What Are We Currently Reading?

[truthaboutluv]

I completed Into The Water a few days ago and overall, it was just okay. I thought The Girl on the Train was a lot better, particularly the mystery part. Into the Water was obvious before I'd even finished the first part of the book. I mean at least it was a quick read. 

Overall though, it wasn't that great, mostly because the characters weren't that interesting. The main character Jules was kind of bland and was mostly removed from the whole mystery for most of the book. Lena was annoying as fuck and I'm sorry 

Spoiler

that whole spiel about Mark and Katie being in love from her, even if she hated Mark, was some teenage girl bullshit. That was never love period. Not on Katie's part or Mark's. 

Nickie the psychic and Erin the detective were the most interesting to me.

Spoiler

Louise was too obvious to have killed Nell so the focus on her was just all about her angry grief. Patrick was obviously an abusive psycho and the whole thing with him and Helen was just creepy and uncomfortable. Helen was whatever. 

Sean was interesting only in that it became clear half-way through the book that he was the one who murdered Nell.

 

[OtterMommy]

I recently finished The Paris Hours by Alex George.  It actually hasn't been released yet, but I got an early release copy from Book of the Month.  I absolutely loved it and now I want to go back and read more of George's other books.

Right now, I'm reading Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner, which I pre-ordered months before it was released and then had it sitting on my shelf while I read library books.  I figure I should read it before her next book arrives on my doorstep.  I just finished the first part and it is good, but nothing standout yet.

[Starleigh]

Read Brides of Gold that Dearevette  recommended recently, and really enjoyed it. Easy weekend afternoon escapist read. When I was a kid, the wagon train going West was a pretty popular setting/plot, and I always enjoyed those books. However, it seems to have fallen out of vogue and I can't remember the last time I read one. 

I also read Upside Down in a Laura Ingalls Town, about a family that participates in the filming of a reality TV show where the premise is that it's set in 1861 and they have to totally immerse themselves in it, with no modern stuff at all (not even toilet paper). It was an interesting enough read, with the little quibble that, strictly speaking, Laura Ingalls hadn't been born yet during 1861, lol. But I enjoyed it for what it was.

[Danny Franks]

I finished The Priory of the Orange Tree. I would say it's worth reading. Really interesting world, with some strong characters and a core LGBT romance that worked really well.  Samantha Shannon writes very well.

But the books is a little uneven - split between two plotlines that feel like they should get equal attention, but one ends up being a bit of an afterthought. And the climax feels rushed and a little underwhelming.

[Madding crowd]

Just finished The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. It was about a fictional woman as the wife of Jesus. A lot of good historical details and beautiful writing but I also felt it came across as a young adult novel at times. So mixed review I guess.

[helenamonster]

Just finished: A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler, about tensions between two families over an oak tree that separates their properties. The "narrator" of the book is the other residents of the town in a sort of Greek chorus style (I'm not familiar enough with Greek tragedy to know if the story is based off of anything, though there are certain plot elements I recognize that feel inspired by the genre), which I'd never seen done in a novel before and thought was executed very well. Race and gender are also huge motifs throughout the book.

Next up: Something She's Not Telling Us by Darcey Belle.

[Spartan Girl]

I liked A Good Neighborhood too.

Thanks to Overdrive I finally read The Mirror and The Light. It was ok but TBH that series wasn't my favorite one about Henry VIII. I'm more excited for Alison Weir's next book.

I also read Darling Rose Gold, which was basically the Gone Girl version of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

[OtterMommy]

I just finished The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.  I don't read a lot of ghost stories because I usually find them cheesy, but this one was quite good.  It's more of a mystery with ghosts, but the plot kept surprising me, which is always a plus.

I'll be starting The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid tonight, because I'm the last person left who hasn't read it.  I will admit that I'm a little wary as I didn't especially like Daisy Jones and the Six (but I did like her earlier novels).

[topazann]

Finished A Memory Called Empire, some excellent political/cultural sci-fi that I was very hooked by. A lot of interesting comments on imperialism, culture and memory. Well recommended.

Edited May 11, 2020 by topazann

[dubbel zout]

15 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I'm the last person left who hasn't read it

Second last; I haven't read it. 😉

[peacheslatour]

I'm reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I love the way he paints a visual picture with words.

[dubbel zout]

I went through a noir phase years ago and read just about everything Chandler wrote. It was so much fun. His hardboiled language is so evocative: "It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window." That tells you everything.

[peacheslatour]

29 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I went through a noir phase years ago and read just about everything Chandler wrote. It was so much fun. His hardboiled language is so evocative: "It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window." That tells you everything.

