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Read, Reading Now and Reading Next (2015)
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – 4**** Hosseini is a great storyteller. This is his most ambitious novel, covering several generations over six decades and across continents from Afghanistan to Paris to San Francisco to Greece. There are many heart-wrenching scenes that echo what happens to Pari and Abdullah, the two motherless siblings whose story bookends this novel, but however far apart – in terms of time, or distance, or relationship – these stories are, they are all connected. His central theme is the moral complexity of life. The audio features three skilled narrators: Khaled Hosseini, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Navid Negahban.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – 4**** Hosseini is a great storyteller. This is his most ambitious novel, covering several generations ov..."
I find his novels to be gutwrenching
Read:
Currently Reading:
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Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "I gave up after book 3 of The Hollows. I didn't hate, but it was just meh.Richelle Mead is just...well, I finished Vampire Academy and Georgina Kincaid. I will read Bloodlines soon.
I never heard of Longmire series. ."
My buddy read group has been encouraging me to read at least the first 4 Hollows books before giving up. I have started listening to them and I like that better.
I LOVEd most of the Vampire Academy books, but I hear that Bloodlines takes a while to get into.
Longmire is what the TV show was based off. It's a character-driven western mystery. It was okay, just not a quick read, but I liked the characters. People tell me it gets even better.
A Dose of Murder by Lori Avocato – ZERO stars Terrible. A rip off of the Stephanie Plum series but not nearly so well written (and THAT’s saying a lot). This “heroine” is simply TSTL. Well, at least it fulfilled a couple of challenge requirements.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished:
Getting ready to start:
Next in line is:
To Live & Die in Dixie by Kathy Hogan Trochek – 3*** Former Atlanta police officer Callaghan Garrity runs The House Mouse, a professional maid service, and also dabbles in private investigation. This is a fast-paced, well-plotted cozy mystery. I like Callaghan – she’s intelligent, resourceful, strong, and professional.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
★★★½. I had high hopes for that one.
★★★. I am pretty much done with this series.Listening to
(my FWYS series)
Reading:
Murder Past Due by Miranda James – 3*** Librarian Charlie Harris is well known in Athena, Mississippi, not least because he walks his Maine Coon cat, Deisel, around town on a leash. When a home-town boy turned famous author returns for a reception, however, Charlie finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation. This is a decent cozy mystery, with a likeable main character.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
True Grit by Charles Portis – 5***** 14-year-old Mattie Ross hires Marshall Rooster Cogburn to track the man who killed her father. As Mattie tells the tale we see her outmaneuver, out bargain, and outsmart the hard men and women she encounters. Her indestructible vitality and basic innocence by turns amuse, horrify and touch the reader. Donna Tartt does a fine job narrating the audio book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Serena by Ron Rash – 5***** In 1929 George Pemberton brings his new wife, Serena, back from Boston to North Carolina, where they plan to make their fortune in timber. Lady MacBeth has nothing on Serena. I can’t remember when I loved reading a book about a character I disliked so much. Serena is fascinating. I liked how Rash incorporated the history of the era, giving the novel a strong sense of time and place. Phil Gigante does a wonderful job performing the audio book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Until the Real Thing Comes Along by Elizabeth Berg – 2** I really wanted to like this. I’ve read a number of Berg’s books and liked them all. She has a gift for dialogue and for letting the reader into her character’s lives and motivations. But … Patty’s complete inability to move on with her life just irritates the heck out of me. I didn’t care what happened to her. I WAS interested in the story with her parents, and wish Berg had explored that storyline.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book Concierge wrote: " True Grit by Charles Portis – 5***** 14-year-old Mattie Ross hires Marshall Rooster Cogburn to track the man who killed her father. As Mattie tells the tale we see ..."
I read this a few years ago when I needed a western book for a real life reading challenge. It was pretty good for a western. I could only see John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn in my head. :D
I finished:
which was a good mysteryCurrently working on:
which is getting better and better I think. I'm about 60 % done now.
is ok so far, but it wasn't exactly what I'd been hoping for. Hopefully it can still surprise me.
Not as great as her other standalones so far, but it can still change. Next up:
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No! I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club by Virginia Ironside – 3*** Subtitle: Diary of a 60th Year, which pretty well sums up the (non)plot of this charming little novel. Marie Sharp is turning 60 and she’s a little cranky. She’s perfectly content with her age and doesn’t need advice on how to look and feel younger, thank you very much. This was slow to get started, but the diary style grew on me, as did Marie. I think I recognized several of my own friends in her.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jaws by Peter Benchley – 4**** A great white shark is terrorizing the residents of a Long Island community that relies on summer visitors for its economic health. I've read this book twice previously, and the rating is based on my first impression. I listened to the audio this time around, capably narrated by Erik Steele. I was struck by how long it takes for the shark hunt to happen, and how much time is spent on the political and marital difficulties that Sheriff Brody has to navigate before he even gets out on the water.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Princess Bride by William Goldman – 2.5** Subtitle: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Author William Goldman should have followed his father’s lead … read (write) only the good parts. The central story is a swash-buckling adventure love story sure to delight. But all the asides and modern-day travails of the author just irritated me no end.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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if it is available at my library by the time I finish The End.
