What Are We Currently Reading?

[partofme]

I was given Thirteen Reasons Why by a coworker, I wasn't planning on reading it and now I'm forced to and it's kind of torture.

[hendersonrocks]

I started Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan yesterday and so far I like it much, much more than her other books (Commencement, Maine, The Engagements). I thought all three of those were okay and not really worthy of the hype, but this one has quickly/surprisingly reeled me in. 

[Lugal]

Been on a nonfiction kick lately, right now I'm working on White Trash: the 400-year untold story of class in America.  It's kind of dense, but fascinating.

[OtterMommy]

9 minutes ago, Lugal said:

Been on a nonfiction kick lately, right now I'm working on White Trash: the 400-year untold story of class in America.  It's kind of dense, but fascinating.

I haven't heard of this one, but it is going on my wishlist right now!

[Qoass]

Well, I was hating what I was reading so I dropped it in favor of The Answers by Catherine Lacey and guess what?  Hate that too.  So now, I'm moving on to Barbara Bourland's I'll Eat When I'm Dead because with a title like that, how bad can it be?

By the way if anybody knows if People We Hate at the Wedding or The Answers become miraculously better in their second halves, please let me know so I can give them another try before their library due dates.  I hate to give up on books even when they're bad.

[nodorothyparker]

On 6/21/2017 at 11:51 PM, Lugal said:

Been on a nonfiction kick lately, right now I'm working on White Trash: the 400-year untold story of class in America.  It's kind of dense, but fascinating.

I bought this a couple of months ago on a whim just on the basis of the title.  Having grown up in what most people would at best if they were feeling generous consider poor white working class, I'm always interested to see different writers' takes on it.  It's still sitting next to my favorite reading chair to tackle if I ever get my head to a place to try to get into something serious and weighty.

[Crs97]

I am reading Jackie's Girl by Kathy McKeon, in which she recounts her days as Jackie Kennedy O's personal assistant.  It is like Downton Abbey for America.  Very easy, enjoyable read, but she leads you to believe her previous employer was a woman from hell.  Now that I have gotten to that chapter, I find myself thinking I would have fired Kathy.  She doesn't sound like the most honest employee ever.  I hope I wasn't supposed to be thinking she is just a card and Mrs. C was awful.

[SophieDelago]

On 16/06/2017 at 10:23 PM, Darian said:

That's been on my list for awhile and now I want to bump it up the list. I usually read ebooks, but  vaguely remember one person who recommended it insisting I read the physical book.  Would you agree?

You literally can't read the ebook. I don't know how that would work. There are so many footnotes within footnotes, not to mention that sometimes the text is printed askance, upside down or simple backwards. Reading the book is a very physical thing, you therefore need a physical copy

[luna1122]

Finished The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen. It was okay. Readable but unmemorable. Also read All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. The 'twist' of the book being told backwards is pretty gimmicky and kind of unnecessary, but it IS one of those compulsively readable books that keeps  you guessing. Also: Arcadia by Lauren Groff.  So lyrical and poetic, the language so gorgeous, the story so sad and the characters indelible...so why didn't I LOVE it? I don't know. I liked it. I admired it. I wish I could write like her. I cried at the end. And yet...there's something, some barrier, something that kept me a little removed. I realized that I had the same reaction to her Fates and Furies. She's a brilliant, evocative writer...and yet....I don't know. If I had her gift of language, perhaps I could express it, but I don't, so...

Now reading Darcey Bell's A Simple Favor. so far: intriguing.

[Bunty]

Finished Thick as Thieves (2017) by Megan Whalen Turner fifth in a young adult series.   Every book has so much going on and what seems like a throw away sentence in 1 book pays off for the reader 2 books on down the line. 

From bn.com

New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner’s entrancing and award-winning Queen’s Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception.

