It' December...what are you reading?

[Annie]

Ro, it's really good. I'm about 1/2 through and am liking it. She weaves 2 narratives: one on the events of Rocky Flats and one of her personal/family life. Sometimes the timelines don't match up exactly so I wish there was a little bit more chronological organization. But otherwise, I really like it.

[Annie]

Planning to start Brain on Fire at lunch.

I heard part of an interview with the author on NPR and was intrigued. Let me know how it is!

[mellenhead]

Planning to start Brain on Fire at lunch.

I heard part of an interview with the author on NPR and was intrigued. Let me know how it is!

I just finished it and really liked it, even though it scared the hell out of me. The writing is well done and all the crazy medical stuff is easy to read.

I'm going to all the book you are reading to my list, sounds interesting!

Now, I need to figure out what to read next, I have The Signal and The Noise, The Twelve, and Flight Behavior. Not sure what I'm in the mood for.

[Spudd]

I guess it's a really short book or what? Wasn't it like 2 hours ago you posted you were going to start it?

[Rowan]

Mellen, you read that entire book on your lunch? *bows down before you*

I'm reading something pretty sucky right now. I really really really need a good book.

Here's what I have at home...any suggestions??

Alice in Zombieland /
by Showalter, Gena.

Breed /
by Novak, Chase.

The island : a novel /
by Hilderbrand, Elin.

Love Anthony : a novel /
by Genova, Lisa.

Naked in death /
by Robb, J. D., 1950-

The other woman /
by Ryan, Hank Phillippi.

The redbreast /
by Nesbø, Jo, 1960-

A summer affair : a novel /
by Hilderbrand, Elin.

[mellenhead]

I guess it's a really short book or what? Wasn't it like 2 hours ago you posted you were going to start it?

It's only like 230 pages. I read it in a little under 2 hours......

Rowan, I haven't read any of those. I had Breed but it was one that I took out when a gazillion holds came in at once and I didn't get to read it before it had to go back.

Alice in Zombieland sounds interesting....I have to go look that up!

[Spudd]

I've read half of "Naked in Death". It's a pot-boiler. Cheesy as hell but pretty entertaining. It

[Annie]

You read 230 pages in under 2 hours?? Holy shit!!! I will never reveal my reading pace in this group. Wow.

[Rowan]

I chose Breed and I really got sucked into it. I have an hour and a half of hockey today so I'll certainly have some time to read.

I've just had a string of bad books lately and it was really bumming me out so I didn't want to read anything.

[Sílvia]

You read 230 pages in under 2 hours?? Holy shit!!! I will never reveal my reading pace in this group. Wow.

You can do that to me. I read 30-40 pages in an hour, and that's when I'm interested. I do tend to go back and reread whole sections, though. And no, I don't read any faster in Portuguese.

[mellenhead]

You read 230 pages in under 2 hours?? Holy shit!!! I will never reveal my reading pace in this group. Wow.

Granted, this book had a lot of chapters and most of them had almost blank pages at the end of those. And pages of drawings and pictures. But if it's a light, fluffy book I pretty much average 80-100 pages an hour.

I'm a little slower on more in depth type books like Game of Thrones.


Damn, Rowan now I'm regretting making the choice to skip Breed while I had it! Gonna have to re add it to my hold list!

[Rowan]

mellen, I'm only about halfway through it and I'm all WTF?!? In a good way though...I've learned not to recommend books until I'm actually done though. I actually want to read this one though which is an improvement from the previous book which may be one of the worst I've read....

[Rowan]

Tell me of this MF without MF food? Although I still have the food, just don't want to lose anymore muscle.....

[Rowan]

Thanks Anna! Don't mean to hijack the book thread!

[Rowan]

Finished Breed. I felt the ending was really really rushed maybe the worst I've ever seen. Glad I read it but don't know if I'd recommend it.

Not sure what is next....

[Annie]

I finished Full Body Burden. Good book!

I started Defending Jacob last night. Not sure I actually want to read it right now as it's about child murder and the town is named Newton. Interesting coincidence. It's not that I don't want to think about the issues. I'm just not convinced this author (and the lead character) is going to handle the topic in a delicate enough way for me right now. The main character is a little blaze about murder.

I have 2 other books up at the library so maybe I'll just get those and start something else.

[Rowan]

Annie...you're right probably not the best book for right now.

I started Love Anthony which is about an autistic boy (also probably not the best choice) *but* there are massive holds on it so it's now or 6 months from now.

[Bugsy]

Just finished listening to "Gone Girl." I see why people may not like it much--especially the ending--but I did enjoy it quite a bit. I love the character development and how your feelings toward Nick and Amy change so much throughout the story. And the detail needed to write such a story is pretty impressive. The ending wasn't my favorite, but it does fit the themes of the rest of the book, so it didn't surprise me a whole lot really. So yeah, I liked it. Thanks for the recommendation, all of you!

Working my way through "The Hobbit." I'm about 1/3 through it and am really blah about it so far. Something about this story just doesn't do it for me. I never read the LOTR books but really didn't care for the movies, so .

[mellenhead]

Working my way through "The Hobbit." I'm about 1/3 through it and am really blah about it so far. Something about this story just doesn't do it for me. I never read the LOTR books but really didn't care for the movies, so .

I could never get into The Hobbit or the LOTR books for some reason. I *wanted* to like them but they just didn't do anything for me.

I tried to start The Twelve by Justin Cronin and just couldn't get into it. Same thing with Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior. So now I'm back to reading A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin. I also checked out a doorstop of a book on the Tudor period by Alison Weir that I've somehow never read (I've read most of her books).

[Spudd]

I finished "Wheat Belly" by William Davis. I didn't really like it. He started off talking about how wheat is really bad for you because it's been modified a ton from the original natural form, which had unexpected side effects in humans. I was okay with that part. But by the end he was telling you to eat low carb everything, don't eat too much fruit, don't drink too much juice, yada yada. I thought it was kind of ridiculous. Is your thesis that wheat is bad for you or that carbs in general are bad? Make up your mind. Anyway, because he specifically mentioned some conditions that I have (asthma, eczema, IBS) I figure I'll cut out wheat for a month or two and see. But I really got turned off when he went all low-carb diet. There's no way I'm going to eat a low-carb diet, he'll have to take my oatmeal out of my cold dead hands.

I'm still in the middle of "The Litigators" by John Grisham. It's pretty good, although it does have what Kenneth and I call "rippling biceps" moments. Example, there's one scene where one lawyer calls another one to tell him about another lawyer. He describes her to him in excruciating detail. If it had just been a paragraph of description, it would have been okay. But as a phone conversation? It was completely ridiculous.