What are YOU reading? (Formerly Summer of Books...)

[steph08]

Mar 13, 2023 9:01:13 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

How was Hail Mary?  I really really liked The Martian but was disappointed in Artemis.  I go back and forth on reading Hail Mary.  

I enjoyed Hail Mary!

[tcu2003]

Mar 13, 2023 9:01:13 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

How was Hail Mary?  I really really liked The Martian but was disappointed in Artemis.  I go back and forth on reading Hail Mary.  

I really enjoyed it! That said, I haven’t read the other two you mentioned, so no idea how it compares.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Tomorrow I'll start 

Love Walked In

by Marisa de los Santos


When we moved and I started a new job last summer, I increased my commute from 30 seconds one way to 30 minutes one way. 
I've never listened to audio books before, but Audible has turned out to be great!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Mar 13, 2023 9:01:13 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

How was Hail Mary?  I really really liked The Martian but was disappointed in Artemis.  I go back and forth on reading Hail Mary.  

I thought it was great. I also loved The Martian. I've not read Artemis though. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

A Spark of Light by Jody Picoult. Not the best beach reading.

[Artemis Windsong]

I finished AB Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns.

I will get the video from the library.

[azucena]

Horse by Geraldine Brooks
- good story and involved plotline that made me think about racial issues


Helped my daughter's school sign up for a book battle. Coached our first practice last night. Was really fun to discuss a couple of the books with the kids and to quiz them with questions. Several have great memories.

[tcu2003]

I’ve recently finished and would recommend d:

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
Meet Cute by Helena Hunting
The Reunion by Kayla Olson

Of these, Taste by Stanley Tucci was hands down my favorite. I listened to the audiobook (first time I’ve ever listened to one that wasn’t a kids book in the car with the kids), and loved it. Stanley Tucci is the reader, and he’s freaking hilarious. I LOL’d at so many stories he told, and loved the book from start to finish. High recommend!

[Artemis Windsong]

Never Let Me Go,  Kazuo Ishiguro.

Summary quote:

Takes place in a dystopian version of late 1990s England, where the lives of ordinary citizens are prolonged through a state-sanctioned program of human cloning. The clones, referred to as students, grow up in special institutions away from the outside world. As young adults, they begin to donate their vital organs.

[steph08]

I liked Never Let Me Go. Watched the
movie as well.

I finished Black Cale, which was decent. Trying to decide what to read next.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Finished The Writing Retreat.

I enjoyed this one it was kinda like Misery meets chic lit for lack of a better description.

It was compelling enough to keep me reading through the unlikable insecure female protagonist who discovers herself in the end at least.

It was the main antagonist that kept me going.

Also Finished Paybacks a Witch. That was a fun light read I plan on checking out the sequel.

I'm reading Anne Rices biography right now found it in a second hand shop

[Artemis Windsong]

Apr 4, 2023 19:23:09 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I liked Never Let Me Go. Watched the
movie as well.

I finished Black Came, which was decent. Trying to decide what to watch next.

I'd like to see the movie, also. 

[Artemis Windsong]

A Teenager's Survival The Siv Ashley Story.

145 page book about a young girl's survival in war torn Cambodian work camps.   The faith her father gave her.

[tcu2003]

Recent reads:

You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union - this was an audiobook read for me. Gabrielle Union narrates, and I highly recommend it.

The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud - okay read

Cute romance stories I enjoyed:
Reluctantly Yours by Erin Hawkins
Mr Wrong Number by Lynn Painter
End of Story by Kylie Scott
Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin

[steph08]

Recursion - Blake Crouch
The Winners - Fredrik Backman

Recursion had an interesting premise and I love anything Backman - The Winners is the last in his Bear Town trilogy. So good.

Reading The Thursday Murder Club now.

I know it is too expensive and I already have a million Kindle books to read, but we love going on family outings to Barnes & Noble now. Even DH has started reading novels for the first time in his 4+ decades of life.

[happyhoix]

Apr 16, 2023 14:10:26 GMT -5 steph08 said:

Recursion - Blake Crouch
The Winners - Fredrik Backman

Recursion had an interesting premise and I love anything Backman - The Winners is the last in his Bear Town trilogy. So good.

Reading The Thursday Murder Club now.

I know it is too expensive and I already have a million Kindle books to read, but we love going on family outings to Barnes & Noble now. Even DH has started reading novels for the first time in his 4+ decades of life.

Always nice to spawn a new reader!

I love bookstores- they are like crack Dems for me and DH. Still the best way to shop for something new to read.

Malaprops in Asheville NC is so far my favorite.

[happyhoix]

I’m listening to I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai.

I got drawn into this right away because it’s right up my alley. The narrator has a successful podcast about movies and she gets invited to do a seminar at her old private boarding school. While there, she gets pulled into researching the murder of her former roommate 20 years before. A man is in prison for it, but he might not be the culprit.

