What Are We Currently Reading?

[DearEvette]

37 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

t'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.

I do agree that she does a fantastic job at what I call 'job competence porn' in her books.  And she really gives her characters some really offbeat occupations. 

And yeah, I think the very unpredictability of the book is what made me like it so much.  She really breaks a lot of 'romance novel' rules in this one.  And it definitely does not fit the very predictable pattern of her trilogies.  Again, a plus.  I like the idea that it feels like she is setting up it up to be a multi-generational epic.  And she left a lot hanging.  A whole swatch of important characters basically are left in limbo at about the two-thirds point of the book.  Really want to get back to see what is going on with them.

[Haleth]

Year One keeps popping up on my FB feed so I've been wondering about it.  Glad to hear you liked it so I'll pick it up sometime.  With trilogies I like to wait until at least the second one is out and with the publication date of the third one set.

[Qoass]

I'm reading Ruth Ware's The Lying Game and having the experience of enjoying it and yet not really wanting to pick it up. That happens to me sometimes.

[scarynikki12]

7 minutes ago, Qoass said:

I'm reading Ruth Ware's The Lying Game and having the experience of enjoying it and yet not really wanting to pick it up. That happens to me sometimes.

So far, The Lying Game is my least favorite of Ware's books.  I have many positive things to say about it, including the concept, the story set up, and the characterizations.  In fact, I'd say that two thirds of the book is excellent.  But the big reveals and ending didn't work for me.  It felt like she was trying too hard to be unpredictable and also was having trouble wrapping things up.  It's one where I hope it gets made into a movie or minseries so that the problems can be fixed. 

[Hanahope]

I’m reading Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff.  ?

[buffynut]

Just wanted to post and say thanks for all the book recommendations. I lurk and end up putting e-books on hold at my library based on reviews here. By the time I end up getting the e-book (there are long waits) I can't remember where or who recommended it, so I can never say thanks.

Just now I put the following on hold:  Last Christmas in Paris (33rd on 3 copies)  Year 1 (169th on 10 copies) and Everything Everything (23rd on 4 copies). As you can see by the number I am on the hold lists, I won't be reading them for a while.  

I'm currently reading This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. I think someone here recommended it, but I'm not sure.  If you did, thanks. I'm enjoying it so far.

[Qoass]

You're welcome, buffynut!  :>)

[Danny Franks]

I'm reading How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. It's an interesting idea, and so far it's been executed pretty well. The book is (naturally) quite melancholy, but still written with nice observational wit.

A nice short one, before I tackle the 1200 page monstrosity that is Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.

[Crs97]

My son is reading Sanderson’s Stormlight series!  He is on book 2 and loves the reaction he gets when he takes the hardcover library edition to school.  It cannot fit in his backpack.

[Joe]

2 hours ago, Crs97 said:

My son is reading Sanderson’s Stormlight series!  He is on book 2 and loves the reaction he gets when he takes the hardcover library edition to school.  It cannot fit in his backpack.

I've tried Sanderson, but just found him incredibly boring. And as for size, I just find some books hard to hold. Authors should keep it under about 600 pages. Fantasy is particularly bad for this. Steven Erikson, Neal Stephenson (rare SF example), Brandon Sanderson, George RR Martin...

[Athena]

I finished Scythe by Neal Shusterman yesterday. For most of the book, I liked it more objectively rather than emotionally. I found the ideas and world building interesting, but I didn't really like it as much as I could have. Perhaps it was because I was not completely invested in the two teen protagonists until closer to the end of the book. It had a number of twists and they definitely got better. The ending opens up a lot of possibilities so it did win me over enough for me to read the next one when it comes out. 

[Crs97]

I just finished Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and feel very conflicted.  The past story, based on true events, about children stolen from their biological parents and sold in private adoptions by Georgia Tann (a real person) was harrowing and descriptive and important to know.  Unfortunately, interspersed was the present story that rivaled a bad harlequin romance novel.  The best word I have for it is clunky.  Although this was my first novel of hers, I expected better.

[Epeolatrix]

Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion, and Disease by Carolyn Day. I'm enjoying it as a companion book to Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present by Alison Matthews David.

