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum and really liked it. It took a long time for me to get going on it and then I couldn't put it down.

I started Need to Know by Karen Cleveland and am liking it so far. It was a recommendation from someone on a past thread. The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth also arrived from waitlist on my kindle, so I want to get through Need to Know quickly so I can get started with that. I had a long wait with that book.