The Next Best Book Club discussion

Finally finished Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens last night -- good, but took longer than anticipated to read -- and have started a rom-suspense, Saint's Gate by Carla Neggers.

At present I am enjoying Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

The Woman Who Went to Bed For A Year by Sue Townsend

One Fifth Avenue. I thought this would be a fast read, but struggled to get into it for the entire first half. It's pickin' up now though.

Just finished Positron by Margaret Atwood and now starting The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka :).

Happy reading!

started reading the rosie project and not sure about it...

Just finished I Know This Much Is True and Tuesdays With Morrie today. Will start Showdown by Dekker tonight..dont know much about this one.

Scott wrote: "Just finished I Know This Much Is True and Tuesdays With Morrie today. Will start Showdown by Dekker tonight..dont know much about this one."

Scott, how did you like Tuesdays with Morrie? I just finished it also...

Erica...I thought it was well done...short..sweet and very life affirming.

Scott agreed.

Finished the audiobook version of Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos – 3.5*** (Audio performed by ArmandO Duran
Rico Fuentes, a light-skinned, blond Cubano, leaves Spanish Harlem for Wisconsin where he thinks he’ll “fit in.” But he discovers that one’s “differentness” is relative. His journey of self-discovery makes for an interesting and engaging read. I’m a little disappointed that Hijuelos showed few consequences of bad behavior, but Rico is an intelligent and self-motivated young man who makes relatively good decisions. In all, I loved Rico, but only liked the book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm going to start Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Finished reading And I Shall Have Some Peace There by Margaret Roach – 2**
Memoir of a former executive VP with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia who retired to her rural home in upstate New York. Disappointing and self-indulgent, although she does write well.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm reading Anything but Civil,

Just going to start Norwegian Wood

Just finished reading the new book by William Eggers called The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems. The book explores how businesses have recently joined governments and non-profits in addressing public goods and social goals. It's an interesting discussion about an important and timely topic--though the reading experience leaves much to be desired. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/10/08...

Started last night.

I expected a supremely mediocre writing and plot, but I was so very pleasantly surprised!

I just finished The Giver, and will be starting the next in this quartet Gathering Blue. I'm also still working my way slowly through Don Quixote, and still hope to have it finished by years end.

Started reading The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker today

Finished reading The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston – 3.5***
Preston describes young men who are brilliant and singular in pursuing their passion, but awkward and distant from most personal relationships. Searching for the world’s tallest tree, they discover entire ecosystems and new realms in biodiversity. The result is a nonfiction account that is fascinating and compelling.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I think I'm going to start reading The Barrens by Joyce Carol Oates... I'm really in a reading rut... I keep getting caught up in YA romances that are $0.99 for nook and it must STOP!!!!
I really want a good creepy book for October... any other suggestions?

Hi Whitney

Have you read any of her other books? I see she's written lots and I've never read any if hers. Would you recommend any?

I have read The Accursed and We Were the Mulvaneys and liked both of them. The Accursed is the fifth in the series, however I did not read any of the others yet and didn't mind. I do think I'll go back and read theme eventually. It is more of a psychological horror where Mulvaneys is a family drama. They were very different books but both written well.

She is very wordy though...

Thanks I've added to my list

Started reading Mr Lynch's Holiday last night. So far (50 pages in) it's interesting.

Jackie wrote: "Started reading The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker today"

Jackie, I read it last year. It was a pick in my book club. It was not as surprising as I was expecting, but I liked it. It's short and easy reading, and different from what I used too.

I'm 60% done with The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason. I'm still trying to get the point. I'm enjoying the part of knowing about the French Resistance during WWII that helped lots of crashed American pilots to come back home safe (I think this part worth the reading), BUT regarding the plot... I'm still trying to figure out what is it about.
So far I would give it 2 or 3 stars.
Have any of you read it?

Finished the audio book of The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles – 3*** (Audio performed by Dick Hill)
Book three in the Penn Cage series finds our hero settled in as mayor of Natchez Mississippi, and investigating criminal activity linked to one of the casino boats that bring so much cash to the city. It’s a fast-paced thriller, peopled with a cast of colorful characters. There are some pretty violent scenes – the plot includes dog-fighting, torture, and sexual assault.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished reading In Our Humble Opinion by Tom & Ray Magliozzi – 2**
I love NPR’s Car Talk radio program, but this collection of Tom & Ray’s rants and raves – not so much. Some of the essays are entertaining, but I just didn’t find much humor in most of the book. Listen to the show, forget about the book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished The Funeral Dress by Susan Gregg Gilmore. What an unexpected journey! I read it in 3 days. I became emotionally invested in the outcome and I was pleased with how the story evolved. It was not trite or tired and this is not my typical reading fare. Fast paced, well written, descriptive. I think you will like it. :)

And because I am new, I don't know how to link it! Forgive my ignorance!

I thought it was pretty good Sandra, found it almost a bit eerie sometimes.

Reading Mr Perfect now by Linda Howard

I'm 2/3 of the way through The Shining Girls. I was hesitant to read it because there were some absolutely brutal reviews to even out the great reviews, but for me it's right in the middle of the road.

I'm in the middle of reading Delia's Shadow, a historical mystery with some supernatural thrown in along with a dash of romance. I'm enjoying it a lot and glad it seems there will be more to come. It's a bit scary so appropriate for October.

Going to start The Carrier by Sophie Hannah

Just finished The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.