The first one is about how some of the effects of tuberculosis (emaciation and pallor with fevered flush of the cheeks) were seen as beautiful in the Victorian era and to be emulated. The second is about the dangers of clothing past and present (mercury in hats, arsenic in dresses, the combustibility of crinoline, the dangers in modern clothing manufacture, etc).

[AuntiePam]

A is for Alibi -- my first Grafton.  Detective stories aren't my thing but Maureen Corrigan (the NPR book reviewer) had good things to say about Grafton's books and the e-book was a bargain, so here I go. 

Grafton includes a lot of "to-ing and fro-ing" -- descriptions of mundane activities, like driving from one place to another, or walking from office to coffee shop.  Sometimes those details add color but mostly, they feel like padding.  I'm also slightly annoyed that she has people wearing turtlenecks with shorts.  Three times so far, and I'm only halfway through. 

I do like her characterizations though, and Kinsey herself -- she's tough and short-tempered and not perfect. 

Also reading Forever Free by Joe Haldeman, the follow-up to The Forever War.  There's a time travel aspect (although it's not really time travel) and I'm a huge sucker for time travel.

[Mindthinkr]

I would just like to thank you my fellow book readers. I like to look back to see if you liked a book if I'm thinking about reading it. To those of you who bold the titles, it makes it so much easier for me. I appreciate it. 

[aradia22]

Ooh, do report back @Violet Impulse Those totally sound like books I'd love but never discover for myself unless they topped a bestseller list or were personally recommended. 

In "celebrity" autobiography news I have finally finished Eddie Izzard's Believe Me and Rhett & Link's Book of Mythicality.

As far as internet celebrity/blogger/youtubers go the Rhett & Link book is pretty decent. It's no Buffering by Hannah Hart but co-writer aside, they're smart guys. In a way, I think it's almost too wordy at times, especially since they have a generally young audience. But it's good enough and blends memoir with self help/instruction manual much better than a lot of the people who have used the same format. It doesn't completely peter out in the same way. Though I have to wonder who the person is at the publishing house who keeps pushing this same format on everyone. It's more mildly amusing than all that helpful or insightful or hilarious. But not a terrible read if you like them or are interested in them. Interestingly, you can really feel (probably unintentionally) how much they've curated their lives and how much access their audience has to them when you read the book. They give the impression of TMI a lot on their show but they actually hold back a lot about their personal lives and families, etc.  

Believe Me was far too long for far too little pay off. I didn't hate it. But if you're not listening to the audiobook and just reading, it's surprising how informal his language is. I find that he comes across more posh on stage. Kind of like Nina Simone, he spends a lot of time on his childhood and there are some interesting things there. Then we rush through the career (though he spends more time on his early career). But he completely speeds through his standup and the bulk of when he was getting famous/being famous and then ends up at his marathon running. There are also a lot of platitudes and vagueness and generally I feel like it was a bit disappointing. Given his standup, it wasn't very funny or well-written. And aside from bits about his mom, it didn't dig very deep emotionally. And he admits he has a bit of a problem with that but that's kind of something you should work out before writing a very long memoir. 

In addition to all my other partially finished books, I am reading Crumb by Ruby Tandoh. I didn't watch her season of The Great British Bake Off. Or if I did it was only an episode or two in passing. But I was looking up gingerbread cookie recipes for the holidays (surprisingly difficult to find a good one online) so I just checked out what was available in ebooks from the library and since I'd already checked it out I fell into reading her book. It's different from the Oprah cookbook which was easy to flip through. The language here is a bit more formal and she goes into... not exactly the science of baking but a shallow study of it. Like why yeast is important. It feels like a handy guide for a medium-level baker. I find the recipes are a little too simple and I'd like some more detail, especially since there's room with a lot of the page count devoted to these non-recipe-related ramblings. But we'll see how things go when I actually try to make something. I think I should be safe with some recipes but with things like bread or anything that requires extra effort to make it look pretty she really needs more detail. Her writing is too spare. The cookbook needs a companion video or something. I'm about halfway through it now and into the cookie chapter. 

[Mindthinkr]

@aradia22 How did you like Eddie Izzard's autobiography? 

