As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[Prancer]

Brendan Slocumb is doing good things in the musical thriller genre. The Violin Conspiracy was a strong debut novel

I've read that one. I didn't know he had another out. Thanks!

 

[sk8pics]

I don’t usually venture into this thread because I haven’t been reading much for pleasure, but I wanted to post about the series of books by Rick McIntyre on the wolves of Yellowstone. There are 4 —The Rise of Wolf 8, The Reign of Wolf 21, The Redemption of Wolf 302, and The Alpha Female Wolf. Wolf 8 was the adoptive father of Wolf 21, and taught him how to be a wolf and then an alpha. Wolf 8 never killed a beaten foe, and neither did Wolf 21, and that saved Wolf 8’s life in a confrontation with 21 and his pack. (Wolf 21 was smart, too, and had a solution that resulted in no one getting killed and each pack thinking its alpha had won!) Wolf 8 was the runt of the litter, Wolf 21 grew up to be the biggest wolf in the park and he never lost a fight. Wolf 302 was kind of a juvenile delinquent as a young wolf and frequently chased off by Wolf 21, but 21’s daughters LOVED Wolf 302, LOL. Eventually he turned his life around. Wolf 6, the featured female in the last book, was fierce and smart and her first two litters had a 100% survival rate, which is unheard of.

They’re great stories. It was fascinating to read about the multigenerational feuds between packs, the way they take care of each other and treat each other, the way the females lead the packs, the way they know who they’re related to.

 

[made_in_canada]

My nieces gave me a list of books they're interested in for their birthday via their mom. One of them is "A Little Life" but the only book I can find by that name is fairly old and doesn't really sound like something they'd really want to read? Anyone have thoughts?

Or suggestions for older teenage girls? They like books with some romance but not a lot of sex, they loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Love Hypothesis, Lessons in Chemistry, books like that.

 

[Wyliefan]

If by "fairly old" you mean "published in 2015," get off my lawn, whippersnapper!

As for YA books, I like Lovely War by Julie Berry. Wartime fantasy/romance (mostly WWI, also a little WWII), no sex, some violence. The Greek gods are part of the framing story, but they're not QUITE as obnoxious as the Greek gods usually are.

 

[rfisher]

Kathy Reichs has been writing her Tempe Brennan books for over 20 years--she's up to book 22. One would think she'd have improved her writing skills, especially since she has an army of editors. Yet, she still info dumps, cannot write dialog and her characters are dull and one-dimensional. I continue to read the books because of the tiny bit of forensic anthropology she still includes (that's not the info dumping she does). Her first 3-4 books were really good and we used to have biological anthro students read them. The books were loosely based on her own cases. Since then she's tried in vain to become literary. She should have stuck with what she knows. She's tried to emulate George Bass (professor emeritus from U Tennessee) and his books. Hers are more popular, but his are better written because he co-writes with an actual writer. Sigh. Should have stuck with the forensic anthro, Kathy.

 

[Baby Yoda On Skates]

My nieces gave me a list of books they're interested in for their birthday via their mom. One of them is "A Little Life" but the only book I can find by that name is fairly old and doesn't really sound like something they'd really want to read? Anyone have thoughts?

Or suggestions for older teenage girls? They like books with some romance but not a lot of sex, they loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Love Hypothesis, Lessons in Chemistry, books like that.

Try The Prince and the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell. It's a YA contemporary romance and was a very zippy read. I enjoyed it immensely.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Kathy Reichs has been writing her Tempe Brennan books for over 20 years--she's up to book 22. One would think she'd have improved her writing skills, especially since she has an army of editors. Yet, she still info dumps, cannot write dialog and her characters are dull and one-dimensional. I continue to read the books because of the tiny bit of forensic anthropology she still includes (that's not the info dumping she does). Her first 3-4 books were really good and we used to have biological anthro students read them.

