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What Are You Reading - Part Deux
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Jackie
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Jan 24, 2018 02:14PM
I'm about to start reading My Notorious Life by Kate Manning.
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Jackie , I loved that book ! Hope you do .
Letters For Emily – Camron Wright – 1.5*
Harry is dying of Alzheimer’s and he struggles to complete a book of wisdom for his favorite granddaughter. I thought the plot was predictable and emotionally manipulative, and that the characters were straight out of central casting. If it hadn’t been a book-club selection I would not have finished it. I will say that some of the advice Harry leaves is poignant and resonated with me, but the book’s construct really irritated me.
LINK to my review
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I always enjoy your rant/reviews, idiffer!"Yes! And when I get famous (in 15 years) you get bragging rights that "you were there from day one", lol.
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen – 4****
One of the best opening lines of literature: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” It's no wonder this is a classic. Austen is simply the master of dialogue. The way in which the characters interact brings them to life.
LINK to my review
I've starting reading an ARC of Tangerine. HarperCollins was kind enough to send me a copy in exchange for a review. Really enjoying it so far.
Book Concierge wrote: "
Lucky Man
– Michael J Fox – 4****
Michael J Fox was barely thirty years old when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. This is his memoir in which he explains ..."
I read that a while back, and it really was good!
Every morning I read something funny to start my day. I've got 3 books. Two are for kids and one is R-rated. "Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)" by Jenny Lawson is hilarious. And these poetry books are just plain fun, especially if I read them out loud: "The New Kid on the Block" (Jack Prelutsky) and "A Light in the Attic" (Shel Silverstein). Here's a cute sample:OVERDUES
What do I do?
What do I do?
This library book is 42
Years overdue.
I admit that it's mine
But I can't pay the fine -
Should I turn it in
Or hide it again?
What do I do?
What do I do?"
Now how can you read that and not chuckle?
Maggie wrote: "Every morning I read something funny to start my day. I've got 3 books. Two are for kids and one is R-rated. "Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)" by Jenny Lawson is hilarious...."That's cute, Maggie! I'm not much into poetry but I do like that one.
I've started but not gotten very far in reading Termination Dust by Sue Henry. I thought it would be a quick read but I've just not had a chance to get into it so far.
Nearly finished with a wonderfully insightful and haunting collection of short stories, Birds of a Feather by Kaye Park Hinckley.
Reading Absolute Darling by Gabriel Talent. Hard to read. Anyone else troubled by the topic?
I'm reading Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I've wanted to read this classic for a long time. It's a spoof, very funny, kind of subtle at times.
Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly – 3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. I had seen the movie, but it covers just a few years, and compresses the story of many women into three characters. Shetterly’s book covers the time from the early years of WW2 to the Moon Landing in August 1969. I’m glad I read it, and that these women’s stories are finally brought to the forefront of America’s consciousness.
LINK to my review
Just enjoyed Aussie author Luke Slattery's "imagined history", as he calls it, Mrs. M.It's an entertaining, completely fabricated romance between a couple of historical figures in early Sydney town. Such a painless way to learn a bit of history. :)
4★ Link to my review
Just finished reading Birds of a Feather, a compelling collection of short stories about men and women in crisis, by Kaye Park Hinckley.Read My Review
Enjoyed my introduction to the short stories of award-winning Aussie author Jennifer Down. Colourful people (some language) in Pulse Points: Stories.
4★ Link to my review
Inside the O’Briens – Lisa Genova – 5*****
A diagnosis of Huntington’s Disease affects not only Boston cop Joe O’Brien, but his entire family. Genova writes so well about neurological disorders, making the story both entertaining and informative. I really felt as if I knew these characters – their fears, joys, dreams, and anxieties.
LINK to my review
Hi all! Just finished: Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Leehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read Walter's Welcome: The Intimate Story of a German-Jewish Family's Flight from the Nazis to Peru. 3.5 stars rounded up. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Foucault's Pendulum - 3*Usually I wouldn't link smth I spent 5 min on, but I think I said everything that needs to be said about this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is for deleting my Umberto Eco comment.
The Midnight Watch – David Dyer – 2.5**
Subtitle: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian. Like many people, I am fascinated by the Titanic’s story, and I was eager to read Dyer’s debut novel. But his changing points of view somehow failed to capture my attention. The last sixty pages of the novel, however, were gripping.
