What Are You Reading? (Friday, June 30, 2017)

[dorothyinAus]

Can you believe it's halfway through the year already?

What are you reading this week?  Anything exciting?

QOTW:  What's your favorite movie based on a book?

[travella]

I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I can see why some people raved about this book. I liked it; however, it didn't blow me away. Maybe my expectations were set too high. I plan on starting Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer next.

QOTW: A Man Called Ove. I loved the book and movie.

[abs]

I am almost done with book 4 of the Mercy Thompson series. This one is kind of creeping me out but I am still enjoying the series! On to book 5 by tomorrow I am sure.

The year HAS gone by fast....mostly. It flew until we got to June and now time seems to have stopped. Thanks summer "vacation".

QOTW: Terms of Endearment is probably my all time favorite movie based on a book.

[charlatti]

I'm reading The Weaver by Emmi Itaranta. I can't remember where I heard about it, but it's pretty good. It's dystopian but without the clear world-building I usually see; I'm at least 3/4 through and I still have no idea why things are this way. Very interesting and I'm eager to finish it.

This year is going way too fast. I wish summer would slow down, at least.

QOTW: Sense and Sensibility. I like most of the Pride and Prejudice films too.

[snshne322]

Jun 30, 2017 6:42:57 GMT -5 abs said:

I am almost done with book 4 of the Mercy Thompson series. This one is kind of creeping me out but I am still enjoying the series! On to book 5 by tomorrow I am sure.

The year HAS gone by fast....mostly. It flew until we got to June and now time seems to have stopped. Thanks summer "vacation".

QOTW: Terms of Endearment is probably my all time favorite movie based on a book.

#3 was hard to read for me given some of the subject matter and the aftermath in 4 is so hard.  

That said I LOVED #5.

[snshne322]

I'm doing a relisten of Tell the Wolves I'm Home. I think I will finish it today. Even the second time around there are so many feelings.

I'm reading The Star-Touched Queen. I'm not usually much for magic and flowery language in the sense that this book has, but I'm quite liking it!

QOTW:  Gosh, this is a hard question!  I remember being really impressed by Memoirs of a Geisha.  I remembered loving the book and a friend of mine has connections in Hollywood and got me a script of the movie.  So I'm not sure if the movie was that great of whether it just had a big impact on me, but that's the one I think of.

[rainbowchip]

I'm reading Homegoing. It is really good. I have been really busy this week and I haven't had as mich time as I would like to read it. But I have a 4 day weekend with very little plans and I think it will be raining on and off so I will have an excellent excuse to stay home and read.

[litskispeciality]

I finished "Big Little Lies" earlier this week. It was good, I can't wait to watch the mini-series, I heard it's better. Hoping to finish "Yes Please" by Amy Phoeler so I can start something new.

This year is going by pretty quick. I hate how fast summer goes, it feels like summer is a blur after 4th of July.

QOTW: Hmm, I love the Notebook movie, but haven't read the book. Probably "The Help", while some major items were left out, the movie was well done and stuck pretty close to the story.

[susiebw]

I'm reading Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams and Drugs with the Grateful Dead by Bill Kreutzmann. We went to see Dead & Company in NYC last weekend, and DH and I both started this book about 3 weeks ago in anticipation of the show. I'm about 1/2 through, and I really like it. The tone is so conversational and easy to read, and I really didn't know a whole lot about the Dead's background or its members (other than Jerry) before reading this, so it's been interesting in that way, too. We've also been watching Long Strange Trip on Netflix and I recently started watching The Other One about Bob Weir on Netflix too. So yeah, I'm completely immersed in the Dead right now.

QOTW: I"m so bad at favorites . . . I've always said that I enjoy the movie How Stella Got her Groove Back so much that I don't want to read the book and ruin the movie. Same for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

[Vespasia]

I'm currently reading the Likeness, which is the second Dublin Murder Squad book. It's definitely keeping my attention but it's not quite as good as the first book. The main character is pissing me off. 


QOTW: The Secret of NIMH is the first one that comes to mind. 

