April Reading Thread 📕 📚

[dontlook]

Apr 19, 2024 8:06:47 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I just finished Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig.

It was probably way too long, but it was super intense and held my interest throughout. (I kept having to take breaks because it was stressing me out lol). 4*

I quit this one 1/2 through and then read a summary online. It stressed me out too much lol.

[underwaterrhymes]

Apr 19, 2024 11:47:31 GMT -5 dontlook said:

Apr 19, 2024 8:06:47 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I just finished Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig.

It was probably way too long, but it was super intense and held my interest throughout. (I kept having to take breaks because it was stressing me out lol). 4*

I quit this one 1/2 through and then read a summary online. It stressed me out too much lol.

I have an Oura ring and it was like, you seem really stressed out. Probably one of the scariest books I have read in awhile and very reminiscent of early Stephen King (but with a better ending.) 🤣

[jane6672]

Apr 12, 2024 7:32:05 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I'm reading Fourth Wing for my book club, and ditto PP who said they are slogging through a book. I am calculating how much I need to listen per day to get through it by the time we meet, and not a minute more. I cannot believe this is so popular and a NYT best seller.

MILD spoilers:

It's a teenage love triangle melodrama with occasional visits to an interesting dragon fantasy novel. It's juvenile and really boring as it's focusing almost exclusively on the love triangle and there's a comedically evil caricature of a villain. I'm convinced the main character is 20 instead of 14 for the sole purpose of her being overtly horny every other page (and the sex hasn't even started yet, but I know it will).

END spoilers.

Decent world building, and it has the potential to be actually interesting if it focuses on the right things, but it's so predicable and really not enjoyable to me. I would like a pep talk from one of the many fans of the book to keep going, please and thank you!

I’m not here to give you a pep talk:
I found fourth wing enjoyable in spite of how tropey it was, but the second book is even worse (so much worse, but maybe also I’d just had enough of it all?). SO BAD and so boring.

And the sex scenes get even more cringey.

ETA: I took a picture of this bit bc I literally couldn’t believe this is supposed to be hot. I have transcribed for your enjoyment:

“Violet.” It’s part plea, part moan, and the war in his eyes makes my chest tighten. “You have no idea how badly I want to peel these pants off your amazing ass and fuck you until you’re hoarse from screaming my name, so limp from orgasms that you can’t fathom leaving my bed ever again, and every tree around here goes up in flames from lightning strikes.” His hand slides from behind my head to the neighbor of my neck. “Until you remember exactly how good we are together.”

[TR]

Apr 12, 2024 7:32:05 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I'm reading Fourth Wing for my book club, and ditto PP who said they are slogging through a book. I am calculating how much I need to listen per day to get through it by the time we meet, and not a minute more. I cannot believe this is so popular and a NYT best seller.

MILD spoilers:

It's a teenage love triangle melodrama with occasional visits to an interesting dragon fantasy novel. It's juvenile and really boring as it's focusing almost exclusively on the love triangle and there's a comedically evil caricature of a villain. I'm convinced the main character is 20 instead of 14 for the sole purpose of her being overtly horny every other page (and the sex hasn't even started yet, but I know it will).

END spoilers.

Decent world building, and it has the potential to be actually interesting if it focuses on the right things, but it's so predicable and really not enjoyable to me. I would like a pep talk from one of the many fans of the book to keep going, please and thank you!

I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be like, 19-21. College age. Which, to me, was older than how they acted lol

I skipped the sex parts because that's just not my thing.

[jane6672]

Apr 19, 2024 12:46:59 GMT -5 TR said:

Apr 12, 2024 7:32:05 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I'm reading Fourth Wing for my book club, and ditto PP who said they are slogging through a book. I am calculating how much I need to listen per day to get through it by the time we meet, and not a minute more. I cannot believe this is so popular and a NYT best seller.

MILD spoilers:

It's a teenage love triangle melodrama with occasional visits to an interesting dragon fantasy novel. It's juvenile and really boring as it's focusing almost exclusively on the love triangle and there's a comedically evil caricature of a villain. I'm convinced the main character is 20 instead of 14 for the sole purpose of her being overtly horny every other page (and the sex hasn't even started yet, but I know it will).

END spoilers.