[aradia22]

God damn it. There's a kindle sale and I want to buy all the things. It's tough for me to know which books to buy. I tend to go for romances because I re-read them all the time. There's something about it that doesn't get old for me the way I can watch certain movies (Sister Act, Ever After, rom-coms, etc.) and still enjoy them the 10th time. I'll also buy cookbooks if I like enough of the recipes or coffee table books with good pictures because that feels like a solid investment. Again, it's a book I'll continue to find useful. 

But when it's not romance, I generally don't go back to a fiction book or even a nonfiction book that often. I love jotting down quotes but I rarely go back to look at them. 

Anyway, this is all to say that I bought one of Alan Alda's books because I was curious and it's only $1.99. I was tempted by a lot of other books but I just ended up adding them to my "to-read" list and I'll put them on hold at the library. Donna Tartt's Secret History was tempting because I mostly liked The Goldfinch even if it went on too long and I didn't actually finish it. But the plot sounds awful. Like How to Get Away With Murder but more pretentious. Does anyone here like it?

I went for Lady's Maid too just 'cause. I didn't want to load up on too many books because the trouble is when I buy something or rent it through Kindle's program, it falls to the bottom of my to-read list since I own it and could read it at any time. 

I'm really tempted to get a 3 story collection including Breakfast at Tiffany's but unless every page is so compelling that I want to own it, I think I'll be fine just getting it from the library.

[luna1122]

I LOVED 'The Secret History', it's my fave Donna Tartt...I have issues with Goldfinch, and hated her Little Friend.  I read it before the others, and it made me want to read the rest of her stuff. it's not UNpretentious, but that's part of its point, and it's pretty disturbing, and, I thought, very well written.

I finished The Little Stranger, finally, and was relieved to be done with it.  It's well written, but incredibly slow paced, and ambiguous and long. I often like that in a book; here, I was just ready to be done with it. That said, I'll no doubt watch the film adaptation.

Next I read Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker.  it wasn't as successful, for me, as her All is Not Forgotten, but it's definitely a page turner.

Now beginning Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere.

[aradia22]

I mean, I loved Gossip Girl, but not really for the sex and drugs and faux-profundity. I was really into two of the actors and how well they played their characters. I'm a character person. I mean I like pretty prose but I need characters to latch onto, especially with a long book. Maybe I'm too emotionally scarred after How To Get Away with Murder but I think I'll leave this on the shelf for a while longer. Also, it goes a long way with me if the character I can connect to is a female character. I'm the kind of person who brushes past most of Hamlet desperately trying to find something compelling in Ophelia. I've lost interest in male-dominated stories for the time being. Though if Netflix ever brings back House I will probably binge-watch it. 

[helenamonster]

Just finished: A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. I'd forgotten how much I hate her writing style. It's all tell and no show. Weirdly enough, I kept thinking how it read like a bad screenplay that someone couldn't get produced so they adapted it into a book. Just the way she positions/transitions between different scenes, explains thoughts and unexpressed emotions, and sets up dialogue is very screenplay-y. Also, I don't know what's worse, the writing or the editing. Way too many times there were instances of things like, "He had to tell her the truth. 'I have to tell you the truth,' he said." No! No no no! You don't do that! The plot was more compelling than her other book, The Couple Next Door, which was dumb all the way through, but only one of the ending twists was satisfying. The other one could have been better if she'd laid the groundwork properly, but she's too busy repeating things we already know and using paper thin characters as a way of disguising hidden motives to do anything that nuanced or interesting.

Next up: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff. Hee! I'm going to approach it like it's 100% fiction and enjoy the hell out of it anyway.

[demon803]

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 0:07 PM, 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.

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.  

I have read the annihilation trilogy, I found that the first one was a bit slow but plodded through, the next two were much better and quicker reads

[cherrypj]

On 12/29/2017 at 0:07 PM, MaggieG said:

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.  

I finished the first one, and that was it for me. Just bizarre. Gobsmacked. No words. ... I'll stop here. Kudos to @demon803 for finishing.

[Zola]

"Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From the Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad" - Brett Martin. 