[rainbowchip]

Jun 30, 2017 12:02:00 GMT -5 @aliciaroset said:

hi! I never post here but I might start. I just finished The Hate U Give and sobbed through the last couple pages. It's a great read. I'm working on Hunger by Roxane Gay and about to start Bird by Bird.
rainbowchip Homegoing blew me away.

Check out the discussion on Homegoing. It was the board's June book club pick.

[aurora]

I'm re-reading Diana Gabaldon's Written in my Own Heart's Blood for a bit of a break from reality.

Listening to Justin Cronin's City of Mirrors but having a bit of a crisis because all of my library audiobooks that I've been on the hold list for forever are becoming available at the same time. I also just got The Sixth Extinction and have been delaying my hold on another. I don't usually speed up the playback, but I have City going at 1.2x right now to try to get through it in time.

QOTW: I don't really watch movies much anymore so I'm trying to think back in time. Maybe Jurassic Park (the original)? It probably helps that I hadn't read the book before seeing the movie, but I still think the movie was well done.

[booknerd]

I'm rereading the Harry Potter series. I'm also about to start Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. I leave for the beach tomorrow for a full week so I plan on reading a lot.

QOTW: Harry Potter and Pride and Prejudice (the Kiera Knightley one because Matthew McFayden is a dream.

[mrspez07]

I'm finally getting into The Handmaids Tale on Audible.
I'm slowly making my way through The Dinner, but don't particularly like the narrating character.



I always answer this question with Dances with Wolves.
I also think the Outlander series is pretty spot on so far with the book.

ETA: finished both in the last 2 days (its Sunday night). Amazing what some painting will do for getting an audio book finished!

[dorothyinAus]

I stayed up late to finish First Class Murder last night (#32 of my goal of 48 halfway through the year, yippee!) and began Monsieur Pamplemousse on Vacation this morning.  I had planned on reading another Monsieur Pamplemousse book this year, but I moved it up and didn;t bother about fitting it in my Monopoly challenge because I wanted to use it as a tribute to Michael Bond.  I don't think I have been that upset to hear of a famous person's death for quite a while.  I was in tears all day Thursday watching the tweets and tributes to him.  I bawled like a baby when I saw the photos of people leaving jars of marmalade at the Paddington statue at Paddington Station.  And since I don't actually own a Paddington book, my tribute will have to be a Monsieur Pamplemousse book.

QOTW:  So many good movie adaptations have been mentioned.  The Kevin Sullivan/Megan Follows Anne of Green Gables was excellent, and Auntie Mame was a great adaptation of the book, but I think my favorite was the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Sarah, Plain and Tall with Glenn Close.  It was actually better than the book and really brought the book alive in ways the book only dreamed of doing.

[sassypants]

I'm at the beginning of The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin, and casually reading Hyperbole and a Half. We moved this week so I haven't had much time for reading. So. Many. BOXES to unpack!

I hated the book of Practical Magic but I love, love, love the movie!! Oh, and Contact. Loved both the movie and the book in that case.

[MrsAxilla]

Jun 30, 2017 10:11:55 GMT -5 susiebw said:

I'm reading Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams and Drugs with the Grateful Dead by Bill Kreutzmann. We went to see Dead & Company in NYC last weekend, and DH and I both started this book about 3 weeks ago in anticipation of the show. I'm about 1/2 through, and I really like it. The tone is so conversational and easy to read, and I really didn't know a whole lot about the Dead's background or its members (other than Jerry) before reading this, so it's been interesting in that way, too. We've also been watching Long Strange Trip on Netflix and I recently started watching The Other One about Bob Weir on Netflix too. So yeah, I'm completely immersed in the Dead right now.

QOTW: I"m so bad at favorites . . . I've always said that I enjoy the movie How Stella Got her Groove Back so much that I don't want to read the book and ruin the movie. Same for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

 DH is listening to that one, too.  Billy's take on everything is pretty colorful - lol.  Definitely not a road trip book with the kiddos in the car!

