Friday Reading Recap (8/23)!

[ufcasey]

What reading have you done this week?

QOTW:

If you could magically move your home to another location without it impacting anything else (distance to work, schools, friends, family, shopping etc) - where would you choose to have your home relocated? (examples: on the beach, near amusement parks, somewhere in Europe, on a famous ski lift mountain, etc)

[travella]

I read Run Away by Harlan Coben,2.5*. This book wasn't as good as some of his previous books in my opinion. I also finished The Dreamers by Karen Thompson last night, 2*. It was an interesting idea for a book, but it wasn't well developed. I am starting Inheritance: A Memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love by Dani Shapiro next.

QOTW: I want it all. I would want to live in a rural wooded area maybe some picturesque mountains in the distance, but still close to the ocean and a quaint costal town with lots of amenities/opportunities for the kids and entertainment. If we didn't have to worry about being away from my family then having all this in Europe would be great.

[wildrice]

I'm reading Elizabeth Warren's recent book, which I think is called "This fight is our fight" or something like that. It's very interesting, but it's so depressing. She is wonderful but so many of the things she talks about that go on in the US are just awful. I think I'm officially on team Warren now, though, and went ahead and ordered a t-shirt and buttons today. So I guess the book is affecting me.

I'm also listening to a super fluffy audio book called "Surprise me" by Sophia Kinsella. It's about as good as I expected, but it's good to listen to while I'm doing other things.

QOTW: I actually mostly like where I live right now, but if there was one thing I'd change about it this month is I'd get a different apartment. We've been having issues with losing electricity lately and I'm really frustrated with it. So, I definitely wouldn't want to take that with me. To more answer your question, though, I'd want to move somewhere not in the US. Perhaps Italy or France or Portugal. Definitely a city. We already don't live near family or close friends and already don't have great jobs or commutes, so I'd be fine with changing those too.

[krystee]

I read Evvie Drake Starts Over. 3 stars.

QOTW:
I would have an ocean view for sure. I love the water!

[meowmaps]

I finished Gods of Jade and Shadow. I liked it but it was slow and took me a while to get through.

I started Evvie Drake Starts Over last night. I'm hooked already.

QOTW: Not necessarily Asheville but possibly, or some place like it. It's small but big enough for cultural pursuits, close to the mountains for hiking and other outdoor adventures, good food, a temperate climate, etc.

[tacokick]

I read:

The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

The Perfect Son by Lauren North

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

Now I’m reading the third Jackson Brodie. There is a lot of dog/cat death/violence in the books which is odd IMO.

QOTW: I’d like to leave the house behind personally but I’d take with me to Lisbon if I had to.

[sassypants]

I blew through the Stranger Things book Suspicious Minds. It had some problems but it was a fun read overall. I got the hold back for the GRRM prequel Fire and Blood so I'm wading through that now.

QOTW: We move a lot so I'm not particularly attached to this particular house, but I'd love to live somewhere more north than I am or even Canada. TBH, though, I think London or close by would be spectacular if I could afford to live and work there.

[mx27]

Currently reading, “The Huntress” by Kate Quinn. This book picked up for me about half way through, so now I’m enjoying it!

I know posters on here have previously explained how kindle readers can continue to read a library e-book after it has expired, but I didn’t understand until a few days ago. My book expired sometime last week, but, thankfully, I am continuing to read it on my kindle!

QOTW: Green and mild, like 70s for a high for most of the year! I belong in Washington or Oregon, I think.

[Vespasia]

I finished the Alice Network by Kate Quinn. I liked it a lot but it took a while to get into it and I preferred the Huntress.

Now I am reading the Presence by John Saul. I haven't read anything by him since high school. It's not great but it's an easy read and I'm waiting for holds to come up so I will stick with it for now.

QOTW: Franschhoek, South Africa as long as I can have both the normal proximity to my real life and Franschhoek's to the rest of South Africa. 😉

[minzy]

I finished Dave Grohl - Times Like His - Foo Fighters, Nirvana and Other Misadventures by Martin James. It was just ok.

