October! What are you reading?

[Sílvia]

I finished When did I get like this? The screamer, the worrier, the dinosaur-chicken-nugget buyer & other mothers I swore I'd never be by Amy Wilson. I really enjoyed it and could relate to most things. Totally recommended for moms, if you haven't read it yet. I just need to complain about good reads reviewers a little bit. Some people wrote that they couldn't relate or enjoy the book because the author is an "upper class New Yorker" or something close to that. Seriously? You really can't wrap your mind around the fact that some people have more money than you and/or live in a glamorous city but still struggle with some if the same things you do? Jeez. They can't understand the world of "exclusive NY preschools"? These people are supposed to be *readers*, how can it be so difficult for them to understand that there are different lifestyles in the world? How can they be narrow-minded to the point of feeling bothered by the differences? Ugh.

Then I started Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. Blush, was this your recommendation? It looks right up my alley.

[Blush]

I did read Tell the Wolves I'm Home and I loved it. I hope you like it too!

I also read the plagiarism claim on the Dave Eggers book.

[mellenhead]

I finished Tampa. It's a totally fucked up book. I mean it was good, but bizarre.

I need to hit the library tomorrow.

[Rowan]

I don't know if I buy the plagiarism with the Eggers book. Honestly the main points they use are really non-brainers in the way of what is known in FB culture. The name similarities is really a reach. But honestly....who knows?

[Blush]

I finished The Interestings. I liked it, but it wasn't earth shattering. I liked the style of writing and seeing the same events through the different characters' eyes.

Now I'm reading "The Family Took Shape" by Shashi Bhat.

When Mira Acharya’s father dies, the challenges facing her Indo-Canadian family become that much more daunting. Ravi, her autistic older brother, requires special care but longs to be just like other children. Their mother must work full time to keep a roof over their heads and still make time to be a parent to an over-achiever and a developmentally challenged child. As much as Mira loves her mother and brother, she resents the situations in which living with them places her.

It is only when Mira is older that she realizes a truth she has been missing all along: though her family’s experience may be unusual, what holds them together—has always held them together—is universal. Shashi Bhat’s debut novel, The Family Took Shape, is a touching, hilarious, and endearingly honest story about one unique family’s search for happiness in Canadian suburbia.

[Blush]

I really, really enjoyed "The Family Took Shape" by Sashi Bhat. I couldn't put it down.

Now I've got "Before I go to Sleep" by SJ Watson. Also in the pile are "Penelope" by Rebecca Harrington and "Brava, Valentine" by Adriana Trigiani.

[Blush]

I finished "Before I Go to Sleep" last night. It was good. I started to dread the resemblance to Groundhog Day in the repetition (the protagonist wakes up every morning with no recollection of her life and must learn that she's married and a good 20 years older than she thought) but it was suspenseful and made me want to finish quickly.

Then I started "Penelope" by Rebecca Harrington.

When Penelope O'Shaunessy steps into Harvard Yard for the first time she has lots of advice from her mother. "Don't be too enthusiastic, don't talk to people who seem to be getting annoyed, and for heaven's sake, stop playing Tetris on your phone at parties." Penelope needs this advice. She is the kind of girl who passes through much of her life with coffee spilled on her white shirt, who can't quite tell when people are joking, and who, inevitably, always says the wrong thing. But no amount of coaching will prepare Penelope for the people she meets at school.

Capturing the social hierarchy of Harvard, gloriously skewing the various college types, and skillfully parodying the pretentiousness of academia, Penelope is the ridiculous, snarky, brilliantly funny story of one of the most singular, memorable heroines in recent fiction.

[Rowan]

Blush, I'll be curious about what you think of your current book....although it sounds as here description matches most Ivy Leaguers I know....

I read The Silent Wife by ASA Harrington. I liked it but it was touted as better than Gone Girl and I disagree.

I'm currently reading The Cuckoo Calling by JK Rowling's pseudonym. It took a bit to get into but now I'm liking it.

[mellenhead]

I started reading A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout. She was traveling in Somalia in 2008 when she was kidnapped and held captive for over a year. The writing is good but I can't get past how dumb the author was to think she could just go travel freely in Somalia alone and not have any issues.

[Sílvia]

I really liked both Before I go to Sleep and The Silent Wife, guys. Fun books.

I finished Tell the Wolves I'm home. Apparently I'm going down in TH history as the first board member who didn't like it. I only finished it because so many of you loved it, I had to know what I was missing. The second half was better than the first, it certainly had its moments, but I still think there wasn't much of a plot.

Now I started The Kindness if Strangers by Katrina Kittle.

[Malanee]

Finished Lexicon, which was awesome. About 3/4 through with The Shining Girls - and it's good, but not great. Can't get into Life after Life, but looking forward to:

Hyperbole and a Half
London Falling
The World's Strongest Librarian

Before I Go to Sleep was a good thriller, I liked Cuckoo's Calling and I agree that Dark Places and Sharp Objects were better than Gone Girl.