What Are You Reading and Why? 2015 second half Showing 651-700 of 1,268

[Colleen]

The Shipping News was a solid 4 stars. Can't wait to check out the movie. Now for my RL book club I am reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics which I am enjoying more than I thought I would. Enjoying a lot - a great story.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Almost done with Fated. For those who find Harry Dresden too sarcastic or too sexist you will enjoy this series better. Simikar to Dresden but many differences too."

Glad you're enjoying it. I've been waiting for someone to read it before me too :) Thanks for being the guinea pig!

[Lynda]

Glad you liked The Shipping News, Colleen, it's one of my favorite books, and movies. I saw the movie first, sometimes that makes it easier to like the movie, but I feel like it was faithful to the source material. Besides, I really like Kevin Spacey!

Finally finished Shift, totally cried (view spoiler)[ when Solo had to bury Shadow, then I went and hugged my black cat (hide spoiler)]. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm now on to Girl in a Band.

[Mariab]

Lynda wrote: "Had to come back and edit this to say I've add nearly every book everyone's been reading on my TBR! Everything is sounding interesting to me today. "

LOL, that happens to me every day!

[Bella]

Reading Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost. I'm fascinated by hoarding because I think (actually, know) I have tendencies that way. I hoard/collect emotionally- ticket stubs, baby clothes, kid's scribbles, etc.

[Bella]

Oh, and Stuff is currently free for Kindle Unlimited.

[Peggy]

Has anyone read The Clan of the Cave Bear? I'm reading it for the monthly challenge. I read the first 50 pages/3 chapters and am seriously considering abandoning it. It is long-winded, way too descriptive (lots of telling, no showing), so much repetition, chunks of encyclopedic knowledge thrown in every other page, and when I read about the clan women having the memories from their ancestors and clan members not being able to learn new things because that will increase brain size and their brains won't fit in their skulls and heads increase even more in size and child birth will become impossible, my eyes roll backwards so much it hurts.

Is this what all of the book is like?

[Peggy]

Oh, and not to mention the way the author depicts the clan members as some kind of inferior kind.

Maybe I should just abandon it anyway, especially since it's a whole series and why finish the book if I likely never read the rest.

[Bella]

Peggy, put the book down and never, ever pick it up again. The worst that can happen is not that you'll read the book and hate it, but that you'll like it enough to want to know what happens to Ayla. Then you'll slog through the rest of the series and the rest of the series goes down in quality- fast. It's a great unfairness that GR's won't let us give zero, or even negative, stars. This is a series that deserves it. This may be the worst book series I've ever read.

[Peggy]

Oh poor Bella, that sounds like a very bad experience! The first book has quite a high rating on gr and I have 5 or 6 friends who rated it (all 4 or 5 stars), but I'm glad it's not just me. Thanks for the warning!

[Sarah]

Pretty sure it was a group read several years ago or at least some members read it for an Ancient History theme (same month The Red Tent was read) - might be worth seeing what others thought in there (if I'm remembering correctly). I'd abandon - I've abandoned more books this last year than I ever have. Some I've gone back to, others I plan to and a few I won't ever touch with a barge pole.

[Peggy]

Thanks Sarah! I'll see if I can find it when I'm on my computer tomorrow.

[Lisa]

Bella wrote: "Peggy, put the book down and never, ever pick it up again. The worst that can happen is not that you'll read the book and hate it, but that you'll like it enough to want to know what happens to Ayl..."

I've been debating whether to start this series for quite a while. I think I may give it a miss now.

[Stephanie]

I finished The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais. I enjoyed the book and rated it 4 stars. Looks like I have found another series to read...thanks, Travis!! :-)

[Bella]

Peggy wrote: "Oh poor Bella, that sounds like a very bad experience! The first book has quite a high rating on gr and I have 5 or 6 friends who rated it (all 4 or 5 stars), but I'm glad it's not just me. Thanks ..."

I actually liked the first book. I wonder if it's because I read it in high school and I'm of the age where YA wasn't a "thing", so there weren't very many young, female protagonists. In any case, I really wanted to know what happened to Ayla. (view spoiler)[Especially if she ever reunited with her son. (hide spoiler)] To me, the rest of the series was so bad that it ruined whatever love I had for the character and the first book.

[Jackie]

I'm starting The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell.

[Cherie]

Peggy wrote: "Has anyone read The Clan of the Cave Bear? I'm reading it for the monthly challenge. I read the first 50 pages/3 chapters and am seriously considering abandoning it. It is long-winded, way too desc..."

I am laughing so hard, I can hardly type the words, Peggy and Bella.

I admit that the story went down hill by the time that the last book came out, but at least the author did finish it. I agree that this kind of book may not appeal for all of you younger readers who thrive on suspense and fast action.

For me, it was a fantasy of what might have been and I happen to like the anthropology facts and stuff that others might think too encyclopedic. I think the first 4 books were the best, and maybe Mz. Auel did get lost on the way to a finish but I admire her for taking the risk in the first place. It was epic!

[Tasha]

Jackie wrote: "I'm starting The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell."

