What Are We Currently Reading?

[luna1122]

Finished Lie to Me, which held my interest throughout, tho I've already largely forgotten it. Then read Sophie Hannah's Keep Her Safe, which: meh. One of the most annoying protagonists in recent memory. Then read Molly Jong-Fast's memoir The Sex Doctors in the Basement, which was fast and fun, if facile. Then read two more books about women on the PCT: A Blistered Kind of Love by married couple Angela and Duffy Ballard ( he is pedantic, condescending and irritating, she is a vastly better writer) and Hikertrash, by Erin Miller (who also hiked with her husband), which I really enjoyed. Then Sunday's on the Phone to Monday, by Christine Reilly: lyrical, beautiful, sad....it's described on Goodreads as The Middlesteins meet The Virgin Suicides, which is apt, and should let you know if it's your kind of book  or not. It was mine.. About to finish us Alifair Burke's The Wife, which has been fairly un-put-downable, and tho I'm nearly at the end, I still have no real idea where it's going. Which is a good thing, in a thriller.

[Hanahope]

Finished Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich.  pretty much like the prior ones, fun easy reads, but no real overall movement of the characters.  I thought there was going to be a move forward from 22, but 23 appeared to take it back.  

Going to catch up on my Felix Francis books now, Damage, Front Runner and Triple Crown.  He still gets good will from me as his books do a credible job of mimicing his father, Dick Francis' writing style.

[Mindthinkr]

2 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

Going to catch up on my Felix Francis books now, Damage, Front Runner and Triple Crown.  He still gets good will from me as his books do a credible job of mimicing his father, Dick Francis' writing style.

What? Oh I need to get those books ASAP. I love horsey things. If you like that genre try Chestnut Mare, Beware by Jody Jaffe. It’s a ‘who done it’ set in the riding world. 

[Hanahope]

12 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

What? Oh I need to get those books ASAP. I love horsey things. If you like that genre try Chestnut Mare, Beware by Jody Jaffe. It’s a ‘who done it’ set in the riding world. 

Thanks, I'll check it out.  There are a few other Felix Francis books before those, and also some that he co-wrote with Dick Francis before Dick's death.

[Spartan Girl]

Just finished two books: 

All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller: Not the best Cinderella retelling, but still interesting.

I was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon: HOLY SHIT. This was like Anastasia meets Memento and it was awesome. 

[helenamonster]

Just finished: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell. Meh. In an overstuffed genre you really have to hook me and this was just bland the whole way through.

Next up: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll. I was riveted by Luckiest Girl Alive so I'm really looking forward to this one.

[Crs97]

I found a biography called FDR’s Splendid Deception by Hugh Gallagher. Hugh was paralyzed via polio in the 50’s.  He says that for most people it is a defining moment, but the biographies of FDR mention his polio and subsequent paralysis almost as a footnote.  This book brings FDR’s disability to the forefront and explains how it transformed his political and personal life.  I am enjoying it very much!

[callie lee 29]

Has anyone read The Widows of Malabar Hill? It's a mystery set in Bombay in the 20's. It sounded fascinating but I'm on ch 4 and the titular widows gave been mentioned once in passing and the mystery is no where in sight. I'm ready to give up.

[Minneapple]

9 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

Has anyone read The Widows of Malabar Hill? It's a mystery set in Bombay in the 20's. It sounded fascinating but I'm on ch 4 and the titular widows gave been mentioned once in passing and the mystery is no where in sight. I'm ready to give up.

I read it. You should stick with it. It's actually pretty good, but there are some flashback chapters that I don't think work all that well. 

[callie lee 29]

@Minneapple thanks. I'll try again. I got to 4th chapter (1st flashback) and got frustrated!

[proserpina65]

Currently reading James Comey's A Higher Loyalty, almost finished it.  It's been quite an interesting read, but while I think he completely believes his rationales for making pre-election public pronouncements about the Clinton email investigation and, conversely, not making any regarding the link between the Trump campaign and the investigation into Russian attempts at interfering in our election, I don't really buy that either action was the right one.  Still, it's a glimpse into his long and sometimes fascinating career, and I would recommend it to those who are interested.

[unicorn23]

On 4/17/2018 at 10:00 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Just finished Circe by Madeline Millar, and OH MY GOD. If you loved Song of Achilles and/or revisionist femininely mythology retellings, don't walk, RUN to this book

Agreed. I just finished Circe today and it's beautifully-written (just like with Song of Achilles) and I love how Miller put her own spin into the Greek mythologies that we are quite familiar with.

