Friday Reading Recap (9/11)

[ufcasey]

What have you read this week?

QOTW:
Do you find it hard to read books or watch tv shows/movies about September 11th or just plane crashes in general? Or do you find it cathartic? Or do you not feel strongly about it either way? (No judgments!)

[Vespasia]

Earlier this week I finished Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks. I really loved this and thought it was timely. Obviously I am not really worried about being murdered by Sasquatch but it had themes about the lack of preparedness and people wanting to "get back to nature" without realizing that nature can kick your butt. I think anyone who enjoyed World War Z would like this too. It's a combination of diary entries and excerpts/interviews with "experts."

Random aside, I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that he was the son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. 


Now I am reading The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. 

QOTW: I don't think I have ever watched or read anything fictionalized about September 11th. I can't really think of many things that fit the category and those that do seem too rah rah patriotism or emotionally manipulative to be my kind of thing. 

[minzy]

I took a break with reading this week, after finishing up my summer bingo challenge, which was kind of intense. I have lots on deck though, including Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. I caught part of a webinar he did yesterday and he confirmed there will be a Beartown #3.

QOTW: I have so far avoided reading books about 9/11. But I’ve paused by Freedom Tower in NY and have been to the Shanksville site twice. ETA: That’s not the kind of thing I’d normally visit more than once but the first time I took my kids (we were driving right past and I wanted them to be aware/be witnesses) and the second time my sister was with me. I was a sobbing mess going through the exhibits with info about the last calls. 😢 RIP to those lost souls.

[AJL]

Suddenly You
by Lisa Kleypas, 4/5 *

The Duke Buys a Bride (The Rogue Files, #3) by Sophie Jordan, 4/5 *

Red, White & Royal Blue
by Casey McQuiston, 5/5 *

Never Sweeter (Dark Obsession, #2)
by Charlotte Stein, 3/5 *


QOTW: I'm tired of reliving this day year after year. I don't like talking about what I was doing on 9/11. I generally avoid all discussion about it.

[meowmaps]

I read two domestic thrillers this week - The End of Her by Shari Lapena and The Dilemma by B.A. Paris. Both were decent, not the best of the bunch or the worst.

I barely started Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Despite being long I think it'll be a relatively quick and interesting read.

QOTW: Yes, I find it hard to read or watch anything about 9/11. I don't know that I avoid the topic but I certainly don't seek it out. One of the books I read this week had a deadly plane crash involved (unrelated to 9/11) and I'd prefer to not read about that topic if given a choice.

[charlatti]

I finished and loved Louise Penny’s newest book, All the Devils Are Here, and also finished The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen, which was another good one. Now reading Malorie, the Bird Box sequel.

QOTW: I definitely don’t seek out 9/11 books, but I wouldn’t avoid it necessarily either. I can think of at least a couple of plane crash books that I enjoyed, though — Birds in Fall is one I read many years ago that still sticks in my mind as being an excellent book.

[travella]

I finished From Scratch by Tembi Locke, 3.5*. I liked the book, but I just didn't get fully into the book. I think it was the jumping back and forth in the timeline in the beginning that kept me from loving it. I also finished George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl which I read with my son, 1*. Neither my son nor I enjoyed the book.

I hope to start Code Name Hélène
by Ariel Lawhon tonighy and my son and I started James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. I'm kind of excited about this one because I remember liking it as a child.

QOTW: I haven't been able to read anything about September 11th.

[wesleycrusher]

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost (audio) - 5
Why Did I Get a B?: And Other Mysteries We're Discussing in the Faculty Lounge by Shannon Reed (audio) - 3

QOTW: I read The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff earlier this year and rated it a 5. It was excellent.

[rainbowchip]

I've had a rough week so I spent a lot of time watching mindless TV and movies instead of reading.

I finished You Should See Me In A Crown. It was a cute YA LGBT book. I just wasn't in a reading mood so I probably was more judgy than I would have been.

I started The Coyotes of Carthage.

QOTW: I've read a few books about 9/11 and haven't really enjoyed them. I have heard good things about Only Plane In The Sky so I plan to give that one a go at some point.

There is a guy on Twitter who brought up the idea of disaster porn. It's greatly got me thinking.

[tacokick]

Playing Nice by JP Delaney

I'm Thinking About Ending Things by Iain Reid

Being Lolita by Alisson Wood

Village of the Lost Girls by Agustín Martínez

A Life Worth Living by Louise Guy

The Unseen World by Liz Moore

QOTW:

I don’t think I’ve read anything that was solely about it besides the book about the planes that landed in Gander. It doesn’t bother me either way.

[aurora]

Sept 11, 2020 18:19:40 GMT -5 charlatti said:

I finished and loved Louise Penny’s newest book, All the Devils Are Here, ...

I have this in my library hold list. I was so excited to see it had come out! Glad you loved it.

[aurora]

I finished the audiobook American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson, which someone here had recommended a while back. It was excellent! My only funny moment was when I couldn't figure out why the narrator, Bahni Turpin, sounded so familiar but then realized she had also narrated On the Come Up, which I just listened to last month. She does a good job.

I just started Michelle Moran's The Heretic Queen. I'm not far enough in to have an opinion yet.