Joanie’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2008)

Joanie’s comments from the The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List group.

It's a fast read Derrick-you could probably get through it quickly.

I think you can do whatever works for you. I often post while reading but I try to just skim what's written here in case there are spoilers posted.

Finished Friday. Never ever would have predicted the ending but I agree, it works. The whole thing was creepy and twisted but I definitely liked it. I was even late to work twice because I had to read a bit more in the morning.

I have about 100 pages to go on this. I was really into it but then had to push myself through the stuff in the cave, thankfully it was short. I'm listening to it on tape and reading it at home. The narrator for the tape does a great job and makes it so much creepier-it's great!

I admire your discipline Derrick, I'm nowhere near that strong!

I loved this book too. It's absolutely amazing to see how resilient and self reliant kids can be.

Welcome everyone, this is a great group! Have fun!

I keep the really good ones, the ones I know I'll want to read again or that I'll want other people to read but I swap the others. I have a huge book buying addiction (one day I'm going to count all my unread books then I'll come clean and tell you the exact number but it's bad) so swapping lets me get new books without breaking the bank (which I still do-can't help it.)

I love paperback swap! I've gotten tons of books through them. I just recently joined bookmooch too which works a little differently but it's great too.

Thanks for the tip Melissa!

I've only read two books from the romance category, this one and "Bet Me" which I just read last month. I'm not usually much on romance novels but after I went to Ireland a co-worker suggested I read another of Roberts' trilogies and I loved it so I gave this one a shot too.

This is the first in the "Born In" trilogy, about 3 sisters in Ireland. Loved it, fun story, fiery characters, great descriptions of Ireland and little Irish terms thrown in here and there.

I just read this for the Chick Lit book club and I really liked it. Fun characters, good dialog and great descriptions about shoes! My first by Cruise but I'll definitely check out more.

I loved this book. When it came out it was totally different than anything else I had ever read. It was funny and clever and everyone could related to Bridget. Of course now the chick lit genre has exploded and some of it has gotten a bad rap (wrap? Hmm...just realized I'm not sure how to spell it in this context!) When it came out this was new and different and I loved it!

I read this book when it first came out and absolutely loved it. Since that time it feels like the book has been lumped in with a lot of bad mother/daughter chick-lit and it's become a joke. When it came out it was different-now it seems tired which bums me out. Kind of like Bridget Jones-when it came out it was different and a lot of fun, now it's a bad cliche.

Okay, tangent over! I didn't enjoy the other two books nearly as much as Divine Secrets. Little Altars was so much darker, it was as if she totally changed the characters when she wrote Divine Secrets-for the better in my opinion. I was excited for Ya-Yas in Bloom but again, it wasn't nearly as good as Divine Secrets.

The movie was very different but I still kind of liked it as it's own separate thing (when I stopped making comparisons that is.)

Hi Sarah! I'm a little behind in reading some threads and just saw your message. Welcome aboard!!

I think this one was the first. I remember reading and actually getting that panicky adrenaline rush during the climax. They definitely went down hill but I still keep reading them, can't seem to help myself. I pretty much read them in order except for one or two. I read Trace not that long ago and I have Predator but I haven't read it yet. Not sure which one comes after that.

This is another book that interweaves a few different storylines, one about a pregnant teen, one about a teacher (I think) and one about two bachelor brothers. I liked it, didn't love it. The story was pretty slow moving but I got the sense it was supposed to be that way.

This book was really well done but I can't say that I loved it. I think some of my dissatisfaction came from the fact that I thought it was a book about a hermaphrodite-which it is-but that is in no way the central part of the novel. The book tells the history of Cal's family starting back in Greece and coming to Detroit and going through the Watt's riots. Like I said, it's well done, but I was really fascinated by the hermaphrodite stuff and wanted more about that.

This book was a bit confusing at first but then it all ties together and it's really good. There are three separate storylines that all intersect, one about Virginia Woolfe when she is writing Mrs. Dalloway, one about an unhappy housewife in the 50's who is reading Mrs. Dalloway, and one about a woman in present day who is planning a party and her friend has nicknamed her Mrs. Dalloway. The movie was really good too.

I know a lot of people loved this book but I was kind of disappointed by it. The premise is really interesting, the main character is a an autistic boy who sets out to solve a mystery by doing things he's read about in Sherlock Holmes novels. The author does a fairly good job of capturing some of the quirks of someone with autism but other things just went on way too long for me. I don't want to give too much away about the mystery he sets out to solve and the one he winds up solving but there was a lot about it that was upsetting.