As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[ryanj07]

Recently finished a few....

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty: I’ve read all of her books except for her latest and this was by far the weakest. It’s extremely slow moving (and I love a slow burn) and none of the characters are particularly compelling. Everything builds until the “day of the barbecue” and the big surprise isn’t anything interesting either. If you’re new to Liane, skip this one and pick up What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies, or The Husband’s Secret.

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult: It was a wonderful read! A gunman enters and takes hostage an abortion clinic in Mississippi. The story is told starting from the end (starting at 5pm) and goes backwards through time (8am) revealing more details about the characters and how they arrived at the center on that fateful day. This is an excellent read, regardless of your opinion on the topic of abortion as well balanced arguments for both sides are presented. My only gripe is there wasn’t a real epilogue included.

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica: Awful! There is no plot, characters that are neither interesting nor likable and after 300 pages of nothing happening, there is a race to the finish where the story ends out of nowhere. This is my 3rd Kubica novel and I haven’t particularly enjoyed any, I think it’s time to admit that she just isn’t the author for me.

 

[gkelly]

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty: I’ve read all of her books except for her latest and this was by far the weakest. It’s extremely slow moving (and I love a slow burn) and none of the characters are particularly compelling. Everything builds until the “day of the barbecue” and the big surprise isn’t anything interesting either. If you’re new to Liane, skip this one and pick up What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies, or The Husband’s Secret.

Have you read Nine Perfect Strangers? I have a used copy but haven't gotten around to reading it. I did read What Alice Forgot, which I felt pretty neutral about.

 

[ryanj07]

Have you read Nine Perfect Strangers? I have a used copy but haven't gotten around to reading it. I did read What Alice Forgot, which I felt pretty neutral about.

That’s the one of hers that I still have to read. It has a lot of mixed reviews so I haven’t been in a hurry to read it.

 

[her grace]

Have you read Nine Perfect Strangers? I have a used copy but haven't gotten around to reading it. I did read What Alice Forgot, which I felt pretty neutral about.

I think that Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret are Moriarty's best work. Truly Madly Guilty is the worst. Nine Perfect Strangers is somewhere in the middle. Nine Perfect Strangers has some funny moments, but it also jumps the shark in places and there's a definite eye-rolling moment when something bad happens to someone who dares to be a book critic.

Moriarty does tend to use the same types of characters so you will recognize some of the same personalities from What Alice Forgot in her other books.

 

[her grace]

Recent Read

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. This is a slim epistolary novel set on a fictional island where residents revere the inventor of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The members of the community have this famous sentence preserved in their town square with each letter on a separate tile on a memorial statute. Then the tiles start dropping and the town Council demands that everyone cease using the letter(s) that fall. It's a quirky, clever take on an increasingly totalitarian society with the added bonus of skilled wordplay.

 

[Erin]

On Moriarty, I thought Nine Perfect Strangers was terrible. I liked Big Little Lies and What Alice Forgot, found the rest to be decent fluff, but can not recommend Nine Perfect Strangers even as fluff.

Very minor spoiler:

Spoiler

There is a twist halfway through the book that takes it from meh to just plain stupid. From that point on, I felt like I was losing brain cells by continuing to read, but that I had already come so far that I needed to finish.

I thought I would get a lot more reading done given the current situation but apparently I’m watching more old skating than reading. I did do a couple of rereads last week and I tried to read Diane Setterfield’s latest but couldn’t get into it, so I gave up pretty early. I’m just starting Opening Belle by Maureen Sherry, which seems like it’s holding my attention better.

 

[Prancer]

I just finished Leaving the Witness, which is about a woman who left Jehovah's Witnesses.

I've read a number of accounts of people leaving the religion and few of them ring completely true, but this one did. There are a whole lot of personal differences in our stories, but a lot of what she says was like, yeah, that's it exactly.

 

[Wyliefan]

Confidential to Hilary Mantel: WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW EVERY FREAKING THOUGHT THAT FLITS THROUGH CROMWELL'S FREAKING HEAD. Good Lord, woman. Less than a third of the way through, and I'm half drowned in detail.

