Current Reads

I used to follow her blog, but haven't for a few years, and enjoyed reading it, but found that "Let's Pretend this Never Happened" was more of a coffee table book rather than something I could read on the bus to and from work. I'll echo Katesti in saying it was exhausting. quite often I'd be reading and think "Surely she's making this up" only to be confronted with photographic evidence at the end of the chapter.[/b]

I finished Disclaimer and really enjoyed it. There are several twists, my allegiances continually shifted, and it raised some interesting themes for reflection--about the danger of idealizing people, how well we can really know someone, etc.

Looking at Goodreads, I see that it seems to be a love it or loathe it book. It did take a bit of time for me to get into it, but once I did, man it grabbed me. I'd recommend it.

Now onto The Story of My Teeth because it was on a lot of "best of" lists and just got nominated for the National Book Critics Circle award. Also, it's short, and that's what I need right now.

QueenSix wrote:Act Like It by Lucy Parker was reviewed on Smart Bitches and I thought, oh that sounds like something I'd enjoy reading, and then I left it at that. Then there were more tweets by people saying how much they loved the book and I thought, oh I should really buy that then because I'm in the mood for something that's a fun interesting read, so I did.

TL;DR: I bought a book.

So anyway, I REALLY loved it.

Thanks so much for the rec, QueenSix. I really enjoyed that!

Corellderaan wrote:

QueenSix wrote:Act Like It by Lucy Parker was reviewed on Smart Bitches and I thought, oh that sounds like something I'd enjoy reading, and then I left it at that. Then there were more tweets by people saying how much they loved the book and I thought, oh I should really buy that then because I'm in the mood for something that's a fun interesting read, so I did.

TL;DR: I bought a book.

So anyway, I REALLY loved it.

Thanks so much for the rec, QueenSix. I really enjoyed that!

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I know rivki8699 was unsure about it due to a plot development but I did like how it got resolved in a more mature manner than you might find in such books. I have re-read it a few times since actually.

Okay, speaking of Act Like It, now I'm in the mood for more fake relationships turning into real relationships. Any suggestions?

Finished two books the past couple days. At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen started out really strong but ended up feeling like a Hallmark Original Movie. Clariel by Garth Nix was really interesting. I liked the book without actually liking the protagonist very much.

Finished My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (of Olive Kitteridge fame) and thought it was pretty damn brilliant. It kinda sneaks up on you, the prose just wraps you up, and then before you know it you're pondering some pretty big themes--facing your past (or not), how our memories often shape things into something more manageable, how we love imperfectly, etc. It's a short but compelling novel. Totally recommend, especially if you've read Strout before.

No time for reading lately (I have to keep being "nice" and "social" and "children want attention"), so it's been all audiobooks lately.

I listened to The Thirteenth Tale, which was all fantastical and didn't make sense until I realized it was a Gothic Novel and of course there's dead twins and family secrets and never getting over issues from your birth. Then, it was magical and and engrossing and creepy. Plus, Lynn Redgrave was one of the narrators and I could listen to her for hours.

I've just started Where'd You Go Bernadette. I love Bee's voice so far.

Algae wrote:No time for reading lately (I have to keep being "nice" and "social" and "children want attention"), so it's been all audiobooks lately.

I listened to The Thirteenth Tale, which was all fantastical and didn't make sense until I realized it was a Gothic Novel and of course there's dead twins and family secrets and never getting over issues from your birth. Then, it was magical and and engrossing and creepy. Plus, Lynn Redgrave was one of the narrators and I could listen to her for hours.

I've just started Where'd You Go Bernadette. I love Bee's voice so far.

I read The Thirteenth Tale last year and really liked it - good story, and lots of book descriptions that bordered on porn.

My book club did The Thirteen Tale a couple of years ago and concluded it was a VC Andrews novel for grown ups! It was well liked...

