Just finished this. Loved it!

Sueb20 - I loved that one also. I've already read it twice.

Sueb20 & kathy_t - I’ve just ordered that book from library - 2 holds ahead of me. Book summary sounds intriguing .

Kathy

Not reading anything at the moment. I’ve been focusing all my attention on rewriting a novel that I finished 10 years ago and put aside after a few rejections from publishers. I think I was in a rush at the time. It’s a young adult sci-fi book with a contemporary love story embedded. The sci-fi aspect is more like a quiet twilight zone episode. Much to my husband‘s dismay, there are no exploding heads.
it’s about 65,000 words.

One of my friends who is a writer in LA is reading it now. I’ve asked him to be nice, but to tell me where the potholes are.

Fingers crossed!

Wow jojoco, good luck to you.

I also read How to read a Book and it was great. Made me think I'd try The One-in-a-Million Boy

Based on what I saw in April's "What are you reading", on Wednesday I checked out my library's audio of REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, by Shelby Van Pelt. It's my commute listen. I'm about halfway through. I'm not sure yet if I'm enjoying it, but I'm not hating it either.

Just finished The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I give it 4 stars, but not for book group unless they like murder mysteries. This was a strange premise to solve a murder mystery, though people kept dying all over the place. It was a mash-up between Agatha Christie and Ground Hog Day where the protagonist relives the same day as he attempts to solve the mystery. Very strange, but if you can let the magical part go, it makes for a very different way to unravel a mystery. Sleep plays an important part in the plot, and I kept falling asleep reading it...not that I wasn't interested as I was. But it led me to nod off and read the same 2 paragraphs over and over again.... just like he kept living the same day over and over again.

Next up for book group is The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel.

I don't often love the super popular books, but yes I loved Remarkably Bright Creatures. FWIW though, I only read and do not do audio so that probably has some influence.

I just finished a very random read, link--The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

I guess it's a coming of age(?) current day story. It was so well written and just very different.

There were a few graphic ( more sexual) parts which I did not like but I did stick with it and overall thought t was worthwhile.

I would give it almost 4 stars.

Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt. It's a coming-of-age novel about a gay teenager in rural England. It was very good. This is Hewitt's first novel; he is a poet by trade, and it shows.

I got to about the 25% point of Wolf Hall and couldn't continue. To me, the author's writing style was displeasing.

I found there was too much time and attention spent describing individuals' inner thoughts. Internal emotional analyses, struggles, challenges, and uncertainties. These are of minor importance to me in a book. The plot was buried, an afterthought.

I like plot-focused books, not ones that spend time with what to me is peripheral and unnecessary pseudo-psychological analyses. The plot dragged along. I kept waiting for the overload of continued sidetracks for inner thought musings to clear to allow the plot to move at a better pace. It didn't happen to a great enough extent.

Thanks all the same for the recommendation.

Oh my goodness. I just finished listening to The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. It was narrated by Peter Coyote (yes, the actor). His narration made it riveting. It’s about a 13 year old boy alone in the Canadian woods except for…a hatchet. It’s a short book - 3.75 hours long.

I come to these “what are you reading” forums daily so someone here may have recommended it. If so, thank you!

Elmer -- Do you like Steve Cavanagh? I'm reading his tenth murder mystery, Witness 8. I'm finding it a little far-fetched; still a 3.0. Cavanagh is a former lawyer, a resident and native of Belfast -- while all his stories take place in New York. (Go figure.) Witness 8 features a recurring character, Eddie Flynn, ex-con and defense attorney.

I am still making my way through a reread of Peter Brears book on Medieval cooking and kitchens. I keep getting distracted over details and the book is upstairs and my computer is down stairs. I have made it to the Buttery and Pantry, diverted by exactly why is a pantry called a pantry(bread) and so on. I have a totally different book downstairs. I got the book hoping for more on the cooking methods of common people but was doomed to disappointment. Promised and not delivered.

It has been on my mind having watched the last of the series on Thomas Cromwell on PBS to reread the books. I am amused that the entire point of the books is what you didnt like Elmer. Since the doings and endings of Cromwell are well known by those who like history is would be difficult to write a plot driven book about him. The big historical mystery is of course why he did what he did and what sort of person he really was hence the musings and thoughts.

I have read several books on Henry and his queens. The funest one is Ford Maddox Ford on Katherine Howard. The Fifth Queen Trilogy. Now he just threw history out the window and made it all up including the history of the era. No thinking involved. Very plot driven.

patriciae

"I prefer fiction with more character development and insight and less linear plot. That's the beauty of this forum."

I hope you're not suggesting that books with less "character development" MUST then by default have "linear plots". Unless what that term suggests to me isn't what you had in mind.

" Elmer -- Do you like Steve Cavanagh? "

I'm unfamiliar with this author and haven't read any of his books. I'll give him a try. Thanks for the recommendation.

" I am amused that the entire point of the books is what you didnt like Elmer. Since the doings and endings of Cromwell are well known by those who like history is would be difficult to write a plot driven book about him. The big historical mystery is of course why he did what he did "

I'm happy to have amused you and in turn I'm amused and disappointed that you'd assume that everyone (or anyone) has the exact same preferences in books that you have. Do some self-reflection to understand why that might be, it's obviously a false assumption for you or me or anyone else to make.

