What Are We Currently Reading?

[Hidebehind]

I just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and now I'm rereading the All Creatures Great and Small series. 

[alias1]

A few years ago, I read Watership Down for the first time since 8th grade, and it was even better then I remembered. In fact, I might just take a look at it again this summer.

I loved Watership Down.  And I highly recommend another one of his books, The Plague Dogs.  It's about two dogs that escape from an animal laboratory.

[alias1]

I just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and now I'm rereading the All Creatures Great and Small series. 

I wasn't crazy about The Ocean At The End of The Lane.  Did you like it?  It seemed rushed to me, like maybe his publisher said you really need to write another book.  I'm a huge fan of Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book.  I liked American Gods and Anansi Boys but not as much as the first two I mentioned.  I liked Stardust, too.  I know he has a lot of other stuff I've never read.  

[Hidebehind]

I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would from reading the blurb. I'm more of a sci-fi/horror person and it was definitely on the fantasy side of the spectrum. 

[Jazzy24]

I'm reading The Silmarillion and I really like it so far.

[bubbls]

bubbls, try Shikar by Jack Warner -- http://www.amazon.com/Shikar-Jack-Warner/dp/0765303434. The creature is a Bengal tiger, so not a "monster", but the book has that feel.

 

There needs to be more books about monsters -- not vampires, werewolves, zombies, space aliens -- but the animal kind of monsters.

 

Thanks, AuntiePam! I'll check that one out. Prehistoric is awful grammatically. I actually checked to see if English was the author's second language. But I'm invested in the ending so I shall forge onward. And I agree--more monsters of the animal/hybrid sort!

Edited July 12, 2015 by bubbls

[raven]

 

I wasn't crazy about The Ocean At The End of The Lane.

I really enjoyed this but am partial to Gaiman's short stories; I think he does a fantastic job of world-building, even in a small story like this one. Somehow we get fully realized characters too.  ITA on Neverwhere, which is one of my favorite books overall. 

 

 

A few years ago, I read Watership Down for the first time since 8th grade

I love this book.  "My chief rabbit has told me to stay and defend this run and until he says otherwise I shall stay here" still gives me chills.  I've read it several times.  Tales from Watership Down is OK, but not really close, but for me the bar is very high with Watership Down.  I haven't read anything else by Adams, I'm a bit worried about Plague Dogs and if I will spend most of the time crying over it??

 

I recently finished Gideon by Alex Gordon, which I did enjoy, I wouldn't call it an edge of your seat thriller like Amazon does but it was a good read about a town of witch families, their ties to the past and the demon in their midst.  It's a good library loan.

 

The Geographer's Library suffers from a somewhat bland protagonist and a kind of "that's it" ending.  Probably another good library book, I own it but have no idea where it came from LOL.  The chapters on the artificats and the stories surrounding them were interesting, give it a try if this kind of thing appeals. I would have liked more on Al-Idrisi, the geographer of the title.

 

Next is The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl, I've read most of his other books, I highly recommend his first book (The Dante Club).  I've liked all I've read of his but that one is my favorite.

[OakGoblinFly]

On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up The Blood of Gospel and am only 10 pages in.

[ulkis]

Because I'm weak and it was on sale, I bought The King's Curse by Phillipa Gregory. Good Lord, are Margaret Beaufort and Henry Tudor allowed to have ANY redeeming characteristics? I don't even like them myself that much! Now I know why people don't like her that much (Gregory, I mean).

[Avaleigh]

About a month ago I finished Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser. I actually enjoyed this more than her bio on Marie Antoinette. The power of some of these women and the rigidness when it comes to social protocol within the French court, it's exhausting but fascinating. Talk about some haughty figures people like Grand Mademoiselle and Athenais de Montespan were just impossibly arrogant. 

 

Passing by Nella Larsen. A little gem of a short story from the Harlem Renaissance. I read Quicksand in school and had always been meaning to get to this and can finally cross it off of the list. 

