What Are We Currently Reading?

[truthaboutluv]

6 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

I've read it twice at different times of my life. Please give me a message when you are done as I have always had a burning question about it but to put it here right now might spoil something for you. Thank you. 

Cool. Now I'm really curious.

[Mindthinkr]

3 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Cool. Now I'm really curious.

It might be also what edition that you are reading. We'll speak again later when you're finished. Happy pages! 

P.S. I liked it and would consider a third read! 

[rmcrae]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 0:35 PM, hendersonrocks said:

Get thee to the library - you will LOVE Tiger Eyes if you loved all these others!

Just finished Warriors Don't Cry and I'm on the waiting list for Tiger Eyes. Can't wait to read it. :)

[aradia22]

I finally got them back from the library so I'm reading Eddie Izzard's autobiography and I haven't dipped into Nina Simone's yet because I kind of lost the thread of it (it took months to get this book back). 

I'm also reading a bad romance novel for the lulz that I need to finish in 7 days so I can return it to amazon. It's riddled with errors that I think the editor just missed (or gave up fighting the author on). The contradictions and inconsistencies are numerous. The number of cliches is staggering. I would savage it but it's a book no one cares about. The best thing I can say about it is that it's the kind of book that gives you the confidence to think you could get something published. 

In the self-help category, I've dipped a toe into reading Mindset. I haven't read enough to evaluate the writing or ideas but the little I've read so far definitely resonates with me. Maybe this'll be the book that works for me.

With all these new books I put aside Troubling Love for the moment. It was also a bit depressing.

[festivus]

I just finished The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I was really enjoying the story until the end. I felt really let down. I've got Bruce Campbell's Hail to the Chin on deck. It should cheer me up, I loved If Chins Could Kill.

[surreysmum]

I'm reading Ian Rankin's latest (or latest in paperback, anyway), "Rather Be the Devil," and enjoying it - but then Rankin is a reliable author for me. And Edinburgh is a truly great setting for a detective/police procedural series. Most of my longstanding detective series are getting to the point, though, where the main detective is hitting the problems of later years, and Rebus (who is retired, with serious health issues) is a prime example of that. For someone also hitting the problems of later years, it's relatable but depressing. I've got to find myself a new young author with a young detective! :) I appreciate that Rankin's trying to move the Malcolm Fox/Siobhan Clarke tandem into the spotlight and wean us off Rebus, but so far it's the brilliant old grouch, and his curiously codependent relationship with lead villain Cafferty, that continues to hold my interest from book to book.  With this one, I'm nowhere near figuring out yet how a 30-year-old murder in a hotel is related to money-laundering (and presumably worse) in the present, but I'm just happily coasting along for now. These days I'm often a lazy reader and let the author surprise me with whatever surprises they've got, rather than trying to gain invisible brownie points by guessing correctly before the big reveal.

Am I the only habitual mystery reader who mostly doesn't do it for the "aha gotcha" moment any more, but generally just for good characters (some familiar), an interesting setting, and the knowledge that you're going to get some sort of resolution - though not necessarily a full one - at the end?

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, surreysmum said:

Am I the only habitual mystery reader who mostly doesn't do it for the "aha gotcha" moment any more, but generally just for good characters (some familiar), an interesting setting, and the knowledge that you're going to get some sort of resolution - though not necessarily a full one - at the end?

No, you are not. I have some authors that I enjoy (Preston and Childs for instance) and love following their main character Pendergast even though one of their books I had figured out at page 43.  I have also read a lot of Patricia Cornwell, Dick Francis, Arthur Conan Doyle, Louise Penny and John Grisham just to give you a sampling. To me it's more about the characters and the way that they write than to get to that "ah ha" moment. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Mindthinkr

[helenamonster]

On 12/8/2017 at 1:44 PM, surreysmum said:

Am I the only habitual mystery reader who mostly doesn't do it for the "aha gotcha" moment any more, but generally just for good characters (some familiar), an interesting setting, and the knowledge that you're going to get some sort of resolution - though not necessarily a full one - at the end?

