As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

Can someone please remind me what the "skating" novel was a while ago (a year?) that several people talked about and reviewed. Was it "Blade"?
 
Wyliefan said:
Someone made a modern murder mystery out of Little Women. It sounds so unhinged, I might have to read it just for funsies. :lol: (It wouldn't be the first LW retelling I've read!)
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I stayed home sick today and ended up finishing the book this afternoon. If you take out the Little Women angle, I’d call it a solid YA mystery. I didn’t guess the ending too early but also didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere. It’s not my usual genre, but I liked it enough that I’d pick up another book by this author.

The LW tie-in is more interesting than most straight retellings because part of the storyline is that the girls’ dad has written a controversial book about them called (of course) Little Women. A huge part of the storyline is how they’re each dealing with strangers’ perceptions of them, the way they’re misunderstood or reduced to stereotypes in the online discourse, and of course any of us reading this book as fans of the actual Little Women are also implicated in that because we know them as characters in a book too. Since a lot of us have seen/read multiple adaptations over the years, I thought it was a really fun approach to consider the way these characters have been imagined and reimagined.
 
Jo is still a writer in her own right! I didn’t love the idea of their dad as the author of the book in the beginning, but I ended up thinking it worked pretty well. The way each of the girls navigates her own ambitions in the wake of his book’s publication is probably the most important thread in the story.
 
That was probably it. Thanks. I have a friend who is reading a novel about figure skating called "Blade". She is enjoying it. I just wondered if it was the one that was discussed so much.
 
The latest book by Frieda McFadden "Dear Debbie" is released. I suspect if you are a fan of her this book will not disappoint - especially if you entertain secret thoughts of revenge in your own life you can only dream of. The audible book is narrated by Julia Whelan, January Lavoy, and Scott Brick. They are a dream team together for me.

Also, new on the scene is the latest Pendergast book - I think called Pendergast: The Beginning. Apparently, it is not about his sketchy family history or marriage to Helen but is about his beginning with the FBI and first case. Again, if you are a fan of the Child/Preston writing it seems like readers feel it is a winner.
 
tony said:
Another one you may enjoy, not Higashino (but keep reading him) is The Decagon House Murders. It's an homage to And Then There Were None and it's even mentioned in the storyline, but great all the same on it's own. Hulu Japan turned it into a miniseries at the beginning of the year, and that was also brilliant.
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I just finished this book and loved it! Thanks, Tony, for the recommendation. It was a page-turning distraction from the Olympics, a very intriguing puzzle.
 
her grace said:
I just finished this book and loved it! Thanks, Tony, for the recommendation. It was a page-turning distraction from the Olympics, a very intriguing puzzle.
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I read constantly and this one still sits on my mind as so brilliant. And if you can believe it, the Hulu Japan adaptation doesn’t even twist any of the story around and they still pull it off!
 
I just listened to "Catch and Kill - Lies, Spies and Conspiracy to Protect Predators" both written and read by Rowan Farrow. It is not new - 2019 - but I had forgotten what a high and mighty sleaze bag Harvey Weinstein was and how many protected him. He is just a sickening human being.

Also, I finished "The Beginning" - new Pendergast book - and I certainly recommend it if you go in for that type of thing.
 
I was wondering if anyone has read the book “Blades” by Wendy Walker? She is a well known thriller/mystery writer who trained as a competitive skater as a teenager. It just came out February 1 and has received good reviews. I would love to hear any feedback.
 
Wyliefan said:
Someone made a modern murder mystery out of Little Women. It sounds so unhinged, I might have to read it just for funsies. :lol: (It wouldn't be the first LW retelling I've read!)
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Finished this one last night. It was kind of bonkers, but a fun read. I did not guess the murderer (at least, not until it became blindingly obvious) -- though I might have if I had paid more careful attention to a subtle reference to the original book, hidden in plain sight. 👀 The meaning of it didn't dawn on me until afterward.

@intheknow I have Walker's book on hold at the library.
 
