Happy Friday! What Are You Reading? (10/20)

[ufcasey]

It's that time again What books have you read this week? What are you currently reading? Like/Dislike any of them?

QOTW:
In honor of Halloween coming up, are you planning on reading a 'scary' book this month? Or have you read a horror genre book you really liked - if so, name it!

[snshne322]

I'm still working on All the Crooked Saints. It's very Maggie, but it's not quite grabbing me like her other books.

I'm also doing a re-listen of the Mercy Thompson series. I'm on Iron Kissed and I love them so much.

QOTW:  I don't think I'm going to do a Halloween read this month.  Mercy has vampires and werewolves, so I guess that will have to suffice!

[rainbowchip]

I finished I'm Judging You. I loved the first half but not so much the second half. One of the reviews on goodreads pointed out that they had trouble figuring out the intended audience and I agree whole heartedly.

I started A Gentleman In Moscow but I'm only on chapter 2. It hasn't grabbed me yet.

QOTW: Every year I say I want to read seasonal books and then I never do it.
A horror book I enjoyed was Horns by Joe Hill but it wasn't super scary.

[ufcasey]

Read last week:
A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold - non-fiction; 4 stars; this is written by Dylan Klebold's mother about the Columbine shooting. I had a lot of thoughts about it so I'll just refer to my review on GR instead.
A Strange Hymn (#2 in series) by Laura Thalassa - fantasy romance; 4 stars; This was a solid second book, I like where it's going in the epilogue so I will read the third book when it's released.
The Emperor of Evening Stars (#2.5 in series) by Laura Thalassa - fantasy romance; 3.5 stars; this was a novella that finally gives us the backstory of the hero, Desmond, which I liked. When the story line caught up to the first two books though it felt more like an unnecessary rehash of what I already read, just from his point of view instead.
Scandalous Desires (#3 in series) by Elizabeth Hoyt - historical romance; 3.5 stars; these characters were introduced in the first book of the series so I skipped to this one to see where the story went, and I enjoyed it. But I don't think I'll continue with the series.

Currently reading:
The Winter King by C.L. Wilson - fantasy romance; this is a re-read (something I rarely do) in preparation for the new book coming out on Oct 31
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - historical fiction; just started it, so I have to read it quickly in time for this coming Wednesday's book club discussion, whoops

QOTW:
Not sure if I will have time to find a scary book to read before the end of the month, but my favorite one so far that I have read (and I don't read too many mystery/thriller/horror genre books in general) is probably The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson. It's about a guy who kidnaps girls and keeps them in his 'garden'. It's more disturbing than scary though.

[monkeyfeet]

I also finished A Mother's Reckoning and need to start a separate thread because I did not write an awesome reviews like ufcasey. Did it move Columbine up on your list?!

I am currently reading Redemption Road and it will fit my thriller for Oct. I'm only about 18% in and it's good, but not one I can't walk away from.

[aurora]

I'm getting close to finishing my re-read of The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It had been a long time and I'm definitely enjoying it.

I'm listening to Still Life by Louise Penny, which I had started a while back but run out of my library loan, so I just restarted at the beginning.

QOTW: This was more a function of my library wait list than any Halloween thoughts, but I just finished listening to Stephen King's Running Man, which was horrifying in a lot of ways. Early in the book, I thought he did a good job with building up suspense. But, the end was just gruesome and I didn't end up feeling good about it. I seriously considered stopping the audiobook at about 95%, and I'm someone who will finish a boring book that I've gotten 25% through because I hate not finishing books.

[mrspez07]

I’m reading the Gilded Hour, still. I’m enjoying it but it’s a heavy book so it hasn’t been with me much in the last few weeks of travel, just at bedtimes.
I finished Modern Girls by Jennifer Brown. It was really good. I want a sequel though!

I tend to just read to read, so no horror/Halloween type books for me right now. Not a big scary book fan generally. I used to read Dean koontz and they started dreaking me out so I haven’t gone back.

[AJL]

I'm way ahead of schedule in completing my 100-Books-Read-This-Year challenge, so I've been in a bit of a reading drought.  