Synopsis - "In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows on cable channels dramatically stretched television's narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for TV, but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, and Alan Ball; in addition to other writers, executives, directors and actors. Martin delivers never-before-heard story after story, revealing how cable television became a truly significant and influential part of our culture"

I discovered this book while browsing the "Shows" section of this site, and because it discuses in great details two of my favourite TV dramas (The Wire, The Sopranos) I was immediately intrigued and so downloaded the Kindle version this morning, 

[aradia22]

I've been getting lost in bad romance novels. Did you know that they package them in sets of 4. And you can check them out from the library in those bundles??? Amazing. Who cares if usually 3 of them are garbage? ;) They're full-length books (at least by thin paperback standards) but it gives me the same feeling as grabbing one of those short story anthologies to find new writers. Since they're so trope-y 

I breezed through Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen. It's not a book or a graphic novel. It's a series of unrelated web-comics with one stretch in the middle about social anxiety. It's reminiscent of Allie Brosh and other people but with less perspective. I did find her artistic style somewhat charming but overall... meh. She's really not funny. I'd put her writing and concepts on the level of "relatable." Like a punny greeting card or a lesser meme. I also kept thinking she's awfully privileged if those are what she considers problems and annoyances. I feel like so far the drop in my recommended graphic novels after Fun Home has been steep. Maybe it would be better if I tried reading comics (like Marvel, DC, Boom, etc.) but I'm not really that into the format. I just need to get out of devouring lines of texts sometimes.

I'm slowly chipping away at everything else a couple of pages at a time. I don't know. I think I just need to set aside a few hours for reading and commit to one book. 

[alias1]

On 1/11/2018 at 0:14 PM, Crs97 said:

I just finished Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and feel very conflicted.  The past story, based on true events, about children stolen from their biological parents and sold in private adoptions by Georgia Tann (a real person) was harrowing and descriptive and important to know.  Unfortunately, interspersed was the present story that rivaled a bad harlequin romance novel.  The best word I have for it is clunky.  Although this was my first novel of hers, I expected better.

I felt the same way about the present day story.  The part of the story based on true events was riveting (and disturbing).  It seems that a lot of people just looked the other way. The present day story was completely uninspired.   

But I feel that way about most books that go back and forth between two timelines.  Case in point, The Alice Network (Kate Quinn).  The Eve chapters where she is a WWI spy are really good (and also based on true events).  The Charlie chapters that take place in 1947 felt contrived.

 

On 1/10/2018 at 7:59 PM, doram said:

Just finished the Power by Naomi Alderman. Wow. Just wow.

I have this on waitlist.  Not sure if your wow is a good wow or a bad wow.

 

Count me as another person reading Fire and Fury.

Edited January 20, 2018 by SierraMist

[MeloraH]

12 minutes ago, doram said:

It's a good wow. :D

I second the good wow. Loved it. I had a hard time putting it down.

Currently reading and really enjoying The Lesser Bohemians but the style is definitely not for everyone and I just finished Champagne Supernovas which was basically a three way biography of Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, and Kate Moss specifically focusing on the fashion change brought in by the '90's. I thought it was pretty interesting, I feel like an alternative title could have been Three Problematic Faves.

[Mindthinkr]

Finishing Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver and liking it well enough. I just got the new Preston and Child book City of Endless Light and I'm anxious to read it so I will probably finish Pigs today or tomorrow (Having Sunday dinner here with friends so will be super busy). 

[Katy M]

I'm reading Separated @ Birth by Samantha Futerman and Anais Bourde something.  I've only read about 50 pages or so, but I don't know if I can keep going.  There's just something about it that's driving me insane.  I'm not sure if it's the writing style. Or the "voice."  Or that I just don't care.

[alias1]

On 1/21/2018 at 7:28 AM, Mindthinkr said:

Finishing Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver and liking it well enough. I just got the new Preston and Child book City of Endless Light and I'm anxious to read it so I will probably finish Pigs today or tomorrow (Having Sunday dinner here with friends so will be super busy). 

I like pretty much anything by Barbara Kingsolver.   And I'm really jealous you have City of Endless Night.  I'm #38 at the library.  I don't really want to buy it, but it looks like I'm going to have quite a wait.  Hope you enjoy it.  I love that series.

