It's September...what are you reading?

[Spudd]

I finished Insurgent last week. I thought it was good, but not nearly as good as the first one. Is that the general consensus?

At the same time, I got 3 investment books from the library:
How to Trade in Stocks by Jesse Livermore - not recommended (it is targeted at people who want to "play" the stock market rather than investors)
Your Money & Your Brain by Jason Zweig - This was very interesting. It was all about the relationship between psychology and your investing habits.
The Single Best Investment by Lowell Miller - I'm only part way through this one, so far it's interesting and seems useful.

I also picked up Cinder yesterday, but I'm going to finish that third investing book before I start on it. It will be my reward.

[Rowan]

Oooh...I hope you like Cinder!

Divergent was definitely better than Insurgent. But that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to book 3!

[mellenhead]

I felt the same way about Insurgent. Parts of it dragged a bit and it just wasn't as interesting as Divergetn. I am looking forward to the next book though.

I really enjoyed Cinder as well!

[Blush]

Change of plan: Gone Girl will be first because it's "in demand" and they are only loaning it for two weeks.

[mellenhead]

I finished a Storm of Swords. Just holy shit, I cannot believe some of what happened in that book. So good.

And now I'm going to read Laura Lamonts Life in Pictures.

[Sílvia]

I finished The Innocents, which was way better than I thought when I started it. The mystery itself is kind of silly, and it DID go where I thought it was going, though not exactly the way I thought. What I liked about it was the character development. I thought that part was great, though if you're looking for more action, this is not for you. Actually, that was the main complaint on goodreads, that there was way too much character development and not enough of a plot. That's right on, but it suited me just fine at this point in time.

Then I finally started 11/22/63! I'm only on page 29, but so far Mr. King has kept his standards of grippingness. May I add that I always have to stop and think before I type the title of this book, since here the dates are day/month/year.

[Beverly]

Then I finally started 11/22/63! I'm only on page 29, but so far Mr. King has kept his standards of grippingness. May I add that I always have to stop and think before I type the title of this book, since here the dates are day/month/year.

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and when Olof saw it he thought it was a time (it's written 11.23.63 on my copy) and he couldn't figure out the "63 seconds" part.

[Rowan]

I'm reading The Whisperer by Donato Carisi. I picked it up at the library based on the cover. I'm really liking it but unfortunately we've been so busy the only time I've had to read it is on the bike. *sigh* Actually I usually don't read translations as I find that clunky but this was done very well.

The town that I work in had it's yearly book sale. I've been told how amazing it is but missed it every year. I got to go both on Friday and on Sunday (when prices were reduced to $10/bag). Yay...it made me so happy...we even picked up a bunch of stuff for M's class. Funny because I told his teacher about it on Fri afternoon asking her if she needed any books for the class if I went back on Sunday. She seemed really excited about it and then we ended up seeing her at the fair. Made it easy because she and M picked out the books and we paid and I will deliver to her classroom today.

I have to do an inventory of what I got...Friday was 16 books for $8. I know I piled a few in the school bag on Sunday.

[Blush]

I will miss the annual library book sale in London. I wonder if they have one for Bruce County? Although it would be nearly an hour away if they did.

I just finished "Gone Girl" and have to thank you guys for the suggestion. I was riveted. It was nice to have a book that I didn't want to put down. I even took it into town with me yesterday so I could read chapters between errands.

Next up is Dare Me by Megan Abbot.

[Rowan]

Yay! I'm glad you liked Gone Girl!

[Rowan]

Finished The Whisperer. I really liked the story lots of twists and turns. The translation was cludgey at times but ok.

I started Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock(?) this morning on the bike. So far so good.

[Spudd]

I finished Cinder yesterday. It was OK. I could see the "twist" coming a mile off, and there were typos that bugged me, and it didn't really have an ending, just a setup for the next book. So overall although I liked it, it bugged me. A coy pond??? Really???

I'm back to "Fall of Giants" now that my huge library haul is finally complete.

[mellenhead]

I could not get in to Laura Lamonts Life in Pictures. The writing annoyed me.

Last night I went to the library and picked up: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce and Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies.

Our library book sale starts 10/4 at 9am. I'm annoyed I won't be able to get there until after work! I have to figure out how to go by myself. Jake will want every book there and we just don't have the room. He picked out about 15 books last night and then wanted to read ALL of them before bed. He conned me into about 7.

[Bugsy]

I listened to "I am America...and So Can You!" by Stephen Colbert. Normally I love him, but despite him even reading the audiobook, it was really pretty dull. Not recommended, unfortunately.

Otherwise I'm still working on "A Feast For Crows" by George R. R. Martin. It's good, but there's far less action in this one than others. Jason took a long time to get through this one, I remember, and that's been the case for me too. It's not exactly boring, but I've been spending lots of time applying for jobs, doing yard work, and trying to get back to a better exercise routine that I guess I just haven't been spending much time reading...averaging about a chapter a day only.

I do have a library book on hold...it's one that my mentor at work recommended: "The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea" by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I'll probably go pick it up tomorrow and see how it is.

There are a million books on my to-read list; it's just nuts.

[Rowan]

Bugsy, I was just going through my To Be Read list and I'm at 300 or so. *sigh* So many books...so little time.

TBR lists are good but they sometimes keep me from just picking up a book just because. I would have missed The Whisperer if hadn't picked it up at the library based on the cover.

Still on Me & Emma...unfortunately slogging through it. I think I figured it out so frankly it's boring but I'll finish.

[Annie]

I'm still on "Tell The Wolves I'm Home". It is SO GOOD. Up there with Kevin, which you know is my benchmark for this year. Flipping into nerd mode here but I wanted to share a passage. Narrative as told from a 14 year old girl, struggling to understand why adults make certain choices, in light of her uncle's death from AIDS:

"I really wondered why people were always doing what they didn't like doing. It seemed like life was a sort of narrowing tunnel. Right when you were born, the tunnel was huge. You could be anything. Then, like, the absolute second after you were born, the tunnel narrowed down to about half that size. You were a boy, and already it was certain you wouldn't be a mother and it was likely you wouldn't become a manicurist or a kindergarten teacher. Then you started to grow up and everything you did closed the tunnel in some more. You broke your arm climbing a tree and you ruled out being a baseball pitcher. You failed every math test you ever took and you canceled any hope of being a scientist. Like that. On and on through the years until you were stuck. You'd be become a baker or a librarian or a bartender. Or an accountant. And there you were. I figured that on the day you died, the tunnel would be so narrow, you'd have squeezed yourself in with so many choices, that you just got squashed. ... I sat there looking at my pieces. At all the different shades of red. I thought about Finn. How he did whatever he wanted. Just like my mother said. He never let the tunnel squash him. But still, there he was. In the end he was still crushed to death by his own choices. Maybe what Toby said was right. Maybe you had to be dying to finally get to do what you wanted."

There are so many passages like this that I keep rereading over and over. If it weren't a library book, I'd be dog-earring the pages.

[Sílvia]

Ooh, that sounds great, Annie. I just read the blurb on good reads. Maybe you should get your own copy if you like it so much!

[Blush]

Annie I'm putting that on my list!