I've long loved learning about history and perhaps half of the books I read are of the non-fiction, history variety. I've never had any interest in the history of the British Isles and still don't. What events took place, what Cromwell or any other figure in the history of the area did or thought and why or why not they did or didn't, is of no interest to me at all. Here's another point for you to do some introspective thinking about. Why do you assume this specific interest of yours is shared by "those who like history"?

I like to read and reread books that move me. If the plot is the main focus of the book, like in a detective story or a mystery, I wouldn't do that. What would be the point? Of course all books have a plot. I was just stating my personal preference , and that's all I meant by it.

faftris, I think your earlier comment was on point, when you said " It's all about about people liking different things. "

I read books to be entertained and or informed. Not to be moved or exposed to imaginary psychological analysis. I find such books boring, as I guess you would with fiction having a compelling and engrossing plot but without the emotional impact you like and I dislike.

It's all good.

Exactly. That's what makes the world spin.

I cant imagine what made you think I was dictating your preferences Elmer. I didnt even say if I liked Mantels books. I do not care for westerns, vigilante guys, spy novels and all sorts of genre but am perfectly happy to see people read them. Even Harlequin romances. Nurse and doctor stories. What ever. My mom read such stuff and I would read what I called her house mysteries where you have a girl who goes to live in some isolated house and who is beautiful but doesnt know it and has green eyes and meets two men one of whom is grumpy and grim but turns out to be the good guy and the other handsome and flattering who is the bad guy and at the end she is a heiress and the house burns down or falls down into the sea or what ever only to realize years later that Jane Eyre is a very early Harlequin house mystery right down to the green eyes.

Anyway if as a person doesnt read British history or have any interest in it you wouldnt know what happens to Cromwell (spoiler alert, he dies) so a plot driven story could work there, Literature and its surprises.

patriciae

I forgot to say my thanks to who ever mentioned West with Giraffes. I got a copy from a friend at Christmas and stuck it back to read reflectively after the holidays, I glut myself with my Christmas books. DH gives me multiple volumes of my favorites which are Shorts. I love a short story. This books came across as one to savor.

RE: Shorts. I have a Louis Auchincloss collection from the library, The Atonement and Other Stories. I started it yesterday and put it aside after skimming and finding so much 'sameness' in each tale. I suppose this is normal. We read an author whose world we want to inhabit. Maybe I'm resisting life at the Whatchmacallit Golf and Cycle Club.

When it comes to short stories, it is a short list of greats. Now my taste is one thing and yours is something else. That is how I look at it. A really great short is one in thirty or fourty stories. I dont mind reading a bunch of also ran for one really good one. I am probably not the norm. I dont see that writing a really good one leads to doing it again. Sometimes I think that the people writing them dont know what they are doing.

patriciae

" I cant imagine what made you think I was dictating your preferences Elmer "

You said you were "amused" by what I didn't like and indirectly suggested it was because of ignorance on my part since I didn't share your (obviously) more enlightened view. Isn't that a criticism?

" Anyway if as a person doesnt read British history or have any interest in it you wouldnt know what happens to Cromwell (spoiler alert, he dies) "

Is not knowing or caring about something that's apparently important to you, a sign that I have a shortcoming of some kind as you see it?

chisue - I went looking for the first Cavanagh book and found, interestingly, that 1)many libraries don't have any of his works in their Overdrive collections at all, and 2) for the ones that do, there can be long wait lists. I did find one shorter list - about one month, compared to another that was more than 6 months. I found a library that had the second book in the series available, so I'll start with that.

There are a number of other books for me to read to no rush.

I read West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge as part of my reading challenge so perhaps you saw it there?

That must have been it Annie. It is on the table where I eat lunch, Without the friend who sends me books I would probably almost never read anything relatively new.

patriciae

I think that short stories are an under-rated genre, but they need to be the work of a master. It's hard to compress a plot and character development into a few pages, and, unfortunately, some authors use the same tired and old approach. For me, the best of the best is Joyce's The Dubliners, and The Dead is sheer perfection. Close behind are John O'Hara and Somerset Maugham. People rave about Fitzgerald, but not for me. His storieswere clearly written only to make money. Personal opinion only.

The British Are Coming, which is book 1 of a trilogy by Atkinson.

Before I joined DAR I knew my geneology, but not much about the Revolutionary War. Did you all realize that it went on for 8 years??? I sure did not.

Here's another plug for genealogy. A cursory look at my own made history so much more interesting. The story of an individual soldier is more compelling than knowing that hundreds perished at the Battle of Wherever. It's the 'You Are There' factor,

Now I can plug a favorite book: The Eye of the Storm, Robert Knox Sneden. He was a Union soldier and artist who kept a diary -- discovered and publshed by the Virginia Historical Society.

Oh Maugham-very good shorts. Did you know they were mostly true? He traveled a lot and would stay with people in out of the way places and make notes of the stories they told about the neighbors. There ended up being a great many places he could not go back to. I have read his style, what I particularly like about his writing, is due to his editor.

patriciae

If you a Maugham fan, you would enjoy House of Doors, a novel by Tan Twan Eng, in which he is a character. I liked it very much.