 

Just yesterday I finished Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. This was the big surprise for me out of the latest crop of books I've read. I wasn't expecting anything. I knew nothing of the plot I only took somebody's word for it that it was compelling and heartbreaking and that I *had* to read it. Holy crap, by the time I had about an eighth of the book left I realized I had something in my eyes. Then I realized that my freaking cheeks were wet and that I was full on crying over this deceptively simple story. The end just left me feeling completely devastated. It felt like a total punch in the gut and there's a moment where a character becomes so traumatized that he minor spoilers

is reduced to a point where he begins sucking on his two fingers as he did when he was a child--he's just a completely wrecked shell.

There were multiple things that made the tears come again and again towards the end but that moment took my breath away with how real and sad it felt.  

 

I'm actually curious if anyone here has read Forbidden. I can see how the characters in some ways don't seem well fleshed out and how the plot is pretty basic but the author did a damn good job of making me care about all five of the core characters so that when certain things happen I cared very much about how each of them ended up responding to the situation. Jeez, just going over it all in my head again makes me feel like I'm putting myself through an emotional ordeal. It's horrifying what alcoholism can do to a family. 

 

I definitely need to start another non-ASOIAF book I'm just not sure if I want to go fiction or nonfiction. 

Edited July 16, 2015 by Avaleigh

[Jodithgrace]

Go Set A Watchman has just appeared on my kindle, and I'm kind of afraid to read it. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books. Will this ruin it for me?

[Spartan Girl]

Go Set A Watchman has just appeared on my kindle, and I'm kind of afraid to read it. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books. Will this ruin it for me?

No, I don't think so. I just finished it and even though some parts were shocking, you have to remember it's not so much a sequel as an early/alternate version of TKAM so just just take it with a grain of salt and you'll be fine.

[truthaboutluv]

Just finished The Girl on A Train and yeah, I can definitely see why some were left underwhelmed. While I thought it was okay and like that it was a quick, fast-paced read, any mystery/who-dun-it that one solves barely a quarter of the way into the story, is not good. 

Edited July 17, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[Qoass]

I just finished Judy Blume's In the Unlikely Event.  I occasionally lost track of the colossal amount of characters but very much enjoyed a visit with an author dear to my heart.

 

I seem to be the only one I know who did not enjoy Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale.  It seemed to be written to appeal to people who don't read much if that makes any sense.

 

Next up is The Rocks by Peter Nichols.  The first two chapters are promising.

 

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Has anybody read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch?  I haven't read it, but my mother, who is visually impaired, just got it from the California visually impaired library, and she's hesitant to listen to it because apparently it's really long?  Is it worth investing her time in it?

[Qoass]

Personally I loved it although there's a segment set in Las Vegas that may have her lunging for fast forward.  

[SnoGirl]

I just finished Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It was much different then what I was expecting. It felt very realistic and had real consequences to the main characters' and secondary characters' actions. They made it into a movie, so I wonder if they're going to keep in the main character's quirks or if they're going to tone him down (I also think it speaks a lot that I can't even remember the main character's name, but the two main characters he interacts with through the story, Rachel and Earl).

Edited July 21, 2015 by SnoGirl

[Rick Kitchen]

I really enjoyed the movie.  The main character has a lot of quirks in the movie, I haven't read the book.

[cherrypj]

I'm on a real Anne Tyler streak: just finished Patchwork Planet and now on Back When We Were Grownups. Where, oh where has she been all my life. 

 

Station Eleven deserves every fantastic review it's gotten. 

Edited July 22, 2015 by cherrypj

[Haleth]

I loved Station Eleven.  She needs to write a sequel.

[AuntiePam]

Before going on to the fifth novel in Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series, I'm taking a break with this -- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0082S1MZO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_-- Our Elizabeth: A Humor Novel.  It's free for Kindle, a wonderfully funny account written in 1920 of Elizabeth, a servant who upends the lives of her employers.  Highly recommended. 

