Talk Healthy

Forgot to mention I read the first book in A Series of Unfortunate Events because Leo's obsessed with the series and I wanted to see it for myself. I'm reading the second now, The Reptile Room. Leo's in the tenth book, I think. The books are clever and well-written (and, thankfully, well-translated), although there are frogs in the reptile room. But the translator pointed out that frogs are amphibians, which I knew but would have overlooked if he hadn't pointed it out. I also hope the series has a happy ending because it's a bit too dark for kids, imo.

And I'm also reading The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The man was such a hilarious genius. I'm working on an abridged version of The Picture of Dorian Gray with a student and we're both loving it. I should reread the unabridged version one of these days. I bought his Complete Works on kindle a while ago for 50 cents!

I finished "Bridget Jones' Baby" and enjoyed it for what it was. Don't expect anything deep! LOL.

Then I started "Cuckoo's Calling" by JK Rowling's pseudonym that escapes me at the moment. So far it's really quite good. I hated the last pseudonym thing I read by her, something about some small town in England where everyone was miserable, I couldn't even finish it. I want to say it was called "The Final Vacation" or something like that, but it wasn't that. Anyway, I'm glad this one is shaping up to be a good one. Silvia, amusingly enough, you and my best friend in real life finished the book 2 days apart on Goodreads. She liked it more than you did, though (4 stars vs 3 stars).

The Casual Vacancy, Spudd? My mom said the same thing. I wasn't too impressed by Cuckoo's Calling, either, but I liked the detective.

Yes! The Casual Vacancy! Very highly not recommended.

Sílvia wrote:Finished Wool last night. I know I'm alone in this here, but I didn't like it. Fascinating concept, but after page 100 or so it felt like homework to me. Couldn't connect to any characters, skimmed through parts, was overall bored. Bah. Oddly, I am kind of curious about the second in the series because I did like the concept.

Hey Sil. I loooooved Wool.

I finally finished The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian. It was weird but in a good way. Have to say I did not really see the ending coming and I usually figure it out.

For the library users, now I'm curious - are your loan times dependent on the type of book? We get three weeks for any book (new, best seller, whatever). One week for DVDs.

I can't seem to tell. I only borrow e-books, and I feel like it's totally random how long they let me keep them.

My library is 2 weeks for any kind of book. You can renew once if there are no holds. The other library I went to a few times before this was 3 weeks for teachers.

Hey Sil. I loooooved Wool.

Seriously, we really should start checking each other's 1 and 2-star ratings and reading those!

Here "real book" new releases are 14 days (I think...Don't usually check those ones out) & all others are 28 days. E-books are 7, 14, or 21 days. You can set your own length from those options, which seems odd but is true. I always pick 21, because why wouldn't you?

I liked Wool but not the other ones in that series as much.

Today I finished "Orphan Train" and found it quite underwhelming. Great concept and started out probably 4 stars, but it really withered and just left me wanting so much more.

Next is "Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Bosh. And my copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's works came on Saturday so I'll keep picking at that.

I was underwhelmed by Orphan Train too, Bugsy. I don't get the hype.

I finished The Importance of Being Earnest last night. LOVED it. I don't know why I haven't read everything this man wrote yet, I read (and loved) The Picture of Dorian Gray when I was 16, so I knew I'd like him. I even read the Spark Notes after finishing, to make sure I hadn't missed any references I'm now back to The Breakdown, which is entertaining enough, but omg, contemporary fiction seems so trite after Wilde's genius.

Finished "Hyperbole and a Half." I really liked it. I'd seen at least some of the chapter about depression and again found it quite spot-on, and most of the other chapters made me giggle and LOL. I had to stop reading one about her dogs last night, because I kept giggling and waking Jason.

Next is "How to Transform Your Life," by Geshe Kalsang Gyatso. He's a Buddhist monk who established the "version" (for lack of a better term) of Buddhism that's practiced at the center in town. The two times I've gone they've based the discussion on this book, so it should be interesting.

Finished Mudrer on the Orient Express.

I feel like I'm missing something with Agatha Christie. Maybe it's me? I felt like there were too many characters, not enough development of their stories, personalities etc, the ending of the book/case was quickly wrapped up, and done. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but

I'm curious of other people's opinions though. Is it just me?

I read them a lot as a teenager, but I haven't read them lately. As a teenager I thought they were interesting and fun to read. I may have to try again as an adult and see how they are now! Like I seriously probably haven't read them for 30 years.

I don't believe I've ever read an Agatha Christie book. Sucks that you didn't care much for this one, but don't feel bad for not liking something you think you "should." We all find ourselves in that situation at least occasionally. It just happened to me with "Orphan Train."

I read "And then there were none" when I was 13 and loved it. I think I'd have liked it if I'd read it as an adult. Other than that, I don't remember reading any other of her books. I tried a couple over the years (couldn't say which), but couldn't get into them. My mom used to love her, she read most of her 80+ books. I got one of them for free on kindle the other day (The Clocks, I think), so I might give that a try.

I finished The Breakdown yesterday. The first half was boring, the second was predictable and pretty ridiculous. I only finished because I wanted to see if I was right (I was, partly) and because it was an easy read.

Not sure what's next.

I read it in seventh grade, for Portuguese class, which is funny because we (obviously) read only Brazilian or Portuguese authors. This was 1983, and here it still had the original title, which was worse in Portuguese, "the case of the little black boys/dolls?", not sure how to translate, but black, not indians. Anyway, it was a great read. My mom is forever pissed because someone who worked with her in the 1970s told her who the murderer was (who does that??) so it remains one of the few Agatha Christie books she hasn't read.

Yesterday I read The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, which was enjoyable, but not quite as hilarious as The Importance of Being Earnest.

I also started Paris for One on Blush's recommendation. As usual, I like Jojo Moyes's style, but I'm a little annoyed at the main character, who's terrified of being in Paris by herself. WTF? She's a grown woman who speaks English. I guess I'll decide at the end of the sample if I'll buy it. Unfortunately this is the only Jojo Moyes published in Brazil that my library doesn't have (yet).

I bought it! I'm almost finished with the first story. The only reason I didn't stay up to finish it last night was because I wanted to catch a few hours' sleep before the main Oscars. I'm glad I did, I'd be pissed if I had missed THAT But back to the book, I like it. It reads very much like a rom-com movie, but it works for me. I realize I have never given any of her books less than 4 stars. I'm shocked.

Finished The Woman in the Walls. Eh. It was ok. The ending was weird and kind of rushed.

I'm about halfway through Gilded Cage by Vic James. It's decent so far. One part of society has "skills" (magic) and the rest have to serve 10 years of slavery to that group.