Finished this week: 
The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne - 3/5* 
I'm not sure if I thought this would mega-suck, but it did not. It's the third book in Byrne's Victorian Rebels series. I tried to read the first two, but they were kind of hard to get through (the hero was just too tortured and oh-poor-me). This one was good and I liked the heroine a lot. 

All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgans - 3.5*/5
I like her books. They're romance novels but they're pretty funny and appropriately sexy but not explicit (not that I mind that, but I need a break from the super steamy.)  Her Blue Heron is a fun series and her stand along books are mostly good (she has some misses, but most are hits.)

Currently reading:
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the United States by Jane Zeigelmann, Andrew Coe
This books is very interesting and generally engaging. I have a passion for food history and the the history of a country's economics as related through their food culture.  I'm about a third of the way through.

QOTW:

How I feel about scary books:

[sassypants]

I'm making my way through Nasty Women, still. Rehearsals and other stuff is keeping me busy!

QOTW: I have intentions of reading some scary books but I read supernatural stuff year round so it's not a huge stretch for me. Semi-related, I watched the adaptation of SK's book Gerald's Game on Netflix and it wasn't scary so much a psychologically disturbing.

[Nonny]

I finished The Hate U Give and Eleanor and Park this week, and I've started Make Room! Make Room! which is the book the movie Soylent Green is based on (although the book is supposed to be about birth control, not cannibalism).

QOTW:  My current read might be scary, we'll see.    Not planning on anything else scary specifically.

I don't know that I have a favorite horror book, but Carrie messed me up when I was little, because my parents didn't censor my reading, and I probably shouldn't have been reading it when I was about 8.  I was super confused and thought it was all real due to the "excerpts" from the Reader's Digest included in the story, because I knew RD to be a real periodical with real stories.

[mie]

I just finished The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. It was a quick read and I don't think I liked it.

[MrsAxilla]

QOTD: I always try to read so,etching creep in October and I just started Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Joe Hill.

[travella]

I'm still reading a Gentleman in Moscow, about 65% of the way through. The reviews were correct, it was a really slow build. I finally starting getting into it at about 60%.

QOTW: I didn't read horror or watch it for that matter.

[sassypants]

Oct 20, 2017 16:11:54 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I finished The Hate U Give and Eleanor and Park this week, and I've started Make Room! Make Room! which is the book the movie Soylent Green is based on (although the book is supposed to be about birth control, not cannibalism).

QOTW:  My current read might be scary, we'll see.    Not planning on anything else scary specifically.

I don't know that I have a favorite horror book, but Carrie messed me up when I was little, because my parents didn't censor my reading, and I probably shouldn't have been reading it when I was about 8.  I was super confused and thought it was all real due to the "excerpts" from the Reader's Digest included in the story, because I knew RD to be a real periodical with real stories.

Mine was Amityville Horror. I totally bought that it was a "true story."

[ally]

While on vacation (technically on the airplane home) I finished The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley.  I believe it was recommended on the board and I really liked it.  I have added a couple more to my library wish list.

I have started A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and so far so good, not very far into it.

QOTW:  I don't really do scary.  I like a mystery, but prefer not to veer into horror.

[charlatti]

I finished The Book of Etta, sequel to The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. I liked the first one a lot but this one not so much. I'm a couple of chapters in to The Power by Naomi Alderman -- it has great blurbs, so we'll see.

QOTW: I don't do scary very often, so probably not. I really loved The Library at Mount Char, which some would classify as horror and definitely had a lot of unsettling elements.

[peach]

I just finished the Magnolia story. I have only seen a few episodea of the show and thought it would be more about their road to fame and behind the scenes of the show and their renovations, the running of the market etc. It was not what I expected and felt like a disjointed conversation, with lots of awkward stories and rehashing of their childhoods and early marriage with some embarrassing tmi thrown in.

I am now reading a YA novel, its the book chosen for a big library read. Its definitely a fluff YA book but is written well and is suspenseful enough to keep me turning pages.

