September already! What are you reading?

[Spudd]

I'm reading "Work Less, Live More" which is a book about semi-retirement (where you quit your career but still make money to some extent). Pretty good.

[mellenhead]

I'm still reading The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. I'm about 150 pages away from the end and pretty disappointed so far.

[Bugsy]

I finished "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson over the weekend. Overall I did enjoy it--certainly an interesting concept--but I didn't love it.

Started "The Giver" by Lois Lowry this morning.

[mellenhead]

Ok I finished up The Book of Life (last book in the All Souls trilogy) at lunch and wanted to throw it across the office. The whole book annoyed me - I feel like the author gave the main characters personality transplants for the this book. So disappointed since I loved the first two books.

I plan on starting Some Thing Real tonight, which is about a family with 13 kids that have been on and off reality television their whole lives and how it's screwed them up.

[Bugsy]

I finished "The Giver" on the way in today. I thought I'd read it as a YA, but it really wasn't familiar to me so maybe not. Anyway, it was good...it's clearly geared to a YA reader and is a bit simplistic in some ways, but it's a really beautiful story in lots of ways too. I enjoyed it.

Now I have nothing with me for the ride home, but that's ok. Starting tomorrow I'll probably work through "What Color is Your Parachute" a bit more, because so far I've only skimmed a couple of chapters.

[Spudd]

I just finished "My Name is Mary Sutter" which is about a woman in the US civil war who wants to become a surgeon. It was OK, but there was a lot of war talk I didn't really care for.

[Sílvia]

I gave up on The Truth About the Harry Quebert affair. I've never seen a book go from really promising to really atrocious so fast. The writing is AWFUL, even though I kind of wanted to know what would happen. But life's too short and there were 350+ pages left.

Then I was mentally ready to start Life After Life, which has been on my list for months. I downloaded a sample... and was totally unkmpressed. Bah. I don't know if I should get it anyway, I was looking forward to it...

Then I read a little bit of The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, but I was so sleepy I don't remember a single thing I read! I have to read it again.

In short, I don't know what I'll read next.

[Bugsy]

Silvia, I just finished Life After Life. I admit that I didn't love it, but I agree that the beginning was pretty unimpressive. It did get better pretty quickly, IMO. Worth giving it a shot, I think. It's a quick read, if nothing else.

[Sílvia]

I ended up buying it. I read a little more and it seems better than last night. Maybe I was just tired and irritated about giving up on yet another book. I hate that because I waste precious 3-4 days of my reading time before giving up.

[mellenhead]

Blush, did you read Dare Me by the same author (Megan Abbott, I think) that wrote The Fever? It's excellent - much better written than The Fever.

I finished Some Thing Real. It was ok - nothing spectacular.

I just started Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. It's good but I need to start going to bed earlier. I keep having to reread pages because I don't remember reading them the night before.

[Sílvia]

I finished Life After Life and I'm sorry to report I didn't like it. I liked the writing and the setting, and I'm a sucker for WW2 stories, but this one just didn't work for me. I felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories that were somehow related, not a novel. I was frustrated and bored quite often. I thought there were way too many characters and often forgot who was who (yay! for kindle's x-ray!) I ended up skimming a lot. Oh well.

Then I started The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty. So far, so good. Have I found a chick-lit writer I actually like? Fingers crossed.

[Spudd]

I finished a novella by Jodi Picoult last night called "Larger than Life". I didn't really like it much but it was a fast read.

Now starting "Mile 81" by Stephen King. I'm just in the mood for light reading at the moment.

[mellenhead]

I finished Annilihation by Jeff Vandermeer. It was good but weird. Definitely checking out the next book in the series.

I started The Vacationers by Emma Straub last night. It's reminding me a bit of Seating Arrangements so far.

[Bugsy]

I just finished "First Light" by Charles Baxter. It was a random choice from the available digital books when I was searching for something to read last week. It sounded interesting from the description and was pretty good.

Not sure what will be next. Since we have to drive a handful of hours this weekend I'm going to look for a short audio book. And with book club on Sunday there will be that new choice to read too.

[Bugsy]

Bad Feminist sounds interesting, Blush. I will be hella impressed if you get through The Goldfinch in two weeks!

We listened to an audiobook about the national parks on the way up to my hometown, but it wasn't very compelling and we ditched it for the return drive. Last night I downloaded the audiobook of "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter and started it on the bus this morning. So far, so good.

The next book club pick is "Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail" by Jennifer Pharr Davis. It's requested at the library, so I'm just waiting for it to come in. If it's half as good as "Wild" was (by Cheryl Strayed), I will love it.

[Rowan]

I finally read a book!

Shift by Tory Something. She's a GMA contributor who lost a bunch of weight. Not sure how I'm feeling about the book. There was a weird page or 2 about her sex life with hubby that really turned me off. I'm not a prude...it just didn't seem necessary. Who knows? Maybe I am a prude. But I don't think so because I like to do this: and this:

I started Fever by Meg Abbott.

Can you tell I finally got a library card from my new town? Boy did I miss reading. Although the lighting in my bedroom currently sucks so we need to rectify that before I go blind.

[Sílvia]

I finished The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty. I liked it, but didn't love it. This is my least favorite of her novels so far. I love her writing, but this book didn't have a terribly compelling plot. It was quite slow for the first 3/4. I did love the fact that one of the main characters was a stalker. She was by far my favorite character.

Then I started something that's the exact opposite of that in the feel-good department: Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala, a memoir by this woman who lost all her family in the 2004 tsunami. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if kayley hadn't recommended it. I'm only on page 41 and it's obviously gripping.

[Rowan]

Still reading The Fever. I'm liking it but having trouble finding time to read.

[Spudd]

I started that Stephen King book that's a date. 11/22/63 or something like that. I'm really enjoying it so far (about halfway through).

[Sílvia]

Ooh, that's a great book, Spudd. It has one of the best endings ever. So touching.

I finished Wave. The words "heartbreaking" and "devastating" don't even begin to describe it. It took me 5 days to read it even though it's super short (245 pages) because it was just so painful to read. The author lost her parents, her husband and her TWO CHILDREN in the 2004 tsunami. It was compelling and well-written, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Especially to other moms. It's just unthinkable. She actually says somewhere in the book that her life has become other people's "unthinkable" or something like that. She says it better than that. It's just hopelessly sad and you just wish you could do something for her.

I don't know what to read next. I bought Contact by Carl Sagan some months ago on an impulse. I liked the movie, so I saw it and bought it. But science fiction? Me?? Then I read the first few pages last night and enjoyed them. I don't know.

Anyone read A Suitable Boy? It seems like something I'd like, but 1492 pages? I've lost patience for super long books lately. Most seem to drag at some point.