| Author |
Message |
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, July 31, 2017 - 12:06 pm 
Posting a BUNCH of links tonight, Uncle-Ricky. It will be like being trapped at Grandma's as Aunt Tilda talks about her vacation slides! LOL
Almost done with Tana French's The Likeness. I am SO hooked on her writing! This was is even better than the first.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Wednesday, August 02, 2017 - 7:43 am
Ricky, a voracious reader friend of mine started The Woman in Cabin 10 but couldn't finish it. She was very disappointed in it.
I just finished America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, historical fiction about Patsy Jefferson. I liked learning more about that time period and about Pres. Jefferson, but the first half seemed to drag. I read it for my book club, and it felt like homework. The second half, after Patsy became an adult, was more interesting, fascinating at times.
Now I'm reading Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti. Someone returned it while I was working at the library. Otherwise, I probably never would have heard of it. It is nonfiction and tells the tale of an 84 year old pathologist and a young journalist's odd road trip. They are carrying Einstein's brain (actually, just parts of it) cross-country to his granddaughter. It is a bizarre story told by an entertaining writer.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, August 02, 2017 - 3:50 pm
I enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10. It wasn't a book I'll read again, but it had a couple twists in it.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, August 07, 2017 - 6:27 pm
Mak and Teach: Thank you for the feedback about The Woman in Cabin 10. I'm still trying to decide what to do. I think that if I don't totally love it by page 50, I will stop at that point. I'll probably take a stab at it before the end of the month.
Late last week I finished The Weight of Silence, the debut of Heather Gudenkauf, a writer I'd never heard of. Linwood Barclay gave her third book high praise, but I decided to start with her debut. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. As with Ruth Ware, I have to think about pursuing Gudenkauf's later works.
Over the weekend I finished Alan Cumming's You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams, which is a collection of photos and stories he accumulated over the years. Totally delightful from start to finish!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, August 08, 2017 - 12:48 pm
Has anyone read The First Bad Man by Miranda July. Saw a recommendation by an actress who has also read The Sellout, A Little Life, and MMirror, Shoulder, Signal - all three excellent books, so I took her recommendation again. Wondered if anyone here will second it?
I've almost finished The Match-Up which has proven to be an excellent choice for the type of traveling I've done this week - lots of 2-3 hour small trips in between the hiking/climbing mountains, and the book has two authors combine their characters to write thriller/mystery short stories. I'm enjoying it a lot, but will finish it tomorrow between Dublin and Toronto, so hoping to start July's book then.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, August 09, 2017 - 11:04 am
Thanks to Tresbien for reminding me that I had to get a copy of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy. A co-worker has been after me to read it and I finally got around to it these past couple of days. It's very well-written. You'd never know the author came from such humble beginnings. His family members are the most interesting parts of his story, especially his grandmother and grandfather. It's amazing Vance is where he is today given all that he had to overcome.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Monday, August 14, 2017 - 1:44 pm
I recently finished Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig. It is another book with the current trend of characters who are autistic or on the autism spectrum. I found the book often exasperating which I came to realize is probably the point. Life can be exasperating, especially for Ginny for many reasons. I thought it was well written. I saw it described as poignant, unique, heartbreaking and heart mending and I think that sums it up rather well.
I also read The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak and enjoyed it. A charming tale of a young computer nerd and his attempt to win a programming contest and see Vanna White naked. This book also had a surprise I did not see coming which was a nice change from so many predictable stories. I would be interested if others were surprised as well or if it was just me.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, August 14, 2017 - 7:28 pm
Over the weekend I finally caught up with William Golding's Lord of the Flies - it wasn't assigned at the high school I attended -- or maybe it was and I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, it's never too late to read a classic piece of literature. I just hated that it was so short. I would have liked to see what happened to the children as they got older!
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Thursday, August 17, 2017 - 10:55 am
I was intrigued when I saw on Amazon that Marc Levy is the best-selling author in France. I wondered why I hadn't heard of him so got his book P. S. From Paris. I'm halfway through this story of a couple becoming friends after being set up through a dating site. He is a writer in love with his Korean translator, and she is a famous actress in disguise while on a break from her cheating husband. I expect the friends to fall in love but we'll see. Fun so far.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Thursday, August 17, 2017 - 4:03 pm
I started The Girl Before by J.P. Delany last night and am enjoying it. So far it is rather interesting and I hope it remains so. The reviews on Goodreads are a bit mixed. I tend to pass over titles like this as they are a dime a dozen and I found Gone Girl & The Girl on the Train to be boring and predictable.
