Current Reads

I read Life After Life - I wish I'd liked it more. In fairness, part of the problem is that it's really busy for me at work, so I'm only able to read in fits and starts, and found that I was forgetting which "life" she was living. It was an interesting concept, though.

I also read Thirteen Reasons Why. Man, books like that make me really happy I'm not a teenager any more.

Waiting to get The Ocean at the End of the Lane from the library. Gaaahhh move faster, hold list. Tampa was...something else. Like Kiran, I didn't exactly like it but I thought it was very well-crafted and compelling.

Now reading Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton. Hooray for urban fantasy YA summer reads. It's pretty ok (and apparently exists in the same universe as Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls books. But then they're friends, right?).

I just finished The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (a crime/detective fiction) and it was awesome. I apparently have a thing for police fiction set in Dublin since I also like Tana French (actually I think I'm just obsessed with all detective fiction - I should probably branch out a bit more). Anyway, it was really well plotted, and although it had about a million minor characters, I didn't feel confused. I also liked the vague allusion to The Iliad in the title and also the storyline. I recently picked up one of his other books, The Midnight Choir because I liked this one so much.

I also read The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian (kind of a psychological thriller? I guess?) because I heard about the mentions of The Great Gatsby in it, but I did not like it so much. The pacing of the book is really off, and thought the references to Gatsby belonged in another, better executed book. In addition, there is some disturbingness at the end of the book that the author doesn't really earn with the build-up of the rest of the novel, if that makes sense. It's like I wasn't sure what kind of book I was reading, and the author wasn't sure what kind of book he was writing.

I finished Man in the Empty Suit last night. I'm still trying to decide what I thought about it, but I think I'm leaning towards dislike. The narrator had so much self-loathing that it was hard to really want him to succeed in his task. And the middle part just didn't seem to fit correctly. I don't know.

Hmmm, Reconstructing Amelia hasn't captivated me yet like I fully expected it to. I'm only 35 pages in though so I hope the writing gets stronger and has more punch. Nothing about the characters is standing out at the moment, and Sylvia Golde is really grating.

EDIT: Finished another 30 pages, and the book is definitely picking up speed and my interest.

Okay, almost done with The Shining Girls and am loving it (barring a crap ending, of course). I mean, serial killer, time travel aside, it's really well written and has kept me on the edge of my seat. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. There are some pretty grisly scenes, though, so if you can't get past that sort of thing, not the book for you.

Anyhow, I'm a fan of Lauren Beukes. Had not heard of her before reading this.

I read a review mentioning it was an awesome book, but the reviewer was irked by the fact that the timetraveling isn't explained. It's just a fact that the killer can move through time. Has that bothered you at all during your reading?

Ooh, if you haven't read anything else by Lauren Beukes, definitely seek out Zoo City. I read it not too long ago and it was fantastic. Excellent world building and a mystery on top of that!

I decided to read The Man Who Was Thursday and didn't spoil myself too much because I thought it was gonna be a fun little detective story and then not so much. It started out that way at least. Next time I'm spoilering myself, lol. I didn't hate it or anything but that just turned out to be so not what I signed on for.

whatthedeuce wrote:I read a review mentioning it was an awesome book, but the reviewer was irked by the fact that the timetraveling isn't explained. It's just a fact that the killer can move through time. Has that bothered you at all during your reading?

Nope. It hasn't bothered me at all. It's not traditional sci-fi where you might expect such explanations. And I think it might've become something else if it delved into that too much. It's a thriller, and the evil dude is able to time travel. I'm good with that.

Okay, sounds good! I'm waiting on the book in the library queue, and that gripe about time travel was te only reservation I had about the book.

I made a list of all the supposed big books of summer and have been working my way through. I thought Reconstructing Amelia had a few too many plots and red herrings to really do justice to them all but that was admittedly an opinion I only had after it was over. It was definitely a real page-turner. The Engagements was okay, but I don't think deserves its spot on these lists. Nothing much happens with the central conceit. I've started The Shining Girls but I'm not sure I'm going to make it through. So far, the POV is weighted heavily toward the murderer and it's making me a little sick to read all about his stalking and killing. I have Sisterland, Crazy Rich Asians, and The Cuckoo's Calling all out from the library waiting to be read and am on the waitlist for some others.

Reading this back, I realize my lighthearted plan of indulging in summer reads is really stressing me out!

I'd say Reconstructing Amelia was

Spoiler:

but other than that, I thought it lived up to the hype.

I read Jen Lancaster's newest The Tao of Martha. Meh. It's definitely my least favorite of her memoirs. But I don't craft or garden, so I guess I'm probably not the target audience for this one. But between her lackluster fiction and this, I'm kind of over her. And I'm really glad I got it from the library.

I've also started to read Tampa. Since it's on my Kindle, I've been reading it on my laptop in the back of the classroom. But every time someone gets near me, I minimize it, lest the see the smut, heh.

I'm reading Clay's Quilt by Silas House for my office book club, and it's kind of... amateurishly written? I think it was his first book and it shows. But House lives in town and is a highly respected author (his later stuff might be much better, I don't know) and is friends with some of my coworkers so I will probably have to keep my opinion to myself.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It is so. beautiful. I'm trying to linger over it, but I can barely put it down. Last night I had some kind of pretentious 'insight' into Neil Gaiman's writing style - it's the literary equivalent of the visual arts technique of negative space drawing. He doesn't tell the story, he uses words to fill the space around the story and then the reader gradually discerns its depth. Last night I was a genius literary critic, now in the cold light of pre-coffee day I'm a schmuck. Anyway, read this book.

I don't know what that means (when applied to stories anyway) so you must be brilliant. (Nod)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don't think it means anything. It's just something that came to me as I fell asleep last night.

Just started two--seemingly good--books. The first is The House at Riverton which has been out since, like, 2006 or something, so I don't know why I'm just getting onto it now, but I do like its air of mystery and its depiction of a Downton Abbey style home in 1914 England. I'm not sure where it's going yet, though.

The other is The Revolution was Televised about the shows that created a seismic shift in television--The Sopranos, FNL, Buffy, Breaking Bad, etc. It's very good so far. Good insights and some nice backstories on how these shows came to be and all that. Very good for a TV addict like myself.

I discovered Courtney Milan this weekend and devoured all of the Brothers Sinister books. A Kindle is a blessing and a curse...

On the plus side she self-publishes and sets her rates lower?

That's how I justified it to myself, anyways. I want to read more, but I probably should wait a week.

Plus, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation is on sale for $2.99 today and I've gotten it from the library 3 times already...

Algae wrote:I discovered Courtney Milan this weekend and devoured all of the Brothers Sinister books. A Kindle is a blessing and a curse...

She is hands down one of my favorite historical romance authors. I tried to buy her most recent book about three times because I kept forgetting that I had pre-ordered it and wanted to make sure that I got it as soon as possible. (Thank heavens that Amazon tells you when you've already purchased a Kindle book because otherwise I would have a lot of duplicates.)

Thanks to this thread I just remembered that she had a new book out in the Brothers Sinister series and read The Heiress Effect and I loved loved loved it.

Sense and Sensibility was definitely my least favorite Austen so far. It was okay, I just felt like all the characters were a little half-baked. Anyway I only have Mansfield Park left so nobody tell me if that one is even more so-so than Sense and Sensibility, heh.

Off to check out this Courtney Milan person!