What Are We Currently Reading?

[bubbls]

After a couple of failed attempts I finally finished The Devil Wears Prada. The movie was better. And after watching The September Issue where most everyone behind the scenes dressed like they were headed to a yoga class I’m not convinced the book was an accurate reflection of the style industry. In the book everyone dressed fashionably. It was entertaining though. 

[Black Knight]

Yes, Devil Wears Prada is the rare exception where the film is better - and not just because the film has Meryl Streep. It's really the script, which fleshed out characters, got rid of that tiresome, creaky subplot with Andy's best friend, etc.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Yes, Devil Wears Prada is the rare exception where the film is better - and not just because the film has Meryl Streep. It's really the script, which fleshed out characters, got rid of that tiresome, creaky subplot with Andy's best friend, etc.

It really is. The film was much better. Except for Andy's friends and boyfriend who I hated in the movie as much as in the book. The rest was much better. 

[Jenniferbug]

I just finished Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, which is the most recent novel in the Inspector Gamache series.

 

Spoiler

I really liked this one, but honestly felt myself a little annoyed when it would cut from the plot with the will to the drug stuff with Amelia. I don't like Amelia- never have, likely never will- so really could not have cared less if she had actually died from an overdose. She always seemed like a retread of the combative woman from earlier in the series whose name is escaping me (Yvette?) 

The plot with the will was interesting enough to me to fill the whole book and I did like the various twists and turns. 

I'm not entirely clear on if this was actually the last book or not- it certainly wraps everything up nicely, but her afterword says she wasn't planning to even write this one after her husband died but then she sat and down and ended up writing it anyway (and it sounded like that was after she told her publishers no and returned the advance). If it is the last, I'm ok with how it ended. The series has definitely done a lot so I'm not sure where else she could take it. It's a lovely series and one I hope to reread soon. 

[DearEvette]

If you are an Amazon prime member, for the first reads this month you get to pick two free books.  For the first time in months I picked one early, choosing Killer Collective by Barry Eisler.  I haven' read any of the previous John Rain books, but this one sounds like a good, fast paced thriller.  I am hoping it'll cleanse my palate.  I just finished a romantic-suspense trilogy by Kathleen Brooks that featured a big government conspiracy that I thought was so very unconvincing and rather meh.  It has a bafflingly high rating on Amazon and Goodreads . 

[AngelKitty]

I just finished book 2 of the Paradox Series by Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight and am enjoying this series immensely. The first book is called Fortune's Pawn and the 3rd book is Heaven's Queen, which I have on order at the library. If you like science fiction I highly recommend these books.

[ALenore]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:43 PM, Jenniferbug said:

 

I just finished Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, which is the most recent novel in the Inspector Gamache series.

 

I just finished the book also (audio version) and loved it.   No, it isn't the last book in the series.   Quoting from her newsletter:

Quote

Lots of people have written worried that KINGDOM was the final book.  It isn't.  As long as I can peck away at a keyboard, I will be writing about Armand, Clara, Ruth, the immortal Rosa and Henri, Jean-Guy et al.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Just finished The Great Alone. Incredibly exciting and emotional (though I'm a bit conflicted about the ending). Kristin Hannah might be one of my new favorite authors (I loved The Nightingale); she's great at creating suspense and characters you care about, though I really wish she'd get over her annoying habit of not only using wheezy, cliched metaphors, but explaining them to us (yes, Ms. Hannah, I get how a wealthy person and the bird she keeps in a cage have something in common, you don't have to hold my hand and spell it out to me).

[BookWoman56]

After the hype about the Netflix movie of Bird Box, I decided to read the book and have mixed feelings about it. It was generally engaging, and I thought the first part was a fairly realistic depiction of how the general public would respond to an event of that kind, with not everybody going into panic mode at once, and many people taking the attitude that as long as whatever was occurring in other countries wasn't happening in the US, they really didn't care about the problem. That said, it felt like there were some elements missing from the novel that would have helped keep readers a little more interested. The novel gives a pretty complete narrative of what happens to the main character from the time the event occurs until she gives birth several months later, and of her journey four years later to find other survivors. But there's almost no information, much less detail, on what happened between those two points in time.