"His long narrow body was wrapped - in the heat- in a traveling rug and a faded red bathrobe. His thin clawlike hands were folded loosely on the rug, purple nailed. A few locks of dry white hair cling to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock."

[Danny Franks]

I started The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. It's the first book of his I've read, and I'm not sure I like his style yet. It's about the Sinaloa Cartel and the American crime gangs that dealt with them, and it's immediately obvious that Winslow is far more comfortable writing about the American mob than he is writing about Mexican traficantes. The first section of the book, about a DEA agent in Mexico, was stilted and felt awkward, but then the second section is about and Irish-American mobster in New York, and it flowed so much better.

[dubbel zout]

I love Don Winslow—I've read a lot of his books, including the Power of the Dog trilogy—but his style isn't for everyone. It's sort of neo-noir, and that can get tedious if it's not handled properly.

I thought the trilogy was excellent, if really tough to read at times because of the brutal (really brutal) violence. I think it's an accurate reflection of what happened and what is still happening with the drug cartels.

[dubbel zout]

Weird double post.

Edited May 11, 2020 by dubbel zout

[Danny Franks]

Okay, so what's putting me off now is the fact that Winslow has introduced three female characters - one is defined simply as 'long-suffering wife of the hero' and the other two are incredibly sexualised fourteen and fifteen year old girls.

[Crs97]

Just finished The Starless Sea.  What was the point, and why did it take her 500 pages to make it?

[Darian]

On 5/9/2020 at 9:33 PM, OtterMommy said:

I just finished The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.  I don't read a lot of ghost stories because I usually find them cheesy, but this one was quite good.  It's more of a mystery with ghosts, but the plot kept surprising me, which is always a plus.

I'll be starting The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid tonight, because I'm the last person left who hasn't read it.  I will admit that I'm a little wary as I didn't especially like Daisy Jones and the Six (but I did like her earlier novels).

I haven't read The Seven Husbands, but I may give it a shot because people whose taste I share keep recommending it. I did not like Daisy Jones and the Six either. I enjoyed The Sun Down Motel a great deal. So much so that I looked for what else the author has written and saw that I read something by her years ago that was so-so. Still, I'm now reading Silence for the Dead now and it's pretty good. These days, I need reads that aren't too taxing on the brain or hard to follow.   

Next up are The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom, The Night Country by Melissa Albert, and The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.  

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, Darian said:

I haven't read The Seven Husbands, but I may give it a shot because people whose taste I share keep recommending it. I did not like Daisy Jones and the Six either. I enjoyed The Sun Down Motel a great deal. So much so that I looked for what else the author has written and saw that I read something by her years ago that was so-so. Still, I'm now reading Silence for the Dead now and it's pretty good. These days, I need reads that aren't too taxing on the brain or hard to follow.   

Next up are The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom, The Night Country by Melissa Albert, and The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.  

I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and it was...good.  It wasn't stellar.  One of the reasons why I waited so long to read it is that it was soooo hyped when it came out and I realized it would be very hard for it to live up to it.  Honestly, I probably would have hated it if I had read it then.  Now I found it entertaining enough, but not without its flaws.

As I'm using this quarantine to make a dent in my BOTM books, I think my next book will be Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin.  I'm not sure mommy drama is my thing, but I think it will be fairly light.

[truthaboutluv]

I just completed Verity by Colleen Hoover. I enjoyed it well enough but didn't think it was as shocking and blow your mind as I've seen in other reviews. 

Spoiler

I totally called the husband trying to kill Verity because he'd found the manuscript. long before Lowen came on the scene. I also knew the ending would be some ambiguous scenario where the reader was left unsure whether Verity did do all these things. Personally, I found both scenarios over the top.

Verity was almost pathologically evil in the manuscript but the "it was for writing exercise" excuse at the end, sounded like total bullshit, IMO. I actually thought the big twist in the book would be that the husband was the psychopath and he wrote the fake manuscript as some type of "alibi". That everything he accused Verity of, was really him, e.g. hating the children. 

I'm currently reading The Wife Between Us and have heard so much hype around this one and the big shocking twist and ending. So far, it's okay but I'd like to get the action because neither woman is interesting to me much. The bride to be comes across dull and kind of annoying and the ex-wife is just perpetually drunk and in a fog. 

Spoiler

So far I feel like the twist is that the ex-husband/fiance will be the real monster in the story and that there's a third woman the reader isn't yet fully aware of. In other words, the new bride to be is not who he was having the affair with when married to the ex-wife. 

 

[OtterMommy]

I finished Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin.  It was ridiculous, but fun--total brain candy.  I called it a Bravo TV kind of book--it wasn't good, but I kept reading.

