| Author |
Message |
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, October 15, 2019 - 4:16 pm 
I finished a murder-mystery by Michael Hiebert. "A Thorn Among the Lilies". It was decent.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - 11:04 pm
Hecka, at least you were able to rate it as "decent." The thriller-wannabe I just finished was simply wretched. And horrid. And deliriously bad. I definitely qualify as a BUFFOON for sticking with The Woman Inside by E.G. Scott all the way to the end. It's, unquestionably, the worst book I've read all year. Grrrrr. 😡😡😡
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Thursday, October 17, 2019 - 8:16 am
Sounds like a tie with The Didymus Contingency. 
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, October 19, 2019 - 9:50 am
Finished listening to Henning Mankell's The Return of the Dancing Master. Though it did not feature Wallender, it was still intriguing to the end.....wish the same could be said for the process analysis essays I'm also reading/grading at the moment.😂
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Sunday, October 20, 2019 - 7:55 am
I just read The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell and in my opinion, it is her very best yet. Ric, you are going to love it.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, October 20, 2019 - 8:13 pm
I'm so glad it impressed you so much! I only have to read the 10 she wrote before that one until I get to it. But I'm not complaining - her books are great. Thank you for warning me I'm going to love it! 
Just now I finished The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. It's about children in a fictional suburb of Denver who are wrangling for a spot at a new private school that will hand out 1,000 spots, with 800,000 students trying out for them. It's extremely well-written and is one of the best books I've read this year. It's very, very good and its 450 pages go by pretty quickly. I don't think everyone who reads it will like it as much as I did. (Some of the characters are hard to like.) One of the kids (Xander) was a crack-up and I enjoyed all the chapters that featured him.
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 10:23 am
I didn't know what to expect from Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer, a novel about slavery and the Underground Railroad with a little fantasy element thrown in. In troubled times, it is good to have reminders that some people will step up and do what's right for that reason alone. It is beautifully written and I recommend it.
Now back to Conversations With Friends that I didn't get to finish the last time I had it out of the library. With BB over I have more time for reading!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 4:42 pm
Some of you might have noticed (a few days ago, on National Coming Out Day) the Twitter thread by Grant Ginder where he described saving photos (when he was 13) of handsome ("beefcake") men on his family's computer and how -- when his father found them and confronted him by asking if he'd been the one who saved them to the computer -- Grant told his father, "No, I think it was Mom who did that." It was a delightfully funny Twitter thread with a happy ending.
I was so tickled by it that I was inspired to track down the first of Mr. Ginder's four published novels,This is How it Starts, which he wrote in 2009. It's well-written but not powerfully interesting. I enjoyed it, especially the funny parts, but I suspect his other (later) books are better. I will seek those out, too. I would have pursued none of his books had I not come across that Twitter thread -- it really was hilarious.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, October 27, 2019 - 11:21 pm
Tonight I finished A Suitable Vengeance, the 4th (out of 20) in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I was surprised by the graphic violence and more so by the love story that was going on while all the murder and mayhem played itself out. It's going to take an even longer time to read all her books than it's going to take to read all of Lisa Jewell's. (But I'm not complaining, as per usual.)
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 4:18 pm
Finished "Born to Die" by Lisa Jackson. It was a slightly different murder-mystery. Pretty good. Held my interest.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Thursday, October 31, 2019 - 11:43 pm
Tonight I finished Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf, her 4th published novel. When you're like me, someone who never was, and never wanted to be, a parent, you can only admire people who do it (parenting) day-in and day-out. We all know it's the hardest job in life. Then when you read a book like this -- which is very well written by the way -- where a parenting accident turns a family's life upside down - that's when your respect and admiration for parents really skyrockets. I'm grateful I was spared the parenting urge - if not, I would've gone straight to wacko-ville (due to round-the-clock pathological worrying).
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Monday, November 04, 2019 - 3:35 pm
Finished Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver and like all her books, I loved becoming engrossed in a world that was new to me. The very next moth I found indoors, I caught in a glass and released outside, lol!
I then went on to read another in "The Cat Who" series as I needed some serious deflection reading, this one being Sang for the Birds. If nothing else, I am always left looking up new words in the dictionary, lol.
Currently I'm reading Thirteen by Steven Cavanaugh. I'm enjoying the suspense of it in spite of the fact that I'm uncomfortable with the amount of violence in it. The quip for the book reads "The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury!"
Next up, I'm on the waiting list for Keep the Home Fires Burning. I got hooked on the PBS series of the same name which was based on Jambusters by Julie Summers. The show was cancelled after two short seasons and since it ended on a cliff-hanger, the author decided to keep the story going with books. Yay for the author!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, November 04, 2019 - 7:04 pm
Kappy, that Cavanaugh book sounds like a riot. I will go-a-hunting for it at the library - thanks for the tip!
