What Are You Reading April 2014

[Linda]

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry : > )

[Kate]

I am not sure when I last posted, but I have recently read 2 Booktopia books: which I will review after this weekend ( it is one of those books which I want to discuss with others as I may have missed part of it). Also read an ARC of which I won from the publisher in a Facebook giveaway and liked very much. I am now going a little lighter and finished over the weekend. I am in the middle of which I am really enjoying. Next up, I got an email from the library that is on hold for me, so I will pick it up to read next. I have read very well lately!

[Chanda2426]

Finally finished Ready Player One. It was OK, but nothing to write home about. Starting a new one today either The Divorce Papers or How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying.

[Gerald]

The author of THE WINTER PEOPLE can be heard on the AUTHOR ON TOUR podcast . See ITUNES to download .

[Steph]

Glad to hear that Janet is listening to Harry Potter. I'm 64 and like your son I've read the entire series multiple times. I'm a Harry Potter addict.

[Melissa]

I'm nearly finished listening to the 2nd Flavia De Luce book! And I am still reading The Golem and the Jinni and really enjoying it, so I am reading it a little slower to enjoy it and I have been busy at work the last two months.

[Grace]

I'm currently in the middle of Paradise Lost for school, but for fun I'm about to embark on The Cider House Rules by John Irving.

[Diane]

Just started Wolf Hall and am finishing up And the Mountains Echoed.

[Chanda2426]

Just starting Water for Elephants. I am hoping it's as good as advertised, because I am in a reading slump.

[Linda]

Chanda2426 wrote: "Just starting Water for Elephants. I am hoping it's as good as advertised, because I am in a reading slump."

Chanda, I'm not much of a re-reader, but I've read that one 3 times. I also understand that just because I loved it doesn't mean the rest of the world is going to.

Can't wait to see what you think.

[Chanda2426]

Linda wrote: "Chanda2426 wrote: "Just starting Water for Elephants. I am hoping it's as good as advertised, because I am in a reading slump."

Chanda, I'm not much of a re-reader, but I've read that one 3 times...."

Thanks Linda! We have similar tastes in books. So far, I am loving this one! Last month, I read the Swan Gondola and it reminds me of Water for Elephants. You should try it out!
Happy reading!

[April]

I have just barely started The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt, so I can't even give an opinion yet, but I'm also reading the new Karen Russell novella Sleep Donation: A Novella.

My audio book at the moment is The Rosie Project; it's just a hoot.

[Chanda2426]

April wrote: "I have just barely started The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt, so I can't even give an opinion yet, but I'm also reading the new Karen Russell novella Sleep Donation: A Novella.

My audio book at..."

I LOVED The Rosie Project! Too funny!

[Denise]

I'm finally reading A Suitable Boy. I may just be reading it this time next year.

[Adore]

i'm nearing the end of salt, sugar, fat by michael moss. it's a great peek into the food industry's many successes, particularly the incredible science and marketing engineering the allure of processed foods and sugary beverages. highly recommend. i'm also finishing up lorrie moore's short story collection, self help (love it!).

farfetched goal: to read the easter parade by richard yates before next sunday! i hope i can somehow manage this since it's been on my reading list for ages!

[Julie]

Just finished up Gaute Heivoll's Before I Burn translated from the Norwegian. Two stars - meh. My review tells why.

[Jen]

I just destroyed Lexicon by Max Barry. I was so into it that I finished it in three days. However, I was sadly disappointed by the underwhelming end. Good book though with an interesting premise that I hadn't read about before.

[[deleted user]]

Jen wrote: "I just destroyed Lexicon by Max Barry. I was so into it that I finished it in three days. However, I was sadly disappointed by the underwhelming end. Good book though with an interesting premise th..."

I thought the end was pretty underwhelming, too, though I did enjoy the book as a whole.

I just picked up Ruby: A Novel and oh man, this is a beaut!

[Sue]

I loved Easter Parade but it's a real downer.