Next on my quest to read through my BOTM backlog (only 46 to go!) is the one that has been on my shelf the longest, The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee.

[Black Knight]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:20 AM, truthaboutluv said:

I'm currently reading The Wife Between Us and have heard so much hype around this one and the big shocking twist and ending. So far, it's okay but I'd like to get the action because neither woman is interesting to me much. The bride to be comes across dull and kind of annoying and the ex-wife is just perpetually drunk and in a fog.

I read that last year. The first part felt like a bit like a slog because I guessed the twist so early, but once the book caught up and did the Big (Not-So-Shocking) Reveal, it was better.

I just finished Michelle Obama's Becoming. It's a good read, although I was sorry that her trademark humor mostly didn't make it in. I can understand why she felt she needed to keep her narrative restrained and circumspect. My favorite anecdote was about the night of the landmark Obergefell decision, in which she and one of her daughters manage to sneak outside the White House to look at it all lit up in rainbow lights.

I'm now halfway through Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons. I'm not sure that I think it deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize, at least not so far, but it's a good read, following a long-married couple through a day in their lives. Both of them are so well-drawn.

[Danny Franks]

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. The entire book is an account of a three-day battle in a fantasy world (not much magic, mostly swords, spears and axes). It's fun. Well written and the ebb and flow as well as the constantly changing POV, work well.

It's set in Joe Abercrombie's established fantasy universe, and even though it's the first book I've read, it stands on its own easily enough.

However, I would have a bone to pick with anyone who calls his work 'gritty and realistic' while sneering at heroic fantasy. It's not realistic just because a bunch of named characters get killed, and especially not when he has Conan-type heroes walking around, legends in their own time who are bigger, stronger, faster and better fighters than anyone else.

[DearEvette]

Currently Reading -

Guards! Guards!  by Terry Pratchett - I love The Night-Watch sub-series of Discworld so hard.  But I haven't re-read them in years and years.  I think I re-read The Fifth Elephant some years ago.  But anyway...man, I am only on chapter seven I am just enjoying how Prachett uses words.  His facility with language and how to get to meanings and alternate meanings and make it all so damn funny and smart.  I mean, the entire section where Carrot's dwarf parents have to break to him (a human who is 6' 6) that he isn't a dwarf is killing me:

It's a terrible thing to be nearly sixteen and learn you're the wrong species

"We didn't like to say so before son.  We thought you'd grow out of it, see?"

"Grow out of what?'

"Well.. growing.... You're six foot six lad."

"Yeah, but maybe I'm just tall for my height."

Sigh.  I miss him.

 

Some recent reads:

After Sundown by Linda Howard/Linda Jones - A Post-Apocalyptic-lite romance.  A solar storm wipes out the power grid worldwide. This is centered on a small town.  I always like reading these that are set in the immediate aftermath of a big EVENT just to see how the author imagines how people will react.  This is probably close to realistic, tho, some parts of it read as a bit pedantic for it to be a engaging story imo.  This author does like to get into minutia sometimes.

Here's Looking at You By Mhairi McFarlane - chick-lit about a woman who was bullied mercilessly in high school because of her weight. Now as an adult she is super hot.  And as a adult she meets up again with the super popular bad boy who orchestrated one of her most humiliating moments.  Only he has no idea who she is.  The plot reads as very cliche but this author with her sharp, observational writing and witty turn of phrase makes it feel fresh. 

 

[proserpina65]

On ‎05‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 12:12 AM, Black Knight said:

I'm now halfway through Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons. I'm not sure that I think it deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize, at least not so far, but it's a good read, following a long-married couple through a day in their lives. Both of them are so well-drawn.

I tried reading that once when I was stuck housesitting for my brother and his wife, had forgotten to bring books with me and had no car to go get any.  I was desperate and it was the only book in the house which looked even vaguely interesting.  I didn't get very far into it.  I was completely put off by the main character's attitude towards anyone from outside of Baltimore, and stopped reading.  (I live in Maryland and hate that Baltimore is considered the be all/end all of the state.  Well, it, and Ocean City.)  I spent the rest of the weekend watching boring television, and still felt my time better spent than reading that awful book.

[dubbel zout]

I finally worked up the nerve to start reading Helter Skelter, and then Amazon delivers Say Nothing, and now I'm totally engrossed in that. I've seen a lot of movies about the Troubles but haven't read much, especially nonfiction. 