I remember when people were waiting on the last installment of the HP series, and a few people expressed the fear that it would start out with essentially, "It had been a long, tiring summer, but the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione had successfully found all the horcuxes except the last one."  This book felt like that actually happened. Generally in post-apocalyptic books, there's detailed description of how exactly people survive, how they find food once the initial supply has run out, how they deal with other concerns, and so forth. In this one, there's the setup that the heroine (Malorie) finds a house where the previous owner had stockpiled canned goods and created a shelter of sorts, then invited people to join him. When Malorie first arrives at the house, though, there are several other people living there, and there's already grumbling about how the stash of canned goods will eventually run out, and a few months later, it's mentioned that most of them have lost weight because the food supply is dwindling. I think there's one run to a store, during which two residents of the house pick up as many canned goods as they can carry in their backpacks, which frankly would not be a huge amount. And yet there is not any mention that I remember of Malorie going out looking for food during the four years between when she gives birth and when she decides it's time to go looking for a different shelter. There is one outing described, in which she goes looking for electronic equipment that she hopes to use to create a warning signal if anyone approaches the house, and that outing turns into a clusterfuck. 

Then there's the question of exactly what is causing this event. Sure, there's the initial conspiracy theory that it's aliens of some sort, which is eventually accepted as fact. But what were the aliens doing here? What were they looking for? If they wanted to take over the planet for themselves, it seems as if they could have found a much more efficient way of exterminating the human population than simply inciting suicide on an individual level when some human looks at them. I understand that not every question needs to be answered in a book, but the lack of any plausible rationale for aliens coming to our planet, wandering around and looking at individuals to make them commit suicide or kill a couple of others before killing themselves, just took me out of the narrative itself too often. I can fanwank a lot of this stuff, but it bugs me to have to spend more time coming up with my own theories of why all this is happening than it takes to read the book.

[raven]

11 minutes ago, BookWoman56 said:

it seems as if they could have found a much more efficient way of exterminating the human population than simply inciting suicide on an individual level when some human looks at them

One of the book characters, I can't remember which, puts forth the idea that the consequences of humans viewing the creatures are unintentional.  I liked this idea, as well as thinking that perhaps the creatures are completely baffled by humans killing themselves and each other.

I didn't mind the non-explanations in the book and am not trying to change your mind - I think it worked in this context, with the emphasis being on how one individual survives, going from part of a group and then instantaneously to being on her own and responsible for two others.  

[Jenniferbug]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:13 PM, DearEvette said:

If you are an Amazon prime member, for the first reads this month you get to pick two free books.  For the first time in months I picked one early, choosing Killer Collective by Barry Eisler.  I haven' read any of the previous John Rain books, but this one sounds like a good, fast paced thriller.  I am hoping it'll cleanse my palate.  I just finished a romantic-suspense trilogy by Kathleen Brooks that featured a big government conspiracy that I thought was so very unconvincing and rather meh.  It has a bafflingly high rating on Amazon and Goodreads . 

I didn't get an email about First Reads this month! I'll have to check the website and find out what the options are. 

On 1/2/2019 at 7:54 AM, ALenore said:

I just finished the book also (audio version) and loved it.   No, it isn't the last book in the series.   Quoting from her newsletter:

Thank you for sharing! I kept intending to Google for answers but it kept slipping my mind.

[HazelEyes4325]

I finished a few books while I was on vacation.  The first was First Comes Marriage by Huda Al-Marashi, which is a memoir by an Iraqi-American woman (raised in the US) who had an arranged marriage.  I enjoyed it for two reasons.  The first is that it didn't fall into that common memoir trap where the central person is sort of perfect.  Al-Marashi is very honest about her own shortcomings.  Secondly, it wasn't at all what I expected.  What I mean is that I always think of "arranged marriage" a certain way, and this was not it at all.

