As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[genevieve]

I think I thought that Audrina1 was 9 years older than Audrina2. The book is probably still at my parents' house, but I don't know if I want to read it again.

I think that was the intention, but it was written incorrectly.

According to this:

My Sweet Audrina - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You are correct. Also, the 3rd daughter is also born 9 years after Audrina2, not 7.

No - here is the salient part (from wiki - but it is also how I remembered the book):

Nine years before Audrina was born, her elder sister – also named Audrina and also born on September 9 – was raped and murdered in the woods on her ninth birthday.

So Audrina1 was 9 when she died, and Audrina2 was born 9 years after that.

Audrina2 is told she is 7 at the beginning of the book - I couldn't remember if mom got pregnant right away or later, so you could be right. It would definitely keep with the 9 trend, but that just makes it all even less believable.

I did see that there was a Lifetime movie made of the book, and they corrected the timeline and had Audrina1 die right before Audrina2's birth.

 

[MacMadame]

I remember being fascinated but also finding it very weird and semi-repulsive.

Just skimming the wiki article on My Sweet Audrina was creepy enough.

 

[Erin]

Spoiler

The premise that the First Audrina died on her 9th birthday, nine years before Audrina 2 was born. Meaning Audrina 1 would have been 18 years old (had she lived) when Audrina 2 was born, and then the mom is pregnant again when Audrina 2 is 7 years old. A 25 year gap between births isn't impossible, but back then (meaning the 1980s when I read it) women giving birth in their 40s was not very common, especially if there weren't a lot of children, aka Catholic families. Whatever age I was when I read the book (probably 11), it seemed suspect - and totally unnecessary.

Another very different book I read later had a similar timeline inconsistency around the dead sibling of a main character and it drove me up the wall.

Yes!! This drove me crazy too. Thank you. I agree with you that it was probably an inadvertent error, but it should have been caught in editing. Although Andrews had lots of errors that should have been caught in editing. I’ve been reading a number of Andrews blogs over the past few days since the topic came up and one of my favourite ones mentions fake shock surprise that Andrews even had an editor.

Another fun wormhole was reading the tax case involving the estate and the value of the Andrews name. I figured since it was a tax case, it could also count as work! It actually had a lot of interesting stuff about the ghostwriter and how that arrangement came to be. I’ve read a lot of tax cases of varying levels of interest and this one was definitely the one of the most interesting for a variety of reasons.

 

[Jenny]

Hands up if you sometimes make yourself a little cheat sheet to keep track of timelines/generations/who was where at what time when you read a book!

 

[MacMadame]

Hands up if you sometimes make yourself a little cheat sheet to keep track of timelines/generations/who was where at what time when you read a book!

I don't but I should.

 

[made_in_canada]

Hands up if you sometimes make yourself a little cheat sheet to keep track of timelines/generations/who was where at what time when you read a book!

I should. But getting confused and having to flip back and re-read is part of the fun. Or something

 

[quartz]

Books with family trees, maps, and cast of characters, get an extra thumbs up from me.

 

[Jenny]

Books with family trees, maps, and cast of characters, get an extra thumbs up from me.

And speaking of Agatha Christie, floor plans!

 

[genevieve]

I’ve been reading a number of Andrews blogs over the past few days since the topic came up and one of my favourite ones mentions fake shock surprise that Andrews even had an editor.

I decided to go on goodreads to find reviews. The ghostwritten sequel (Whitefern) is universally panned, with many VCA fans saying that Neiderman ruined a fantastic story. Switched over to My Sweet Audrina and there are non-VCA fanatics who are like, what is this bonkers book? There was a mostly funny review that I almost linked to here, but the guy uses a slur in it so decided against it.

 

[MsZem]

I did not mean to kick off a discussion of VC Andrews!

I recently read one of Sherry Thomas's Lady Sherlock books, and I wish she'd go back to romance. Also I got Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver on sale! I preferred her Temeraire books to Uprooted, but maybe I'll like this one better.

 

[Erin]

I decided to go on goodreads to find reviews. The ghostwritten sequel (Whitefern) is universally panned, with many VCA fans saying that Neiderman ruined a fantastic story. Switched over to My Sweet Audrina and there are non-VCA fanatics who are like, what is this bonkers book? There was a mostly funny review that I almost linked to here, but the guy uses a slur in it so decided against it.