I'm starting book three of The Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate since the current season has finally gotten to that part of the series and I can't wait to devour this book. (Also, I'm so thrilled Amazon decided to pick up the show.)

[alias1]

On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 9:18 PM, callie lee 29 said:

Has anyone read The Widows of Malabar Hill? It's a mystery set in Bombay in the 20's. It sounded fascinating but I'm on ch 4 and the titular widows gave been mentioned once in passing and the mystery is no where in sight. I'm ready to give up.

I thought it was pretty boring.  I kept waiting for more and it never happened.  The historical aspect of it was kind of interesting, but the writing was dull.  

[alias1]

I read A Higher Loyalty and he comes off as sort of a boy scout.  That's not exactly a criticism of him.  I think he made some bad judgement calls with regard to the Clinton investigation and the resolution and he's still trying to justify that.   I didn't realize when I read the book that he was the one who prosecuted Martha Stewart.  Of course, that's been in the news lately because Trump is floating the idea that he might pardon her.

[Irlandesa]

I liked learning about the main character's history in The Widows of Malabar Hill and the historical context during which the story took place but I'm not sure if I'd want to read a follow up.  They do get to the mystery but it's such that I can't even remember what happened in it.

I recently finished Best Day Ever and The Wedding Date. 

I read The Wedding Date because I read some good reviews somewhere (I don't know if it was here or somewhere else).  I had read some negative reviews that it was just a lot of sex and I was hoping they were just prudes but ultimately, I kind of felt the same way.  It was more of a romance novel than I thought it was going to be and I never really connected with the characters or the couple.

Best Day Ever was a quick and kind of fun read.  It was a story told in the first person.  I thought the actual story was pretty predictable but I thought it was meant to be.  It wasn't until I read the "book club" questions at the end that made me question whether or not it was supposed to be obvious. 

For instance they ask when we realize Character X was going to turn out to be bad.  And I found myself saying---

Spoiler

From the minute he started narrating the novel it was easy to see he was bad and probably planning on killing her.  Plus, it reminded me a bit of You with its sociopath narrator.

[Haleth]

On 6/3/2018 at 8:38 PM, unicorn23 said:

I'm starting book three of The Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate since the current season has finally gotten to that part of the series and I can't wait to devour this book. (Also, I'm so thrilled Amazon decided to pick up the show.)

The show is just barely into book 3 so if you don't want to be spoiled for the show, don't read too far.

[unicorn23]

12 hours ago, Haleth said:

The show is just barely into book 3 so if you don't want to be spoiled for the show, don't read too far.

I realized this after it got to Melba's point of view, haha. But at least now I know what she's all about so I'll have peace of mind in that regard.

[Melgaypet]

I'm currently reading Murder at Ashgrove House by Margaret Addison, and oy. The author describes this as a cross between Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey, which should be right up my alley. This book has neither the charm nor the intelligence of either. There's a serviceable cozy country-house mystery trying to get out, but so many annoyances! The protagonist, who I won't call a detective because so far she's done no detecting and indeed seems totally passive, has no personality to speak of and neither does her love interest, even though they fall in love literally at first sight. This love interest is also described, with no sense of irony, as looking like a Greek god. Oof. The foreshadowing is laid on with a trowel. Thank you, narrator, I know there will be a murder, that's the point of murder mystery! The POV shifts at a drop of a hat, the narrative never met a subtle point it didn't want to hammer home like an anvil, there's no trust that the reader has an ounce of intelligence. There's a scene cribbed shamelessly from Pride & Prejudice. There are pacing problems galore. It has taken nearly half the book before there's a murder.  The protagonist has a "shocking" insight that she must share with the Scotland Yard Inspector right that second, to the point where she actually shoves another character aside to do so, and not only does the book then cut to another (dull) scene, but when we get back to our protagonist and the inspector, he's been briefly called away to deal with a red herring, and she has apparently been sitting demurely on a sofa for him to return, despite all her earlier urgency! At this point, I was so annoyed I put the Kindle down. I don't know if I'll finish.

