What are you reading?

[MsSassyBaskets]

Whiskey & Charlie is so great. I am REALLY enjoying it. I'm about 3/4 of the way through I do highly recommend it.

Also I finally bought the entire HP series on Saturday. I'm excited to re-read 1 - 4 and then read 5 - 7 for the first time. I know I know, hold your tomatoes...I'm also in disbelief that I haven't read the whole series.

Oh man, I think it really gets good at book 5. I'm surprised that book 4 didn't hook you to read on though! I can't wait to re-read the whole series with DD when she's older.

Guys, I have 3 days of travel baby-free next weekend. What book(s) should I read on the plane and in the car? I have Girl on the Train waiting. Any other recs for vacation reading (which will be like all the reading I get for this entire year...)?

[WolfpackWife]

Oh man, I think it really gets good at book 5. I'm surprised that book 4 didn't hook you to read on though! I can't wait to re-read the whole series with DD when she's older.

Guys, I have 3 days of travel baby-free next weekend. What book(s) should I read on the plane and in the car? I have Girl on the Train waiting. Any other recs for vacation reading (which will be like all the reading I get for this entire year...)?

Oh man I LOVE requests like these. I'm not 100% sure what your literary tastes are, but I have a few suggestions. Girl on the Train is good, BTW. I really enjoyed it and it was a fast, titillating read. Definitely a thriller in some ways!

Others I've read lately that are great:

'Us' by David Nicholls (reflection of a marriage quietly coming to an end after decades. Written from the POV of the husband, which is such a nice change of pace. I really liked it. Premise sounds depressing but it's really introspective and, I thought, well written, considering the subject matter is something that's been written 293472937 times before).

'What Alice Forgot' by Liane Moriarty was light but fun and enjoyable. A woman loses her memory after an accident and her path to discovering the decade she lost in her memory was a great read.

'The Royal We' by Heather Cocks - the writers of the blog Go Fug Yourself give you the best Wills & Kate fan fiction ever. I'm usually not into that but I am an admitted Will & Kate lover so this was really fun to read as well.

'Modern Romance' by Aziz Ansari was a sociological look at how social media and the digital age have affected how adults have relationships, date, get married, etc. It was super interesting to read.

'Housekeeping' by Marilynne Robinson was some of the best writing I've read recently.

[WolfpackWife]

'The Storyteller' by Jodi Picoult is rough. It's an engaging story but the hours of description about life in Auschwitz is so jarring and awful (I'm listening to it via Audible). I keep having to pause and listen to bits of David Sedaris just to lighten the mood.

On another note, I finished Whiskey & Charlie which really was wonderful. It was a great, moving story without being overly sentimental. Highly recommend!

And I started Harry Potter again. It's SO much better than the movies. As is the case with most adaptations!

[MrsK]

I just finished "My Brilliant Friend" and started "The Husband's Secret"

[migirl]

On another note, I finished Whiskey & Charlie which really was wonderful. It was a great, moving story without being overly sentimental. Highly recommend!

Yay! I really loved Whiskey & Charlie, one of my favorite books I've read this year.

I tried Jodi Picoult a few years ago and just couldn't get into her stuff. It always felt too ... contrived? ... like she was trying too hard to tug at my heartstrings. She just annoyed me, TBH.

I just finished The Rocks, and really enjoyed it. It's the story of a couple and their children (not with each other) set primarily on the Spanish island of Mallorca, told in reverse. Really good, interesting read.

I'm about to start The Royal We!

[WolfpackWife]

[MENTION=1498]MrsK[/MENTION] have you read anything else by Liane Moriarty? I ask because I've read all of hers now and The Husband's Secret was the most underwhelming to me. YMMV, but if you are interested in others she has much better ones!
[MENTION=860]migirl[/MENTION] I love when you respond because we have such similar tastes in books. And I'm with you about Picoult. I LOVED My Sister's Keeper...but then I realized her formula for books and I felt the same. It was just too much, all the time, and like you said, felt contrived and forced. I wasn't sure where else to throw an Audible purchase when I had to drive back and forth to NC and this one stood out as a recommendation on the site and had thousands of reviews. I thought what the hell. But it's very meh to me. And also a major bummer.