 

[emason]

If anyone wants to read a doorstop book while sheltering in place during these trying times, there is an online group at apublicspace.org that is reading War and Peace - at 12-15 pages a day. The read along is designed to last approximately 3 months. People from all over the world have joined in and the twitter feed comments every day range from juvenile through hilarious up to really thoughtful and very interesting. The author, Yiyun Li, is driving the reading. This is such an easy way to read this masterpiece and it requires a commitment of only 1/2 hour or so every day. I'm hooked on the whole experience. (To add to it, I've also taken a trial subscription to the Criterion Collection so I can stream the 1968 Bondarchuk version of W & P that won the Academy Award for best foreign language film.)

 

[Prancer]

Confidential to Hilary Mantel: WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW EVERY FREAKING THOUGHT THAT FLITS THROUGH CROMWELL'S FREAKING HEAD. Good Lord, woman. Less than a third of the way through, and I'm half drowned in detail.

Are you reading the third book in the series, by any chance?

 

[Wyliefan]

Are you reading the third book in the series, by any chance?

Yep. The Washington Post review complained about it being too long. I thought that was a bit harsh . . . until I started reading the book myself.

 

[Susan1]

Well, so much for returning books to the book drop as I finish them so that I can get out of the house. It's closed till at least April 15. You would think one person could go in there alone with gloves and a mask and sort returned books. They had the message already that returned books and stuff were being kept separate for however long the virus could live on them. I'd do it. The book drop automatically checks them in. Now everybody who got books before they closed will be taking them back at the same time when they do eventually open.

 

[MacMadame]

They did this so people would stop going out for stupid stuff that doesn't need to be done.

 

[Erin]

So I finished Opening Belle. It was OK. It’s the fictional story of a woman working on Wall Street, written by a woman who used to work on Wall Street, so presumably based on some of her experiences. It was a quick and mostly fluffy read and raised some interesting questions. But I had a hard time getting a feel for the characterization of the main character and the plot seemed pretty thin. It was more like a series of vignettes than a consistent novel. Not the worst, but not the best either.

 

[Susan1]

They did this so people would stop going out for stupid stuff that doesn't need to be done.

Yeah, but really, I drive less than a mile alone, go into the lobby alone, walk back out alone, drive home alone. It's not like everybody is going to take their books back and pile into the lobby at the same time - 24 hours a day. Even when they are open, unless they are having some kind of meeting in the rooms, or a children's program, there are only a few cars in the parking lot at one time. The little while they had social distancing before they closed, they had the middle self-check-out closed. I have never even seen all three of them being used at once. They are going to have everybody bringing their books that they have had all this time all at once when they open again, to all libraries. The system will crash. Even with automatic renewals on them, they will be due. If the schools aren't going back this year, the library won't open either. I've seen 20 kids books under one name on the hold shelf. Someone will have to bring those back and check them in themselves one at a time. That's where there are going to be lines. You can't just drop them in the box outside like before. And there is no update on their webpage about it.

ETA - maybe they should lock the lobby doors and put a sign in the window so that other stupid people who are looking for something solitary to do wouldn't have to go in just to read the sign on the return machine.

 

[MacMadame]

We are supposed to be sheltering in place and only going out for essential errands like picking up prescriptions and buying food. There is no reasonable argument that returning library books is essential. NONE.

Not only that but most likely the people who work at the library are working from home so they can't empty the book drop or -- worse -- have been laid off and have no jobs and can't figure out how to pay their rent/mortgages. But, god forbid, you can't return library books exactly when you want to.

 

[genevieve]

I was surprised about the book drop when our library closed 2 weeks ago (before social distancing had turned into no gatherings and eventually don't go anywhere), but realized that even if the book drop is mechanical/non-automated, there needs to be someone there to sort the books or the drop will get jammed. Because it is totally unknown when libraries will reopen, it is far better to just close all of it.

I do wonder if they will open up the book drop a day or two before the full library reopens, just to give staff a chance to sort through and reshelve all (or some of) the returns.

 

[Susan1]

I was surprised about the book drop when our library closed 2 weeks ago (before social distancing had turned into no gatherings and eventually don't go anywhere), but realized that even if the book drop is mechanical/non-automated, there needs to be someone there to sort the books or the drop will get jammed. Because it is totally unknown when libraries will reopen, it is far better to just close all of it.