Edited July 22, 2015 by AuntiePam

[Danny Franks]

I'm reading Queen of Fire, the third of Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow trilogy. It's not had great reviews, which is a shame, because the first book in the trilogy was fantastic. I'm about fifty pages in, and so far I can see why people were very lukewarm about it. It seems like the protagonist of the first book is relegated to a background character, so far, and a whole host of different POVs have been added.

[GaT]

Station Eleven deserves every fantastic review it's gotten. 

 

 

I loved Station Eleven.  She needs to write a sequel.

Sigh. My brain must work in a different way than other people's, because I keep seeing praise for this book, & for me it was a chore to finish. I didn't like it at all.

[AltLivia]

Well, as usual I'm reading several novels but find myself most captivated by Kazou Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I'm well into the book's third segment. I'd already surmised (just from the earlier terminology) that Halisham students' 

organs would be harvested. And somehow that Hailisham students were clones

. But one thing that keeps me scratching my head is the bizarre behavior of Hailsham principal Miss Emily. The fact that she was obtuse to the point of private craziness. I wonder if I'll find out why, or more about her.

 

And I really hope that the significance of Hailsham student art is not

so that they can prove as adults that they are capable of being in love/are worthy of having transplants deferred.

.

 

It's truly fascinating how Hailsham students are forced to cobble together a life, in the school and out of it. I found myself really emotional when Kathy described having so many lamps in her apartment. Really affected by the character. As well as her time at the Cottages, sleeping under bits of carpet and blankets - just these dingy, desolate circumstances.

 

 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Well, as usual I'm reading several novels but find myself most captivated by Kazou Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I'm well into the book's third segment. I'd already surmised (just from the earlier terminology) that Halisham students' 

organs would be harvested. And somehow that Hailisham students were clones

. But one thing that keeps me scratching my head is the bizarre behavior of Hailsham principal Miss Emily. The fact that she was obtuse to the point of private craziness. I wonder if I'll find out why, or more about her.

 

And I really hope that the significance of Hailsham student art is not

so that they can prove as adults that they are capable of being in love/are worthy of having transplants deferred.

.

 

It's truly fascinating how Hailsham students are forced to cobble together a life, in the school and out of it. I found myself really emotional when Kathy described having so many lamps in her apartment. Really affected by the character. As well as her time at the Cottages, sleeping under bits of carpet and blankets - just these dingy, desolate circumstances.

 

AltLivia, do not click the spoiler tag unless you've finished the book. :-)

 

Halisham actually turns out to be one of the last holdouts. Where people like Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are, well, people rather than receptacles for spare parts. Because the truth is that there are no deferrals, and that there is no hope of reprieve and never has been. The purpose of the art is not to see inside their souls, but to determine whether or not they even have souls period.

[Rick Kitchen]

One great thing about Amazon and Kindle is that there are tons of free works available for your Kindle.  I don't actually have a Kindle, but I do have the Kindle app, and you can just put the free stuff as an attachment to your app and read it that way.  Of course, most of the free stuff is stuff that's out of copyright, but still, it's free.

[LADreamr]

Well, as usual I'm reading several novels but find myself most captivated by Kazou Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

I loved it, too. My only regret was that I wish I had read it completely unspoiled. The gradual way that world unfolds is beautifully written and ultimately so sad. The saddest part of it for me was

their conformity to their unfair fate

.

(I'm not sure that's really a spoiler, but just in case).

[Athena]

I love Never Let Me Go too. I've also read The Remains of the Day and adored it as well. Beautifully written. Years ago, before those books, I tried to read snippets of in When We Were Orphans at the library and it didn't pull me. I'm glad I read the former two first or tried Ishiguro again. I want to read more from him, but I'm not sure if his other works live up to NLMG and TRotD. Anyone else have thoughts on his oevre?

[NewDigs]

I'm on a real Anne Tyler streak: just finished Patchwork Planet and now on Back When We Were Grownups. Where, oh where has she been all my life.

Station Eleven deserves every fantastic review it's gotten.

