Books on the Nightstand discussion

Ok, read this!


I gave it 5 stars, which is rare for me. I thought it was fascinating and frightening - it's a 1984 for 2014.

My first Dave Eggers, although I think I will investigate some more of his works.

Finished Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - cute. Have read 4 stories from Tenth of December and am loving it. Just starting The Rosie Project.

I finished The Sound and The Fury with a little help from Wikipedia. Once I figured out what was going on, I enjoyed the writing.
I also read Longbourn and quickly realized it wasn't worth the time, so just skimmed through it.
Book of Ages, the story of Benjamin Franklin's sister, was a great read. Life during this time was full of grief, but Jane Franklin lived a long life made full with her love of books.
Today I have downloaded The Year of Magical Thinking...looking forward to starting it.

Finished11/22/63 and although I'm in the mood for a light short read I think I will start Winter's Tale and get it done before it's movie is released.

finished The Last Letter from Your Lover & now starting East of Eden

Victoria wrote: "I was very disappointed In the astronaut wife book. My lowest rated book of 2013 with only 2 stars. I'm interested in hearing what you think though. I would never dissuade anyone from trying someth..."

Oh I really enjoyed the Astronaut's Wives Club. Granted I wasn't born until the era of the Space Shuttle, but it introduced a whole era of pop culture that I really wasn't aware of. Was it the greatest work of literature I have every read? Nope, but I was entertained!

I have been pleasantly surprised by The Astronaut Wives' Club so far. I'm about 80 pages in, and while I recognize it's fairly superficial (e.g., To paraphrase, due to their shared love for skiing and talking about literature and philosophy, Rene and Scott Carpenter decided to get married and build a life together. . . . Really?), I also realize that to be too in-depth it would have to be much, much longer. I don't think the tone of the book could be sustained for that long. Like you, Amy, I am really enjoying the insights into late 50s/early 60s popular culture.

Becky wrote: "finished The Last Letter from Your Lover & now starting East of Eden"

Becky,

What did you think of the Moyes' book?

Elizabeth wrote: "Becky wrote: "finished The Last Letter from Your Lover & now starting East of Eden"

Becky,

What did you think of th..."


I enjoyed it, it had its ups & downs but it was what I needed at this point LOL but nowhere near as good as

If anyone is interested,the Kindle version of is $1.99. I saw it through the Kindle Select 25 list, so it's not a Kindle daily deal. That said, I don't know how long it will be priced that way.

Victoria wrote: "If anyone is interested,the Kindle version of is $1.99. I saw it through the Kindle Select 25 list, so it's not a Kindle daily deal. That said, I don't know h..."
Love, love, love this book!!

Eric wrote: "

We're living in a time when the world (and by this I mean corporate culture) conspires to turn us into machines. Products. Guinea pigs. Implements made out o..."

My experience reading Saunders reminded me of reading Ellison, too. I had the great joy of passing on my beloved copy of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream to my 18 year old son this Christmas. I hope he loves it, or at least lies to me that he does.

Just finishedThe Goldfinch

Don Quixote .. Read it before you die.. It's awesome.

I finished The Goldfinch and also The Rosie Project this weekend. I feel so guilty because I did not enjoy The Goldfinch as much as I thought I would. It was well written, although a little verbose, but with all the rave reviews I just expected so much more. Still ruminating on it. The Rosie Project was charming and entertaining. I listened to the audiobook.

I just finished by Dave Eggers. I thought it was pretty good. I have read a number of Katrina-related books in the past year or so so a lot of this seemed familiar to me. I know there is controversy about the main character now (and I won't include any of those details here) but I didn't feel it took away from the book. Now I've gone from 0 Dave Eggers books read to 2 in a week, which was just coincidental, related to what was on my hold list at the library!

And Melissa, I only gave The Goldfinch 4 stars as well. For me, it kind of fell apart at the end and I've read others who felt the same.

I just finished At Night We Walk in Circles. It wasn't as dense as I expected it to be, and I ended up liking it--the plot was what kept me going. Not a favorite, but glad I read it.

I just finished Duma Key by Stephen King. Wow, what can I say the man is genius! Not sure what is on tap just yet.

just finished doctor sleep and lexicon and just started night film. thank you for the excellent recommendations!