This is on my list to read before the end of the year.

[Lynda]

Peggy wrote: "Has anyone read The Clan of the Cave Bear? I'm reading it for the monthly challenge. I read the first 50 pages/3 chapters and am seriously considering abandoning it. It is long-winded, way too desc..."

Well, I have to say that I really, really liked The Clan of the Cave Bear; I actually read the book twice. Once in high school for a book report, and then again later when I wanted to blow through the series. We have all the books, because it was my mom's favorites. It's not often that she and I like the same thing, so when it happens, it kind of becomes a treasure.

I liked Ayla, and really was impressed how she held her own through that story. The anthropology was interesting to me, too; along with the imagined social structure of the clan. I also liked that there was something prophetic about Ayla, which I'd hope to uncover in further books.

I did read The Valley of Horses right after the second read of Cave Bear; it was different, but still a good read, but I just couldn't get into The Mammoth Hunters; the first chapters were highly repetitive. (Ironically, this is my mother's favorite of the series). I had thought I would get back to it with this year's challenge, but too many other stories grabbed my interest.

[Janice, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Has anyone read The Clan of the Cave Bear? I'm reading it for the monthly challenge. I read the first 50 pages/3 chapters and am seriously considering abandoning it. It is long-winded, way too desc..."

Personally, I really enjoyed it and read the whole series save the last book which was published last year.

However, there are too many books to read to force yourself to keep reading something you're not enjoying.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Golem and the Jinni and really enjoyed it in spite of it's slow start. I've started Neverwhere for no other reason than it was next on the list. I'm enjoying it already, and suspect I'm in for a great ride, even if it's just to listen to Neil Gaiman's voice for 12 hours. :)

[Colleen]

@Janice - I love to simply move on to the next book on my list too! Since it goes back to 2012, I have a lot yet to do. :)

I have to chime in that I have read all of the books in Jean Auel's Earth Children series, one of the few that I have. By the last book I listened on audio in the car and it was the perfect way to get through the book - didn't seem so repetitive or overly descriptive that way, plus I liked hearing the name pronunciations. I agree with previous poster that I started the books way back in high school and they left more of an impression on me then I'm sure due to my age.

[Peggy]

It's not that I didn't find the anthropological information interesting in itself, but I would have liked it much better if it was seamlessly woven in as part of the story. Now it felt to me like chunks of information were just dumped somewhere.

I suppose just as with all other books, there are some people who will dislike it and that happens to be me for this one ;-)

[Tejas Janet]

Oh, I really liked The Shipping News, too. So glad to hear about others here enjoying that.

I just finished Defending Jacob. Solid story-telling in terms of the writing. Pretty disturbing but interesting where it takes you.

[Cherie]

I am sorry, Peggy. I was not laughing at you but it just struck me so funny about what you and Bella wrote about the book. It is so amazing to hear how someone feels about something I never gave a second thought about. Please forgive me if what I wrote made you feel upset. I did not mean to.

[Peggy]

Ooh Cherie, I didn't interpret your comment like that at all and I'm not upset :) Just wanted to clarify that I like to learn things from fiction books too and that there was some interesting information in this one, just the way it was delivered didn't work for me.

[Sarah]

Enjoy Neverwhere Janice - I thought it was fantastic. I never do rereads but quite a number of Gaiman's books I would consider reading again, this being one of them.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Just to be devil's advocate, I hated The Shipping News :P

[Bella]

Well, since all of us who finished the Clan of the Cave Bear series are still alive, no one played the (un)Official Drinking game. The one where you take a drink every time Ayla mentions (view spoiler)[how big her mate's penis is. (hide spoiler)] If you play the drinking game without being a Frank Gallagher level alcoholic, you will die. You also risk death if you play this drinking game when reading Paullina Simons's The Bronze Horseman series . (Substituting Tatiana and Alexander for Ayla)

[Gavin]

I'm currently reading The Infinity Gauntlet

[Peggy]

Lol Bella :D

Once again I'm glad I abandoned it ;-) I have the bronze horseman on my tbr though!

[Colleen]

Lol Bella! I'll play. I would love a good book drinking game.

I would like to try The Bronze Horseman too.

[Lisa]

Lol Bella!

I really enjoyed The Bronze Horseman. I wasn't sure initially if I would like it but it was a 5 star read for me in the end and it's now sitting proudly on my favourites shelf. I own the other two books in the series but I haven't read them yet as I keep putting them off!

[Tasha]

I didn't like The Bronze Horseman. I gave it 2 stars and felt that was generous! ;)

[Cherie]

LOL, Bella. I never played a drinking game and I am too old to start now. The descriptions of the male member do not even faze me any more. (There were some great references in the book that I just finished this morning. Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues I only gave it three stars, but I think I need to up it. I did really enjoy the story. The audio was awesome.) I will probably read the other two books at some time in the future.

I have the first book of The Bronze Horseman on my TBR, but the covers keep me at arm's length. I do not know what it is about the faces. Maybe it is their expressions. They give me the heebe jeebies.

