Talk Healthy

I have the new Jodi Picoult to start. I'm at 90 books for the year--not sure if I can do 10 this month to push to 100.

Mellen, glad you said that about the Cronin books because I felt the same way.

Rowan, I was so disappointed about the series because I so loved the first book.

I just started The Daily Show - An Oral History. Lots of interviews with Jon Stewart and all the corespondents detailing how the show came to be. It's pretty interesting so far.

I just finished Britt-Marie Was Here. Loved it; very charming.

Next up is an older Sheila O'Flanagan called All For You.

Rowan, I was so disappointed about the series because I so loved the first book.

Hrm, I'm already getting impatient with the sample. I'll give it another sitting or two.

Blush, that Britt-Marie sounds good. It's going on the list.

Finished "Dust," by Hugh Howey last night. It was decent. So I've finished the trilogy and liked it but didn't love it. Worth reading, though.

Onto "Occupying Privilege: Conversations on Love, Race, & Liberation," by JLove Calderon. I had to get this through the university's interlibrary loan system (it came from Hamline University in MN!) and is likely not renewable, so I need to read it quickly. "Republican Noise Machine" needs to wait a bit longer.

I finished the Jodi Picoult and didn't like it. I also read The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen which wasn't good either. I've liked her stuff in the past but I felt her characters were really flat and really hate the whole "oops, I cheated, oh well, back to my husband".

I have a book that's been on my TBR forever...Unless by Carol Shields.

Why didn't you like the Jodi Picoult, Ro? I really liked it. I mean, nothing I've read in months has been memorable, but I enjoyed it. I had a problem with the ending, but after reading what she wrote after that, I accepted that it could happen.

I gave up on The Passage. I thought it had too much background on every single character that he introduced, and was getting impatient. I might get back to it, though. I'm sure the overall mood about the tragedy here influenced my reading last week.

Then I started Disclaimer by... Renée Knight? I think. It's ok. Again, I'm starting to get impatient, and it's probably not the book's fault. I'm having a hard time focusing on/ enjoying fiction.

Sílvia wrote:I'm having a hard time focusing on/ enjoying fiction.

That's been happening to me too lately! I would think that with all the terrible news out there my brain would appreciate some fluff fiction, but nope.

Why didn't you like the Jodi Picoult, Ro? I really liked it.

Maybe it had to do with it taking place in my backyard, literally and that what she described - being the only black nurse on the floor is just not true-maybe I would have embraced it more if it was a fictional town not sure why she chose New Haven. I don't why that bugged me so much it just did. Also I thought the ending with Turk was just so ridiculous. As she mentioned people would think she isn't the right person to talk about race, I agree. The author lives in NH, I believe upstate where there is no diversity at all - I'm sure she did her research but researching and living are totally different. I grew up in NH and have lived in New Haven for over 20 years.

I did whip through it but I really wanted to know what happened.

I'm having a hard time focusing on/ enjoying fiction.

I agree that if you're upset you'd think fiction would take you away from it all but I found when I was dealing with my parents/grief, I just couldn't read anything more than a magazine. I also did a lot of word finds that year. You do what you can to keep your brain humming I guess.

I thought the ending with Turk was ridiculous until I read her post-script. But yeah, it was a bit much. And coming from the background where a book is set certainly changes one's perception.

I find it really hard to focus on anything when I'm upset/worried/sad, or even happier than usual. It happens every time. I have to be at my normal everyday mood to appreciate fiction.

I started reading Shonda Rhimes' "Year of Yes" back in the spring...I actually found it annoying because you can tell that she basically just spoke into a recorder and had someone just type it up...so even though what she's saying is wonderful, it makes for difficult reading. But, I plan to finish that this month. In fact, I might just curl up with it on New Year's Eve. (I've decided that instead of spending a bunch of money on a hotel and spa treatments like I did last year, this year I am going to do my own in-home pampering - I'm going to church, yoga, and use up my monthly Massage Envy treatment and call it a weekend.)

I'm also going to read "I'm Judging You" by the blogger Luvvie Ajayi...it's supposed to be hilarious and I know I could use some laughs right about now.

I finished the Sheila O'Flanagan novel. It was about twice as long as it needed to be. She felt the need to hit the reader over the head with information about the characters as though we are too thick to get it. Yes, that person is a feminist. Yes, this other person is beautiful, sometimes wishes she wasn't, and doesn't want to "pressurise" her boyfriend. Hmm, I take it the boyfriend is an asshole? Oh, he *is* an asshole. What's that? One more time? Asshole? UGH, ENOUGH.

ETA Another thing that annoyed me about this book was that people were given unrealistic names given their ages. 50 year olds named Lexy and Hailey? NO. Those are 90s baby names.

Ok, so now I have "You Will Know Me" by Megan Abbott.

I finished the Megan Abbott book in under 24 hours. It was compelling and would make a good movie.

Next: The Lost by Claire McGowan.

I'll never understand how you guys can read 350+ pages in such a short time. I can't physically pass my eyes over the words in that many pages in that amount of time, let alone absorb anything I've read!

I finished Disclaimer. It was good! Twisty, but not the eye-rolling kind of twist. I thought it was very original. I mean, it would be even more original if it didn't have the one big twist towards the end, but it was still believable and I still liked it. I'll never understand how crap like The Girl on the Train (sorry, no offense. But it was like everyone was reading a different book from me. I HATED it.) gets so immensely successful and little gems like this go almost unnoticed.

I think I'll start How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper now.

Just finished "Occupying Privilege," and it was fantastic. It could use some better editing (to fix a few dumb typos, not for the content), but the message was so very good. It gave me a whole list of other reading to do, which I love.

So I guess now I'll finally start "The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How it Corrupts Democracy," by David Brock.

Finished a bunch of books sitting at the Wheelmill the past couple days....

The Oral History of the Daily Show - it was a fun read. There was a whole section dedicated to how the last show came together so it was fun to go back and watch it after I was done.

The Gloaming by Melanie Finn - the whole story is basically about a woman trying to escape herself. Loved the writing and the descriptions of the countries she was in.

Hi, Anxiety: Life with a Bad Case of Nerves by Kat Kinsman - It was good but I always end up kind of skimming these memoir type books.

I think next up is Normal by Warren Ellis

I stayed up to finish The Lost last night. I knew it was the first in a series but if I hadn't it would have been obvious by the ending.

I'm taking 6 books with me and I'm not sure which I'll start first.

Finished How to Talk to a Widower. I liked it.

Now I have My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.