Then, I finished a couple of romances.  I read Christina Lauren's most recent novel, My Favorite Half-Night Stand and thoroughly enjoyed it, mostly because I think I related to the heroine.  The second, Making Up by Lucy Parker is the 3rd book int he London Celebrities series.  I really enjoy the universe of this series (London's West End theatre world), but the actual stories are starting to blend together in my mind. 

I'm currently working through Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and really loving it.  It's my book club selection for this month and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll actually be able to make the meeting (my daughter's basketball schedule might prevent it).  I also started Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan on the plane--and it seems to be a good book to read while sitting cramped on the plane.  It's cute and fluffy and a nice break from reality.

[Mindthinkr]

I’m just finishing up Verses for the Dead by Preston and Child. It’s another in their series of Pendergast books. I’m a bit on the fence with this one as to whether or not I like it. I’ll finish the last 40 pages, but right now I think they pulled a fast one. More later after I’ve finished. 

[LisaM]

I just finished Lethal White by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling. It is the fourth installment in the Strike series. As usual, very well written and advances the story of Strike and Robin, his detective partner. If you haven't read any of these, start with The Cuckoo's Calling, the first book. 

Edited January 5, 2019 by LisaM

[Rosenrot]

I just finished What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell; a perfectly nice little read.

Tonight I'm thinking of starting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I haven't read proper fantasy in a long time, and I really liked the 2015 miniseries based on the book. 

[helenamonster]

Just finished: One Day in December by Josie Silver, a lighter read while I was home for the holidays. It's definitely not something I usually go for (romcom) and I was a little nervous about the premise at first (a missed connection between two strangers through a bus window, where the guy starts dating the girl's best friend a year later), but it had a lot going for it during about the middle eighty percent. As it went on it felt less and less like a romcom with a ridiculous premise (call me a cynic but I don't believe in love at first sight) and more about how so much of your 20s involves your life being dictated by circumstance. You take the job that's available, even if it's not the one you want. You marry the guy because he's right on paper, even if he's not right for you. But I think I projected too much of my own life onto the book because I was really disappointed with the ending, even if I shouldn't have been.

Spoiler

I just super did not feel that Love Actually radio call-in, run to Edinburgh nonsense. Their lives had drifted too far apart. They'd missed their chances. It's brutal but that's life. But this was clearly supposed to be a fluffy Christmas read, so maybe I shouldn't have expected that much realism.

I also thought it was about to go super dark and that Laurie actually was pregnant when Oscar took the job in Brussels and was gonna get an abortion without him knowing. Again, perhaps I was not the intended audience for this book.

Next up: my first foray into Stephen King with The Outsider.

[DearEvette]

2 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Just finished: One Day in December by Josie Silver, a lighter read while I was home for the holidays. It's definitely not something I usually go for (romcom) and I was a little nervous about the premise at first (a missed connection between two strangers through a bus window, where the guy starts dating the girl's best friend a year later), but it had a lot going for it during about the middle eighty percent. As it went on it felt less and less like a romcom with a ridiculous premise (call me a cynic but I don't believe in love at first sight) and more about how so much of your 20s involves your life being dictated by circumstance. You take the job that's available, even if it's not the one you want. You marry the guy because he's right on paper, even if he's not right for you. But I think I projected too much of my own life onto the book because I was really disappointed with the ending, even if I shouldn't have been.

.

I just finished this as well.  I think I liked it on the whole a bit better than you did.  I was super skeptical about the premise, but in the end I think the author did a good job of making this odd little relationship work over a ten year period.  So I bought the ending.

I think it helps that I listened to the book on audio and the narrators (it was dually narrated) really sold it as this destined romance.  They both did a great job with the performance, inflecting the words with a lot of meaning an subtext.  I never once thought it was going to go dark.  So by the end I was really rather happy with the journey and the destination.