Started Alice Close Your Eyes ARC this afternoon. Looks like a good, quick read in the vein of Gone Girl. We shall see.

I'm reading which is good but not as good as Me Before You. But I want to know how I fell into another stolen art book? First I read , and I read , then , now this! I think that will be it for stolen art type books for a while.

To those of you who read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, did you like it?

Denise wrote: "To those of you who read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, did you like it?"

OH, YES!

Ok, thanks! Have had in my stash.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was a beautiful story!

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and it's follow up were two of my favorite books of 2013.

Pam wrote: "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and it's follow up were two of my favorite books of 2013."

I just googled the follow-up, thank you Pam for mentioning that. I had heard there was one in the works, but didn't know it would be published so soon!

I've already read the short collections of Nick Hornby's columns from The Believer, so I'll be interested to see if his new Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books contains any additional material. In between business and computer titles, I'm currently rotating among Billy Collins' Aimless Love, P.G. Wodehouse's Something Fresh (a.k.a. Something New), and P.W. Musgraves' From Brown to Bunter: The Life and Death of the School Story. Next up: the Hornby compilation, Mark Forsyth's comical take on the back-stories of familiar words, The Etymologicon, and S.N. Behrman's The Worcester Account (1954).

I am starting Rules of Civility.

I scooped up in one sitting last night. Wow wow wow.

Just finished Alice Close Your Eyes. It was a good, albeit dark read, in the vein of Gone Girl.
Picked up Jonathan Letham's The Fortress of Solitude this afternoon. Hope it as good as advertised. Has anyone read this?

Chanda,

I have read fortress of solitude and wasn't taken with it. I just remember I felt that there wasn't much of a structured plot to it.

I just finished Louise Penny's The Brutal Telling and am now reading Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Elizabeth wrote: "Chanda,

I have read fortress of solitude and wasn't taken with it. I just remember I felt that there wasn't much of a structured plot to it."

THanks Elizabeth. I'm beginning to think the same thing. I might (GASP) abandon it early.

If you are graphic novel fan (even if you are not), I'd recommend Blue Is the Warmest Color and Saga, Volume 1.

Buzzfeed.com published another story this morning about the fans who are lining up to see the painting that inspired the popular so called must read novel.The painting is now being shown at the Frick gallery.I thought that it was amusing that the security guards were offering to move people in the line up if they paid the $75.00 dollar membership fee. Theo and Boris would probably find a way to sell fake memberships.

For what it's worth (not a lot!), I really did not think The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was all that great. Just ok for me, had to pressure myself to finish.

Gave up on The Fortress of Solitude in favor of The Expats. It was hard for me to quit on a book, as I never have done that before, but I am glad I did. Chris Pavone is one talented writer.

I'm reading now. What a great book so far, I'm about 1/2 done.

Victoria wrote: "I'm reading now. What a great book so far, I'm about 1/2 done."

I loved this little gem of a book! Enjoy!

I just finished Ordinary Grace, a book from my stash. Really good! What is the sequel to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats?

Denise wrote: "I just finished Ordinary Grace, a book from my stash. Really good! What is the sequel to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats?"

A Well-Tempered Heart

I finished The Year of Magical Thinking a couple of days ago and can't stop thinking about it.

Denise wrote: "I just finished Ordinary Grace, a book from my stash. Really good! What is the sequel to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats?"

Great book!

Thanks, Linda. Chandra, Ordinary Grace was so...graceful, wasn't it? A really good story and such lovely writing. I've been reading The Kept, and it's so gloomy that I'm not sure I can go on.

reading this at the moment i love it,i was reading i will finish this off soon

I just finished listening to Wave. Beautifully devastating work. The author's husband, two children, and parents were killed in the 2004 tsunami while she survived. She manages to describes grief and loss that I would have thought to be indescribable.

I have now started listening to The Rosie Project. I need something a bit lighter!

Melissa wrote: "I just finished listening to Wave. Beautifully devastating work. The author's husband, two children, and parents were killed in the 2004 tsunami while she survived. She manages to d..."

Hi Melissa,

I just finished reading Wave. It was incredible. I was wondering how listening to it would be. Very difficult.

Gerald, that totally sounds like Boris!

Started ebook "The Intervention of Wings" and audiobook "I am Malal".. Enjoying both