Talk Healthy

Just finished Reconstructing Amelia. It was ok.

Not sure what's next in the pile....

Interesting on Amelia, I keep seeing reviews that it's a "must read". Did you end up reading Vampires in the Lemon Grove?

I'm giving up on the WWI book I started. It's waaaay too dry. Picking up The Interestings from the library tonight.

Re: Amelia. I think it was a YA book but I'm still not sure. I like YA books but I need to know it's YA before I read it. I know...it's weird. I didn't hate it; I just thought it was ok.

Vampires...I didn't really like it. I think I just don't like her writing style. I know you loved it. It's funny how people's tastes can be so similar and then one outlier.

Rowan wrote:Vampires...I didn't really like it. I think I just don't like her writing style. I know you loved it. It's funny how people's tastes can be so similar and then one outlier.

I know you didn't like Swamplandia! either. I was just curious what you thought. My two favorites were the silkworm factory one and the president/horse one. Both SO WEIRD but I really liked them.

I *hated* the president/horse one. The silkworm one was my fave of all. Most of the stories left me .

Too funny.....

I finally finished The Night Circus on the day it was due back. Whew! I wasn't a big fan although I did like the ending.

Now I'm reading Around the World in 80 Dates. It's amusing so far but I can tell it won't be a great book.

I'm halfway through Three Graves Full. The beginning was pretty good and action packed, the middle is slow and semi-unbelieveable. I'll finish it but

I'm about 1/4 of the way into The Interestings and I'm booorrred. Keep seeing this book on all the summer reading lists too. . Going to give it another 50-80 pages before I decide if I'm bailing.

I also started reading John Dies at the End. I feel like it's a more jacked up Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Haven't decided if I like it or not yet.

I'm reading The Smart One by Jennifer Close. I'm only 10 pp in so no comment yet.

Although I seem to be completely off kilter with the other readers here lately so certainly take my recommendations with a grain of salt....

Finished The Interestings. Should have been call The Not Interestings. Stuck with it expecting it to get better but was just bored.

I gave up on John Dies at the End. Too bizarre.

Next up the the last Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Ever After.

Finished The Smart One. Read Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls. It was fine.

I'm reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl) and I'm really liking it! Although I think she purposely writes main characters that you don't like.

I finished Dead Ever After, which is the last Sookie Stackhouse book. Meh. I didn't much like the ending. Don't want to put anything else since I'm not sure if anyone else reads the series.

Next up is The Plantagenets - The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England.

Lit by mary karr, a memoir. Up to p 24 and pretty into it.

Tried to read hedgemony or survival by noam chomsky, but had to give up. Too historical, pedantic, etc. going into the books to sell/give away pile.

I spent my Saturday doing a beta read of a fiction novel from one of my favorite bloggers. She's published non-fiction but this is her first attempt at fiction. I'm pretty excited to do this! S kept asking whether I was really going to tell her bad things...um of course, that's why you have people read it - to get the kinks out....

The author I did the beta read for loved my feedback! Yay! I have a quick call with her tomorrow to discuss.

I finished The Prophet by Michael Koryta. I liked it. I'll read more of him.

I'm currently reading The Dinner by Herman Koch. I'm only about 50pp in or so but I'm intrigued. I usually have issue with books that have been translated but this is very well done and I wouldn't guess it was a translation (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I'm looking at you).

I have a giant pile of books to take to NH for the long weekend. HOpefully I can get a lot of reading in.

Rowan - I really enjoyed The Dinner!

I'm about 1/4 of the way through The Plantagenets. It's very good but slow going since I'm trying to keep track of the dates and all the people named Henry, Thomas and Edward.

I have a bunch of books on the hold shelf so I think I think I might put this aside for awhile and come back to it.

mellen, whatcha got on your hold shelf?

Rowan, I've got:

Wool by Hugh Howery (did you read this? Seems like people love it or hate it)

How to Creat the Perfect Wife (heard about it on NPR)

Frozen in Time: An epic story of survival and a modern quest for the lost heroes of WWII

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach

Cool I've heard about all the the Perfect Wife one. I haven't read any of them. I have seen that people either love or hate Wool too.

Enjoy!

My reading progress has slowed way down. Lots of stress, fatigue and extra TV watching.

I finished "The Autobiography of Us" earlier this month. It was decent. Nothing too thought provoking but it held my attention well enough.

I'm currently reading "The Light Between Oceans", which has really good reviews on GoodReads. It's an interesting story and is well written but for some reason, it feels thick as mud to get through. I guess the problems for me are 1. it's set in the 1920's in Australia so there's a lot of vocabulary and dialect that I don't understand. Plus there's a lot of lighthouse metaphors and symbolism that just don't do it for me. The other issue is that I don't really like the protagonists very much. I can't imagine that's what the author intended but there's just a disconnect for me and I think they're kind of shitty. And the shittiness hasn't been examined enough for me to buy-in to the overall concept.

Anyway, I should be done with it soon and then I have 3 library books sitting on my nightstand waiting for me that seem much more enticing. If I hadn't paid money for this current book, I would've probably given up on it.