April! What are you reading?

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Blush
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April! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I finished Punishment by Linden MacIntyre last night. It was really good; I will seek out more of his stuff. My one complaint is that he took too long to flesh out the details of the main characters. I like to know how old someone is and a bit of his/her background at the start, so I can start picturing them.

Now I've got Paper Towns by John Green.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

I finished "The God of Small Things," and it was all right. This book won the Booker Prize 1997 and is therefore quite acclaimed. It was good, but it took me a while to get into it. There is some odd language (which is fun; I like that in books) and jumping around in time, and I am not knowledgeable about history (especially Indian history) so those parts weren't as meaningful to me as they should have been. But I liked it fine. It was my choice for an upcoming book club, so I hope the others thought it was ok.

Yesterday I started "The Girl You Left Behind" by JoJo Moyes. So far, so good.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

Finished audio for Astronauts Wives Club. I liked it. There were a few slow spots but I'm glad I listened to it.

Started Yes Please by Amy Poehler. I know who she is but I don't know who she is. So far it's funny and she's the voice so that's good.

I need to start Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith. Hopefully it's good. I love Abraham Lincloln Vampire Hunter so we'll see.

Hoping for lots of reading time this weekend.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

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I finished The Girl on the Train. I hated it. The mystery failed to involve me and the main character is a pathetic drunk. The writing was juvenile. I gave it 2 stars because it's readable and I did wanna know how it would end, but it was bad. Sorry, Mellen, I think this brings us back to our tradition :lol

Then I started The Citadel by A.J. Cronin. Have your moms read and loved this guy's books? My mom and aunt have, but they were teenagers. They said they don't know what they'd think nowadays. Oh well. This was originally published in 1937. Contemporary fiction has often failed me recently, so I decided to give this a try. Some people on goodreads said this started out slow, but I disagree. I'm only on page 33, but lots of things have happened already.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

Sílvia wrote: Sorry, Mellen, I think this brings us back to our tradition :lol
I wouldn't expect anything else! :)

I finished Hausfrau. I really liked it even though none of the characters are very likable.

Read Soil by Jamie Kornegay. It was terrible. I kept waiting for something to happen and the writing just kept getting worse.

I'm about half done with Find Me by Laura van den Berg. Eh. It's not that good. I just want to know the ending at this point.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I finished Paper Towns today. It was good but the ending was sort of a letdown.

Now I have The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos. I'm really looking forward to it.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

I had the Precious One but it was due back before I could even start it. Blush you'll have to tell me how it is.

I started Meet the O'Briens by Lisa Genova last night. Easy read. I'm halfway through already.

I'm on Disc 2 of Yes Please by Amy Poehler.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

Finished Yes Please today. I don't really know her comedy so much but the book was ok. I love when she talks about her boys. She just nails being a mom to boys. I think that might be my last audio book for a bit as S and I will swap cars again. I take his SUV in the winter that has a working CD player. I know we're old.

Finished the Lisa Genova book. It was fine but not as good as her others. It felt rushed to me. I started Life or Death by Michael Robotham this weekend and I'm liking it.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

Ro, why aren't you on goodreads? I like to know what you guys have liked or hated, but it's impossible to keep track here. Case in point: which other Lisa Genova did you like? I loved Still Alice, haven't read the others.

I gave up on The Citadel. The story wasn't grabbing me and, to be honest, the English from 80 years ago was off-putting to me. Heck, Portuguese from 80 years ago is off-putting to me, too.

Then I started Home Front by Kristin Hannah. It's highly readable, if too melodramatic. But I certainly wanna know how it'll end. And I may have found another publisher here who hires decent translators. I bought this in Portuguese because it was 30% cheaper than in English (this is happening more and more with e-books because the dollar is so high) and I'm not regretting it. I usually love reading in contemporary English, but hey, no problem at all with a good translation that's cheaper than the English version. Plus it's nice to never have to look up a word. I actually learned the word for "deployment" in Portuguese, which I didn't know, lol.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I just finished The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos. I really enjoy her writing.

Now I've got an older one by Miriam Toews that I have been renewing and renewing. I just need to read it and get it back to the library. It's called A Boy of Good Breeding.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

Blush, what is Marisa de los Santos like? I started a sample of one of her books a while ago and it didn't grab me, but I only gave it like 2 or 3 pages. I think it was the prequel to Belong to Me. Who would you compare her to, if anyone?

I finished Home Front. Meh. Too melodramatic, repetitive, predictable... I still wanna read her Nightingale, but we'll see.

Then I started The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society (is that it?) It's adorable so far, but I'm only on page 30.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

Sil, I don't know who I would compare her to. What I like about her is that you don't need every single detail of a character's backstory in order to feel something for them. She makes them feel very...present.

I finished A Boy of Good Breeding last night, and loved it. Why didn't I read all of Miriam Toews' stuff before when everyone else was? No matter, I found A Complicated Kindness at the used bookstore for 50 cents yesterday, so I will be bringing it on holiday.

I also started Going Clear (the Scientology one). The part about L Ron Hubbard's life story is dry as fuck. I'm skimming that bit.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

Read Domestic Violets by Matt Norman on Saturday. Character driven but really good. I went to look for other books by him but this looks like his first and only so far.

Not sure what's next.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Bugsy »

I finished "The Girl You Left Behind" by JoJo Moyes and loved it.

And I've started a nonfiction book: "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion," by Jonathan Haidt. It sounds very good, but sometimes NF gives me problems. We'll see.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

Finished Find Me by Laura van den Berg. Eh. Not good.

LOVED Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania byu Erik Larson.

Finished listening to the audiobook of Elizabeth the Queen: The life of a modern monarch by Sally Smith. It was pretty good but a little too long.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Blush »

I finished Going Clear. It was predictably horrifying.

Now I have The Furies by Natalie Haynes. Not sure how much I'll get done before we go, but I'm not taking it with me.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Sílvia »

I finished The Guernsey Literary... I loved it. It was adorable. In a way that might annoy some readers. Too cutesy, characters are caricatural. Is that a word? But it was all on purpose. It worked for me. My only complaint is that the plot was slow/almost non-existent. As much as I loved the writing and the quirky characters, I was not always super excited to pick it up for that reason.

Then I started Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (thanks, Blush). No opinion yet. It's readable.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by mellenhead »

Finished The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham - it was good - interesting to read a post-apocalyptic novel written in 1951, long before the current craze.

I've been listening to the audio books of The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I'm pretty sure this is a children's or YA book but it's good and the the person reading the book is fantastic.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

I read Our Endless Numbered Days during a 2 hour lacrosse practice. It was good. I haven't cranked out a book like that in forever. I guess sitting along in a car with nothing to distract you helps with that.

I also read The Fringe Hours because I like shit like that. Not recommended. I could write a better book about getting stuff done/productivity.

I should start Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce because it's due in a few days. Not sure when I'll have time to read.
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Re: April! What are you reading?

Post by Rowan »

I finished Small Mercies this weekend. Really good. I recommend this one.

I have The Real Doctor Will See You next.
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