June!

[Blush]

How in the actual f--- is it June?

I'm just about to start The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins.

[Spudd]

I don't know!!

I started a book last night but I can't remember what it was. Will have to check later and update.

[Rowan]

I took One Day by David Nicholls to Chicago with me as it's been on my TBR shelf forever. I think my expectations were too high and maybe it was "new/fresh" when it was published but I felt very much that it had been done before. It was good (3.5 stars) but not spectacular.

I started The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai which has also been on my TBR shelf forever. It is the story of a group of friends during AIDS crisis of the 1980s. I know it's going to crush me but I'm ready to be crushed.

After that its back to my library stack...I don't like to airplane travel with library books just in case.

[Spudd]

So turns out, the book I started is "The Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler. Hilariously, it's a sci-fi set in 2024-2027 (it was written in 1993). I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm not very far in yet. Maybe 10-15%.

[Sílvia]

Spudd, you do know that's a duology, right? I saw how pissed you were that the 3-body problem is part of a trilogy! Also, is the 3-body problem understandable by people with degrees in humanities, or it is one of those books where you actually have to be a scientist to enjoy?

[Spudd]

I would say the 3-body problem is probably better if you have an understanding of physics, but it's not necessary. There is some technobabble but the main plot points are not complicated science stuff. For me the Chinese-ness of it was worse than the physics (though I did major in physics so it is hard for me to know what's unclear for a lay person).

And no, I did NOT know that was a duology! Now I'm really in trouble. LOL.

[Sílvia]

You're a physics major?? How on earth did I not know that?! I thought you'd majored in some tech-y area! Also, haha! Yes, it's a duology, but maybe they're independent? Might be worth checking if it doesn't end in a cliffhanger!

[Rowan]

I didn't know that Spudd was a physics major either.

Isn't it your dad Spudd who discovered some cool chemistry thingie?

[Rowan]

The Great Believers was a 5 star book. It was amazing and sad and well researched, I highly recommend it.

I'm reading Hidden Potential by Adam Grant which is nonfiction -- social science, push yourself type of book. Its really good.

[Blush]

The Heiress was pretty good.

Then I read a romance called In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati Alexander. Quite cute.

Now I have #Panic by Luke Jennings, which I see doesn't have great reviews.

[Sílvia]

I finished Mariana by Susanna Kearsley. It was enjoyable enough, but I'm sure you guys would find it cheesy. Then I started another one by her ... whose title eludes me. Wait. A Desperate Fortune? I think that's it. It started out well, but it was 500 pages long, and by page 200, I was bored. So that makes THREE books by her I wasn't able to finish. Maybe I should give up on her. Her books sound SO up my alley, but when I start to read them I find them slow. Maybe I'll give her one more try.

Than I read 2 by Katherine Center, How to Walk Away and The Bodyguard. Loved them both! The former was 4 1/2 stars; the latter, 4. Have I found a rom com writer I enjoy?? Those are so rare! Then I saw someone saying she's an Emily Henry readalike. Hm. I've read Book Lovers and was bored to tears. I've also read 25% of Beach Read and was also bored to tears. So I beg to differ.

Then I started Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan, but so far I'm not impressed. I've read 20 pages. Giving it a few more.

[Blush]

I finished #PANIC and I feel like it would have been better with a smaller scope. The author tried to detail the lives of a few young people from around the world who meet in a forum and come together and then get thrown into a frightening adventure. But I feel like there should have been editors from each of those countries. I noticed the weird slang he tried to use for the Canadian and also said she lived in a state. Nope. And as far as I can tell, no American talks about distances in clicks, as those are kilometers. Maybe in the military? I'm sure there were weird things with the Australian too.

Anyway then I started Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. I'm halfway through and it's emotional and well written.

[Spudd]

I finished "Parable of the Sower" a while back. They included the first 3 chapters of Parable of the Talents at the end of it, which was very annoying because I'm on the waitlist for that book. But I couldn't resist reading them.

Now I'm reading "Who is Maud Dixon". I'm into it so far. I feel like it would make a fun movie.

[Blush]

I finished Hello Beautiful and it was great.

Then I read three novellas by Ali Hazelwood. They were packaged as one. Pretty good!

Now I have Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow.

[Sílvia]

I feel like I've given up on several books since I last posted, but I also finished one more Katherine Center (Things You Save in a Fire), didn't like it. WAY too mushy and unbelievable. There's such a fine line betwee what works for me in rom-coms and what doesn't. I also read Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. I found the world she created interesting, but thought the story dragged and all the characters were unlikable. Ended up giving it 3 stars. Spudd, I saw you gave it 5 stars. Have you read the others in the series?

[Spudd]

I feel like I've given up on several books since I last posted, but I also finished one more Katherine Center (Things You Save in a Fire), didn't like it. WAY too mushy and unbelievable. There's such a fine line betwee what works for me in rom-coms and what doesn't. I also read Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. I found the world she created interesting, but thought the story dragged and all the characters were unlikable. Ended up giving it 3 stars. Spudd, I saw you gave it 5 stars. Have you read the others in the series?

No, I don't think I knew it was a series. I don't remember why I liked it, it was so long ago that I read it.

[Sílvia]

I think the second one was released several years later, so you might have read the first one before it came out.