Talk Healthy

I finished Happily Ever After and it was fine. Then I started a Dorothy Benton Frank book that has too many characters, none of whom I can bother to care about, and it's trying too hard to be charming or funny. I will finish it, hopefully by tonight so I can leave it on the library cart and not take it home.

Ugh, I finished the Dorothy Benton Frank book. It was pretty horrible. Now I have another from the library cart by Holly Chamberlain called Back in the Game. Pure fluff, and the reviews are not good.

Finished "Night Road," by Kristin Hannah. It was a captivating read, but I didn't love it. Not sure I'd seek out anything else by her, either. Not sure what's next. Need to see what's readily available so I don't have to wait on a hold to come in.

Edit: the winner is "The Book Thief," by Markus Zusak. Several folks I know rated it really highly, but it looks like Silvia hated it. Hope I am in the former camp!

I'm sure you'll like it! I remember I hated the writing style, not the plot so much. This was (along with All the Light we Cannot See) one of the rare novels on WW2 I didn't like.

I'm curious about the Kristin Hannah. I've read 2 of her novels, one I thought was super melodramatic and hated, the other I loved (The Nightingale, set in WW2.)

I finished the "Chaos Walking" trilogy by Patrick Ness last night. I wouldn't give it the heartiest of recommendations, but it was definitely a page-turner and I wanted to see how it came out. It's kind of post-apocalyptic YA.

I don't know what's next yet. I just got a book from the library yesterday that I might read next, called "The Question of the Missing Head". It depends if I get around to loading it onto my Kindle or not.

Silvia, I see what you mean about writing style. It was pretty painful last night when I started it, but I tried again this morning on my commute. It was a lot easier going, so maybe I'm getting used to it. Hopefully I like it!

So you *did* like "The Nightingale"?

"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss is en route to my library too, so if I end up hating "The Book Thief," that will be next.

Yeah, I loved it. There was a love story in it that I thought was a bit contrived, but I loved everything else about it.

I sent The Book Thief home with my mom with instructions to give it 50 pages. I thought it was weird at first but I loved it.

And I finished the Holly Chamberlain on the plane. omg. Horrible.

Those were good instructions, Blush. I'm on page 101 now and am sucked into the story. The writing style is much less jarring now as well. I'm glad I stuck with it.

Troublemaker by Leah Remini - it was pretty good, interesting stuff about Scientology.

Then read Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavage Hill - she's the niece of David Miscavage who runs Scientology now. It was interesting but needed some editing.

Then skimmed Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham. What a money grab. I mostly wanted to read about her time on Gilmore Girls but it was just surface babbling with no real depth. It read like she sat down and cranked out the entire book in the couple days.

Mellon I just finished "beyond belief" last night too and agree. It was good but I'm most interested in how she got out and life now. Some of the Scientology life could have been edited.

I'm starting a thriller by Alexandra Burt called Remember Mia.

Stayed up late last night to finish "The Book Thief." In the end, I was thinking it'd get 4 stars, but after sleeping on it and reading a few Goodreads reviews, it got 3. The format and style get points for creativity, but they also made for a jarring reading experience. It also really bothered me that Death constantly did spoilers! Like one reviewer said, there weren't a lot of *events* in this book, so it would have been nice to just experience them without already having been told the outcome.

So that brings me two shy of my goal of 30 books. Oh well. If we hadn't gone to Amsterdam, for which I paused pleasure reading and perused several travel guide books instead (but didn't *read* them and therefore didn't count them in my total), I'd have made it. WORTH IT!

Finished Good Morning, Midnight. LOVED it. Here's what I wrote on goodreads, for Rowan's benefit: This book is slow-moving, descriptive and character-driven. All words that would normally send me running in the opposite direction. But the theme and setting here attracted me and I'm glad they did, because this is such a gem. Don't go in expecting your average action-packed, page-turning post-apocalypse story. This is something else.

I started a book called "Sweat Equity" which is a non-fiction about the business of fitness. It's pretty interesting.

Silvia, that *does* sound like something you'd hate, so since you loved it, I just added it to my list.

Ok, now I'm starting to worry that 3 of you have added it to your lists It IS pretty slow, guys. Something I'd ordinarily consider boring, but I loved the writing so much that even the less thrilling parts worked for me. It was not a book I wanted to pick up any time, I had to be in the mood for it, and it took me 5 days to finish even though it was pretty short (254 pages.) But my overall feeling when I finished was "Wow. So glad I picked this", you know?

Fine with me, Silvia! I really enjoy quality writing and don't mind a slower book in the least. It sounds at least worth trying!

Meanwhile, today I picked up "The Name of the Wind," by Patrick Rothfuss. Jason has been raving about it, and it has great ratings. But it's 662 pages; the thing is like 2 inches thick! Eep!