It's Friday! (5/25)

[ufcasey]

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

QOTW:
Would you rather be able to hear other people's thoughts or have other people hear your thoughts (you have to pick one)?

[bex]

I finished Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard, the second in the Red Queen series. the fourth and final one comes out this month so I was going to try to read the second and third so I could get the fourth when it is out but nope. The second one was SO BAD. I just started skipping pages because it felt like there was so much repetition. And so much of Mare reminded me of Tris in Insurgent. It was so annoying. I'm returning the third to the library because I have no desire to finish lol.

I started A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa about escaping from NK. It doesn't come out until June but I got it on kindle on Amazon's World book day. I think someone else here read it? Anyway, its really good so far and I am "enjoying" it.

I've been in a reading rut lately where books that should take me a few days are taking me weeks so I'm trying to find a few good but fast reads to jumpstart me again. So far River in Darkness has been quick (not light, but quick) so that's good.

QOTW: hear others thoughts for sure. No one needs to know what is going on in my head. LOL.

[brewco]

I finished The Lying Game this morning, which was just ok. I don't know why I keep reading Ruth Ware because her books annoy me so much.

Starting I'll Be Gone in the Dark today

QOTW: Definitely hear others thoughts

[sassypants]

I've picked the Bono bio up again. I'm about 2/3 of the way through. It's fascinating, because it's like reading oral history transcripts. Very raw, very honest.

QOTW: Yeah, hear others, but hopefully I could learn to turn it off like Sookie did, because I'd go mad otherwise. My own thoughts are so random and disjointed I'd really hate for them to be taken out of context!

[rainbowchip]

I'm still reading An American Marriage. I had a busy week so I didn't make a lot of progress. Hopefully I can get a lot of reading time in over the long weekend.

QOTW: Definitely hear other people's thoughts. I have zero control over my own thoughts. It's a great thing that I have an excellent brain to mouth filter.

[minzy]

I finished Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer (3 stars). I read The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, historical fiction about the plight of an impoverished Iranian teenage girl who makes intricate carpet designs (3 stars). I’ve started Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang.

I guess I’d rather know others’ thoughts.

[ufcasey]

I was out of the country for the last three Fridays so this is a large catch-up!


Read:
Ghosted by J.M. Darhower
4.5 stars/romance
A romance book with a plot, no unnecessary angst, and realistic characters! Even with one of them being a movie star. Loved it.

The Wizard in the Woods (#2 in series) by R. Lee Smith
2 stars/fantasy romance
This was so absolutely over the top I could hardly believe that this book was written by the same person who wrote two other books that I greatly enjoyed. Definitely stopping this series here.

Artemis by Andy Weir
1 star/science fiction
I'll save it for book club, but to say I disliked this book is an understatement.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
4 stars/historical romance
This book is REALLY different from other historical romances, I highly recommend it.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
4 stars/fiction
I found this book from the rave reviews on here, and they are deserved. Audiobook narrators are really great fyi.

Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas
3 stars/historical romance
Good, but this author has written better

Grey Sister (#2 in series) by Mark Lawrence
4 stars/fantasy
This one is SO MUCH better than the first book. Magical ninja nun apprentices, need I say more?

Saga Volume 6 by Briak K. Vaughan
4 stars/graphic novel
If you read one graphic novel series, it should be this one. (says the person who rarely reads graphic novels)

Walk of Shame by Lauren Layne
4 stars/romance
Enemies to lovers trope done right! Much better than 'The Hating Game' if you read that (IMO anyways)

Scourged (#9 in series) by Kevin Hearne
2 stars/urban fantasy
This was the last book of the series and it made me so mad I decided to not read the author's new series. I'll leave it at that.


Total so far for the year: 58 (not including graphic novels or books less than 150 pages)


Currently Reading:
The Brutal Telling (#5 in series) by Louise Penny - mystery; great, as usual for this series, so far
When the Duke was Wicked by Lorraine Heath - historical romance; so far, so good

QOTW:
I would rather have people hear my thoughts, I think my feelings would get too easily hurt by other people and I could better control my own thoughts than to have deal with other people's unfiltered thoughts all the time.

[bex]

May 25, 2018 8:43:37 GMT -5 brewco said:

I finished The Lying Game this morning, which was just ok. I don't know why I keep reading Ruth Ware because her books annoy me so much.

