| Author |
Message |
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, July 05, 2022 - 10:32 pm 
You can say that again, Jim! Wow! I only wish I had the time to read as many books as Teach does. I'm very, very envious!
The books I've read since finishing To Paradise are:
Black and White: The Way I See It by Richard Williams, father of tennis champions Serena and Venus. I'm really glad I read this because I had no idea how the sisters got into tennis exactly. Their father describes everything that happened, every step of the way. I ended up admiring him tremendously - I just love how he (personally) defied all the odds that were against him. His is a really remarkable story.
Hello, Molly by Molly Shannon. Absolutely delightful and not to be missed under any circumstances. You will love every page of this memoir, that's how confident I am about its appeal. Another remarkable human being who overcame a truly painful past.
Finding Me by Viola Davis. Absolutely nothing could have preprared me for this memoir. I lost count of the number of times I winced along the way. If you give this one a try, I guarantee you will be wincing more than a few times. I simply cannot believe how she survived her childhood. The descriptions she shares about the poverty and the violence that surrounded her (when she was a little girl) will leave you breathless -- don't say you weren't warned! That she has become one of the greatest actresses of her generation is a miracle in and of itself. You'll agree with that half-way through the book. This a memoir for the ages.
The Match by Harlan Coben, his latest thriller. It's slightly convoluted but not so bad that you can't follow along. The ending is a very nice treat and wholly unexpected -- his gift of giving the reader surprising conclusions is as sharp as ever.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, July 11, 2022 - 6:00 pm
LOVED This Must be the Place and have a couple other O'Farrell books on hold (long lists, so may be a while)
Kindle Unlimited had Kristin Hannah's book Night Road available, and since I enjoyed The Nightengale, I gave it whirl. The first third of the book felt like the book version of 90210- Mind you, I watched every single episode of that show! LOL However, the middle section was very much a study in grief, and the last part ripped your heart out. I'm not sure I "liked" the ending as it seemed almost too pat, but it is definitely a book I'd recommend.
To lighten things up, I read The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth - another rom com that I enjoyed for its fluff (though it did have a bit of a surprise/suspenseful event near the end).
Currently, I'm almost done with Val McDermid's 1979. As usual it is excellent - a crime story from a journalist's POV, and the realities of life in Scotland/UK where, in 1979, being gay could end your career.
I'm one section away from being done with the audiobook The Mountains Sing and I've already downloaded Untamed to listen to next. My Overdrive account is getting a workout!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, July 13, 2022 - 5:31 pm
Finished 1979 and The Mountains Sing and then read the graphic novel Gender Queer and then Lucy Score's Things We Never Got Over. I started listening to Untamed today and it is fantastic - hitting uncomfortably close to home with some of it, but very goo. I also started reading Taylor Jenkin Reid's Maybe in Another Life. I'm only 10 pages in, but I expect it will be good based on her other books.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, July 13, 2022 - 7:23 pm
Finished "Against Nature" by Casey Barrett. Thought it was going to be a different ending, but it was about what I was expecting.
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Chieko
Member
11-20-2003
| Wednesday, July 13, 2022 - 10:14 pm
Has anyone read The It Girl yet?
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, July 14, 2022 - 10:36 am
Chieko, I just looked it up, and while I've not read it, I definitely want to now!
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Thursday, July 14, 2022 - 11:44 am
It does look intriguing.
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Chieko
Member
11-20-2003
| Friday, July 15, 2022 - 11:54 am
Yes, I haven't got to read it yet but
I'll have to clear off some time for it!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, July 15, 2022 - 3:29 pm
I read it a few months ago. I enjoy her books. Not my favorite of hers but still a good read.
I am really enjoying The Change by Kirsten Miller. Women coming into their own at a certain age and becoming quite powerful. Murder mystery involved too.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, July 15, 2022 - 4:25 pm
I got the sample of The It Girl for Kindle and loved the beginning of it. I've got it on my wish list, but it's so new that 1. it's way too expensive and 2. I can't get it interlibrary loan yet, and Overdrive doesn't have it.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, July 18, 2022 - 5:54 pm
Finished the ones above as well as The Snowdonia Killings by Simon McCleave and The London Flat - a sequel to The Irish Cottage by Juliet Gauvin. Snowdonia was OK - not the level of Val McDermid or Peter May, but passable. He used the word "interminable" too much, but the mystery had many possible solutions which made it acceptable.
The latter was such a knockoff of Outlander lines, I have to wonder if it started as fan fic. There were at least 4 places where lines were almost identical to the book/show - and when the hero gave the heroine his dead mother's necklace that was "precious to him" and "one of the few things" he had of her, my eyes about rolled to the back of my head. I have the third/final in the series checked out and will read it, but sheesh. It's a good thing I went it looking for a fun/light 24-hour read and did NOT pay money for it!
I'm also listening to The English Major by Jim Harrison. He wrote Legends of the Fall, so I had high hopes. I am not impressed. It's basically a 60-year-old's retirement road trip, where he talks way too much about his d*ck and has an affair with an ex-student. Again, I'm glad I've not paid for it. The only part I enjoyed was the beginning where he started in Michigan. He mentioned a ton of places that are within an hour or so of my home, so that was fun. Once he went on the road, it went downhill. 