[HazelEyes4325]

17 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I just finished this as well.  I think I liked it on the whole a bit better than you did.  I was super skeptical about the premise, but in the end I think the author did a good job of making this odd little relationship work over a ten year period.  So I bought the ending.

I think it helps that I listened to the book on audio and the narrators (it was dually narrated) really sold it as this destined romance.  They both did a great job with the performance, inflecting the words with a lot of meaning an subtext.  I never once thought it was going to go dark.  So by the end I was really rather happy with the journey and the destination.

I enjoyed it as well, but I read it at a time when I was looking for something really light and fluffy (right before Christmas).  I think I, at least, need to be in the right mood for books like this.

[MaggieG]

I just finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and I loved it. 

[bubbls]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:13 PM, DearEvette said:

If you are an Amazon prime member, for the first reads this month you get to pick two free books.  For the first time in months I picked one early, choosing Killer Collective by Barry Eisler.  I haven' read any of the previous John Rain books, but this one sounds like a good, fast paced thriller.  I am hoping it'll cleanse my palate.  I just finished a romantic-suspense trilogy by Kathleen Brooks that featured a big government conspiracy that I thought was so very unconvincing and rather meh.  It has a bafflingly high rating on Amazon and Goodreads . 

 

Thanks for mentioning this. I didn’t know about First Reads. I got The Snow Gypsy and Blood For Blood. 

[Ceindreadh]

Just finished reading Graham Norton's second book 'A Keeper'. 

It is a real page turner and you wouldn't think from his chat show persona that he could be so dark and deep.

[Black Knight]

I just finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, brother of John. It was a good read with an interesting mystery (strange sculptures appear simultaneously in places all over the world), so I tore through it pretty fast - unfortunately, it turns out to be the start of a series, so I didn't get all the answers I'd hoped for.

Lev Grossman is quoted on the back cover as saying April May is someone you're immediately going to want to be best friends with, and all I can think is that either he has very strange ideas of what people usually want in a best friend, or he didn't bother to read the book and wrote this quote as a favor to one of the Green brothers, assuming that the female protagonist would have been written as likable. Given Grossman's quote, I'm putting this right here for people: This is not a book for readers who need the protagonist to be likable. The protagonist is narcissistic and awful, and because she's the narrator, you're in her head. When she said on page 113 that she hoped readers wouldn't hate her in a couple more pages, I immediately thought, "Well, I started disliking you in the opening pages, and actively hated you by page 58, so..."

(There are other characters in the book who are quite likable, for those who can live without the protagonist being likable but need someone to like. However, they're pretty flat, which is not surprising since the book is narrated by April and, being a narcissist, she's not actually interested in anyone else except for how they can be useful to her.)

Edited January 12, 2019 by Black Knight

[Mabinogia]

14 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Lev Grossman is quoted on the back cover as saying April May is someone you're immediately going to want to be best friends with

The fact that her name is April May makes me hate her already. haha. I also hate being in the head of a character I don't like, and I hate series that try to force you to buy the next book to find out what happened so I think I'm gonna pass on that one. 

15 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Just finished reading Graham Norton's second book 'A Keeper'. 

OMG I did not know Graham Norton wrote books! Gonna go check it out. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

I hate it when authors tell me what to think about their characters. Let me decide for myself.

Anyway, just started The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. I'm sure it'll be good, but I might take a break from Morton's stuff for a while (they do tend to be same-y).

[Neko]

I just started Liane Moriarty's Nine Perfect Strangers on Audible.  I've read Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret, but that's all the Moriarty I've read, so far.  If I like this one well enough, I might check out her other books.

