Michelle’s Comments (group member since Dec 08, 2021)

Michelle’s comments from the On The Same Page group.

So annoying. Don't they know you've got a challenge to finish. You should write the publisher and insist on receiving an advance reader copy.

I'm not getting through this one quickly but eventually I'll get there.

Putting more pins in the map with Maine-Happy Place; Nebraska-The Homesman: A Novel; and Illinois-The Shining Girls

Not taking life too seriously with the Mercy Thompson series. Storm Cursed.

Mercy and the wolf pack defend their territory against an invasion of witches. The outbreak of black magic turns up in unexpected places. Most memorably with a herd of miniature zombie goats. But they won't get the best of Mercy.

I enjoy this series so much. If I tried to read them back to back they might get old but just when I think there can't be anything new the author comes up with miniature zombie goats. Good fun.

3 cute and cuddly zombie goat stars.

Quotable:

“But I’ve learned that there are always terrible things, and sometimes it is very important to grasp what joy and beauty you can, whenever you can.”
― Patricia Briggs, Storm Cursed

Thanks Alondra! I'm forging ahead trying to get in all 16.

Wow Lillie you are a superstar! 123 books and we aren't quite halfway through the year yet. Congrats! I was already looking at The Last Murder at the End of the World but your review put it on my TBR.

Alissa wrote: "You are killing it, girl!!"

Thanks Alissa!

“I belong in a library. I’ve always belonged at the library.”
― James Patterson, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: Their stories are better than the bestsellers

“But walk into an independent bookshop, and there’s a particular intoxicating book scent. It’s definitely not available online.”
― James Patterson, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: Their stories are better than the bestsellers

#61 The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading A neat little book that relates stories from booksellers and librarians pretty much in their own words. This is one of those books written for booklovers and I enjoyed it. It also added to my TBR so be warned. 3 if working in a bookstore is your secret fantasy stars. ebook. Nonfiction.

#62 The Colors of All the Cattle Mma Ramotswe runs for election while Charlie works on his detective skills. Not the best book in the series but these books are always calming and kind. 3 gentle read stars. ebook. Mystery-Series.

#63 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 Not so much about the events of 9/11 itself as about the events leading up to it. I learned so much and rembered many things I had forgotten. A good companion book to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. 4 learning from history stars. Audiobook. Nonfiction-History.

63 books/6550 pages

Current:

Storm Cursed Audiobook. Mercy Thompson again.
The Homesman: A Novel Paperback. Not sure about this one yet.
Of Human Bondage ebook. Heavy.

“My favorite thing is helping people. Handing someone a book with the power to change their lives is magical because, oftentimes, it does.”
― James Patterson, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: Their stories are better than the bestsellers

I have never liked coffee either. Mild coffee flavor is OK if you cover it with something else (preferably chocolate) and I recently discovered that I can sometimes drink a Frappe since that is like a little coffee in my chocolate ice cream. Mostly though I am a devoted tea drinker. I have found that the worst thing ever are those Kuerig machines. The coffee drinkers that I work with lobbied to buy one for the office and one of the selling points was that I would also be able to make my tea with the same machine. I have never tasted anything so awful. Anything that runs through there tastes like the plastic cup you insert, and we weren't cleaning the entire machine between me and the coffee drinkers, so the result was a coffee tea mixture that tasted more like eating a dixie cup than anything else. To all the coffee lovers out there who try to help the rest of us develop the addiction. Please, just let us be. We have our own vices and we prefer them.

Glad you enjoyed Garden Spells. I really like Sarah Addison Allen. I have read quite a few of hers. I also enjoyed The Sugar Queen and The Peach Keeper.

Our Town on YouTube sounds like a strangely good idea. I do think before the coffee would be better on audio preferably a full cast production. And don't worry about Happy Days. nobody really missed anything by missing 80s TV.