Up next, I'll finish the Gauvin trilogy The Paris Apartment tomorrow, then start on Seven Days in June on Kindle, and a combo "deadtree" book that has 2 of McDermid's books in one: Report for Murder and Common Murder. I'm not sure what audiobook I'll listen to as that will depend on what's available on Overdrive.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Sunday, July 31, 2022 - 6:33 pm
I just finished "October Sky" by Homer Hickam. It's a very good book. One of the best I've read in a good while. Have not seen the movie, but will be looking for it now.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, August 01, 2022 - 10:18 am
Slowed down a bit on my reading since my son was married this last weekend. Since July 18, I've finished The Theatre Street Killing, The English Major, Seven Days in June, The Paris Apartment, Must Love Books, The Candid Life of Meena Dave, The Great Alone, By a Thread, and This Way Out. All were decent (except the English Major as noted above, and Paris was a bit soft) and The Great Alone was positively wrenching! It was like Kristin Hannah was trying to drown you, and you might get to come up for a quick breath ever 100 pages or so, but breathe QUICKLY because she was taking you down again!
I'm currently listening to Amanda Gordon's Call Us What We Carry" with a re-read of An Echo in the Bone on deck. On Kindle, I'm reading Once There Were Wolves. For a "deadtree" book, I'll be finishing up You Deserve Each Other before going back to finish up the McDermid Duo.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, August 01, 2022 - 7:07 pm
The Great Alone was hard to read but oh so good.
Congrats on the wedding. When are you heading to Scotland?
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Sunday, August 07, 2022 - 8:06 pm
Mamie - it was definitely a hard read. I finished it in 24 hours but then took a complete day off from reading to process it. THEN I read Husband Material as a fun break. We leave for Scotland near the end of August.
Now I'm racing to read 5 books from the library before we leave so I can return them as they are "deadtree" books.
Tonight I'll finish up The It Girl by Ruth Ware - it is excellent!
Next will be the McDermid's double-book that I still haven't opened, then a Jojo Moyes book, Last Letter from Your Lover - one I pulled whilst "reading" shelves at work yesterday.
On Kindle I'm also reading an Overdrive book When the Emperor was Divine about the Japanese camps during WWII - largely because it was banned in Waukesha, WI by a recently elected school board who said that the "gov't" side had to be presented as well - ummmmmm....the gov't has erected an apology monument (https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/
08/09/210138278/japanese-internment-redress), so.....
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, August 08, 2022 - 7:32 am
I also finished Once There Were Wolves - another heart-ripper but AMAZING! I particularly liked it because it was set in the Highlands of Scotland, though the settings was not a huge part of the story.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Monday, August 08, 2022 - 9:35 am
Now that you are 'retired' Teach, I was wondering when you would get to Scotland. Have a wonderful trip!
Also, I'm glad to hear that people enjoyed The It Girl as I set it aside yesterday because I wasn't getting into it. I will give it another chance.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, August 08, 2022 - 11:45 am
Thanks, Kappy! Once I get back, I'll have to go back to work (NOT teaching), so we're gonna' make the most of this trip as it will probably be at least a year before I'll have the chance to go anywhere else.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, August 08, 2022 - 3:56 pm
Finished "Lost and Found Sisters" by Jill Shalvis. It was quite good. Way more interesting than your typical romance. I liked it a lot.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 1:42 pm
Finished an ebook, "The Book of Joan" by her daughter, Melissa. It was pretty good. I wanted The Boys by Ron and Clint Howard, but it appears to have a six-month waiting list.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 1:45 pm
And the latest book I picked up at Dollar General sounds very familiar. I think I've already read it.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 5:56 pm
Catching up:
Finished: When the Emperor was Divine and Lawn Boy. I *thought* both were banned books, and there IS a banned Lawn Boy, but I read the Gary Paulsen YA novel that is SO NOT banned! 😂😂 I'm picking up the banned one by Jonathan Evison tomorrow. TBH, I was slightly disappointed in When the Emperor Was Divine - it is another YA, but it just suddenly jumped from an internment camp to them going home 3 1/2 years later - and it was almost all "tell" and not "show." The Paulsen book was....well, it was for MS kids so it was a VERY fast read at only 89 pages!
SOOOO....now I'm reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl on Kindle as another banned book, and I am loving it. I have not heard of this book before, but it is so irreverent and funny, that had I read it before, I definitely would have included it in one of my English classes!
I'm listening to two books: Dune - it's OK, but I'm struggling to get into their world - and All Boys Aren't Blue which is amazingly good and would definitely cause disruption and threats of a ban had I used it in school - but it would have been worth it!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, August 17, 2022 - 7:14 pm
Finished my Dollar General book, Before Dawn.I had read it before.Pretty good. Author is Cynthia Eden.
I'm now reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. So far so good.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, August 19, 2022 - 10:53 am
Update:
Finished All Boys Aren't Blue on audio and also listened to The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. Both were excellent. My new audiobook is This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson. When I finish it, I will have read all the books on the 2021 10 Most Banned Books list. To be fair, I'd already read 4, so it hasn't taken long to finish the list. The Good Sister was actually an author recommendation since the book that was recommended (The Mother-in-Law) was not available yet. Sally Hepworth is similar to Lianne Moriarty, and I will definitely be reading more of her books!
I've also finished/read the following on Kindle:
Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, Out of Darkness, Chance Encounter.
I finished Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Peréz today, and it absolutely tore my heart out. It is about the 1937 New London, TX school explosion, that I'd never even heard of. The book deals with issues like racism (both African American and Mexican), elitism, sexual abuse, and family. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I literally had to read the last 1/3 in small sections at a time because it was such difficult content.
I've downloaded The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich and The Vanishing Point by Val McDermid as my traveling books - with another dozen also in the queue! LOL I'll not be able to update until the end of September because of our trip to Scotland, so I wish you all happy reading!!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Saturday, August 20, 2022 - 2:46 pm
Finished "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty. It was good. Not sure what's next.
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