Nope, I'm this way too. In my experience, writers who try too hard for an "aha gotcha" moment tend to completely overshoot and deliver a resolution that doesn't make a lick of sense. I prefer mysteries with a logical progression and clues I can try to figure out on my own (with of course a couple of twists along the way). If I figure out the ending before getting there, so be it. I will say though that when an author can pull of a completely amazing surprise ending that also totally fits in line with what was previously established, I do enjoy that. But it's so hard to do and therefore extremely rare.

[Irlandesa]

On 11/24/2017 at 8:17 PM, unicorn23 said:

I just finished The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and it's probably going to end up as the best book I've read this year.

I had this book out from the library and I had about three days before it was due to read it.  I thought it'd be impossible but it was a quick and enjoyable read about something I hadn't heard about.  I'm surprised it hasn't been optioned for a movie yet.  It had a little bit of everything.

On 12/8/2017 at 0:44 PM, surreysmum said:

Am I the only habitual mystery reader who mostly doesn't do it for the "aha gotcha" moment any more, but generally just for good characters (some familiar), an interesting setting, and the knowledge that you're going to get some sort of resolution - though not necessarily a full one - at the end?

I don't mind a 'gotcha' moment if the book up to that point was engaging and the surprise wasn't ridiculous.  One thing I really appreciate is when a book has a big surprise but doesn't wait to reveal it.  For instance, I figured out the big twist in Gone Girl pretty early on and was so relieved that the twist was so much not that meat of the story that Gillian Flynn tipped her hat about half way through.

[BooksRule]

I just finished re-reading Betty MacDonald's 'The egg and I'.  It is a fictionalized account of the author's years on a chicken farm with her first husband and was originally published in 1945 (and introduced the world to the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle).  If you aren't familiar with the book, you might have seen the movie that was based on it, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.  It's a really funny book and I love her descriptions of the countryside and the food.  But, I had forgotten how the native Americans were described in the book--those parts make me cringe.  I was glad that I read it again and I just found out that a biography of MacDonald was written about year ago.  I also didn't realize that she had written several other books about her life after she left the chicken farm (although I was aware that she was the author of the children's book series 'Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle). 

[MargeGunderson]

On 12/8/2017 at 1:44 PM, surreysmum said:

Am I the only habitual mystery reader who mostly doesn't do it for the "aha gotcha" moment any more, but generally just for good characters (some familiar), an interesting setting, and the knowledge that you're going to get some sort of resolution - though not necessarily a full one - at the end?

You’re not alone! I don’t care about the “gotcha” at all. One of my favorite mystery/crime series is the Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippmann. No big “a-ha” moment but good characters of which the setting, Baltimore, is like a character unto itself. Same with the Chief Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny which often features a small village in Canada outside of Montreal. 

[bubbls]

Case Files of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer by Kat Winters. He's also known as The Original Nightstalker. It's organized and easy to read. I'm generally very careful, but I'm checking the locks more, making sure everything is secure, and feeling glad we've got big barky dogs. If you enjoy true crime this is a fascinating case. It started in the early seventies, and fifty rapes, several murders, and forty years later it remains unsolved. 

[OtterMommy]

I'm finally starting The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.  I've been wanting to read it for ages, but the wait list at the library was miles long.  I sat down to read a chapter or so this afternoon and ended up reading for, well, longer than I intended.  It definitely sucks you in.

[unicorn23]

On 12/9/2017 at 11:42 PM, Irlandesa said:

I had this book out from the library and I had about three days before it was due to read it.  I thought it'd be impossible but it was a quick and enjoyable read about something I hadn't heard about.  I'm surprised it hasn't been optioned for a movie yet.  It had a little bit of everything.

I honestly want a movie based off Code Name Verity first before The Alice Network.  Now that one I'm more surprised of that we haven't heard about it being turned into a movie.

I finished Andy Weir's Artemis last week and it was a quick and enjoyable read. Very reminiscent of The Martian, but with a female protagonist. If you're a fan of The Martian, you'll enjoy this book.

