Go Fug Yourself Book Club discussion
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What are You Currently Reading?
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LOL! That happens. Our book club got on this tear of reading Tragic Women books, and after about 3 I was like, "Uh, can we r..."
You are a brave woman! All Oprah all the time is not something I could undertake. Trashy palate cleansers on the other hand, those I fully embrace.
Jody wrote: "As a librarian I love talking to anyone about books whether I'm at work or not, could be because so many of my friends don't read, which I will never understand!I hear you! And thank you for loving to talk about books. Talking about books helps me to get through social situations where I know no one very well if at all, such as at office parties for my husband's job. From there we can springboard to films, cooking, and many other hobbies and topics. I like to speak of my daughter but I try not to be a bore about the topic.
I started reading Station Eleven today and it's really great so far. It immediately sucked me in.
I just finished My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and it was wonderful, I am looking forward to reading more of her.
I'm reading and almost done with Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor. It's the final book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy. I just can't believe the series is over. I have less than a 100 pages left to read in this adventure.... So good!!!
I just finished Unbroken, it was a cheap kindle buy on bookbub, and it was terrific. I had to skim/swipe through parts of the pow camp stuff because it was just too horrific. I probably won't see the movie for the same reason. But Louis Zampirini is a truly inspirational person and deserves to be called a hero. I read that Angelina Jolie was able to show him at least part of the movie before he died. Anyway, this is a great read. Highly recommended.
I've been on the waiting list at the library for Unbroken for a while...I can't wait to crack it open! Maybe Santa will bring it...In the meantime, I'm reading Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan. Not as enjoyable as The Engagements, but it's still worth a read.
Just started reading the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's not meant to be read in order but I'm insisting on at least trying.
annabel wrote: "I just finished Unbroken, it was a cheap kindle buy on bookbub, and it was terrific. I had to skim/swipe through parts of the pow camp stuff because it was just too horrific. I probably won't see t..."Unbroken was one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. I agree that some of the POW stuff was hard to stomach, but overall I cannot recommend the book highly enough!
Robin wrote: "Just started reading the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's not meant to be read in order but I'm insisting on at least trying."Big Pratchett fan here. There are story arcs for major characters in the many Discworld books. The Granny Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg/3rd witch arc, which has a YA spinoff series about Tiffany Aching, a witch in training; the Ankh-Morpork City Watch arc, which features lots of great characters, especially Sam Vimes; and there are the books that talk about Death and his family (granddaughter Susan)and their misadventures. The books steadily got better, and I liked it when the wizards were no longer the focus but became more of the comic element added when needed. I still like to read "Hogfather" at holiday time each year, because it remains laugh-out-loud, drive-off-the-road funny. Enjoy!
I just finished Scarlet Sisters by Myra Macpherson. Its an interesting read, but a bit slow. A nonfiction about two sisters in the Gilded Age causing all sorts of uproar.
BBethB wrote: "Robin wrote: "Just started reading the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's not meant to be read in order but I'm insisting on at least trying."Big Pratchett fan here. There are story arcs f..."
My friend who recommended the series, Hogfather is her favorite book
Robin- My family and I are disc world fanatics. We have always read them in order. You need to take a break occasionally. Every character is amazing.
Also, currently reading The Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan Kellerman and his son Jesse. Very, very good. I have read his Alex Delaware series in the past. This is much different.
I just finished Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl," and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I know it's decidedly not for everyone, but if you like her work, you might enjoy it. She reminds me of me at that age (a long, long time ago!), when I was trying to figure everything out. I'm now reading (finally, finally) Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm reading Kavalier & Clay and am also reading Deadline by Sandra Brown. I seem to be on a Sandra Brown kick lately, but her mysteries are just so fun and easy to read. It is easy to read it while doing other things like using the treadmill, watching tv, etc.
Kavalier and Clay was so so good. I don't think I have ever read anything by Sandra Brown. I will look her up.
I just started The Red Tent, and so far I like it a lot. I'm also reading The Happiness Project, which I feel meh about.
I've just started both The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime and My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories. We'll see how they go.
I like the sound of that Invention of Murder. I love Victorian mysteries.
After reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, I decided to start The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This may not have been the best order in which to read, as Unbroken is the far superior book (thus far). I'm hoping it picks up soon.
Currently reading The Time Machine, it's mostly good except for it's super held back by its old-timey gender politics, which are so casually talked about that it's annoying. When he's actually talking about time travel is when it's interesting. It's in a three-book volume, though, so I might just skip ahead to The Invisible Man and forget about the Time Machine.
@Tawnia: Oh, stick with Boys in the Boat! It was easily the best non-fiction book I've read in ages. And yes, it starts slowly--but everyone I know was amazed at how the tension builds around the races, even though we know the outcome. As for Unbroken, I had to skip the middle bcz I'm not able to read the concentration camp info--but that woman can WRITE. Trying to figure out how I'll get through the movie.
Meg wrote: "@Tawnia: Oh, stick with Boys in the Boat! It was easily the best non-fiction book I've read in ages. And yes, it starts slowly--but everyone I know was amazed at how the tension builds around the r..."Thanks for the encouragement! The concentration part of Unbroken was brutal, but I agree, she is a talented writer.
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Currently reading and absolutely LOVING this book. For those of you who loved Code Name Verity, you might also enjoy this book.
I just finished The Boys in the Boat which I loved and totally recommend.
I've just started The Queen of the Tearling - Emma Watson is already involved in the proposed film adaptation.