I also tore through Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I love a good page turner, especially coming off of a slower moving read, and this was that. Perfect for the beach or pool.

I’ve just started Refugee by Alan Gratz.

QOTW: I think I’d probably like to stay near where I already live (Maryland). Close to bigger cities of import, a little out of the fray. Probably somewhat safer, relatively speaking, from some of the early effects of climate change.

[dontlook]

I finished My Lovely Wife. 4.75 stars. It was really good!

I listened to The Wizard of Oz with the kids in the car. Very entertaining.

QOTW: I would want to be in a coast, near water where it doesn’t get too hot or too cold. Probably somewhere in Europe where I could travel to lots of places easily.

[charlatti]

I finished The Farm by Joanne Ramos, which I really liked. It’s not dystopian, though many synopses give that impression, so some reviewers seem to be disappointed. I liked how it looked at issues of gender and class without offering any easy answers.

Currently rereading Harry Potter #5. School started for me this week, so my reading is going to slow down considerably.

Qotw: On the beach is pretty much always my answer. If I could walk on the beach every day while still living my normal life, my stress level would be dramatically lower. Nothing else has that same result for me.

[mrspez07]

Been a busy week so I’m only reading the 10 minutes before I fall asleep.
Reading Whistling Past the Graveyard and definitely enjoying it, just not getting very far.

I’d go to the Ticino part of Switzerland with my magic house and life. I’d even give up the house and bring my friends and family to live there with me.

[abs]

I'm reading Life and Other Inconvenience's. It's heavier than I usually expect from Kristin Higgins but so far it's good. I am just not making much progress because we are all going to bed earlier with school starting again.

QOTW: I don't know. Can I have a house that will magically transport itself to the hill country in Texas when the weather is nice and then to Hawaii the other 9 months?

[sarahswim]

This week I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we’ve finished the series. My H, DS, and I read the whole series together, all for the first time. I’m proud of DS (9 yrs) for reading the whole thing! I’m really sad to be finished with it. I have a stack of books waiting for me but I feel like I need to wait a bit-that sounds really dramatic! I just really loved the whole thing.
I wish I could move my house to the beach, for sure. But if there’s magic involved, can it be a beach where it’s not overly humid? Like just warm enough all year round.

[dontlook]

Aug 24, 2019 16:31:36 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

This week I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we’ve finished the series. My H, DS, and I read the whole series together, all for the first time. I’m proud of DS (9 yrs) for reading the whole thing! I’m really sad to be finished with it. I have a stack of books waiting for me but I feel like I need to wait a bit-that sounds really dramatic! I just really loved the whole thing.
I wish I could move my house to the beach, for sure. But if there’s magic involved, can it be a beach where it’s not overly humid? Like just warm enough all year round.

DD (8) and I only made it part way through book 2. I want to keep reading by myself but I also want to experience it with her. Congratulations on reading all of them!

[sassypants]

Aug 24, 2019 16:31:36 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

This week I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we’ve finished the series. My H, DS, and I read the whole series together, all for the first time. I’m proud of DS (9 yrs) for reading the whole thing! I’m really sad to be finished with it. I have a stack of books waiting for me but I feel like I need to wait a bit-that sounds really dramatic! I just really loved the whole thing.
I wish I could move my house to the beach, for sure. But if there’s magic involved, can it be a beach where it’s not overly humid? Like just warm enough all year round.

That is a completely natural reaction to finishing that series. We all needed some space when we were done.

[aurora]

I just finished Circe! Will need to sleep on it before going back to the book club discussion, though.

I'm still reading A Feast For Crows, and also started The Bean Trees (a re-read, but since high school) due to travel and it being on my Kindle.

