What Are We Currently Reading?

[OtterMommy]

I finished The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson.  While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as her first book (The Bookseller), I would still recommend it.  It is just that this one is more straightforward and The Bookseller was more unique.

I've just started The Child Finder by Rene Denfield.  I didn't know much about it other than the author is local and it is set in Oregon (and it is my book club book for March).  I'm "enjoying" it, I guess.  I mean, it's a hard subject--abducted children with a dose of molestation thrown in--but it is beautifully written.

[luna1122]

Finished The Nix, which I thought was really fabulous. Dense, superbly written, engrossing, tragic, hilarious...it got a little batshit crazy at times...one ten page chapter that is ONE long long long breathless, insane sentence...but I just loved it all. Five stars, for me (which makes, almost unbelievably, 4 five star books for me in recent months (along with American Fire, Fact of a Body, and Little Fires Everywhere).

Then read a little throwaway thriller called Friend Request by Laura Marshall. Meh. It did keep me turning the pages and the premise is creepy fun, but the payoff was unsatisfying for me.

Next: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando, about 6 children who disappear one day, and only five come back--devoid of memories--11 years later. I liked it...it's a pretty compelling read, but again, a kind of unsatisfying ending.

Now reading Jane Harper's The Dry. Still early on but the very first chapter had me hooked.

[Darian]

6 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I've just started The Child Finder by Rene Denfield.  I didn't know much about it other than the author is local and it is set in Oregon (and it is my book club book for March).  I'm "enjoying" it, I guess.  I mean, it's a hard subject--abducted children with a dose of molestation thrown in--but it is beautifully written.

I read it because I'd read and greatly enjoyed her first book, The Enchanted. I agree The Child Finder is pretty wrenching, but a very good read. 

 

Reading Artemis by Andy Weir now, and it's a fun romp. I'd heard raves about Reservoir 13, but it was not my cup of tea. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Darian

[Black Knight]

15 hours ago, Haleth said:

The last 100 pages or so when Theo waxes rhapsodic about his life should have been edited with a machete.

Nicole Kidman?  Really? 

Rhapsodic is about the last word I would choose for how Theo waxes about life in the final section - nihilistic is much closer to the mark. It was quite depressing to read. But I get it, since so much of the book is a variation on Great Expectations - sometimes a subversion, sometimes hewing closer to Dickens's original intentions.

Nicole Kidman seems to me to be an obvious choice for Mrs. Barbour. (Others would include Cate Blanchett and Laura Linney.) The casting choice that brought me up a little short was Jeffrey Wright as Hobie, as I pictured Hobie being in his 60s at the start (which puts him in his 70s later on), and Wright is only 53. But he's such a good actor that I can't be truly bothered about it.

I've started now on Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but am already fascinated. I'll watch the movie after I finish.

[helenamonster]

Just finished: The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle, about a woman whose husband dies in a plane crash--but the plane was headed in the complete opposite direction of where he said he'd be going, so it leads to the widow trying to figure out what happened and uncovering all of these lies he told her. I enjoyed the first two thirds, then got really pissed off at the climax. Belle had painstakingly set up all of these outs the main character could take and she refused to take any of them! The resolution ended up paying off in that regard, but I was unable to enjoy the emotional high point of the book because it didn't feel like there were truly any stakes. The protagonist had options and there were no good reasons, in my mind, for her not to exercise them, so the whole thing just fell flat. I'm glad I didn't give up on it because, again, I liked how it ended, but that was just really distracting.

Next up: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.

[AuntiePam]

On 3/6/2018 at 1:49 AM, Zola said:

Am taking a break from Ann Bannon's lesbian pulp fiction indulgence, and have moved onto "All The Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire" by Jonathan Abrams.

I just adore this criminally underrated TV show from the early 00s. Although critically acclaimed, it never won any awards or picked up decent ratings. But for me I would regard it as the most complete TV drama I have seen thus far.

I just hope this book is equally as good and informative.

I just started it last night.  It's well-done and fascinating, the background.

How scary, that David Simon had to beg HBO to renew the show every season.  I was late to the show -- tuned in a couple of times but changed the channel quickly -- thought it was just another cop/crime show and I've never liked a lot of profanity, even when it fit the character.   

I didn't really understand that I had to pay attention.  When I started seeing good reviews -- and that took awhile -- I bought the S1 DVD, and then 2, 3, and 4.  I didn't start watching live until the end. 

[GaT]

Did you ever get stuck continuing a series because you've invested so much time into reading it already? This is how I feel about the book I'm reading now. Aliens Abroad by Gini Koch. It's # 16 in the  Katherine "Kitty" Katt Series & I am not enjoying it at all.  I've read all 15 previous books in the series & they're all big paperbacks. This one is 656 pages & the problem is so much of it is unnecessary. repetitive, & convoluted. Each book adds numerous new characters & they carry over to the next book so that at this point, it's just a bunch of names to me because I can't keep track of them all. To add to the repetitiveness, every time they appear in each book the first time, there is an explanation of where they came from so that just adds to the bulk. Also, Kitty (the main character) is a Mary Sue & she's getting on my nerves. The series needs to finish because nothing new happens, the characters continue to act exactly the same (I'm so sick of omnipotent beings & bratty hybrid children) & I'm tired of it, but after reading all these books, I feel obligated to finish it & can't stop now.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

Did you ever get stuck continuing a series because you've invested so much time into reading it already?