1. The Thief (1996)
2. The Queen of Attolia (2000)
3. The King of Attolia (2006)
4. A Conspiracy of Kings (2010)
5. Thick as Thieves (2017)

[Haleth]

I finished The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck the other day.  It's about the widow of a Nazi resister who searches for the families of other deceased resisters and brings them to her family's castle in rural Germany following the end of the war.  Describing their day to day survival is interesting (reminding me of Scarlett and Mellie at Tara) but the best parts of the book were the flashbacks showing how the women ended up there.  I wish the author had spent more time on the early days of the post war period but she follows them into the 50s where they become less interesting.  Plus aside from the three women none of the other characters are well developed.  Still there is a poignancy when the reader sees how even the next generation was damaged by the war.  It's a good read, flawed but worth the time.

[Katy M]

I'm reading Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag.  It's driving me bonkers.  Everything the main character does is great and turns out perfectly, even when it is a completely idiotic thing to be doing.  Therefore, most of his neighbors practically worship him even though he's just an extremely lucky moron.  On the other hand, his wife is seriously depressed and about two steps from being insane and he doesn't seem to notice.

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I'm reading Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag.  It's driving me bonkers.  Everything the main character does is great and turns out perfectly, even when it is a completely idiotic thing to be doing.  Therefore, most of his neighbors practically worship him even though he's just an extremely lucky moron.  On the other hand, his wife is seriously depressed and about two steps from being insane and he doesn't seem to notice.

Let's just say this...keep reading.

[Katy M]

53 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

Let's just say this...keep reading.

I have about 100 pages left.  Can't see how it can get much better, but I will definitely finish.

[OtterMommy]

6 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I have about 100 pages left.  Can't see how it can get much better, but I will definitely finish.

I read it several years ago and enjoyed, although I did share your feelings--until the end.

[MeloraH]

Recently read and loved: Exit West, Lincoln in the Bardo,  and My Documents 

Recently read and really liked: The Rules Do Not Apply, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage..., Afterland, Strange the Dreamer, A Separation and A.S. Byatt's Ragnarok

Currently reading and loving: The Hate U Give and To The Lighthouse

[Qoass]

I just finished Gwendy's Button Box which was exactly what I expect from Stephen King. Now I'm on to The Gypsy Moth Summer. After one chapter, I don't love it but I don't hate it.

[Katy M]

@OtterMommy, I finished the book, and I gotta say, I'm not really feeling a lot of love for the ending either.

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

@OtterMommy, I finished the book, and I gotta say, I'm not really feeling a lot of love for the ending either.

I mean, I didn't love the ending (because, really, how could anyone *like* that...), but it put the whole book in a different light for me.  Sorry to hear it didn't work for you!

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, OtterMommy said:

I mean, I didn't love the ending (because, really, how could anyone *like* that...), but it put the whole book in a different light for me.  Sorry to hear it didn't work for you!

Spoiler

I guess I just felt like the ONE time he was trying to be sensible, his wife talks him into doing something foolish and he died.  I found the ending to be a bit ironic, I guess.  I think I'm mostly just glad it's over, LOL.  I mean, the character wasn't a bad guy.  He was just impulsive.  And, it was kind of annoying that he was the luckiest man on earth.  But, I didn't want his luck to go that far south.

[Mindthinkr]

Just finished My Usual Table (A Life in Restaurants) by Coleman Andrews. As a foodie I loved it. As a reader...so so.  Great meal descriptions and histories of chefs (Wolfgang Puck and Spago) and their eateries. A lot about French, Italian and Spanish cuisine. 

[Mystery]

I recently finished The Woman in Cabin 10, so thanks to the posters who recommended it. I liked it. As others have said, it was a fast read, though as someone else also said, I felt like I had a hangover like the main character did! And I just finished Life After Life. I went back a few pages to see if someone here recommended that, but I couldn't find it. I loved that book. The author has another one (I don't know if you can call it a sequel) and I can't wait to read that one. Life After Life is about a character who keeps dying and being reborn in different circumstances (still as the same character, with much of the same family). I like to write, and it seemed to me that the book is also about the creative process. It's not like anything else I've ever read.

[Mindthinkr]

@Mystery Can you please post the author's name of Life After Life? Thank you. 

[MeloraH]

50 minutes ago, Mystery said:

And I just finished Life After Life. I went back a few pages to see if someone here recommended that, but I couldn't find it. I loved that book. The author has another one (I don't know if you can call it a sequel) and I can't wait to read that one. 

