You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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July 2016 REPORTING - Randomiser, Random, Randomiser, You're a Randomiser
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Glad you finally got to read it, Connie!
My TBR was at 255 and the Randomizer spit out #15. I didn't have that one available to me so I skipped ahead to #27 and read An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield.I added this book because Chris Hadfield is a fellow Canadian who does great things toward advancing the exploration, and educating others regarding that exploration, into space. And quite frankly, he seems like a stand-up guy who I'd very much like to have a beer with...
I loved the book even more than I thought I would. I would take breaks from reading and find myself googling other space missions and watching youTube videos of life on the international space station. It was very educational and an inspiring story of career focus, striving to be the best you can be, never giving up on your dreams, and not defining yourself only on your latest, greatest achievement. Chris Hadfield is Everyman, a down-to-earth guy who has done the most fascinating things, and still remains humble and likable. I loved this book!
I have 69 books in my TBR shelf. I rolled 51 and that landed me on book #10 of a series that I'm only on #5 of. So I went with book 66, Dark Witch by Nora Roberts.I added this book to my TBR shelf on a recommendation from a friend that knows I'm a sucker for Nora Roberts trilogies.
I loved the book! It's a story of 3 cousins who are tied together through an ancient battle of good vs. evil. Some of the character development could've been a little better, but it didn't keep me from finishing the book in just a couple of days. In fact, I ended up reading the rest of the trilogy as well! LOL. I couldn't help it I had to know how it ended.
My only complaint with this trilogy, as with many of the Nora Roberts trilogies, is that they do become a little predictable. It's not how the characters get to the end that becomes predictable, but how the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd books end. The main plot is usually 3 heroes against one villain. Each book highlights a character and at the end of each book a the heroes will face the villain. However, I still really do enjoy the trilogies and characters. I can't help myself but to become submersed in the story and think I'm there living it with the characters.
Debra wrote: "Mine was 717, but that book wasn't available from my library. So, I chose 713 The Academy by Bentley Little.Bentley is one twisted guy. This book was as twisted as th..."
You hooked me in Debra... I'm a lover of horror and I've added this to my TBR now. I'm always interested in finding new authors that have a knack for giving shivers!.
The Randomizer gave me 375, I picked 362, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was intrigued as there was a comparison to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a book I enjoyed. This was a quiet literary novel which slowly offered information to reveal what was going on. A poignant, heartbreaking story.
Cherie wrote: "Glad you finally got to read it, Connie!"I believe you recommended the book as well, Cherie. This was when we were deep in our "Australia " stage. I don't think I have ever really left mine, but I'm not as intense now. I just hit an Australia book every so often now. : )
Josee wrote: "The Randomizer gave me 375, I picked 362, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was intrigued as there was a comparison to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a book I enjoyed. This was a quiet..."
This is one of my favorite authors and one of my favorite books. I continued to think about this book and the issues it raised long after finishing it. It is certainly thought provoking. Glad you got to read it.
Connie (Ava Catherine) wrote: "(My YLTO friends would never steer me wrong. I believe Rusalka was the most fervent cheerleader for this book.)"Not me for the book, never read this one. Do push the author though, but my teenage book of choice was her only one written at the time which was Looking for Alibrandi. She started writing again when I was well out of Uni, but so glad she did.
Connie - I read Jellico Road during our Rainbow Challenge. It was my first orange cover. I am listening to Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. My first for him.
Rusalka - check the buddy read thread. Night...zzzz
Loving reading all your reviews!
I got the random number 168 which is close to the end of my list so included a lot of recent adds to my tbr. I chose number 185 which was End of Watch. I had it planned for a buddy read anyway. I added it to my tbr because it's the last book in the Bill Hodges series and I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 books. I'm becoming quite the Stephen King fan. I gave the book 5 stars. It was a fitting ending to the series. I had some issues with it. Hypnosis was featured in the story and as a hypnotherapist i was both pleased and annoyed. King had done some research but there were some things which weren't accurate. If I wasn't knowledgeable about it i'd probably not think anything of it, accept it for what it is and enjoy the story. I still enjoyed it though and i didn't take any stars away because of it.