Well done. I think I gave up after book 6, for all the reasons you mention. And the characters annoyed me for completely different reasons to the ones on the TV show (which I also gave up on).

 

[Habs]

I just finished Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley. It's an essay collection and is definitely not the kind of thing I normally read. However, a friend recommended it to me, and I like Polley, so I decided to give it a chance. I am blown away. It was SO good and enthralling. I literally carried the book around with me in case I had 5 minutes to read.

 

[her grace]

Or suggestions for older teenage girls? They like books with some romance but not a lot of sex, they loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Love Hypothesis, Lessons in Chemistry, books like that.

If they'll still read YA, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez are both good for older teenagers. If YA is too young for them, then The Bodyguard by Katherine Center is a fun adult romance without any steamy scenes.

 

[made_in_canada]

I just finished Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley. It's an essay collection and is definitely not the kind of thing I normally read. However, a friend recommended it to me, and I like Polley, so I decided to give it a chance. I am blown away. It was SO good and enthralling. I literally carried the book around with me in case I had 5 minutes to read.

It’s so good. Well written, compelling subject matter, and a hint of nostalgia for those of us that watched Road to Avonlea.

 

[Wyliefan]

For fans of dark fairytale retellings -- I managed to snag an advance copy of Rosamund Hodge's What Monstrous Gods, and tore through it in three days (constantly sneaking back to it when I was supposed to be doing something else ). It's marvelous. Put it on your TBR list for March.

 

[Baby Yoda On Skates]

For fans of dark fairytale retellings -- I managed to snag an advance copy of Rosamund Hodge's What Monstrous Gods, and tore through it in three days (constantly sneaking back to it when I was supposed to be doing something else ). It's marvelous. Put it on your TBR list for March.

I've been really excited about this one and glad it has lived up to the advertised vibe!

 

[genevieve]

After a great start, my 2023 reading hit a big wall. I knew I wouldn't read much during my travels in June, but even when I returned, I had trouble finding anything I could stick with. Until the last week!

Roundup from the last few months - all worth checking out:

Moonrise Over New Jessup, Jamila Minnicks - interesting tale set in an all-Black town in Alabama, set in the 1950s-60s.

The Bandit Queens, Parini Shroff - really loved this one, it's an enjoyable romp but also the main character is unreliable in all sorts of ways.

Hitchhhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I hadn't read this in probably 30 years and it's amazing how much of it I remembered almost verbatim

Wonderful Feels Like This, Sara Lovestam - quirky and cute

Lone Women, Victor LaValle - fascinating story that takes place during western US expansion, where women had a rare opportunity to own property if they could make a go at homesteading. Add in some very modern character elements and a wee bit of the supernatural

A Dangerous Business, Jane Smiley - set in mid 1800s. Frames prostitution as a means to financial freedom and autonomy in a time where women didn't have much, which I can believe, but does require you to accept the notion that providing sexual services in the wild west could have even less impact on a woman's mental and emotional well being than, say, waiting tables.

Camp Zero, Michelle Min Sterling - very timely setting, set after climate change has driven the rich to build utopian habitat bubbles (literally), the not rich into servitude, and american industrialists into northern Canada

Now You See Us, Balli Kaur Jaswal - set in Singapore, murder mystery but also an examination of the very real awful ways that foreign domestic workers (in this book, Filipina) are treated by the ultra rich

Yellowface, R.F. Kuang - this has gotten a lot of press and is a pretty gripping read. The main character takes every opportunity to do the wrong thing. Drinking game: take a shot every time you read the word "seratonin" and you'll be blotto by the end

Hula, Jasmin Iolani Hakes - the history of how the US stole Hawai'i was the most valuable part of this book, as I really didn't know. There are some structural elements I enjoyed about the book, but the actual plot was just kind of there

Travelers, Helon Habila - this one brought me back to reading. Beautiful and haunting

Books I started and could not finish:
House of Cotton, Monica Brashears
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, Rita Chang-Eppig
Between Two Moons, Aisha Abdel Gawad
Dear Miss Metropolitan, Carolyn Ferrell

 

[MLIS]

I just read, and loved, The Appeal by Janice Hallett. A community theatre group pulls together to raise funds for their director’s granddaughter who is fighting cancer, but all is not as it seems and soon someone is dead. All told via emails and text messages being read by two junior attorneys who are trying to figure out whodunnit. Great fun.