This could have been a decently entertaining, though not original, story. But it is need of an editor with a firm hand and at least one more draft.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Melgaypet

[aradia22]

On @Violet Impulse's recommendation, I got Fashion Victims from the library. On the one hand, it's great. It's clearly well researched. There are interesting anecdotes and good pictures as reflections of primary sources/significant objects. On the other hand, it's driving me crazy. The writer is a professor and I feel like if I took one of her classes I would lose my goddamned mind. She is all over the place. There's no flow to the writing or the information she's doling out. We're here and then we're there. And while I generally agree with what she's saying, the moralizing (whether it's feminist critiques or commentary about the modern dangers still present in the manufacture of clothing/makeup/etc.) just seems plopped in there. I think it's part of the larger issue that nothing seems developed. The print is super tiny and there's a lot of content in the book but none of it is developed the way you would expect from any kind of proper story, even nonfiction. It feels like a weird hybrid between those flipbooks I used to buy about handbags or shoes or designers where you'd just get a little paragraph about the photo and move on and those books that accompany museum exhibits that tell you a bit more about the clothes. She also keeps choosing a picture and then describing the picture through a critical lens which is... a choice. I don't know. I'm getting frustrated by the lack of flow. It's making it hard to get into the book. But I am enjoying the information being imparted. 

[helenamonster]

Just finished: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll. I was worried that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as Luckiest Girl Alive. The latter was just so deeply personal, having been based on things that really happened to Knoll, that just reading the premise of this one I knew that personal touch wouldn't be there. But honestly, I think not having that personal attachment to the story almost made it better? Luckiest Girl Alive is fantastic and was clearly therapeutic for Knoll to write, but I think the fact that Favorite Sister appeared to have been made out of whole cloth helped her to step back a little bit and have some fun with it. A lot of the criticism I read of it was that none of the characters were likable, and I will say that if you need someone to "root for" in the most basic sense, you are going to be disappointed. But even though the characters are all awful (with the possible exception of Lauren; she's the only one who really feels like a "victim" of her situation and doesn't bring her problems on herself the way the other women do), they are three-dimensional with clear motivations. I think the book also made a lot of interesting points about the pitfalls of fourth-wave feminism without being critical of its intentions as a whole.

Next up: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy. I had to laugh at the Amazon blurb for the book: this thing came out on May 1 of this year and there is already a film adaptation "coming soon" starring Kerry Washington. I love how people continue to learn the wrong lessons from the success of Gone Girl.

[Spartan Girl]

Just finished Ghostbuster's Daughter, the Harold Ramis memoir written by his daughter Violet, and it was really good!  Definitely a must if you want to know more about him!

[helenamonster]

Just finished: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy. Definitely set it self apart from other books in the "missing child" subgenre, with the focus being more on the other mothers in the mommy group than the one who lost her baby. My only complaint is that the author really struggled to cohesively write scenes with a lot of action. The climax of the book had a lot of moving parts, and it was almost impossible to keep track of who was where and what they were doing. Perhaps she was just rushing to get things finished, but it was really frustrating and made it difficult to appreciate the twist. 

Next up: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman.

[GaT]

Back in September, I started reading the "In Death" series by JD Robb.  There are 48 books in the series (so far), & today I started Secrets in Death, # 46. Since I am only reading the books in paperback form, this means I have caught up to what's been published so far, the next paperback (Dark in Death) doesn't come out until the end of July. I don't know what I'm going to do when I finish this one, I'm so used to having a stack of "In Death" books on my nightstand waiting to be read, after 46 books, it's like having people you know suddenly disappear from your life.

[Mindthinkr]

Wow @GaT  that sounds like some undertaking to tackle that series. I take it you liked them ? 

[GaT]

1 minute ago, Mindthinkr said:

Wow @GaT  that sounds like some undertaking to tackle that series. I take it you liked them ? 

Yes, I do like them, some books better than others, but that's probably to be expected with a series this large. It wasn't a big undertaking though, I also read other books in between them & there wasn't a rush to finish.

[Minneapple]

I recently finished reading:

Sophia of Silicon Valley by Anna Yen. Fun summer read. The tagline is that it's like The Devil Wears Prada for the tech sector and that's not wrong. Sophia is a fun character. The tech CEOs are all thinly disguised versions of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk et al. 

A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. Lovely debut novel. Not much of a plot, quiet and slow and very much character driven. I am probably biased because this is about a Indian American Muslim family, and I am an Indian American Muslim, and this novel was very much like reading my diary. It is such an accurate reflection of my life (except I am so glad I wasn't in high school when 9/11 happened). My only issue with this novel is that

Spoiler

one particular character is a whiny, grating spoilt brat and I didn't understand everyone's need for him to be okay. He's into drugs, constantly lies, assaults his dad...but in the end it's everyone else who's done him wrong. Bleah.