[Cherie]

I have been reading such a strange mix of books the last two weeks. I was thinking about it as I was updating my post in the Buddy Read for The Golem and the Jinni. I finished The Prisoner of Heaven yesterday, and Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues as noted above, but I am also reading The Song of the Lark and The Last Dragonslayer and Mrs. Dalloway. I have been trying to give them all equal reading time and have been interested in how I shuffle them around, depending on the mood I am in and what I am doing.

I listen to the Willa Cather story when I am outside working in the yard. I listened to The Darcys when I go to bed at night and when I wake up early in the morning. I read the other three during my breaks at work and at home, but I cannot seem to want to address Mrs. Dalloway unless I am at home where it is quiet.

I cannot seem to read only one book at a time any more and the weird part is that I do not want to read series books back to back either.

[Janice, Moderator]

Bella wrote: "Well, since all of us who finished the Clan of the Cave Bear series are still alive, no one played the (un)Official Drinking game. The one where you take a drink every time Ayla mentions [spoilers ..."

ROFL! I may have to read it again. A drinking game sounds like fun.

ETA - if we need The Bronze Horseman for the game, I'll have to resurrect it. I gave up on it, but a drinking game could have redemptive qualities.

[Lynda]

I'm intrigued by the idea of a book-centric drinking game, hmm...maybe that's what will get me through The Mammoth Hunters and beyond. I better make sure I don't get the audio book.

@Janice, it's my personal opinion that Neil Gaiman should narrate all the books. I was spellbound when I listened to The Graveyard Book.

[Lisa]

I finished Ship of Magic, Book #1 in the 'Liveship Traders', for the serial killer challenge. This was my first book by Robin Hobb and I absolutely loved it! The writing, world building, characters and plot lines were all first class. 5 big stars from me and I can't wait to read the remaining two books in the trilogy.

[Janice, Moderator]

Lynda wrote: "@Janice, it's my personal opinion that Neil Gaiman should narrate all the books. I was spellbound when I listened to The Graveyard Book. "

He was great in The Graveyard Book. This book reminds me a little of Graveyard. The only thing I'm not liking is that periodically, to emphasize a phone call or an overheard conversation, he's using something that makes his voice sound like it's rolling around in the bottom of a barrel. It makes me grind my teeth. I don't care for special effects in audiobooks.

[Cherie]

Janice wrote: "I don't care for special effects in audiobooks..."

I listened to The Graveyard book three or four times, but I read Neverwhere. I think I read it twice.

I have listened to a few audio books that had special affects and they were pretty good (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to mind). If it makes you grind your teeth, though, that is bad. (I checked my Audible list. I see that Amy bought Neverwhere, but I have never listened to it, at least I do not think so.)

[Cherie]

I just checked my review, and I said I listened to it twice, Janice. Maybe it is the speaker that is making it sound badly.

[Cherie]

I started listening to my 22nd Nero Wolfe book last night. There are only 5 more left that I have not listened to. All 27 are checked out today.

[Lynda]

So far, I haven't run into anything more than musical cues, which have been hit or miss for me. I'll take that over a ridiculously over-the-top reading, such as with the Lorien books. I know I said I wouldn't listen to them again, just read the rest, but it's a great book to listen to at work and while I'm driving, because it doesn't require too much concentration.

I finished Girl in a Band, I couldn't put it down. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dust just came in from the library, so I'm going to tackle that after I read the last 100 pages of A Canticle for Leibowitz.

[Sarah]

I look forward to hearing what you think about Dust, Lynda!

[Bella]

Lynda wrote: "So far, I haven't run into anything more than musical cues, which have been hit or miss for me. I'll take that over a ridiculously over-the-top reading, such as with the Lorien books. I know I sa..."

I have Girl in a Band sitting somewhere. Maybe on a shelf, maybe on an ereader. Love Kim and Sonic Youth. Will have to find it and move it up the TBR list.

I just started Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson and Cursed by Benedict Jacka.

Thanks, Travis, for recommending Jacka's series. I finished the first book, Fated. Perfect recommendation- really liked the series and was able to get the ebook from the library.

[KimeyDiann]

Bella wrote: "Reading Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost. I'm fascinated by hoarding because I think (actually, know) I have tendencies that way..."

I'm quite interested in reading "Stuff," I'm glad you posted about it. I'm pretty sure I have some small tendencies towards hoarding, but my mother-in-law had some major tendencies for it. We started sorting through some of her things this week while trying to find some pictures for her funeral and she has so much STUFF it is ridiculous. I know she had at least 20-30 old phone books, some dating back to the 1980's. And don't even get me started on all of the old papers and receipts she has. It'll take us weeks to clean her house out.

[Stephanie]

I started reading . I really like this series. I haven't read as much lately. Just haven't been in the mood to read and school is taking up more time these days.

[Travis]

Glad you liked it Bella

[[deleted user]]

I am currently reading A Portable Shelter which is a collection of 13 short stories. I picked this up as a few of the Booktubers I follow have read this book and said it was really good. Also, I needed a blue cover for one of the challenges I am participating in ;)