I can understand wanting to finish what you've started -- it's a big investment, time and money, so dropping out before the end feels almost like quitting.  But there's no shame in quitting. 

When a series starts to feel like a waste of time, I don't have a problem dumping it.  Life's too short, and I'm old.  I once dumped a trilogy about 20 pages from the end of the third book.  Almost 2,000 pages of a story that started good and then turned into over-written drivel, and I just couldn't take it any longer.  I was angry and I quit.  It was very satisfying.

(It's taken me awhile to break the habit but I no longer buy an entire series after reading just the first one or two books, and I've stopped buying everything by an author after trying just one book. )

[Black Knight]

The key question I ask myself, in your shoes GaT, is whether I still care about what happens to any of the characters. If the answer is no, I drop it. I've learned to apply that both to book series and to TV series. If I don't even care about any of the characters, there's absolutely no value to me in finishing out the series. Like AuntiePam says, life is short. And there's so much content out there.

[Mabinogia]

14 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

I can understand wanting to finish what you've started -- it's a big investment, time and money, so dropping out before the end feels almost like quitting.  But there's no shame in quitting. 

When I was younger I would finish a book I started out of some sort of obligation. As I get older my tolerance for bad storytelling is almost non-existent. I have no problem dropping a book in it's second chapter if I can tell I'm not going to enjoy reading it. A series? Hell, half the time I won't even start a series because I've come to realize that is where the money is so most writers will end up writing their series into the ground to try to squeeze every last cent out of it. So I mostly avoid series. The series I did read I dropped as soon as the stories started getting stale and repetitive. No shame at all. I don't see it as quitting but as ending a relationship that is no longer working for me. 

[DearEvette]

16 hours ago, GaT said:

Did you ever get stuck continuing a series because you've invested so much time into reading it already? This is how I feel about the book I'm reading now. Aliens Abroad by Gini Koch

Not so much because of the time involved, but waiting for a development that the author keeps stringing out over books and never resolving.  When it gets to that tipping point, to me it is less about lamenting the time involved and more about becoming resentful of the what felt like the author had nothing new to say, no interest in really telling the story but was just stringing things along for a cash grab.  That is when I give up when I feel like the author has checked out too.  That and if they feel like they've lost control of the story they are telling.  I gave up on the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones because to me it doesn't feel at all like the same series I started with.  I feels like she is making up stuff as she goes along.

Re: The Kitty Kat series by Gini Koch, I saw one just was released recently and was amazed that the series had gotten that high.  I liked the premise first book but couldn't continue the series after about book three because of how deeply committed the author was in making her main character a Mary Sue.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Not so much because of the time involved, but waiting for a development that the author keeps stringing out over books and never resolving.  When it gets to that tipping point, to me it is less about lamenting the time involved and more about becoming resentful of the what felt like the author had nothing new to say, no interest in really telling the story but was just stringing things along for a cash grab.  That is when I give up when I feel like the author has checked out too.  That and if they feel like they've lost control of the story they are telling.  I gave up on the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones because to me it doesn't feel at all like the same series I started with.  I feels like she is making up stuff as she goes along.

Re: The Kitty Kat series by Gini Koch, I saw one just was released recently and was amazed that the series had gotten that high.  I liked the premise first book but couldn't continue the series after about book three because of how deeply committed the author was in making her main character a Mary Sue.

I completely agree. I read the Charley Davidson series too & thankfully, the next book is the end of the series because nothing has been happening for a while. Somewhere in all the "Reyes i the hottest guy evah" crap Darynda Jones seems to have forgotten about the fact that Charley is a private investigator & should on occasion, have a case of some kind.

Aliens Abroad is the book that was just released, & Kitty has been a Mary Sue since the beginning. It just kept getting worse until now nobody knows better than Kitty, including the 40 billion omnipotent beings who keep popping up.

[AuntiePam]

19 hours ago, Black Knight said:

And there's so much content out there.

That's the problem!  Is it a good problem?  Too many choices?  I don't know.  I just know that TV shows (and movies) that would have captured and held my attention 30 years ago are doing nothing for me lately.  I've been rewatching old favorites and reading more classics.  I figure if a book is still in print after 40-50 years, it must be worth the time.

[SallyAlbright]

Recently read: Force of Nature by Jane Harper. Follow up to The Dry, which I loved. Liked this one a lot too, though there was less of Falk than I would have liked. Still, no sophomore slump and I look forward to the next in the series.

