What are you reading this week? Friday 5/11

[litskispeciality]

I hope I'm not stepping on toes, just impatience. Happy Mother's day to all you mom's on here. I hope you have some time to relax and read whatever day you celebrate.

What are you reading/have you read this week? Ratings, recommendations etc.? 

QOTW: What's the best food dish/dessert your mom makes/made that no one else can beat?

[litskispeciality]

I started A Mother's Reckoning by the mother of one of the Columbine shooters. So far so good, but heavy.

QOTW: My mom made this Lithuanian potato dish with bacon that was outstanding. My husband makes it now and it's good, but always tasted better when she made it.

[sassypants]

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Difficult Women, and it's a difficult read. The stories are uncomfortable, and I'm not sure if I am in the mood for this kind of heavy story. I also just got Artemis by Andy Weir and I'm more into starting that instead.

My mom used to make the best no bake cookies. I can never seem to get them to set up right when I make them.

[bex]

I'm still reading Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. It's very good, I'm just in a rut lately.

My mom makes the best dressing at thanksgiving. It's very simple and basic, but hers is just the best for some reason. She also makes the best Reuben sandwiches.

[mrspez07]

I started Now that You Mention It by Kristin Higgins and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (audio). I needed something easy and a bit lighter (at least the first one) this week.

I think her potato salad is hard to beat, and her spritz cookie recipe at Christmas. I have fond memories of helping her in the kitchen and baking holiday cookies, even if they were the standard recipe from toll house or the cook book, that’s what I remember.

[spedrunner]

This week has been a slow reading week.  I started on season 2 Of the hand maids tale so that cut in to my reading time. Plus I have been listening to my podcasts and self reflecting through journaling

i finished :  the star fisher and freak the mighty (both young adult reads with my students) 

currently about 3/4 through let me lie by Clare macintosh .   It’s ok.  I hoping the last section picks up a bit 

qotd. P my mom is such an amazing cook I don’t know what to choose she makes the most fabulous Polish dishes I think my favorite is for hunters stew. She makes incredible gulumpkis and perogies.  Jewish apple cake.   And pancakes are perfection.   She is just amazing at all her dishes!

[brewco]

I'm reading March (Book One) for book club. I finished Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner this week also.

QOTW: honest answer- nothing! She is a frozen meal, out of a box or carry out kind of lady. For events she usually brings a garden salad or some kind of dessert.

[travella]

I am reading The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn. I really enjoyed this book in the beginning, but I'm starting to lose interest.

QOTW: My mom makes the best seafood pasta! I miss it!

[rainbowchip]

I'm reading Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum #10). I'm trying to push through this series. They are OK but I don't love them.

QOTW: my mom makes amazing potato salad and pumpkin and apple pies.

[itsme]

I'm currently listening to You Don't Look Your Age...and Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins. It's mostly a collection of short stories read by an all-star cast. Some of the stories are interesting but I'm halfway through and ready for something else.

I started listening to The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater yesterday and it's quite intriguing so far. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on and that's part of the intrigue.

I am reading A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTR 2) and at first I wanted to give up because I had forgotten what went on in the first book. I was reading Maas' other series so it was a little hard for me to separate the two. I'm finally gettin ginto it at 30% in.

I finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This one was a mind f*** and good. If I was his wife at the end I wouldn't even know what to do.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead was another I finished which I thought was really good. I want to read more on this topic and get a better feel about how the network worked and how it was built.

QOTW: Potato salad

[sarahsays]

I just started The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. It's been hard to get into but I think I'll like it once I get through the set up.

QoTW: My mom was not the best cook, but she made a really great chili.

[charlatti]

I just started A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I feel like everyone else read this one years ago, but I’m enjoying it so far.

Qotw: My mom is a great cook but also a good teacher, so most of my favorites she’s taught me to make. Her spaghetti sauce is probably the best thing I haven’t mastered. Oh, and clean-out-the-fridge soup. That was one of my favorite things growing up and it never works when I try it.

[ssmjlm]

I bailed on the Marriage Pact. I need to figure out how to mark it as not finished in goodreads. It was crap.

Finished Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krantz. It was good. Her writing is similar to Sandra Brown, although this was book 2 of a series.

Finished The Selection (book 1) which is YA, but it was recommended by a podcast. I see the series is quite long though. And the first book was not a stand alone at all.

Now reading The Marriage Pact: A Baby Romance, which was an amazon freebie. I have no expectations, but needed a change. Lol.

QOTW: my mom used to make this easy lime pie. I don’t even know why, but a couple years ago I said something about how much I loved the pie and my mom was like “really? It’s just an instant pie type recipe.” Oh mom.

[sassypants]

May 11, 2018 16:35:49 GMT -5 itsme said:

I'm currently listening to You Don't Look Your Age...and Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins. It's mostly a collection of short stories read by an all-star cast. Some of the stories are interesting but I'm halfway through and ready for something else.

I started listening to The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater yesterday and it's quite intriguing so far. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on and that's part of the intrigue.

I am reading A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTR 2) and at first I wanted to give up because I had forgotten what went on in the first book. I was reading Maas' other series so it was a little hard for me to separate the two. I'm finally gettin ginto it at 30% in.

I finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This one was a mind f*** and good. If I was his wife at the end I wouldn't even know what to do.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead was another I finished which I thought was really good. I want to read more on this topic and get a better feel about how the network worked and how it was built.

QOTW: Potato salad

I loved this series on audio!! 