Starting I'll Be Gone in the Dark today

QOTW: Definitely hear others thoughts

Oh boo this is next on my to-read pile. Was it a fast read at least?

[hurricanedrunk]

I've been switching back and forth between I Know this Much is True by Wally Lamb and An American Marriage. IKTMIT started off slow for me and now that I'm over halfway is picking up and AAM was my crutch, it's due on Tuesday so need to wrap it up over the weekend. I just started listing to a Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield but can tell I am going to enjoy it.

QOTW - Hear other peoples thoughts for sure.

[brewco]

May 25, 2018 11:43:57 GMT -5 bex said:

May 25, 2018 8:43:37 GMT -5 brewco said:

I finished The Lying Game this morning, which was just ok. I don't know why I keep reading Ruth Ware because her books annoy me so much.

Starting I'll Be Gone in the Dark today

QOTW: Definitely hear others thoughts

Oh boo this is next on my to-read pile. Was it a fast read at least?

Yes, fast and easy. The story itself is slow because there is a lot of repetition but I know a lot of people who really enjoyed it- so I'd still recommend!

[Vespasia]

I finished Circe over the weekend and it was fantastic.

I'm about 1/4 if the way through Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. It's fine but I expected to enjoy it more.

QOTW: I definitely don't want other people to hear my thoughts!

[frog]

I just finished The Church of Marvels, the story had a lot of potential, and had it been structured differently it could have been fantastic. But it wasn’t, so it was just ok.

I started reading Every Heart is a Doorway, the first in the Wayward Children series. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but it has the potential to be fun.

[MrsAxilla]

I haven't posted in forever because I was reading the same damn book for a month! I finally finished The True Queen, Katherine of Aragon by Alison Weir. I gave it four stars because I love how accurate her books always are, but poor Katherine spent a whole lot of time doing nothing and it's hard to make her time in exile compelling.

I just started The Paris Wife. I know it got mixed reviews here, but I love it so far! I love the throwback writing style and I LOVE the Jazz Age! I would have fit right in! Lol.

QOTD: what nonsense is this question?? Lol. No way I want anyone reading my thoughts!

[mrspez07]

Finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Very, very good on audio. I miss the characters.
Reading Before We Were Yours and liking it, despite the hard topic, my heart breaks a little nearly every time I read.
This weekend is crazy busy, just like the last two weeks, but have a vacay coming up next week and plan to do lots of reading.

QOTW: tough one. I’ll go with hearing others thoughts. Though I would have a hard time not acting upon what I hear!

[travella]

I finished Warcross by Marie Lu 3*. I started Touch by Courtney Maum. I'm stuck between WTH am I reading and sort of intrigued. I find her job as a trend forecaster interesting. I never thought about trends forecasting before and it is interesting to think about in terms of it's application in real life. I also found the correlation between intimacy and electronics sort of interesting in the beginning, but I grew tired of the characters's thoughts on that quickly.

QOTW: Both would be horrible, but I'd rather hear other people's thoughts. I wouldn't want the intrusion into my own mind. I would have to find a way to tune out because hearing thoughts constantly would cause sensory overload and there are some people who I wouldn't want inside their heads.

[abs]

I finished up An American Marriage this week. I overall liked it but also had some issues with it. Overall I'd give it 3.5*.

Just started Beartown and while it's too soon to really have an opinion it is grabbing me so far!

QOTW: Neither! If I had to pick I would choose hearing other's thoughts though.

[ssmjlm]

I was sent an ARC of The Other Woman by Sandie Jones. I’m 80ish pages in and so far it’s very predictable. I’m at the beach so I’m going to keep reading and hope the “twist” doesn’t suck.

QOTW: neither, lol

[bookchick]

I'm reading The Nurses by Alexandra Robbins

I just graduated from nursing school, so I thought this would be perfect. It is hilarious, and shocking at several parts.

QOTW?
I would rather hear others. I think a lot of weird stuff, so I would be mortified if anyone heard mine!

[rainbowchip]

turbo what age level is Womder? I thought it was for pre-teen but now I'm wondering if my 8 year old (going into 3rd grade) would be able to read it.

[Nonny]

I'm currently reading and enjoying The Power. 