[SmithW6079]

On 12/30/2018 at 9:59 PM, bubbls said:

After a couple of failed attempts I finally finished The Devil Wears Prada. The movie was better. And after watching The September Issue where most everyone behind the scenes dressed like they were headed to a yoga class I’m not convinced the book was an accurate reflection of the style industry. In the book everyone dressed fashionably. It was entertaining though. 

 

On 12/31/2018 at 12:32 PM, Black Knight said:

Yes, Devil Wears Prada is the rare exception where the film is better - and not just because the film has Meryl Streep. It's really the script, which fleshed out characters, got rid of that tiresome, creaky subplot with Andy's best friend, etc.

Yes, The Devil Wears Prada was an awful book, and the heroine was a horrid person. The movie was much, much better.

I'm currently reading The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley. I thought I had seen the recommendation here, but I can't find it. I'm only a little ways in, but man, Victoria and Albert were really bastards as parents, and for all the praise that heaped on Victoria (she has an age named after herself!), she is an awful, awful person. 

[truthaboutluv]

I just completed Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and in general I liked it but some things bothered me. 

Spoiler

Even though I saw it coming a mile away, I really hated that the writer went the cliche route of having the husband hook up with the administrator and then even worse, saddling him with a kid with her. That woman was annoying as fuck and as messed up as Bernadette was, she, along with her pal Audrey, before Audrey saw the light, lived to judge and attack Bernadette for simply not wanting to deal with them. As an introvert, I've had my share of people like that and it's the most infuriating thing. People who get offended and act like YOU'RE the bitch for simply living your life removed from them. Soon-Li was pathetic as hell and totally did prey on an obviously vulnerable man. Not that Elgie wasn't a dumbass in the situation himself. And I'm definitely not absolving him of not putting up a clear barrier when Soon-Li first drove him to the hotel and came up to his room. All kinds of professional barriers were being crossed there. 

My other main issue with the book is that I felt like it ended with no real acknowledgement of the fact that Bernadette WAS suffering from mental illness. The way the story ended almost seemed to suggest that like her friend stated, she was falling apart simply because she wasn't creating because she's an artist and so needs to create. And I'm not saying that's not true but come on, the woman had multiple miscarriages, her only child almost died and she'd become a borderline shut in. For crying out loud, the woman pretty much shared her, her husband and her child's whole lives to some random virtual stranger that naturally turned out to be a scam. And as she herself admits to Audrey, she definitely would have signed away the Power of Attorney. I mean SERIOUSLY? None of that is healthy, normal, mentally sound behavior. But at the end, all we get is her admitting that they did need to move out of the house and she made some mistakes in her parenting of Bee but nothing about her planning to go to therapy, etc. 

Edited January 13, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Minneapple]

I recently finished The Wicked King by Holly Black, the second of her Folk of the Air Series that just came out recently. It's pretty good and has a solid cliffhanger ending (the next, and final book in the series I believe, will be out next January). I really like Black's two main characters in the series, and she does a nice job combining plot with character development.

Now I'm working my way through the Cormoran Strike books. Normally I can get through a mystery book in a couple days, but the Strike novels take me a longer time.

[Spartan Girl]

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden is a good conclusion to The Bear and Nightingale/Winternight books. But my one gripe:

 

that was NOT the ending I wanted for that douchebag priest Konstantine! I wanted Vasya to be the one to kill him. She let him go twice and he came back to kill her horse and burn her at the stake -- THIS is why you never show mercy to the bad guy, they're never grateful and they just keep coming back! She swore at the end of the last book she'd kill him if she ever saw him again. I wanted a whole year for him to get his comeuppance and he gets to kill himself and Vadya to feel pity after everything he did to her? Screw that! I don't give a fuck about him and his weird relationship with the Bear, I WANTED SATISFACTION!

Edited January 15, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[Hanahope]

Finished The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz, who took over the Lisbeth Salandar story.  This book started incredibly slow.  I really had to push myself to continue.  About halfway through, the story finally got better.  It still was a harder to follow that Steig's books in many parts.

going to give the next book The Girl Who Takes an Eye for An Eye a go, mostly because I believe its going to resolve the Salandar sister conflict, which started in Spider's Web.  Hopefully its better.