I read Jim Butcher's The Aeronaut's Windlass and thought it was pretty good. It was the first book of his I ever read, I saw it in the store and it looked interesting. The dialogue was a bit strained at times but every time I thought I would lost interest the plot sped up.

I'm about a quarter of the way through A Little Life and the writing is knocking me out. It's so good. I know I'm in for pain and tears down the road, but right now I'm enjoying getting to know the characters and inhabiting their lives. I get resentful when I can't plop down and devote some solid reading time to this book.

One of my current reads is Mycroft Holmes, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse.

Yes, that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Who, according to the author bio in the back of the book, "adapted Holmes's powers of observation to the game in order to gain an edge over his opponents." Well, it worked.

It's the story of a very young (23) Mycroft Holmes, who is engaged to Georgiana, a lovely young woman whose family owns a plantation in Trinidad. A good friend of Mycroft's is Cyrus Douglas, a forty-year-old shop owner from Trinidad. When Georgiana and Cyrus receive independent reports of a horrifying crime back home, Georgiana sets out to rejoin her family, and Mycroft (with Cyrus a semi-reluctant assistant in tow) sets out after her.

So far I'm quite enjoying it. There are a few impressive examples of Mycroft's deductive abilities (and so far one cameo by his frustratingly bright, socially awkward, but very human little brother.) The fun thing is, Mycroft still feels like a young man-- he's in love with Georgiana but also insecure about her. It's a good choice to have Cyrus a much older character: he's very fond of Mycroft but also finds him frustrating, and he doesn't always appreciate just how smart his young friend is. Instead of making Cyrus the equal of Mycroft in deduction, instead he's just an older and more experienced man, which means both of them look like the smart one depending on the circumstances. I have no idea how the mystery is going to work out (they're still in the middle of the trip to Trinidad right now) but so far the mysterious elements are being laid out nicely and I'm both intrigued and sold on the idea.

Apparently Abdul-Jabbar has previously written non-fiction, including something on the Harlem Renaissance which I think I must track down. I'm now hoping he keeps on writing novels, too. This one is fun!

So I finished A Little Life and even though it gutted me (seriously, I snot-cried), I was still pretty much in awe of it. The writing was spectacular and I did not want to give the characters up, even when they were suffering for various reasons. I think a reviewer on Goodreads said he slept with the book when he finished it because he loved the characters that much, and, honestly, I get it. I want to hug that book forever.

I feel bad for whatever I read next, actually.

I just started The Alchemy of Chaos, by our very own RiverThames. If you're keeping score, it's his third book and the second one in the Thorn of Dentonhill series. I'm enjoying getting back into that world again.

Tabby wrote:I just started The Alchemy of Chaos, by our very own RiverThames. If you're keeping score, it's his third book and the second one in the Thorn of Dentonhill series. I'm enjoying getting back into that world again.

*swoon*

In the midst of The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. It's a series of connected short stories and I'm really enjoying it. I mean, it can be relentless in the suffering of some characters, but there is a biting wit as well that often had me chuckling out loud before I would then tear up again. And the writing is awe-inspiring. I'm highlighting all over the place and just savoring his prose. Definitely recommend.

For people who liked The Girl on the Train, I'd recommend River Road by Carol Goodman.

It's another book with a somewhat unreliable narrator (again due to alcohol) and it was an interesting, twisty read. I figured out certain plot points ahead of time but not how the whole story tied together/why things happened. Good book and a quick read.

I'm looking back in this thread to see who recommended What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman (since I typically get all my book recs here, but perhaps it came from Facebook, probably from one of you ;)

Very, very good book but also really upsetting and infuriating. I was trying to describe the plotline to someone and it sounds SO dark that I could see them judging me for saying I loved the book, but it was very engrossing.

I've been slowly reading All the Light We Cannot See and I'm glad it's living up to the hype. I have a feeling it's about to get really sad, but it's a really nice read and the short chapters help my tired brain at the end of the day.

My book club did that one. It was very good!