I LOVED THE ROYAL WE. I'm not much for fan fiction but this was totally awesome IMO - I was lost in it for several days. It was light and fluffy without being poorly written or eliciting too many eye rolls. Plus, I really love to imagine that this is actually how it went down with Wills and Kate!

[fluffhead]

Did you like My Brilliant Friend? I thought it was the best new thing I've read in years. I read the two subsequent novels in the series, and am eagerly awaiting the fourth and final book due out in September.

[MrsK]

Did you like My Brilliant Friend? I thought it was the best new thing I've read in years. I read the two subsequent novels in the series, and am eagerly awaiting the fourth and final book due out in September.

[MENTION=852]fluffhead[/MENTION] It took me a while to get into it but I enjoyed it once I did. It was sort of like climbing a hill and then rushing down.

[MrsK]

[MENTION=4278]WolfpackWife[/MENTION] I read "What Alice Forgot" and I enjoyed it. It surprised me because it has a chick lit tone but so many things to think about. I'm reading "The Husband's Secret" for my book club. I'm only 14 pages in but the peppy tone is jarring after the slow climb of "My Brilliant Friend". I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

[JustRightKelly]

Right now I'm reading maplecroft. It's about after Lizzie bordon's family is murdered but a few pages in it becomes a sci fy. Creepy, weird, and so good.


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[WolfpackWife]

Listening to Lolita, started reading The Casual Vacancy.

Side note: why did everyone hate The Casual Vacancy so much? Because it wasn't Harry Potter/was the first thing she wrote after HP? So far I like it. So many of the reviews are angry because it's so dark and twisty...what, did they think she could only write about teenage wizards and the good guys always winning? (I don't even know if that's what happens in HP...I've only read 1 - 4 but am re-reading the series now).

[WolfpackWife]

[MENTION=4001]MsSassyBaskets[/MENTION] - what did you choose for your weekend getaway reading?

[oceanchild]

Listening to Lolita, started reading The Casual Vacancy.

Side note: why did everyone hate The Casual Vacancy so much? Because it wasn't Harry Potter/was the first thing she wrote after HP? So far I like it. So many of the reviews are angry because it's so dark and twisty...what, did they think she could only write about teenage wizards and the good guys always winning? (I don't even know if that's what happens in HP...I've only read 1 - 4 but am re-reading the series now).

I really thought I'd love the Casual Vacancy. I'm always up for a dose of politics in my literature. I could not get into it at all before I had to return it to the library. I'm going to have to try again.

This is my Summer of More Reading (which is not to say a lot of reading, really). Things I've read since June:
Midwives
Orange is the New Black
The Year that Follows
Orphan Train
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy

I really enjoyed all of those, except for Midwives, which was good but not great.

And trying to finish Go Set a Watchman before book club next week.

[MsSassyBaskets]

[MENTION=4001]MsSassyBaskets[/MENTION] - what did you choose for your weekend getaway reading?

I was going to read The Girl On The Train, but for some reason I couldn't get the book downloaded to my phone even though I bought it ages ago, so I read Oryx And Crake instead. Not quite finished, I'm liking it though. It's an easy read but doesn't feel totally fluffy either.

[Lynnea]

I was going to read The Girl On The Train, but for some reason I couldn't get the book downloaded to my phone even though I bought it ages ago, so I read Oryx And Crake instead. Not quite finished, I'm liking it though. It's an easy read but doesn't feel totally fluffy either.

I would definitely highly recommend The Girl On The Train! Very high suspense throughout the book which provides a great distraction and really makes you think!
If I can relax myself enough to sit down and read, I'm going to be starting The One That Got Away, By Simon Wood. I do love to read and enjoy reading everyone's suggestions!