[Pachengala]

I just finished Difficult Women by Roxane Gay. I normally avoid short stories but this was heartbreakingly good. 

Now im reading All the Ever Afters, the Cinderella story from the stepmother’s POV, while still struggling to get through The Pyramid by Ismail Kidare. I’m sure it’s all a big allegory or metaphor—it won the Booker and the Booker folks love an unnecessarily complicated book—but I just don’t get it.

[Minneapple]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:47 AM, Pachengala said:

Now im reading All the Ever Afters, the Cinderella story from the stepmother’s POV, 

I read this one during an "alternative fairy tale" binge and I quite enjoyed it. I thought the author did a nice job of explaining how Cinderella's stepmother and her "ugly" stepsisters got their wicked reputations. 

[scarynikki12]

2 hours ago, Minneapple said:

I read this one during an "alternative fairy tale" binge and I quite enjoyed it. I thought the author did a nice job of explaining how Cinderella's stepmother and her "ugly" stepsisters got their wicked reputations. 

Agreed and I also liked that Cinderella

Spoiler

wasn't the bad guy of the story.  She was instead a bit shallow and spoiled but did have genuine affection for her step-family and took care of them after she became a princess

 

I liked it a lot.

[HazelEyes4325]

I finished Americanah yesterday and quite liked it--although I don't think I loved it as much as I had expected to.  Whenever the narrative would switch to the lead male character, my interest would start to wane, although it would come back as soon as the lead female character took back center stage.

Today I started  The Silent Patient and am hooked.  I try to pace myself with thrillers as they all start to sound the same to me after a while, but this one is quite unique.  I'm almost halfway done with it and I'm still not entirely sure where it is going.

[Mindthinkr]

11 hours ago, HazelEyes4325 said:

Today I started  The Silent Patient and am hooked.  I try to pace myself with thrillers as they all start to sound the same to me after a while, but this one is quite unique.  I'm almost halfway done with it and I'm still not entirely sure where it is going.

Can you please tell me who wrote it? I love a good thriller that I can’t solve halfway through the book. 

[HazelEyes4325]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

Can you please tell me who wrote it? I love a good thriller that I can’t solve halfway through the book. 

Sure!  It's a debut novel by Alex Michaelides.  No matter how the book turns out, I will say that the writing is excellent.

[MaggieG]

6 minutes ago, HazelEyes4325 said:

Sure!  It's a debut novel by Alex Michaelides.  No matter how the book turns out, I will say that the writing is excellent.

I have added this to my wish list because the premise looked really good. Although it says it's not available until Feb 5th, did you get a advanced copy?

Currently reading The Pisces by Melissa Broder. So far, it seems interesting. 

[HazelEyes4325]

23 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

I have added this to my wish list because the premise looked really good. Although it says it's not available until Feb 5th, did you get a advanced copy?

2

Really?  That's strange.  I don't have an ARC, but I did get it as my Book of the Month selection this month (and usually they don't send those out until it is published).

[DearEvette]

If The Silent Patient was a Kindle First reads, then those are usually offered abut a month before their available publication date to Prime members.  It isn't a January US selection but I think it might have been a UK selection?

[Mindthinkr]

@HazelEyes4325 Thanks for the information. I’ll try to get my hands on a copy. 

[cherrypj]

Vicious by V. E. Schwab: what a crackerjack of a book. Even had a Hell Yeah! moment in it.

Has anyone read Vengeful yet?

[HazelEyes4325]

I finished The Silent Patient and it did not disappoint.  I read a fair amount of psychological thrillers and I think this one is probably the best I've read...and I'll leave it at that.  Now, I'm going back to Becoming by Michelle Obama, which I started before I went on vacation but left at home because I didn't want to lug it on the plane.