Almost done with the first book of the Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes. I caught up on both seasons this summer and was looking forward to starting the books. I might take a break from sci-fi before I delve into the second book, though. Might start The Valiant by Leslie Livingston tomorrow.

[Zola]

My former girlfriend bought me the complete five-book boxset of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" tome, back in February. 

I only ever got chance to read the first couple of books "Hitchhikers..." and the follow-up "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"; the latter of which I wasn't all that bothered about, and as a consequence never bothered to read the other three books in his boxset.... that is, until now.

So here's to book three : "Life, the Universe and Everything". I hope its an improvement over "Restaurant..." otherwise I probably won't bother with the remaining books again.

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, doram said:

I just finished Dan Brown's Origin.

A few of us in my circle of readers just finished it too. Now we all want to go to Barcelona! 

[Katy M]

I'm reading Are You Afraid of the Dark by Sydney Sheldon. It's is horribly misnamed.  It should be called Are You as Stupid as a Pile of Rocks.  And, I think every character can answer, why, yes, I am, thanks for asking.

[GaT]

I'm currently reading The Long and Short of It by Jodi Taylor. It's a collection of short stories from the The Chronicles of St Mary's series.

[DearEvette]

I am reading Tiffany Haddish's memoir The Last Black Unicorn because I needed something a little lighter from my most recent book.  This is Laugh out loud funny and smart.  Also and I can hear her 'voice' in this so clearly.  My girl crush on her has not been crushed yet, thank goodness.

[alias1]

I just finished If The Creek Don't Rise (Leah Weiss) and absolutely loved it.  Set in rural Appalachia, the characters are authentic and memorable.  Each chapter is a different voice, which normally might put me off, but it flows beautifully.  And, that ending!  I give it 5 stars. 

[OtterMommy]

I'm about to start A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline.  I'm a little nervous because I loved Orphan Train, but really did not love some of her earlier novels.  I can't tell yet if Orphan Train was a fluke or if she actually improved--I guess this book should tell me which it is.

[luna1122]

Finished Grief Cottage, which I liked but didn't just love. Gail Godwin is one of my favorite writers, but her language is just not as rich or her grasp of writing gorgeously about the minutiae of life isn't as sharp as it used to be. Or something. Still, the characters were memorable and the story sweet. I'm now reading enfant terrible Cat Marnell's memoir, How to Murder Your Life. I'm alternately amused, appalled, annoyed and intrigued by her, but the book is fairly in-put-down-able.

[GaT]

I'm currently reading A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin & I'm only so so on it so far. It's the 1st book in a 4 book series, this is the description from Amazon:

Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.
Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable...despite his body never being found.
He doesn't have long to mull over his resurrection, though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.

The book is a 613 page paperback & I've read reviews which call it "over descriptive" & unfortunately, I agree. The main character will walk into an alley, & the author spends multiple pages describing the alley, the description of a piece of clothing takes up most of a bag. characters have conversations that go on & on & don't advance the story at all, etc. I'm hoping it picks up, especially since I already bought the other 3 books.

[alias1]

21 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I'm about to start A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline.  I'm a little nervous because I loved Orphan Train, but really did not love some of her earlier novels.  I can't tell yet if Orphan Train was a fluke or if she actually improved--I guess this book should tell me which it is.

A Piece of the World is really different from Orphan Train,  I liked them both.  The only other book I've read by her is Sweet Water and I didn't like it at all.  I'm not sure I would ever read another book by her but I was really interested in the story behind Christina's World.  

[OtterMommy]

3 hours ago, SierraMist said:

A Piece of the World is really different from Orphan Train,  I liked them both.  The only other book I've read by her is Sweet Water and I didn't like it at all.  I'm not sure I would ever read another book by her but I was really interested in the story behind Christina's World.  

Yeah, Sweet Water was one of the earlier novels that I read...and I hated it.  I'm still optimistic about A Piece of the World, though.

[AngelKitty]

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 4:42 PM, GaT said:

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

I just put this on my hold list at the library. After checking with Goodreads, the second book got better reviews so I'm going to try this series. I'm always looking for good urban fantasy.