I think that Anne Tyler is one of my all-time favorite authors. She does quirky-dysfunction really well. And as much I usually dislike (read: hate) movies made from favorite books and authors I did like both book and movie "Accidental Tourist" with William Hurt and Geena Davis.

It is so wonderful to find a new favorite author! Especially one so prolific! Enjoy.

I very much enjoyed Station Eleven. I have only quite recently come to appreciate post-apocalyptic/dystopian books and this one seemed more layered than many. The flashbacks did a great job of tying everything together and I wasn't left with that feeling of nervous dread that so often accompanies this genre.

Dog Stars by Peter Heller is another really good read in that same vein. His sparse language lends the book a sense of seemingly impossible languor.

And even though Rivers by Michael Farris Smith gave me that nervous edge it, imo, was backed up by page-turning good writing.

Edited July 23, 2015 by NewDigs

[Lovecat]

I'm reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and I'm really enjoying it.  It's not deep, it's not complicated, but it's fun!  Perfect for summertime.  It's my book club's selection for July, and I see a couple of other members have only given it 2 stars on goodreads.  Different strokes, I guess, but when I see them at the meeting next week I might ask them if they're allergic to fun :)

[OakGoblinFly]

CHERRYPJ, ON 21 JUL 2015 - 9:03 PM, SAID:Station Eleven deserves every fantastic review it's gotten.

 

 

HALETH, ON 22 JUL 2015 - 07:44 AM, SAID: I loved Station Eleven.  She needs to write a sequel.

 

 

Sigh. My brain must work in a different way than other people's, because I keep seeing praise for this book, & for me it was a chore to finish. I didn't like it at all.

 

 

Then my brain works like yours --- I read the book and thought it was "meh" at best; an interesting concept that failed in execution.

 

Red Rising is another one book that had rave reviews (including friends who pushed me into reading it) that I had to force myself to finish.  Same for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

[Rick Kitchen]

Ugh, I couldn't even get through Strange and Norrell.

[Haleth]

I was disappointed in Strange and Norrell after all the hype about it.  Apparently I've also pretty much wiped it completely from my memory since very little on the show is familiar.  (I'm questioning whether the one big thing I remember is actually in the book or if it's something I made up to compensate for my disappointment.  I'll find out tonight.)

[hendersonrocks]

Reading When We Were the Kennedys, which is short, but I am going slow, just to savor the writing.   Started it yesterday and have already recommended it to an embarrassing number of people. I usually finish and book and am on to the next immediately (especially on ebook; I just close one and open the next), but I may just have to pause before leaving moving on.

 

Thanks for the rec, Darian - I picked this up after reading this and enjoyed it. (I went to school in a Maine town with long since abandoned factories along on the river, and it was interesting to read what life was like when those mills dominated everything in town.)

 

Next up is Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. 

[AltLivia]

 

AltLivia, do not click the spoiler tag unless you've finished the book. :-)

 

The saddest part of it for me was  Spoiler.

I finished the novel today - was excited that  spoiler tags awaited me. Clearly at Hailsham, they trade their conscience for their special brand of altruism. I thought Tommy was sure to 

kill himself following the deferral meeting. It was so sad, but somehow satisfying. to see him come into his identity as a donor.

His gesture of triumph broke my heart, as well as his bittersweet remark "It's so funny to think (that when I had tantrums)  I knew something everyone else didn't." I enjoyed the dynamic between Ruth, Tommy and Kathy - the real, stubborn humanity of Ruth, her raw emotion, her determination, manipulation and ultimately, her kindness. Kathy, too, felt very real. Her inquisitiveness, her tendency toward solitary. I'm rambing. I was a puddle of tears by the end.

 

Up next, Ron Rash's novel, Serena. Ten pages in and I'm not sure how I feel yet. I also have Max Barry's Lexicon, which I'm enjoying. 

Edited July 26, 2015 by AltLivia

[Rick Kitchen]

I finally bought The Martian (yay!).  I love Weir's breezy style in what could have been a tough technical slog.