[dorothyinAus]

I'm reading A Dissection of Death. It's quite interesting liking all kinds of history I didn't know was even tangentially connected. Like the Women's Suffrage Movement in England and the Sinn Fien/IRA movement -- even they weren't connected with each other, I didn't realize they were concurrent. Every time I read something that connects historical events I feel that the US does a horrible job in history education, particularly linking world events. I know the way I was taught was very disparate -- there was US history, European history, UK history, and World history and never should the subjects cross over, even though in the real world they did. Connecting the time of the UK Women's Suffrage movement and the Easter Rebellion was a real eye opener to me, but maybe it's just me.

/rant

QOTW: I do not do scary anything. I had nightmares reading The Alienist earlier this year and that was more than enough for a long time. I keep thinking I should read Dracula, but as of yet have not been able to crack it open. Maybe one day, but not this year.

[spedrunner]

This week I read/reading:

Behind Her Eyes (Just started this not sure yet what I think)

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter.  I gave this 3.5/5 stars. I love suspense and thrillers but am not much for cop/detective perspectives.  It was engaging but I prefer books/stories from the opposite perspective

Tell The Wolves I'm Home:  Just started this one as well.


QOTD:  I love mystery, thriller and psychological thrillers, not really "Scary"  Most of the books I read the psych thriller category

[doxies]

Oct 22, 2017 15:55:10 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

This week I read/reading:

Behind Her Eyes (Just started this not sure yet what I think)

I'll be interested to hear what you think of this one. I read it a while ago.

I just finished Bear Town.  I really enjoyed it.  It was quite different from his other books that I have read.

I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.  I just started it, but am enjoying it so far.

[spedrunner]

Oct 25, 2017 8:46:19 GMT -5 doxies said:

Oct 22, 2017 15:55:10 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

This week I read/reading:

Behind Her Eyes (Just started this not sure yet what I think)

I'll be interested to hear what you think of this one. I read it a while ago.

I just finished Bear Town.  I really enjoyed it.  It was quite different from his other books that I have read.

I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.  I just started it, but am enjoying it so far.

I just finished this!  Huh, well, I am a bit, huh
So It really kept my interest, and then the ending was??? It really threw me for a twist, i still dont know how i feel about it. It def did not seem very believable for me!

[doxies]

Oct 28, 2017 17:39:31 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

Oct 25, 2017 8:46:19 GMT -5 doxies said:

I'll be interested to hear what you think of this one. I read it a while ago.

I just finished Bear Town.  I really enjoyed it.  It was quite different from his other books that I have read.

I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.  I just started it, but am enjoying it so far.

I just finished this!  Huh, well, I am a bit, huh
So It really kept my interest, and then the ending was??? It really threw me for a twist, i still dont know how i feel about it. It def did not seem very believable for me!

Yes, I ended up hating it.  I didn't know it was supposed to be supernatural and it didn't seem that way from the beginning.  The ending just went completely off the rails.  I think that was the book that made me rethink reading things billed as the next Gone Girl - the twist will shock you!  
I'm not sure how I would have felt about it if I had known it was supernatural the whole time.  It may have changed my reading of it.

[CheeringCharm]

I just discovered Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series so I've been reading that.

Case Histories was amazing but the 2nd one is only so so. Thankfully the third one in the series seems to be back on track to be as good as the first.

My favorite scary novel of all time is The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It's also great if you like historical fiction (it's set in post WWII England). It really freaked me out. It's deliciously creepy.

[spedrunner]

Oct 30, 2017 6:46:06 GMT -5 doxies said:

Oct 28, 2017 17:39:31 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

I just finished this!  Huh, well, I am a bit, huh
So It really kept my interest, and then the ending was??? It really threw me for a twist, i still dont know how i feel about it. It def did not seem very believable for me!

Yes, I ended up hating it.  I didn't know it was supposed to be supernatural and it didn't seem that way from the beginning.  The ending just went completely off the rails.  I think that was the book that made me rethink reading things billed as the next Gone Girl - the twist will shock you!  
I'm not sure how I would have felt about it if I had known it was supernatural the whole time.  It may have changed my reading of it.

yes, i had no clue it was supernatural either, it really creeped me out lol, i prob would not have read it if i knew about the supernatural , i tend not to like that type of book