GaT, I was wondering if you ever read any of Kim Harrison's The Hollows series?

[Haleth]

I just finished reading The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.  It was a lovely fairytale, very atmospheric and appropriate for the first days of winter.  I was happy to find out a sequel (The Girl in the Tower) has just been published and a third is due sometime next year.

[GaT]

7 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

I just put this on my hold list at the library. After checking with Goodreads, the second book got better reviews so I'm going to try this series. I'm always looking for good urban fantasy.

GaT, I was wondering if you ever read any of Kim Harrison's The Hollows series?

I just finished the 1st book & I hope you're right about the 2nd because I pretty much just skimmed through the end of the 1st just to get it done. 

I read The Hollow series a long time ago & didn't like it much, I wasn't a fan of Kim Harrison's writing, enough that I haven't read any of her other books.

[Neko]

Listening to the audiobook version of  Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.  I've only watched the first installment of the miniseries, so I'm intrigued.  I'd never heard of this case before, but it's very interesting.

Edited December 26, 2017 by Sweet Summer Child

[aradia22]

So weird confession time? I'm kind of cheating on my goodreads challenge. I always say I'm going to read 50 books and fall short because I drop books in the middle and just re-read my favorites. Anyway, I'm only up to 34 this year. But I'm close enough on a bunch that if hunkered down over the next few days I could finish at least another 6. But if I don't... then I can start off the new year on the plus side and get ahead of next year's challenge. 

This feels weirdly shameful. 

[Qoass]

I'm halfway through Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies by Michael Ausiello and would recommended it. It's well structured with a present story intercut with the occasional flashback plus a photo at the beginning of each chapter tied to that chapter's events. It's my second book about a long time together/briefly married couple struck with terminal cancer in two months after Joyce Maynard's latest memoir but this one is much easier to read for lack of a better evaluation.

[Mindthinkr]

15 hours ago, aradia22 said:

So weird confession time? I'm kind of cheating on my goodreads challenge. I always say I'm going to read 50 books and fall short because I drop books in the middle and just re-read my favorites. Anyway, I'm only up to 34 this year. But I'm close enough on a bunch that if hunkered down over the next few days I could finish at least another 6. But if I don't... then I can start off the new year on the plus side and get ahead of next year's challenge. 

This feels weirdly shameful. 

You have nothing to be ashamed of. It is sometimes hard to carve out the time to read. Especially now during the holidays when there are so many extra things to get done. 

[Epeolatrix]

Just finished The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. It's an accessible and entertaining book about the advent of germ theory, and it reminds me a bit of watching The Knick.

[Sharpie66]

On 12/27/2017 at 2:27 PM, Violet Impulse said:

Just finished The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. It's an accessible and entertaining book about the advent of germ theory, and it reminds me a bit of watching The Knick.

Oh, that sounds interesting! I love medical history, so that should be right up my alley. 

If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum. It’s about the birth of forensic medicine in 1920s NYC, focusing on different types of poison from leaded gasoline and the Radium Girls to thallium and the myriad of ways to get alcohol during Prohibition. One of the best nonfiction books in recent years, IMO. I loaned it to my sis who never reads nonfiction, and when she finally got around to reading it, she loved it. I really should reread it after rereading The Alienist.

[MaggieG]

Just finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I wanted to read it before the show debuts on HBO. I liked it, but it felt very rushed at the end. I barely had time to process the who commited the crimes.

Just started on Annhiliation by Jeff Vandermeer. It's the first in a trilogy and the movie adaptation starring Natalie Portman comes out next year. The trailer kinda got me which led me to get the book. It's a short read, only 200 pages so I should finish quickly. I'm only 20 pages in but so far it's interesting. The characters don't have names, they are The Biologist or the Psychologist.  

[OtterMommy]

I finished 2 YA novels last night, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.  The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon is a whimsical story about two people meeting and falling in love when they only have 1 day to spend with each other.  The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli was a sweet novel about what happens to your relationships as you grow up.  I highly recommend both of them!

I'm not sure what I'm going to read now.  I've selected my "first book of the year," which I can't start until January 1, so I need something to hold me over until then.