 

Currently I am reading All The Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella's Stepmother, which is in the vein of Wicked and other fairy tale novels that attempt to look at the villains of the piece. It's pretty good so far.

In a couple weeks I've got a road trip coming up and I've saved a couple novels for that. A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (yay!), Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson and The Girl in the Picture by Kerry Barrett. Can't wait! Hope the kids don't hassle me too much, lol. I'll have to get some new books for them too!

Edited June 20, 2018 by Minneapple

[nodorothyparker]

Recently finished Madeline Miller's Circe, which was a wonderfully feminist subversion of The Odyssey, in which the title character gets only minor billing as the sea witch who turned Odysseus's men into pigs before being brought to heel as one of his conquests.  As much as I really enjoyed it and revisiting a lot of the great characters of the Greek myths, it didn't give me the same giddy OMG I have to tell someone about this feeling that Miller's previous The Song of Achilles did.  I have no idea how much of that was just about reading a new author for the first time and how much of it is about which book might actually be better.  Reading them back to back though has definitely been a welcome treat.

I'm now most of the way through Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, which won a Pulitzer for its searing look at housing instability among the poorest of the poor and the ripple effect that instability has on tenants, their families, their surrounding neighborhoods, and society at large which in recent years has responded less and less with understanding or realistically workable solutions and more with onerous hoops to jump through and whole industries sprung up to efficiently shuffle these people from one bad situation to another while billing them not to have their meager lives dumped out on the sidewalk.   It's eye-opening as I've been poor and I've lived in the inner city, but never like this.  Some of following the subjects profiled makes for frustrating reading as you watch these people make bad choice after bad choice that only digs the holes they're in deeper, but Desmond wisely lets his subjects speak for themselves in acknowledging that sometimes the not wise choices are the only ones they have or give their lives worth in a society that clearly doesn't value them.

[alias1]

I recently read Circe too and was surprised at how much I loved it.  Beautifully written.

[alias1]

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't get all the praise for Ruth Ware's new book The Death of Mrs. Westaway.  I thought the main character was completely annoying and we had to read in every chapter how she was freezing (so she walks around barefoot).  The plot was paper thin.  Some reviewers (ridiculously) compared it to Rebecca.  OMG, if Mrs. Danvers were real she would turning over in her grave. I actually did like the explanations of the tarot cards.

[Haleth]

I'm picking up my reserved copy of Circe today.  I haven't read Achilles yet but will look for it some other time.

[Mindthinkr]

I’ve begun The Quest by Nelson DeMille. It’s a page turner. Had tried to read it a month ago but sadly didn’t have much reading time. Now I’m making reading time a priority. 

[Crs97]

Has anyone read Essex Serpant?  I picked it up because one reviewer likened the heroine to Elizabeth Bennet.  Now seeing the reviews on the back of the book, I see references to Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, which are not in my wheelhouse.   I would like to know people’s thoughts before I start reading and maybe give my self nightmares.

[Spartan Girl]

So I finally read The Widow by Fiona Barton.

I'm sorry but was I supposed to feel sorry for the title character? Because I did not. She was a delusional mealy-mouthed enabling twat, no better than her husband. Yeah she didn't kill the child, but she tried to keep her burial location a secret so she could be her "forever mommy"? Gross. Not to mention her total lack of empathy toward the victim's real mother.

[cherrypj]

18 hours ago, Crs97 said:

Has anyone read Essex Serpant? I picked it up because one reviewer likened the heroine to Elizabeth Bennet. Now seeing the reviews on the back of the book, I see references to Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, which are not in my wheelhouse. I would like to know people’s thoughts before I start reading and maybe give my self nightmares.

I very much enjoyed this book; it was beautifully and densely written. Cora is an outstanding character.

Spoiler

The monster is not real, so I never got scared.

[JAYJAY1979]

The Woman in the Window by A.J Finn

[EllieH]

I finished I was Anastasia today and I highly recommend it!  Very engrossing with the two timelines, especially as you get closer to them intersecting.

[Spartan Girl]

13 hours ago, EllieH said:

I finished I was Anastasia today and I highly recommend it!  Very engrossing with the two timelines, especially as you get closer to them intersecting.

I loved it too. I mean we all know

Anna Anderson wasn't Anastasia so the ending wasn't a shock, but the whole

Memento-style narrative made it more compelling, and made it easier to understand why she'd pretend to be her for so long. Not saying it was right, but when a girl is desperate...

