November?! What are you reading?

[Bugsy]

I just finished "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed. It was an awesome book. It's been a while since a book gripped me quite like this one did. Maybe it's because I've always kind of wanted to do some big grand adventure like she did, so it was great to read a true story of someone who did. I highly recommend this book and will probably seek out others by her.

[Spudd]

I finished "The Next Always" by Nora Roberts last night. I have to say, I enjoyed it. It was not literary in any way, it was pure fluff. But it was entertaining fluff.

Not sure what's up next... there's a David Balducci on my Kindle I might go for.

[mellenhead]

Finished The Circle by Dave Eggers. It was really good, but I thought the ending was pretty rushed.

Next up is My story by Elizabeth Smart.

[Bugsy]

Last night I got e-books for Cheryl Strayed's "Dear Sugar" book (don't remember the exact title) and "Best Food Writing" from 2012, by someone whose name is escaping me. I started the first one on the bus this morning, and so far so good. Her writing style is so honest...love it.

[Blush]

I loved the Dear Sugar book, but I skipped over the columns I had already read on the Rumpus because I knew I would be a bawling mess otherwise!

I just finished The Boy Who Could See Demons. It was really quite good. Next up is Ostrich by Matt Greene

This is Alex’s story. But he doesn’t know exactly what it’s about yet, so you probably shouldn’t either.

Instead, here are some things that it’s sort of about (but not really):

It’s sort of (but not really) about brain surgery.

It’s sort of (but not really) about a hamster named Jaws 2 (after the original Jaws (who died), not the movie Jaws 2).

It’s sort of (but actually quite a lot) about Alex’s parents.

It’s sort of (but not really) about feeling ostrichized (which is a better word for excluded (because ostriches can’t fly so they often feel left out)).

It’s sort of (but not really (but actually, the more you think about it, kind of a lot)) about empathy (which is like sympathy only better), and also love and trust and fate and time and quantum mechanics and friendship and exams and growing up.

And it’s also sort of about courage. Because sometimes it actually takes quite a lot of it to bury your head in the sand.

[mellenhead]

Finished up My Story by Elizabeth Smart. It was really well written - the only thing I didn't like is that the book abruptly ended after she was found - seemed like there should have been a few more chapters talking about her life since (college, marriage, etc). Any way, it was interesting and sad.

I have Double Down waiting for me at the library. I might pick up The Hobbit too and start rereading that series.

[Rowan]

Just finished Play Dead by Harlan Coben. I love his stand alone books. This is his very first book and it shows. I enjoyed it though. Can't hold a candle to his others.

Next up is Plan B by Jonathan Tropper.

[Anna]

I read a really eye opening book
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of the Children Given Up for Adoption in the Years Before Roe v Wade


I would definitely suggest it and its a quick read.

[Rowan]

Finished Plan B. Liked it but he's written better.

Next up is a Laura Lippman stand alone.

I'm only at 78 for the year. 22 may be a stretch by the end of Dec but I'm going to try. It will be the first time in a long time I don't hit or pass 100 books for the year.

[Spudd]

I'm reading "Zero Day" by David Baldacci. It's pretty entertaining so far. It's a police procedural but the main character is an Army investigator, so things are a little different than your normal police book.

[Blush]

I finished Ostrich last night. I really enjoyed the writing style. I was a bit confused by the ending but read a couple of reviews with spoilers and then I realized that what I thought happened, happened.

Now I'm reading The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen.

Delilah Blue Lovett has always been a bit of an outsider, ever since her father moved her from Toronto to L.A. when she was eight, claiming Delilah's mother no longer wanted to be part of their family. Twenty now and broke, but determined to be an artist like her errant mom, Delilah attends art class for free—by modeling nude at the front of the room, a decision that lifts the veil from her once insular world. While she struggles to find her talent, her father, her only real companion, is beginning to exhibit telltale signs of early-onset Alzheimer's. And her mother, who Delilah always assumed had selfishly abandoned them, is about to reappear with a young daughter in tow . . . and a secret that will change everything. Delilah no longer knows which parent to trust—the only one she can really rely on is the most broken person of all: herself.

[Sílvia]

I finished Bernadette... and didn't like it. Ugh. I don't understand the hype. For me it was readable and had a few amusing moments. That's all. I thought it took forever to get going, had way too many references to Seattle (hello, not New York or London. The rest of the world doesn't know what you're talking about.), and the ending was at the same time boring (waaaaay too many pages in Antarctica) and rushed. I just don't understand the hype.

Then I started Night Film by Marisha Pessl. No opinion yet. I find it funny that I'm only on page 28 and she has made FOUR references to Brazil, one of which would probably even be unknown to non-Brazilians. I wonder what that's all about, since the book is probably all set in the US. Huh.

[Bugsy]

I didn't love Bernadette either, Sil--especially the ending. It was a fairly entertaining book, but it's weird too.

I finished the Dear Sugar book. It was OK, but I skimmed parts of it and found it a bit repetitive. Then a book came in from my hold list, so I'm reading "Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," by Michael Moss instead of the food writing one. It starts with sugar, which is pretty fascinating. Crazy to read how they deliberately make foods to be craveable and such.

[mellenhead]

Sil, I feel like I just cursed you to not like Night Film with my FB comment since we've been disagreeing on books lately.

I finished up The Lost City of Z by David Grann - it's about a British explorer (Percy Fawcett) that went into the Amazon jungle in the early 1900's in search of a fabled civilization and never returned and all the explorers over the years that tried to find out what happened to him and his party. It was very interesting.

I'm going to start Anything that Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture at lunch.

[Sílvia]

Mellen, I actually got Night Film *because* of you. I remembered how much you'd loved it when Niko was ordering a bunch of stuff from amazon to be delivered at our hotel in Orlando (they do deliver books to Brazil, just not the other stuff he was ordering.) I got 8 books, and I think they were all TH recommendations. If I don't like this one we can use each other as future anti-recommendations

[Rowan]

I just finished Wonder by RJ Palacio. It's a kids book (5th grade) about a boy who is disfigured who is going to school for the first time. I liked it...easy reading...obviously.

Not sure what's up next. I think I want to reread the Little House series between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My niece has it and I think I might borrow it. Loved those books as a kid.

[mellenhead]

I finished up Anything that Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture. It had some good parts but the book never really came together.

I started Double Down - Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann at lunch. I'm about 100 pages in and loving it.

After that I think I'm going to tackle The Hobbit. I HATED it in school but Jeff has convinced me to give it another try.

[Spudd]

The Hobbit is 100x better than The Lord of the Rings. Just skip over the songs.

[Rowan]

mellen, 100 pages at lunch?...iloveyou...want to run away together?

Just started Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers. I should be able to get some good reading in tonight.

[Bugsy]

I just read The Hobbit for the first time fairly recently, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't love it. The story just doesn't appeal to me, and I don't know why.