[Epeolatrix]

11 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum.

I really liked this and I want to second the recommendation. There's also a companion film of the same name, via the PBS series "American Experience".

[Mindthinkr]

@luna1122 Thank you for posting about Fact of a Body. It was haunting and I can't imagine how hard it was for the author to write it due to her own experiences. 

[alias1]

I recently read Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine (Gail Honeyman) and really enjoyed it..  Then I read Beartown (Fredrik Backman).  I had a hard time with the first part of the book.  It's way too much about hockey .  And then it stopped being about hockey, and it was quite compelling.  

[helenamonster]

Just finished: I recently completely changed career tracks and now work for a talent management company that specializes in child and young adult actors. I went with my boss to a Q&A with two people in the industry (a casting director and acting coach) who had just written books, and picked up a copy of each for myself to start becoming more familiar with the world I was working in. They were Confessions of a Casting Director: Help Actors Land Any Role with Secrets from Inside the Audition Room by Jen Rudin and Parenting in the Spotlight: How to Raise a Child Star Without Screwing Them Up by Denise Simon. These books are really niche and probably would only be of interest to people who are actors or who work with actors, but they gave me a lot of insight into my industry and are already helping me to do my job better. What I like about both of them is that they are very realistic about what it takes to have a successful acting career (it is extremely expensive and time-consuming with no guarantee that it will ever pay off, no matter how talented you are) but they aren't discouraging. If you're willing to make these sacrifices for yourself or your child, you have a chance at making it. And if the whole acting thing doesn't work out, the skills you learn while doing it are transferable to many other careers within and outside the industry. For anyone who's not in the acting business but is interested in learning "how the sausage is made," both books are great insights into the audition and casting process.

Over the holidays I finally got to What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and it was exactly the kind of cathartic release I needed after this exhausting year. Anyone's potential to enjoy this book depends on what they want out of it. It's definitely got a lot of bellyaching about the loss and what she, her team, or many others could have done differently, but it also talks a lot about looking towards the future and trying to find the positives in the situation. I don't think there was a single factor in the outcome of the election that Clinton didn't explore fully. It's as comprehensive as it could possibly have been at its time of publication; as she explicitly mentions in the book, things change so quickly with this administration that by the time people read it they might think it's missing some things. The book even became dated while I was in the middle of reading it. In one chapter, Clinton spends a lot of time talking about the Commander in Chief forum that Matt Lauer hosted where he kept asking her about "those damn emails" instead of national security and foreign policy, which is what the forum was supposed to be about. At the time of publication, nobody--including Clinton--knew the full extent of Matt Lauer's history with women. I imagine if this book had come out a year later, those revelations would have played a part in her analysis.

Something to keep in mind about the book too is that Clinton is a lawyer and writes like one. There's definitely some humor and a lot of heartfelt moments in the book, but when it comes to the parts where she dissects the election or talks about what policies she would have implemented if she'd become president, the writing becomes very technical. I love that kind of stuff and I think she writes about it very well (whatever anybody's politics are, you cannot deny that she is an intelligent woman who knows what tf she's talking about), but I realize it's not for everybody and might not be what people are looking for from this book.

Next up: My office is in a co-working space, and one of the other tenants is Alan Alda's management team. Alda is in the office sometimes (I shared an elevator with him just before the holidays!) and a few weeks ago he was signing copies of his book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating and there were some left over, so I grabbed one.

23 hours ago, MaggieG said:

Just finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I wanted to read it before the show debuts on HBO. I liked it, but it felt very rushed at the end. I barely had time to process the who commited the crimes.

I felt the same about the end of Sharp Objects. It was probably my least favorite of Flynn's books. I just didn't like the protagonist and didn't care about her problems. The protagonists in Flynn's other books are obviously also unlikable but I found them compelling and interesting; I can't even remember the name of the main character in this one and I don't care enough to look it up. However, the answer to the book's mystery was so freaking good and she just, like, rushed through it in the last five pages! Although endings don't seem to be her strong suit, I thought the endings of Gone Girl and Dark Places could have been better, but those had more going for them in earlier pages so it didn't seem as annoying. Gone Girl especially was more of a character study and the end was more about where do these kinds of people go from here (the kind of reveal that you would usually expect to end a book happened at the halfway point) but it still felt like she didn't totally know what to do with Nick and Amy. And Dark Places had a good twist but I actually thought that ending was more drawn out than it needed to be.

