Another Week, Another Book? (May 29)

[dorothyinAus]

What are you reading this week?  What's your opinion of the main character (or subject if it's a biography/real story)?

QOTW:  Required summer reading:  did you read throughout the summer, or did you cram it in the last couple of weeks?

[charlatti]

I just started A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott. I'm not very far, but so far I like the main character. She seems much more plucky and no-nonsense than you'd expect from a Midwest-girl-in-Hollywood story.

QOTW I always started the summer with good intentions and tried to read my books early, but I always ended up cramming them in at the end.

[labbie]

I'm reading Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova. The main character is Joe O'Brien who becomes afflicted with Huntington's disease. I have immeasurable respect for his courage and love of his family. The author does an amazing job of conveying the emotion involved with such a devastating diagnosis.

I'm listening to That Summer by Lauren Willig. It's a perfect listen- light enough, but interesting as well. I like the main character Julia so far.

[Yankees21]

I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I'm not far enough in to form an opinion about her, but it is really interesting so far, and (embarrassingly?) I didn't know anything at all about the subject.

I always read a ton throughout the summer, required reading and otherwise.

[Deleted]

I finished Cat on a Hot Tin Roof last night.  It was just okay. 

I think I am going to read Death of a Salesman next. 

[marigoldgirl]

I am still listening to The Goldfinch. This is a longggg book. I think the author does a good job making me feel what Theo is feeling and experiencing. I have also started reading The Giver.

[msmerymac]

Where'd You Go, Bernadette. It's... okay.

QOTW: usually as early as possible, to get to the other books I wanted to read. Like, I'd be begging for the list before school was out for summer. I spent a lot of time hanging at the library after work in the summer, waiting for my parents to pick me up.

[Nonny]

Currently reading Flowertown, and I'm really enjoying it. The writing isn't spectacular, but the story is great, and I like the main character. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book, and currently she's a heavy pot smoker with a fuck it all attitude, which is exactly how I think I'd be if I had been in mandatory quarantine for 7 years and everything was going to hell.

I can only remember having required summer reading the year I was entering into AP English, and it was a pick your own Dickens (as long as it wasn't A Tale of Two Cities, because we'd be doing that in class). I remember I attempted to start David Copperfield at the beginning of summer but it was ridiculously hard/confusing, and even though I finished, I really couldn't say what it was about.  I ended up also reading Oliver Twist in the weeks before school started because it was easier, and I knew there was no way I could coherently write the report on DC.

[sparrowsong]

I'm listening to The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. It's a parallel story to The Unexpected Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which I listened to last month sometime. It's a really interesting concept. Both books are centered on the relationship of two friends, how the met and how their relationship evolved, and what happens when one of them is facing terminal cancer. One book is written from Harold's perspective, and one from Queenie's, and while they cover the same time period and the same handful of central characters they are two entirely different stories.  

Unfortunately Love Song became available on my library holds list while I was in the middle of The Goldfinch, and by the time I finally got to it I only had five days to finish the whole thing. I think it's going to expire before I finish the last few chapters and now I'll have to put in on hold again before I can finish. Grrr...

I'm also listening to a second audiobook. I had a six hour drive the last couple days with my mom in the car, so I wanted another book we could start at the beginning. The Dog Stars. It's a post-apocalyptic story set on the front range of Colorado, which is where I was born and have spent most of my life, so I was intrigued. It's not bad. I think most of the drama is yet to come though. 


QOTD: I don't remember ever having summer reading homework. I don't know if it's because we didn't have it, or if it was because it was never a big deal to someone who read a ton anyway. 

[dorothyinAus]

It's Saturday morning now, but I finished Bite the Biscuit for the "author with your initials" task on the 2015 Ultimate Reading challenge. It was okay, but I hated the main character -- she was too preachy and made for too many lectures about homemade dog treats, and she was just an annoying person. Yeah, I didn't like the book. Won;t be looking for anything else by this author.

QOTW: I always started out wanting to be good and read through the long books early on, but I ended up reading the shortest ones the day before school started again.

[darnkatz]

I just finished Bitter River and Purple Hibiscus. Bitter River is part of a murder mystery series, and it was pretty good. I read it in one day. The main character needs to lighten up a bit, but overall I really liked her. She is a badass single mom.

Purple Hibiscus was incredible. It's a coming-of-age story about a young girl living in Nigeria. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an amazing writer, and I can't wait to read more of her books. I felt very bad for the main character and found that I could empathize with her, even though her experiences were not mine.

I'm going to be starting the third book in the mystery series I was talking about above - A Killing in the Hills. I also have A Circle of Wives, which is about a man who is found murdered and is then discovered to have been a polygamist with three different families in three different cities.


QOTW: I always read every single book and then some. I was an avid reader as a child and still am! 

[apelila]

I'm reading Eat Pray Love. I'm enjoying it a lot, as I just finalized my own divorce last week.

QOTW: I actually don't remember any required reading when I was younger. I always perused the piles over the last few years though, thinking how glad I was that I didn't have to read some of them, ONLY because I read them when I was older and thought there was no way I would have appreciated it as much in high school.

[sparrowsong]

Finished The Dog Stars. Moving on to The Anatomy Lesson, which is another historical novel that takes a work of art, this time a Rembrandt, and imagines the surrounding circumstances of the paintings creation.