The Next Best Book Club discussion

Started today A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

I began reading both The Heist by Daniel Silva and Roses by Leila Meacham.

I've been sitting with Stephen King's The Stand for the last several nights. A master, without doubt.

They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie
2**
I love Agatha Christie and have enjoyed other Miss Marple mysteries, but this one misses the mark. It is far too convoluted, and yet very slow going despite everything that is happening. Christie has proved that she is more than capable of juggling many storylines to build suspense and thwart the reader’s efforts to figure out the solution. But rather than tight plotting with twists and turns, this novel’s storyline seemed to just meander without purpose (other than to fill pages). In the end, I felt that I hadn’t read a Christie novel at all, but something written by a less-skilled author to imitate the Queen of Crime.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jax wrote: "I've been sitting with Stephen King's The Stand for the last several nights. A master, without doubt. "

Totally agree ... my favorite King novel.

I am starting Stork by Wendy Delsol

I have been plodding through Emma by Jane Austen this week for a group read (not this group). This is a reread for me, and I am remembering why I disliked it so much back in high school. It's slow and despite being at it a week, I feel I am getting nowhere in it. Definitely NOT my favorite book by Austen. :-\

Heather, treat yourself to a G & T while you're reading it to numb the pain lol

Jackie wrote: "Heather, treat yourself to a G & T while you're reading it to numb the pain lol"

ROFL... Thanks, Jackie! Pity there is no alcohol currently in house. I may have to change that.
;-D

Heather L wrote: "Jackie wrote: "Heather, treat yourself to a G & T while you're reading it to numb the pain lol"

ROFL... Thanks, Jackie! Pity there is no alcohol currently in house. I may have to change that.
;-D"
I guess that's why I haven't tried to join a local book club.....I don't want to get "stuck" reading something I don't like, but at the same time I'm too honest to pretend I read something when I actually didn't. Most of the time I finish books when I buy them, especially if they're hardback and I paid full price for them.

Book Concierge wrote: " Every Crooked Nanny by Kathy Hogan Trocheck – 3***
This is a good start to a mystery series. Callahan is a strong central character; her previous experienc..."

One my favorite characters. I've read four in the series but some how I've skipped To Live & Die in Dixie which is the second book. Will have to remedy that.

Going to start reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

I've just started 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern. I usually read on Kindle but was given the paperback by a friend who couldn't get into the book at all. As a magic realism fan, I was hooked from the start and so far am loving it. I'd like to find that cafe with the stained glass window in the back streets of London where 'candles flicker in glass holders on every available surface, and the walls are painted a rich, bold red.'

Jackie wrote: "Going to start reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield."

That's a good one.

I recently read Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson and was completely and utterly captivated! It's not often the second book in a series is better than the first. This one gets a rare 5★s from me.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am about to finish The Heist by Daniel Silva. I love all of his books and this one didn't fail to deliver either. Then I will continue listening to Roses, the prequel to Somerset written by Leila Meacham. And from a book found at the library I will read The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar, one of my fave authors.

I am reading Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Almost half way through. Anyone else??

Currently reading "As Husbands Go" by Susan Isaacs. Worst book I have read in a long time. Not sure why I continue to read it. Do others ever push themselves to finish books they just are not really into?

Melissa wrote: "Currently reading "As Husbands Go" by Susan Isaacs. Worst book I have read in a long time. Not sure why I continue to read it. Do others ever push themselves to finish books they just are not real..."

I do sometimes, or at least I'll try to. I always have that hope in the back of my mind that it might get better, that or I'll feel guilty if it's a hardback and I paid full price for it.

I do most of my reading on my iPad though Oyster, so I always have it to go back to. I am always on the go and this way I can have several books with me. My kids are in so many activities I feel like I am always waiting somewhere and love using the downtime to read.

Melissa wrote: "Currently reading "As Husbands Go" by Susan Isaacs. Worst book I have read in a long time. Not sure why I continue to read it. Do others ever push themselves to finish books they just are not real..."

Right now I'm pushing myself to finish Frog Music, I'm not sure why...
I gave up Trieste which I was reading before this one, since I couldn't get into the author style.
Probably just don't want to abandon two books in a row...

I used to push through a book I didn't like but not anymore. I have too many others to make myself read something I'm not enjoying.

I finished Lock In by John Scalzi today. Really great book by an author who's at the top of his game. A science fiction theme with a lot of thought-provoking social commentary going on as well. Scalzi's really firing on all cylinders.

I finished The Heist by Daniel Silva. You would think after so many books featuring the same characters, one would get tired of them. Not me. This is a first rate book which I gave 5 stars to.

Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel L Everett – 3***
The subtitle pretty much sums this up: Life and language in the Amazonian Jungle. Everett chronicles his experiences over three decades living among an indigenous tribe. Parts of this book are very enjoyable for an armchair traveler. There is plenty of danger – 30-foot anacondas, jaguars, piranhas, distrustful natives, malaria, and tarantulas the size of dinner plates. Stories of such encounters were fascinating, but other sections of the book read more like a research paper and I would lose interest.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am now working my way through and then i will read and .

