Talk Healthy

I just finished Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff.

It's listed everywhere as a best of 2015 but I just thought it was ok. I'm tired of books that have no likeable characters.

Some girl from a blog I read gave that book only 2 stars, Ro. '

I'm finishing The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende. Like 25 pages from the end. I'm loving it, and I'm pretty sure there won't be a stupid ending to piss me off. That's not her style.

ETA: Finished! Loved it. I adore Isabel Allende. That woman could publish her shopping list and I'd still pay for it and probably give it at least 3 stars. Now on to The Japanese Lover: it doesn't have a very obvious plot, but it does have the most likable cast of characters I've seen in a long time. There was a minor twist at the end, but I should have seen it coming a mile away, I'm so naive. But it made perfect sense.

I think I'm gonna read All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner next.

Yesterday I started "A Brief History of 7 Killings" by Marlon James. So far it's sucked me in pretty effectively. I hope to have more reading time this afternoon.

I tried to read Middlesex. I swear I tried. I read the first 50 pages. Was unimpressed. Thought "eh, maybe it starts slowly". Read another 50 pages. Was Unimpressed and bored. Read the next 30, then went online to read a summary of the next few chapters. Tried to read a bit more, with lots of skimming. Then I gave up and read the rest of the online summary. Oh well. I guess I'll be the first Th person to not love this book. At least that's what goodreads leads me to believe. So many of you gave it 5 stars!

Then I started The Hour I first Believed by Wally Lamb. Couldn't get into it either I read the first 100 pages and I hadn't even gotten to the part in the blurb yet. WTF? Life's too short.

THEN I started my previously planned Jennifer Weiner. Which so far I'm enjoying, thank you very much.

So I wasted 300 pages and several hours of reading time on books that I didn't finish. Bleargh. On the bright side, I think I finally figured out how to add books to my "gave-up-on" shelf on goodreads without having it recorded also as "read".

I finished NoTime for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay. I liked it a lot.

Now m reading Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. It seems like it'll be a quick read, and very enjoyable.

Finished the audiobook for "A Tale for the Time Being" by Ruth Ozeki. She read it as well. It was a bit strange (lots is set in Japan), and the ending was kind of confusing, but I liked it.

Finished Everything Everything. I enjoyed it although I wasn't too surprised by how it turned out.

Now reading "From the Internet to the inner-net" which is by a guy who works at Google and is into yoga and meditation. It's about reconciling technology and yoga/meditation. So far so good.

I'm almost done with Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling). It's really good! I didn't like the second book in the series all that much so I'm pleasantly surprised by this one.

I finally found a book I like!

"Another Night, Another Day" by Sarah Raynor. It's about several people in a mental retreat/psych hospital.

I finished Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter and Orphan Train this weekend. I might be the last person to read Orphan Train -- I loved it! Not sure why it took me so long to pick it up.

I'm reading a YA book now. All The Bright Places

Finished up Career of Evil. I really liked it but she needs to wrap up a plot that has been in each of the books. I give it one more book before I'm sick of it.

Also read The Guest Room by the same author that wrote Midwives. Blanking on his name. It was decent, didn't particularly like the ending.

I just started a YA book last night called The Nakeds.

I finally finished Started Early Took my Dog. It wasn't as great as I expected after When Will There be Good News. It took a long time for me to get into it.

Next up is The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. It's large print as that's the only copy my library has.

I finished The Last Anniversary. It was fine, but not my favourite by Liane Moriarty.

Last night I started Love and Other Ways of Dying: Essays by Michael Paterniti. The first essay is about the plane crash at Peggy's Cove. Really gripping and sad.

The internet/inner-net book started off OK but it got tiring half way through or so. No real exciting insights except, don't multi-task. I have been trying to do this for ages but I find it so hard. My mind just starts racing and wanting to multi-task.

Now I'm reading "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen. It's OK, but I'm not super in love with it. He tends to use really long, run-on sentences.

Finished The Naked's last night. Meh. It wasn't great and the ending sucked.

I am not particularly enjoying "A Brief History of 7 Killings," I'm sorry to say. I'm a bit more than 50% through it, and it's just kind of a slog to make myself read it. What sucks is that it's due back to the library tomorrow, I think, so I either have to pause to put it on hold again or buy it despite not really loving it. At this point I don't want to give up entirely, but it will probably be months before it comes in from hold again so I will likely buy it.

On a similar note, my book club meets on Saturday. The book is "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty. I got on the hold list almost 2 months ago and am still waiting for my copy, so I had to buy it to be able to finish it in time. Hoping I'll blow through it (which has happened with others by her) within a week so it can be returned and refunded.

Oh, Big Little Lies is delicious, Bugsy! One of her best. Several of us here loved it.

I finally finished All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner. I liked it. Didn't love it. I love her writing, even if the story is not that great.

Then I started These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf. I haven't read much yet.

I finished Love and other ways of dying. It was really upsetting in parts, especially considering it is non fiction. These people existed

Now I have a crime novel by Paula Daly called Keep Your Friends Close.

I finished These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf. I liked it. 3 stars, not exceptional. The weakest of her 4 novels, I think. Also, I'm sick and tired of psychological thrillers and dramas dealing with teen pregnancies and dead or endangered babies. Enough.

Then I started a Brazilian, Diary of the Fall by Michel Laub: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193 ... on=service. I intend to try some contemporary Brazilian authors I don't know this year. Let's see.

I finished "Big Little Lies" and liked it quite a bit. Her books are always such quick reads.

Haven't resumed "Brief History..." and not sure if I will now.