I think I may have talked about it on here with someone  in relation to Jenny Erpenbeck's The End of Days which had a really similar high concept but was executed differently. I loved them both. The 'sequel' is really great too A God in Ruins especially if you like Teddy, which who wouldn't? .

 

42 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

@Mystery Can you please post the author's name of Life After Life? Thank you. 

It's by Kate Atkinson

[GaT]

I just started Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey. It's the third book in the Felix Castor series. If you're a fan of the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher, you might want to give this series a try, it's has a similar vibe. Felix Castor is an exorcist in London after the dead have started coming back.

[Mystery]

Yes, sorry, Kate Atkinson, and I *adored* Teddy!

[Crs97]

UO, but I didn't love Life After Life.  Death loses its powerful punch when it just becomes a re-do, and then I couldn't remember the different details of each life.  Soon I stopped caring.  *Shrugs.*

[Haleth]

I read Life After Life.  It was definitely original!

[Zola]

Sarah Walter's "Fingersmith". This is my second book of hers after the hugely enjoyable lesbian period drama "Tipping the Velvet"

Only 30 pages in so far, yet already I am engrossed and wanting the time to read more!

Will it match, or even exceed "Velvet"? I certainly hope so!

[luna1122]

Also UO, but tho I have loved many Kate Atkinson books and expected to be profoundly moved by Life After Life, I just couldn't wait for it be over. I will not be reading the sequel.

Finished A Simple Favor. Man, these chicks make Amy Dunne seem like a choir girl. It was a fast read, mostly fun. Now reading Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. It is DARK, but also fast and twisty.

Edited July 3, 2017 by luna1122

[Qoass]

Wow, did I love Elizabeth Strout's Anything is Possible. More short stories with the characters from Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton. Now, I want to go back and read all three again.

Quote

Now I'm on to The Gypsy Moth Summer. After one chapter, I don't love it but I don't hate it.

I ended up closer to hating it.

[alias1]

@Haleth  Thanks for the great review of The Women in the Castle.  I liked it, too.  It was a little different perspective and showed that many German people suffered during and after the war.  I found a lot of it poignant, as you said.  

Now I'm reading The Orphan's Tale (Pam Jenoff) and at 30% in I'm finding it a bit slow.  Maybe it will pick up.

I loved Life After Life (Kate Atkinson).   Was not as fond of the sequel, A God in Ruins.  I loved her Jackson Brodie series and wish she would do another. 

[raezen]

On 01/05/2017 at 7:02 PM, Minneapple said:

I just finished The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and yeah, it is worth the hype. Read it and make everyone you know read it. Especially the teenagers in your lives. And not just because it's an important book, socially speaking, but because it's just plain a good book with a great cast of characters that I really grew attached to.

I almost wish Thomas had made it a non-YA book, writing it from third person rather than first. But that is a minor quibble. Starr is a very relatable character, especially as a woman of color. Not that we lived in the hood or the ghetto. We lived in suburban Minneapolis, surrounded by mostly white families and I went to a school with mostly white kids. So it brought me back to those days, sometimes feeling like I stuck out like a sore thumb no matter how much I tried to dress and act like all the other kids in school. 

I just finished part one of this novel. I am really liking it even more than I thought. You're right it is a great cast of characters, and I think my favourite is Starr's father Maverick. I'm the same age as Maverick and the closest I got to seeing a Maverick growing up was a very special episode of a cautionary tale style show(I grew up in a rural area). In these episodes Mavericks either died or were sent to prison presumably for the rest of their lives. It really touched my heart that there was an after for Maverick with a family and goals and objectives for him as a member of his community. 

[helenamonster]

4 hours ago, luna1122 said:

Also UO, but tho I have loved many Kate Atkinson books and expected to be profoundly moved by Life After Life, I just couldn't wait for it be over. I will not be reading the sequel.

Finished A Simple Favor. Man, these chicks make Amy Dunne seem like a choir girl. It was a fast read, mostly fun. Now reading Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. It is DARK, but also fast and twisty.

