| Author |
Message |
Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Thursday, June 20, 2024 - 3:57 pm 
I loved Poisonwood Bible, although it was long enough ago that I have forgotten the details. I found the ending absolutely wondrous.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, June 24, 2024 - 9:59 am
I also loved Kingsolver's Flight Behavior - it's about monarch butterflies and the problems they're facing with migration - but in a fiction novel.
|
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, June 24, 2024 - 10:05 am
I loved Poisonwood Bible. It was excellent!
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, June 28, 2024 - 11:07 am
Isn't it amazing? I loved the different voices she used, the way the mom opened each "book" that was then told by the daughters, the devastating loss that was balanced with some of the laugh out loud moments. Hands down my favorite book of hers.
|
Rvon
Member
12-11-2003
| Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 1:31 am
I just finished listening to Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver — loved it. Also listened to Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, another great book. Oh, how could I forget??? I also listened to Project Hail Mary. Excellent, excellent read and the narrator was the best too.
|
Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 2:43 am
I just finished The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay and The Maid by Nita Prose and enjoyed both. I finished them while sitting in an adirondack chair on the large patio in front of the Asilomar Lodge in Pacific Grove. You can't see the ocean from that spot but you can hear the waves. It was a perfect reading spot. It was also 30 degrees cooler than the central valley.
|
Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 3:22 am
That sounds like a wonderful spot, Kappy.
|
Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 3:42 am
That sounds perfect, Kappy!
|
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, July 28, 2024 - 12:45 pm
Greetings my dear TVCH pals, it's your delinquent Uncle Ricky checking in with the latest news - not all of it interesting, I'm afraid, but news nonetheless! Here's the rundown of recent reads:
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson. Very engaging novel with an unusual twist on the extended family structure - I love Wilson's quirky writing style.
Blue Violet, No. 87 by Gaylen Ducker. Who??? Yes, I know, a total unknown writer. The only reason I know who she is stems from the fact she's a high-school friend of my husband Seth. Seth begged me to read it (so that he wouldn't have to) to help him give Gaylen an "informed" review. It's not hideous, but it's not very good. She suffered from tons of repetition and that always drives me cuckoo. You will NOT find this book at your local bookstore.
The Maid by Nita Prose. Like most of you who've read it, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas by Dustin Lance Black. An excellent, excellent memoir that details his upbringing that led him to become an Oscar-winning screenplay writer. The real star of the memoir is his mother, a true force of nature - every word about her was absolutely fascinating.
All the World Beside by Garrard Conley. This is a love story of two men who must hide their relationship in heavily puritanical 18th-century New England. One of the more unusual novels you'll ever read, but very well written.
Table for Two by Amor Towles. Yet another writer who can do no wrong. This collection of short stories, plus a 200-page novella is not to be missed - it's simply marvelous.
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. This is Sager's second novel and it's much better than his first. I expect his writing will continue to get better as I work my way through his works.
Slow Horses by Mick Herron. I picked this up because I wanted to read it before watching the TV adaptation. It's a fun read, though a bit uneven and slightly tough to follow. Not as tough as John Le Carre, but in that same league.
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult. This is one of her good ones! I enjoyed it very much.
Think Twice by Harlan Coben. This turned out to be a rare misstep by this usually dependable writer. It started out like gangbusters, but then at the midway point it took a bizarre turn and never fully recovered. So...Mr. Coben CAN do wrong. 
I Curse You With Joy by Tiffany Haddish. This is her second memoir and it's just as delicious as her first one. She's such a tremendous talent.
The Pink Marine: One Boy's Boot Camp Journey to Manhood by Greg Cope White. A dear friend of mine tipped me off to this one. My friend's assistant at work has a niece who is working as a writer-producer on the Netflix adaptation of this fine memoir. It's currently filming in New Orleans and will be released next year. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the memoir is.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I've enjoyed Boyne's adult novels, so I gave this -- a young adult novel -- a try and liked it a lot. It suffered a bit from the repetitive passages, but maybe that's something typical of a young adult novel???
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Originally recommended to me by Mamie months and months ago, I finally read it and LOVED IT. The best of the JP works I've read thus far. That ending was beyond shocking!
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg. Another fabulous memoir by one of our titans of comedy. It focuses on the close relationships she maintained with her mother and her brother. It provides many juicy scenes - I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. I don't what possessed me to pick this up, but it was on display at the library and caught my attention ("Read me! Read me!") it seemed to say. So I did and it was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. This was Jackson's debut, so I will look for her follow-up to see how much her writing improves.
|
Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, July 29, 2024 - 3:09 am
Ric, as usual, love your reviews. I have read some and agree and I have some on my TBR Piles. You have made me add a few more! I haven't read Slow Horses but we absolutely love the show. I have a couple more to add to your list...
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitakker. One of my vey favorite books I have read this year and probably ever. I still tear up thinking about the last line.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. So good!
|
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, July 29, 2024 - 4:59 pm
Thank you for the recommendations! You are a mind-reader, I swear. A couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-law implored me to read ATCOTD and I promised her I would. Then, just today, my co-worker asked if I had read it yet and when I replied "No," she insisted it's the best book she's read all year, too! I'm 210th in line at the library for that one and 212th in line for the Liz Moore title. The wait of several weeks will be worth it, I'm sure!
|
Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - 7:02 am
Love all your reviews!