Thanks for the suggestion faftris

patriciae

I finished The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel for book group. Not sure how this made the list but I was biased against it from the get go. Yet another handful of people in France trapped by the N@zi storm with death and romance and plot twists you can see coming, as told by a timeline that goes back and forth between the present day and the past. Enough already. 3 stars. I've read better. Her Book of Lost Names was better. But I'm sure we'll get decent enough discussion out of it. I much preferred Nevil Shute's The Pied Piper which was written contemporarily to the time, or All The Broken Places by John Boyne.

I'm also currently reading Divinity of Doubt by Vincent Bugliosi. He's the lawyer who prosecuted charles manson. He takes his very logical, lawyerly mind to the question of the existence of God, what the evidence is, if there can be evidence or the logical constructs around the belief in God. While he looks into the construct of God from the POV of several religions and atheism, he finds flaws in all of them....at least so far. I'm only about 1/3 of the way into it.

Patriciae, you should reread "The Letter" before you read House of Doors. It's based off of that short story.

I own a copy, thanks. I have all of Maughams shorts.

patriciae

I loved the Wolf Hall series, Patricia, as did my late FIL who was a retired old school Fleet Street journalist. As you, we knew the history but were interested in the potential motivation.

If you ever get the chance to see ”SIX, The Musical”, I highly recommend it. It’s a hilarious take on Henry VIII’s wives, as told by themselves from their POV.

i will do that Colleen

While I did not see all that Mantel saw in Cromwell one thing was very well done and that was the paternal structure of what was basically apprenticeship that she portrayed in the book and the series, the ancient habit of putting young men and even females into the households of significant people to be taught service. Cromwell was famous for his people and how they prospered. None of them repudiated him when he fell from power. It is difficult to portray the very different mind set of that day.

patriciae

" we knew the history but were intereste in the potential motivation. "

I think you'd agree colleenoz that after reading books written hundreds of years later, you know no more about the inner thoughts and motivations of the real people portrayed in fictional accounts than you knew beforehand.

CJ Sansom's books are quite good and take place in the same period.

Well Elmer, that's why I used the word "potential". In any case it made for an excellent story for my FIL and me.

There is an article on the bookerprizes,co where Mantel explains "how I came to write Wolf Hall" for a start. She has spoken several times about her motivations. She has of course since passed,

As a critique I thought she made too much of a deal of the Blacksmith label since Cromwells father was a successful business man with good connections. It is an easy hitch for a story though.

patriciae

I'm reading Thirty Below, by Cassidy Randall. At the same time I'm reading Zernike's The Exceptions. Both happen to be about women who made their marks (with pain and great difficulty) in endeavors dominated by men (mountaineering and molecular biology, respectively). I spend my time reading these books while being alternately inspired and enraged. I worked with Nancy Hopkins and James Watson (though many years after the times of their heydays) on Molecular Biology of the Gene, so the scientific world described in The Exceptions hit close to home (I'm not a scientist, I'm an editor).

I finished reading Huxley's Brave New World and found it painful. The author spends so much time "world-building" and "information dumping" (cataloguing the story's marvels/developments/inventions/quirks) that it was simply tedious. By contrast, I'm reading It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, another dystopian novel, and finding it a much more accomplished bit of writing.

On another note, I loved Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors, finding it one of the best reads I've had in a while.

Loved Hilary Mantel's trilogy Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light. Imaginative, vividly-drawn characters and settings, and gripping story lines. She was gone too soon!

Help Please. Have a 10 hour flight coming up ( plus the same on return). Would greatly appreciate your suggestions for tales riviting enough to keep me occupied. My regular reads: Wolf Hall trilogy, Ishaguro ( except for the haunting Never Let Me Go) Dickens, Tana French, Pym, are not That, for this trip. Re-reading Winds of War might work, but maybe shorter. ”..Crawdads sing” made my lip curl , though not opposd to romance, mystery, Detective, or sci fi. Just need a grippping tale. Lyrical passages can wait till I’m back home . Big TIA!

A lengthy book that really kept me reading is Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. Another intriguing book and a really fun read is The Housekeepers by Alex Hay. Good luck on finding an intriguing book for your travels.

martinca, did you read Trevanian's Shibumi? I found it really gripping....thriller, mystery, espionage. Have you read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving? One of my all time favorites. It's on my to-read list but others have really raved about The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.

Maybe Pachinko by Min Jin Lee?

Paul Murray, The Bee Sting.

Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny. A friend told me she would be reading that on a trip to Spain with her husband , so I decided to do the same on my own trip to Spain with my husband. Our travel paths converged on a single day, so my friend and I met up near the Alhambra in Granada and had a mini book club meeting to discuss it. Neither of us had finished it at that point; we agreed it's one of those books you slow down reading to keep enjoying it.

I enjoyed both Verghese best-sellers, The Covenant of Water and Cutting for Stone.

Kim Stanley Robinson has some epic novels, if you like a mildly science fiction plot. I liked New York 2140 and The Ministry for the Future.