I read Pretty Girls awhile back, it was the first book of Slaughter's I'd read. I like her writing style and it was definitely twisty and dark, which I enjoy, but at moments I found it to be a little too twisty. My biggest pet peeves with mysteries is when authors use the lazy plot device of having a character lie, then be caught in the lie, only to tell another lie, on and on and on. It's manufactured drama and it makes things to hard to follow for me, especially when more than one character does it, which happens in Pretty Girls. Then you don't know who you can trust or what the plot is going to play out like at all, which makes me give up on trying to predict the twists and makes for a very frustrating read. Slaughter didn't get overly egregious with it, like some other authors I've read have, but it did skirt that line and bumped the book down from fairly enjoyable to meh for me. The story has good bones but that sort of thing gets in the way of my enjoyment. YMMV.

[Haleth]

I just started Camino Island last night.  It was hard to put it down to go to sleep.

[helenamonster]

Just finished: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, which I really enjoyed. I think a big part of my enjoyment is that the main action of the book (it takes place in two timelines, flipping back and forth every other chapter) takes place in the only two places I've ever lived, the Main Line in Pennsylvania and New York City. It's really cool to read a book and see references to real familiar locations like Minella's Diner, or the Planned Parenthood in St. Davids, which I grew up across the street from. Knoll's bio at the back of the book said she grew up on the Main Line and went to Shipley, which explains how she was able to capture the culture there: a mix of old money and new money and the differences in the way they flaunted (or didn't flaunt) their wealth. The whole book was clearly a therapeutic exercise for Knoll, as huge chunks of it appear to be autobiographical, but I thought it gave the story an extra bit of emotional heft, whereas sometimes that sort of thing can really get in the way of an interesting narrative. I think it helped that the protagonist, Ani, is fairly unlikeable and a little bit of a sociopath, constantly projecting the image that she thinks other people want to see and manipulating people into liking her. Even moments where she's nice or kind seem calculated and self-serving. Seeing as the book was based on something that really happened to Knoll, it would have been easy for her to go the Mary Sue route, but I'm glad she didn't. Awful things happen to all kinds of people. Not everyone is the waif-like, perpetually put-upon victim.

Next up: Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy.

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

Just finished: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, which I really enjoyed.

I just finished this too! I also appreciated Ani wasn't a Mary Sue, and that things went an unexpected way on a number of fronts. (I'm thinking about the storylines involving her parents and Mr. Larson in particular - I think conventional fiction would have gone in a different direction than she chose to.)

Just started The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo and am currently hooked though wondering what the THING is going to be. There's obviously a twist coming.

Finished Saints for All Occasions before Luckiest Girl Alive and *really* liked it a lot. It would definitely crack the top-10 of books read (so far) this year. The Leavers by Lisa Ko and The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson are next up...I think I'm going to miss the frothiness of these last few reads when I get there.

[Minneapple]

Road trip reading! I finished The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. Both good reads, I would recommend both.

I think I actually liked The Woman in Cabin 10 better than The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl. The protagonist was more likable than the protagonists in either one of those other books. It wasn't a tough read, but good enough for a mystery novel.

The Fact of a Body was completely different (it may have been mentioned earlier in this thread, actually). It's a true crime novel and a thought-provoking read that hits on some tough subjects including pedophilia and child molestation. It's a really honest book, which I appreciated from the author. She doesn't hold anything back. 

And just as the road trip was finishing, I started Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. So far it seems promising 

[Qoass]

I'm 100 pages into Laurie Frankel's novel This Is How It Always Is about a married couple with five sons, the fifth of whom identifies as a girl fairy (sic). Reading about how the family and school seek to keep the child safe and happy is intriguing. The author has a tic about characters ranking their worries that I could do without but it is well written. I'm really interested in where the story goes next.

[GaT]

5 hours ago, Qoass said:

I'm 100 pages into Laurie Frankel's novel This Is How It Always Is about a married couple with five sons, the fifth of whom identifies as a girl fairy (sic). Reading about how the family and school seek to keep the child safe and happy is intriguing. The author has a tic about characters ranking their worries that I could do without but it is well written. I'm really interested in where the story goes next.

