What are You Reading - 2022

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Into the Storm by Suzanne Brockmann

[PattyMacDotComma]

Wilma Mankiller was some woman! Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara picked a remarkable Cherokee woman who rose from 'dirt-poor' to represent her Nation. It's another excellent addition to the Little People BIG DREAMS collection. I'm so glad I met her in this little book.
5★ My review of Wilma Mankiller with a few illustrations

[PattyMacDotComma]

Why would a nurse who is highly sought-after by an attentive, handsome, wealthy doctor ask to Make Me Disappear? This is Jessica Payne's debut thriller, and I think many thriller readers will enjoy it.
3★ My review of Make Me Disappear

[Dem]

Finished The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5004031835

[Roz]

Thanks for the reveiw, Dem. The Marriage Portrait is high on my TBR shelf. Hope to get to it soon.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished reading Murder at Half Moon Gate so now I can start one of the month's themed reads, The Haunting of Ashburn House.

[Lilisa]

I finished Nights of Plague - my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

September was a slow reading month for me - I only read two books. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t read more in a month. Hoping October will be better. I’m listening to My Name Is Red, e-book - The Secret of Elephants, and print Act of Oblivion.

[Lilisa]

I finished The Secret of Elephants. It was a quick read. Hoping this is going to get me back in stride with a few more books read in October than September! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[PattyMacDotComma]

The Carnival is Over by Aussie author Greg Woodland is an excellent rural crime novel set in a small inland town where people are creating their own 'opportunities' and getting away with it.
4.5★ My review of The Carnival is Over

[Sandra, Moderator]

I started listening to The Giver of Stars, which is my book club's pick for October.

[Lilisa]

Sandra wrote: "I started listening to The Giver of Stars, which is my book club's pick for October."

Hope you enjoy it, Sandra - I liked it. Very different from her other book Me Before You, which I also liked, although the follow up book to that, I didn’t care for at all.

[Sandra, Moderator]

So far so good. I didn't read any of her other books and was worried this one might be too romantic, but it is not. I'm around the 35% mark.

[Lilisa]

Sandra wrote: "So far so good. I didn't read any of her other books and was worried this one might be too romantic, but it is not. I'm around the 35% mark."

Great!

[Lilisa]

I finished Robert Harris’ latest book Act of Oblivion. A bit disappointed in this one as a few of his books are among some of my favorites. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I’m also reading Sea Fever.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I'm reading Killers of a Certain Age. Assassins with hot flashes... right up my alley. lol So far its really good. I always enjoy Deanna Raybourn's writing.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished the group themed read. The Haunting of Ashburn House. Tomorrow, I will start The Harbor for a stop on my road trip.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Outstanding. Thirty years after she won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Annie Proulx turned her passion for the natural world into an essay project that became Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis.

She means it, and she's right: “In the end all humans will be ‘haunted by waters.’”
5★ My review of Fen, Bog and Swamp

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Don't Make a Sound by T.R. Ragan

[Christine]

[Sandra, Moderator]

I finished Educated yesterday and gave it 4 stars. I wasn't interested in it when it first came out and it was all over the place. I read it now because it was my book club's pick for October. It was way better than I was expecting.

I started reading Remarkably Bright Creatures.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Sandra - I had the same experience with Educated. I wasn't interested, but read it for my book club and thought it was really good. I also gave it 4 stars.

I just bought Remarkably Bright Creatures. I'll be interested to see what you think of it.

[Lilisa]

I read Educated for BC too, I thought it was okay and gave it 3 stars - a good rating for me :-) ohh, I’d be interested in what you both think of Remarkably Bright Creatures - it was a bit of a different read for me - some lovely characters, I liked it!

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished Written in Red. I will start The Knife of Never Letting Go for my monthly challenge selection.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Re: Educated, my first thought when I read the blurb it was this was another memoir about someone surviving a hard childhood, and it didn't catch my attention, maybe because there are so many around already. But it was worth it.

[Janice, Moderator]

Finished another book today - The Harbor on audiobook. Tomorrow, I will start Soul Taken, the latest in the Mercy Thompson series.