I also officially abandoned Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations last night, because it's boring as fuck. I rarely ever abandon a book, especially a book for one of my book clubs, but after forcing myself to read 6% of it (over a week) I just couldn't keep going it was that bad.  I hit a point last night where he (Thomas Friedman) was like, "The dictionary will tell that a microprocessor is..." and I was like, nope.  That's it. I'm done.  I know what a microprocessor is, I know what Moore's Law is, and I know this ass hat isn't the person to be giving me any insight into technology and it's impact on society.  /rant


QOTW:  I don't really need people all up in my head, so I guess hearing other people's thoughts, but both of those are awful.  LOL!  

[spedrunner]

This week I read:

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy (2.5/5 stars)
This is supposed to be an up and coming thriller and it was just annoying.  I am not a mother and this book made mothers out to sound whiny, immature and overly dramatic.  The mystery was pretty uneventful
Has anyone else read this? IF so, id love to discuss bc honestly, i just was not into this book at all, maybe I missed something?!

Currently reading:

All The Beautiful Lies by Peter Swason (so far I really am enjoying it)

Stranger in the House (also really enjoying!) 

I feel very hopeful and into the two current books I am reading

QOTD:  wow both would be annoying, but i think id prefer to hear others thoughts, I would not want to hurt anyone with my own

[spedrunner]

May 26, 2018 17:39:54 GMT -5 turbo said:

May 26, 2018 10:00:39 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

turbo what age level is Womder? I thought it was for pre-teen but now I'm wondering if my 8 year old (going into 3rd grade) would be able to read it.

It is probably best suited for the 10/11 crowd to read on their own, but I think it could be a good one to read aloud and discuss at an earlier age. There was nothing inappropriate or off-color in it at all (like I sometimes find in DOAWK). I think it’s a great book for any kid to read so if you’re worried about content or complexity, you could buy it and read it yourself first.

An unsolicited recommendation - another book I have in my collection for my son is “I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives”. I haven’t yet read it but it gets rave reviews from my friends, and one read it aloud to her 8-year old recently and he really enjoyed it so you might look at that one as well.It’s a biography about an American girl who sends a letter to Zimbabwe for a class assignment and starts up a pen pal friendship with a student there. My son is only 18 months so I’ve got time before we will get to it but I plan to read it once I’m done with the giant stack of library books I just checked out.

My school just released that this will be the book we will be using in our One School One Book summer read.  All 6-8th graders will be required to read it along with us teachers    

[aurora]

I can't remember the last time I checked in. It could have been last Friday 5/18, or it could have been early May.

So, recently I've finished

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin - fun. I can't believe I didn't hear of her until she died, as I was really into her type of story when younger.
White Fang by Jack London - a re-read when I was waiting for an audiobook to come available
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon - another re-read, though I was pleased to see it had actually been way longer than I had thought (last read in 2012)
Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton - I got this one (along with Persepolis) from a "best graphic novels" list when I had graphic novels on my book challenge list, and it's really more of a collection of comic strips about various things than a graphic novel. Some were clever, but definitely not my cup of tea as a book overall.

I'm having trouble getting into audiobooks lately so am jumping around with a couple and a wide variety of podcasts while I wait for some library holds to come up.

QOTW: I am way too much of an introvert to want people to hear what I am thinking!

[ally]

I finished two books last week:
Carve the Mark, Veronica Roth.  3* it was fine, but I don't feel any need to red the sequel.
Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie.  3 1/2* it was quick and easy, but the time period does little for me. I had a hard time getting past the sexism!

I have started The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin - I had several library holds come in at once, this is what I picked!

QOTW: I know I don't want either, but I think I would pick that others could hear my thoughts and I would try VERY hard to control them.  Hearing others thoughts would be way too hard (I suppose it would make you a good detective, but still no!).

[aurora]

May 29, 2018 10:14:44 GMT -5 ally said:

I finished two books last week:
Carve the Mark, Veronica Roth.  3* it was fine, but I don't feel any need to red the sequel.
Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie.  3 1/2* it was quick and easy, but the time period does little for me. I had a hard time getting past the sexism!

I have started The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin - I had several library holds come in at once, this is what I picked!

QOTW: I know I don't want either, but I think I would pick that others could hear my thoughts and I would try VERY hard to control them.  Hearing others thoughts would be way too hard (I suppose it would make you a good detective, but still no!).

I hope you like the Fifth Season! My hold is coming up soon on the 3rd one and I'm really looking forward to it.