A girl fairy?

[Qoass]

He goes to kindergarten and likes to do so in a dress while wearing costume wings his grandma got him for Christmas.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, Qoass said:

He goes to kindergarten and likes to do so in a dress while wearing costume wings his grandma got him for Christmas.

Oh. This poor kid is not going to have an easy life.

[Browncoat]

9 hours ago, Qoass said:

I'm 100 pages into Laurie Frankel's novel This Is How It Always Is about a married couple with five sons, the fifth of whom identifies as a girl fairy (sic). Reading about how the family and school seek to keep the child safe and happy is intriguing. The author has a tic about characters ranking their worries that I could do without but it is well written. I'm really interested in where the story goes next.

I loved that the family just rolled with it.

[luna1122]

On ‎7‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 0:54 PM, helenamonster said:

I read Pretty Girls awhile back, it was the first book of Slaughter's I'd read. I like her writing style and it was definitely twisty and dark, which I enjoy, but at moments I found it to be a little too twisty. My biggest pet peeves with mysteries is when authors use the lazy plot device of having a character lie, then be caught in the lie, only to tell another lie, on and on and on. It's manufactured drama and it makes things to hard to follow for me, especially when more than one character does it, which happens in Pretty Girls. Then you don't know who you can trust or what the plot is going to play out like at all, which makes me give up on trying to predict the twists and makes for a very frustrating read. Slaughter didn't get overly egregious with it, like some other authors I've read have, but it did skirt that line and bumped the book down from fairly enjoyable to meh for me. The story has good bones but that sort of thing gets in the way of my enjoyment. YMMV.

Finished this, and yeah, I agree. I liked it, still, but it's like she threw EVERYTHING in there...just kept piling on shocks and twists and EVERYONE was the EVIL and yeah...it came off like an extended 3 part arc of a Criminal Minds episode or something, which I stopped watching cuz it was just all so elaborately horrible and dark. And I'm a girl whose fave show and biggest crush is a cannibal. I'll try another by her cuz I like her writing style, but with reservations.

Just began Ann Patchett's Commonwealth. I find her writing reliably wonderful and evocative, and I'm loving so far.

[Zola]

I fancy a bit of science fiction this week - something easy on the mind, but engrossing as well. 

So have swished through my ebook library and gone with Isaac Asimov's "Caves of Steel" This is one of his early Robot novels that would soon morph into his Empire & Foundation books. Not sure if I'm ready to go down that particular road as they're more of a challenge. But I think "Caves of Steel" and the subsequent follow-up "The Naked Sun" will keep me amused for the next 3 or 4 days.

[Zola]

 I just can't leave Sara Walters alone, and have now bought another couple of books of hers beginning with "The Night Watch", set in London during WWII, and the inter-relationships between 3 women and a man during the constant air raids, death and terror in the streets of the capital.  

A slight departure from the usual full-blown lesbian dramas she writes. Hopefully it will be as just as good.

[GaT]

I'm reading Silver Silence by Nalini Singh, the first Trinity book in the Psy-Changling series. I have to say, it's not holding my interest like books in this series usually do, maybe because it's kind of a reboot? Or maybe it's because bears just aren't as sexy as wolves, or cats. Also, Silver (the lead female) just seems to be handling emotions & physical touching too easily, & I was never really interested in her to begin with.

[Qoass]

I just finished Saints for All Occasions and didn't care for its unrelenting seriousness. Having now read three of her novels, I can conclude that J. Courtney Sullivan, like Jodi Picoult, is one of those wildly popular authors that I just can't get into.

[DearEvette]

I finally read --  or rather listened to  -- The Rosie Project on audio.  Very good,  I loved the narrator. Loved the main character.  Loved the story.

So I jumped right into the sequel The Rosie Effect.  Still great narrator and main character,  but the book/story was a major let down from the first one.  Really did not enjoy it as much.

[Katy M]

I'm currently reading The Alibi by Sandra Brown.  Would it have killed her to make one character likeable?  OK, I can kind of  get behind Loretta because she's an addict whose trying to get a second chance, but she's pretty secondary at this point.