If anyone else liked The Dry, The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey is also set in Australia and was very compelling. Really gripping mystery and sympathetic but messed up protagonist. Pretty sure this one will be a series as well, since I saw a sequel is in the works.

I also just finished the new one by Chris Bohjalion called The Flight Attendant. Very interesting with the different locales and messes that the character gets into, plus the "villains" had some nuance which I appreciated. I saw Kaley Cuoco plans to produce this one - seems like a random choice if she plans to play the title role, but why not.

It took me a long time, but I finally finished The Leavers by Lisa Ko. It was a bit of a slow burn for at least the first 100 pages, but kept me interested enough that I stuck with it. It's a very interesting take on the immigrant experience and very well written, if not the usual type of page turner I liked to read. 

Finally (can you tell I read multiple books at a time?) I also just finished The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo which got a lot of attention last month for being Reese Witherspoon's Book Club choice. I thought it was fine, but not as romantic and heartbreaking as most people seem to. It was an easy read, and I got a kick out of recognizing a lot of the locations as a New Yorker, but I wasn't particularly attached to the two main characters and found them to be a bit pretentious. Still, most people I know loved this, so maybe I am just heartless :)

Currently reading or about to read: Sunburn by Laura Lippman, White Houses by Amy Bloom, Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, and The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani. Anyone read any of these?

[surreysmum]

Decided I'd better get with the current pop culture programme, so I'm reading A Wrinkle In Time, which I somehow missed in my voracious childhood. Enjoying it very much so far, though I would have enjoyed it far more when I was nine and 100% less cynical. Now I'll be able to be part of the conversation.

I'm also reading Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, about Joey Smallwood and the history of Newfoundland's confederation with Canada after WWII.  While the notion of "fictional biography" always makes me a bit queasy in theory, I'm actually enjoying this one quite a bit, perhaps because I'm still in the stages where there's little to no documentation of Smallwood's actual life, so I'm not driven to constantly fact-check the author.

Recently finished Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed (her contemporary re-telling of The Tempest, set in a Canadian prison). Damn, that woman is clever.  I don't go to her if I'm looking for emotional comfort, for sure, but I love watching her the way I love watching a trapeze artist or an Olympic snowboarder: sheer appreciation of someone exercising amazing skills I'll never possess. This one is full of happy recognitions for an English lit major; don't know how well it would play if you were completely unfamiliar with the Tempest, though there is a helpful summary at the back.

[Hanahope]

Just finished Gray Mountain by John Grisham.  The story is generally about a big law associate who works for a non-profit legal aid clinic in the Appalachian mountains during the 2008 real estate bubble burst (when a lot of big law firms 'furloughed' young associates for a year when they couldn't afford to keep them on).  In more detail, the book goes into the coal industry, and describes in pretty good detail the damage the coal industry does with strip/surface mining, which just destroys mountains, waterways, valleys, and then fights tooth and nail any claim for black lung benefits and other damages caused by their stip/surface mining.  It does really make me wonder why we have to keep mining coal, its just so destructive in every way (yeah yeah, it makes the coal company lots of money).  The book clearly left some threads hanging for a sequel.

[Minneapple]

I got lucky and found a copy of The Woman in the Window at my local library (my library actually puts stickers on bestselling novels that say "Lucky Find!"). Finished it yesterday. Its...OK. Honestly I find these types of narrators tiring. Always being drunk and in a daze and making bad decisions. I get that it's part of the story but it's so tiresome. It's also become par for the course with these types of novels at this point. I wasn't really too surprised by the ending, but the other twist did get me.

[Mindthinkr]

I’m getting ready to begin In The Garden Of Beasts by Erik Larson. As I have so much to do this week I don’t think that I’ll be done until the weekend. 

[Jenniferbug]

I'm 28 pages into The Diviners by Libba Bray. I'm not super impressed so far, but it's early. Has anyone here read it? I'd be interested to hear spoiler free thoughts on whether you liked it. I loved her last trilogy until the 3rd book which was terrible so I'm not entirely sure that that isn't coloring my impressions of this one (ie- I don't want to get burned again).

I recently finished Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, which I thought was really excellent. It kept my interest, kept me guessing, and I thought the variety of characters was interesting.

I also finished Turtles All the Way Down by John Green for my book club. It was...a book by John Green. He's someone I enjoy as a person, but I haven't really liked any of the books he's written. This one was ok, but that's the best I can say.

[OtterMommy]

26 minutes ago, Jenniferbug said:

I also finished Turtles All the Way Down by John Green for my book club. It was...a book by John Green. He's someone I enjoy as a person, but I haven't really liked any of the books he's written. This one was ok, but that's the best I can say.

My brother once told me that has proven, at least for me, to be true.  Your favorite John Green book will always be your first John Green book.  He also said--again, accurate--that John Green books are flashes of brilliance swimming in seas of mediocrity.

[Jenniferbug]

40 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

My brother once told me that has proven, at least for me, to be true.  Your favorite John Green book will always be your first John Green book.  He also said--again, accurate--that John Green books are flashes of brilliance swimming in seas of mediocrity.