[Lilisa]

Sandra wrote: "Re: Educated, my first thought when I read the blurb it was this was another memoir about someone surviving a hard childhood, and it didn't catch my attention, maybe because there are so many aroun..."

Glad you enjoyed it, Sandra!

[Lilisa]

I finished Sea Fever, a mystery set in Kazakhstan. I enjoyed it. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I started My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women. I’m also reading I Saw Her That Night and still with my audiobook My Name Is Red.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Midnight Dunes by Laura Griffin

[PattyMacDotComma]

Aussie author Peggy Frew is noted for her wonderful writing. The Wildflowers here are three sisters, each wild in her own way, and the writing is as beautiful as ever, but...
3.5★ My review of Wildflowers

[PattyMacDotComma]

Preparing to read Rachel Joyce's lastest book, I thought I'd better see if The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was as good as I remembered. I'm delighted to say I still loved it! I updated my review a bit.
5★ My review of ...Harold Fry

[PattyMacDotComma]

I enjoyed Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry a second time and wanted to know why Queenie fled from him so abruptly. The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy shows what a secret and surprising connection she had with his family.
4★ My review of . . . Queenie Hennessey

[PattyMacDotComma]

Cathal thought he was all set, but I reckon he should have known better. Irish author Claire Keegan's short story, So Late in the Day is another good one from her.
5★ My review of So Late in the Day with links to the story and to the author reading it

[Gavin]

I'm reading Neuromancer

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Taming the Texan by Jules Bennett

[Lilisa]

Finished My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women - these short stories are so impactful - written but eighteen Afghan women, many under pen names for reasons that become obvious very quickly. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I started Finding Me by Viola Davis - heard great things about this one and also started The General of Caracas.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go and have started The Pallbearers Club.

[PattyMacDotComma]

I'm sure The Sisters: Short Story, from James Joyce's much studied Dubliners, would have stirred up as much controversy then as the subject does today.
3★ My review of The Sisters

[PattyMacDotComma]

I enjoyed the latest (last?) pilgrimage that Rachel Joyce's characters have made to the north of England. This time, it's the missus who looks for answers in Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North. Another good road trip.
4★ My review of Maureen Fry

[Dem]

Finished and loved: Strange Sally Diamond
by Liz Nugent

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5032389111

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called The Best Friend: A Novel by Jessica Fellowes

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

[Sandra, Moderator]

I started Pygmalion. It is mentioned in Educated and I was curious about it.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Sandra wrote: "I started Pygmalion. It is mentioned in Educated and I was curious about it."

That's what My Fair Lady was based on. Enjoy it!

[PattyMacDotComma]

C.S. Harris combines mystery and history better than most, and I knew I'd enjoy #5 in her Sebastian St Cyr series, What Remains of Heaven. Great series!
5★ My review ot What Remains of Heaven

[Sandra, Moderator]

Thanks, Patty!

[Kristie, Moderator]

I just finished The Ex Wives and thought it was great. Very tense domestic thriller. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just started The Power of Six for my monthly challenge. I thought I remembered enough, but I'm a little confused. It may have been too long since I read the first one. I'm going to listen a while longer then decide if I want to continue or wait until I can re-read the first.

[Dem]

Finished and loves The Sweetness of Water

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5029496690

[Lilisa]

I finished A Knife to the Heart by Barbara Nadel - enjoyable mystery. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Also finished Finding Me by Viola Davis. Her achievements are amazing, the writing was was meh. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Putting aside The General of Caracas for now for October’s toppler starting in under 2-1/2 hours!

[Gavin]

Reading MaddAddam. Finally finishing this series.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Finished The Power of Six for the monthly challenge yesterday. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the first one more recently, but I'm not really the target audience either. Even with a couple of my book pet-peeves (love triangles...ugh), I still gave it 3.5 stars.

I started Lavender House today for the toppler and made it to about 60%. It's good, but some of the themes are repetitive. It is LGBTQ and I feel like the author went overboard with the sex / flirting aspect. I love the connection and affection some of the characters show, but a couple others are pretty over the top with their sexuality and their efforts to bed a certain character. Plus, some scenes have been repeated a few times unnecessarily. The story is mostly enjoyable though and I'm looking forward to finding out who-done-it.