Finished:
★★★★
★★★
★★★★Currently reading:
I'll hopefully manage to finish both of these by tomorrow
Next up:
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★★★★
★★★½
★★★½now Reading
Up Next
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert – 5***** The novel spans decades, from the birth of Henry Whittaker in 1760 to his daughter Alma’s old age in 1883. I struggle with expressing how this novel moved me – and frustrated me. Alma’s life is both tediously boring and exceptionally adventurous. I found her fascinating and was entirely engrossed in her story. But for all her scientific vision, Alma seems completely blind to human relationships. While I have a few quibbles with the work, I still give it 5 stars. The audio book was wonderfully performed by Juliet Stevenson.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
read
(my least fav in the series) now reading
reading next
Plainsong by Kent Haruf – 4**** In this gentle, unassuming yet impactful novel Haruf introduces us to several residents of the small town of Holt, Colorado. With little in common but the realities of a hard life, these seven people hesitate to reach out to one another, but find comfort when they succeed. There are scenes of tenderness that took me by surprise, and some violent scenes that had me nearly breathless with worry. The prose is crisp and clean as the winter air in the Great Plains. The story is at once simple and profound.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read: Beastly by Alex FlinnReading: Ticker by Lisa Mantchev
Reading next: hopefully Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers.
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~ ★★★★ "I love BDB.
Read
Reading
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Just finished
and loved it.Need to get my in death cd's from the library so can't start them yet. So, either
or
are up next.
Mod
and loved it.Need to get my in death cd's from the library so can't start them yet. So, either
or [bookcover:Summe..."Gin blanco of course
Been a long time since I've read some Gin. I'm trying to be good to wait for my buddy read partner. But might not make it :-)
Mod
Yea. I understand that. I had the same issue when I was listening to Scanguard Vampires. Now I'm up to the last published one
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Penni wrote: "Been a long time since I've read some Gin. I'm trying to be good to wait for my buddy read partner. But might not make it :-)"Yea. I understand that. I had the same issue when I w..."
Owww. LOL. Sorry to bail on those. I'll go sit in my room now.
Mod
Yea. I understand ..."
Lol. I was just busting your balls. I get it. Besides, if you aren't feeling them, you just aren't! No shame!
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Penni wrote: "Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Penni wrote: "Been a long time since I've read some Gin. I'm trying to be good to wait for my buddy read partner. But might not make it :-)"Yea...."
Yea, yea. I know. Slacker here :-)
In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg – 4**** The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to the mid 1960s. When their daughter is born Hearing, they begin to rely on her to be their ears and voice in a world they barely understand. Margaret struggles to find her own life in the face of the duty she feels to help her parents. Poignant and thought-provoking.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Reading:
(This author is said to be the Swedish equivalent to Jane Austen, so I'm excited.)
Next:
Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen – 3*** Hiaasen takes readers to the Ten Thousand Islands, of Southwestern Florida to follow a possibly bi-polar woman taking revenge on a telemarketer by leading him and his mistress on an “ecotour.” She’s being followed by her lecherously obsessed former boss, who is being followed by her ex-husband and her son. They encounter a half-Seminole and a college coed who wants to be held hostage. This is typical Hiaasen: zany antics, colorful phrases, quirky characters, and women who always outsmart the men. Lee Adams does a fine job reading the audio version. It’s all great fun, and a fast, enjoyable read.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell – 4**** In this sequel to The Sparrow , Emilio Sandoz returns to Rakhat to face the consequences of that initial human contact. Once again, Russell gives us a morality play wrapped in science fiction. It’s a fascinating story, deeply spiritual (as the title suggests), but which lacks the impact of her first book. Anna fields does a marvelous job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished:
★★★★
★★★
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Now listening to
and then returning to finish
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An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson – 3*** This is a very good historical mystery which features a real person, writer Josephine Tey. The story is fictional, but Upson includes some factual elements which lend a real sense of the time and place. The mystery is well thought out and sufficiently complicated to keep the reader guessing. I’ll definitely read more of this series.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mary Poppins Comes Back by P L Travers – 3*** I read these books when I was about nine or ten years old. I reread the first book about 15 years ago and was struck with how mean and unpleasant Mary Poppins is. I had no such reaction this time, although Mary Poppins is certainly a stern taskmaster at times, not to mention vain. But I just loved the adventures she and the children had! Sophie Thompson does a marvelous job narrating the audio version. Like many children’s books, this one lends itself easily to being read aloud.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sullivan’s Island by Dorothea Benton Frank – 2** I know that Frank writes chick-lit, beach books, so I wasn’t expecting great literature, and my expectations were met. The problem I had with the book comes from Frank’s attempts to tell two stories: the contemporary story of Susan’s failing marriage, and the 1963 story of Susan’s childhood. Neither story is sufficiently fleshed out to be satisfying, and I wish she had chosen one or the other to tell. Still, it’s a fast read, and I liked the relationship between Susan and her sister, Maggie.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Listened to
4 stars,
3 stars, currently reading
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, Listening to next
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The Challenge Factory
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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LOL, gotcha. Okay, I'll kee..."
I gave up after book 3 of The Hollows. I didn't hate, but it was just meh.
Richelle Mead is just...well, I finished Vampire Academy and Georgina Kincaid. I will read Bloodlines soon.
I never heard of Longmire series.