There's definitely truth in that second statement!! 

[SallyAlbright]

4 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I'm 28 pages into The Diviners by Libba Bray. I'm not super impressed so far, but it's early. Has anyone here read it? I'd be interested to hear spoiler free thoughts on whether you liked it. I loved her last trilogy until the 3rd book which was terrible so I'm not entirely sure that that isn't coloring my impressions of this one (ie- I don't want to get burned again).

I recently finished Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, which I thought was really excellent. It kept my interest, kept me guessing, and I thought the variety of characters was interesting.

I also finished Turtles All the Way Down by John Green for my book club. It was...a book by John Green. He's someone I enjoy as a person, but I haven't really liked any of the books he's written. This one was ok, but that's the best I can say.

I feel so bad because John Green seems like a lovely guy and we suffer from similar mental health issues, so I am always rooting for him. However, this book was just too "quirky" for my liking. I am fine with genuine quirkiness, but this one just felt a bit too try-hard and too John Green-y. It felt like he combined all of the little things that annoyed me in his other books into a lot of annoying characters here. I might try it again, but it made me sad that I disliked it and didn't finish. 

[raezen]

I am trying to read as many of the Canada Reads list as possible, but it sure doesn't look like I'm going to get anywhere near 15 books done before Mar 26th and I'm not even going to have done specifically the 5 of the short list.

I read American War  by Omar El Akkad. It was good but a very brutal read about a future American Civil War between the north and south. At first it was slow because I thought I knew this story. Hell, I thought it was going to be a grownup version of Katniss Everdeen's story. Once I realized it was a lot more complicated and we weren't reading the heroes story, it got a lot more interesting. 

I'm over halfway through Seven Fallen Feathers : racism, death and hard truths in a northern city by Tanya Talaga. It is brutal for different reasons.  It is about the deaths of 7 Indigenous Canadian students who were studying and died in, Thunder Bay, Ontario. It covers a large period of time and covers a lot of issues regarding Indigenous people in Canada but succinctly. I don't feel like there is too much or that it takes away about the deaths, just how we got to this place. It is really an easy read on a hard topic. I can see why it has made so many lists. 

I also have checked out The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. It's on the short list like American War but it's a dystopian YA book. The YA dystopian bubble has burst but we'll see how I feel about this one.

Edited March 14, 2018 by raezen

[Black Knight]

On 3/13/2018 at 5:04 PM, Jenniferbug said:

I'm 28 pages into The Diviners by Libba Bray. I'm not super impressed so far, but it's early. Has anyone here read it? I'd be interested to hear spoiler free thoughts on whether you liked it. I loved her last trilogy until the 3rd book which was terrible so I'm not entirely sure that that isn't coloring my impressions of this one (ie- I don't want to get burned again).

I loved The Diviners, although I haven't yet gotten to the second book, which is sitting in my to-read bookcase. First, the period setting was so cool. Second, I love the way she writes female characters and female friendships. She's the one I always want to point to and scream, "There! That's how you write a variety of three-dimensional women, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, instead of elevating one as a Mary Sue and cutting down all the rest for not fitting exactly into some supposed idea of the perfect woman." Like, she'll write a girly-girl and a tomboy, but neither gets elevated - the girly-girl isn't made out to be a useless wimp because she's afraid to break her fingernails; the tomboy's not made out to be utterly lacking in any sort of grace (while skipping the annoying trope where the tomboy gets shoved into a dress and glammed up and everyone dies over how beautiful she actually is). It's okay to be girly, it's okay to be a tomboy; it's okay to be intellectual and it's okay if you're not that smart; it's okay to be sexually active and it's okay not to be. One is not designated better than the other. You do you.

And she knows how to write strong female friendships without making them saccharine/perfect on the one hand or "frenemy"/internalized misogyny on the other. Her friends fight, they have prickly moments, if there's more than two in the friendship the tricky group dynamics are carefully delineated....but they're still true friends. (And she doesn't do love triangles, which is a frigging miracle in YA.)

Her standalone Beauty Queens is both an awesome book in this regard and so hilarious. And that reminds me, my niece is now old enough for me to give her this book to read. Yay!

[Jenniferbug]

Thanks @Black Knight! I enjoyed how she wrote female friendships in the Great and Terrible Beauty books, so I'm excited to hear it's solid in The Diviners too. I think I need to devote a decent amount of time to sit down and get into it. I'm only as far as Evie just meeting Jericho. 

[Black Knight]

That makes sense. It's a longer introduction before the main plot shows up than in Great and Terrible Beauty since the setting of 1920s NYC isn't nearly as familiar as "girls' boarding school" to most readers.

[Crs97]

I read Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton.  The reviews I have seen have raved about the book, but I found it to be plodding at best.  Important topic, but I thought it would never end and rolled my eyes more than once as the plot unfolded.