[Starleigh]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I tried reading that once when I was stuck housesitting for my brother and his wife, had forgotten to bring books with me and had no car to go get any.  I was desperate and it was the only book in the house which looked even vaguely interesting.  I didn't get very far into it.  I was completely put off by the main character's attitude towards anyone from outside of Baltimore, and stopped reading.  (I live in Maryland and hate that Baltimore is considered the be all/end all of the state.  Well, it, and Ocean City.)  I spent the rest of the weekend watching boring television, and still felt my time better spent than reading that awful book.

I grew up in Baltimore and intensely dislike Tyler's books. I find them so depressing. They make me feel so smothered. When she describes the  homes (built post ww2, all alike, so I grew up in a house like that and so did most of my friends) it is so, so depressing. BTW, I didn't have this horrible childhood or anything but like most people, I have a few creepy/sad memories, and her books just dredge up those feelings for me. 

It's weird, I can read Laura Lippman's books set in Baltimore and don't mind it at all, even though all her nostalgic name dropping of old stores that no longer exist make me roll my eyes a bit, but it doesn't make me feel depressed in the slightest.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Starleigh

[helenamonster]

4 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

I finally worked up the nerve to start reading Helter Skelter

A forever fave. I try to read it once a year, over the summer--for a 700-page book it's pretty easy to get through quickly. Sometimes I'll read it late at night with the window open when it's unbearably hot, if I'm really in the mood to give myself the heebie jeebies.

[truthaboutluv]

Just completed The Wife Between Us and overall, it was just okay. It's strange, the story had all the makings of a suspense thriller that should have kept you on the edge of your seat and yet, I just felt like getting through the second half was just such a slog. 

None of the twists were particularly shocking, the climax was pretty meh and the epilogue tipped the book from meh into kind of bad. 

Spoiler

It was glaringly obvious from the first scenes with the husband that dude was a creepy abuser, so that turn in the story was pretty predictable. The new fiancee turning out to be the daughter of the Professor was one of those eye rolling, trying way too hard for a twist and a surprise and instead it just makes the story hokey.

About the only mildly interesting thing by the end, was the ambiguous ending of whether Maureen really was Richard's sister who had some creepy incestuous obsession with him or she was not his sister but just someone who helped raise him, who was creepily obsessed with him. 

 

[tres bien]

Polio An American Story  by David M. Oshinsky.

This book and the author were part of episode on PBS's American Experience: The Polio Crusade.

I watched the episode twice and the book reads like a novel.  Very good. 

 

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, Starleigh said:

It's weird, I can read Laura Lippman's books set in Baltimore and don't mind it at all, even though all her nostalgic name dropping of old stores that no longer exist make me roll my eyes a bit, but it doesn't make me feel depressed in the slightest

Aren't hers more mystery in nature, though?  I think that would help, something else to think about, I guess.

You mean like Hecht's and Hochschild Kohn's?  ;-)  I remember when they had stores at Harford Mall.  Yes, I am old.  (Although that was just in the 80s.)

[Starleigh]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Aren't hers more mystery in nature, though?  I think that would help, something else to think about, I guess.

You mean like Hecht's and Hochschild Kohn's?  😉  I remember when they had stores at Harford Mall.  Yes, I am old.  (Although that was just in the 80s.)

It's just the tone of the writing, I guess. Tyler makes everything sound so dark and drabby. And I never found her characters sympathetic or likeable.

BTW, most of the stores LL mentions are from before my time, like the 70s, but my parents mentioned them often enough so they ring a bell, though I can't recall any now, lol. ( And a lot of her name dropping is from downtown in the city, and I'm not super familiar with that area.) I would guess it is mostly from the 60s or 70s when she was  growing up, because it's so clearly out of nostalgia, lol. (Although out of my own nostalgia, I wouldn't mind a mention of Hechts. They didn't totally close until the late 90s, iirc!) Anyway, I'm not this huge Lippman fan, but if I see she has a new book, I will always check it out of the library.

 

[Spartan Girl]

Initially I was not going to read the Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because I was NOT happy Suzanne Collins picked Snow of all characters. But this stupid pandemic and curiosity made me cave. I just started it yesterday and so far...I don't hate it. It's not the Joker villain apologia that I'd been dreading; young Snow isn't full blown evil yet, but he's still an ambitious snobby asshole bordering on sociopsthand his backstory doesn't absolve him of that. You pity him but you don't like him either -- think Draco Malfoy.

Also if you thought the Hunger Games were horrifying in Katniss' time, its early days were a million times worse. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[Browncoat]

I started that last night, @Spartan Girl.  I haven't gotten very far yet, though -- just to the point where Snow gets his assignment.  I might blow off work this afternoon and read more (it's a horribly rainy day, and reading is always more fun than work!).