LINK to my review
The Longest Night – Andria Williams – 4****
A young military couple, Nat and Paul Collier vs his supervisor at the nuclear power plant where Paul works, and MSgt Reynolds’ mean-spirited wife, Jeannie. Add a handsome local cowboy and a reactor with problems that are being ignored and it’s only a question of which will blow first: the reactor, Paul’s career, or Paul and Nat’s marriage. Great character-based novel with a gripping story line. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end.
LINK to my review
I'm reading a quirky little book, The Lives of Shadows: An Illustrated Novel and I'm just about to start reading Sunburn, a mystery/thriller.I finished Tangerine today which was another hard to put down thriller.
Something different but wonderful for history and/or adventure-lovers is Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia by historian (and excellent tale-teller) Diana Preston. It's hard to believe all this is true!I loved it and quoted quite a lot about Bligh's colourful character.
5★ Link to my review
I'm reading
. It started rather slow for me and I was going to give up but another member commented that it got better for her so I continued, now I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.
LOVED the first in British author Mick Herron's Slough House series Slow Horses. Demoted old-world spooks and new-world geeks are suddenly needed. Deadly, funny, well-written. 5★
Link to my review
I just finished A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'EngleMy review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished: Straying. 2.5 stars generously rounded up . My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Packing For Mars – Mary Roach – 3***
Subtitle: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. Another entertaining and informative read from an author who has become a favorite “science” writer for me. As she has done for sex, our alimentary canal, and cadavers, Roach turns her curiosity, sense of adventure and wit to the topic of space travel. Entertaining and informative (and with some laugh-out-loud moments).
LINK to my review
Etta and Otto and Russell and James – Emma Hooper – 3***
Eighty-two-year-old Etta has never seen the sea, so she decides one day to leave her Saskatchewan farm and head out on foot. It reminded me of Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, but it was not quite as engaging. Use of magical realism and non-linear timeline.
LINK to my review
The second in the Slough House series that I'm loving. Dead Lions by English author Mick Herron is another fun spy story. Cold War sleuthing in today's world. Great characters. Not necessary to read them in order.
4.5★ Link to my reviewStill available in Read Now on NetGalley till the end of March.
jOvian veiL - Menticide (Novella) — Free eBook, looking for reviews jOvian veiL is a multifaceted project that intertwines the creative writing of a Science Fiction Novella series with the raw emotion and energy of a Hard Rock Album. Each chapter has an associated track that expresses a certain emotion, mood or setting from the story. Drawing inspiration from a multitude of artists that span across a diverse range of projects (Stephen King’s ‘The Gunslinger’, ‘Fighting Fantasy’ Series of books, Nirvana, Tool, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age), jOvian veiL crafts their own unique story (and sound) while creating both the story and music in unison.
‘jOvian veiL – Menticide’ is the first book (and album) in a series where the reader can immerse themselves in not only the storytelling of the Science Fiction series but they can also experience the story from the author’s musical perspective.
Free download!!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
‘All wiLL bE ReveAled”
Barbaro: A Nation’s Love Story – Tom Philbin and Pamela K Brodowsky – 1*
It seemed that some of this must have been written for a contemporary magazine or journal piece, and perhaps the other author came in to expand it to book length. The result is uneven and boring.
LINK to my review
Cute book for very early readers. Hoppy's Big City Adventure by Gabrielle Grice. A little frog learns to listen!
3.5★ My review
Reading Option B. Outstanding!!! Great for someone who has lost someone close to them and for those who know someone who has lost someone. Really good!
The Butterfly’s Daughter – Mary Alice Monroe – 2.5**
I knew this was a chick-lit, road-trip, find-yourself kind of novel going in. I was intrigued by the link to the monarch butterfly migration, and by the main character’s journey. I liked how Luz grew through the novel, and liked the various characters she picked up along the way and how they helped her. I also liked that the ending, while hopeful, was NOT just wrapped up in a pretty little happy-ever-after bow. But there were elements that dropped it a half-star, chiefly how bad the audio performance was. If you want to read it, do so in text format. Skip the audio.
LINK to my review
Finished The Music Shop. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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