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i finally got the latest Preston and Child Pendergast from the library. Thank all the literary gods they went back to their roots, both literally and figuratively. Classic Pendergast in all his brilliant glory. They've finally purged that ridiculous Constance Green storyline out of their system. This ranks right up there with Relic (which gets the epilogue) and Cabinet of Curiosity. I'm just sorry I waited for the library instead of buying it except I swore I'd never buy another one three books ago.
 
rfisher said:
i finally got the latest Preston and Child Pendergast from the library. Thank all the literary gods they went back to their roots, both literally and figuratively. Classic Pendergast in all his brilliant glory. They've finally purged that ridiculous Constance Green storyline out of their system. This ranks right up there with Relic (which gets the epilogue) and Cabinet of Curiosity. I'm just sorry I waited for the library instead of buying it except I swore I'd never buy another one three books ago.
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I gave up on them a long time ago. You won't suck me back in!

So yeah...I placed the new one on hold.
 
I kept only Relic, Reliquary, and Cabinet on my shelf. The rest were sent to the used bookstore. Not a fan of the Helen trilogy and after that they started losing their charm.

The bookstore only took a few because they said they couldn't sell P&C like they used to.
 
Not yet, but I know people who have. Seems kind of polarizing. Everyone likes the premise, but some people (though not all) hate the execution. I expect I'll check it out at some point.
 
puglover said:
I just listened to "Catch and Kill - Lies, Spies and Conspiracy to Protect Predators" both written and read by Rowan Farrow. It is not new - 2019 - but I had forgotten what a high and mighty sleaze bag Harvey Weinstein was and how many protected him. He is just a sickening human being.

Also, I finished "The Beginning" - new Pendergast book - and I certainly recommend it if you go in for that type of thing.
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This was one of the best Pendergast books. They truly went back to their roots. I thought they'd jumped the proverbial shark with the last three books,and I think they knew it.
 
I got Martha Stewart's new book The Martha Stewart Way today. NPR interviewed her about the book and life in general. One of the things they discussed is how much young people love her. She said she tries to stay current and if there's a better way to do things, she changes how she does them. I went to the bookstore to get the book and asked at the information kiosk where it was. A young man, said, "Oh, I know exactly where it is! I love Martha" and took me to the book. Her organization section (there's one on cooking, entertainment, organization and gardening) is way better than Marie Kondo's which frankly takes too much work.
 
Wyliefan said:
Not yet, but I know people who have. Seems kind of polarizing. Everyone likes the premise, but some people (though not all) hate the execution. I expect I'll check it out at some point.
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It's definitely timely, but maybe too, too timely to be well written? I definitely would like to check it out but I haven't even seen it at my library. They have a very well curated set of new releases, so that might be telling me something.

I'm reading a really interesting book about an Antarctic kayak expedition gone wrong. From reviews, the book also seems quite polarizing (no pun intended), but it takes place in a location that is fairly disorienting on its own, with a narrator who gets more and more unreliable with each passing page. There is still time for it all to go to pot, but so far I'm in. The Unveiling, by Quan Barry.
 
rfisher said:
Marie Kondo's which frankly takes too much work.
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It sure does if you do it the way she does on her show. I do it by deciding if something sparks joy every time I interact with it. So maybe 5 minutes a couple of times a week. :)

ETA I also hate her way of folding. I am a roller. :rollin: :rollin: :rollin:
 
MacMadame said:
ETA I also hate her way of folding. I am a roller. :rollin: :rollin: :rollin:
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Her Netflix show came out when I was at peak nesting prior to little mic being born. We’ve always been pretty good about getting rid of stuff we don’t need but the thing that stuck is how to fold a fitted sheet and the way she folds clothes. It’s easy to see what actually is in the drawer and clothes take up less space.
 
It's not a new release, but I just read Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead after being extremely moved by an essay she wrote about her mother. It jumps in time between the life of an early female aviator and the modern day actress who portrays her in the biopic. I found the writing to be superb and the insights profound, and a couple twists at the end were unexpected yet still arose organically from the story.
 
made_in_canada said:
Her Netflix show came out when I was at peak nesting prior to little mic being born. We’ve always been pretty good about getting rid of stuff we don’t need but the thing that stuck is how to fold a fitted sheet and the way she folds clothes. It’s easy to see what actually is in the drawer and clothes take up less space.
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I hang up all my shirts and pants. So it's only underwear and socks and pjs.
 
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