I hope

this District 12 girl isn't a carbon copy of Katniss, although that would explain his animosity towards her later.

[Starleigh]

I'm really tempted to buy it. I had preordered it at the library (and was not too high up in the queue)  which is now closed indefinitely:( 

I'm going to try to hold out and just avoid spoilers.

[Angeltoes]

Just got done slogging through Val Kilmer's autobiography I'm Your Huckleberry.  It seemed endless and it isn't even that big of a book.  He comes across as being very pretentious and threw in a lot of his own poetry.  Was always talking about the great literature he has read and what it means to him.  He didn't talk in depth much about any of his movies, which is what I'd think most people would want to hear.  He was in two movies with Meg Ryan and never mentioned her.  He must not have slept with her because he give a shout out to the ones he did.  He lost his ranch in his divorce and had to downsize to a guest house in Malibu (I didn't weep for him).  Oh, he does like and admire Tom Cruise but they come from different galaxies.

[Lovecat]

On 5/18/2020 at 7:05 PM, helenamonster said:

[re: Helter Skelter] A forever fave. I try to read it once a year, over the summer--for a 700-page book it's pretty easy to get through quickly. Sometimes I'll read it late at night with the window open when it's unbearably hot, if I'm really in the mood to give myself the heebie jeebies.

I remember reading Cujo one sweltering summer, sprawled out sweating on the bed in my room with the windows open and no A/C--it was like I was in that car with Donna and Tad!

And speaking of my Uncle Stevie, I was packing up books for an upcoming move, and kept The Stand aside.  Seemed timely.  I'm about 1/5 of the way through (the unabridged version), and may need a break for something fluffier, because shit's starting to get real.  [Yes, I've read it before; it's actually one of my favorites, but it hits just a little too close to home at the moment...OBVIOUSLY!]

[Spartan Girl]

On 5/20/2020 at 5:39 PM, Starleigh said:

I'm really tempted to buy it. I had preordered it at the library (and was not too high up in the queue)  which is now closed indefinitely:( 

I'm going to try to hold out and just avoid spoilers.

If your library has an overdrive eBook program of some sort you might be able to get it there.

I just finished it and I'm so sorry I doubted Suzanne Collins. It's great. THIS is a good villain origin story not that Todd Phillips Joker bullshit!

[scarynikki12]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:57 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Initially I was not going to read the Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because I was NOT happy Suzanne Collins picked Snow of all characters. But this stupid pandemic and curiosity made me cave. I just started it yesterday and so far...I don't hate it. It's not the Joker villain apologia that I'd been dreading; young Snow isn't full blown evil yet, but he's still an ambitious snobby asshole bordering on sociopsthand his backstory doesn't absolve him of that. You pity him but you don't like him either -- think Draco Malfoy.

Also if you thought the Hunger Games were horrifying in Katniss' time, its early days were a million times worse. 

 

On 5/21/2020 at 5:25 PM, Spartan Girl said:

If your library has an overdrive eBook program of some sort you might be able to get it there.

I just finished it and I'm so sorry I doubted Suzanne Collins. It's great. THIS is a good villain origin story not that Todd Phillips Joker bullshit!

Yes and yes. I just finished and Collins does a great job. It’s an excellent exploration of Snow and the Hunger Games. They’re fully intertwined by the time Katniss comes along and we get to see the start of how that came to be.

Spoiler

I also liked all of the District 12 foundation. Collins could have kept it to some obvious references but she went further and it worked out well. I think it’s clear that one of the Covey is an Everdeen ancestor which I love. The songs, the lake, the katniss, the mockingjay, and the Seam are all essential pieces of who Katniss is.

Spoiler

And we got an answer to the question of why was District 2 the one that sends their people to become Peacekeepers: Snow’s childhood friend and surrogate family were from there. He maneuvered to become a second son, complete with financial benefits, so he’ll return the favor by giving their district more perks than the others.

I hope we get another book. Not necessarily a trilogy, because this felt like it’s own complete part of the story, but about another part of Panem’s history.

I’d like to see

Spoiler

Lucy Gray again,

or maybe the first Quarter Quell, or how Plutarch became a member of the underground resistance given how prominent his family was in the Capital.

[Danny Franks]

I started Recursion by Blake Crouch. I put it off for a whole because the blurb talks about "an epidemic that spreads through no known means" and I figured it was just another virus thriller. I don't need that right now.

But it seems like it's more about the idea of the human consciousness fooling itself - taking the idea of 'make your own reality' one step further. People start experiencing false memories that are overpoweringly real, and laid over their actual lives to the point that they don't realise what's real and what isn't.