I'm glad you are enjoying the Newsflesh series. I'm glad you liked Being Henry that is out there in my distant future reads. How is it you never watched Happy Days? I hope you like Before the Coffee Gets Cold more than I did. I DNF'd that one. I hardly ever do that. Also kudos for reading Our Town and enjoying it. That is one of those required reading books that popped up again and again in my school days and I did not enjoy it. In fact, I would include it on my 10 worst books ever list. We all enjoy different books though and that is what makes Goodreads fun. I should probably check it out again to be sure time and maturity haven't changed my poor opinion of Our Town but nah! I won't. Life is too short.

Ioana wrote: "My only Maugham was The Painted Veil, which I really enjoyed. This one is on my TBR too, I can't wait to hear what you think of it."

I also loved The Painted Veil and other than that have only read some of Maugham's short stories. This book seems more formidable somehow, so I have been puttting it off. Nothing like a good list to clear out all the meant to reads.

Started reading Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.

Just finished listening to The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. Great audiobook for those who like modern history! So far the list knows its stuff.

This was an in-depth history of the events leading up to 9/11. It begins in the 50's with the origins of the Muslim factions that played a role in 9/11. It also gives background and biographical information for the major players on both sides. There is less about what actually happened on the day than in the months and years leading up to the attack.

There was a lot of information here and I know I didn't absorb it all but I feel like I understand so much more about what happened now. This was also a great follow up read to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 which I listened to a while back. This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand more about 9/11.

4 understanding history in your lifetime stars.

Quotable:

“Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower. O”
― Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11

“Radicalism usually prospers in the gap between rising expectations and declining opportunities.”
― Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower

Listening to Storm Cursed. #11 in the Mercy Thompson series.

Aiming for a kinder state of mind with Mma Ramotswe and The Colors of All the Cattle.

In this edition of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series Mma Ramotswe is pushed into running for election to the city council by Mma Potakwane. Mma Ramotswe's friends rally around to get her elected despite her protests. Mma Ramotswe will not be persuaded to indulge in shallow campaign promises, however, and runs on an honest platform of "I'll do the best I can". Charlie takes on a case of his own for the detective agency and struggles in his personal life to leave his youthful days behind.

I love this series but I wouldn't say this was one of the better books in the series. I did not like the way that Mma Ramotswe allowed herself to be bullied into running for election or all the lengthy discussion among the characters about how the election should be carried out. I did like the ending however when everything works out to Mma Ramotswe's satisfaction. I also liked Charlie's story, but I would rather the book focused on his case and his struggles without the election scheme. Either way as always in this series a lot of emphasis is placed on kindness and respect. I do love that.

3 above all else be kind stars.

Quotable:

“If only people could keep that in their minds—if they could remember that the people they met during the day had all the same hopes and fears that they had, then there would be so much less conflict and disagreement in this world. If only people remembered that, then they would be kinder to others—and kindness, Mma Ramotswe believed, was the most important thing there was. She knew that in the depths of her being; she knew it.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Colors of All the Cattle

“Tea, thought Mma Ramotswe – no matter what was happening, no matter how difficult things became, there was always the tea break – that still moment, that unchangeable ritual, that survived everything, made normal the abnormal, renewed one’s ability to cope with whatever the world laid before one. Tea.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Colours of all the Cattle

“she did look remarkably like a chair—a great, accommodating upholstered armchair. You could certainly sit on Mma Potokwane and feel perfectly comfortable: she was the sort of chair into which one might sink after a hard day’s work—sink, and possibly not reappear until hours later, emerging from voluminous feather-filled cushions.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Colors of All the Cattle

I liked Ninth House very much. (Warning though there's a lot of violence) I did not like Shadow and Bone at all and because of that I have been hesitant to pick up any of her other YA even though Six of Crows comes highly recommended.

Thanks Ann. And kudos on reading 42. Maybe as I read I'll tempt you into trying a few more.

I'm afraid Ioana that one symptom often exhibited by people with my list obsession is that they want other people to read and obsess over the list too. So sorry/not sorry for tempting you and a few others to start ticking off read/not read from this list. At least you have to admit that it is a very nice list.

I'm also glad to hear what you thought about the ones on my list to you have read. You guys are all making me feel pretty excited about reading Cutting for Stone and pretty nervous about One Hundred Years of Solitude. Oh well, the list has been posted. I'll just have to forge ahead. I started listening to The Looming Tower so the list has officially begun.