[aradia22]

I finally finished Nina Simone's I Put A Spell On You. If you haven't read it and you like celebrity autobiographies/memoirs, I highly recommend it. It's one of my new favorites. She had someone assist her in writing it and since I don't know how far his input extended, I'm just going to talk about it like she wrote it for convenience. First of all, it's a short read. My copy from the library is 176 pages and she doesn't really waste time with extraneous details. At the same time, there are some lovely turns of phrases and insightful lines. And even though it's sparse, it does get dishy if you're into that. She doesn't shy away from talking about domestic abuse, suicide, affairs, and all her resentment and anger and grievances. They totally need to make a movie about her life. If you could put it all together, it would be amazing. There are times when I wished she elaborated more. The book is strongest in the beginning around her childhood but then it sort of tapers off until something really interesting happens. It sort of skims over the majority of her career, marriage, and activity in the civil rights' movement. Also, while I found it all sympathetic, especially when you look at the whole picture of her life, like the majority of autobiographies, she is generous to herself. She has a lot of grievances, some warranted and some not. She doesn't acknowledge her own faults a lot and there are certainly less charitable ways to express her relationship with her daughter. I don't know her music well but when I'm in the right mood I'll be interested to dive in and see what I take from it with these new insights. It's not like Sara Bareilles' book but from time to time you do get information about a particular song or how/why she recorded a certain album. 

[aradia22]

Posted this review of The Last Girlfriend on Earth by Simon Rich on Goodreads. It sounds more vitriolic and angry that I felt. Overall, I was just increasingly upset that I'd picked up a book that clearly was not intended for me. 

I wasn't sure whether to give this 2 or 3 stars but I really turned on this book by the end. I heard the condom story on NPR and I still think it's one of the stronger stories in the book. Simon Rich's prose is unremarkable and predictable to the point of banality but I was willing to forgive that to see how he would apply it to the creative conceits that fill this book. That did not last long. Sometime around the end of the first section "Boy Meets Girl" I began to develop a picture of Simon that was very ugly and that only worsened as I made my way to the end of the book. It baffles me that he not only has a girlfriend but is happy in his relationship. Stories like "Occupy Jen's Street" and "Sirens of Gowanus" show some awareness but the rest? It's every gendered trope and lazy stereotype. On the whole, the women in these stories are "girlfriends." They have no skills and accomplishments or brilliance of their own but are window dressing in the stories of brilliant men. One exception is Girl in "I Love Girl" but she's merely every wife in a sitcom married to a husband not worthy of her (though I did find that story somewhat sweet). There are characters in this book who do not speak proper English. They include a condom, a troll, and the only two characters specified to be non-white. On the whole, the book isn't hateful, it's just so lazy. Women are golddiggers. They are demanding nags who want you to DTR. They are cheaters who enjoy manipulating men with their looks. "Girlfriend Repair Shop" is a horrifying story where The Stepford Wives ends happily. 

If you share Rich's apparent POV which is that of a "nice guy" nerd stuck in the 80's who still has problematic views about relationships but isn't quite an MRA or 4chan troll, and you read around a 4th grade level, this is book for you. For everyone else, I wouldn't put it at the top of the pile.

[Mindthinkr]

On 1/24/2018 at 4:06 PM, SierraMist said:

I like pretty much anything by Barbara Kingsolver.   And I'm really jealous you have City of Endless Night.  I'm #38 at the library.  I don't really want to buy it, but it looks like I'm going to have quite a wait.  Hope you enjoy it.  I love that series.

I’m on chapter 30. I have an idea about ‘who did it’ but won’t know if I’m correct until finished. This one is a real page turner. Are you aware they also put it out in paperback? It’s a much less expensive alternative to their normally only coming out with hardcovers for the first year after publication. 

[alias1]

7 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I’m on chapter 30. I have an idea about ‘who did it’ but won’t know if I’m correct until finished. This one is a real page turner. Are you aware they also put it out in paperback? It’s a much less expensive alternative to their normally only coming out with hardcovers for the first year after publication. 

My long wait for City of Endless Night was for the kindle version.  Today I picked up the actual book at the library.  Yay!  

