7/24 - Happy Friday, Reading Recp

[ufcasey]

It's Friday! So what have you been reading this week?

Reminder: We'll be discussing The Dutch House on Wednesday July 29 (next week!)

QOTW: If you could eliminate one book trope from ever being used again, what would it be? (example: the "I like you but I am not good enough for you, so we can't be together" trope. Feel free to be as vague or as specific as you want!)

[charlatti]

I finished Florence Adler Swims Forever, which was excellent. Having trouble getting anything started right now.

QOTW: I’m not sure if I’m answering the question correctly, but I dislike unreliable narrator twists.

[dontlook]

I finally finished Hamilton!

I have All My Mother’s Lovers up next.

QOTW: we’ve been friends forever and everyone thinks we should hook up but we don’t, bad relationship, bad relationship, oh wait, best friend is the perfect guy/girl and was here all along. Kiss /end scene (puke emoji)

[litskispeciality]

I'm still chipping away at "Ghosted". Very slow burn, like just getting good at 50%.

QOTW: I'm rich, you're poor, we can't be together because society says so but we do anyone and all works out. Although I read/watch a lot of that lol.

[rainbowchip]

I read Red and the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein and Devolution by Max Brooks. All were really good.

I read a little more of Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner but I can only take that in small chunks.

I started Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey this morning.

QOTW: the whole thing where a guy starts hanging out with a girl under false pretenses (like a bet or something) and then they end up falling for each other. Then the girl finds out and gets so mad. But rather than the guy just saying that it started out as a bet but turned real, he just lets her think that it was all about the bet.

[Vespasia]

I finished China Rich Girlfriend earlier this week. I can't quite decide if I like the books or if it's a hate read. Most of the characters are either awful, make really terrible decisions, or I just don't care about them at all. And yet, I already have the next book checked out so I have it when we go on vacation in a week. 

Now I am reading How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny. It's fine but I prefer more Three Pines and less political intrigue. 


QOTW: The annoyingly popular situation where people hate each other for ages before realizing that they really love each other. I also can't stand several of the other romantic tropes mentioned here which I why I generally avoid books and movies with lots of romance. I spend too much time thinking the protagonists are either idiots or jerks.

[meowmaps]

I read Friends and Strangers. Really enjoyed it.

Reading My Year of Rest and Relaxation right now. It's mostly holding my interest.

QOTW: I'm drawing a blank. I feel like my brain is only half-functioning at the moment.

[abs]

I’m reading The Last Train to Key West. So far I like it! Before that I read The Heir Affair. It was ok. Too long IMO.

QOTW: well after current experiences I never need to read another dystopian novel again so there is that...

[Vespasia]

Jul 24, 2020 14:36:43 GMT -5 abs said:

I’m reading The Last Train to Key West.

Oh that looks interesting! I actually went to Flagler College, which was in one his hotels. It was about as far from Key West as you can get in Florida but I've always found the influence of rail line on the state's development interesting. Too bad I am #150 for a hold!

[minzy]

I read A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron, about a dog that’s reincarnated to fulfill his purpose. It was a fluffy pick from my first visit to a Little Free Library. Check here for the one nearest you: littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/.

I also finished The Story of More - How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren.

QOTW: For non-fiction, I’d like to see humanity get it right on a major issue for once *before* it all burns to the ground. (Waves hands around indiscriminately while LOLsobbing). Is that too much to ask?! 🤪

[tacokick]

Went for some easy beachy books this week!

Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand (clearly a major influence on Daisy Jones and the Six!!!)

The Half Sister by Sandie Jones

Now I’m reading the new J Courtney Sullivan.

I realized the other day that when one of my library systems left the state system umbrella for digital books and re-launched under their own county system none of the records of the books I suggested they buy transferred.

I noticed a few books I knew recommended popping up under “new books” in the app but they didn’t auto go on hold for me. Not the biggest deal but I suggest a lot of books and getting them first when they buy them is a big perk. Plus if you suggested the book, you can have more than 6 requests at a time. Now I have to go back and look at the new book list regularly again and the waits are really long for some of them.

QOTW: I’m kind of tired of the unreliable female narrator thing. It doesn’t work for all books! I also have read a few books lately (the upcoming Sally Hepworth comes to mind) where I don’t think they needed it to be mystery or to have a shocking twist. It would have been much better as just straight fiction about a troubled family.

[travella]

I'm currently reading Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain.

QOTW: Like Vespasia, I dislike most romance tropes for the same reasons mentioned.

[mrspez07]

I finished The Second Empress by Michelle Moran and have been listening to Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny.
It’s been a crazy, busy week and I’m going camping next week. Looking forward to burning through multiple paper books I’ve been specifically saving..

[abs]

Jul 24, 2020 16:19:12 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Jul 24, 2020 14:36:43 GMT -5 abs said:

I’m reading The Last Train to Key West.

Oh that looks interesting! I actually went to Flagler College, which was in one his hotels. It was about as far from Key West as you can get in Florida but I've always found the influence of rail line on the state's development interesting. Too bad I am #150 for a hold!

I couldn't read this book fast enough!!  I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  I had to go back and read more about Flagler and the Hurricane of 1935.  I enjoyed her other books as well (My Last Year in Havana and When We Left Cuba) but The Last Train to Key West was my favorite.  I hope you do get to read it!

I am familiar with Flagler College by the way.  I spent a ton of time in Florida as a kid (lived in Miami for two years, and then visited my grandparents whenever I could).  DD's very favorite teacher ever went to Flagler College.

[ssmjlm]

Vespasia, his first book was good, but I agree that books 2 & 3 went downhill. Also I was a bit uncomfortable during the last book and the way he portrayed his people. I just found the last book in complete poor taste all around.

My reading has been all over the place. I just finished "Happy and You Know It" which started strong and then had a "twist" and then I was completely over it.

QOTW: Not all books needs twists to be good. Someone doesn't have to be leading a double life or a backroom drug dealer, or some other stupid shit some editor thinks will make a good book.

Also, I would love to stop finding SO MANY GRAMMAR AND PLOT errors.