[truthaboutluv]

So I just got done reading Megan Miranda's All The Missing Girls and I kind of, sort of hated it. No, I really hated it. I've heard so much about how amazing it was and saw so many reviews for her follow up novel, The Perfect Stranger, essentially saying it wasn't as good as All The Missing Girls. I disagree, I really enjoyed The Perfect Stranger and thought she did a far better job with that one, which I choose to think means she's getting better as a writer.

I'm not sure where to even start with my issues with All The Missing Girls. Let's see, I disliked or was indifferent to most of the characters, really didn't care for the main character and was I supposed to be rooting for and care about that "love story" between her and the high school boyfriend? Because no.  She was an asshole, he was pathetic.

But the biggest issue was the end. Talk about an unsatisfying conclusion. The mystery of Corinne's disappearance was a joke and the way Annalise's story ended was an even bigger joke. Wow, just wow. I can't think of the last time I've read a book that was so popular and lauded that I hated this much. I'm so irritated that I can't even post on the five other books I read before this that I actually quite enjoyed. Will come back to it tomorrow. 

Edited March 17, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[scarynikki12]

Totally agree.  I thought the actual writing was well done, but that's it.  She clearly spent more time making sure the backwards storytelling unfolded properly and missed the actual story.  I also didn't like how

Spoiler

her boyfriend suddenly became abusive so that her cheating would be justified.  Just have the character acknowledge she did something shitty and let the boyfriend be angry and hurt without having him almost break her arm in retaliation.  It went from "I need to keep this secret so I'll confess to the awful non-criminal thing I did do as a misdirect" to "wow, dodged a bullet there so no need to feel guilt about my actions"

and I hate that kind of thing. 

[Spartan Girl]

Just read White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht. It's a historical fiction book about a Korean girl that's kidnapped and used as a "comfort girl" (aka sex slave) during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Oh my god it was so BRUTAL but brilliant. Not for the faint of heart but

the ending is better than how it probably went down in real life

.

[truthaboutluv]

9 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Totally agree.  I thought the actual writing was well done, but that's it.  She clearly spent more time making sure the backwards storytelling unfolded properly and missed the actual story.  I also didn't like how

Regarding the boyfriend,

 

is that what happened? Because admittedly by then I  was so irritated with the book that I was just skimming to get to the end. So I know he held her a bit tightly but I didn't get the impression it was to suggest he was secretly abusive. She seemed to be stressing his immense control and not reacting in the way most would - that is, he didn't say a word to Tyler, didn't yell or scream or call her any names. But it's possible I misread the part. And again, the main character was so awful anyway, it'd be fitting for her to suddenly make her nice guy ex a monster to justify the fact that it was her and all these people in her life who were awful. Just a really crappy book. I'm comforted in checking the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and seeing that despite all the 5 stars, there were many 1 stars and most of it was because people hated all of the main characters and thought the mystery's conclusion was bullshit.

Here are a few other books, I recently concluded in the last month or so. 

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus - I actually read this late last year but I don't think I posted about it. I enjoyed it for the most part and while I was okay with the main guilty person, there was one part I thought made the story go a bit over the top.

 

Turning the one girl's boyfriend into a full blown psycho who was not only aware of what Simon was going to do, but essentially going along with his killing himself and setting up four innocent people for it, just because his girlfriend cheated on him, was a bit much. Yes, the author set it up early in the book that the boyfriend was clearly emotionally abusive but dude just became a full blown homicidal psycho by the end of the story.  It was just a bit much is all I'm saying.

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti - This was also just okay. The guilty person was pretty much telegraphed in like the first five chapters because their crazy wasn't even subtle. The twist about

 

the twin sister and that being the motivation behind the husband's actions was unexpected.

but as a whole, I found the main character just okay and so wasn't as drawn into the story as I wanted to be. 

The List by Siobhan Vivian - This has been on many Best Young Adult's list for something like ten years and I've just never gotten around to reading it. I finally did and honestly, it was pretty meh as a whole. I get what the author was going for and it did have some decent lessons for young girls reading it but I just think trying to follow eight different girls' stories was a bit too challenging for her and as a result, the book as a whole suffered. By the end, there were so many unanswered questions or lack of conclusions for so many of the characters. The ending just felt very abrupt. 

Simon vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli - Loved it and can't wait to see the movie. Yeah it was a little sappy and schmaltzy at times but for the most part, I really enjoyed it. I liked Simon and that I've long realized is a big part of my enjoyment or lack of thereof in a book. That is, whether or not I enjoy the main character.  And to be clear, that doesn't mean they have to be nice because just like I've watched and enjoyed shows with asshole leads, I can enjoy a book with an asshole main character, if they are well written and compelling enough.

Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger - Pretty interesting. I figured out the killer almost immediately but didn't see the final twist, so kudos to the writer on that one. 

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera - An amazing book. I absolutely loved it but not a book to read if you're feeling down at all. Amazing story but holy depressing and heartbreaking batman. Your heart will break so many times for the main character. 