Edit: okay, so it turned out to be a very mediocre time travel thriller. Eh, at least it's fairly short.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Danny Franks

[Haleth]

On 5/21/2020 at 12:19 PM, Lovecat said:

And speaking of my Uncle Stevie, I was packing up books for an upcoming move, and kept The Stand aside.  Seemed timely.  I'm about 1/5 of the way through (the unabridged version), and may need a break for something fluffier, because shit's starting to get real.  [Yes, I've read it before; it's actually one of my favorites, but it hits just a little too close to home at the moment...OBVIOUSLY!]

After I ran through all the library books I had taken out right before quarantine and with nothing else new to read I thought I'd reread The Stand, but I couldn't find it.  I must have sold it with a bunch of other paperbacks in the last garage sale.  I did find my 50yo paperback edition of Dune and started with that.  Another one I hadn't read in decades.

I became desperate enough for something new that I read my husband's copy of The Institute.  Meh.  King recycled a whole lot of his old concepts without giving us anything new.  A quick read without any substance.  Quarantine junk food.

[Rushmoras]

Stephen King "IT". Never read it before, saw the old two or three parts movie and the first part of the new remake, decided to read the book as well. That was months ago, perhaps at the end of this month, I'll finish it. So far, it has been a slog to read through. I get the feeling that the more you read King, the more it appears that places and names change, but the gist of all of his books remains the same.

[Taryn74]

12 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

 

Yes and yes. I just finished and Collins does a great job. It’s an excellent exploration of Snow and the Hunger Games. They’re fully intertwined by the time Katniss comes along and we get to see the start of how that came to be.

  Reveal spoiler

I also liked all of the District 12 foundation. Collins could have kept it to some obvious references but she went further and it worked out well. I think it’s clear that one of the Covey is an Everdeen ancestor which I love. The songs, the lake, the katniss, the mockingjay, and the Seam are all essential pieces of who Katniss is.

  Reveal spoiler

And we got an answer to the question of why was District 2 the one that sends their people to become Peacekeepers: Snow’s childhood friend and surrogate family were from there. He maneuvered to become a second son, complete with financial benefits, so he’ll return the favor by giving their district more perks than the others.

I hope we get another book. Not necessarily a trilogy, because this felt like it’s own complete part of the story, but about another part of Panem’s history.

I’d like to see

  Reveal spoiler

Lucy Gray again,

or maybe the first Quarter Quell, or how Plutarch became a member of the underground resistance given how prominent his family was in the Capital.

I'm so glad to see some people discussing the newest THG book! I neeeed to get my thoughts out, LOL.

Here's what I posted on the official THG FB page yesterday -

Quote

Got it yesterday, would have finished it last night but my son didn't bring the mail in until late in the evening, so I had to finish today LOL. I'm going to have to put it aside for a couple of days and then re-read it so I can fully absorb everything.

I remember when the book was first talked about, there was concern that this book was going to attempt to make Snow a sympathetic character, and I thought to myself no way. I trust Suzanne Collins too much to believe that she would go all cookie-cutter bleeding heart on us like that. I have read the original trilogy more than a dozen times and still find new layers to peel back. Let me just say, she did NOT disappoint! I can totally see how Snow became the person he did, and while yes he had some very difficult times which played a part in shaping his life, ultimately he is who he is. He's not a victim of his circumstances, he just is who he is. The reveal that Tigris is his cousin and they were once as close as could be, was a jaw-dropping shock to me! And at the same time I could see how she could come to hate who he became, so much so that she wished him dead by the time of the trilogy.

Great work! And I love the ambiguity of the ending, and really the ambiguity about everything regarding the original mysterious Girl from District 12.

And now, it was on my mind again this morning and I've been making some really disturbing connections that I need to talk through. Assume major spoilers for A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ahead --

Spoiler

 

Katniss being a descendant of some of the Covey clan is pretty much a given, I believe. My guess is on the little girl, since there was mention that she could hear a song once and be able to repeat it flawlessly, like Katniss. Plus I presume Lucy Gray to be dead by the time the book ends. I think Snow's bullets found their mark and there's not going to be some Plot!Twist! later on that she survived that.