 

[Prancer]

In the Dark by Loreth Anne White, which shows up at the top of many 'most similar' lists.

I am just over halfway through this one and I would say it's like Agatha Christie because it's And Then There Were None. Several people are invited to a house party that turns into them all being trapped in a creepy lodge with no escape. They find a poem that lays out the And Then There Were None plot, gradually realize that they all have a terrible secret in common, and are picked off one by one.

So there is that. But aside from the obvious, the book doesn't remind me much of Christie. It's pretty typical of a modern thriller, with many shifts in time and focus on different characters, and two basic storylines--one about the house party and one about the rescue effort to save the people at the house party. The clues are all pretty overtly laid out for you; I am kind of impatient with the story line right now because it is so easy to get way ahead of the characters in terms of the mystery of what brought them to the lodge. There is a mystery at this point, but it's not particularly engaging, at least not for me.

 

[rfisher]

I'm usually annoyed by Preston/Child's Corrie Swanson and Nora Kelly books (because Corrie annoys me), but I just blitzed through their latest Dead Mountain. Corrie is still annoying. You'd think she'd have learned something from Pendergast, but no, and they don't use Nora's archaeology creds nearly enough, but the story was good. It was actually based on a real incident that occurred in Russia detailed in an article by Doug Preston in the New Yorker in 2021. So, if you're a Preston/Child fan, even though this isn't a beloved Pendergast book, it's good. Still trying to figure out why they didn't get rid of Corrie or Nora's brother Skip a long time ago. They should reunite Nora and Pendergast. It's been too long.

 

[puglover]

I'm usually annoyed by Preston/Child's Corrie Swanson and Nora Kelly books (because Corrie annoys me), but I just blitzed through their latest Dead Mountain. Corrie is still annoying. You'd think she'd have learned something from Pendergast, but no, and they don't use Nora's archaeology creds nearly enough, but the story was good. It was actually based on a real incident that occurred in Russia detailed in an article by Doug Preston in the New Yorker in 2021. So, if you're a Preston/Child fan, even though this isn't a beloved Pendergast book, it's good. Still trying to figure out why they didn't get rid of Corrie or Nora's brother Skip a long time ago. They should reunite Nora and Pendergast. It's been too long.

For those of us who like to listen to audible books, the narrator for the Corrie/Nora books is absolutely the worst. I am pretty forgiving and not familiar with SW accents at all, but even for me, I can barely stand it. All the comments are full of complaints and still they stick to this woman. I am listening to Dead Mountain now so that speaks to the fact I enjoy their writing because I sure do not understand why popular, affluent writers of their calibre have such a terrible narrator.

 

[sk8pics]

I’m sure I’m late to the party on this one (I did search this thread and did not find anything) but I’m reading Matthew Perry’s book Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. I’m finding it really gripping and horrifying. I guess he had a good ghost writer!

 

[Prancer]

I guess he had a good ghost writer!

I've read that he wrote it himself; he's written scripts before, so maybe so.

 

[sk8pics]

I've read that he wrote it himself; he's written scripts before, so maybe so.

It does sound very much like that.

 

[sk9tingfan]

Stephen King just announced a new book to be released on September 5th. Gird your loins!

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1696622759105720675

 

[puglover]

Any plans for reading the Britney Spears book due for release, I believe, in October? I find myself with very conflicted feelings, especially as I have a daughter who suffers with mental illness, and I know how complicated things can become. I was sorry to hear her marriage ended, although I have no idea if he was good for her, she just seems so alone now.