30 years ago I tried to read Stephen King's Pet Cemetery. I'm still too scared to read any of his other books.
Joan wrote: "30 years ago I tried to read Stephen King's Pet Cemetery. I'm still too scared to read any of his other books."They aren't all scary. Try 11/22/63. It's an alternative history about the possible change in history if Kennedy's assassination had been avoided.
Thanks Janice that sounds really interesting. I thought all his stuff was scary.
Joan, I've never read Pet Cemetery, but I once spent half an hour on the phone with someone who called me because she had been reading it, and she was afraid to turn out the lights and needed someone to talk to.
Cherie wrote: "Connie - I read Jellico Road during our Rainbow Challenge. It was my first orange cover. I am listening to Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. My first for him.
Rusalka - check the buddy read th..."
Cherie,
It must have been you who gave Jellicoe Road such a good recommendation. I know it was when we were all wrapped up in the "Australia" books, and the rainbow challenge sounds right. Thanks for the recommendation! It was sooooo good!
The Mr Mercedes books have been more mystery/thriller than scary. Under the Dome wasn't scary either but probably not the bedt place to start. Janice's rec would be the best bet. It's tge book that got me in to reading Stephen King. I had read Misery 10 years previous and not touched any of his stuff again. Not because it was particularly scary but it took me so damn long to read it.
I too LOVED 11/22/63. I was a huge Stephen King fan when I was younger but as I aged I found his books more and more disturbing. Shawshank Redemption is one of his short stories and has long been a favourite of mine. He is a great writer. I wish he'd write more stuff for us wusses who can't handle the macabre.
(ETA - none of the books listed below are scary.)Another really great King story is The Green Mile - not scary - and has some great themes.
My favourite of all times is the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons. I loved the movie as well which is one of my all time favourites. You may have to get the anthology in which it's included - Different Seasons. Included in the anthology is The Body on which the movie, "Stand By Me" was based. The other two stories in the anthology weren't remarkable. Okay, rambling here, but I've just convinced myself to reread Different Seasons.
Sounds like we could have a Stephen King group read.
We recently did Under the Dome as a buddy read. And prior to that, we did the entire Dark Tower series as a buddy read. If you want to do a buddy read for Different Seasons, I just ordered the trade paperback.
I'm up for a buddy read of Different Seasons :-)
Oops! We've pulled the cardinal sin - hijacked a reporting thread. I'll run over and set up a thread in the proper place.Sorry Rus!
Hehe no worries. Finding another read you can all do together is an acceptable hijacking.I've actually been extremely sick all week, so I didn't even notice! You could have gotten away with it!
I hope you are feeling better now, Rusalka!
Yuck! Being sick is no fun. I hope you feel better soon, Rusalka!
Rusalka wrote: "I've actually been extremely sick all week, so I didn't even notice! You could have gotten away with it!"I hope you feel better now
Hope you're feeling better Rusalka!I read Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. I can't decide if it's good or scary how many things she says that make total sense and I'm ready to join the conversation. A lot of her thoughts lead to bizarre conversations of things that could possibly happen, and then she tells about even more bizarre things that have really happened. Then there are moments when there is an idea so profound that I'm dumbstruck. And I totally want my own 5 foot chicken!
This book provides a sense of freedom - to laugh hysterically while reading it, to not worry so much if what I say sometimes makes sense to anyone else, and, mostly, to allow myself to be ok with who I am underneath all the pretending to be normal for others.
That's Hamlet on the cover, in case you couldn't tell. One of the amazing things you can buy over the internet.
Awww, feel better Rusalka. Nothing worst than feeling unwell.
I just finished reading my book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, I read this in junior high school, so it has been a long time. I would give it 4 stars.