Just finished Frog Music. I wouldn't say it's a bad book, but it didn't work for me...
I started this morning Americanah.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
3***
Hercule Poirot mystery # 8 has the “retired” detective on holiday with his friend Hastings at the Cornish seaside town of St. Loo. A mystery lands in their laps when a young heiress admits that she’s had several near misses in the last few days. This is a fine example of the kinds of puzzling cases Christie is so good at crafting, with a large cast of colorful characters and quite a few plot twists. On the whole an entertaining summer read.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm going to start Night Film by Marisha Pessl.

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink - 4****
The subtitle says it all: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. This is the story of the men and women who survived Hurricane Katrina inside New Orleans Memorial Hospital, of those who died. I thought that Fink did a fine job of outlining the conditions within the hospital during and after the storm. However, in part two, I felt that Fink lost some of her journalistic detachment. The grand jury may have declined to indict, but Fink seems bent on trying Dr Pou in this book. Despite what I perceive as Fink’s bias, however, I still think this was a fascinating and informative look at how our governments and institutions are prepared (or not) to deal with the realities of a major disaster.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Right Thing by Amy Conner – 2.5**
Annie and Starr were best friends in second grade, until Starr and her daddy suddenly moved away. Some twenty years later, Annie and Starr meet outside a department store and immediately renew their friendship, setting off on a road trip. I was interested in the friendship between these two women, but Conner lost me at the end. Annie makes some really uncharacteristic decisions, and the final chapter was particularly unbelievable. So the end result was that I was left feeling unsatisfied. I do think that Conner shows promise and I’d be willing to try another book by her … but not anytime soon.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have just started Marco effekten, the latest by Jussi Adler-Olsen my new favorite Danish writer. It is always fun to get the next installment of a series involving characters you really like.

I am finishing up and then I will start .

I am beginning to read The Captain's Daughter and trying to find an audiotape to listen to also.

Yesterday i finished . I am now reading and . Reading smalls books that are under 400 pages is such a nice change from the last time i went to the library.

Well a day later and I put down The Captain's Daughter and picked up The Paris Time Capsule which IMO is a bad title for a book set in Paris with a present and past story. Still looking for an audiotape.

The Confabulist by Steven Galloway - 3***
Using the life of Harry Houdini as a framework, Galloway crafts a novel that “creates a magic trick of its own, revealing the ways in which love, grief and imagination can – for better or worse – alter what we perceive and believe.” The book is told in alternating chapters, jumping from present day to the past and with different narrators. Like a skilled magician Galloway kept the reader’s attention away from what was REALLY happening and led us to what he wanted us to believe was happening. I’m still not sure I fully understood everything that was going on, but I enjoyed the ride.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm reading A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. It's a cozy mystery, but it's actually turning out to be be pretty serious.

Finished The Paris Time Capsule last night and bea reading The Good Girl this morning which is very intriguing. I am also listening to Tall grass by Sandra Dallas which takes place in a town where the government has set up a Japanese internment camp.

Joshua wrote: "I just started reading Stephen Kings the Shining and am loving it. I've only read one other King book and that was Carrie and I loved that one as well. I'm slowly becoming a big time King fan."

I'm a fan myself, but I've been reading his work since I was a kid. My oldest sister was the one who introduce him to our family when I was maybe about five years old. She'd found his very first book Carrie at the library and checked it out. Then she made sure she read all the gory parts out loud to me when our parents weren't around. I started reading them myself once I could read well enough to get through his books, this was when I was about ten or so.

I'm just starting World War Z by Max Brooks

I'm reading Now You See me by Sharon Bolton and it's fantastic so far!

A Is For Alibi by Sue Grafton – 4****
Book #1 in the Kinsey Millhone series. This is a fast-paced mystery thriller with plenty of twists and turns and multiple suspects to keep the reader busy. Kinsey is a wonderful lead character –resourceful, tenacious and intelligent, and she can take care of herself. I like that the book is set in an era before wide-spread use of computers, and without cell phones. Mary Peiffer performs the audiobook at a good pace. She does not use many different voices for the various characters, but Grafton’s dialogue makes it clear who is speaking and I was never confused.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

One day is all it took me to finish The Good Girl by Mary Rubica. Compared to Gone Girl, this new book is a roller coaster ride whose ending blew me away

Finished Night Film, really enjoyed it. Going to start The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt.

I recently read and adored The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. A totally unique book, and one I highly recommend - 5★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Almost finished with Vintage by Susan Gloss and this is another winner if you enjoy a tale about vintage clothing and people who work in the shop.

I'm reading

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - 5*****
This is the first memoir in a series of six which together formed Angelou’s autobiography. In this work she chronicles her childhood from about age three to age 17. This is a wonderfully told first-hand account of a young woman’s coming of age, as well as of the changes brought about in the country from 1930-1945. She was an extraordinary woman, and this is an extraordinary memoir.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Vintage yesterday and this morning I began to read This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.