[bubbls]

I'm reading Skin by Ted Dekker after having read the author's Adam previously. It's very good so far, but for some reason I can't keep track of the characters. I'm pretty excited to discover Dekker as his books are clean and entertaining and easy to read. Finding all three isn't easy. I don't mind swear words and I'm no prude, but so many authors seem to be gratuitously raunchy and f-bomby.

[alias1]

Go Set A Watchman has just appeared on my kindle, and I'm kind of afraid to read it. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favorite books. Will this ruin it for me?

I just finished Go Set A Watchman and I really liked it.  I was expecting some alternate world version of TKAM and it wasn't . It really is like a sequel.  I wouldn't call this a draft of that novel at all and I'm not even sure how TKAM was ever developed from this book.  Except for the characters, this is a totally different book.  I thought it was fascinating and it certainly has not changed how I view TKAM. 

 

Have you read it yet?

[alias1]

I was disappointed in Strange and Norrell after all the hype about it.  Apparently I've also pretty much wiped it completely from my memory since very little on the show is familiar.  (I'm questioning whether the one big thing I remember is actually in the book or if it's something I made up to compensate for my disappointment.  I'll find out tonight.)

I haven't read Strange and Norrell but I love the BBC series.  The visuals have been stunning.  After the comments here, I probably will not attempt the book.  It seems a lot of people are waiting for the author to write a sequel.  I wonder if that will ever happen since it's been so long.

I finally bought The Martian (yay!).  I love Weir's breezy style in what could have been a tough technical slog.

I read this last year and really liked.  Although all the technical stuff went right over my head.  

[Jodithgrace]

I did finish Watchman, and actually kind of liked it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can understand (if not sympathize) where Atticus was coming from.

The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was a very bitter pill to swallow for the South. What Uncle Jack said about Southerners being fierce individualists who really hated people from the North coming down and telling them what to do, rings true to me from what I have read. 

I think that Scout does come to realize, by the end of the book, that Atticus hasn't suddenly turned racist overnight, but that he is trying his best to work within the system as it stood at that very difficult time. 

I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly. And I wish that

Jem hadn't just suddenly died off stage,and had his place taken by a character who was never in Mockingbird.

but it was readable, and I am glad that Harper Lee will get this money while she is still alive. 

[Darian]

I just finished Go Set A Watchman and I really liked it.  I was expecting some alternate world version of TKAM and it wasn't . It really is like a sequel.  I wouldn't call this a draft of that novel at all and I'm not even sure how TKAM was ever developed from this book.  

Harper Lee had a fantastic editor. Really. 

 

I'm reading Pleasantville by Attica Locke.   I've read and enjoyed her other books, and didn't realize she's a writer and co-producer of the TV show "Empire." I don't watch that, but perhaps I should. 

[PRgal]

I did finish Watchman, and actually kind of liked it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can understand (if not sympathize) where Atticus was coming from.

The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was a very bitter pill to swallow for the South. What Uncle Jack said about Southerners being fierce individualists who really hated people from the North coming down and telling them what to do, rings true to me from what I have read.

I think that Scout does come to realize, by the end of the book, that Atticus hasn't suddenly turned racist overnight, but that he is trying his best to work within the system as it stood at that very difficult time.

I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly. And I wish that

Jem hadn't just suddenly died off stage,and had his place taken by a character who was never in Mockingbird.

but it was readable, and I am glad that Harper Lee will get this money while she is still alive.

I am choosing to view Watchman as sort of an alternative universe. Thus was, after all, meant to be the "original" version of Mockingbird. It was Ms. Lee's editors that suggest that she revise and write from Scout's perspective as a child. And I also can't picture Scout as a 20something. So. Weird. Edited July 27, 2015 by PRgal

[alias1]

I did finish Watchman, and actually kind of liked it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can understand (if not sympathize) where Atticus was coming from.

The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was a very bitter pill to swallow for the South. What Uncle Jack said about Southerners being fierce individualists who really hated people from the North coming down and telling them what to do, rings true to me from what I have read. 