The Magus by John Fowles - This one has been a long journey for me and I'm still missing five chapters to be completely done but my pre-conclusion summary is that it is definitely a very fascinating story about human behavior, particularly selfishness and self absorption. The main character is a perfect example of what I wrote above. For the most part, I didn't care for Nicholas at all and found him incredibly selfish and entitled but I still found the story and his journey with the other characters compelling. 

Edited March 17, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[scarynikki12]

5 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Regarding the boyfriend,

  Reveal hidden contents

is that what happened? Because admittedly by then I  was so irritated with the book that I was just skimming to get to the end. So I know he held her a bit tightly but I didn't get the impression it was to suggest he was secretly abusive. She seemed to be stressing his immense control and not reacting in the way most would - that is, he didn't say a word to Tyler, didn't yell or scream or call her any names. But it's possible I misread the part. And again, the main character was so awful anyway, it'd be fitting for her to suddenly make her nice guy ex a monster to justify the fact that it was her and all these people in her life who were awful. Just a really crappy book. I'm comforted in checking the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and seeing that despite all the 5 stars, there were many 1 stars and most of it was because people hated all of the main characters and thought the mystery's conclusion was bullshit.

Here are a few other books, I recently concluded in the last month or so. 

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus - I actually read this late last year but I don't think I posted about it. I enjoyed it for the most part and while I was okay with the main guilty person, there was one part I thought made the story go a bit over the top.

  Reveal hidden contents

Turning the one girl's boyfriend into a full blown psycho who was not only aware of what Simon was going to do, but essentially going along with his killing himself and setting up four innocent people for it, just because his girlfriend cheated on him, was a bit much. Yes, the author set it up early in the book that the boyfriend was clearly emotionally abusive but dude just became a full blown homicidal psycho by the end of the story.  It was just a bit much is all I'm saying.

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti - This was also just okay. The guilty person was pretty much telegraphed in like the first five chapters because their crazy wasn't even subtle. The twist about

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the twin sister and that being the motivation behind the husband's actions was unexpected.

but as a whole, I found the main character just okay and so wasn't as drawn into the story as I wanted to be. 

The List by Siobhan Vivian - This has been on many Best Young Adult's list for something like ten years and I've just never gotten around to reading it. I finally did and honestly, it was pretty meh as a whole. I get what the author was going for and it did have some decent lessons for young girls reading it but I just think trying to follow eight different girls' stories was a bit too challenging for her and as a result, the book as a whole suffered. By the end, there were so many unanswered questions or lack of conclusions for so many of the characters. The ending just felt very abrupt.

Yeah, when the boyfriend

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grabs her arm he almost breaks it.  It was the first time he was shown to be abusive, so at least it wasn't presented as something the main character had secretly been dealing with, but it was definitely a "readers, don't feel bad for him because look how he'd have been if she'd stayed" kind of thing.  Cause trying to fix her relationship with her brother who was actually abusive and the creepy codependency she had with her ex are totally goals right?

 

I really enjoyed One of Us is Lying, so much so that I didn't mind the

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fast escalation of that one boyfriend.  If/when it gets made into a movie I'd like the timeline to be spread out a bit more so that the escalation doesn't happen so quickly or tweak the story so that the warning signs show up much earlier. 

 

My issue with The List is that it didn't really have any resolution.  There were hints at what would come next but nothing particularly concrete.  I also had issue with the idea that not one parent, in the decades since the List began, complained to the school, the school district, the media, anyone about this hazing ritual.  One disgruntled parent (especially one with influence) can get that shut down overnight.  Well, it'd probably go underground but at least there would no longer be a tacit endorsement by the school.  I hope she writes a sequel that wraps things up properly.  Or, if it gets made into a movie/show, it happens there.

 

I've been able to stay on top of my comics reading for the first time in a long time and I am having a ball with Rebirth.  I stick to the Gotham stories (Batman, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Detective, Nightwing) plus Wonder Woman and it is so much fun.  I'm also getting ready to read the DC Icons novels and I'm hoping they'll be as much fun as the comics.

[OtterMommy]

This weekend, I plowed through The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie.  I really enjoyed it--I think that she has finally found her niche as a mystery/thriller writer.  I also started The Address by Fiona Daivs, which so far (20%) is fascinating.  I really enjoyed her first novel (The Doll House) and she went to my alma mater, so I have high hopes for this one.  

I'm just about to start My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  I know it totally cashes in on the Hamilton frenzy, but I'm okay with that (especially since I'm seeing Hamilton on Saturday.  Squeee!)

[Mindthinkr]

On 3/17/2018 at 11:12 AM, truthaboutluv said:

The Magus by John Fowles - This one has been a long journey for me and I'm still missing five chapters to be completely done but my pre-conclusion summary is that it is definitely a very fascinating story about human behavior, particularly selfishness and self absorption. The main character is a perfect example of what I wrote above. For the most part, I didn't care for Nicholas at all and found him incredibly selfish and entitled but I still found the story and his journey with the other characters compelling. 