Now on to the disturbing connections. Jabberjays fell silent when they were on 'Record' mode. Remember how the mockingjays fell silent whenever Katniss, and her father, would sing? Katniss assumed it was out of respect for their fine voices. Mockingjays do love to sing, after all. But, what if -- WHAT IF -- Snow worked with the scientists back at the Capitol and modified the mockingjays they captured, so that they could eventually do the job the jabberjays were meant to do, but remain undetected because the district folk had already gotten used to their presence and saw them as a joke on the Capitol? And, even more disturbing, what if they added an element to the mockingjays where they COULD record human voices and repeat them. Specific, DNA-targeted, human voices. The colorful snakes had been modified to recognize DNA markers and only attack if they didn't recognize someone. What if they did the same thing with the mockingjays, but in reverse? They recorded when they recognized someone's DNA. Starting out, someone with Covey clan DNA. Later adding on anyone the Capitol wanted to spy on. And then, like homing pigeons, they would fly to the capitol and spill their secrets, and the district folk would be none the wiser. Remember in CF when Beetee said that the ability to record and distort human voices to sound like whatever they wanted them to was relatively easy? (During the jabberjay attack when the birds were screaming in Prim's and Annie's voices, among many others.) (Editing to expand this thought - what I'm getting at here is that they could have already had recordings of their voices from spying on them for years.) And Gale had figured out as early as the first trilogy that the Capitol was likely spying on District folk, they just never could figure out quite how. It's not a far leap at all to assume any of this is possible, even probable.

I was already feeling violated to the point of nausea that Snow had lived in District 12 and roamed all over Katniss's favorite safe places, including the lake and the cabin where she ran into the District 8 refugees. But this? This is next level. This is Nazi scientist kind of perversion. /vomit

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Taryn74

[Browncoat]

I finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes last night, and am still digesting.  

@Taryn74, for those who haven't read it yet, could you put your spoilers under a spoiler tag?  

I really liked the book a lot.  It's very complex, and gives great background as to why Snow is the way he is at the 74th Hunger Games.  But (and there's always a but, right?)

Some of it seemed just a little too convenient.  I mean, I know it has to mesh with the story we already have, but Lucy Gray writing the song that becomes the Rebels' anthem?  And the song she sings to Maude Ivory being the same song Katniss sings to Rue?  I simultaneously like it and don't.  But now I want our original story from Coryo's point of view -- what did he really think of those songs and how they were used?  No wonder he despised Katniss so much.

It's interesting, too, that Collins had Snow be such an architect of the structure of the Games.  Clearly the training center and how well they're treated prior to being sent into the Arena was all down to him. I'm inclined to think, too, that after his "summer vacation" in 12, when he came into power, things got marginally less bad in the Districts.  Still horrible, but by the time we meet Katniss, it just seems less bad in 12 than it was when Snow was 18.

I agree that the Everdeens are descendants of the Coveys, but I can't believe that Tigris his cousin is the same Tigris who helped Katniss et. al in the final book.  Even the descriptor in the book didn't have her that old -- she was older than Coryo!  By the time of the third Quarter Quell, she would have had to have been 90!  Anyway, I don't believe it's the same Tigris.

Oh, and we're not likely to see Lucy Gray again, I don't think.

I think I'm going to have to read it again -- I'm sure I missed some things.

 

[Taryn74]

16 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes last night, and am still digesting.  

@Taryn74, for those who haven't read it yet, could you put your spoilers under a spoiler tag?  

Well, I did put a spoiler warning first, but sure. I edited to add spoiler tags too.

Quote

Spoiler

I agree that the Everdeens are descendants of the Coveys, but I can't believe that Tigris his cousin is the same Tigris who helped Katniss et. al in the final book.  Even the descriptor in the book didn't have her that old -- she was older than Coryo!  By the time of the third Quarter Quell, she would have had to have been 90!  Anyway, I don't believe it's the same Tigris.

 

Spoiler

Oh I definitely believe it's the same Tigris. It says she was only three years older than Snow, as I recall, and he would have been 82 by the time we met him in the trilogy, making Tigris 86 or so by the time we met her in Mockingjay. Snow was in remarkably good health for his age, especially considering his teenage years were spent in near starvation and he had been ingesting poison and antidotes for most of his adult life, so assuming that they had some way to prolong longevity in the Capitol is not farfetched. There were too many hints dropped - the name (obviously), eating raw meat as she cooked, her having an eye for fashion and being able to turn rags into wearable clothing, Snow loved her so he would make sure she was taken care of and promoted to a Games stylist (until she took her body modifications too far, anyway, and got herself kicked out -- which didn't happen until Katniss was alive), her kindheartedness, etc. It would be odd if it WASN'T her, IMO.

Quote

Spoiler

It's interesting, too, that Collins had Snow be such an architect of the structure of the Games.  Clearly the training center and how well they're treated prior to being sent into the Arena was all down to him. I'm inclined to think, too, that after his "summer vacation" in 12, when he came into power, things got marginally less bad in the Districts.  Still horrible, but by the time we meet Katniss, it just seems less bad in 12 than it was when Snow was 18.

