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What Are You Reading - Part Deux
I'm reading Deadline by Sandra Brown...LOVE it!!! I'm also reading The Silent Wife ... which i DO NOT recommend. I'm starting Bettyville later today!
Heather L wrote: "Astrid wrote: "Heather L wrote: "Reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde -- did not get as much read over the weekend as hoped."I really loved this book, I bought the ..."
Isn't it just great? :) I had read Jane Eyre earlier this year and I was really glad I did, I think I wouldn't have enjoyed the little hints like that otherwise. I kind of feel like I need to read the novels the other Thursday Next parts are dealing with before I start reading them :D
The Ocean in the Closet by Yuko Taniguchi – 4**** This beautifully written, poignant novel tackles the aftermath of war and how those aftereffects ripple through multiple generations. I feel I learned a little of the Japanese mentality by seeing things from Hideo and his wife’s points of view. I thought Taniguchi captured the way in which a child thinks, the kind of logic a child would use in piecing together an explanation for what is going on around her. . I loved Helen – her tender heart, her courage and resilience. And Hideo’s quiet strength, endurance and healing heart. And while there is no clearly happy resolution, the novel’s ending looks to the future with hope.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Kimmie wrote: "I'm reading Deadline by Sandra Brown...LOVE it!!! I'm also reading The Silent Wife ... which i DO NOT recommend. I'm starting Bettyville later today!"I agree, Deadline is a really good read.
I'm going to start reading Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent today.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier – 4**** A wounded soldier walks away from the hospital, determined to return to his love on Cold Mountain. Meanwhile that young woman, raised to be a flower of Southern womanhood, is finding her way alone, with the help of a homeless waif with reserves of strength and the knowledge to survive. The novel moves back and forth between Ada/Ruby and Inman, giving different perspectives on this time during the Civil War. What I loved most about the novel was the relationships between and personal growth of the women – Ada and Ruby. Charles Frazier read the audio version himself. This was a mistake. Were I evaluating the book based on the audio it would get only 2 stars.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Patricia wrote: "I'm starting Seabiscuit: An American Legend later tonight, looking forward to it."LOVED this book!
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis – 4**** I love the way Curtis writes. I totally believe in Kenny as a narrator, and was charmed by him. I am all too familiar with the events in Birmingham during this period in America’s history, but the horrific events were no less horrific for my knowing what was coming. Children who are not so aware of those happenings may feel the impact of the story to an even greater extent.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book Concierge wrote: " The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis – 4**** I love the way Curtis writes. I totally believe in Kenny as a narrator...
I liked this one also and if you haven't read "Bud, Not Buddy" it's another good one.
Book Concierge wrote: "Patricia wrote: "I'm starting Seabiscuit: An American Legend later tonight, looking forward to it."LOVED this book!"
I did too, I was sad it ended. I think I read it in 24 hours. What a horse! I'm buying the movie for my daughter tomorrow, she hasn't seen it.
Just finished, The Martian. A really really good read.Regards
Mike
I've made a start on Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.
Mike wrote: "Just finished, The Martian. A really really good read.Regards
Mike"
It was one of the best books I've read this year. As technical as it got at times it really held my interest but then again I'm also a fan of Tom Clancy who also gives you lots of technical info.
I'm reading a mystery novelette called Chocolate Worth Dying For.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee – 4**** What most resonated with me about this novel is how Jean Louise comes to realize that the father she adored as a child actually has some significant faults, and that his tumble off the pedestal on which she has kept him is perhaps more painful to her than to it is to Atticus. Lee puts the reader smack dab in the middle of this setting. Her prose brings the culture, the physical heat, the townspeople, the smells, sounds, tastes and sights of Maycomb to life. Reese Witherspoon does a marvelous job performing the audio version. From the beginning I felt as if Jean Louise, herself, was telling the story.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas – 2.5** When her father dies, Mair discovers an exquisite shawl that had been kept wrapped in tissue by her mother. She figures it came from her maternal grandparents who had been missionaries in India, but cannot fathom how they would have the means to purchase such a work of art. So she goes to India to find out the story. This is a romantic epic that weaves two stories, present-day Mair and the historical story of her grandmother in India in the 1940s. Parts were interesting, but on the whole I found it melodramatic.
Link to my Full Review
Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano – 2.5** Eleven-year-old Luz Castillo sits and deals the cards of her Lotería deck, writing in her notebook the thoughts and memories each card evokes. This is a tragic story born of crushed hopes and poverty, and resulting in alcohol abuse, and violence. There is great promise in this idea for a novel, and there were some scenes where I saw the writer Zambrano may become. But Zambrano doesn’t give me a believable 11-year-old Luz. I kept hearing the male author telling the story, rather than the girl.
Link to my Full Review
I'm on the OUTLANDER series. Love 'em!Waiting for my attention is a stack of mix-and-match:
Pontoon, Victory at Yorktown, Ethan Frome, How Green was my Valley.
