I’m halfway through Black River Orchard and I can’t wait to see what else is going to happen with a whole other book’s worth of pages lol
Well. That book is as described lol. Stephen King vibes, but without the terrible ending. But gory and very good vs. evil. I actually found the apple history/info really interesting too haha
I read 96 books last year. I don’t set a goal but I do make notes of what I read.
I just finished:
The Hemlock King - interesting premise and magic system, a LOT of time wasted in the middle on “feathered jaws” and “stiffening in anger” during boring-ass arguments that did nothing to further the plot, character development, or romantic storylines. The heroine, in spite of being a drug runner and accomplished conwoman since 13 yo, is easily manipulated and ignores her intuition at every turn. The “sexy” banter sounded like it was written like a 12 year old. Would not recommend.
The Wishing Game - fun premise, overall I enjoyed it. The trauma she slapped on various backstories felt overwrought and unnecessary. Also a handful of continuity errors throughout which really bugged me.
Book of Night - solid, enjoyed it, would recommend as a light magical read. Some good twists.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Jan 6, 2024 13:04:49 GMT -5
Just finished Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren.
Woooof, this one was bad. 1.5 stars rounded down to 1 because of the spoiler.
The main characters were annoying, the book dragged out just for the sake of dragging and the premise behind why they didn’t talk for 11 years was infuriating.
Just finished Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren.
Woooof, this one was bad. 1.5 stars rounded down to 1 because of the spoiler.
The main characters were annoying, the book dragged out just for the sake of dragging and the premise behind why they didn’t talk for 11 years was infuriating.
Just finished Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren.
Woooof, this one was bad. 1.5 stars rounded down to 1 because of the spoiler.
The main characters were annoying, the book dragged out just for the sake of dragging and the premise behind why they didn’t talk for 11 years was infuriating.
Currently reading The Whalebone Theatre and loving it. Also Maame because I got to skip the line for my hold and only have it for 7 days. Recently finished The Quiet Tenant and The Wishing Game. All highly recommend!
I had a goal last year of 55 and hit 58. Setting the same goal again for this year. I feel like a lot of what I read last year was pretty mediocre. Not a lot of stand outs. I will recommend Hello Beautiful and Murder Your Employer though. Both of those were excellent.
So far I’ve wrapped up four books, two that I started last year.
Come As You Are - written by a sex therapist who explains why sex “drive” is a misnomer and how sexual motivation and interest really works. I think it was helpful for me to understand better the difference between responsive and spontaneous interest and she uses an analogy for brakes and accelerator that jives well for me. It was interesting, but took me a long time to get through.
Hot Springs Drive - a story about a woman who is murdered and the tangled story about two neighboring families, an affair, and obsession with weight loss. It was not great.
A Court of Frost and Starlight - this is book 3.5 (I cannot roll my eyes harder) in the ACOTAR series. It was fine and a super quick read. I’m looking forward to getting to what is currently the last book in the series told from Nesta’s point of view. Still a few weeks out on that hold.
What you are looking for is in the library - short stories based in Japan about different people’s career paths and trying to find fulfillment. I loved this! I loved the way the stories wove together and it really made me think about the career paths people take and how there can be fulfillment in taking a step “back” or in a different direction. I will say, the description of the librarian in each of the stories is maybe a bit problematic. I think I was mostly bothered by the shock that each patron experienced upon seeing her for the first time. Overall though, definitely one I will recommend.
I just finished The Only One Left by Riley Sager. It's a thriller. While that genre isn't usually my thing, I enjoyed it so much I just put the rest of her books on hold.
I don't read much anymore - something I want to change in 2024. But I have been reading Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds. It feels more brutal than the other Hunger Games books - maybe I'm just in a different mindset than I was in...what was it...2010? 2008? when the first one came out. For all of the violence, this book is a slog... gawd... I'm still 100 pages from finishing and I've found myself skipping whole pages.
Anyway.
Has anyone heard of Story Graph? As an alternative to Goodreads? Apologies if it's already been mentioned - but I thought it sounded interesting. "Life's too short to read a book you aren't in the mood for".
I just finished The Only One Left by Riley Sager. It's a thriller. While that genre isn't usually my thing, I enjoyed it so much I just put the rest of her books on hold.
Riley Sager is a man! There was a bit of a backlash when that came out.
I don't read much anymore - something I want to change in 2024. But I have been reading Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds. It feels more brutal than the other Hunger Games books - maybe I'm just in a different mindset than I was in...what was it...2010? 2008? when the first one came out. For all of the violence, this book is a slog... gawd... I'm still 100 pages from finishing and I've found myself skipping whole pages.