352 is the # on my to read list.. (at the time of choosing on June 28th)I generated # 182, which is If I Ever Get Out of Here
.So I read
#164
Allegiant and finished it today. It was ok. But I can say that I finished the series finally. I liked the first book the most. This had an ending that not too many people liked due to something happening to a character.
i had #372 and went with #367: Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica. It was on my TBR list because I love James Bond movies and it was a Kindle Deal a couple of years ago! :-) And yes, Pierce Brosnan is my all-time favorite James Bond and not Sean Connnery or Daniel Craig! Goldeneye is the house In Jamaica that Ian Fleming built and where all the James Bond books were written. There’s quite a bit of history thrown in as well as societal reflections of the day, particularly relating to class and race. It wasn’t as absorbing a read as I would have expected but did the job I guess. More here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alrighty! I had 209 books on my TBR shelf, "randomized" that and got 138. The rules gave me a range of 118-158 to work with. Looking at my list I realized that I was in the throes of the serial killer challenge at that point and most of my books in that range are series titles. So I decided to go with Private, the first book of the Private series by James Patterson since I've been using some of the other titles in the series for the geocaching challenge."listened" to the audiobook while driving across the state on Sunday 7/24/2016
I enjoyed the book. It gave me the back story on the series and some of the characters. It followed the typical Patterson plot devices for the series. And now I'm that much close to killing off another series! :)
Susan, If I listened to a good thriller while driving across the state I'd miss my exit and end up two states over!
Joan wrote: "Susan, If I listened to a good thriller while driving across the state I'd miss my exit and end up two states over!"Joan, I will admit I did get a little caught up in the action. Of course, there's a whole lotta state to get through in my case and a major stretch of long, lonely road so it worked out nicely.
My TBR had 53 books and I generated the number 25 which is The Namesake. I got the book only at the end of the month and I read only 25 % of it.I'm savoring the book and did not want to rush in reading it. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite author.
But work is busy this week and most probably I'll complete it only in the next week.
Lilisa wrote: "i had #372 and went with #367: Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica. It was on my TBR list because I love James Bond movies and it was a Kindle Deal a couple of yea..."Have you seen the movie Matador? Pierce Brosnan is great in it and the opening part is too funny.
Badges posted. Sorry for the long delay and thank you everyone for your patience. Let me know if I missed you.
jaxnsmom wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "i had #372 and went with #367: Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica. It was on my TBR list because I love James Bond movies and it was a Kindle Deal ..."Sorr J-mom, just saw your comment. I think I have seen Matador but can't recall it much unfortunately - I'll have to track it down someday. Although as I was trying to recall Matador, flashes of the movie Mama Mia with Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep kept distracting me. Have you seen that movie?
Great badge, Rusalka! Thanks for the random challenge and allowing me to get one more book off of my TBR and real life book shelf.
Thanks for the badge, Rusalka, and a fun challenge.
Rusalka,Thanks for the challenge, the push to read a book from my TBR shelf and the cute badge.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Goldeneye (other topics)Goldeneye (other topics)
The Namesake (other topics)
Private (other topics)
Goldeneye (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jhumpa Lahiri (other topics)Aldous Huxley (other topics)
Jenny Lawson (other topics)
Bentley Little (other topics)
Nora Roberts (other topics)
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I added this to my tbr list because it was so highly recommended by my YLTO friends when I was looking for an "Australia" book; however, I ended up reading something else at that time, so this has been languishing on my list for the longest time. I am glad I finally got to it because it is a wonderful book. (My YLTO friends would never steer me wrong. I believe Rusalka was the most fervent cheerleader for this book.) I gave it 5 stars.
This is a book that has flashbacks to the past as Taylor tries to figure out why her mother abandoned her when she was eleven years old and who her father is. Taylor is elected as a leader in her school, and Hannah, her guardian goes missing, putting Taylor into a tailspin. The traditional war games begin among the townies, cadets, and school. Although Taylor is in charge of the school, her heart isn't in fighting, especially since Jonah is the leader of the cadets. She really needs to talk to Hannah. Where is she?