Decent world building, and it has the potential to be actually interesting if it focuses on the right things, but it's so predicable and really not enjoyable to me. I would like a pep talk from one of the many fans of the book to keep going, please and thank you!

I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be like, 19-21. College age. Which, to me, was older than how they acted lol

I skipped the sex parts because that's just not my thing.

On a related note, I find it very confusing and annoying when an otherwise sweet and cozy novel throws in one really long, explicit sex scene for?? no reason?

If I was going for steamy, which I’m not, I’d be reading something else with smut littered throughout. Not what I’m here for. Why throw in a one-off with lots of explicit detail? I’m glad they finally got together, but can you please keep it in line with the rest of the book and they have a nice kiss and then close the door or whatever?

For example, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches did this, a very sweet novel about orphans and finding family and magic and such, and then I was skimming past and pages and pages of moaning and detailed descriptions of fingering etc., and it’s so UNNECESSARY and out of character.

[wise_rita]

Apr 19, 2024 12:41:40 GMT -5 jane6672 said:

Apr 12, 2024 7:32:05 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I'm reading Fourth Wing for my book club, and ditto PP who said they are slogging through a book. I am calculating how much I need to listen per day to get through it by the time we meet, and not a minute more. I cannot believe this is so popular and a NYT best seller.

MILD spoilers:

It's a teenage love triangle melodrama with occasional visits to an interesting dragon fantasy novel. It's juvenile and really boring as it's focusing almost exclusively on the love triangle and there's a comedically evil caricature of a villain. I'm convinced the main character is 20 instead of 14 for the sole purpose of her being overtly horny every other page (and the sex hasn't even started yet, but I know it will).

END spoilers.

Decent world building, and it has the potential to be actually interesting if it focuses on the right things, but it's so predicable and really not enjoyable to me. I would like a pep talk from one of the many fans of the book to keep going, please and thank you!

I’m not here to give you a pep talk:
I found fourth wing enjoyable in spite of how tropey it was, but the second book is even worse (so much worse, but maybe also I’d just had enough of it all?). SO BAD and so boring.

And the sex scenes get even more cringey.

ETA: I took a picture of this bit bc I literally couldn’t believe this is supposed to be hot. I have transcribed for your enjoyment:

“Violet.” It’s part plea, part moan, and the war in his eyes makes my chest tighten. “You have no idea how badly I want to peel these pants off your amazing ass and fuck you until you’re hoarse from screaming my name, so limp from orgasms that you can’t fathom leaving my bed ever again, and every tree around here goes up in flames from lightning strikes.” His hand slides from behind my head to the neighbor of my neck. “Until you remember exactly how good we are together.”

LOLOLOLOL you are the best for doing that for me!  Thank you so much!  Truly awful and unwittingly hilarious. 

That is god awful and I cannot believe the reviews on Goodreads are so good.  They cannot be trusted. 

The only word I can come up with is "juvenile", from start to finish.  Especially regarding the sex (which I hadn't got to yet when I first posted, and is SO much worse than I imagined).  

[eb777888]

The Heiress- 3.5*. It was good, kept me engaged but wasn't amazing.

The Arrangement- So far, it's really good. Super quick read. I read half of it before bed last night. It's certainly not going to be winning any literary awards but it would be a great vacation read or plane ride read if you're into thrillers.

[al dente]

wise_rita I did like Fourth Wing, but I listened to it at 2x while doing other stuff. The second book is TERRIBLE though don't let your book club choose that. TBH idk what you'd talk about in book club with the first I liked it but it's also pretty basic?

And speaking of terrible sex scenes... I also listened to A Court Of Thorns And Roses because it was available while I waited on other stuff. I post my books on IG, and my dad told me he got it because he remembered me posting about it. I kind of forgot about it, and now it keeps popping up on my FB from these smut/romance book clubs and I die everytime at the thought of my dad reading smut 😭

[TR]

I’m reading Rebel Wilson’s memoir and man. I’m enjoying learning about her life and I know actors aren’t writers, but she changes tense within paragraphs lol going from past to present and back and it’s driving me a little nuts. Maybe it was too late to correct by the time an editor got ahold of it? Or maybe they figured oh well, she’s an actor not a writer.