[rmcrae]

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 3:08 PM, aradia22 said:

I finally finished Nina Simone's I Put A Spell On You. If you haven't read it and you like celebrity autobiographies/memoirs, I highly recommend it. It's one of my new favorites. She had someone assist her in writing it and since I don't know how far his input extended, I'm just going to talk about it like she wrote it for convenience. First of all, it's a short read. My copy from the library is 176 pages and she doesn't really waste time with extraneous details. At the same time, there are some lovely turns of phrases and insightful lines. And even though it's sparse, it does get dishy if you're into that. She doesn't shy away from talking about domestic abuse, suicide, affairs, and all her resentment and anger and grievances. They totally need to make a movie about her life. If you could put it all together, it would be amazing. There are times when I wished she elaborated more. The book is strongest in the beginning around her childhood but then it sort of tapers off until something really interesting happens. It sort of skims over the majority of her career, marriage, and activity in the civil rights' movement. Also, while I found it all sympathetic, especially when you look at the whole picture of her life, like the majority of autobiographies, she is generous to herself. She has a lot of grievances, some warranted and some not. She doesn't acknowledge her own faults a lot and there are certainly less charitable ways to express her relationship with her daughter. I don't know her music well but when I'm in the right mood I'll be interested to dive in and see what I take from it with these new insights. It's not like Sara Bareilles' book but from time to time you do get information about a particular song or how/why she recorded a certain album. 

There is a movie about her life. It's titled Nina and Zoe Saldana played her. I haven't seen it myself, but remember the controversy after pics were released of Zoe in dark makeup wearing a prosthetic nose. As for the book, it sounds interesting. I know some of Nina's music (my grandmother loved her), but not a lot about her life.

[aradia22]

I am currently making my way through Ariel (the collection) by Sylvia Plath. I have been reading a poem or a couple of poems before bed. I love it so far. To me, it's very different from The Bell Jar. Her prose style takes advantage of that form while her poetry is sparse and quick to conjure imagery and elicit emotion. The best way I can describe it is witchy. I'm reading too much into her backstory but the way she uses words it's almost like her brushes with death have given her this kind of otherworldly insight into how to manipulate people with her poems as though some of these are casting spells. I usually don't respond to poetry like this. It's not my medium and I either find poems flat or confounding. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows of a good resource critiquing these poems. If there was ever a book that needed footnotes, it's this one. Genius (usually for music lyrics) is nonsense. I don't think I have access to Jstor anymore but if there's one article I can try to get a hold of it. I know that Sylvia Plath is the only one who can definitely say what she's alluding to but I'm looking for an authoritative source that has some reasonable guesses. 

[Mabinogia]

I just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt. WOW! It was a lot of book. Very long, but I couldn't put it down. I found myself at work thinking about the characters, none of them particularly good people but oddly captivating, intoxicating almost. I was so drawn to them even as I read what they were doing/thinking and finding them to be truly horrible.

It is not a mystery, as the narrator, one of the characters, says right up front what happens. It's more a character study and the characters being studied are fascinating. But even knowing what happens, there is a suspense as you wait for it to happen, and it is very much about the fallout.

It's an older book, I didn't realize that, but well worth the read. This is the best book I've read in a very long time.

[Qoass]

I finished two books over the weekend that I would recommend

First, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Four siblings go to a fortune teller who tells them each the date on which he or she will die. Then it follows each person through their lives. I found it a graceful meditation on the concept of living your life to its fullest.

Then, I tore through Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel. I didn't expect to like it as the author graduated high school in 2016 and I'm sometimes not a fan of precocity but it was a fun, frequently funny read.

[luna1122]

3 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt. WOW! It was a lot of book. Very long, but I couldn't put it down. I found myself at work thinking about the characters, none of them particularly good people but oddly captivating, intoxicating almost. I was so drawn to them even as I read what they were doing/thinking and finding them to be truly horrible.

It is not a mystery, as the narrator, one of the characters, says right up front what happens. It's more a character study and the characters being studied are fascinating. But even knowing what happens, there is a suspense as you wait for it to happen, and it is very much about the fallout.

It's an older book, I didn't realize that, but well worth the read. This is the best book I've read in a very long time.

It was my first Donna Tartt novel, and, imo, her best. I had various issues with her others.