Just a quick update on The Three-Body Problem. IMO this is a rare example where the tv series is better than the book. I found the characters in the tv series much more multidimensional and appealing.
|
Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - 7:09 am
I just finished reading The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz. I recall someone here recommending it and I did enjoy it.
It’s a thriller where the main character is an FBI agent who is on leave after her husband’s surprising and inexplicable suicide. She does some research and finds that there has been a significant increase in suicides in the past couple of years and concludes that something nefarious may be happening and decides to conduct an independent investigation.
Sounds intriguing but the plot consists of a long series of confrontations with bad guys and because the book is the first in a long series, there is a lot left unresolved. The main character is intelligent and competent and very clever at avoiding various traps.
However, I didn’t like how the author felt the need to repeatedly mention how good looking the main character is as that felt irrelevant, awkward and out of place. She also makes a dangerous pointless side journey to see something that I suspect was largely for the reader’s titillation more than any logical reason, which I found a bit distasteful.
The characters are either incredibly wonderful or incredibly horrifying people. Not much subtlety or nuance.
As I mentioned, I enjoyed it but with some reservations.
|
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, August 05, 2024 - 2:10 am
I just finished "The Berry Pickers" by Amanda Peters. A very good book. Very enjoyable.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Sunday, August 18, 2024 - 7:40 pm
Rvon - Loved all the books you posted!
Ricky - per usual, I agree with almost all your opnions on the books that I've read, which were actually not many, so I've added a couple to my TBR pile.
Hecka - LOVED that book!
Mamie - Added ATCOTD to my TBR/hold pile (it's a wait of "several months" per Libby - so I'll let you know around Christmas how I liked it! LOL)
I had a car accident July 3 (van turned left in front of me, and I was going 55mph), so I've had quite a lot of reading time. I only missed two days of work, but my evenings are largely spent reading as I have torn ligaments in my foot and my thumb (no musicals this fall for me). I am SO lucky as my Subaru totally protected me - the interior didn't even look like there'd been an accident.
SOoooo... as my concentration has been hit and miss (some nights I just come home and crash), I've done some lighter reading the last month. I've had better luck with audiobooks for the more traditional fiction books.
AUDIOBOOKS:
Local Woman Missing (Mary Kubica)
The Frozen River (Ariel Lawhon)
The Opposite of You (Rachel Higginson)
The Critic & Blacklight Blue (books 2 & 3 of Peter May's Enzo series)
The Lonely Hearts Book Club (Lucy Gilmore)
KINDLE BOOKS:
Come as You Are & Lips Like Sugar (Jess K Hardy)
The Rachel Incident (Caroline O'Donoghue)
Well Matched (Jen DeLuca)
The Kingmaker & The Rebel King (Kennedy Ryan)
Return to Blood (Michael Bennet)
The Bookseller of Inverness (S. G. MacLean)
The Bookstore Sisters & The Bookstore Wedding (Alice Hoffman - two short stories)
Yours Truly & Just for the Summer (Abby Jimenez)
Glitterland (Alexis Hall)
The Secret Ingredient: An LGBTQ Romance (K.D. Fisher)
Tales from the Cafe (Toshikazu Kawaguchi's sequel to Before the Coffee Gets Cold)
All of them were at least 3.5 of 5 stars with most hitting in the 4 to 4.5 range.
|
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, August 20, 2024 - 8:18 am
I recently finished "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick. It was interesting. An interesting concept. Everyone receives a box with a string of how long they will live. I enjoyed it.
|
Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, August 20, 2024 - 1:49 pm
Wow sure glad you’re okay (for the most part), Teach.
|
Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Thursday, August 22, 2024 - 2:42 pm
Heckagirl, I enjoyed that book. There were so many things to think about.
I'm reading "Writers and Lovers" by Lily King. I am on vacation at the ocean and it is just the right type of book for vacation reading.
|
Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, August 23, 2024 - 9:59 am
Mak, I really liked Writers and Lovers. Hope you enjoy it.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Friday, August 23, 2024 - 6:23 pm
Thanks, Jimmer. Definitely a good outcome given the other possibilities!
|
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, August 28, 2024 - 3:43 pm
Just finished my first book I've read by Ken Follett, "The Third Twin." It was good. Don't think it will be my last by this author.
|
Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Wednesday, August 28, 2024 - 5:04 pm
Hecka, you got to read Pillars of the Earth by him. It's long, but it's really good.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-21-2001
| Monday, September 02, 2024 - 5:36 pm
I adore Ken Follet's books. His novels Jackdaws and Hornet Flight are favorites (and not quite the time committment of the Pillars of the Earth series or his Century Trilogy).
|
Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Monday, September 02, 2024 - 5:52 pm
Mamie, I did enjoy it.
Now I'm reading "Her Name is Rose", a debut novel by Christine Breen.
|
Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Sunday, September 08, 2024 - 7:41 pm
I recently finished "The Book Of Doors" by Gareth Brown. It was really good. Was interesting it was still on hold on the Libby app, but I read it on the Hoopla app. Same library--makes no sense.
|