[Saudade]

Apr 19, 2024 14:03:53 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Apr 19, 2024 12:41:40 GMT -5 jane6672 said:

I’m not here to give you a pep talk:
I found fourth wing enjoyable in spite of how tropey it was, but the second book is even worse (so much worse, but maybe also I’d just had enough of it all?). SO BAD and so boring.

And the sex scenes get even more cringey.

ETA: I took a picture of this bit bc I literally couldn’t believe this is supposed to be hot. I have transcribed for your enjoyment:

“Violet.” It’s part plea, part moan, and the war in his eyes makes my chest tighten. “You have no idea how badly I want to peel these pants off your amazing ass and fuck you until you’re hoarse from screaming my name, so limp from orgasms that you can’t fathom leaving my bed ever again, and every tree around here goes up in flames from lightning strikes.” His hand slides from behind my head to the neighbor of my neck. “Until you remember exactly how good we are together.”

LOLOLOLOL you are the best for doing that for me!  Thank you so much!  Truly awful and unwittingly hilarious. 

That is god awful and I cannot believe the reviews on Goodreads are so good.  They cannot be trusted. 

The only word I can come up with is "juvenile", from start to finish.  Especially regarding the sex (which I hadn't got to yet when I first posted, and is SO much worse than I imagined).  

I listened to it on Audible and would fast forward it

I don't remember where I read it but the idea was that RY was/is Mormon and this heavily influenced how she wrote the sex scenes, which when knowing that, makes a lot more sense.

[Saudade]

Apr 19, 2024 22:08:49 GMT -5 al dente said:

wise_rita I did like Fourth Wing, but I listened to it at 2x while doing other stuff. The second book is TERRIBLE though don't let your book club choose that. TBH idk what you'd talk about in book club with the first I liked it but it's also pretty basic?

And speaking of terrible sex scenes... I also listened to A Court Of Thorns And Roses because it was available while I waited on other stuff. I post my books on IG, and my dad told me he got it because he remembered me posting about it. I kind of forgot about it, and now it keeps popping up on my FB from these smut/romance book clubs and I die everytime at the thought of my dad reading smut 😭

Audible has A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the rest of the series, for free last night. So I downloaded all of them because there is no way I'm going to pay for it. I've heard too many bad things about it but then TikTok is telling me how good it is. At least it's free so if I hate it, I'm not out any money

[Jalapeñomel]

Apr 20, 2024 17:48:08 GMT -5 TR said:

I’m reading Rebel Wilson’s memoir and man. I’m enjoying learning about her life and I know actors aren’t writers, but she changes tense within paragraphs lol going from past to present and back and it’s driving me a little nuts. Maybe it was too late to correct by the time an editor got ahold of it? Or maybe they figured oh well, she’s an actor not a writer.

I think most actors could really benefit from paying a professional to write for them. There is a reason why they aren’t authors!

[arehopsveggies]

I started watching We were the lucky ones on Hulu, and I immediately reserved it from the library. Got it a few days ago.

Im also listening tot eh second Sullivans crossing book even thought the tv show wasn’t great. So apparently I’m on a tv/book kick even though I really don’t get to watch that much tv this year.

[tacokick]

Apr 20, 2024 20:04:49 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Apr 20, 2024 17:48:08 GMT -5 TR said:

I’m reading Rebel Wilson’s memoir and man. I’m enjoying learning about her life and I know actors aren’t writers, but she changes tense within paragraphs lol going from past to present and back and it’s driving me a little nuts. Maybe it was too late to correct by the time an editor got ahold of it? Or maybe they figured oh well, she’s an actor not a writer.

I think most actors could really benefit from paying a professional to write for them. There is a reason why they aren’t authors!

Sometimes when I read a celebrity memoir that has a lot of mistakes or where they don’t look great (Matthew Perry) I wonder if they did have a ghost writer but one who didn’t like them. It’s really rare for a famous person not to have one at all!

[wise_rita]

I also read Michelle Obama's Becoming, so that rescued my brain from completely atrophying after Forth Wing.

[Jalapeñomel]

Apr 20, 2024 22:06:57 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Apr 20, 2024 20:04:49 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I think most actors could really benefit from paying a professional to write for them. There is a reason why they aren’t authors!