I am curious as to who J.P.Delany might be as it is apparently a pseudonym of someone who has written award winning fiction under another name.
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Thursday, August 17, 2017 - 5:12 pm
J.P. Delaney is a pen name used by Tony Strong, author of The Poison Tree, Tell Me Lies and other works.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Thursday, August 17, 2017 - 9:49 pm
I did find a link to him as Tony Strong, never read any of his books.
I liked The Girl Before until near the end. The ending seemed a bit unlikely and none of these people were particularly likable.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, August 18, 2017 - 10:17 am
I finished The Woman in Cabin 10 last night and really enjoyed it. Just enough twists to keep it interesting. A lot better of an ending than she came up with in In a Dark, Dark Wood.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, August 19, 2017 - 6:08 am
I'm reading House of Cards but dang...my reading time has dropped this week since 1. I'm not on vacation any more (and missing Scotland), and 2. that nasty school stuff is kicking in. I prefer vacation life over real life! LOL}
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, August 20, 2017 - 4:46 pm
The jury (of one) has finished deliberating and the verdict is in: The Woman in Cabin 10 is guilty of being really, really good! That means Teach, Reenie and Mamie were on the ball by praising it. I looked back and saw that Kappy agreed with Mak's friend and gave up on it. I can understand that reaction, too. It's one of those books that'll either grab you or it won't.
And as Mamie pointed out, it's significantly better than Ware's debut, In A Dark, Dark Wood, which was more or less terrible. This means Ware's latest (The Lying Game) should be great as long as her improvement trajectory continues to rise. TWIC10 was a lot more focused in plot and the writing was much, much sharper. So, I'm very pleased that I don't have to "write off" Ms. Ware! 
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, August 21, 2017 - 6:41 am
It's nice to see an author improve. For some authors, their first book is their best and then it's downhill after that.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Monday, August 21, 2017 - 7:07 pm
Thanks for your input, Ricky. Maybe I'll give it a try.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 12:33 am
Remember, Mak, if you don't love it by page 50, stop reading and move on to something else!
Earlier tonight I finished The Department of Lost and Found by Allison Winn Scotch, which is her debut (from 2007). She's yet another writer I'd never heard of, but I noticed Mamie comment on one of Ms. Scotch's recent Twitter posts and that led me to read some of other posts (and liked what I read). So that naturally triggered my pinning down a copy of the first of her six novels.
It's a fabulous debut. I kept trying to find faults but I came up empty. I will track down her other titles. Thank you, Mamie, for commenting on that Twitter post - I found another great writer and it's entirely because of you!
P.S. She reminds me of Taylor Jenkins Reid, so I'm confident I"ll love Scotch's other books, too.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 9:55 am
I got her new book which doesn't come out until January. She told me she had picked me because of how supportive I have always been of her work. I am so glad that you liked it.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 12:26 pm
You definitely deserve that VIP treatment! What an honor! I'm thrilled for you. January will be here any minute now, so I better get cracking on Ms. Scotch's five other books so that I can enjoy the new one along with the other "mere mortals." 😜
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 5:58 pm
I love how Taylor got in on our little Twitter love fest too!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 6:21 pm
I know! I mentioned Taylor specifically to see if she would comment (if you look through Allison's Twitter posts you can tell that the two of them are friends), so it was a nice surprise and thrill to see that she did. 😜
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, August 26, 2017 - 8:33 pm
Knock it off, Rick and Mamie...I have a big enough TBR list, and with school starting, I should NOT be adding another name to it.
****goes off to add another name to list****
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, September 01, 2017 - 10:34 pm
To echo the positive reviews submitted earlier this year by Sugar and Mamie, tonight I finished Gail Honeyman's astonishing debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I could go on and on and on about it, but I'll restrain myself and declare that it's simply the BEST BOOK I've read this year.
I'll add only this: I cannot recall EVER reading a book that made me, in almost equal measures, shriek with laughter as well as despair with sadness as I followed along (with rapt, intense interest) the chillingly poignant story of a character as uniquely fascinating as the unforgettable Miss Oliphant.
YOU. MUST. READ. THIS. BOOK.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Saturday, September 02, 2017 - 12:50 am
Uncle_ricky, I am so pleased you enjoyed Eleanor! It has been one of the better books I read this year. I hope the author will have other equally engrossing novels for us to read soon.
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