QOTW: Alaska

[aurora]

Aug 24, 2019 16:31:36 GMT -5 sarahswim said:

This week I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we’ve finished the series. My H, DS, and I read the whole series together, all for the first time. I’m proud of DS (9 yrs) for reading the whole thing! I’m really sad to be finished with it. I have a stack of books waiting for me but I feel like I need to wait a bit-that sounds really dramatic! I just really loved the whole thing.
I wish I could move my house to the beach, for sure. But if there’s magic involved, can it be a beach where it’s not overly humid? Like just warm enough all year round.

I've been re-reading the HP series every 2 years or so. (Or re-listening to the audiobooks from my library.) It's not old yet, so feel free to re-start wherever! (And you'll pick up on clues from earlier books now that you know what happens.)

[rainbowchip]

I finished Elevation and read I'll Be There For You: The One About Friends. There were parts that were interesting, like discussions on how the show handled things like homosexuality and race but it was mostly about the actors. How they got the job on Friends, all the contract negotiations in between, and what they did after Friends.

I'm currently reading Blood Truth (BDB Legacy #4) and I'm listening to Treasure Island because it was a free audible original and I needed something to keep me motivated yesterday as I did a deep clean on my house. I've never read it before so the story is new to me but I'm seeing a lot of references IRL that I never knew came from TI.

QOTW: Hawaii. Tropical paradise, pretty much the same weather year round, 12ish hours of daylight every day.

[Nonny]

I've been busy this week.  I finished Moment of Lift, started and finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, wrapped up Sandman Vol. 7, and am about 50% of the way through Elevation (so should finish in time for the book discussion this week).  And I'm still 5 books behind schedule for my goal on Goodreads this year.  LOL!


QOTW:
I want a house in a location that's basically impossible, so it would have to be magic.  My H and I both want to live a sort of forested area, and I think it would be nice to live on a lake, and he wants to live on a bluff overlooking the ocean, so we need something mountainous, forested, with enough land to look over an ocean and also have a lake (and fruit trees and a self tending garden, LOL!).  All neighbors would have to be QUIET at all times.

[ssmjlm]

I'm in an awful reading slump. The last few books I've read were "meh" at best. I even tried Clare Mackintosh's latest and it ended up DNF. Why do authors have these amazing first books and then the others just fall so so flat.

I don't know what I want to read, but I'm actively avoiding my kindle at the moment.

[Gato]

I finished A Mouthful of Birds by Sarah Shcweblin and then Everyday People, a collection of short stories by POC. It was kind of crazy that the first stort story was *also* a horror story, just like all the stories in Schweblin's book. I think I need some more light reading for next week, lol.

QOTW: that's so hard to decide. I'd say move my house to the shoreline of my current city, but I like the people in this neighborhood a lot better, I suspect, than I would the kind of people who can afford to live right on the coast.

[just]

This is for the last few weeks

Daisy Jones and the Six - I enjoyed this far more than I expected. It was such an easy read. There's a scene in it that I feel Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga modeled their Oscar performance on!
City of Girls - eh, it was fine. I don't know why she didn't just concentrate on the 1940's pre US war intervention period. After that it got too spread out and messy.
Little - Fun book, interesting, great writing style. Gook me longer to get through than I usually would though.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - I like this one a lot too. It reminded me of Ready Player One in a weird way - a group of young people trying to solve a puzzle together. Overall the ending was a little disappointing, but I did enjoy it.
American Spy - Fun spy book, I loved that the intrigue was set in Africa, I kind of hope it's a series.
Assymmetary - I didn't quite get this book. I liked the stories, but feel kind of stupid because I didn't really understand the point
Queenie - I like it, didn't love it. It was hard to relate to her, but it was well written

Next on deck - hearts invisible furies again in time for book club, and then Normal People by Sally Rooney

QOTW: If I could live my current life, but be in a place that was Bangkok on one side and a Thai beach on the other, I'd be all about that.

[minzy]

Aug 27, 2019 8:25:25 GMT -5 just said:

This is for the last few weeks

Daisy Jones and the Six - I enjoyed this far more than I expected. It was such an easy read. There's a scene in it that I feel Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga modeled their Oscar performance on!

I totally agree, and was thinking of the two of them performing Shallow while I read that part, too.