September! What are you reading?

[Rowan]

I finished Tap on the Glass by Linwood Barclay on Sep 1. I like his books!

I just finished Die in Plain Sight by Elizabeth Lowell. Meh. It's one of those cheapo paperbooks I take on trips. I'll probably leave it in the hotel....

[Spudd]

I finished Findependence Day, it was meh. Glad I got it for free.

Now I've started the Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. So far, so meh. I hope it picks up.

[mellenhead]

Spudd, Casual Vacancy never picked up for me....

I'm about halfway through Night Film by Marisha Pessl. It's one of those books that is so good that I'm stealing any scrap of time I can to read it.

EDIT: Finished Night Film. It was really good but there were like 4 endings. I would think the author was wrapping it up one way and it would veer off into another direction.

Next up is The Virgins by Pamela Erens.

[Blush]

I finished Sisterland and I seem to remember hearing that it wasn't as good as American Wife. True. I still enjoyed it but it didn't grip me.

Next up is The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver. I also have some others but I don't think I can renew this one any more.

[Rowan]

Blush, I definitely like American Wife and Prep better than Sisterland. It was still worth reading.

I read King of Lies by John Hart. Thumbs up for this one. I need to seek more out from him.

Next up is What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. I've got hockey practice M, T, W, F this week so hopefully lots of time for reading.

[Blush]

I finished The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver and I wouldn't recommend it. I liked the first half, as the plot focused on Bea, the Scottish nanny. But then it turned into a generational saga and I didn't care one bit about the kids or grandkids.

Next up is The Never List , by Koethi Zan. The description is:

For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the “Never List”: a list of actions to be avoided, for safety’s sake, at all costs. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism.

Ten years later, at thirty-one, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life, living as a virtual recluse under a new name, unable to come to grips with the fact that Jennifer didn’t make it out of that cellar. Now, her abductor is up for parole and Sarah can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends from jail.

Finally, Sarah decides to confront her phobias and the other survivors—who hold their own deep grudges against her. When she goes on a cross-country chase that takes her into the perverse world of BDSM, secret cults, and the arcane study of torture, she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.

Sadly timely, I think.

[mellenhead]

Blush, that sounds creepy. I need to at to my TBR list!

I finished The Virgins by Pamela Erens and Gulp by Mary Roach. Both were just ok......woudln't really recommend either one.

I don't know what to read next. I have a few at home from the library and more to pick up on the hold shelf. I think I might start Visitation Street.

[Rowan]

Blush, please let us know how that one is. Sounds "interesting"...

I'm still plugging away at What Alice Forgot. The Tues rink is set up with warm comfy viewing area so I tend to get more reading done then....

[Sílvia]

I finished Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Meh. I didn't know it was supposed to be YA/fantasy. I thought it would be horror with a World War 2 background. The first 150 pages were great, but then the mystery was solved and it veered more decidedly into fantasy territory. SOOO not my thing. Sigh.

Today I'm starting The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison.

[mellenhead]

I ended up starting The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. Supposed to be one of the new great series coming out, dystopian future, blah blah blah. We'll see.

[Rowan]

Finished What Alice Forgot. Thumbs up if you're in the mood for smart chick lit.

I'm reading Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I'm only 40 pages in but so far so good.

[Blush]

I just finished The Never List , by Koethi Zan. It was very compelling. Not the best writing I've ever encountered, but the story was fast paced and there wasn't a lot of time wasted on extraneous details. It's a book one could read in a dedicated evening.

Now for something totally opposite, Believe Me by Patricia Pearson.

How curious can a five-year-old really be? Frannie and Calvin are back, and even more baffled, in this hilarious and heartwarming sequel to Patricia Pearson’s critically acclaimed comic novel, Playing House.

Frannie Mackenzie thought she finally had her life on track. Even though she backed into love and parenthood — getting pregnant before she even knew how to spell her lover Calvin’s last name
(P-U-D-D-I-E) — the birth of baby Lester seemed to put everything in the right order at last. Ha! When her mother-in-law, Bernice, takes theatrically to her death bed and Calvin can’t deal, Frannie has to step up to the next big challenge: what to make of mortality when you’re pretty sure there’s no afterlife. And Lester, at five, knows just how to test his mother’s verbal and spiritual limits. Spotting a crucifix in a local church, Lester inquires, “What happened to that guy?”

There’s certainly no lack of absolutists in Frannie’s life: an atheist scientist bent on disproving God, a near-death experiencer, a suburban shaman, and the whole neo-con coterie of magazine editors at The Moral Volcano who pay her salary. But when it comes down to surveying the landscape of their own beliefs, Frannie and Calvin find that a dying woman and a growing child offer the most lasting lessons on life and faith.

[mellenhead]

I'm reading Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I'm only 40 pages in but so far so good.

I enjoyed Attachments - she has a new book out, Fangirl, that's getting rave reviews.

I kind of gave up on The Bone Season. Waaaaay to many different types of sears, mind readers, etc with fancy names to keep track of. Just not in the mood for that right now.

[Spudd]

Just finished Lexicon, 2 thumbs up! Thanks for the reco, Mellen. Now back to the Casual Vacancy... ugh.

[Rowan]

I have Lexicon in my pile....maybe i should grab that next.

Finished up Attachments. I liked it! Mellen, have you read her other book...Eleanor & Park? I liked that one too. I have Fangirl on my hold list.

[Blush]

I finished Believe Me by Patricia Pearson. It was good. Not life changing, but good.

Now I have a book of short stories and essays by Penny Vincenzi. I normally don't like short stories but I like essays and I love Penny Vincenzi so I guess we'll see. It's called Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights.

[mellenhead]

Rowan, I somehow missed she had another book. I'll have to look up Eleanor & Park.

I'm just finished up The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. It's a YA vampire book. Nothing fantastic but it's a quick somewhat amusing read which is what I need right now with this stupid head cold.

[Malanee]

On the third Virga book Pirate Sun - great series! Also reading:

The Unwinding an Inner History of the New America by George Packer
Facts of Life by Graham Joyce - read his book Some Kind of Fairy Tale and it was decent.
Finished The Cuckoos Calling and really enjoyed it - was surprised by who the author really was.
Did I tell you about I Am the Messenger? It was pretty good - by the Book thief author.
Wisdom of Psychopaths was meh.
Ever After by Kim Harrison was awesome. This whole series "The Hollows" is really fun.

[Malanee]

Did anyone read Wool? I thought it was good, but dragged a bit in the end.

[Spudd]

I did, and I agree. I was totally sucked in at the beginning but by the end I got a bit bored. Still I'd give it thumbs up.