It's Friday! (6/15)

[ufcasey]

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

QOTW:
If you have one: What book series ending ruined a series for you?
If you don't have one: Name a series you just didn't like too much but read the whole thing anyways hoping it would get better

[litskispeciality]

Happy Friday and happy Father's day to any dads on here. This week I finally finished We Were Liars. I'm glad I finished, might be worth a re-read to see what I missed before, but I had a hard time sleeping last night.

I hope to start "Little Fires Everywhere" tonight, is the group read in July?

QOTW: I don't lead a lot of series but I have to go with Divergent. For the few who haven't read it I won't spoil it, but the third book really ruined the series.

[spedrunner]

It was a great reading week for me!

Read
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
5 stars

A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena
4 stars

Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain
4 stars

Currently reading
The Husband Hour by Jamie Brennar

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
*was really enjoying but just began part 2 and feel very lost?!?

QOTD:  I have not really read any series!  I have too little patience!

[monkeyfeet]

I have been reading Outlander #6 for forever m, but like it. I finished Crazy Rich Asians this week. I wouldn’t have picked it up if it weren’t for book club, but I enjoyed it. A good summer read.

QOTW: I don’t think I’ve had one. I didn’t mind Divergent. Maybe Patrick Rothfuss since he had taken so long to write #3 that there is no way I’ll remember the first two and don’t want to re read them since it’s a investment of time, even though I lived them. I feel like there are series everywhere and try to avoid them. I just picked up Outlander a few years ago at my cousins insistence. Do you think it’s because people’s ideas are complex or they want more money?

[ufcasey]

I completely forgot to post the books I read last week, so here's two weeks worth:

Read:
Everless by Sara Holland
1 star/ya-fantasy
Great premise, terrible book

My American Duchess by Eloisa James
3.5 stars/historical romance
Runaway bride, historical romance style. Only better than you are expecting.

Only a Kiss by Mary Balogh
2 stars/historical romance
I only kept reading to find out the true back story of the heroine. It wasn't worth it.

A Questionable Client (.5 in series) by Ilona Andrews
4 stars/PNR
While I anxiously awaited the last book in the Kate Daniels series, I figured I should read this prequel short story. So good. I'll be so sad when the last book comes out.

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
4 stars/non-fiction
I'm still not sure how she managed to catch up and exceed academically, but man what a messed up family life! Very interesting.

Menace and Grievous by J.M. Darhower
3 stars/romance
These are two separate books, which really should have just been one edited down book.

Imp Forsaken (#5 in series) by Debra Dunbar
4 stars/PNR
These books are not revolutionary or anything, but I find they just keep getting better! I'm definitely enjoying this series.

Total so far for the year: 67 (not including books under 150 pages or graphic novels)

Did Not Finish
More Than Words by Mia Sheridan - 2 stars/romance; I read a third of it and thought it was so unoriginal and uninspired that I could not continue on. I either love her books or hate them, and this one I couldn't even finish so...


Currently Reading:
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman - fiction; this is the sequel to Beartown and so far I am loving it (well, minus some of the politics stuff, but that's overlook-able)

Full Tilt by Emma Scott - romance; just started, no opinion yet

QOTW:
I have a shelf specifically dedicated to series enders that were terrible. Notable achievements:
The Others series by Anne Bishop (5 books of subtle hints of romance that leads to NOTHING)
The Queen of the Tearling series by Erika Johnsen (two fantastic books followed by whatdidijustread?!)
Fever series by Karen Marie Moning (lets all pretend the series ends at book 5)
Divergent series by Veronica Roth (I will forever hate Allegiant forever and ever and ever amen)

litskispeciality - the book club read is the last Wednesday of the month (well, normally, I have been terrible at remembering to do it that last couple of times). I just put a reminder post out there for everyone

[ssmjlm]

Currently reading: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I'm halfway through and really hoping it's worth it in the end. I'm not super warm on it at the moment.

QOTW: I hated the ending of the Divergent Series. Especially after getting through all the books. Apparently I wasn't the only once since the movie was going to change the ending, but then they never made the 4th movie.

[travella]

I finished Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins 2.5*. I started Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Jaswal and I'm about a hundred pages from finishing it.

QOTW: I wouldn't stick with a series hoping it gets better. The only series that comes to mind that kind of fits the question is Into the Light by Aleatha Romig. I loved the books! After finishing book two I went online to see when the next book was going to be released only to find out she doesn't plan on continuing the series...😢

[frog]

I finished “Undermajordomo Minor” this morning. It was really odd, but I liked it quite a bit.

QOTW: none really

[abs]

I’m also reading Us Against You. It’s great so far!

I don’t finish series I’m not too into. I still am disappointed that A Court of Wings and Ruin wasn’t better than it was.

[Nonny]

I'm currently reading The Buried Giant, and so help me god if I could punch a book character in the face it would be Axl for calling his wife Beatrice "princess" in every damn exchange of dialog.  NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT!!  Also, the story is pretty mediocre, so if I hadn't already abandoned last month's book for this same book club I'd probably abandon this one too.  I'm really disappointed; Never Let Me Go was *really good*, and this is just, not.

I've also got a graphic novel going, called Eartha.  It's... weird.  And the artwork was king of interesting for the first few pages, but now it just feels repetitive. 


QOTW:  I'll go sit next to all the people who hated the ending of the Divergent series.  Allegiant was awful.

SPOILER: Click to show

And not because she killed off Tris and it was some weird experiment, but because the writing turned to shit and she turned Four into a sniveling mess who was basically a completely different character than the entire rest of the series.

[rainbowchip]

I'm currently reading Still Me (Me Before You #3). It's actually kind of boring. I'm really getting sick of reading books that have a lot of day to day stuff in it. This book might end up being the QOTW. Lol


QOTW: The first series that came to mind was the Divergent series but I wasn't a huge fan of it to begin with.

The Sookie Stackhouse series kind of jumped the shark around book 9 (I think? It was the one in Dallas). I kept reading the series but it was painful.

The Fifth Wave series was also one where the first book was fantastic but the rest of the series were no where near as good.

[abs]

Jun 15, 2018 18:24:39 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I'm currently reading Still Me (Me Before You #3). It's actually kind of boring. I'm really getting sick of reading books that have a lot of day to day stuff in it. This book might end up being the QOTW. Lol


QOTW: The first series that came to mind was the Divergent series but I wasn't a huge fan of it to begin with.

The Sookie Stackhouse series kind of jumped the shark around book 9 (I think? It was the one in Dallas). I kept reading the series but it was painful.

The Fifth Wave series was also one where the first book was fantastic but the rest of the series were no where near as good.

I agree with both of those. I never did finish the Sookie Stackhouse series...I just ended up losing interest but that generally happens with me with long series.

ETA:  Oh wait.  I can think of one to answer the original question:  Mockingjay.  I loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire but Mockingjay was absolute crap. 

[wesleycrusher]

1. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See- I put my thoughts in the book club thread

2. Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman- this was a book club read

3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid- I liked this, it was a quick, enjoyable read

4. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

5. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover- I had been waiting for this for months on hold at the local library, so it's purely coincidence that I got it the same time as I was reading Krakauer's book. There are some similar themes brought up, and I'm glad I was able to read them one after the other.

QOTW: I told this story once before, but the Lying Games Series is the most recent one that comes to mind. The Lying Game by Ruth Ware was rec'd on the board. I looked and it was available from our library to borrow for the kindle, so I downloaded it. I was kinda confused, because when I began reading it, it was about a teen but I went with it....turns out I read The Lying Game, book 1 of 6 in a series by Sara Shepard (author of the Pretty Little Liars Series). So of course I had to finish out the series afterwards.

[mrspez07]

I’m reading The Flight Attendant by Chris Bojalian and Listening to Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. Both are good so far but not making much progress. The FA is due on Sunday.

QOTW: nothing recently is coming to mind. One in hindsight I didn’t really love much of the series but kept reading was (this is an UO on this board)...



Anne of Green Gables series

(ducks)

[minzy]

I read “Walking to Listen - 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time” by Andrew Forsthoefel (4 stars). The author was 23 when he started walking and his journey reminds me a little of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods along the Appalachian Trail and Wild by Cheryl Strayed along the Pacific Crest Trail.

I also read “From Cradle to Stage - Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars” by Virginia Hanlon Grohl (4 stars, she’s the mother of Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters). It wasn’t the best writing I’ve ever come across, but the stories were interesting. My four year old loves the Foo Fighters and she kept stealing the book off of me this week. 😂

I’ve just started When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi. She’s running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Congress in Maryland’s six district on June 26, nadiahashimi.com. In addition to writing (she also wrote The Pearl That Broke Its Shell which I think I first heard about here), she’s a pediatrician, mom of four, and is only 40 years old.

[ssmjlm]

abs I re-read each book before the movies and Mockingjay was definitely better the second time. I know that doesn’t make it better, but I’ve actually told a few people to try reading it again and a few agree the second read was better.

[rainbowchip]

Jun 15, 2018 18:30:15 GMT -5 abs said:

Jun 15, 2018 18:24:39 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I'm currently reading Still Me (Me Before You #3). It's actually kind of boring. I'm really getting sick of reading books that have a lot of day to day stuff in it. This book might end up being the QOTW. Lol


QOTW: The first series that came to mind was the Divergent series but I wasn't a huge fan of it to begin with.

The Sookie Stackhouse series kind of jumped the shark around book 9 (I think? It was the one in Dallas). I kept reading the series but it was painful.

The Fifth Wave series was also one where the first book was fantastic but the rest of the series were no where near as good.

I agree with both of those. I never did finish the Sookie Stackhouse series...I just ended up losing interest but that generally happens with me with long series.

ETA:  Oh wait.  I can think of one to answer the original question:  Mockingjay.  I loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire but Mockingjay was absolute crap. 

I thought about Mockingjay too. I hated it the first time I read it but after rereading it a few times I appreciate it more. Same thing happened with New Moon in the Twilight series.

[Vespasia]

Currently reading Baltimore Blues by Laura Lipman. It's fine but only really interesting to me because I live here.

QOTW: I can't really think of a series ending that I hated but there are quite a few where a book turned me off the rest of a series. Fiery Cross, Shelters of Stone, all of the Bronze Horseman prequels...

[sassypants]

Still making my way through The Book of All Souls. I am still really liking it, but it's a bit like reading an encyclopedia.

QOTW: Not sure, really, although The Tale of the Body Thief was the beginning of a very long end to the Vampire Chronicles for me.

[dorothyinAus]

I'm reading Rita Mae Brown's Murder Unleashed. I'm enjoying it, but I always enjoy Rita Mae Brown's mysteries; the animals are fun and I wish there was more interaction with the animals in the books.

QOTW: The White House Chef mysteries. I was really, really disappointed by the last couple of books and found the last one particularly disappointing and unbelievable. I enjoyed the first few, but they just kept getting worse and worse. I was hoping by the end they would get better, but I was so very wrong.

[dorothyinAus]

Jun 15, 2018 19:10:29 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

I’m reading The Flight Attendant by Chris Bojalian and Listening to Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. Both are good so far but not making much progress. The FA is due on Sunday.

QOTW: nothing recently is coming to mind. One in hindsight I didn’t really love much of the series but kept reading was (this is an UO on this board)...



Anne of Green Gables series

(ducks)

I love the Anne of Green Gables series. It's okay that you didn't. But may I ask what it was you didn't really like about it?

[bex]

I'm reading the Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I've been reading it for months now lol but I keep putting it aside to read other books - I think I've renewed it 6 times from the library. so I just need to finish it.

I hated Allegiant. HATED. It ruined the whole series for me and I cant stand Divergent now, even though the first one is still pretty decent objectively, IMO.

[mrspez07]

Jun 16, 2018 4:33:26 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Jun 15, 2018 19:10:29 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

I’m reading The Flight Attendant by Chris Bojalian and Listening to Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. Both are good so far but not making much progress. The FA is due on Sunday.

QOTW: nothing recently is coming to mind. One in hindsight I didn’t really love much of the series but kept reading was (this is an UO on this board)...



Anne of Green Gables series

(ducks)

I love the Anne of Green Gables series. It's okay that you didn't. But may I ask what it was you didn't really like about it?

It’s been a very, very long time since I read them (25-30 years), but I think they just felt really long and kind of boring. I know there was decent place setting, because that has stayed with me.

[bex]

Jun 16, 2018 8:26:38 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Jun 16, 2018 4:33:26 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

I love the Anne of Green Gables series. It's okay that you didn't. But may I ask what it was you didn't really like about it?

It’s been a very, very long time since I read them (25-30 years), but I think they just felt really long and kind of boring. I know there was decent place setting, because that has stayed with me.

They are long and kind of boring, lol. There's no huge conflict, its just a bunch of minor conflicts and stories of Anne's life. So while I love the series because of that, I can see why some would not.

[ally]

I finished The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain.  I did enjoy her writing, but something about the main character bugged me.

I started, and stopped two books, I was traveling and neither drew me in: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Impossible Views of the World.  Maybe another time...?

I am currently reading The Lake of Dreams and am still listening to The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

QOTW:  I am not sure if these count, because I stopped reading the series after a couple of books that I didn't enjoy but: the Sookie Stackhouse series just went on to long, Patricia Cornwall's series with Kay Scarpetta (Blow Fly was so negative I could not finish it and won't continue), and Diane Mott Davidson's cooking mysteries became annoyingly repetitive. 

[wesleycrusher]

Jun 16, 2018 17:48:18 GMT -5 turbo said:

Jun 15, 2018 18:24:39 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

I'm currently reading Still Me (Me Before You #3). It's actually kind of boring. I'm really getting sick of reading books that have a lot of day to day stuff in it. This book might end up being the QOTW. Lol

I finished Still Me yesterday because it was due back at the library and I concur with it being your QOTW. This may be a UO, but I just did not care for this series at all. I read all three books because people had raved, so I kept thinking I was going to get drawn in and like the characters, but I never once found myself liking any of them. Especially Louisa. It was weird.

I also read “After You” (precursor to Still Me), which I didn’t care much for, and “Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?” by Alyssa Mastromonaco. I didn’t love it, but I can’t articulate what it is about it that I wasn’t a fan of. For lack of a better way to describe it, I felt the book was too simplistic or was written for someone younger than me (and maybe it was).

QOTW: I rarely read series, but the Jojo Mayes Louisa Clark series weren’t doing anything for me (despite reading all three). It was wrecked at the end of book one (not because I wanted her to have some fair tale ending but just because I hated the ending from the perspective of the message it sent).

I actually liked? (I don't quite think this the right word) the end of Me Before You. Or at least I thought it was real- I think any other ending would have cheapened the book for me. I did not like the second and thirds books nearly as much, but get why the author wrote them (To show life goes on, Louisa's story was not done just because will's was, to make money, etc. )

I also read the book by Alyssa Mastromonaco 2 weeks ago- a lot of people liken her to Mindy Kaling (makes sense as they are good friends) and I don't care for Mindy that much.  It's interesting to see the real-life pressure of working in the white house but I agree there's something a bit immature to the writing? It's hard to describe. 

[krystee]

I just finished Book of Essie and really liked it. Also read The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand, which is one of my least favorite of her books.

[MrsAxilla]

I read Before We Were Yours. I really liked it, especially since it didn’t play out the way I predicted. I also finished The Girl Who Came Home (a titanic novel). Believe it or not there was a twist at the end! So I ended up liking it more than I expected.

I just started A Court of Frost and Starlight. I know y’all didn’t love it, but I missed Rhys -lol.

[spedrunner]

Jun 15, 2018 19:23:59 GMT -5 minzy said:

I read “Walking to Listen - 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time” by Andrew Forsthoefel (4 stars). The author was 23 when he started walking and his journey reminds me a little of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods along the Appalachian Trail and Wild by Cheryl Strayed along the Pacific Crest Trail.

I also read “From Cradle to Stage - Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars” by Virginia Hanlon Grohl (4 stars, she’s the mother of Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters). It wasn’t the best writing I’ve ever come across, but the stories were interesting. My four year old loves the Foo Fighters and she kept stealing the book off of me this week. 😂

I’ve just started When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi. She’s running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Congress in Maryland’s six district on June 26, nadiahashimi.com. In addition to writing (she also wrote The Pearl That Broke Its Shell which I think I first heard about here), she’s a pediatrician, mom of four, and is only 40 years old.

I read all three of these as well and loved them all so much!  I loved Bill Brysons writing and I loved Cheryls story....Walking to listen was probably my least fave. Let me know if you find any other similar ones!

[tacokick]

I loved Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht. Not my usual genre but it was really good

QOTW: I’m sad Sue Grafton died before finishing the series, I’ve read them since childhood and I hated Y. It was just really bad and now it’s the last one.