Talk Healthy

I'm so glad when you native speakers ask something I don't understand before I have to!

Ro, do share. Since you refuse to have a goodreads account. Ok, ok, I'll stop nagging.

I finished I Let You Go. Here's my goodreads review: 3.5 stars. I was ready to give it 4.5 (come on, goodreads, where are those half stars?), but I really disliked the ending. Up until page 340, this book was almost perfect. Well-written and intensely gripping. There's a twist right at the end of part 1 that made me go back to the beginning scratching my head to see what I'd missed. Very clever. The mystery is revealed at around page 340. But then I realized I had 30 pages to go, and thought that couldn't be good. Unfortunately, I was right. The remaining 30 pages seem like every thriller you've seen in your life (yes, it feels like a movie), complete with a far-fetched revelation about the villain that made me roll my eyes, and that final scene... just no. I'm always wary when I hear that a book has a lot of twists because I know I'm bound to find at least some of them contrived. Sigh. I'll probably pick up her other book(s?) at some point, though. That's how good this was until close to the end.

Not sure what's next. I have Elizabeth is Missing from the library, so I'll have a look at that. But I don't know. I'm in the mood for light and fluffy, after I Let You Go.

Blush, have you read the other Bridget Jones #3, Mad About the Boy? It goes in the opposite direction of this #4, it's like parallel universes. I looked briefly online for an explanation from the author and found nothing.

After trying several different samples (again!) I decided on Good As Gone by Amy Gentry. So far I don't recommend it, the premise is unbelievable. I also started a non-fiction about our independence from Portugal called 1822 (the year we got it, obviously.) It's fascinating, but probably only for Brazilian or Portuguese citizens or for people who like reading history for fun.

Don't bother, it's awful!

I've been reading to plan for our Europe trip and recently finished three Rick Steves books:
-Belgium (Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and Antwerp)
-Germany 2017
-Europe Through the Back Door 2017

I love Rick Steves and found these just as potentially valuable as his Amsterdam book proved last year. I've been transcribing the highlights into a Word document (all were library books, so I jotted down page #s as I went) and then can start planning in more detail.

Not sure what will be next. Probably continuing in the Ralph Waldo Emerson book until the book club choice comes in from hold.

Finished Good as Gone. It was AWFUL. I only finished it because I paid for it and I'd already returned a previous book to Amazon. Didn't want to return 2 books in a row .

Then I started Our Souls at Night. It's very different from my usual choices and so short it feels more like a novella (160 pages), but so far I'm enjoying reading something less formulaic than my other recent choices.

Rowan, not weird. I get super excited when I get a brand new book at the library.

Blush, I'm glad they found your book!

I struggled to finish Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. It has great reviews on Goodreads so I kept thinking it would get better but it never did for me.

Now I'm reading The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers. It's about a guy who runs a big Ponzi scheme and how it all comes crashing down. It's mindless and predictable.

I struggled to finish Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. It has great reviews on Goodreads so I kept thinking it would get better but it never did for me.

I was going to say I don't do that anymore (struggle to finish a book I don't like), but I just did. So I *rarely* do that anymore. I'll finish a book I don't like but paid for if it's short and/or it's a famous book so I wanna know what happens. Lord of the Flies comes to mind. I read it earlier this year (I think) and hated every minute of it, but it was short and super famous, so I wanted to finish it. But something I know in my old age is that if a book hasn't grabbed me by the 10% mark at the most, it never will.

Sil I've gotten a lot better about abandoning books I don't like. I used to force myself to finish a book if I started. This was the final in a trilogy of books and I LOVED the first book. Kept hoping it would grab me but I pretty much hated every page!

I'm reading "The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende. It's the first book I've read by her, and I found myself completely baffled to find it's set in San Francisco and doesn't feature Latin Americans at all. I was like, but isn't she Chilean? So I looked it up and apparently she moved to the States in the 90's. Now I don't even know if this book was originally in Spanish or English. Anyways, it's a good book.

Haha! Yes, she has lived in the US for decades, Spudd! I think she's in her second American husband. She has more books set there, but she writes in Spanish originally.

Mellen, a trilogy is trickier. But I think we get pickier with age. My mom can tell in 2 paragraphs if book is for her

Finished Our Souls at Night. Loved it. Will probably read more by him.

Then I read a Brazilian YA about a fat gay teen. Gay fat teen? What's the adjective order here? Anyway, loved it too.