Adore wrote: "i'm nearing the end of salt, sugar, fat by michael moss. it's a great peek into the food industry's many successes, particularly the incredible science and marketing engineering the allure of proce..."

[Linda]

Chanda2426 wrote: "Linda wrote: "Chanda2426 wrote: "Just starting Water for Elephants. I am hoping it's as good as advertised, because I am in a reading slump."

Chanda, I'm not much of a re-reader, but I've read tha..."

Thanks, Chandra, I will, but I need to warn you that someone at Booktopia this weekend even asked me "How MANY books do you have on your to be read list on GoodReads?" I didn't tell that person that I plan to live longer than Methuselah.

[Denise]

Shannon, Ruby looks really good!

[Janet]

I'm still reading The House of Sleep....big yawn....lol.

[Sally]

Just finished The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry - I loved it.

[Kalen]

I am abandoning Rick Springfield's forthcoming novel, Magnificent Vibration.

[Becky]

I have finished a few BooktopiaVT books, & I had set aside, Sycamore Row which I am now finishing & then I plan to start The Museum of Extraordinary Things

[Shinke]

I'm finally reading The Hobbit! Yaaaay!!!!

[Linda]

Dark Places

[Melissa]

I am slowly reading Birds of a Lesser Paradise: Stories. This is a beautiful collection of short stories. The collection itself is quite short, but I am taking my time to let each story sit with me awhile before beginning the next. These stories will stay with me for quite some time.

[[deleted user]]

I'm sorry to say that I didn't like this book, the first I've read by the acclaimed Lee Smith, as much as her reputation warrants.

I liked the first half of the book, the coming-of-age story of a girl who is the daughter of a "kept woman" in New Orleans and who later has extended stays in a mental hospital. The mental hospital is more idyllic than you'd expect. She becomes a musician and encounters people like Nina Simone and Zelda Fitzgerald. The selling point of the book is that it's about Zelda, but she doesn't appear in the book a lot. That isn't why I didn't like the book very much.

The story seemed to dissolve into threads in the latter half of the book. We get unfinished biographies of minor characters. Love stories that go nowhere. Finally, we settle back into finding out more about Zelda and her fate, but the account of the fire that took her life is related anticlimactically and perfunctorily.

If you know of a Lee Smith book that's really good, and can point me toward it, and can differentiate it from this one, let me know.

[Chanda2426]

Linda wrote: " Dark Places"

This was my fav of Gillian Flynn's books! Enjoy!

[Kalen]

I think it was her best. The others don't even come close.

(I woke up at 5am thinking, "No! It was Sharp Objects that I liked best!" So there you have it.)

[Karen]

Getting ready to abandon Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers at page 128.

[[deleted user]]

Just started All That Is Solid Melts into Air: A Novel and An Untamed State . Both had blown me away less than 20 pages in.

[Kalen]

Karen, it doesn't get better or make any more sense. Some loved it but I stuck with it thinking it had to come together. Where did I see the question about books that make you feel stupid yesterday? It may have been Book Riot. Yes, Flamethrowers made me feel stupid.

[Dawn]

Kalen wrote: "Karen, it doesn't get better or make any more sense. Some loved it but I stuck with it thinking it had to come together. Where did I see the question about books that make you feel stupid yesterday..."

Flamethrowers is another one of those books that taunts me from the "your books" shelf of my ereader. I haven't read it yet - but I did really like her previous book 'Telex from Cuba.'

[[deleted user]]

I really liked The Flamethrowers. To each his own.

[Chanda2426]

I finished Water for Elephants early this morning and have started Frances Mayes memoir Under Magnolia. Such elegant writing — loving it so far!
Happy reading all!

[Kate]

While hoping I don't have to read TheFlamethrowers for one of my May book groups ( we only get 2 or 3 weeks to read the selection)...... I finished an ARC of Lucky Us by Amy Bloom which I enjoyed and am now reading my last Paperback to the Future from last year which is Heft by Liz Moore which is very compelling.