I respect the artistic courage it must have taken to write a novella in the first person plural. The story begins well from the viewpoint of Japanese brides being transported to America by ship to meet their husbands. Already I was invested in a story particular to Japanese women and their coming tribulations in a country that would certainly be hostile toward them. Yet I could not imagine how the book could continue in this way, with what is essentially a list of experiences captured in single sentences, compiling a vast network of Japanese immigrant lives in the US. The “we” kept me distant from their story, not empathetic to it. This device was also cause for some contradiction. Otsuka often ended chapters with a line of foreboding doom, only to capture moments in these women’s lives that did not seem as miserable as others, and were certainly not limited to the Japanese and their struggle alone. Some one-line experiences left me frustrated because I wanted to know more about her life, not theirs. The individual experience is more appealing to me (and certainly more intriguing and thought-provoking) than the collective one. There is often more depth, and the possibilities for reflection are far greater.

There are eight chapters, and throughout the first seven we watch the portrait of this story grow through the lens of these Japanese women. At times this was very confusing since throughout Otsuka focuses less and less on Japanese women-specific issues and more and more on the Japanese population as a whole. And by the end, she abandoned the Japanese altogether and the story came to rest entirely on their absence from the viewpoint of the whites. As a device, I can see how this might have worked had she chosen a more specific topic of Japanese struggle in the US. But in such a short space, she seemed to want to cover it all.

Now reading The Trial by Kafka :)

I'm reading Fractures: A Novel a book about hydrofracking (drilling for natural gas) and a multiple generations of a family. I'm also listening to a YA, Sealed with a Curse.

Finished reading Memoir of the Sunday Brunch by Julia Pandl – 3***
This is a delightful memoir of a young woman growing up as the baby of the family with a larger-than-life father. She takes us from sullen pre-adolescence to young adulthood, from being the pampered youngest child to assuming the caregiver role for her aging parents. I’ve seen reviews that characterize this as “a cross between A Girl Named Zippy and Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone,” and I have to agree.
Book Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished The Trial by Kafka.


The Trial was a strange reading experience, as I’m sure is true for most navigating this ethereal Kafka world. Absolutely frustrating. There is a documentary (I can’t recall the name) in which a scientist states that humanity treats the global economy as though it is more real than the planet itself. We are willing to destroy nations and our very water and food supplies to keep it alive, which—let’s just say it—is insanely retarded...and frustrating (particularly because I have no choice but to be a part of the problem simply by existing and living within the system). I therefore read The Trial with an increasing anxiety, not simply empathizing with Josef K. but profoundly aware of my own ineffectualness as a tiny cog in today’s massive and layered (yet ultimately simulated) structure of economy and bureaucracy that, to me, closely resembles Kafka’s portrayal of the law.

The priest’s parable about the man waiting the entirety of his life to enter the law through a door meant only for him, yet never entering because he was told it wasn’t the proper time, was a fascinating yet ultimately unsatisfactory examination of the justice system. K., who is essentially represented by this hapless man, tried on several occasions (not just once) to enter the law, and was repeatedly told that it wasn’t time. This could have gone on in perpetuity, which certainly seemed true for Block. Block serves as the woeful example of the dark road before K. and his future battle with the vague notion of law that will never come to any point. The parable itself, a highlight of the book, therefore only increased rather then lessened my anxiety; there were so many twists and turns in its interpretation, I was left only to conclude that this, too, had no point, that there would never be more than a continuation of the same slow, grinding of law’s gears, whether we were admitted into it or not. I have this same sense of futility when I ask myself how much it matters if I recycle in a system that, not just survives, but thrives on waste.

Overall, powerful and enlightening as an existential work and also as a commentary on our collective societal flaws.

Now reading The Metamorphosis

Kathryn wrote: "And because I am new, I don't know how to link it! Forgive my ignorance!"

Kathryn, all of us have been new here!
Above the box where you write the comment you will find a "add book/author" link. When you click it you'll get a box to search and add books and authors (even book covers) to your message.

I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling and enjoying it. Rowling is a great writer.

Finished listening to the audio version of Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende – 4**** (Audio book narrated by Maria Cabezas)
This is a contemporary coming-of-age novel from a novelist known for historical fiction. On a remote island off the southern coast of Chile 19-year-old Maya Vidal uses the notebook given to her by her grandmother – Nini – to record her impressions of this simple life, reflect on her past mistakes and try to come to grips with the turns her life has taken. I thought she was a believable character, and Allende is a good story-teller. I was interested and engaged from beginning to end.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've just started reading Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson.

I finally started The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky!

Finished listening to the audio version of The Snowman by Jo Nesbo – 3*** (Audio book read by Robin Sachs)
Oslo police detective Harry Hole has recognized a pattern of killings; “the Snowman” has kidnapped a woman on the day of the first snowfall for several years. This is the seventh book in this series. I like how Nesbo has given us a complex anti-hero in Harry. I wasn’t so keen about were the many plot twists; it seemed as if Nesbo was padding the story to make the book longer. Still, it definitely held my attention and it was a relatively fast read. Robin Sachs does a credible job with the audio performance.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished reading The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith – 3***
As is typical for this series, there is really not much mystery here. What I like about the series is the way in which Smith paints the landscape and people of Botswana. Mma Ramotswe’s common sense, intelligence, listening skills and compassion help her negotiate tricky situations. It’s a fast read, but I enjoy the time I spend in with these characters.
Book Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just started Small Feet, Big Land: Adventure, Home, and Family on the Edge of Alaska today.

I'm reading Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Just started the book of negroes...by lawrence hill