[Minneapple]

Now I'm looking forward to reading The Silent Patient! Thanks for the rec, @HazelEyes4325

[Spartan Girl]

I just finished Annelies by David Gilham, a historical fiction in which Anne Frank survives the Holocaust and struggles through trauma and survivor's guilt. Not an easy read, but brilliantly done.

[HazelEyes4325]

36 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I just finished Annelies by David Gilham, a historical fiction in which Anne Frank survives the Holocaust and struggles through trauma and survivor's guilt. Not an easy read, but brilliantly done.

I'm going to have to check this one out.  A few years ago, I read Margot which was similar...it was about Anne's sister who survived (Anne did not) and went on to live in the US under a sort of assumed identity.  If I remember correctly, it wasn't that she was pretending to be someone else, but that people assumed that she had died and never connected that Anne's sister (in the book, this is right when her diary is published) is this person named Margot.  

It was a heartbreaking, bittersweet novel..but I loved it.

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, HazelEyes4325 said:

I'm going to have to check this one out.  A few years ago, I read Margot which was similar...it was about Anne's sister who survived (Anne did not) and went on to live in the US under a sort of assumed identity.  If I remember correctly, it wasn't that she was pretending to be someone else, but that people assumed that she had died and never connected that Anne's sister (in the book, this is right when her diary is published) is this person named Margot.  

It was a heartbreaking, bittersweet novel..but I loved it.

Read that one too! Both novels are great.

[Neko]

I finished Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarty, last night.  I thought it was okay.  The reviews on this one seemed to be pretty mixed, but I think Moriarty had some good characters, here, there were just too many of them.  If it had been Seven Perfect Strangers, that might have been better; that way,

Spoiler

Lars and Carmel wouldn't have gotten the short end of the stick, in terms of characterization.  I wanted to know more about both of them, but we don't really learn about Lars as a person beyond his nonchalant manner, and Carmel doesn't even get a POV until nearly halfway through the book.  Even then, we don't learn that much, about her; her story is wrapped up neatly with a bow, and you're left thinking, "Is that it?".

I also thought

Spoiler

Masha was a cartoon-y villain, and the turn the story took with her craziness could have been toned down, just a little.  I was on board with the acid-trip smoothies, but "Death Row"?  Pretending to set the resort on fire and drugging Yao with a needle, like a Bond villain?  Why is this woman so crazy?  And what *exactly* is she trying to prove, with all this?  I know she had a hard life, and thought Australians had it too easy, but I didn't think that was enough to justify why she was doing all these random, nutball things.  It took me right out of the story.

Overall, I'm glad I read it, because I still enjoy Liane Moriarty.  I don't think I would recommend this one to a person who hasn't read any of her books, though.  It's a little out there, and it's not really a 'cutting your teeth' kind of novel.  I can't wait to see what she has in mind for her next book.

[bmasters9]

Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof, about the infamous 1919 World Series and the White Sox throwing it

 

[Browncoat]

I just finished Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, and I highly recommend it.  It is surprisingly riveting, for what appears to be just a good story about the life of a young girl who has been abandoned by her family in the marshes of coastal North Carolina. 

[Danny Franks]

So I just read Lancelot, by Giles Kristian. A retelling of.... you guessed it... the life of Sir Lancelot. Kristian is an author who writes gritty, Dark Ages violence very well, but this one just felt really unbalanced.

He spends over three hundred pages writing Lancelot's growth from child to adult, and then less than two hundred pages on everything that happens after he meets Arthur. So the whole Camelot/Knights of the Round Table/Mordred/Guinevere stuff is crammed in and feels incredibly rushed. To the point where I thought a section where Lancelot rescues Guinevere from being burned as a witch by a wrathful Arthur was a weird dream section.

It just felt like Kristian realised he'd written too much and didn't want to take the story into a second book. The last third is disjointed and borderline incoherent. Very disappointing, and it robbed the final scenes of a power that they really should have had.