It's Friday! (4/27)

[ufcasey]

What have you read this week? What are you currently reading?

QOTW:
What is your current favorite song you listen to on the radio/XM/spotify/whatever?

[wesleycrusher]

This is combo from last week/this week, since I was out of town

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian- takes place during the Armenian Genocide, which I know very little about. I just got out a non-fiction book on the subject to read further.

Me Before you and After You by Jojo Moyes- I've seen this book mentioned frequently. I liked the story of the first, but the second was meh. I have the third one on hold at the library to read next

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by NPH- audiobook. I love NPH so it was a fun easy listen.

Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings- he's won the most consecutive games on Jeopardy. This was my pick for my book club, we're going to meet at a trivia night at a local restaurant (instead of my house) to discuss the book and play some trivia.

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas- my neighborhood book club picked this. Fictional book that takes place in a future where IVF, abortion and adoption has been outlawed/restricted in the US. It was ok.

Currently reading: Slimed!: An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age by Mathew Klickstein


QOTW:
I usually only listen to audiobooks in the car nowadays, so nothing current comes to mind?

[spedrunner]

Read:

You by Caroline Kepnes

2 stars/thriller

This book got so much hype and I know so many loved it yet I had a hard time loving it. It definitely gave me an icky creepy feeling as I was reading it because I did feel like the character WAS speaking to me, it also made me see how easily anyone could do this and gah! But it fell short for me, i was very annoyed, felt like I kept waiting for something big to happen, did not really understand the characters or feel anything for them, felt like a Chuck Palahniuk book to me!

The Lightkeepers Daughter by Jean Pendziwol

3 stars/fiction

This was a good read, I enjoyed following the story and mystery, felt a lot like Orphan Train

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

4 stars/fiction

I really love this author. So far I have read this, The GOod Father, Unnecessary Lies and am looking for my next (ANY SUGGESTIONS?!)

Currently Reading:

The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray by Walter Mosely

I am really enjoying my first Mosely! Great story about a 91 year old on the brinks of dementia, he finds a doctor that gives him a new drug that will help him remember, it's pretty fascinating the things he remembers and admits throughout his life. I am almost finished and thinking there will be some sort of big reveal

Radical Acceptance Tara Brach - self help?

I love psychology and how we think, I have been reading (listening actually) to this here and there when I am in the mood) some great tips on building self esteem and confidence and just accepting yourself as you are

[rainbowchip]

I read Now That You Mention It. I will save the details for our discussion in a few months.

I'm currently reading Fifty Shades Darker because the library had it available while I was waiting for my hold to come in. On really getting sick of all the murmuring and muttering.
I'm listening to Artemis so that's its fresh-ish for discussion next month.

QOTW: Broken Halos by Chris Stapleton

[bex]

I finished A Higher Loyalty by James Comey. I liked it more than I thought I would. I think he is really arrogant and that arrogance led to some colossal mistakes, but I still found the book really interesting.

I read My Grandmother Asked me To Tell you she's sorry by Frederik Bachman. It was.....okay? I cried a ton pretty much every 50 pages or so. I found it a little hard to follow and I also found the ending kind of predictable re: the leaseholders, but I still liked it overall.

I just started The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. I'm like 5 pages in so no opinion yet lol.

I don't have a current favorite song. I listen to basically old music and podcasts, so I'm out of the loop lol.

[ally]

This week I finished:
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane - 4* (I ordered some Pu'er tea yesterday.  I love tea and drink it often and need to give this a try.)


(Still) Currently reading:
The Book of Light (#3 in the All Souls trilogy))

The People of the Book - audiobook, I made no progress this week 

QOTW: Nothing I listen to is current.  My work current playlist is mostly Josh Groban.

[abs]

I finished The Storyteller earlier this week and am now reading The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain. I just started it so no opinion yet!

QOTW: DD and I are still listening to The Greatest Showman soundtrack over and over and over again. Somehow neither of us are tired of it yet and listening to a 7 year old belt out This is Me never gets old. When I'm by myself I've been listening to the Hamilton soundtrack to get me ready for Sunday.

[doxies]

I am still trying to finish The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian. It's not my favorite. I don't think I like a narrator that drinks excessively - it reminds me a bit of The Girl on the Train.

spedrunner, I read You as well and didn't love it. I agree with your review. I think it is going to be a tv series or something soon. No thank you.

I am reading News of the World next.

QOTW: I have been enjoying the new Janelle Monae songs.

[travella]

I finished reading The Silent Sister last night, 4*. I plan on starting The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner next.

QOTW:. I don't have a favorite song. I always have the radio on in the car, but I don't really pay attention to what's on. It's background noise for the most part.

[rootbeerfloat]

I'm reading The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It's ok... lovely writing, but slow.

I also finished Now That You Mention It.

QOTW: I usually listen to the 90s throwback station on the radio.

[ufcasey]

Read:
Glory in Death (#2 in series) by J.D. Robb
3 stars/romantic suspense
Better than the first book, but I want them to address Eve's past already!