This afternoon I finished Elton John's monumentally entertaining autobiography, Me. I am beyond staggered by the number of eye-poppingly surprising details of his life. He withholds NOTHING. You don't have to be a fan of his music to enjoy this book. I was a rabid fan back in the '70s. Not that you asked for proof, I'm providing it anyway via the link below (forgive me if this is a rerun -- I can't remember if I've posted it in the past).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys8AfACUdCI
[Fast forward to the 6:29 mark of the clip and you'll see me waving my custom-made T-shirt ("You're Better Off ...") on the day -- October 23, 1975 -- when he got his star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.]
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Monday, November 04, 2019 - 7:32 pm
Yay! I have Thirteen and Elton's book on my list to read. Glad to hear they are both good. Great clip, Uncle Ricky. I love Elton. I saw him in Vegas for his Red Piano show in 2004.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Monday, November 04, 2019 - 9:18 pm
Oh that's great, Uncle Ricky!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, November 04, 2019 - 11:36 pm
Ric, that is quite a memory!
Closest I got was a fundraiser for AIDS .. a tennis event he and Billie Jean King hosted.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, November 05, 2019 - 8:46 am
I just finished reading Diana Gabaldon’s The Fiery Cross, which is the fifth book in her Outlander series.
I enjoyed it. I will address a common complaint of a number of reviewers, that being that the plot doesn’t move forward much. Yes there are a few big moments with major characters in peril but not many in a 1,400 page book.
She does seem to be a meticulous researcher and she does focus a lot on minutiae. However, I must say that I rather enjoy that. I know quite a bit about the big events in American history but I don’t know much about what day to day life was like in 1770 and this book provides a lot of detail. In that sense, it's a very comfortable read.
That said, I certainly could have done with less of the endless and obsessive detail about breast feeding and diaper changing (and I like kids!).
Characters discussing strategy regarding political unrest and a potential upcoming battle. But first, let’s describe yet another diaper change.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, November 05, 2019 - 9:27 am
I am looking forward to the Elton John book.
We just read Demi Moore's book for book club and none of us were very impressed with her.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Tuesday, November 05, 2019 - 7:05 pm
Update, Thirteen has been returned to the library after yet another murder. I just can't deal with the upcoming holidays and a serial killer. I figure I'll return to it in the new year when it's dark and cold outside. Instead, I am starting The Alice Network.
Jimmer, I have had the Outlander series on my wish list forever but always shy away because of the length of them. Some day . . .
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Tuesday, November 05, 2019 - 7:40 pm
I am looking forward to read what you think of The Alice Network Kappy. I read it a year or 2 ago. I recall liking 1 timeline far better than the other.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, November 08, 2019 - 12:59 am
Mamie, thanks for the warning about Demi Moore's book. Kappy! I'm sorry you had to stop. I found out it's the 4th in the Eddie Cain series, so I have reserved the 1st in the series at the library. If I like it enough, I'll work my way to the current book (the one you abandoned).
I finished John Boyne's A Ladder to the Sky a few minutes ago. This book was DELICIOUS to the nth degree. It's about a diabolical writer who will stop at nothing to become a success even though he has no genuine writing talent. Speaking of writing talent, John Boyne is incredibly, incredibly talented and that's probably the worst way to describe him. I dare you not to love A Ladder to the Sky should you decide to give it a try.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Friday, November 08, 2019 - 9:31 am
It's about a diabolical writer who will stop at nothing to become a success even though he has no genuine writing talent.
That sounds like a wonderful subject for a book. 
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Friday, November 08, 2019 - 11:49 am
Eddie Flynn Series by Steve Cavanaugh - THIS is the problem when I can't remember where I learned about a book. I swear I read somewhere that you don't need to read the series to enjoy the one but if I like Thirteen, I will go back to the previous 3 so thank you Uncle Ricky for letting me know about them!
Sugar - I'm still early in the Alice book but I can already see where one character's story might be more interesting. What an interesting character Gardiner is!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, November 10, 2019 - 6:22 pm
Rieann and Sea, don't forget to let us know what you think of the Elton book - I'll be shocked if you don't love it.
Kappy! I goofed on the name of the character: it's Eddie Flynn not Eddie Cain - sorry about that.
Jim, I was very surprised by how low the main character stooped (and I must emphasize the word 'low'). It was actually a bit disturbing, but also very entertaining because of how well the story unfolded.
Mamie, you were absolutely right about If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman, which I finished this afternoon. This was a huge improvement over her previous book. I was constantly tempted to take peeks at the later chapters to see what the secret was, but I remained patient until I got there. I loved how she kept the emotions running high throughout the book. I'm looking forward to her next one!
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Monday, November 11, 2019 - 1:14 pm
I have been on a kick reading thriller/suspense novels. I have read around five or six the last couple of weeks (after a break of not being able to read). I will start Elton's soon.
 
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