 

[rfisher]

I read a review that said the current J D Robb book was the most boring thing she'd written and OMG, but they were right. What a waste. She's reached the Janet Evanovich/Lee Child stage of just churning out a book every six months for the This may result in my waiting 10 weeks for a library version henceforth. And, I got to say henceforth. And the red herring was big enough to feed an entire pod of hungry killer whales. ChatGPT could have done better plotting.

 

[rfisher]

Elisabeth Wheatley on Instagram: "Is the first time REALLY that good? #romancebooks #fantasyromance #romantasy #historicalromance #paranormalromance #bookstagram"

2,367 likes, 53 comments - elisabethwheatley on August 16, 2023: "Is the first time REALLY that good? #romancebooks #fantasyromance #romantasy #historicalromance #..."

www.instagram.com

Just sharing this so you can all have a laugh. This author's insta is hilarious. She does one about " romance hero jobs" https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwsE0DWNf7z/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading and one about meeting a hero in the coffeeshop https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwhxqWFtbTw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading. I was and totally agreeing.

 

[Bunny Hop]

I just spent about half an hour reading all her Instagram posts. They're hilarious. I don't think I'd like her books, but I'll happilly follow her posts.

 

[genevieve]

I just finished Lessons in Chemistry, another book that received rave reviews. The waiting list was long. I was really looking forward to reading it and put some other books aside the minute it was available. And...meh. I can see why people like it, but it's just too much of a fairy tale for me.

I kept seeing this on Peak Picks at the library and almost picking it up - but the blurb made it sound dumb. But then I put it as Want to Read on Goodreads a while back, and several friends there loved it. Apparently it’s supposed to be clever and transcend the genre. Or something.

30 pages in and I hate it.

I was hoping for something quirky along the lines of Where’d You Go Bernadette, but it’s just a tedious romance pretending to be feminist while the lead character wonders why the man she’s interested in takes her “I am not interested in a relationship” seriously. Which is especially maddening coming right after a traumatic reveal from her past.

Next!

 

[made_in_canada]

I kept seeing this on Peak Picks at the library and almost picking it up - but the blurb made it sound dumb. But then I put it as Want to Read on Goodreads a while back, and several friends there loved it. Apparently it’s supposed to be clever and transcend the genre. Or something.

30 pages in and I hate it.

I was hoping for something quirky along the lines of Where’d You Go Bernadette, but it’s just a tedious romance pretending to be feminist while the lead character wonders why the man she’s interested in takes her “I am not interested in a relationship” seriously. Which is especially maddening coming right after a traumatic reveal from her past.

Next!

I completely agree. I’m not above a fun romance, but don’t try to be anything other than a fun romance. I rolled my eyes a lot reading that book. I probably should have given up on it because it annoyed me, but a friend really loved it and wanted me to read it. Meh.

 

[Prancer]

I was hoping for something quirky along the lines of Where’d You Go Bernadette, but it’s just a tedious romance pretending to be feminist while the lead character wonders why the man she’s interested in takes her “I am not interested in a relationship” seriously.

To be fair

Spoiler

he dies right away and she never gets involved with another man.

So there is that.

 

[genevieve]

To be fair ...

So there is that.

eehhhh, even before the how-they-met I was barely tolerating her. There's quirky, and there's just too-too.

I did like a few of the author's turns of phrase, but the book came across as smug, not fun.

Anyway, I moved on to Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal (whose latest, Now You See Us, I read earlier this year) and it's far better already.

 

[sk8pics]

I kept seeing this on Peak Picks at the library and almost picking it up - but the blurb made it sound dumb. But then I put it as Want to Read on Goodreads a while back, and several friends there loved it. Apparently it’s supposed to be clever and transcend the genre. Or something.

30 pages in and I hate it.

I’m reading this, too. Meh. I borrowed it as an e-book from my library. We’ll see if I can finish it in the time allowed.