I'm just about to start reading The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran.
I'm re-reading THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner
I recently read Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia and The Last Kind Words. I highly recommend The Last Kind Words.Now I'm reading Cat's Cradle.
Chris wrote: "I'm on the OUTLANDER series. Love 'em!Waiting for my attention is a stack of mix-and-match:
Pontoon, Victory at Yorktown, Ethan Frome, How Green was my Valley."
Which book are you on?!
I'm reading the 3rd (Voyager) and have just over 200 pages left!!
The Inspector and Mrs Jeffries by Emily Brightwell – 2.5** In Victorian London, Mrs Hepzibah Jeffries is the housekeeper for Inspector Witherspoon … and his secret weapon. I like cozy mysteries … they are my “comfort food” of reading. This is a decent example, though I found the Inspector a bit TOO clueless and bumbling. Still it’s a decent opening gambit in a series that has had much success over the years
Link to my Full Review
Starting The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne.
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – 4**** At the 1936 Olympics nine working-class boys from the University of Washington in Seattle took the gold medal in eight-man crew at the Berlin Olympics. This is their story, but particularly the story of the man in the #7 seat – Joe Rantz. It’s a marvelous story, inspiring and heartfelt, and Brown does a superb job telling it. The late Edward Herrmann is a marvelous narrator and does a superb job of the audio version.
My full review: HERE
Just finished A Bollywood Affair, a romance with the rake and the innocent. Predictable ending but I enjoyed the ride.Now I'm reading, finally, Orange Is the New Black.
going to read Girl Online, a lot of readers gave it low ratings but I still want to give it a try haha
I am reading My Not-So-Still Life
as a fun break but it is not going so well and the book manages to combine two of my least favourite tropes from YA and chick-lit: over-enthusiastic misunderstanding of everything going on around you and endless listing of the protagonist's satorial choices. If it wasn't so short I would DNF.
I'm starting The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell.
2nd Chance by James Patterson with Andrew Gross – 2** The hyperbole of the jacket is indicative of the quality of the writing. I didn’t feel any tension or suspense. The interaction between the women was what (barely) saved the first book for me. Not so this time. Melissa Leo and Jeremy Piven do a good job of performing the audio version. I’d given them 4**** for their skill as voice artists and pacing. But they had terrible material to work with.
My full reviewHERE
I'll be starting All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews today.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie – 3*** This is a variation on the “locked room” murder – a house full of people with various motives for wanting Ackroyd dead, a missing ne’er-do-well nephew, and clues that don’t quite match up. At least not until the vacationing, retired Hercule Poirot employs his “little gray cells.”
My full review: HERE
Book Concierge wrote: " Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier – 4**** A wounded soldier walks away from the hospital, determined to return to his love on Cold Mountain. Meanwhile that young ..."
Cleaning out some stuff in my garage, I came across this book. Good to know what another reader thinks of it.
Book Concierge wrote: " The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – 4**** At the 1936 Olympics nine working-class boys from the University of Washington in Seattle took the g..."
Another reader who enjoys the book! Glad I downloaded it on my Kindle!
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper – 3.5*** The second (and most popular) of the Leatherstocking Tales is set in 1757, during the French and Indian wars. It’s an adventure novel and romance with a loner hero, “noble savage” trusted companion, lovely heroines in danger, and a plot full of chases and epic battles. William Costello does a fairly good job of reading the audio version, though his slow pace at the beginning made me reconsider whether I wanted to keep listening. I think, however, it was more due to Cooper’s style of writing, than to Costello’s skill as a performer.
Full Review HERE
Pamela wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: " by Charles Frazier – 4**** Cleaning out some stuff in my garage, I came across this book. Good to know what ..."
Ha Ha ... I know what you mean. Cleaning out closets I came across TWO first editions of this book!
I'm reading Me Talk Pretty One Day. What a family! I laughed so much reading in bed last night I thought I was going to have to go to the den to read so my husband could go to sleep. I love this book!
I'm currently reading this:
to prepare for the movie :D
Currently reading Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence for a classic group read and Banned Books Week (September 27-October 3).
Patricia wrote: "I'm reading Me Talk Pretty One Day. What a family! I laughed so much reading in bed last night I thought I was going to have to go to the den to read so my husband could go to sleep. ..."I love listening to David Sedaris on Youtube. He makes me laugh until I cry.
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The Next Best Book Club
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At 9:00 a.m. on a sunny June morning, nine-year-old Trish is in the backseat of her mother’s car cuddling her doll. At 10:00 a.m. she’s lost in the woods. I loved Trisha McFarland! She’s resilient, intelligent, and brave. The noises and violence of nature can be frightening and shocking to anyone; it’s easy to imagine boogie men and monsters lurking in the dark. King does a masterful job playing on those fears. As for Anne Heche’s performance on the audio - She knocked it out of the park! 5**** for her narration.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...