Sometimes when I read a celebrity memoir that has a lot of mistakes or where they don’t look great (Matthew Perry) I wonder if they did have a ghost writer but one who didn’t like them. It’s really rare for a famous person not to have one at all!

I’m sure part of the problem is that celebrities are surrounded by YES! people, so no one wants to tell them their writing sucks.

[RoxMonster]

I just finished Lilith by Eric Rickstad. I flew through it in half a day.

4 stars
Definitely need to give a content warning

This is about a school shooting that injures a mom/teacher and her son and the vengeance she seeks to get after. I would describe it as a literary thriller.

[bears]

Apr 3, 2024 7:01:32 GMT -5 Vally said:

Lastly I checked out Atomic Habits for a work exercise. I really don’t enjoy self help books so not looking forward to it but will grin and bear it.

I read this a few years ago for work and I thought it was one of the better of these kinds of books.  Of course, they all stretch out what should be a magazine article into a full book, but that's par for the course for self-improvement books.

[momin2013]

I finished The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath today. I am shocked and surprised at myself that I hadn’t read it before but I’m glad I have now.

[Vally]

bears I agree! I ended up not hating it and took away some interesting tidbits.

Now I’m about halfway through North Woods and I think I love it. There are some weird choices but it’s a unique concept and I am eager to see where it goes. After that is Dracula for my work book club.

[gerberdaisy]

Apr 19, 2024 20:31:50 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

The Heiress- 3.5*. It was good, kept me engaged but wasn't amazing.

The Arrangement- So far, it's really good. Super quick read. I read half of it before bed last night. It's certainly not going to be winning any literary awards but it would be a great vacation read or plane ride read if you're into thrillers.

Which author is The Arrangement by? Looked in libby and there were tons of them.  Need a quick book for vacation.

[suzyp]

I just finished Everyone Here Is Lying. It was...not good. I feel like nothing happened and it was really predictable.

[scm1011]

I read 3 books while on vacation last week:

The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali - 5*
Ready or Not by Cara Bastone - 4*
Beach Read by Emily Henry - 3*

[gardengal]

I am currently reading The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang but am unsure if I can finish it. Her books are always Asian American FMC on austim spectrum. But in this book she doesn’t know it before the book starts & her family is just SO emotionally abusive that it’s a little too close to home & it’s so hard for me to read. Previous books in this series have not been so brutal on FMC IMO.

I’m like at 75%. Anyone else read this? Does it turn a corner soon? I’m at the birthday party scene

[underwaterrhymes]

I just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Loved it. 4*

[eb777888]

Apr 22, 2024 10:11:46 GMT -5 gerberdaisy said:

Apr 19, 2024 20:31:50 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

The Heiress- 3.5*. It was good, kept me engaged but wasn't amazing.

The Arrangement- So far, it's really good. Super quick read. I read half of it before bed last night. It's certainly not going to be winning any literary awards but it would be a great vacation read or plane ride read if you're into thrillers.

Which author is The Arrangement by? Looked in libby and there were tons of them.  Need a quick book for vacation.

It's by Kiersten Modglin. I'm enjoying the story, but I cannot stress to you how bad the writing is. I'm not one to usually complain about horrible writing in books in these threads but if you are, then I suggest you skip this one. I'm enjoying it though and it is an insanely fast read. 

[Jalapeñomel]

Someone mentioned A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so that’s what I’m reading now. I thought I read it, but I wasn’t positive so I figured it’s worth the reread!

[scm1011]

Apr 22, 2024 17:53:03 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Someone mentioned A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so that’s what I’m reading now. I thought I read it, but I wasn’t positive so I figured it’s worth the reread!

My favorite of all time!! Enjoy.

[Saudade]

Apr 22, 2024 13:34:53 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Loved it. 4*

This was so good

I read one of her other ones right after, Code Name Helene. Also very good

[underwaterrhymes]

Apr 22, 2024 18:07:26 GMT -5 Saudade said:

Apr 22, 2024 13:34:53 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Loved it. 4*

This was so good

I read one of her other ones right after, Code Name Helene. Also very good

I just reserved this one at my library earlier today because I loved The Frozen River so much. I’m glad you loved it!