[dorothyinAus]

I'm still reading Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917. It's a tough read and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to read about the horror of the Revolution. In between bouts of insomnia, I read two Kindle Freebies: Peanut Butter Fudge Murder and Christmas Donut Murder.

QOTW: Spaghetti Sauce, it's her own recipe and even though I follow it exactly, mine never comes out as good as hers. And Beef Stroganoff, there again, I use exactly the same recipe, but hers is always better.

[Vespasia]

I finally finished Still Waters this week. It was fine but never really held my attention so I ended up skimming the last third to get it over with.

I started Obscura by Joe Hart yesterday and I am really enjoying it so far. The premise seems like something that could go off the rails easily but we'll see.

QOTW: My mom's spaghetti sauce is amazing. It's one of the few things I have not tried to recreate, mostly because it takes forever and makes enough for an army.

[rainbowchip]

May 12, 2018 10:49:57 GMT -5 @tooshort said:

May 11, 2018 15:39:43 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I'm reading Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum #10). I'm trying to push through this series. They are OK but I don't love them.

QOTW: my mom makes amazing potato salad and pumpkin and apple pies.

Once you read 1 you’ve basically read them all.

I haven’t read anything lately. I have 4 books and can’t get into any of them.

I'm really getting annoyed at how she is taking advantage of Ranger all the time.

[rainbowchip]

spedrunner I just got caught up last night on Handmaids Tale. It's chilling.

[wesleycrusher]

May 12, 2018 11:06:35 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

May 12, 2018 10:49:57 GMT -5 @tooshort said:

Once you read 1 you’ve basically read them all.

I haven’t read anything lately. I have 4 books and can’t get into any of them.

I'm really getting annoyed at how she is taking advantage of Ranger all the time.

I think I said this last week, but the character does not grow at all as the series goes on. I got too worked up at how she would make the same bad decisions over and over. 

[wesleycrusher]

Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is by Abigail Garner- I would really like to see this updated- it was written in 2004

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones- a lot of people loved this so I checked it out, which was my mistake because I didn't check to see what it was about. I don't think I would have read it if I knew, which colored my opinion

Out Of This Furnace by Thomas Bell- written in 1941 about immigrant steelworkers in Pittsburgh. It was a book club pick for this month. I thought it was non-fiction, but it's fiction based on the author's family history. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

What to Do When I'm Gone: A Mother's Wisdom to Her Daughter by Suzy Hopkins - graphic novel. very good for anyone who has lost their mother

[rainbowchip]

May 12, 2018 14:53:35 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

May 12, 2018 11:06:35 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I'm really getting annoyed at how she is taking advantage of Ranger all the time.

I think I said this last week, but the character does not grow at all as the series goes on. I got too worked up at how she would make the same bad decisions over and over. 

And how many times can her car blow up?

[tacokick]

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy came in at the library for me today so I started that. I’m seeing people all over reading it so I wanted to read it quickly before I run into spoilers. I think it’s been optioned for a movie already too. I had 12 books in and 12 more already at home! Trying to barrel through them.

QOTW: my mom makes a good hot milk cake but for some reason she keeps messing up the icing in the last few years. It’s the same recipe but somehow it isn’t yielding enough to cover the cake??! It’s weird.

[sassypants]

May 12, 2018 15:42:21 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

May 12, 2018 14:53:35 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

I think I said this last week, but the character does not grow at all as the series goes on. I got too worked up at how she would make the same bad decisions over and over. 

And how many times can her car blow up?

I love this conversation because I agree with every bit of it. I only made it to the 6th book.

[Nonny]

I finished up the Silo #2 Omnibus (it was OK, but the plot is getting shakier the more stories I get into it), and I'm still working on A Higher Loyalty and Pandora's Lab. 

I've also started Drew Barrymore's memoir, Wildflower, because it's my book club's pick and we're meeting this week.  I was really not looking forward to Wildflower, and was kind of griping about it to my H when I started it last night, but I'm actually finding myself kind of enjoying it (she's not the best writer, but her life stories are interesting).  I was telling him about it today and he was teasing me about liking it when I was previously complaining.

QOTW:  My mom is a terrible cook unless she's following some else's tried and true recipe to the letter.  Growing up we ate a lot of takeout and oatmeal - I was actually marveling the other day to my H how often my mom would make "mush" for dinner, and none of us ever complained because oatmeal and toast was never an inedible experiment (and she never restricted how much sugar I put in mine. LOL!). 

But she does at least recognize a good recipe and will ask for them at potlucks and parties and such.  That's how she ended up with her more popular dishes - "hash pot potatoes" (I think other people call these funeral potatoes?) that are the go to for potlucks and big family dinners, and a German kuchen recipe we have every Christmas.  But I can make them just as well, because she doesn't deviate from the recipe at all.

[abs]

I'm reading Necessary Lies. It's very good but I haven't had a ton of time to read lately so I am not very far. I gave up on A Court of Frost and Starlight. I'm sure I will finish it during the summer when I have more time but it is a snoozefest.

QOTW: My mom has never been a great cook. She doesn't like it and we went out to eat a lot when I was a kid. Now that she is retired I am pretty sure she and her husband eat out every single night.

[frog]

Just finished “In the Distance,” by Hernan Diaz, and “In My Father’s Distant Land,” by Bo Caldwell. Both were fantastic reads which I would highly recommend.

Toda i started “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness,” a memoir by Susannah Catalan. I’m about 20% done with it and found it difficult to put down this morning.