 

Spoiler

I agree. You can see his handiwork over everything we came to know in the trilogy, and while on the surface it's a good thing for the district folk (because it puts them in a marginally better place than they would have been otherwise) at the same time, it's all about balancing his power and giving them just enough hope to override their fear so they would never give up and let themselves die out. What a sick, sick man he became.

 

[BlackberryJam]

On 9/8/2019 at 10:19 AM, Jeeves said:

I got pulled into Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series over the Labor Day Weekend. Thanks to a couple of $1.99 Kindle book deals, and the availability of some of the books as e-books from the public library, I plowed through the first four books. I still have the rest on the TBR list. Because some of those are checked out to me as ebooks I'll have to read them soon or find them later. There are so many quirky things about Lady Jane and most of the rest of the regular characters, that I expected to find the first book just too precious to like. But, I liked it a lot, and, as noted, intend to keep reading the series, to the end if the next books are as good as the earlier ones. Raybourn is now writing the Veronica Speedwell series, and there was a $.99 or $1.99 Kindle sale on the first book in that series, so I got it and plan to read it...

Holy guacamole. I just tried to read the Veronica Speedwell books and rarely have I encountered such a wholly insufferable main character in historical mystery fiction. She’s more insufferable than Holmes.

I think she’s supposed to be this independent modern feminist (even for 2020) woman in 1880s England but she just comes off as an unkind and arrogant. Instead of celebrating women, her brand of feminism is to show how much she’s like a man. (Not only do I SMOKE cigars, but my cigars have better tobacco than a man’s and that just show’s how much cooler I am than you.)

The male lead is just awful from the description. He’s a shirtless, tattooed, fallen aristocratic taxidermist who wears an eyepatch. I’m not even kidding. 

And our heroine Veronica has purple eyes. Because OF COURSE she does. I wanted her to get murdered.

[Mabinogia]

7 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I think she’s supposed to be this independent modern feminist (even for 2020) woman in 1880s England but she just comes off as an unkind and arrogant. Instead of celebrating women, her brand of feminism is to show how much she’s like a man. (Not only do I SMOKE cigars, but my cigars have better tobacco than a man’s and that just show’s how much cooler I am than you.)

Thank you for saving me from reading this series. There is nothing that annoys me more than historical "feminism" just being a woman wearing pants or smoking and basically just being a guy. Also, that love interest sounds like a parody of a love interest. Yikes!

[Jeeves]

14 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Holy guacamole. I just tried to read the Veronica Speedwell books and rarely have I encountered such a wholly insufferable main character in historical mystery fiction. She’s more insufferable than Holmes.

I think she’s supposed to be this independent modern feminist (even for 2020) woman in 1880s England but she just comes off as an unkind and arrogant. Instead of celebrating women, her brand of feminism is to show how much she’s like a man. (Not only do I SMOKE cigars, but my cigars have better tobacco than a man’s and that just show’s how much cooler I am than you.)

The male lead is just awful from the description. He’s a shirtless, tattooed, fallen aristocratic taxidermist who wears an eyepatch. I’m not even kidding. 

And our heroine Veronica has purple eyes. Because OF COURSE she does. I wanted her to get murdered.

That's funny. I'd absolutely forgotten those books until I got a notice that you'd quoted me here. Now that I think about it, my interest in the Julia Gray books sputtered out before I finished the series. And I don't think I ended up reading any of the Speedwell books at all. My memory is vague on the deets, but I believe I sampled a bit of the first book and had a similar reaction to the blatant inauthenticity of the thing. 

Loved your snark. In my case, a literal red flag warning when I'm reading escape fiction (I tend to crime novels and whodunits without big lashings of blood, gore, and torture): red-haired female protagonists. Oh Lord, thinks I, when the Spunky Redhead bookshop/cupcake store/bakery owner is described on page 1. I rarely bother to get past the redhead thing. Reminds me of my favorite MTM bit:

 

I hate spunky redheads unless given a reason not to. 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Jeeves
spelling. it's a thing.

[dubbel zout]

13 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I wanted her to get murdered.

LOL. I love it when a main character completely fails (general) you as a reader.

Sometimes I'll hate read just because I'm in the mood to get riled up by a fictional character.

13 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

There is nothing that annoys me more than historical "feminism" just being a woman wearing pants or smoking and basically just being a guy.

It's a tricky thing to write, and I have some empathy for writers, but too often they take the lazy way and either do stupid stuff like the quote, or else they make the character way too progressive.