Just finished The Mermaid by Christina Henry, and I highly recommen it for anyone that loves Little Mermaid retellings and/or loved The Greatest Showman. 

And now I'm reading Todd Fisher's memoir, My Girls, about Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. The stories he recounts are equally hilarious and jaw-dropping. You know how bad Debbie had it with men when she considered EDDIE FISHER the best of her ex-husbands. He was a louse, but he didn't screw her financially.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[truthaboutluv]

I just completed Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson. It was okay, if a little predictable. I figured almost immediately

that the husband was likely the one who'd attacked the woman. And while it took me a little longer to work out he wasn't actually her husband, I figured it out as soon as she started remembering the son and seeing pictures of him and none of them included her husband.

[Danny Franks]

I'm reading The Green Count, third in Christian Cameron's Chivalry series. This is better than the second book, but not quite as good as the third. I really appreciate how Cameron takes you on a journey through some far less remembered periods and places of Medieval history.

This one is focusing on the Holy Lands in the waning days of Mamluk dominance, and Medieval Greece after the Byzantine Empire disintegrated. So I'm learning quite a lot, even while reading about a fictional protagonist.

[Minneapple]

@Spartan Girl if you like mermaid stories then you might like The Mermaid's Sister which sounds similar to the Christina Henry book (which I'm going to look for at the library now, thanks for the rec).

[DearEvette]

I just finished reading (well, listening to on audio) Jed Had To Die by Tara Sivec.  A breezy, funny murder mystery/romance.  Laugh out loud in some places.  And the police interviews of the various townspeople made the book remind me of scenes in a little of Big Little Lies, except the witness interviews in this book are hysterical.

[Mabinogia]

13 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I just finished reading (well, listening to on audio) Jed Had To Die by Tara Sivec.

I went and looked it up on Amazon. It sounds fun so I bought it. It was pretty cheap for the kindle so I'm excited now. Thanks for the heads up on this one.

[Haleth]

On 6/20/2018 at 4:46 PM, SierraMist said:

I recently read Circe too and was surprised at how much I loved it.  Beautifully written.

Just finished it yesterday.  It was a fun summer read, the interweaving of all the familiar characters of Greek mythology.  One thing that left me kind of squicked though:

Spoiler

Circe takes both Odysseus and Telemachus as lovers.  Eww.  But I guess that's ok for Greek gods and soap opera divas.

[Spartan Girl]

22 hours ago, Haleth said:

Just finished it yesterday.  It was a fun summer read, the interweaving of all the familiar characters of Greek mythology.  One thing that left me kind of squicked though:

  Hide contents

Circe takes both Odysseus and Telemachus as lovers.  Eww.  But I guess that's ok for Greek gods and soap opera divas.

Yeah, that was a little weird, but Greek mythology is like that. At least it didn't have

Penelope end up with Odysseus and Circe's son like one version of the myth does (not making this up).

[Mindthinkr]

I just finished The General’s Daughter. Now I’m peeved because the author (Nelson DeMille) stated that the movie ran pretty close to the book so I thought I might like to see it. Dang. I’d have to get a Starz subscription. Nope. Not locking in to a $15.99 monthly payment to see one movie. Bad enough I have others. Amazon doesn’t sell it. 

Off to find something new. I might give An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook a try. Has anyone here read it? 

[partofme]

Has anyone read Friend Request?  I read it in less than 24 hours, it was really good.

[Mindthinkr]

2 minutes ago, partofme said:

Has anyone read Friend Request?  I read it in less than 24 hours, it was really good.

What is it about? I’m looking for something new to read. 

[partofme]

6 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

What is it about? I’m looking for something new to read. 

It's a psychological thriller/murder mystery about a woman who gets a friend request on facebook from someone who she went to high school with who died over 25 years ago.  It's probably not the most original book but it held my interest and was a very quick read.  

[truthaboutluv]

24 minutes ago, partofme said:

Has anyone read Friend Request?  I read it in less than 24 hours, it was really good.

Ooh just downloaded it but I'm already reading two other books. Must resist but your comment is making that hard. One of the two books I'm currently reading is Little Fires Everywhere and I have to say, so far, I'm not getting the hype. 

Edited June 28, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[Crs97]

I really, really disliked Little Fires Everywhere, which was very disappointing because I enjoyed her first book.  LFE is such that I may not try a third book of hers.