I do wonder if they will open up the book drop a day or two before the full library reopens, just to give staff a chance to sort through and reshelve all (or some of) the returns.

When they first closed the library, they said the book drop would be open. They even wrote that returned items were being kept separate for the required number of days for the virus to disappear (paper, plastic, cardboard, etc.), so I figured someone was going in to keep them from piling up (no pun intended). Our library was "supposed" to open on April 6. The book drop sign said closed till at least April 15. I don't know when it started being closed because I hadn't had enough books to take back yet. I was too distracted to see if it said the whole library was going to be closed even longer than that. I haven't seen an update on the website yet. I'll keep checking.

We are supposed to be sheltering in place and only going out for essential errands like picking up prescriptions and buying food. There is no reasonable argument that returning library books is essential. NONE.

Not only that but most likely the people who work at the library are working from home so they can't empty the book drop or -- worse -- have been laid off and have no jobs and can't figure out how to pay their rent/mortgages. But, god forbid, you can't return library books exactly when you want to.

Maybe people could have dropped off books while they are walking their dogs or looking for bears in windows. Stay home means stay away from other people.

What would the actual librarians being doing from home? Ordering new books? Scheduling meeting rooms? One could be back in the back sorting books that come in. I imagine the part time library aides will be getting unemployment. They don't work there as their only means of support. I'm sure they will have jobs later. I don't think libraries will go out of business due to lack of customers or revenue.

Geez - I said that everybody (ELSE, OK?) will be taking books back to all the libraries at the same time, which to me is HARDER ON THE PEOPLE WHO WORK AT THE LIBRARY, and the automatic check in system across all branches will break down.

ETA - I had to go the news page, which is separate from the announcement page -
"Should I return my borrowed items? Effective noon on Friday, March 20, 2020, we will no longer accept returned items. (Refer to due/overdue items above.) We will extend due dates as long as necessary, and will notify you when we are able to restore our book drops."

Good, that Summer of 69 book is due April 15 and has no renewals.

 

[Prancer]

We now have a National Emergency Library. E-books only, I'm afraid.

Barnes and Noble is giving away 20 cozy mysteries and many other free books--e-books only again, I'm afraid.

Short stories you can read online

 

[Japanfan]

Well, so much for returning books to the book drop as I finish them so that I can get out of the house. It's closed till at least April 15. You would think one person could go in there alone with gloves and a mask and sort returned books.

The cost of opening the library just for that purpose would be prohibitive.

Library books stay in the house until libraries reopen. If having too many on hand is annoying you, maybe put them in a box in a corner when you won't see them.

 

[Susan1]

The cost of opening the library just for that purpose would be prohibitive.

Library books stay in the house until libraries reopen. If having too many on hand is annoying you, maybe put them in a box in a corner when you won't see them.

"Annoying" me? Man. Books in the house are not annoying me.

 

[Jenny]

Hang in there @Susan1 - I find myself overthinking a lot of things these days, and I haven't been able to focus enough to actually read a book even. We're all in this together.

 

[quartz]

Hang in there @Susan1 - I find myself overthinking a lot of things these days, and I haven't been able to focus enough to actually read a book even. We're all in this together.

I’m on day 10 of being housebound, and haven’t even made it through one book (A Gentleman in Moscow) as I can’t concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time on it. I think once I do finish it, I might read kids books instead.

 

[Susan1]

Hang in there @Susan1 - I find myself overthinking a lot of things these days, and I haven't been able to focus enough to actually read a book even. We're all in this together.

Yeah, I'm having to save them for the weekend. I read one two Saturdays ago and started another one that Sunday morning. I didn't get back to it till the next Sunday morning and I finished it Monday so I could put them in the book drop. The two I wanted to take back are from Search Ohio, and they charge you $25 a book if it's lost. What if I get sick and end of in the hospital and can't take them back when the library is open again. I figured if I took them back, at least they would be checked in as received in our library.