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"Next up, Weiss and Benioff will adapt Stephen Hunter’s novel Dirty White Boys as their first feature film. Benioff’s book, The 25th Hour, was adapted by Spike Lee in 2002, but when Game of Thrones is over, David Benioff has said he will finally getting around to filming his own novel, the wonderful wartime story City of Thieves."
How awesome! I always thought that book would make a great movie!
My mom and I went to Powell's in Portland and she saw a copy of Momo on the shelf and had to buy it for me because it was her childhood favorite. It took me a while to get around to it, but I'm over halfway through and it's so, so, so enchanting and sliiightly creepy and lovely. If books were family members, this one would be directly related to The Phantom Tollbooth. Maybe like, siblings, or first cousins or something.
Just started "Orphan Train" and Lena Dunham's book. I've heard mixed reviews on both. I just finished "All the Light We Cannot See," which I really enjoyed. I did find the ending to be a bit rushed, though.
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We have the same reading list Andrea! I got Lena Dunham's book on audio from the library, but it came in while I was already reading 2 really engaging and really long books so my son listened to it. He liked it, and said that she was "considerably more complex than you'd think." I am reading All the Light We Cannot See right now. Amazed to hear of the rushed ending, because so far (about 45 pages in) everything is moving realllllly slow. I am also listening to The Bone Clocks(which is amazing so far.) I read Orphan Trainfor book club a few months back and had mixed feelings. Quick read, engrossing story, but the girl cannot write to save herself and the set up was ridiculous. Looking forward to your thoughts!
Bonnie wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Just started "Orphan Train" and Lena Dunham's book. I've heard mixed reviews on both. I just finished "All the Light We Cannot See," which I really enjoyed. I did find the ending to ..."I just finished All the Light We Cannot See and loved it. I found the pacing picked up as it progressed, but the final 30 pages or so perhaps bounced too far.
I've also just finished American Gods which I loved and Under the Wide and Starry Sky which I felt lost all narrative control about half way through. I'm getting ready to read Station Eleven and The Girl on the Train and hoping to sneak in The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World before its due back to the library on the 3rd.
Reading Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood after LOVING the Australian series...thanks to a recommendation by GFY. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I finished The Queen of the Tearling. It had mixed reviews, and I agree that something was off. Maybe the pacing, and I don't love books where characters are constantly mentioning how "plain" they are - especially when they're about to be played by Emma Watson!Despite these minor quibbles, I am all in for the sequel and the movie.
Andrea wrote: "Just started "Orphan Train" and Lena Dunham's book. I've heard mixed reviews on both. I just finished "All the Light We Cannot See," which I really enjoyed. I did find the ending to be a bit rushed..."I Loved "All the Light we Cannot See", I thought it was so lovely, but I do get the rushed feeling at the end- but I thought it spoke to how unknown it all was for them at the end, like there were no details to speak of because none of the remaining characters knew what happened.
Please! No more details! I haven't read it yet! :-)
I just finished "The life-changing Magic of tidying up." (Because of New Year's Resolutions), followed by "Tell the Wolves I'm home." Currently reading the lovely book, "As Always....Julia," the letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto.
Katie wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Just started "Orphan Train" and Lena Dunham's book. I've heard mixed reviews on both. I just finished "All the Light We Cannot See," which I really enjoyed. I did find..."The Ghost Map is soooooo good! Good choice!
I just finished Cinder for another book club. It's definitely a light read, and YA, but it's fun and puts together some unique ideas.My library hold for that and the last Percy Jackson book came in on the same day (whee!) so it's a YA book party for me right now.
Currently reading an advance copy of Elizabeth Wein's (she of Code Name Verity fame) latest, Black Dove, White Raven. It, like Code Name Verity, involves pilots, but is set in 1930s Ethiopia instead of WWII. I am liking it, she's a lovely author, but so far feel that it just can't compare to the emotional punch that CNV packed. Also I think this highlights the advantage to setting books in periods like WWII that people know so much about, which is that people know enough about the time period that you don't have to waste time explaining EVERYTHING about the historical context, whereas a book in 1930s Ethiopia has to spend a good number of pages just setting the scene, at the expense of some of the character development, in my opinion. Having said that, I'm still enjoying it fairly well, and it seems like something that many in Fug Nation would enjoy. (Pub date is March 31st, I believe.)ALSO last week I took the recommendation of Jessica and many other GFY peeps and read Michelle Cooper's A Brief History of Montmaray and its two sequels, and this trilogy was so good that I want to weep just thinking about it. I still have a book hangover.
So if you get sick while reading Ghost Map, here's a hint, it is probably not cholera and they will laugh when you go to the ER. Otherwise it was an awesome book and I wish there were more like it! I'm next on the hold list for Station Eleven and so excited!
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Just started Station Eleven today. Warning, if you are prone to imagining yourself to be infected with the disease you are reading about, Station Eleven is going to land you in the ER.
Currently reading "Arts and Entertainments" by John Beha - slow to start, but very funny once it the real story kicks in.Next up is "You Were Meant For Me" by Yona Zeldis McDonough.
I won't be getting Ghost Map read before it's due, so I'll try it again later. Station Eleven was simply fantastic!!
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Go Fug Yourself Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jandy Nelson (other topics)Rainbow Rowell (other topics)
Pamela Aidan (other topics)
Carrie Bebris (other topics)
Her writing is extraordinary. I love her!"
Completely agree! One of the most lyrical books I've read this year.