I think that Scout does come to realize, by the end of the book, that Atticus hasn't suddenly turned racist overnight, but that he is trying his best to work within the system as it stood at that very difficult time. 

I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly. And I wish that

Jem hadn't just suddenly died off stage,and had his place taken by a character who was never in Mockingbird.

but it was readable, and I am glad that Harper Lee will get this money while she is still alive. 

I agree with you that Atticus didn't really come off as a racist, as is being reported by so many people.  He tried to work within the system at the time and still believed everyone deserved justice.  As far as the trial of Tom Robinson, this book was written first and he was never mentioned by name and the type of trial was totally different in this book.  It's barely mentioned, if I recall correctly.  One line in the whole book.  Ms. Lee's editor was responsible for making it so prominent in TKAM.  This book was not edited, I believe, so it's just as she wrote it (and it was written first).  I think this book is a great companion piece to the original classic.  I don't get all the naysayers. 

[Hidebehind]

I finished the All Creatures Great and Small series. I also read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. 

 

Now I'm reading The New Way Things Work by Neil Ardley and David Macaulay.

[alias1]

I'm reading a deliciously twisty book called The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson.  I can't wait to see how it ends, which is rare for me.  I find most of these types of books fairly predictable. 

[Jazzy24]

Finally finished The Silmarillion and it was such a great book. It was heartbreaking, the Elves were tragic and the stories were beautiful, and haunting.

I loved the story of Luthien and Beren. The Children of Hurin broke my heart and I was sorry to see the story come to an end but it was filled with so much tragedy and sadness but great book.

Now I'm starting some cozy mysteries.

[cherrypj]

Here's a nice little question from Ask Metafilter: What books seem to have been written to be re-read? Can't say I've read (or re-read!) many of the books listed, though. The Luminaries looks really interesting, though.

[nodorothyparker]

I did finish Watchman, and actually kind of liked it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can understand (if not sympathize) where Atticus was coming from.

The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was a very bitter pill to swallow for the South. What Uncle Jack said about Southerners being fierce individualists who really hated people from the North coming down and telling them what to do, rings true to me from what I have read. 

I think that Scout does come to realize, by the end of the book, that Atticus hasn't suddenly turned racist overnight, but that he is trying his best to work within the system as it stood at that very difficult time. 

I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly. And I wish that

Jem hadn't just suddenly died off stage,and had his place taken by a character who was never in Mockingbird.

but it was readable, and I am glad that Harper Lee will get this money while she is still alive. 

 

This was mostly my take on Go Set a Watchman too.  It did get a little preachy toward the end with everybody ranting and talking over each other trying to explain themselves, but I could at least sort of see where they were coming from.  A lot of Southerners of that time period seriously resented what they saw as heavyhanded outside interference and wanted to work things through on their own timetable.  I don't have to agree with Atticus or any of them on that to appreciate that it's a much more nuanced thing that actually is present in Mockingbird too once you strip away all the childish hero worship.  Watchman in some sections is a grownup angry that their childhood memories of Mockingbird aren't quite what they thought they were.  It's actually quite a marvelous trick Lee managed to pull off even if the writing isn't fully polished in some spots.

 

I like that you can see a lot of the bones of Mockingbird (I recognized entire paragraphs she kept, especially in descriptions of peripheral people.) but it still does feel like a true sequel.  I wasn't wild about the subbing in of Henry Clinton either, but good God it was still the same voice in the childhood reminisces.  Dill's Holy Ghost had me rolling in public.

Edited July 28, 2015 by nodorothyparker

[Yokosmom]

I kind of wished that a good editor had checked the continuity, such as the fact that Atticus did not acquit Tom Robinson. He is not mentioned by name, but the case is referenced incorrectly.

 

Nothing to do with the editor.  Watchman was written before Mockingbird.  

[Kris223]

Re-reading a bunch of older Danielle Steele during my commute. For the romance genre, she really kills off a lot of characters.