The bolded part cracks me up. I didn't think that it was possible to ruin something that bad (one of the blogs I read about My Sweet Audrina was entitled "A Review of the Worst Book in History" and while I know that's hyperbole, it is pretty bad.) I noticed that on some of the VCA blogs too, that there were some VCA fans that came in and were angry at the bloggers for their sarcasm and criticisms. I was just surprised that Andrews has fans like her work unironically, but apparently there are a lot of them.

Anyway, one thing I found out during my binge is that there is a biography of VCA coming out, scheduled for next February, to be written by Neiderman. I expect to be as much of a hot mess as both of their books are, so I don't know that I plan to read it, but maybe I'll read some reviews and see if there is anything of interest.

I did not mean to kick off a discussion of VC Andrews!

So this is all your fault! There is also a discussion I kicked off a few pages ago that I didn't plan or expect to... I did start a new book on the weekend (The Lady in the Lake), which is not bad, but apparently I found the VCA blogs more interesting...

 

[Susan1]

I think that was the intention, but it was written incorrectly.

No - here is the salient part (from wiki - but it is also how I remembered the book):


So Audrina1 was 9 when she died, and Audrina2 was born 9 years after that.

Audrina2 is told she is 7 at the beginning of the book - I couldn't remember if mom got pregnant right away or later, so you could be right. It would definitely keep with the 9 trend, but that just makes it all even less believable.

I did see that there was a Lifetime movie made of the book, and they corrected the timeline and had Audrina1 die right before Audrina2's birth.

I read the book back in the day and just read ^ this. No wonder I was confused. ha ha That's one of the ones that went to the used book store or I'd try it again. I kept all the Flowers in the Attic series, including the prequel that came out later. The other first in some of her other series' I read came from the library. Didn't read past those.

 

[genevieve]

I just finished Deacon King Kong. It's a rollicking story full of flawed characters that are shown as really valuable members of their community - the only downside is there was a mushiness that was unexpected and didn't jibe with the rest of the book. Along the lines of "and as he stood beside this magnificent beauty, he could feel his insides melting in ways ne never thought possible. How could this woman, that he had just met, see to the core of him where none could before?". I mean.....

Now I'm waiting for a copy of Hamnet to arrive in the mail. I had reserved it from the library and it came in right after my mom said she would mail me her copy - but she sent it book rate so who knows how long it will take

 

[Susan1]

Our libraries are now open on Mondays again. Monday through Saturday 10-6. They still have curbside service.

 

[clairecloutier]

So I recently read a book that meant a lot to me, or, maybe I should say, provoked a lot of thoughts and emotions on my end. The book is about the experience of French Canadian immigrants to the United States. It's called A Distinct Alien Race: The Untold Story of Franco-Americans, by David Vermette.

I started writing a review of the book here, but it got too long. So I put in on Medium instead. If anyone is interested, here it is:

When History Is Personal

History has always fascinated meâââbut from a distance. Usually, Iâm reading the history of other people, in other centuries, often inâ¦

claire-cloutier.medium.com

 

[Jenny]

Thank you for sharing such a personal story @clairecloutier. It does astound me how quickly people are to shun/target/mistrust/hate/etc people from other places, especially in Canada and the US where most of us, at one point at least, are from other places.

 

[sk9tingfan]

Next in the Outlander series, Book 9 Tell the Bees that I am Gone will be released on November 23rd, right in time for Christmas gift giving. Season 6 of Outlander will debut on February 13th and it has been greenlighted for Season 7

Preorder instructions: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/251569/go-tell-the-bees-that-i-am-gone-by-diana-gabaldon/

 

[Bunny Hop]

I struggle with the Outlander books. I don't object to a long novel, but I feel like they drag on a bit. I've had the one on which the previous TV season was based for months but still haven't persuaded myself to open it. I usually end up reading other things whilst I'm in the middle of each book to give myself a break.

 

[clairecloutier]

I started reading the first Outlander book and was turned off by how the main character kept teasing her husband about, and making fun of, his nerdiness and intellectualism. If she didn’t like it, why did she marry him? I couldn’t get into her character & it seemed like it was about to go into bodice-ripping cliches. So I stopped about 50 pages in. ETA: Maybe I should’ve given it more of a chance?

 

[MsZem]

I struggle with the Outlander books. I don't object to a long novel, but I feel like they drag on a bit. I've had the one on which the previous TV season was based for months but still haven't persuaded myself to open it. I usually end up reading other things whilst I'm in the middle of each book to give myself a break.

I've read the entire series so far, but probably won't read the next one as they've become so unfocused. Gabaldon needs an editor very badly. I tell new readers that they can stop at the end of Voyager, which offers a nice and fairly optimistic ending.