[truthaboutluv]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:58 AM, helenamonster said:

Although endings don't seem to be her strong suit,

This exactly. I wrote a comment to that effect almost a year ago after I had completed all three books. I felt that all three had the same problem - they start off interesting enough and all had really compelling moments but the endings left a lot to be desired. I detailed my issues with Gone Girl many pages back in this thread and I had a lot of the same problems with the endings of Sharp Objects and Dark Places. I wasn't surprised by the guilty person in Sharp Objects, I just found it a bit implausible, particularly because of the nature of the crimes. That is, the pulling out of the teeth. With Dark Places, the sheer number of coincidences that led to the crime also seemed to stretch credibility a bit in my opinion. I also thought the brother turned out to be a complete dumbass and at least he knew it, which is why he admitted that he was ultimately okay with spending so many years in jail. 

I just completed Everything, Everything after hearing about the book for years and seeing it pop up on damn near every Best Young Adult list. The main reason I finally decided to read it is because I discovered there was apparently a twist. I'd always assumed it was your typical young adult book about a sick teenage girl falling in love with some boy. But when I heard there was this big twist, that got me really curious (because I'm always here for a twist). I figured out the twist half-way through the book and thought it was actually very obvious. That said, I still thought it was a decent enough book - a quick and easy read. Not sure I understand all the hype and praise but interesting enough. 

Before this I finished Harlan Coben's Don't Let Go. Like most of Coben's book, it had a decent mystery and it was a quick and easy enough read. I didn't really love any of the characters too much, including the main character who was mostly just okay. I actually found his obsession with his high school girlfriend of a few months to be a little pathetic, which I'm sure was not what I was supposed to feel but whatever. I also figured out the guilty person well before the ending and thought that too was obvious. I kept reading more for the how and why, rather than the who did it. The why sort of made sense but the whole thing was unnecessarily tragic because of the idea that all these lives were lost because of some stupid teenage prank. 

Finally, I also read One of Us Is Lying. This one seemed to be on every Best Young Adult list for this year. It was interesting and I figured out the guilty person before the reveal then too but was okay with it and thought it made sense. The one thing I wasn't okay with was the

 

crazy ex-boyfriend who turned out to be some sort of complete psychopath. Don't get me wrong, I thought the guy was clearly giving off abusive boyfriend and douchebag vibe and wasn't surprised by his reaction when the truth about his girlfriend and the other guy came out. But the whole plot line of his knowing months before and being in on Simon's plan and essentially being okay with knowing Simon was going to kill himself and set his girlfriend up for the murder, just all seemed a bit much. I guess crazier things have happened in the world and for an arrogant and abusive douchebag, being cheated on would greatly piss him off. But I just felt like the whole thing turned into a bad Lifetime movie by the end.

Edited December 31, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[helenamonster]

Just finished: If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating by Alan Alda. It was a quick read, finished it in one go at the laundromat. What I found most interesting about it was that I had no idea how involved Alda was in communication sciences; he helped to found the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, which aims to help people studying the sciences learn to communicate in ways that help laypeople understand what they're talking about. A lot of the book is very repetitive--even for an already short read, I felt it could be cut in half--but as someone who has a job that involves communicating with a lot of people and having to do so very carefully, I found some helpful tips in it. I also liked the chapters where he talked about how to keep the perspective of readers in mind while writing something.

Next up: Starting the year off by getting back to my favorite genre (bargain bin psychological thrillers) with A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena.

