Talk Healthy

Hey - whatcha reading this month??

I read the new Kristin Hannah - The Four Winds in one day. It was really good - story of a woman living in the Dust Bowl. Highly recommend. Not quite The Nightingale but a great read.

I started The Push by Ashley Audrain last night. Also very good - story about a mom and her relationship with her young daughter who she thinks might be 'evil'.

Out of the last 5 books I have read, Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier was the best.

I'm curreading Ready Player Two and it's...not great. I really liked Ready Player One but this is just not up to that standard.

I started "The Swap", I forget who it's by. British chick lit. It's all right so far.

I am so happy to be done slogging through Red Mars. When I started it, it seemed fantastic. It was fantastic for like the first quarter of the book. Then it became an extremely long slog.

Currently reading "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right," by Jane Mayer. You know, some nice light and fluffy reading. It's probably the heaviest read of the year so far, but it's surprisingly engaging. Basically the lesson so far is that the Koch brothers are sneaky MFers.

Hey guys!

Can I play with you?

Bugsy, glad to know you enjoyed The Four Winds that much. That book has been all over my goodreads feed, my facebook groups, etc. I hate it when there's that much hype because disappointment is almost certain. But I might give it a try some day. Lots of people say it's unbearably tragic, though. Is it that bad? I mean, the woman loves a drama, but is it worse than her others in that sense? I didn't like The Great Alone, the endless suffering was a bit much for me.
I read The Push and would have liked it more if I hadn't felt it's such a We Need To Talk About Kevin rip-off. Have you read that one?

Spudd, do you mean The Switch?

I finished Lisa Gardner's The Neighbor. It was ok, gripping enough, but full of problems. Much better than my next read, though, Until You're Mine by Samantha Hayes. It was SO boring.

Last night I started Evvie Drake Starts Over, which is supposed to be a feel-good book. Those either work wonderfully for me or make me roll my eyes. So far I like it, though. We'll see.

Sorry, Silvia, it was Rowan who read that book. This thread title is confusing for me. I always want to reply, "What? What did I do?!"

Ha! I'm an idiot It's probably confusing me too. Sorry!

I finished Ready Player Two. It was bad.

Now: a nonfiction called Unfuckolgy by Amy Alkon. I have no idea why I ordered it; I usually roll my eyes at self-help books. But I will give it a fair shot.

Silvia, maybe I do. It's about a woman and her grandmother who switch lives for 2 weeks / a month, I forget.

Ah, yeah, it's The Switch. I enjoyed that! Hope you do too!

Sílvia wrote: ↑Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:07 pm Ah, yeah, it's The Switch. I enjoyed that! Hope you do too!

Yeah, I checked last night and that's definitely the name. Whoops. Anyway, I'm really enjoying it so far. It's very cute.

The Four Winds is definitely sad. I really liked The Great Alone so maybe I like sad.

Oh, I like sad. I just don't like domestic violence/addiction. I loved The Nightingale and Firefly Lane/Fly Away. I'll probably give The Four Winds a try at some point.

The Four Winds didn't have addiction or domestic violence just poverty. I didn't really know anything about this time period/area in the US so it was eye opening to me.

I gave up On Evvie Drake. It wasn't terrible, just slow and predictable.

Then I started The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth and I'm loving it. I've loved 3 of the 4 books I've read by her, and the fourth was ok, just not great. This is incredibly rare for me, to consistently enjoy an author's books, so I'm really happy!

I finished Unfuckology. It was about what I expected.

Now I have The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a N*zi Fugitive" by Philippe Sands. I heard the author on a CBC podcast so I ordered the book at the library.

Just finished the Dark Money book. Ooof, it was painful! I mean, it was well-written and remained pretty engaging throughout, but it really clearly demonstrates how the state of US politics has gotten to where it is today. Oligarchy for sure, and yikes that's scary.

Next will be a much lighter read, "The Giver of Stars," by Jojo Moyes. It's the next selection for our book club at work.

I loved The Giver of Stars!

I finished the Sally Hepworth. Didn't love the second half as much as the first. She's gone into this domestic noir genre with her last 2 books, and that is not my favorite. I prefer her earlier family dramas. Sigh. It was entertaining enough, though.

Then I read Good Luck With That by Kristan Higgins and loved it. Chick lit at its finest. The ending was a bit too mushy, but that's a small complaint since I thoroughly enjoyed all the rest. Apparently there was a lot of controversy when this book was launched (mainly) because there's a super morbidly obese character who dies as a result of her obesity (not a spoiler, it's in the blurb) and some people were super pissed at the way she was depicted, or worse, were super pissed without even reading the book. Anyway, it worked for me. Here's an interview with the author: https://allaboutromance.com/aar-talks-k ... k-yep-one/

Now I'm starting another one by the same author, not sure which one yet.

I finished The Switch a few days ago and enjoyed it. Light and fluffy.

Now I'm reading "Touching the Void" which is a memoir about mountain climbing. So far I'm not really into it, but maybe it will improve.