Anyway, I don't think people should force themselves to read books they don't enjoy, when there are so many other books one can read instead!

I started reading the first Outlander book and was turned off by how the main character kept teasing her husband about, and making fun of, his nerdiness and intellectualism. If she didn’t like it, why did she marry him? I couldn’t get into her character & it seemed like it was about to go into bodice-ripping cliches. So I stopped about 50 pages in.

Claire married Frank when she was very young, and they were then separated by WWII for much of their marriage. It's not clear how their relationship would have turned out even if she hadn't travelled back in time and fallen in love with someone else.

That said, I've no idea what commonalities you saw with bodice rippers - and in the first 50 pages, which mostly consist of Claire and Frank hanging around 1940s Scotland and visiting historical sites! Bodice rippers are a specific type of romance novel, and Outlander doesn't even follow the conventions of the genre more broadly, let alone that particular niche of it.

 

[clairecloutier]

Well, I don’t remember very well, but I think it was the combination of her contempt for her intellectual husband and her vague interest in adventure/intrigue/mystery?, which seemed like it was inevitably going to lead her into the arms of a bold, tall-and-handsome buccaneer type. but, admittedly, I don’t know much about romance novels.

 

[MsZem]

Well, I don’t remember very well, but I think it was the combination of her contempt for her intellectual husband and her vague interest in adventure/intrigue/mystery?, which seemed like it was inevitably going to lead her into the arms of a bold, tall-and-handsome buccaneer type. but, admittedly, I don’t know much about romance novels.

I don't know if I should take this as a challenge

Anyway, you may be pleased to hear that there is something in the Outlander series to match that description! It's all part of a romance novel that Claire and her fellow Doctor Joe Abernathy read during their medical training.

The heroine is named Tessa

 

[Japanfan]

I stopped reading Outlander around book 5, but not for any particular reason.

I'd probably have continued reading the series, but am content with the TV series for now.

 

[genevieve]

So I got Hamnet, and....it's hard to get beyond the florid writing. I think I might be interested in the story but reading it feels like a chore. I don't have any other books right now so I'll keep trying, but if I get something more interesting I can see this being a DNF.

 

[rfisher]

If anybody reads the Lucas Davenport or Virgil Flowers books by John Sandford, his newest Ocean Prey came out this week. He puts the two characters together again and sets it up for future. Something sad happens for that to happen. While Lucas is dark, I love Virgil and typically prefer his books so this was sort of a throw back to when Lucas was his boss, but different. It seems Sandford plans to take another new direction with the books as he does every few years, but I'm not sure what it's going to be.

Gabaldon's books are annoying and have been since the 3rd book (Voyager). Her vignette method is lazy writing because she doesn't have to worry about such things as plots. And, I've met her. I didn't like her at all. Which probably colors my opinion of her writing.

 

[MacMadame]

And, I've met her. I didn't like her at all. Which probably colors my opinion of her writing.

I feel the same way about David Brin.

 

[Bunny Hop]

I started reading the first Outlander book and was turned off by how the main character kept teasing her husband about, and making fun of, his nerdiness and intellectualism. If she didn’t like it, why did she marry him? I couldn’t get into her character & it seemed like it was about to go into bodice-ripping cliches. So I stopped about 50 pages in. ETA: Maybe I should’ve given it more of a chance?

I found the second book easier to read than the first one. So if you are also watching the TV series you could probably pick it up again from a later book and not miss much.

Gabaldon needs an editor very badly.

Agreed. There's a lot of stuff that could safely be left out without affecting the plot.

The changing between writing in the first person and writing in the third person also annoys me, but that's a personal preference.

 

[made_in_canada]

I read the first Outlander book years ago but felt no need to keep going. I think I probably would not finish it if I started it now. I used to feel obligated to finish books, but life's way too short for that.

 

[gkelly]

I read the first Outlander book years ago but felt no need to keep going. I think I probably would not finish it if I started it now. I used to feel obligated to finish books, but life's way too short for that.

I read the first one 15-20 years ago and started the second but didn't feel motivated to finish it.

I have watched all of the TV show. It's less work to sit back and watch.

 

[Susan1]

Joyland by Stephen King. I haven't read Stephen King books for years. (or Dean Koontz) Too scary, living alone. I saw the new book, Later, in his crime series in the library magazine. So I looked up the other ones. There are only three so far. Joyland is from 2013. I figured it wouldn't be as violent or monster-y. It was really good. Just enough crime mystery and good woo-woo stuff. It was like the Chris Grabenstein books, which ended in 2013. Weird.