On 12/31/2017 at 0:27 PM, truthaboutluv said:

This exactly. I wrote a comment to that effect almost a year ago after I had completed all three books. I felt that all three had the same problem - they start off interesting enough and all had really compelling moments but the endings left a lot to be desired. I detailed my issues with Gone Girl many pages back in this thread and I had a lot of the same problems with the endings of Sharp Objects and Dark Places. I wasn't surprised by the guilty person in Sharp Objects, I just found it a bit implausible, particularly because of the nature of the crimes. That is, the pulling out of the teeth. With Dark Places, the sheer number of coincidences that led to the crime also seemed to stretch credibility a bit in my opinion. I also thought the brother turned out to be a complete dumbass and at least he knew it, which is why he admitted that he was ultimately okay with spending so many years in jail. 

Ugh, the brother in Dark Places bothered me to no end. I kind of got how he could make all those dumb choices as a teenager but I was kind of flabbergasted at how he was able to stick to those choices as an adult. I understand his justification in the abstract but I didn't think it was worth the sacrifices he made.

Overall thought Dark Places is my favorite of Flynn's. I get why Gone Girl is the one that took off, but Dark Places is just more my taste. I wish they hadn't completely bungled the release of the film adaptation, which wasn't spectacular but had a great cast and was deeply disturbing in all the right places. If anything, it's worth it for Christina Hendricks getting to play a character completely different from Joan.

[luna1122]

Dark Places was really riveting--I read it in two sittings on a weekend getaway in a cabin in the woods, which seemed like a good place to read it-- but the ending was so fucking terrible that I literally hurled the book across the (tiny) room. Yeah, I think, like Stephen King, endings are Gillian Flynn's weakness. I might have liked Sharp Objects most, tho. I do hope the adaptation is better than Dark Places was (tho I gotta say, I have a hard time with Amy Adams in a dark role, tho she's played a few, but I'm hoping for the best.). Charlize is a good actor who can really sell darkness, but that tall, long blonde goddess playing short, dark, stunted little Libby Day? That was the weirdest casting since they tried to sell Tom Cruise as a tall blonde vampire.

I finished Cat Marnell's How to Murder Your Life and I remained fascinated and appalled and vaguely obsessed. She's such a mess, but talented, and it's infuriating that she insisted on murdering her life over and over and kept being freaking rewarded for it,  mostly cuz she's pretty, tiny, rich and blonde, but she IS a good, vivid writer....I'm so torn about my feelings for her and her work, but I couldn't put that book down or stop googling her while I was reading it, to catch up on all her columns for lucky and vice that i'd missed. I've also been watching Search Party and am also obsessed with Marnell's book becoming a movie or a limited series and want Meredith Hagner--Portia from Search Party--to play her so much that I wish I had the power to produce and cast the thing.

 

I'm currently over half finished with Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger and it's slow going. Historical fiction isn't really my thing, and this is a 'horror' novel in which the horror is so slow moving and subtle, with so much florid, descriptive prose...it's become a little bit of a chore to read. It's well reviewed on Goodreads and elsewhere, and I'll see it thru, and will likely watch the film adaptation (tho I was playing casting director again and really wanted creepy/charismatic It Boy Caleb Landry Jones to play Roderick, and he's not.), but I'll be glad to be done with it.

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 3:33 PM, Mindthinkr said:

@luna1122 Thank you for posting about Fact of a Body. It was haunting and I can't imagine how hard it was for the author to write it due to her own experiences. 

It really IS haunting--I've thought about it so much since reading--so glad you felt it too.

[Athena]

I read Sourdough by Robin Sloane over the holidays. I really liked Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store but only remember the vaguest of plots in there, but I did like his writing. The reviews for Sourdough aren't as strong and it does have some weaknesses. The ending feels a bit more rushed and there were times where I think the female protagonist was not strongly written. However, I think I enjoyed it more or just as much. I think I'll remember the plot better too since it concerns another hobby of mine: bread baking. I definitely like Sloan's style and will read any new work he produces. 

[hendersonrocks]

I am about two-thirds of the way through Far From the Tree by Robin Benway and I love it so, so much. I want to get to the end so I know what happens to these three incredible characters but I don't want to get to the end because then my time with them is over. 

