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Honored Contributor
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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

Papillion by Henri Charriere.

 

Pappy 2.jpg

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

I finished The Silent Patient. I'm not sure how to review it.  The characters were unlikeable and the writing lackluster.  I wasn't really drawn in to the story and almost gave up on it a few times.  I'm trying to decide if the last several chapters make it worth giving the book a better rating?  I'm still mulling that over.  It could be a good movie, though.

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

@ Lori Lori, I remember you saying how you wanted F. Backman . To be your second husband,I hear you I just finished reading  A MAN CALLED OVE, I LOVE this book, it made me laugh and cry. A lot of things said in the book are so very true ! I so loved the cat .He reminded me of My Arthur, my cat who was truly my cat and loved me and also my hubby. He was a special cat. So glad I got to read this book!

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

[ Edited ]

@smoky22 

I agree with your evaluation of The Silent Patient. For some reason or other though, it is quite a good seller right now and on best-seller lists.  I enjoyed it; it was a quick read, but I certainly have read much better books!

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019


@number one queen wrote:

@ Lori Lori, I remember you saying how you wanted F. Backman . To be your second husband,I hear you I just finished reading  A MAN CALLED OVE, I LOVE this book, it made me laugh and cry. A lot of things said in the book are so very true ! I so loved the cat .He reminded me of My Arthur, my cat who was truly my cat and loved me and also my hubby. He was a special cat. So glad I got to read this book!


 

Hah!  Not my second husband, my secret husband.  LOL.  I didn't have a first husband.  I held auditions for years but no one got the part.  So he's my secret husband. 

 

Plus he's so happily married it makes me melt, the things he's written   His wife is Iranian and he put bits of her into Parveneh in Ove. 

 

There's a very good movie with Swedish subtitltes (you can't exactly make a movie of the book but it's pretty great.  Tom Hanks owns the rights here and plans to make it and star in it but it's been a few years and nothing has happened which is good.  The Swedish movie can't be improved upon.

 

I am so glad you loved the book.  It is one of my favorites.   His others are very different.  They're not satirical (one is, "My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry," but a lot of people didn't get it.)  I recommend them, I loved every single one,  but many didn't like them.  If you're game I would try "Beartown" and its sequel, "Us Against You."  

 

He wrote a beautiful novella out about a grandfather with dementia talking to his grandson called "And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer."  It's short and beautiful.

 

Sounds like your Arthur is gone.  Sorry.  If I'm misreading it then give him a little scratch under his neck for me.  

 

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

[ Edited ]

I have been so lax in reporting that I’ve actually finished three Audible books since my last post!!

 

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I think it was the narrators that put this in the like column for me.  If I stop to think about the story (or, I should say, some of the actions in the story) I just don’t like it as much. The narrator of the short story within the novel is perfect - he doesn’t sound like Vincent Price, but gives the same sort of vibe. Nice and creepy!

 

Redemption Point  by Candice Fox.  2nd in the Crimson Lake series, which I picked up to get over my Jane Harper withdrawal.  Since I’ve actually been to Cairns and the rainforests around them, I especially enjoyed the first book.  But, part of what I liked was the interactions between the two main characters and they were running two separate storylines here. Was also a little darker (or maybe I just don’t remember the first book well). The male main character is wrongly accused of a horrific crime in the first novel, and that (hopefully) ended here.  I’ll continue listening when the next Audible comes out.

 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Late to the party (and I have the worst reason for not reading it when it first came out.). But the love from this board could not be ignored and I agree that it was very good.  If I had to say something negative, I will say that the courtroom scenes dragged a bit for me.  But I wonder if that’s because I’ve read some really good Southern courtroom dramas over the years.  But, that wasn’t the focus of the novel whereas it was in the other books!  Very happy to have finally read this beautiful (if somewhat sad) story.

 

I’m now traveling back to Asia (Malaysia in particular) to search for the Night Tiger!

 

Looking at my “itinerary” above, I can’t help but feel a little jet lagged! But, wow! Would I love all those frequent flyer points!

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

When the Crawdads sings definitely has a following on this board. I have to say that I am very tempted, but everyone keeps mentioning how sad the book is which makes me hesitate. I hate depressing books.

 

I finished the Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark, and I currently have two books open that I am reading. Happy ever after by Nora Roberts and Mortal Prey by John Sandford.

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019


@icezeus wrote:

When the Crawdads sings definitely has a following on this board. I have to say that I am very tempted, but everyone keeps mentioning how sad the book is which makes me hesitate. I hate depressing books.

 

I finished the Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark, and I currently have two books open that I am reading. Happy ever after by Nora Roberts and Mortal Prey by John Sandford.


Am I the only one who doesn't want to read Where The Crawdads Sing???  It's overrated in my opinon and it's not my type of book so I'm passing but I've heard wonderful things about it. 

 

I tend to go in the opposite direction with very popular books unless they are in my genre or by a favorite author.

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

@icezeus 

 

I'm not sure why so many people are saying Where the Crawdads Sing is depressing and/or sad.  I didn't find it so at all. 

 

There are some sad parts, sure, but overall I was  uplifted and loved it, Kya is an unforgettable character.  And since the author is by trade a nature writer, the many passages describing the flora and fauna and marsh are beautiful.

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Re: What are you Reading? April 2019

@LoriLori  I found her isolation sad, particularly as she was abandoned so young (not a spoiler).  I agree that the resilience of the human spirit is an uplifting aspect of the book.