What are you reading?

[Sheherezade]

Next on my list....


Angie

[WolfpackWife]

Angie, I'm dying to hear about how "the Girl on the Train" is. It is blowing up everywhere I look! I've dropped not so subtle hints to S about getting it for me for valentine's day so we'll see if he picks up on that!

I'm listening to "Three Wishes" by Liane Moriarty. I'm liking it, but it's not spectacular. Better than 'The Husband's Secret' IMO, but not as captivating as 'Big Little Lies.'

*sigh* I am just really having trouble getting back into 'The Rosie Effect' every time I put it down, but I don't think it's the book's fault. I just think I'm so far into the winter doldrums I'm just not "into" anything right now. I'm frustrated that it's always so damn cold, my husband is unavailable, and work is CUH-RAZY so when I get home I'm just like "fuck it all, I'm binge watching Parks and Rec in my flannel pjs." I hate down cycles like this!

[HouseofWool]

I just finished reading The Dead Key. It is a whodunit that is fairly well written about a bank collapse in the 70's in Cleveland.

The ending felt rushed, but the story was intriguing.

[ides]

I don't tend to read fiction much anymore. I am reading a bit though so I'll chime in. I finished 'your six year old- loving and defiant' by Ames and Iig. It's an older book from the early 80's. I was suggested it by Os kindergarten teacher. I found it enlightening. I've started 'your seven year old - life in minor key. This is even more enlightening as O isn't seven yet but is starting to show a few of the traits of seven.

[Sheherezade]

Finished The Girl On The Train. Good read.


Angie

[WolfpackWife]

I finished it on Tuesday, Angie. I agree - good read. Not predictable, creepy and twisted enough to keep it interesting, dark sides to everyone, and a little highlight of redemption and success for one of the characters. Fast paced and well written, but not ground breaking. It reminded me of 'Gone Girl' in a good way, but wasn't too similar (there was a moment or two when I did think maybe it was going that route...but that's just a testament to how it kept me guessing until almost the end!)

Listening to "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" which is hilarious. Started "Us" and I like it so far. It's nice to read an account of marriage from a husband's POV and from a male writer. It's nice to see that side, even in fiction. Dry and witty like all good British authors!

[MrsK]

I'm still working on My Month of Madness. I read Block 11 last weekend. It was very compelling, interesting, harrowing but not too much so. I'm glad I read it.

[WolfpackWife]

I forgot you were reading 'My Month of Madness', MrsK. Let me know what you think - I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of about 80% of it. I think it would have been better as a shorter memoir or column. She didn't need the whole book.

[MrsK]

I forgot you were reading 'My Month of Madness', MrsK. Let me know what you think - I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of about 80% of it. I think it would have been better as a shorter memoir or column. She didn't need the whole book.

That's sort of my feeling too. It started as an article and was expanded into a book. Really, I don't get a good feel for who she was before she got sick. She just keeps saying that she wants to get back to who she used to be and that was someone amazing. Also, reading about someone recovering from what's basically a brain injury is not much of a plot. Then when she explains the technical aspects of her illnesses and treatment, although her explanations are simple and brief, the story looses momentum.

[WolfpackWife]

[MENTION=1498]MrsK[/MENTION] I totally agree! What's more - I felt that she was pretty self-indulgent in that book. She reminded us a billion times that she was a privileged journalistic prodigy and I kept thinking "oh god get OVER yourself". I read it over a year ago so I don't remember completely, but I also remember being annoyed that I felt I'd been mislead in the synopsis that she'd encountered some life-or-death phyciatric incident but when she explained it...I just never got that feeling. I'm not saying that it would have ONLY been interesting if she was on the brink of death but after I finished it, I remember thinking..."that's it?" This is part of the review I wrote on Goodreads (I don't think there are any spoilers here):

Truly, the story - her baseline lifestyle and friends, her descent into illness, the struggle to find a diagnosis, a cure, and her recovery - could have been told in a much more succinct way, which likely would have seemed far less annoying. While I sympathize that this experience was no doubt terrifying and taxing for everyone involved, I didn't find myself feeling too badly for her and everything she experienced seemed sort of...benign in a way. I didn't ever feel like her life was in danger, though the writing made it sound like this was a life or death situation. I'm sure it was scary - I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but I expected a much more terrifying, violent story of suffering and pain, etc. The problem is, during the time she would have experienced any of these things she has absolutely no recollection of what happened. How's that for an unreliable narrator? Knowing that she remembered little to none of this time of her illness even left me feeling like the dialogue was totally unbelievable and hyperbolic. From a neurology/psych perspective, about 20% of the book is interesting. The rest of it is overwrought and dull."

[MrsK]

She was lucky to have survived and recovered but I agree that didn't seem obvious. Actually, the story from her father's perspective might have been more compelling. I had more sympathy for him than for her. Somehow his experience was more relatable, his telling more reliable. He is the most emotionally available person in the book. The mother is protective of her feelings, the step parents too remote, and the boyfriend (who seems like a genuinely wonderful person) is written very broadly.

[ladymoreta]

I'm reading American Spartan. It's about the Special Forces commander behind the One Tribe at a Time initiative in Afghanistan, written by a journalist who was with him (and was in a relationship with him). It's interesting, but I'm about ready to be done with it.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I'm reading "The Emperor of All Maladies" [non-fiction, history of cancer/cancer treatment in the US and globally]. It is very, very good. It won the Pulitzer in 2010 and I can see why, it's well written and engaging. Sometimes I hate the Pulitzer/Booker prize books but this one is great!

[WolfpackWife]

I just finished 'Us' last night and I have to say - it was great. I really, really liked it. Reading the breakdown and examination of two intertwined lives and subsequent marriage - everything from early strife to tragedy to raising a son - from the POV of a man/the husband was really refereshing. I thought it was very well written and extremely witty in a lot of places.

[migirl]

Yay! I loved Us too, so well-written and an interesting viewpoint.

I just finished Dear Daughter, which was good. Very fast-paced mystery which kept my interest. It felt sort of Gone Girl-esque, but more in the vein of Gillian Flynn's earlier books in that the main character isn't the most likable. A good, quick read.