[[deleted user]]

A great little read.

By that I mean, it'll never be one of my all-time favorite books, but I enjoyed reading it and will always remember it fondly, like , , and . Those are all books I almost don't want to reread, because I'm afraid that holding them in my memory may be a superior experience to actually rereading them.

[[deleted user]]

I just finished An Untamed State and it's absolutely the best book I've read so far this year. Gutwrenching read, but just incredible.

[Sue]

I'm reading Leslie Jamison's The Gin Closet which I'm finding disappointing after hearing so much hype about The Empathy Exams: Essays, which I'm hoping will be a better read. Someone said it had too much drama and metaphor - it does, and the language is uneven. Would benefit from better editing. Just started listening to A Constellation of Vital Phenomenathis morning and am enjoying it so far. I read about a third of it awhile back but had to return it to the library. I feel like the audio version is helping me catch a lot of details I missed in print.

Glad to hear Shannon's praise for An Untamed State. I've been hearing a lot of good things; I think that will be next up.

[Becky]

starting The Museum of Extraordinary Things

[Adore]

Sue wrote: "I loved Easter Parade but it's a real downer.


i'm only at the halfway point, but yes, it is quite depressing! i guess i'm enjoying it in the only way that depressing books can be enjoyed?
:)

[Linda]

The Middle Place

[Julie]

Just finishedBrooklyn. It fell flat for me! Anyone else like/dislike this one? I just started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - I know, only 8 years after publication - and so far, LOVE it. What a contrast!

[Sue]

A friend gave me her copy of Brooklyn and it's been sitting on my night stand taunting me for almost a year. I just can't bring myself to pick it up.

I did love Extremely Loud - I think it may have been one of my first audiobooks - and I thought the movie was great, too. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss would be a great follow-up if you haven't read it.

Julie wrote: "Just finishedBrooklyn. It fell flat for me! Anyone else like/dislike this one? I just started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - I know, only 8 years after publication..."

[[deleted user]]

Damn.

Books like this are why I read.

A big, bold, multi-generational tale of Texas, as exciting and hair-raising as it is literary and serious.

Comparisons abound. Larry McMurtry, Herman Melville,John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy. Yeah. It's that good.

This one goes into my personal Hall of Fame.

[Grace]

The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller. I have been wanting to read this for a long time. It is quite a short book at 250 pages however is taking a while to read as the structure is both beautiful and stilted at the same time.

[Adore]

Grace wrote: "The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller. I have been wanting to read this for a long time. It is quite a short book at 250 pages however is taking a while to read as the structure is both beautif..."

she writes exquisite sentences! i read the first page of her novel, the appointment, and was blown away. i hope to pick up her work at some point.

[Nancy]

I'm currently listening to Kate Atkinson's Life After Life and enjoying the premise of the woman who is "reborn" repeatedly, with her story retold from various starting points and with events turning out differently each time. Recently I've also read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which was delightful, and Cordelia's Honor, the first in a sci-fi/fantasy series. This was a book club choice. I read a fair amount of books in these genres and would place this one in the middle ranks. I probably won't read the rest of the series, although I didn't dislike this one. It just didn't compel me as much as some others. I also read Divergent. To me, this was less enthralling than other YA dystopian books I've read, specifically the Hunger Games trilogy, but I plan to continue on to the other two. I'm in between print books right now, waffling between picking up a book I started for a book club more than a year ago and didn't finish and one of the books currently checked out from the library. I was enjoying the book club selection, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, but didn't finish for lack of time and just haven't gotten around to picking it up again. I'm feeling guilty, so I probably will choose that one. I also didn't read the selection for a book club that met a couple of days ago; I was concentrating on some library books that I knew I couldn't renew and didn't make to the group book, Memoirs of a Geisha. I read it years ago when it was published, and after the discussion the other night I felt I would like to read it again and also rewatch the film adaptation.