In the copy that I read the last paragraph is written in Greek. Did your edition offer a translation? It still irks me years later. 

[truthaboutluv]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

In the copy that I read the last paragraph is written in Greek. Did your edition offer a translation? It still irks me years later. 

No, it didn't. I was planning on searching online for some literary discussions about the book, to see if I could get the translation. 

[hendersonrocks]

I've never read anything by Anna Todd before (and had never heard of her, so the blurb calling her the literary phenomenon of her generation probably should have been a hint that I was treading into dangerous waters), but I thought The Spring Girls sounded intriguing - a modern day Little Women set at a military base in Louisiana with Mr. Spring overseas in Iraq. It was so, so bad. I made it about 50 pages and had to stop before I lit it on fire. It wasn't the updating of the classic story that bothered me, it was the awful writing. Oh dear god, the writing.

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, truthaboutluv said:

No, it didn't. I was planning on searching online for some literary discussions about the book, to see if I could get the translation. 

Please share if you get it and I’ll do the same for you. Thanks

[SlovakPrincess]

On March 11, 2018 at 7:39 PM, SallyAlbright said:

Currently reading or about to read: Sunburn by Laura Lippman, White Houses by Amy Bloom, Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, and The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani. Anyone read any of these?

I recently finished The Perfect Nanny, and didn't really care for it.  It felt kind of cold and clinical to me, if that makes sense.  I wasn't sure what the writer was actually trying to convey, or what I was supposed to get out of it:

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Was she hinting that the mother was somehow wrong for going back to work?  Was she saying the couple missed serious red flags about the nanny before it was too late?   Were we supposed to feel bad for the nanny ... I mean, I guess, given she was mentally ill, but what happens is so brutal -- and then the book kinda just seems to end.   

 

I also recently read No One Is Coming to Save Us, which sounds depressing (and it does have a lot of sad events in it) -- but I ultimately loved the book and really felt for the characters.  The main character yearns to hear from her son and doesn't know how to help her daughter (who is desperately trying to get pregnant before she hits 40).  She also periodically talks to a young stranger who randomly collect-called her house one day from jail, feeling lonely.  Also, her daughter's high school love mysteriously returns to town, apparently with a lot more money than he used to have.  I would recommend this one.

For nonfiction, I'm reading Endurance by Scott Kelly, about his experiences as an astronaut and on the International Space Station.   Fascinating!  It also makes space travel sound like a huge pain in the ass, to be honest, lol.  But it's definitely worth a read!

[SallyAlbright]

20 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

I recently finished The Perfect Nanny, and didn't really care for it.  It felt kind of cold and clinical to me, if that makes sense.  I wasn't sure what the writer was actually trying to convey, or what I was supposed to get out of it:

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Was she hinting that the mother was somehow wrong for going back to work?  Was she saying the couple missed serious red flags about the nanny before it was too late?   Were we supposed to feel bad for the nanny ... I mean, I guess, given she was mentally ill, but what happens is so brutal -- and then the book kinda just seems to end.   

 

I also recently read No One Is Coming to Save Us, which sounds depressing (and it does have a lot of sad events in it) -- but I ultimately loved the book and really felt for the characters.  The main character yearns to hear from her son and doesn't know how to help her daughter (who is desperately trying to get pregnant before she hits 40).  She also periodically talks to a young stranger who randomly collect-called her house one day from jail, feeling lonely.  Also, her daughter's high school love mysteriously returns to town, apparently with a lot more money than he used to have.  I would recommend this one.

For nonfiction, I'm reading Endurance by Scott Kelly, about his experiences as an astronaut and on the International Space Station.   Fascinating!  It also makes space travel sound like a huge pain in the ass, to be honest, lol.  But it's definitely worth a read!

I...kind of hated The Perfect Nanny. It was well written, I guess, but I completely agree that it felt cold and clinical. I had all the same questions you did and was just left feeling underwhelmed but also a little creeped out (I live in NYC, and the real-life case that inspired this is still too close for comfort. The trial is actually going on right now so I felt a little gross even reading this). It's very short, and a quick read, but I don't think I would recommend it to anyone. Perhaps something was lost in translation? It won tons of awards in France but I didn't really get it. 

Edited March 22, 2018 by SallyAlbright

[wanderingstar]

I just finished Halsey Street by Naima Coster (it's her debut novel). I liked it a lot. It's part family epic, part commentary on a Brooklyn neighborhood's transformation due to gentrification, part coming of age story for the main character, Penelope. Coster packs all of that into less than 400 pages - which is kind of a feat - and does so with a distinctive voice. I'd recommend this.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Gillian Rosh

[SlovakPrincess]

2 hours ago, SallyAlbright said:

I...kind of hated The Perfect Nanny. It was well written, I guess, but I completely agree that it felt cold and clinical. I had all the same questions you did and was just left feeling underwhelmed but also a little creeped out (I live in NYC, and the real-life case that inspired this is still too close for comfort. The trial is actually going on right now so I felt a little gross even reading this). It's very short, and a quick read, but I don't think I would recommend it to anyone. Perhaps something was lost in translation? It won tons of awards in France but I didn't really get it. 