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage
4 stars/mystery psychological thriller?
The book starts at the ending, sort of, then goes back to the beginning and works it's way forward so you know what's going to happen, just not the how and other important details. There's perhaps a few too many characters in the book, and the ending was a bit too neat, but otherwise I thought this was very good and not at all like your usual mystery/thriller book. It's more like You by Caroline Kepnes if you've read that as far as creepy vibe, but not at all like that because there's tons of characters and no creepy stalker and written in a different style. Ok, so maybe not like that book at all haha. It's hard to describe! But it's good!

Edgedancer (#2.5 in series) by Brandon Sanderson
3 stars/fantasy
I love this series, but this novella (though not novella length) wasn't really necessary in my opinion

Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young
3.5 stars/romance
All the side characters were annoying but otherwise I thought this was pretty good. The beginning is a little over the top but happily it got better.

Total so far for the year: 49

Currently Reading:
Artemis by Andy Weir - science fiction; Um, did the author write this as a male character and then decided to change it to a female by just changing the pronouns? Just saying.

Ghosted by J.M. Darhower - romance; I am REALLY into this book so far. It has a PLOT, which is so hard to find these days in romance!


QOTW:
I am terrible at listening to current music so I was hoping that others would have really good suggestions, but seems like we are all in the same boat for the most part. Kinda cracking me up! My kids (3 and 6) are currently into anything by Sean Mendes and Charlie Puth

[ufcasey]

Apr 27, 2018 10:40:26 GMT -5 spedrunner said:

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

4 stars/fiction

I really love this author. So far I have read this, The GOod Father, Unnecessary Lies and am looking for my next (ANY SUGGESTIONS?!)

I liked her book, "The Stolen Marriage". You can kinda tell she researched a topic and then wrote a fictional book about it, but it was still pretty good I thought.

[sassypants]

This week I finished a reread of Drums of Autumn and I'm now about halfway through One Dark Throne. It's the sequel to Three Dark Crowns, and I was only meh about the first one so I'm not really sure why I'm reading the second one, but here I am. I'm trying to plow through that because I also go Still Me in on e-book from the library and I'm on a timeline.

QOTW: IDK. I don't know that there's any one song I hear that speaks to me right now, but I am enjoying the latest U2 album if that counts.

[Vespasia]

I am reading Still Waters by Viveca Sten. It was one of the free international Kindle books. It's fine so far, your standard Scandinavian mystery. 


QOTW: I generally just listen to NPR in the car and "Epic Film Scores" on Google music while doing homework. Super exciting. 

[charlatti]

I finished A Death of No Importance by Marian Fredericks, a mystery set in 1910. It was ok, not a favorite. Now reading We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride, which is excellent so far. I can’t remember how it got on my list, so thank you if it was someone here.

Qotw: I’m also not at all current on music. I listen to the radio in the car but I have a very short commute. I can’t think of anything that has caught my attention lately.

[aurora]

I finished Salem's Lot. It was interesting but King has definitely developed as a writer since his 2nd book, which was more of the classic horror genre.

I'm first on my library hold list for the audiobook versions of both Louise Penny's A Rule Against Murder and Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, so in the meantime I'm listing to Anne of Avonlea. I'm not finding it as interesting as my Anne of Green Gables re-listen from a few weeks ago.

I'm reading both Ruth Bader Ginsberg's My Own Words, which is interesting but requires thought/concentration, and at bedtime Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight, which is a childhood classic for me.

ETA for QOTW: when I have control of the radio I listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

[mrspez07]

I’m reading Celine by Peter Heller and really like it, just haven’t had a ton of time.
I started listening to Dead Wake by Erik Larson about the Lusitania. The narrator kind of grates in me, but hopefully I get used to him. He’s got a very monotone voice.

QOTW: I hop around on my radio and music list a lot, picking things that strike me at the time. I got Imagine Dragon’s latest album last month and really enjoy it (it is also great to stationary cycle/spin to).

[ssmjlm]

Finished The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter- 1 star, terrible book. Of course I thought All the Pretty Girls was terrible too, so I'm not sure how this one ended up on my list.

The author obviously felt that by writing a repetitive horrific and graphic attack that the rest of the book could also suck and no one would notice b/c OMG SHE WROTE A GRAPHIC SCENE MULTIPLE TIMES.

I actually felt sorry for the main characters by the end since the author did them no justice.

I just started the 2nd Knight and Moon book by Janet Evanovich. I need something light and formulaic.

QOTW: My daughter has been requesting the Middle when we were in the car. Otherwise I usually listen to podcasts.

[minzy]

I finished A Higher Loyalty by James Comey. I’m now reading The Me, Me, Me Epidemic: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Capable, Grateful Kids in an Over-entitled World by Amy McCready. I also just started You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld.

[dorothyinAus]

Just finished Death in the Vines this afternoon. It was very good, and I am definitely going to have to look for the rest of the series. (I got the first three 3/$20 from a remainder book store but I don't know if I want to wait to find the rest of them.

I'm going to start Caught in the Revolution tonight.

QOTW: I have an iTunes playlist called Music for Noise, which is mostly Bing Crosby, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon, and Passenger. It's an interesting mix. Currently my favorite songs to play from the list are Passenger's All the Little Lights, Paul Simon's The Boy in the Bubble, and Simon & Garfunkel's Kathy's Song and The Boxer.