ETA - that was back right after Gov. DeWine said he wasn't going to order all of the libraries closed because kids out of school needed somewhere to go. Whenever that was. (I've been writing what days I go to the store cause I can't remember.) Our library network was already closed.

I would love nothing more than to get under my comforter right now and read. It was 70* about 7 last night and I had my screen down in my storm door for about half an hour. It's in the 50's and raining now - possible severe storms tonight and tomorrow night.

I've got a bunch of stuff DVRd but I can't concentrate on anything current either. Did you ever notice on medical shows all the gloves they wear? And I end up thinking - they shouldn't be standing so close. No, I'm not delusional and having trouble separating t.v. from reality. It just crosses my mind.

The cost of opening the library just for that purpose would be prohibitive.

Well, I'm getting tired of arguing with you, but I'm not talking about the New York public library. We have branches all over. The employee entrances that go into the back of the building are electronic. In all our new libraries, they even have to put a code in to go in the back from the main library. The books "drop" into that room. They are already counted as checked in that way. I bet they even have lights just for the back area, so they wouldn't have to waste electricity on the whole library. Sheesh.

In the old libraries, there was a real check-in/out desk with a window behind it, where you could see into the employee area, where the desks and computers and all the paperwork and returned things were. When I volunteered, I had access to everything. They didn't even close the employee break room door that opened to the public area unless people were in there having a private conversation or phone call.

I’m on day 10 of being housebound, and haven’t even made it through one book (A Gentleman in Moscow) as I can’t concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time on it. I think once I do finish it, I might read kids books instead.

I was going to read my Little House books (we used to call them Laura books). That might take up one whole day.

 

[Japanfan]

I’m on day 10 of being housebound, and haven’t even made it through one book (A Gentleman in Moscow) as I can’t concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time on it. I think once I do finish it, I might read kids books instead.

Likewise. I haven't read for the past week or more, and have a few books on hand I do want to read.

I feel adrift from the normal motions of life, which includes reading for me, and I am sure I am not the only one.

 

[quartz]

Had a quick look at my bookcase and right up front I have the followings kids books: Sweep, The Hazel Wood, Eragon, Egg and Spoon, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Orphan Island, and A Place Called Perfect. I’ll see if I can dig into that stack in a couple of days.
Or, I may just go back and re-read some old favorites.

 

[Susan1]

My brain is even slower than normal so I keep updating what I wrote

ETA - that was back right after Gov. DeWine said he wasn't going to order all of the libraries closed because kids out of school needed somewhere to go. Whenever that was. (I've been writing what days I go to the store cause I can't remember.) Our library network was already closed.

March 12 - "However, the order also contains a number of broad exceptions: Libraries, bus stations, malls, offices, grocery stores and religious services such as weddings and funerals are all exempt".

I'm guessing all Ohio libraries are closed by now though.

 

[Jenny]

I think it's maybe a good time to re-read old favourites. If your mind drifts off or whatever, you already know the story, you can keep going. We are also re-watching favourite movies and tv shows right now.

I don't normally read YA or children's books, but I remember when I had strep throat/scarlet fever (ugh, viral! I actually got it at 2001 Worlds in Vancouver, but that's another story!), I felt physically so bad and all I could get through was the entire Mallory Towers and St. Clare's boarding school stories I'd loved as a girl. I'm not there yet, but I might have to dig them out before long.

Maybe we can all share our "comfort" books. Agatha Christie is another for me, and come to think of it this goes back to my tweens, so there you go. My favourite is A Murder is Announced - I've read it a dozen or more times and even though I know how it ends, it's just the perfect little village murder story (it's a Miss Marple of course), I feel like I know the characters, Christie's most cozy writing with just enough humour thrown in.

Anyone else?

 

[quartz]

Old friends:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Hobbit
The Shell Seekers
Neverwhere
Pillars of the Earth
Clan of the Cave Bear
Silent in the Grave/Silent in the Sanctuary/Silent on the Moor
Narnia

 

[Marge_Simpson]

Comfort Books:

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend

And something literary that happened at work recently. My coworker the huge reader asked me if I was working on blood for a patient named Portnoy. I said, "It's running, does he have a complaint?"
We both cracked up laughing.