So there is a mystery to try to unwind, but that’s not the heart of the book - the narrator thinks about male violence against women, and her unhappy experiences at the school (mostly at the hands of her male classmates), and, very interestingly, what she thinks about a woman who dated her husband 20 years before, who recently surfaces from the past claiming he (now a semi successful artist) was abusive towards her, but her definition of ‘abusive’ seems more like just a relationship that didn’t really click. Is a bad date abusive?

Another thing I like is how she puts herself in the shoes of the different people who might have murdered her room mate, imagining how they did the murder in a way that fits the evidence, walking through how easy/plausible it would be for this person to be the murderer.

Only about 1/3 of the way through, but I like it so far.

[Artemis Windsong]

AB JoJo Moyes, Someone Else's Shoes.

Borrowed but not started The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams--AB

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I am reading Anne Frank Remembered by Meip Geis the woman who helped hide the Franks.  It's a really interesting read but I keep having to put it down and take a break because I know the ending. 

It also makes me think a lot about the current state of affairs and would I be brave enough to do what she did?  IDK, especially when I have two children that I need to take into consideration their safety.   I hope I am never put into that position.

ETA:  Getting close to the Annex raid.   Reading it and recalling the book that got pulled from publishing and other conspiracies about who turned the Franks in I think it was probably an office worker or a floor worker or possibly the new owner of the building after he was refused entry to examine the Annex which was originally the lab of the company.   

.  

[azucena]

Love Mo Willems! Requested a few of his newer books from the library for me and DD10 to catch up on.

[Artemis Windsong]

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin - AB.

[steph08]

Just finished Yours Truly - I really like Abby Jiminez's romcom novels, but this one had a few instances of weird writing where I had to reread a sentence two or three times.

Didn't stop me from staying up until 1am finishing it last night though. 🤷‍♀️

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Just put these on my Audible app. 

Bridge of Clay
By: Markus Zusak


Washington Black
A Novel
By: Esi Edugyan

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Mar 20, 2023 21:55:50 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Tomorrow I'll start 

Love Walked In

by Marisa de los Santos


When we moved and I started a new job last summer, I increased my commute from 30 seconds one way to 30 minutes one way. 
I've never listened to audio books before, but Audible has turned out to be great!

This was a fun read. I'd give it 4

[tcu2003]

Recent reads:
Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make - and Keep - Friends by Marisa Franco - I liked this okay; a little dry at times, but had some good anecdotes

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil - this is not my typical read but it was a wonderful and lovely collection of short essays by a poet. Highly recommend!

Cute rom-coms I liked:
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren (this was more adventure romance; I liked the Unhoneymooners better, but this was okay)
The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa
Runaway Groomsman by Meghan Quinn

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I am currently reading this.

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes.

I picked it up because I was having a bad day at work so was naturally attracted to the title .   It's been a really entertaining good read.  I hope another one is in the works.   I love McMaster's it's like Hogwarts for disgruntled employees. 

[Opti]

I think I want to read this -


The East Indian : a novel

by Charry, Brinda


Inspired by a historical figure, an exhilarating debut novel about the first native of the Indian subcontinent to arrive in Colonial America--for readers of Esi Edugyan and Yaa Gyasi.

"Meet Tony: insatiably curious, deeply compassionate, with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the British East India Company's outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia, where he and his fellow indentured servants--boys like himself, men from Africa, a mad woman from London--must work the tobacco plantations. Set during the early days of English colonization in Jamestown, before servitude calcified into racialized slavery, The East Indian gives authentic voice to an otherwise unknown historic figure and brings the world he would have encountered to vivid life"

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Finished Murder Your Employer.   It was really good.   I found the Epilogue at the end to be the finishing touch.   It should have been obvious and probably would be to some but I felt the author did such a good job that it took a couple minutes for me to piece it together and realize based on the rest of the book what was going on.

Unfortunately it is one of those books that was so good at building itself that I probably won't read it again now that I know what happens.  The suspense is part of the fun. 


I also finished The Sun and Star by Rick Riordan.  This is a book devoted to Nico D'Angelo and his boyfriend Will Solace.   It wasn't as strong as other books in the series but I've felt that Nico earned the right to tell his own story for several books now so I was delighted to finally get it.

I also like how LBGTQ+ forward it is, especially right now with everything going on in the world.   Kids deserve representation in literature.

[tcu2003]

I have The Sun and the Star on hold at the library, drama, so glad to hear you liked it!

[Opti]

I read this, recommend...


BETTER THE BLOOD. by Michael Bennett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 10, 2023. Hana Westerman, an Auckland cop with Māori roots, goes up against an Indigenous serial killer looking to avenge England's brutal oppression of New Zealand's native people 160 years ago. “Better the blood of the innocent than none at all,”