Anyway.
Has anyone heard of Story Graph? As an alternative to Goodreads? Apologies if it's already been mentioned - but I thought it sounded interesting. "Life's too short to read a book you aren't in the mood for".
I like the idea of Storygraph and use it for the data but I never have any luck finding my books (even new books! big sellers!) on the first try searching which makes it tedious. But I read a lot so it’s probably more annoying for me than other people.
My friend says she doesn’t have that problem on her account at all but when she searches on my account, she does! I don’t know what it is. I’ve heard of people having this issue with Goodreads but Goodreads always works for me. 🤷🏻♀️
I like the idea of Storygraph and use it for the data but I never have any luck finding my books (even new books! big sellers!) on the first try searching which makes it tedious. But I read a lot so it’s probably more annoying for me than other people.
My friend says she doesn’t have that problem on her account at all but when she searches on my account, she does! I don’t know what it is. I’ve heard of people having this issue with Goodreads but Goodreads always works for me. 🤷🏻♀️
I admit to trying it because I'm a designer and I was interested in their data viz and in the AI aspect. I created an account, did an import and feel like it's just a little sparse in content. So might agree with you that it's...eh? I'll keep playing around though.
I just finished The Only One Left by Riley Sager. It's a thriller. While that genre isn't usually my thing, I enjoyed it so much I just put the rest of her books on hold.
Riley Sager is a man! There was a bit of a backlash when that came out.
My bad. I just assumed. I didn't look it up or anything.
I don't read much anymore - something I want to change in 2024. But I have been reading Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds. It feels more brutal than the other Hunger Games books - maybe I'm just in a different mindset than I was in...what was it...2010? 2008? when the first one came out. For all of the violence, this book is a slog... gawd... I'm still 100 pages from finishing and I've found myself skipping whole pages.
I did not like the book at all. I think there were too many characters--all the tributes and each one had a mentor plus all of the other characters! It was just too much. I actually liked the movie, but the book was terrible IMO.
My goal was to read 150 books last year, only did 137 and I was finding myself pushing through books I did not want to finish and giving the side eye to thick books. I felt like I should have gotten extra credit for books >400 pages!
I moved my goal down to 100 this year so I can feel less irritated with boring or slow-moving books. Right now I'm reading Raven Rock by Garrett Graff, which is non-fiction about the plans for cold-war era US government continuity after nuclear attack. It's a bit anxiety inducing, so I think I'll switch off on reading the book with lighter fiction reads.
Riley Sager is a man! There was a bit of a backlash when that came out.
My bad. I just assumed. I didn't look it up or anything.
The backlash was that he deliberately chose the name with the idea it would be ambiguous and women would assume he was also a woman since his main characters were women.
Has anyone heard of Story Graph? As an alternative to Goodreads? Apologies if it's already been mentioned - but I thought it sounded interesting. "Life's too short to read a book you aren't in the mood for".
I asked for book tracking apps on thr Book Club board and this got recommended! I downloaded it and it's super glitchy for me though. Like it's really slow and the books I put in don't match up to the graphs I get so I don't really understand it lol. I have an android though so maybe that's the issue? The pictures of it looked cool and it sounds like a good concept if it works.
I’ve started and stopped a couple books already but finally found something to sink my teeth into - The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA. It’s fascinating. I just wish I had more time to give to it. It’s going to take me forever to finish it at this rate. Thank goodness for airplane mode.
I see the NYT did an article on Shelby Van Pelt and Remarkably Bright Creatures. I am tickled pink she used to post here!
Such a great book and I'm so happy for her success!
I haven't read this one yet, but I *think* it's a series on Hulu too.
2023 was a tough (reading) year for me. I finished 15 books I think? Goodreads is being weird with a book. I also got about halfway through 2 books
Good Nurse
The Things We Never Got Over
in Dec, but just couldn't finish them by EOY so I may pick them back up later this year. Books are too long nowadays, and most of the time not worth the extra 100+ pages. I'm proud of myself for finally putting down books that I don't like, just have to start doing that before the 100+ page mark. Probably at least 2 - 3 DNF's last year as well.
Trying to find zen this year that it's not about the goal, it's about reading for pleasure or fun. So far I've read (albiet maybe 5 pages) every single day so far this year.
With all of that being said I finally finished "See You Yesterday", a hold over from 2023. It was cute, but again should have been a lot shorter.
Started "My Killer Summer Vacation" last night, a Kindle freebie, so we'll see if I stick with it. I need some new books because I got behind on my holds.