 

Yeah, this was definitely one of those books that had critics raving.  And I was like .... "um, am I crazy because I hate it?"   

It was very well written, so I would definitely like to read something else by this author.  I just think this subject matter doomed the book from the beginning, honestly.  You can't really "make sense of" or turn into art something this awful.    

I didn't realize this was based on a real life case until after I'd read it.  So terrible!

Edited March 23, 2018 by SlovakPrincess

[Minneapple]

Just finished Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. I actually liked it better than her more-hyped The Girl on the Train. Maybe the only criticism I would have is that Into the Water jumps around an awful lot, and abruptly, to different points of view. It's a little hard to keep track with a large cast of characters. 

[SlovakPrincess]

On March 22, 2018 at 11:35 PM, Minneapple said:

Just finished Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. I actually liked it better than her more-hyped The Girl on the Train. Maybe the only criticism I would have is that Into the Water jumps around an awful lot, and abruptly, to different points of view. It's a little hard to keep track with a large cast of characters. 

I actually like this kind of storytelling (where you get the point of view of a few different characters), but I think three or four points of view is maybe the maximum before the thing gets way out of hand.  

Judy Blume wrote a book called Best Friends Forever (actually for adults) which had seven or more, and she pulled it off -- but only because the focus was mostly on a couple of the characters' points of view and the minor characters got 2-3 pages here and there to comment on an event that was just covered in a major character's section.   (There was one major character who never got a POV section, but that was kind of the point, since much of the novel was people trying to figure out her motivations.) 

Anyway, thanks!  I'm going to check out In the Water, especially, since I really liked Girl on the Train.

[SherriAnt]

My most recent brain candy book was Raspberry Danish Murder by Joanne Fluke. I enjoyed it, fun to visit the old crowd. The story was the basic cozy mystery plot, a friend we've never heard of is murdered and the local baker helps solve it. One thing I really like is 

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That they seem to be getting rid of Ross, who seemed to come out of nowhere. I never felt like that relationship was believable. 

I want her with 

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Norman. And Cuddles. 

[Jenniferbug]

@SherriAnt, I enjoyed that series until the last few books. I looked for Raspberry Danish last time I was at my library and it was already checked out. I agree with your second spoiler too! And brain candy is the perfect description of these books!

I finished The Diviners last weekend and ended up enjoying it enough to go check out the other 2 books. It started off slowly but once it got going, I did really enjoy the characters and the story. I'm about 200 pages from the end of the sequel, Lair of Dreams, and I'm less impressed. The characters are still enjoyable but their stories are much less connected this time which was one of the things that won me over in the first book (ie, the interactions between them in groups). It definitely feels like the middle book of a trilogy too, which isn't necessarily bad but it's filler and it feels like filler, you know? I'm enjoying it anyway, but had hoped for a stronger book.

I also read Still Life by Louise Penny which is the first of the Inspector Gamache series. It was a quick read and it felt like a modern Christie mystery to me so that was fun. I'll likely read more from the series eventually. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Jenniferbug

[Mindthinkr]

10 minutes ago, Jenniferbug said:

I also read Still Life by Louise Penny which is the first of the Inspector Gamache series. It was a quick read and it felt like a modern Christie mystery to me so that was fun. I'll likely read more from the series eventually. 

I loved the way that she describes the town in which the characters live. Her words painted a lovely quaint town in my mind...somewhere I’d like to go visit. 

[SallyAlbright]

9 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I loved the way that she describes the town in which the characters live. Her words painted a lovely quaint town in my mind...somewhere I’d like to go visit. 

I love this series, they are so cozy and perfect to read curled up on the couch during the winter. I think I have read 5-6 of them now, and in my opinion Louise Penny has improved with each book so far. 

[AngelKitty]

I just finished Altered Carbon and have ordered the next one in that series from the library. Now have just started Magic Bites since I need another urban fantasy series to get into.

I'm pretty much just reading science fiction and urban fantasy.

[GaT]

3 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Now have just started Magic Bites since I need another urban fantasy series to get into.

 

I'm a big fan of the Kate Daniels series, so I highly recommend it. The final book in the series (sob) is coming out in August, so if you like the books, you'll be able to read the whole series without any big waits.

[AuntiePam]

Not quite finished with The White Road by Sarah Lotz, but unless it goes careening off the rails in the last few pages, this will be an all-time favorite.  I must not have read a synopsis before purchase, because it isn't my kind of book at all.  It features caving (I'm claustrophobic) and mountain-climbing (an activity I've never understood). 

It's about a woman who wants to be the first to conquer Everest without supplemental oxygen, and a man who operates a website specializing in pictures of dead people.  Neither character is particularly admirable or sympathetic but I'm invested in them anyway.