Current Reads

Oh, you will get a case of the sadz by the conclusion of the novel. That is for sure.

I read The Age of Miracles over the weekend. Couldn't put it down. It's yet another YA post-apocalypse novel, but it has a different "feel" than others. Things seem to happen quietly - a new Bad Thing crops up, and people deal with it or don't, and the details of living go on. In the Life as We Knew It trilogy, for example, I felt anxious all the time I was reading, wondering what horrific calamity would show up when I turned the page. In Miracles, I wanted to know what happened next (in fact, I only stopped reading Friday night when I kept falling asleep), but didn't have a hole in the pit of my stomach. I'm not sure I'm making sense. Anyway, highly recommended.

In case you're wondering, the apocalypse in this case is the slowing of the earth's rotation.

I just want to say that as much as I love all you Snarkers, I hate all of you right now for letting me read The Fault in our Stars. I have read it in one day and it took two dogs sitting on my legs and a third of a tub of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream to get me through the second half of the book. I am now sitting here, tear stained and blowing my nose on a linen napkin, utterly destroyed. DESTROYED!

I am glad I read it though.

Awwwww, QueenSix. Hugs to you.

Thanks, katesti. I think one of things about the book is that, while I don't have cancer and I would never assume to know how that affects a person, I do know what it's like to have a chronic illness where you worry about this aches and pains, afraid this is the beginning of the end of remission and how living with the effects of the illness, you have to discover a new normal, so there were parts of it that really hit me in the feelings.

But it is an excellent book and I'm happy to have read it.

whatthedeuce wrote:The Chaos Walking trilogy really is just a series of truly awful shit happening to some young people. I love it from start to finish though.

I pretty much loved it too, except for when

Spoiler:

I almost took to Twitter to do a HOW COULD YOU?? to Patrick Ness. I swear, if he had

Spoiler:

he and I would have had words for sure.

Gah, stop dredging up memories, Jude! Now I have to suppress again.

I thought that move was so right for the novel though, Jude. Every other page involves Todd's world going to shit, so it made sense to me and really just upped the emotional stakes some more.

Started one of Susan Scarlett's (aka Noel Streatfeild) books, Peter and Paul. I have all the ones available from Greyladies and figured it was time I actually read one of them.

I didn't know Noel Streatfeild had a pseudonym (or real name?). I loved her books when I was a kid; is this what her adult novels are published under?

Streatfeild hated that she had to sell out and write books for money so she wrote twelve romances under Susan Scarlett. I've only read Poppies For England which is a theater company performing at a family seaside resort post-WWII, but I liked it. Peter and Paul are about twins Petronella and Pauline who get jobs with famed clothing designer David Bliss and romantic shenanigans ensue.

You can read the book descriptions at the Greyladies Publishing site.

I finished A Monster Calls and yes, I did shed a tear. It was beautifully written, and I love when writers write about stories, if that makes sense.

I'm nearing the end of Those Across The River and, man, is it creepy. It takes place in Georgia during the Depression. A former college professor and his not-quite-wife inherit a house in the small town where his great-grandfather owned a plantation until his slaves revolted and killed him. It takes a while for the horror portion of the story to kick in but the writing is so lovely it doesn't matter. It's sort of Shirley Jackson by way of Flannery O'Connor.

naughty zoot wrote:I'm nearing the end of Those Across The River and, man, is it creepy. It takes place in Georgia during the Depression. A former college professor and his not-quite-wife inherit a house in the small town where his great-grandfather owned a plantation until his slaves revolted and killed him. It takes a while for the horror portion of the story to kick in but the writing is so lovely it doesn't matter. It's sort of Shirley Jackson by way of Flannery O'Connor.

Ooh, right up my alley. Just bought the ebook. I am enjoying the HELL out of Terry Francona's autobiography, co-written with Dan Shaughnessy (who I usually hate like it's my JOB). Tito is such an engaging character, with an amazing insight into what makes ballplayers tick. It's a fun read, especially since it references people I know in real life.

Bad Username wrote:I finished A Monster Calls and yes, I did shed a tear. It was beautifully written, and I love when writers write about stories, if that makes sense.

I think I know what you mean, and yes, I enjoy that, too! It's as if the writer is letting us out of the story a bit and into his/her own real world by showing us part of what goes into writing a piece of fiction. I like when authors get all meta on the reader.

Into Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, which is just a delight, pure and simple. I was chuckling on my bus ride this morning and then suddenly gasped aloud and I KNOW the woman next to me scooted over a bit and gave me the side-eye. Whatevs.

I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette? a couple of months ago, and I thought it was hilarious. I think I read it immediately after Tell the Wolves I'm Home, actually, so it was much needed.

I'm almost done with The Light Between Oceans, and it's heartbreaking and infuriating and wonderful all at once. I go from being really, really angry at the characters, to feeling so, so sorry for them.

I love Kate Morton's first three novels, but for some reason, The Secret Keeper is just not holding my interest.

Currently reading the Morton bio of Tom Cruise, and...well...holy crap. He paints Nicole Kidman in a pretty damning light, but I am liking the HELL out of her in contrast.

Reading John Douglas and Mark Olshaker's latest Law & Disorder, which is 40% retread of their previous books. It's a little odd because half of the retread is a pro-death penalty paean, when the rest of the book is about people falsely accused/convicted of crimes, including death penalty cases. I enjoyed the non-retread, because I liked the way Douglas lays cases out. The ones they retalk about in this book are Jon Benet Ramsey and Sedley Allen, and the new ones are Cameron Todd Willingham, the West Memphis Three, and Amanda Knox. It's a concise summary of recent developments in the WM3 case, but if you want background on it, read Mara Leveritts Devil's Knot. Similarly, the Knox case chapter is a summation of Nina Burleigh's Fatal Gift of Beauty book.

Oh my Lord, you guys, Claire Bidwell Smith's The Rules of Inheritance is brutal in an absolutely beautiful way.

The description of a book as being brutal or harrowing tends to attract my attention, so I will have to look into this Rules of Inheritance you speak of, katesti.

wtd, it's a memoir written about the loss of her parents - they were both diagnosed with cancer within a few months of each other when she was 14 and were both dead by the time she was 25. It's written in a non-linear fashion, with each section written around one of the five stages of grief. It's a really beautiful meditation on grieving.

I'm pained just reading your synopsis. That book sounds like the epitome of "brutal," quite frankly.

whatthedeuce wrote:I love Kate Morton's first three novels, but for some reason, The Secret Keeper is just not holding my interest.

Oh, she has a new one out?

To be honest, I had trouble getting into all of her books even though I ended up loving all of them. For some reason, it was just really slow going to get into them and I'm glad I hung in there to get to the end because it was always worth it.