I started reading You, by Caroline Kepnes. It's a very creepy story of a man who meets his 'dream girl' and then stalks her until he manages to position himself as her 'dream guy'. I had to put it down, because the main character was almost exaggeratedly Millenial - hashtagging all over the place, hate-watching New Girl, watching Girls and wondering why her life's not like Hannah's. Ugh, shut up. Anyway, I know naughty zoot enjoyed it, and I don't actually want to discourage anyone from reading it. It's tense and creepy, and worth reading if you're not as disapproving of hash tags as I am (winky-face smiley goes here).

I recently finished Augustus: First Emperor of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy. This was a very interesting biography of Augustus from his childhood as Octavian to the end of his life as Augustus. It was fairly impartial; the book managed to outline the favourable outcomes of his rule while not shying away from his atrocities during his rise. A very interesting read if you're interested in the era.

I'm also doing a re-read of the Wheel of Time series, but this time I'm going to finish it. I think I gave up at around book 10? Anyway I'm up to book 4 now, and I can already see where I assume Jordan's publisher gave him free rein to go into as much detail about every. little. thing. he wanted. You know how George R.R. Martin goes into great detail of the food in ASoIaF? Well that's Robert Jordan, but for room furnishings and clothing. His vision is impressive, but you know, 'ornately furnished' works just as well as an itemised list of everything in the room.

I didn't care for What She Left Behind at all, it was too melodramatic for my taste. But I'm glad others have enjoyed it!

I am LOVING Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and recommend it to everyone. It's about four women during the Civil War, nonfiction but reads like a novel. Like, these women played HUGE roles in the outcome of the war, sharing vital secrets and plans - one woman (not one of the four key players, sadly, probably due to the lack of information about her) was a freed slave with an eidetic memory whose mistress (a key player Union sympathizer living in Richmond) got her placed in Jefferson Davis' household. Of course I'd never heard of any of these people before because they're not white men.

Though the book is very well-written, the two Confederate women are definitely portrayed as less noble than the Union women. I don't know if that's because they really were vain and self-serving or that's just the author's bias coming through. (Though one of them is SUCH an advocate of slavery there's no way to make her sympathetic.)

Definitely check this one out.

inversed wrote:I am LOVING Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy and recommend it to everyone.

I've got this on my to-read list, I'll bump it up a few spots!

I saw the trailer for Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and when I was scrolling through the local library's ebooks listing (they have ebooks now, I'm so happy!) it was available and I decided to download it.

I was spoiled for the ending but still, it made me sniffly when it happened and a tear was shed. Overall, I enjoyed it. The characters were well written and Lou's voice was strong and smart, even when she wasn't sure what she was doing and just wanted to quit and go back to bed.

So yeah, now I have the sequel on reserve because I'd like to see the next part of Lou's journey and what it entails.

Bad Username wrote:I'm also doing a re-read of the Wheel of Time series, but this time I'm going to finish it. I think I gave up at around book 10? Anyway I'm up to book 4 now, and I can already see where I assume Jordan's publisher gave him free rein to go into as much detail about every. little. thing. he wanted. You know how George R.R. Martin goes into great detail of the food in ASoIaF? Well that's Robert Jordan, but for room furnishings and clothing. His vision is impressive, but you know, 'ornately furnished' works just as well as an itemised list of everything in the room.

I've just finished book 7, and still loving it. Not too much has happened in the past couple of books, but the worldbuilding is amazing, so it compensates.

I'm currently reading Blood Year by David Kilcullen. The author is a former Australian soldier who wrote an essay on how disaggregation is a more appropriate strategy for the war on terror. As a result he was seconded to the US State Department and later to General Petraeus during the surge. The book is basically about how ISIS came about. It's very interesting, and he doesn't hold back in making his opinions on the Bush administration perfectly clear. He doesn't cite any sources that aren't already declassified and public knowledge, so the book reads as a collation of his observations and research. It's very good, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.