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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,652
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019


@maximillian wrote:

@Lilysmom 

 

Earlier I posted that I read Riley Sager's Final Girls and was underwhelmed.  There are better thrillers out there.


@maximillian , I think I am going to be in the same category...underwhelmed.  I usually find Goodreads’ ratings to be a fair indicator but this time I think they missed the mark.

 

To read this after the heavy prose of James Lee Burke makes it seem even more lightweight.  Thanks for your comments @maximillian .  I will do a skim and probably skip. Too many good books to be wasting time on mediocre ones!  LM

Valued Contributor
Posts: 807
Registered: ‎04-16-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

I finished A Single Thread (Tracy Chevalier)

I didn't like this book as well as some of her others. IMO predictable ending.

I"ve begun The Master Butchers Singing Club (Louise Erdrich)

 

AMAZON BLURB:

Having survived World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend, killed in action. With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious knife set, Fidelis sets out for America. In Argus, North Dakota, he builds a business, a home for his family—which includes Eva and four sons—and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When the Old World meets the New—in the person of Delphine Watzka—the great adventure of Fidelis's life begins. Delphine meets Eva and is enchanted. She meets Fidelis, and the ground trembles. These momentous encounters will determine the course of Delphine's life, and the trajectory of this brilliant novel.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,501
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

I finished reading Never Have I Ever. It got better, but I wasn't impressed with the book. The characters were unbelieveable to me. Wouldn't recommend the book. It had a slow start, and some of the characters' actions stretched the imagination. 

"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog."

Mark Twain
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,966
Registered: ‎05-30-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

I read Death in Focus by Anne Perry, the first in her new Elena Standish series.  This one takes place pre World War 2 and I was not really impressed with the story or the characters.  I love her Thomas Pitt and William Monk novels, but this one reads like a YA novel.

 

I started City of Girls (Elizabeth Gilbert) and sent it back.  Just did not interest me.

 

Now I'm reading The Escape Room (Megan Goldin).  So far it's full of a bunch of unlikeable characters.  Seems like a fast read, though.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,775
Registered: ‎08-30-2015

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

I just finished Marriage Vacation by Pauline Turner Brooks, I had no idea what to expect, to be truthful I thought it would be a fluff book, but to my surprise it was a story full of depth, I enjoyed it very much!

 

Next up A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy, as always I will post my review when I finish!

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,613
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

Today I finished Bloody Genius by John Sandford.  This is the latest book in the Virgil Flowers series.  Well, it wasn't my favorite Virgil Flowers book, but it was good.  Virgil and the other "good guys" were great; interesting and smart with witty dialogue.  Most of the other characters were yucky.  I liked the university setting, but I could not relate to or care about most of the people.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,775
Registered: ‎08-30-2015

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

@smoky22  I enjoyed The Escape Room, hope you do too!

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,994
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

I'm reading An Equal Justice by David Adams.  It reminds me of The Firm by John Grisham, a little bit.  I like it so far.  I'm not familiar with the author.  The book may have been a amazon prime unlimited book that I clicked on.   

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Posts: 5,928
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

Last night I finished The Last Thing She Ever Did, by Gregg Olsen. I enjoyed it, although all the main characters (except one) were totally unlikeable. Good mystery about a missing little boy in a resort town. I did guess the ending, which very rarely happens, but I still enjoyed reading it.

 

Today I started War of the Wives, by Tamar Cohen, about a bigamist husband. I'm enjoying it so far. We shall see. I have several books on my Kindle that I've been anxiously waiting for from the library, and if this book is only halfway decent, I'm definitely not going to finish reading it. 

"That's a great first pancake."
Lady Gaga, to Tony Bennett
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,322
Registered: ‎02-22-2015

Re: WHAT ARE YOU READING? OCTOBER 2019

1. Proust's Duchess -How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-De-Siecle Paris by Caroline Weber (4+ Stars)

 

Dedicated to Gloria Vanderbilt-Cooper. Whom I adored and admired; know the book would be an excellent read . . . and it was.

 

This is a lengthy book about three women (Genevieve, Laure and Elisabeth) who were superstars in Parisian high-society. "All three women transformed themselves, and were transformed by those around them, into living legends: paragons of elegance, nobility, and style" according to the author. In reality, only one was born into nobility (read the book). All of them were stifled into loveless marriages and, between the 1870's and 1890's, sought freedom and fulfillment by reinventing themselves as icons.

 

Carolyn Weber writes of an intimate illicit passion, secret heartbreak, and fierce, ambition behind the three women's exquisite public facades. At their salons, the inspired several generations of well-known writers, artists, musicians, designers, and journalists who regarded them with endless fascination and longing.

 

Beautifully written and documented extensively from private family archives, Carolyn Weber has also discovered two unknown articles by Proust. This is an amazing book!

 

2. The Touch by Colleen McCullough (2+ Stars)

 

Not nearly as good as The Thorn Birds, but I finished it. Took it with me to Doctor appointments for a long time (it lived in my car). Actually had to renew it. If I had read it at home, it may have been more enjoyable.

 

3. Polite Society by Mahesh Rao (2+ Stars)

Rewritten novel of Emma by Jane Austin. A satire. It was OK.

 

4. the arrangement by Robyn Harding (3+ to 4 Stars) 

 

Thriller taking place in NYC. A young, art student finds herself in need of financial help after loosing her part-time job. A friend suggests trying a sugar daddy arrangement: "Lots of girls do it. All that's required is looking pretty and handing onto his every word. Sexual favors are optional."

Well-researched into the sugar daddy/sugar baby arrangements, money, meals, clothing, venues attended, and more. But there is a downside as each individual has their own life apart from "the arrangement". 

 

This novel delves into an arrangement with one partner becoming romantically involved and the unexpected results of that breaching of "the arrangement". It's an enjoyable, interesting and unique perspective for a mystery, which I read in two evenings. 

Money screams; wealth whispers.