Talk Healthy

Ok, I'm currently not reading anything as I haven't started anything but wanted to get us going. I have a giant stack of books that I need to get cracking on.

I finished The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn last night. Not as fun as the first, but readable. I might read others in the series when I need mindless entertaining.

Then I continued My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I started it 3 weeks ago but couldn't get into it, but I wanted to finish it because apparently the other 3 books in the series are much better. So I'd just been reading it on the side, 10 minutes a day or so. Then, much to my surprise, the day before yesterday I ended up reading it for 30 minutes because it picked up! So I'm finishing it. I got to 24% yesterday, and it's only 264 pages long. I think the older the characters get, the more interesting it'll be. The beginning was just little kids playing, fighting, competing at school. Super boring. But now they're teenagers and it's already better.

I've started "The Name of the Wind," by Patrick Rothfuss. So far it's really good. It grabbed me right away, and the writing is superb.

I started The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher last night. I've never read any of her books - it's pretty good/funny so far.

I have a big stack from the library I need to get through before they are due back!

Trying to decide between: Three Wishes, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Mountain Between Us. The latter two will be movies this year, and I want to read them before they come out. Also, Live by Night.

Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

I'm trying for at least one book a month this year. We'll see how that goes!

Korie, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie? That's a classic! I love Agatha Christie.

I finished "Sweat Equity" which was about the business of fitness, and it was kinda dry. A few interesting tidbits but not worth it overall, I'd say.

Then I started "Into the Darkest Corner" by Elizabeth Haynes on someone here's recommendation. So far I'm enjoying it.

OMG, My Brilliant Friend is painfully boring. I wanted to continue it for the sake of the other books in the series, but I don't think I can handle it.

I read a short story by Heather Gudenkauf the day before yesterday, then last night I started a Brazilian by a woman whose twin baby girls were born to a surrogate mother in India. So far it's not clear why she chose India, but I'm enjoying it. All the crazy cultural differences are hilarious.

Spudd wrote:Korie, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie? That's a classic! I love Agatha Christie.

Yep. I've never read it (probably should get back into reading some of the classics ) but it's coming out as a movie in 2017 and I know I'll see the movie (hello Johnny Depp) so I feel like I NEED to read the book first.

Sílvia wrote:OMG, My Brilliant Friend is painfully boring. I wanted to continue it for the sake of the other books in the series, but I don't think I can handle it.

Well that's disappointing. What made it so boring...lack of plot?

Yeah, basically. It's just a series of uninteresting (to me, obviously) anecdotes. There are a billion characters, all people who live in the neighborhood, and everyone is part of the anecdotes, and it's super annoying to remember who's who. There's even a list of characters at the beginning, which is helpful, but since I don't like the story I resent having to go back to it every three pages And the whole thing is just so silly: "Nino (or whoever) likes me. No boy likes Lila yet. I have breasts and she doesn't. I got an 8 in Latin and she didn't." Then the next year it's the other way around. It's junior high set in a poor, violent neighborhood in Naples in the 1950s. Who cares?? The other books in the series are supposed to be more interesting because they're adults, and I might even try the next one, but this one I'm done with. I'll have to read a wikipedia summary if I decide to read the next Oh, and I found the writing uninspired, too. The fact that it's a translation might explain some of that, though you'd think the translation from Italian into Portuguese would be smooth. I can only imagine it's even worse in English! But hey, I hated The Book Thief and All the Light We Cannot See just as much, so give it a chance.

I finished Remember Mia. It was pretty good.

Next is The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig.

Finished The Princess Diarist. It was decent.

I just started on Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird. I'm only a couple chapters in so far but I'm enjoying it.

someone posted this in a book group Im in in case you are interested

I'm halfway into Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue -- I like it.

I finished the Brazilian and loved it, then read another Brazilian I hated. Then I started the sample of The Count of Monte Cristo, I hope I have the discipline to finish it. My kindle says it'll take me 8 hours to finish just the sample I'm debating whether I should read something else on the side, to avoid feeling like I'm "stuck" in the same book, but reading 2 novels at the same time never works for me, so I'll stick to it for a few days.

Anna, I always find those lists overwhelming, but I *am* trying to read more diversely (for me) this year. I'll make an effort to read more contemporary Brazilians and more classics in general. I feel like I need to get away from mainstream contemporary US/UK/Australia general/women's fiction, which is 99% of what I read usually. For one thing, I feel like I'm out of touch with my own culture, regarding literature. For another, I'm a little tired of reading In English. And last but not least, I've been more disappointed than happy with my choices lately. We'll see how that goes

Silvia, Kenneth has tried to read the Count of Monte Cristo like 3 times and he always ends up abandoning it at the 50% mark or so.

Really? But the story's so good, I loved the Tv series, lol. Was he bored??

Yeah, he gets bored at the 50% mark.

Spoiler:









After he gets out of prison apparently he starts meeting a bunch of people and Kenneth has a really hard time with names, so he couldn't keep them straight, and I think the fact that he's out of prison is also boring to him.

Oh, and while I'm here, I finished reading "Into the Darkest Corner" by Elizabeth Haynes last night. I loved it, it was so gripping. Thanks to whoever it was that read it last year, I can't remember who but I got the recommendation from our year-end lists for sure.

Well, I skipped the spoiler, of course. I don't remember what happens at all, just that he escapes prison and gets his revenge. And that it's full of action. Well, we'll see. I'm at the 7% mark, after several hours If I don't give up, I expect to finish it in no less than 5 weeks!