What Are You Reading --- January 2015 - Page 6

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

On 1/8/2015 sunala said:
On 1/8/2015 Linders Back said:
On 1/7/2015 LoriLori said:
Finished Julian Fellowes's "Past Imperfect." I loved it just as much as I disliked his first novel, "Snobs." Highly recommend for fans of Downton and anyone who enjoys a breezy (if overly long) novel.

Started "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng. Slow start but I'm hoping it gets better; the reviews have been great.

Lori, Not sure where you live, but I'm interested in getting a more "global" reaction to Everything I Never Told You. I live in a New England city with an almost majority Asian population so am having a hard time identifying with the Lee family situation. The entire plot seems to revolve around "not fitting in" so it doesn't resonate with me. I know the era was different than today and Ohio isn't Boston, but I still can't quite feel the way I think I'm supposed to about these characters.

Don't want to post any spoilers. I'm over halfway through and need to finish for my Book Club next week. Would love to have your perspective if you live in a different area of the country.

Linders Back, I read this a while ago. I live in NY and I don't think it matters where you live or how many Asians you may know. This thought of the differences of race never entered my mind as I read it. It could have been a Christian and a Jew, or an African-American and an American Indian. Not to go into detail, but I just didn't care for a few of the main characters, and I thought the book was too dark and sad for me.

Please let us know what you think when you're done.

I think I've read enough now to answer your specific point, Linders. No, I am not getting the not-fitting-in either. If it was a historical novel that took place in San Francisco I'm sure there would be material there. But I didn't even know that "kow tow" was a slur to Chinese. And what happens in the book does not rise to the level of driving that plot.

Sunny, agree completely with your assessment of the book.

I hope to finish it today, to be rid of it. Much ado about nothing.

Smoky, so glad you enjoyed "A Tale for the Time Being." I gifted it to my nephew's wife, and it's always a risk to gift a book, so I was glad and relieved when she gave it five stars on Goodreads.

MrsSweetieBear · ‎03-10-2010

Still trying to get into A Tale For the Time Being. And I loved The Chaperone, BTW.

~Dogs are my favorite people and my favorite people are dogs.~

lolakimono · ‎03-29-2012

I just started this one:

Star prosecutor Kristen Mayhew has a dangerous secret admirer who kills the criminals that she herself is powerless to stop. He even knows Kristen's deepest secret - the one that has kept her from surrendering her heart to Abe Reagan, the police detective sworn to protect her. In the shadow of a calculating serial killer, the two turn to each other and dare to rediscover passion... even as the killer's thirst for retribution makes Kristen a target for murder.

number one queen · ‎06-13-2011

Well glad I checked thtis thread out ,I have found new books to check out.Thanks to all of you.I just finished the Silk Worm and The Cuckoo 's Calling, by Robert Galbraith( pseudonym) for J.K. Rowling. I liked The Cuckoo better. Great mystery endings are a bit of a surprise.

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

On 1/8/2015 sunala said:
On 1/8/2015 Linders Back said:
On 1/7/2015 LoriLori said:
Finished Julian Fellowes's "Past Imperfect." I loved it just as much as I disliked his first novel, "Snobs." Highly recommend for fans of Downton and anyone who enjoys a breezy (if overly long) novel.

Started "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng. Slow start but I'm hoping it gets better; the reviews have been great.

Lori, Not sure where you live, but I'm interested in getting a more "global" reaction to Everything I Never Told You. I live in a New England city with an almost majority Asian population so am having a hard time identifying with the Lee family situation. The entire plot seems to revolve around "not fitting in" so it doesn't resonate with me. I know the era was different than today and Ohio isn't Boston, but I still can't quite feel the way I think I'm supposed to about these characters.

Don't want to post any spoilers. I'm over halfway through and need to finish for my Book Club next week. Would love to have your perspective if you live in a different area of the country.

Linders Back, I read this a while ago. I live in NY and I don't think it matters where you live or how many Asians you may know. This thought of the differences of race never entered my mind as I read it. It could have been a Christian and a Jew, or an African-American and an American Indian. Not to go into detail, but I just didn't care for a few of the main characters, and I thought the book was too dark and sad for me.

Please let us know what you think when you're done.

Okay, I finished Everything I Never Told You (and was glad to be done with it).

My own experience in growing up in NYC: In our class there was one Asian, a Chinese guy. He was smart and funny and cute and was looked upon as somewhat exotic. He dated one of the nicest, most popular girls.

So I can't relate to that particular prejudice and it felt like much ado about nothing, at times even that the father was so insecure he was inflating the whole thing in his own mind. There was terrible prejudice in my junior and high schools but nothing that involved the Chinese. Not that it couldn't happen but I don't think she built a strong enough foundation for it in the book.

I found it forced, boring and way overrated. Best book of 2014? Not IMO, not by a long shot.

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

Now I'm reading ""The Middlesteins"" by Jami Attenberg. I followed Ng with it because the prose is fast-moving and entertaining. Already I know there will be pain and sadness but won't hit me over the head with a mallet to get me to feel the pain.

SWEET · ‎03-09-2010

On 1/11/2015 LoriLori said:
Now I'm reading ""The Middlesteins"" by Jami Attenberg. I followed Ng with it because the prose is fast-moving and entertaining. Already I know there will be pain and sadness but won't hit me over the head with a mallet to get me to feel the pain.

Good book. Also enjoyed The Kept Man by her.

Finished Lisa Scottoline's Betrayed. Not the best of this series.

Going to read Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore next.

abbalulu · ‎03-20-2012

I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It was a very good book as was his previous book The Kite Runner. However, it made me glad to be a woman living in this country and not in Afghanistan. After that in order to lighten up the mood I read Most Talkative: Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture by Andy Cohen.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx