Friday Again (7/6/18)

[dorothyinAus]

What are you reading this weekend? Anything you can't put down or would recommend to everyone you see?

QOTW: Have you read any books that genuinely surprised you with how much you enjoyed them?

[charlatti]

I finished The Book of Essie last night (very good and thought provoking) and started Legendary, the sequel to Caraval. I’m not sold yet, especially since I wasn’t over the moon for Caraval, but it seems like it will be a fast read.

Qotw: I loved Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan, which surprised me because I expected a light chick-lit book. It is definitely not fluffy and is a beautifully told story.  In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides was spectacular nonfiction. I wish the subjects of his other books appealed to me because he’s a fantastic writer.

[bex]

I am reading Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane. I thought I had read more of his books but I think I've only read Shutter Island, which I loved (but loved the movies for Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone.) I'm about halfway through and the story is just starting to pick up. I'm assuming the first 150 pages will be important later on but it's just now reached the point of "I don't want to put this down."

QOTW: I honestly can't think of any. I read books based on reviews and recommendations primarily, so I almost always go into a book expecting to LOVE it, so I end up disappointed a lot. That's kind of depressing lol. But I feel like so many reviews on GR are very extreme - people either love or hate books - so I always feel like I'm the odd one out when I'm like....3 stars?

[spedrunner]

Happy Friday!

Currently Reading: 

The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain (Yayyyyy I have been waiting to dive in for a long time, I started last night but just could not get into it  LOL  grrr)

The High Season by Judy Blundell

This Week I read:

Tin Man by Sara Winman
2 1/2 stars 
I am probably the minority here. Most seem to have loved this. I think it was beautifully written, excellent topic, however it was just so down and depressing to me and i really did not "get it"  I think i lost patience and did not give it my full focus

Keeper Of the Light by Diane Chamberlain
4/5 stars

The Secret Life of CeCe Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
4/5 stars

Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain 
4/5 stars

I WIll Always Write Back by Caitlyn Alifirenka
5/5 stars
*This book has inspired me to get my own pen pal!! We have really hit it off so far!  ALthough he is not struggling as Martin was, it is still really neat to speak with my new French friend!

QOTD: 
Kindred!I loved this book so much and put it off for so long because I don't really like fantasy. I imagined this was far fetched and I was so wrong!

[ufcasey]

Read:
Immortal in Death (#3 in series) by J.D. Robb
4 stars/romantic suspense-mystery
So far this series keeps getting better, but that's a hard trend to maintain over 40+ books, so we shall see haha

Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews
5 stars/urban fiction-paranormal romance
This new spin-off of their Kate Daniels series is AWESOME. I admit I am completely biased in this assessment though.

DNF
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza - fiction; I was so confused by the audiobook that I had to switch to the ebook. But then I still just didn't care about the story so 25% in I gave myself permission to quit.


Total so far for the year: 73


Currently Reading:
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin - fantasy; this book is crazy, crazy good. It's fantasy but there's none of your typical fairies, elves, etc, it's very different in the best kind of way.

QOTW:
Probably "Beartown" by Fredrik Backman because it's somewhat about hockey (I dislike sports books) and it is NOTHING like his other book I loved ("A Man Called Ove"), it has a lot of characters in it (something I usually hate) and yet I *loved* that book .

[msmerymac]

Read: The Hate U Give (4.5 stars)
Currently reading: Little Fires Everywhere

QOTW: The Violets of March, any Susanna Kearsley book, A Monster Calls

[rainbowchip]

I finished Eliza and Her Monsters last night and I loved it. It was a light YA which was just what I needed right now.

I'm going to start The Thief (BDB #16) today.

QOTW: I tend to shy away from non-fiction books but I really enjoyed Radium Girls and What Happened.
I also just recently (in the past 5 years or so) started expanding my genres and found that there are a lot of genres that I LOVE that years ago I wouldn't have even picked up. Post apocalyptic for example.

Also, I never expected to like Twilight. I picked it up just knowing that I would hate it because everyone else loved it so much. And then I turned into and obsessed twi-hard.

[litskispeciality]

I'm still chipping away at Little Fires Everywhere, should finish this weekend if all goes well.

QOTW: The Hunger Games, not totally my style and I went in thinking it was overhyped. Maybe The Nightengale too, I'm not a big historical fiction girl.

[travella]

I finished The Guise of Another by Allen Eskins. 4* I started Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman.

QOTW: I was shocked that I liked the Twilight series and Harry Potter series as well as I did. I reluctantly read both due to the hype and was glad I did because they were both pretty good.

[secretlyevil]

Just finished the HP series as audio books. I held it together overall, little weepy with Doby and Dumbledore's deaths but when Harry is walking to the forest to die and all the ghosts show up. Bawled my eyes out. 

Started "The Hate You Give" as an audio books.

Need to find a book book to read. My book club's read for August does not interest me at all but I guess I should read it.

ETA: 

QOTW: Have you read any books that genuinely surprised you with how much you enjoyed them?


I can't think of an example, usually book club related. Audio books has really helped my non-fiction reading, I don't like reading the genre but as audio books, love them.

[secretlyevil]

Jul 6, 2018 9:21:36 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Read: The Hate U Give (4.5 stars)

I'm listening to it at the office and keeping my emotions in check is hard.

[frog]

I just finished Circe by Madeline Miller. It was pretty good though I thought a few places dragged.

I just started The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. It’s the sequel to The Space Between Us which I really liked.

I can’t really think of too many books I was pleasantly surprised by. Normally it goes the other way where I’m really excited to read a book and it’s just disappointing.

[minzy]

This week I finished: 

Fierce - How Competing for Myself Changed Everything by Aly Raisman, 4 stars.  The gold medalist/two time Olympian describes her life, dedication to sport, career highs.  There's some mention of the assaults by Larry Nassar, but fittingly(?)/by design(?) he wasn't a huge part of the story.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, 4 stars.  It's about a woman on the autism spectrum who has a male escort teach her about the physical parts of love.  It's kind of like The Rosie Project, majorly sexed up.  

Bloodsworth - The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence by Tim Junkin, 5 stars.  Wow.  It's the One Maryland, One Book choice for 2018.  It's about a man erroneously convicted (twice) of the rape and murder of a nine year old girl.  It's got police and legal drama, science coming to the rescue, freedom, and ultimately, justice finally being served.  The story was just incredible, and the book itself was so well done.

I'm currently reading Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think
by Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Hans Rosling, and Ola Rosling.  It's a Bill Gates recommended summer read.  Like apparently most, I scored horribly on the beginning quiz, and I feel like the main author is continually condescending about everyone's stupidity.  But, they've got some good points and some realism about the state of world affairs.  In the grand scheme of things (from a global perspective), many things really aren't so bad.

QOTW: I can't think of too many that were surprisingly enjoyable to me.  I feel like I'm kind of picky.  I usually won't bother to read a book unless I think it has a pretty good chance to be good.

[monkeyfeet]

I’m chipping away at 11/22/63. I thought the first 25% was slow, but it’s definitely picking up.

QOTW: so many that have been recommended outside my genre, but I eventually pick them up because they’re recommended over and over. The Name of the Wind is one and I put HP off forever and then flew through them.

[mrspez07]

Just finished Jack1939 by Francine Mathews, it’s historical fiction about JFK’s summer in Europe (as a spy). Interesting.
Also finished listening to Killersof the Flower Moon. The first narrator was hard to listen to and I enjoyed the book more in the second half.
Just picked up Beartown

[ssmjlm]

I’ve been reading free trashy Beach reads while on vacation. Sorry goodreads friends! 😉

I did read The Wedding Date and I’m waiting to do my review. I can’t decide why this book got such good reviews. It’s a well known plot and the inner dialogue wasn’t all that good. And while the racial piece was important and well done, I feel like it could/should have been more prominent in the story.

I just started The Woman in the Window and it is so boring. I hope it gets better.

[dorothyinAus]

I'm reading Crowned and Dangerous, but I just got the Murder Most Unladylike Mini Mystery, so I may read that today because it is simply too tempting to dive into an adventure with Hazel & Daisy on this cold, rainy, windy, grey day. And we blew our out-to-eat budget already this week, so we can't go to our favorite local cafe and occupy a table with books and bottomless pots of house-blend tea.

QOTW: I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed The Three Musketeers. I tore through it in three days when I should have been studying for my last semester finals in college. It was so good! Actually, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed all the Dumas works I've read, especially considering I have dragged myself kicking and screaming through other similar vintage novels originally published as serials. And I was really surprised at how much I have enjoyed reading the Nero Wolfe mysteries, given that in the television and radio portrayals I want to slap the character of Nero Wolfe across the room, he's so annoying!

[dorothyinAus]

Jul 6, 2018 18:52:08 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I’ve been reading free trashy Beach reads while on vacation. Sorry goodreads friends! 😉

I went through a period earlier this year when most of what I read was Kindle Freebie mystery novellas. I felt kind of bad for my followers on Goodreads, but it was what I needed and wanted at the time. The book snob in me is glad they're on the Kindle, so when I'm out and about, I don't actually have to admit what I'm reading. I want one of those Kindle covers that says "My other book is War & Peace."

[Nonny]

I'm about 1/2 way through the graphic novel The Beauty, Vol. 3 (it's another prequel to the first volume, which is a really weird as hell structure, seeing as how there are only 4 volumes total). 

And I'm about 1/3 of the way through Code Girls, which I intend to recommend to about half a dozen people on Goodreads once I'm done.  But I'll preface this recommendation here with the bit of info that these recs will be going out to the people I do puzzles with (room escapes, Black Letter Game, etc.) and while I think other people would definitely find it enjoyable from an historical perspective on WWII, these specific people will geek out on it because of the history around the ciphers.


QOTW:  I was highly surprised by how much I enjoyed Eligible, a modern take on Pride and Prejudice.  I just can't get it up for Jane Austen or romance novels or "chick lit" or TV shows like The Bachelor, and this was basically all of that rolled into one. But it was witty and snarky, and I was at the right place for a fluff read and found myself sucked in.

[sassypants]

I just started The Outsider by Stephen King. Too soon to tell now. I generally love SK but sometimes I'm jarred by how much of a "Boomer-dude" writer he is with some of his cultural assumptions.

QOTW: Since I'm on an SK novel, I'd have to say Under the Dome. I had given up on SK as having lost his touch in the early to mid-90s and hadn't read anything of his in a while when a student who was reading Dome said I should give him another chance. He was right. That book was fantastic, and it got me back on the SK wagon (I still have no interest in his 1990s stuff)!

[MrsAxilla]

I’m reading Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.  I’ve kinda been on a Jazz Age kick since I read The Paris Wife.  

QOTD: I can’t think of a specific book, but I’m always genuinely surprised when I enjoy a kindle first

[mrspez07]

Nonny
Have you watched the very short-lived series The Bletchley Circle? I enjoyed the storyline and the clothes, unfortunately it didn’t run long but is on Amazon and maybe Netflix.

I agree with you on Eligible. I have a hard time reading Pride and Prejudice.

[Nonny]

Jul 6, 2018 21:09:55 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Nonny
Have you watched the very short-lived series The Bletchley Circle? I enjoyed the storyline and the clothes, unfortunately it didn’t run long but is on Amazon and maybe Netflix.

I agree with you on Eligible. I have a hard time reading Pride and Prejudice.

I have seen it!  I watched it a couple of years ago on Netflix after one of my puzzling friends recommended it to me.  They mention the group at Bletchley Park a few times in this book, but it's kind of just passing references because the focus is on the US code breakers, not the Brits.

The one nice thing about having never reading P&P and then reading Eligible was that I didn't have any idea who was going to eventually end up hooking up. LOL!

[ally]

This week I finished Warcross by Marie Lu, 4*, I liked it and look forward to book 2.  I will say there were points it told me far too much about "the game", but I not so much that I did not want to continue reading.  This brings to 35 books for the year.

I am currently reading In The Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes.  Set in Saudi Arabia in the late 1960's and I have been enjoying it.

QOTW: Like another poster I wanted to not like the Twilight series, but was totally hooked.  They are not great literature, but I fully enjoyed reading them.  There have been some IRL book club picks that I have read with skepticism, but very few have I actually disliked. 

[Gato]

I am reading The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. It's great except for the part I just finished, one of the four kids' stories, which I found such a downer and hard to believe. I don't think the author established sufficient motive for what this person ends up doing.

I also read Selfie by Will Storr, a nonfiction about how individualism developed throughout history, leading to today's narcissism. Very engrossing and relevant.