Finished Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere; I thought it was...just spectacular.

Now reading The Ghost Writer by Alessandra Torre. so far, intrigued.

[EighteenTwelve]

A couple of weeks ago I finished Code Girls by Liza Mundy.  It's about women who worked for, but not necessarily joined, the US Army and Navy in WWII to break codes.  I enjoyed the book, but it did get me thinking about what might have been, because they were recruiting teachers from the south and my grandmother was a teacher in New Hampshire. 

[alias1]

I'm reading The Immortalists now.  It's a very intriguing concept, being told the exact date when you will die.  I'm not very far into it yet but it's good so far.

I just finished The Woman in the Window.(A. J. Finn).  I know it's being billed as a psychological thriller, but I don't think that adequately describes it.  I loved the character and the way the author chose to have her story unfold, layer by layer.  Some of the little surprises were fairly obvious, but I didn't guess everything.  And the twists were not what I loved about the book anyway.   I think the writing was extraordinary.   I loved all the references to old movies.   

[topanga]

On 1/27/2018 at 12:40 AM, rmcrae said:

There is a movie about her life. It's titled Nina and Zoe Saldana played her. I haven't seen it myself, but remember the controversy after pics were released of Zoe in dark makeup wearing a prosthetic nose. As for the book, it sounds interesting. I know some of Nina's music (my grandmother loved her), but not a lot about her life.

Netflix has a great documentary about her life and career. And no brownface. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, SierraMist said:

I just finished The Woman in the Window.(A. J. Finn).  I know it's being billed as a psychological thriller, but I don't think that adequately describes it.  I loved the character and the way the author chose to have her story unfold, layer by layer.  Some of the little surprises were fairly obvious, but I didn't guess everything.  And the twists were not what I loved about the book anyway.   I think the writing was extraordinary.   I loved all the references to old movies.   

I have that on hold waiting for me at the library.  I'm intrigued.

[rmcrae]

2 hours ago, topanga said:

Netflix has a great documentary about her life and career. And no brownface. 

Hee. Thanks for the recommendation. :)

[Qoass]

Quote

I have that on hold waiting for me at the library. 

Me too. I'm number 313 in line so I'll have to be very careful not to get spoiled on the plot twists.

[Zola]

"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" - Michael Wolff

Trying to find a well-balanced apolitical ,objective book on Mr Trump and his 9 or 10 months as POTUS, is like trying to find a very small needle in a very large haystack!

This book came recommended by one or two newspapers, so I decided to give it a go, such is my interest in foreign affairs generally, and American politics in particular. The book itself has had some mixed reviews depending on who you believe. Some describe it as an accurate reflection of the man behind the desk, while others describe it as taking fake news to a new level of fantasy!

We shall see

[surreysmum]

On 1/31/2018 at 9:04 AM, Qoass said:

Me too. I'm number 313 in line so I'll have to be very careful not to get spoiled on the plot twists.

Me three - and I'm #913! (but the library has 150 copies, so I'm not too discouraged)!

[Katy M]

44 minutes ago, surreysmum said:

Me three - and I'm #913! (but the library has 150 copies, so I'm not too discouraged)!

150 copies of the same book?  In the same library?  That sounds insane.    

Not that this has to do with what I'm reading, but I have to share the story since I am so honestly bowled over by a library having 150 copies of the same book.  I was in Seattle a few years ago, and we drove by a library.  Apparently there is more than one library in Seattle. Anyway, I could see all these books through the window and my eyes widened and I was like "Ive never seen so many books in my whole life."  I came back and told a friend about it and she said, "You know the Boston Library is that big, right?"  I had no idea.  I have the urge to take a road trip to Boston just to hang out in the library all day.

[Qoass]

The Boston Public library has branches as well but the one on Copley Square used to be my favorite place to get away to during my lunch break because there's an inner courtyard with a fountain that was so peaceful. Then people got cell phones and another oasis bit the dust.

[partofme]

24 minutes ago, Katy M said:

150 copies of the same book?  In the same library?  That sounds insane.    

 

Not sure what book this was in reference to, but the NYPL has 547 copies of Fire and Fury.  I'm currently #381 of 1662 holds.