I'm reading Homegoing, which is great but heavy, obviously.  I took a break last night and started Who Thought this was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco.  She worked for Obama and I'm in love even though I've only read the foreword so far.  Incidentally, she's also into the Dead!

[rootbeerfloat]

I finished Swing Time (liked overall, even though the narrator bugged) and the sixth Mercy Thompson (enjoyed learning more about Mercy's background).

booknerd, I adore Matthew McFayden as Darcy, too! And I usually like Austen better in movie form.

[MrsAxilla]

susiebw - DH says if you like Deal you should check out So Many Roads by David Browne.

[turboteal]

I finished The Immortals quartet, which I enjoyed, although the last book had the heroine ending up with her much older friend, which I found problematic (she was 13 in the first book when they met and he was like 28). Hm.

I also read The Bluest Eye for the first time, never had to in school. It was really good and still so relevant. Is crazy how much things have changed but are still the same.

Just got The Hate U Give from the library so I'll be working on that one next.

Fave movie based on a book is hard, there are so many movies from books that I can't even think of them to compare. Maybe Emma? I agree that Austen's books seem to translate well

[ufcasey]

Read last week
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Beuvel - sci-fi; 3.5 stars; I enjoyed the epistolary-esque format of the book, really liked the audio book production, and loved the mystery of the alien giant robot. But the end of the book got a little boring for me, so I couldn't rate it higher. I'm already on the library waitlist for the next book though.
Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh - YA; 3 stars; I definitely liked her "The Wrath and the Dawn" series better. I'm not interested in reading the next book in this series when it comes out

Did not finish
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller - fiction; I read four chapters and gave up because the "letters" were way too long and detailed to be realistic and I just didn't care about any of the characters. Maybe it got better, but I wasn't in the mood to force myself to keep reading it to find out.

Currently reading
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay - nonfiction; this is hard to read emotionally speaking but I'm very drawn into it
Archangel's Enigma by Nalini Singh - PNR; Naasir is kind of strange, so not sure about this
Fall of Kings (#3 in series) by David Gemnel - historical fiction; enjoying this so far

QOTW
Shawshank Redemption (though I haven't read the book)

[ally]

Last week I finished The Other Einstein, by Marie Benedict.  I liked it, I thought it read easily and was an interesting, maybe inaccurate, way to learn a little about Albert Einstein as well.  

I started, and am still reading, Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett.  I tend to really like her books, so I was excited when my hold came in.  And, we have been busy this weekend, so I have barely found time to read.  Maybe today, as I am off and DH isn't.  Though we are having friends for dinner.

QOTW: I struggled with this.  Maybe the last few Harry Potter movies, I disliked the first 2 (maybe 3), but the movies improved.

[BlackCanary]

Currently reading Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher.

QOTW: Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, definitely.

[monkeyfeet]

I finished Dollhouse last week and really enjoyed it! I'm currently reading Upstairs at the Whitehouse and it's really good too. Both are pretty light reads, which I'm gravitating towards these days.

I rarely watch movies. I did watch the first two Divergent movies and liked them I'm sure that's a negative opinion though!!

[Nonny]

I listened to Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman on audiobook during my travels. Lindy West narrated it herself, which I think made it better than if I had read it (I decided to listen to the audiobook after meeting her at an event, and finding her quite funny in person). The book is funny, but it also covers a lot of heavy topics.

I'm also currently reading The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2).

QOTW:  The Shawshank Redemption, which is also my answer for movie which is better than the book it was based off of. ufcasey, I would say the book is worth a read (it's actually a short novella, part of Different Seasons I think), but the story isn't told linearly, and the movie ending is MUCH better.  But the book gives you more backstory on Red if that is interesting to you.

monkeyfeet, I don't think that's a negative opinion.  The first two books were fine, and I liked the first movie OK (haven't seen the second).  It's just the 3rd book that was an abomination that we all hated. 

I also think they did a fantastic job with the entire Hunger Games trilogy and  The Shining (the Stanley Kubrick version, not the TV mini-series).