| Author |
Message |
Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Wednesday, April 09, 2025 - 9:50 am 
Good to hear about Sunrise on the Reaping as I have that on my list. It will be interesting to read about Haymitch in his early years.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Friday, April 11, 2025 - 5:48 pm
I've only read the original trilogy of The Hunger Games, but I agree - they are excellent! I read them straight through one weekend over a winter break when I was teaching. I also listened to the first 3 Divergent books and enjoyed them as well. (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant)
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Friday, April 11, 2025 - 7:25 pm
I've read all of the Hunger Games books, too, except for the newest one. Will probably read it eventually. Read all the Divergent books as well. Just finished a Fern Michaels book, Fight or Flight. It was quite good. Thinking about reading a classic next, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, April 19, 2025 - 6:58 pm
Scooter! My erstwhile NFL Picks teammate -- thank you so much for your sweet message! The construction of the apartment for MIL/SIL gets underway next month.
Here are the books I've recently finished:
Beloved by Toni Morrison. My first time reading Ms. Morrison - a shameful delay. I enjoyed it but the subject matter was so painful. A towering achievement.
My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler. She was a guest on Kylie Kelce's podcast and mentioned that this was her first book and it sounded hilarious, so I found a copy. Extremely hilarious!
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Another painful read (because of the subject matter), but very, very captivating. Hannah is the real deal!
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. There's a heavy James Joyce influence in this one, so it's quite dense reading. But the story and characters are excellent. It hasn't received the best reviews of her career, but I liked it.
The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White. Not recommended because it's just not very interesting. It's essentially a collection of stories that describes his carnal conquests. Some of them are funny but most are more boring than anything else.
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. I love her so much -- after all these years she's still brilliant, just like this marvelous little novel.
Sonny Boy by Al Pacino. This reminded me so much of the Barbra Streisand memoir (which I adored). Pacino is very matter-of-hand and his recollections are excellently recounted. The section he devotes to telling us about how he squandered vast amounts of his fortune is fascinating.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. My mother-in-law received a copy of this as a gift. When she finished it, I asked if I could read it (just to see what the hoopla was about). It's a riot. I wonder if the film version will be as much fun to see as it was to read.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Sunday, April 20, 2025 - 4:27 am
Ricky, my brain kept reading the title of Sonny Boy as Sonny Bono and I couldn't figure out why Al Pacino was writing a memoir about him and why he had so many recollections about him. 
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Sunday, April 20, 2025 - 10:45 am
Ricky, I loved listening to Sonny Boy! His recounting of the money was fascinating as was his memories of making The Godfather.
The Housemaid is fun so is the second one. The third one not so much.
You must read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison! One of my all time favorites.
I love Chelsea's books. I have the new one to read up soon.
I totally agree with Kristin Hannah and Anne Tyler. I have Three Days in June in my TBR massive library!
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Sunday, April 20, 2025 - 12:24 pm
With those recommendations I’m definitely going’s to take a look at The Housemaid.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, April 20, 2025 - 8:01 pm
Grooch! Too funny! 
Mamie, you will love Three Days in June - it's vintage Tyler. Thanks for the tip about the Morrison book. And I can't wait to read ALL of Chelsea's books, too.
Jimmer, that Housemaid is so hysterical -- it features one of the best plot twists I've read in recent years. And read it before the movie comes out, which I believe is December 25.
And, finally, speaking of memoirs, some of you might recall me telling you about how the writer-director Cameron Crowe -- while writing his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Almost Famous" -- based one of the minor characters in the film (Vic Munoz) on me because of my reputation, in the mid-1970s, as a rock and roll super fan.
Cameron has written his own memoir "The Uncool" (see link below) and it comes out in October. Then, next year, the companion book to the memoir ("Hamburgers for the Apocalypse: The Music Journalism of Cameron Crowe") will be released.
Two years ago, Cameron got in touch with me to interview me for the latter book. It was the first time seeing/talking to him in 48 years! We picked up right where we left off, which was September 1975, when he interviewed me for an article in Rolling Stone. Unfortunately, the article was never published. I warned Cameron that his editors at RS probably wouldn't go for an article about a complete nobody (me), but he wrote it anyway.
When he got in touch in 2023, he explained that he was revisiting some of the interviews he'd written over the years (David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, among many others) and that he'd been interviewing them again to ask how their lives had changed since the original interviews first appeared.
And even though the interview he did with me in 1975 was never published, he wanted to ask me how things had changed for me from the perspective of a fan. We spoke for nearly 90 minutes and I wished him well with the book. So, now the publication is just months away. I'm nervous that his editors at his publishing house will make him exclude the interview with me because of the "complete nobody" issue. I guess I could just text Cameron and ask him if I am definitely in the book, but that seems kind of louche and I'm convinced I'll jinx it if I put him on the spot like that.
Anyway, I wanted all of you to be aware of "Hamburgers for the Apocalypse: The Music Journalism of Cameron Crowe" and to be on the lookout for it next year, especially if I happen to "make the cut." (Fingers crossed!)
http://www.theuncool.com/2025/04/17/the-uncool-memoir-officially-announced/
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, April 21, 2025 - 9:58 am
I am really looking forward to Cameron's books now!