[Black Knight]

Putting my two cents in on the Gillian Flynn topic - Sharp Objects is my favorite of her books. I agree the ending was a bit rushed, but I just loved how thoroughly the novel creeped me out. So pitch-dark and such horrible people.

Currently reading All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister. It's a sociological look at the high number of American women who are unmarried (raises my hand cheerfully). I just finished a chapter about female friendships that I loved.

[SallyAlbright]

I just finished Last Christmas in Paris, which is an epistolary World War 1 novel. I picked it up as a somewhat light, romantic, easy holiday read but it was actually quite a beautiful story and very well written. I highly recommend it.

[DearEvette]

I just finished Year One by Nora Roberts.  I am not a huge fan of her trilogies, and sometimes her stand alone suspense novels are hit or miss -- the last one I really enjoyed was The Witness.  I tend to prefer her alter ego, JD Robb stuff. 

But I have to admit I liked this one.  Helps that it can't help but bring to mind Stephen King's  The Stand (which is one of my favorite books) as there were some similarities there.  Seems larger of scope than some of her stuff with a lot of characters and it doesn't emphasize romance at all. 

But it is still very Nora Roberts.  Earlier upthread some posts were talking about her overused phrases.  This book included one that I notice she uses a lot:  "bet your ass"  and she describes one character as having a "poetic" face.  She likes that description as well.   Even so, this was a really engrossing read and a little darker than she usually goes in her trilogies.

[OtterMommy]

4 hours ago, SallyAlbright said:

I just finished Last Christmas in Paris, which is an epistolary World War 1 novel. I picked it up as a somewhat light, romantic, easy holiday read but it was actually quite a beautiful story and very well written. I highly recommend it.

I read this in October and loved it....I ended up crying through the end of it!

Right now, I'm reading Sonali Dev's latest, A Distant Heart, which is a plot follow-up to her previous book, A Change of Heart, but this one is much lighter, which is exactly what I need right now!

[scarynikki12]

8 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I just finished Year One by Nora Roberts.  I am not a huge fan of her trilogies, and sometimes her stand alone suspense novels are hit or miss -- the last one I really enjoyed was The Witness.  I tend to prefer her alter ego, JD Robb stuff. 

But I have to admit I liked this one.  Helps that it can't help but bring to mind Stephen King's  The Stand (which is one of my favorite books) as there were some similarities there.  Seems larger of scope than some of her stuff with a lot of characters and it doesn't emphasize romance at all. 

But it is still very Nora Roberts.  Earlier upthread some posts were talking about her overused phrases.  This book included one that I notice she uses a lot:  "bet your ass"  and she describes one character as having a "poetic" face.  She likes that description as well.   Even so, this was a really engrossing read and a little darker than she usually goes in her trilogies.

What I liked most is that I didn't finish the book knowing exactly what would happen next.  Normally her trilogies bring in the main three women (and sometimes men) in book 1.   One will be blonde, the other brunette, and the third a redhead.  One couple will do the antagonism=true love thing, another will have some kind of internal conflict keeping them from getting married at the story's start (this one typically includes a youthful crush/relationship that gets reawakened upon meeting as adults), and the third will be totally into each other right away but have to deal with external threats (abusive exes, meddling parents, serial killers, etc).  You start book 1 and know exactly how everything will go down.  It's gotten predictable to the point that I started reading her stuff just for the descriptions of scenery and character careers.  She does a good job of putting her research to good use even if she follows the same formula.

This one is different.  I went through that whole book waiting for her favorite tropes to reveal themselves and I don't think one did.  I've only read it once but I'm pretty sure she turned every predictable thing on its head.  It makes me wonder if a family member read some critiques, told her, and she decided to challenge herself in response.  Whatever the reason, I'm glad she seems to be moving away from her formula.  Books 2 and 3 (cause it's still a trilogy, she hasn't changed that much) will reveal if this change is real or just delayed. 

I would like to see her finish her MacGregor series, as she had Adria, Matthew, and Amelia left to include.  I know a publisher change put a halt to that but I want her current one to figure out a way to make it happen.