Talk Healthy

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.

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.

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.

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

I finished The Goldfinch. I was completely absorbed by it. Great book.

Next up is something completely different: Save the Date -- The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest by Jen Doll.

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).

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.

Finished The Vacationers by Emma Straub and really enjoyed it.

Also read:

Savage Drift (final book in the Monument 14 trilogy) - I liked it - good ending for the series

The Demon of Brownsville Road (book about a haunted house less than a mile from me). OMG, it was so poorly written. Terrible.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay - Excellent

Right now I'm reading Metro 2033 (or 3023..? IDK the numbers. It's a dystopian book - people living in the tunnels of the underground trains in Russia. Sounds good right? Ugh, it's not. Apparently there is a video game based on this that Jeff loved and he kept telling me to read it. Now I feel like I have to finish it even though I don't care about any of the characters and I have a bunch of other books from the library that I WANT to read.

Spudd, I liked 11/22/63 as well. I've got a JFK "thing" anyway...not sure why.

Mellen, so jealous you've got so much reading in.

Still on The Fever.

I finished Save the Date. It was cute, and quick.

Next I have a Jojo Moyes book. I think it's called Last letter from your lover.

Yesterday I finished the audiobook of "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter. Loved it. This topic is right up my alley, and the writing was really entertaining.

This morning I started "Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail" by Jennifer Pharr Davis. Seems good so far and is also a topic right up my alley. I'm a little worried it'll be a lot of overlap with "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed but am guessing it'll still be good.

Finished Metro 2033. Looooong and not very good.

Tried to read A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. Couldn't do it. The writing is very "stream of consciousness", which I found incredibly annoying.

Now I"m reading Station Eleven - it is excellent so far.

Mellen I just read about that book in Entertainment Weekly. It definitely sounded good.

I finished that King book last night - 11/22/63. I really enjoyed it.

I'm not sure what's next... need to peruse my Kindle and see what I have lying around.