September already! What are you reading?

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Blush
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September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I started Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy last night. It's a group of short stories but they are all tied together. It was published after her death and apparently some of the stories have been tucked away for a long time, so I am expecting them to be old fashioned but I don't care.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Spudd »

I'm reading "Work Less, Live More" which is a book about semi-retirement (where you quit your career but still make money to some extent). Pretty good.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

I'm still reading The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. I'm about 150 pages away from the end and pretty disappointed so far.
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Bugsy
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

I finished "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson over the weekend. Overall I did enjoy it--certainly an interesting concept--but I didn't love it.

Started "The Giver" by Lois Lowry this morning.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

At lunchtime I finished Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy. I still love her. Yes, a bit hokey but I don't care. I'm sad that's the last book of hers.

Next up is The Fever by Megan Abbott.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

Ok I finished up The Book of Life (last book in the All Souls trilogy) at lunch and wanted to throw it across the office. The whole book annoyed me - I feel like the author gave the main characters personality transplants for the this book. So disappointed since I loved the first two books.

I plan on starting Some Thing Real tonight, which is about a family with 13 kids that have been on and off reality television their whole lives and how it's screwed them up.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

I finished "The Giver" on the way in today. I thought I'd read it as a YA, but it really wasn't familiar to me so maybe not. Anyway, it was good...it's clearly geared to a YA reader and is a bit simplistic in some ways, but it's a really beautiful story in lots of ways too. I enjoyed it.

Now I have nothing with me for the ride home, but that's ok. Starting tomorrow I'll probably work through "What Color is Your Parachute" a bit more, because so far I've only skimmed a couple of chapters.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Spudd »

I just finished "My Name is Mary Sutter" which is about a woman in the US civil war who wants to become a surgeon. It was OK, but there was a lot of war talk I didn't really care for.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

I gave up on The Truth About the Harry Quebert affair. I've never seen a book go from really promising to really atrocious so fast. The writing is AWFUL, even though I kind of wanted to know what would happen. But life's too short and there were 350+ pages left.

Then I was mentally ready to start Life After Life, which has been on my list for months. I downloaded a sample... and was totally unkmpressed. Bah. I don't know if I should get it anyway, I was looking forward to it...

Then I read a little bit of The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, but I was so sleepy I don't remember a single thing I read! I have to read it again.

In short, I don't know what I'll read next.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

Silvia, I just finished Life After Life. I admit that I didn't love it, but I agree that the beginning was pretty unimpressive. It did get better pretty quickly, IMO. Worth giving it a shot, I think. It's a quick read, if nothing else.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

I ended up buying it. I read a little more and it seems better than last night. Maybe I was just tired and irritated about giving up on yet another book. I hate that because I waste precious 3-4 days of my reading time before giving up.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I finished The Fever. I liked the writing but the ending seemed a bit lacklustre.

Now I have The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. Looking forward to it!
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

Blush, did you read Dare Me by the same author (Megan Abbott, I think) that wrote The Fever? It's excellent - much better written than The Fever.

I finished Some Thing Real. It was ok - nothing spectacular.

I just started Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. It's good but I need to start going to bed earlier. I keep having to reread pages because I don't remember reading them the night before.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

Yes, I did read Dare Me, and I think I did like it better. I was a cheerleader in high school too, so I could relate to some of the bullshit.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

I finished Life After Life and I'm sorry to report I didn't like it. I liked the writing and the setting, and I'm a sucker for WW2 stories, but this one just didn't work for me. I felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories that were somehow related, not a novel. I was frustrated and bored quite often. I thought there were way too many characters and often forgot who was who (yay! for kindle's x-ray!) I ended up skimming a lot. Oh well.

Then I started The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty. So far, so good. Have I found a chick-lit writer I actually like? Fingers crossed.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Spudd »

I finished a novella by Jodi Picoult last night called "Larger than Life". I didn't really like it much but it was a fast read.

Now starting "Mile 81" by Stephen King. I'm just in the mood for light reading at the moment.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

I finished Annilihation by Jeff Vandermeer. It was good but weird. Definitely checking out the next book in the series.

I started The Vacationers by Emma Straub last night. It's reminding me a bit of Seating Arrangements so far.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

I just finished "First Light" by Charles Baxter. It was a random choice from the available digital books when I was searching for something to read last week. It sounded interesting from the description and was pretty good.

Not sure what will be next. Since we have to drive a handful of hours this weekend I'm going to look for a short audio book. And with book club on Sunday there will be that new choice to read too.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I finished The Girl you left Behind. Loved it.

Now I am reading Bad Feminist (essays) by Roxanne Gay. It is somewhat eye opening so far. Should be done later today or tomorrow.
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Re: September already! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I wish I had seen more of the movies referenced in a few of the essays in Bad Feminist, but overall it was a very good read. The last section of essays resonated with me the most.

Now I've got The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I know some people on here have read it. I have to read it first because it's "high demand" and due back in 2 weeks.
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