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Monday, April 21, 2025 - 10:31 am
Ditto!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, April 22, 2025 - 9:28 am
I am listening to Daniel Stern's book Home and Alone and just loving it! He is such a great narrator (just watch The Wonder Years) and is so affable. He is so funny and his stories of making the movies are just wonderful.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - 4:52 pm
I finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It was okay. Guess I was expecting more out of a classic. A little disappointed to be honest.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - 5:14 pm
That can happen with the classics. Dickens was amazing and I love him but what was extraordinary for readers at that time may not be as impactful in 2025. LOL especially with the extraordinary build up.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - 6:51 pm
I've started reading the Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, in anticipation of the show coming out this summer, starring Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Helen Mirren.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - 6:56 pm
Uncle Ricky, that is so exciting! Congrats, again. Besides, what's a mere 48 years between friends?!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, May 04, 2025 - 7:07 pm
Thank you, my dear Mame, and thank you as well, Mamie! Tomorrow I'm going to mail a "Congratulations!" card to Cameron with a note telling him how excited I am to read both books. I'm hoping that'll elicit a response from him that will reveal whether -- to quote the immortal Heidi Klum -- I'm "in" or "out." 
Hecka, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Great Expectations more than you did, but I understand completely. CD's books can be a real workout. I read every one he ever wrote and loved them all.He was my favorite of all the English Lit titans until I came across my first Thomas Hardy and then Hardy became my favorite because of his body of work: one tragedy after another after another after another -- all of them so good!
Speaking of good, I recently finished Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. About halfway through I was feeling very doubtful that I'd like it and then the second half kicked in and then I loved it. If you've read this one, you'll know how the sudden shift in how she writes the story really begins gripping the reader.
Yesterday I finished Riley Sager's The House Across The Lake, which started out just fine, but eventually collapsed (completely) due to an utterly outrageous development. (I almost stopped reading, I was so appalled!) But I felt I had to finish it, if for no other reason than the fact he quoted lyrics from one of Taylor Swift's songs -- had he not done that, I probably would've abandoned the messiness of it all. He clearly admires Taylor (why else quote one of her lyrics, right?) -- that's what kept me (doggedly) engaged to the last page. I would not recommend this one, though, so proceed at your own risk!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, May 05, 2025 - 2:50 pm
I finished Karin Slaughter's "Pretty Girls". It was very good but did include some very graphic descriptions of snuff porn, that I really could have done without. But still very good.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Monday, May 05, 2025 - 3:14 pm
My daughter just read that one. She also thought it was good but was reluctant to recommend it for the reasons you described.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, May 06, 2025 - 6:55 pm
The only books I could find by Freida McFadden were all in Spanish. I'm not bilingual unfortunately.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, May 13, 2025 - 5:38 pm
Just finished "The Orphanage by the Lake" by Daniel G. Miller. Still good but a lot tamer than Pretty Girls.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 9:37 am
Finished "The Flower Sisters" by Michelle Collins Anderson. It was very good. Very enjoyable.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 6:39 pm
Uncle Ricky - Huge lover of Kristin Hannah, Salley Rooney, and Toni Morrison. Song of Solomon was my favorite of Morrison's - taught it in my AP class and fought a book ban our community launched way back in 2009 before book banning was quite so popular! LOL Hannah's The Four Winds was an amazing read as well.
I don't have time to catch up with my list, but I have to RAVE about Charlotte McConaghy. I loved Once There Were Wolves when I read it a couple years back. In the last couple months, I've also read her Wild Dark Shore and Migrations. I cannot recommend her highly enough. LOVE them!!
I was almost done with Intermezzo when my Libby loan ended, but I just got it back today, so I'm looking forward to finishing it. I think this is my second favorite of Rooney's (Normal People being first).
I'm currently finishing The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey and highly recommend it as well. It's her first novel, and I thoroughly intend to read all the ones she writes after this!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, May 23, 2025 - 11:56 am
Teach, loved Wild Dark Shore! I have not read any of her other books but I will have to.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 - 8:18 pm
They are all fantastic, Mamie!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Friday, May 30, 2025 - 11:12 am
Finished "The River Knows Your Name" by Kelly Mustian. Very good book!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Saturday, June 07, 2025 - 1:24 pm
Finished "Old Girls Behaving Badly" by Kate Galley. It was pretty good. I was hoping for more light-hearted amusing fun. It was that pretty much.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Sunday, June 08, 2025 - 9:45 am
Just finished Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She is one of my favorite authors and I think this is one of my very favorite of her books. It follows the Space Shuttle program and a group of new astronauts. Two of them are women who fall madly in love but have to hide it because that would not fly with the standards of the program. Great read.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Monday, June 09, 2025 - 6:36 pm
Another lover of TJR, Mamie, and I just placed a hold on Atmosphere. I'm *only* 45th in line - for one copy. 
I've done mainly audiobooks the last couple months and can highly recommend: The Wolf Tree, The Dictionary of Lost Words, The Lion Women of Tehran and the two YA books Where Wolves Don't Die, Death at Morning House.
I'm currently reading All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (excellent) and listening to The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi (good story - but heads up it's NSFW at all!!).
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, June 14, 2025 - 10:08 am
I am listening to My Friends by Fredrick Bachman. It is filled with all those lovely feelings his books touch in you but my problem is the narrator does a voice of an old man who helps the main characters at one time. She sounds like Yoda! I am having a hard time getting past the voice.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, June 17, 2025 - 3:25 pm
Just finished "Before the Swallows Come Back" by Fiona Curnow. I believe she is a Scottish author. Very good book!
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