Books! How do you read and what do you read?

moviequeen1 said:
The book I started this afternoon "All the Beauty in The World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Patrick Bringley
He worked there as a security guard in the galleries for 10 yrs,his previous job was at the New Yorker magazine in the editorial events office This is his 1st book
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I finished this book this afternoon, I found it interesting,quick read
The author is now appearing off Broadway in a 1 man show based on his book
 

I'm about to finish Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen. Made me laugh my ass off. Very contemporary and somewhat scary if these right wing Floridian a-holes are as dumb as he portrays them. I'm going to get some more Hiaasen asap.
 

MountainRa said:
Just finished the novel Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. I read it because so many people were raving about it on the Facebook group Friends and Fiction.
I’m not really sure how to describe the book but I’m glad I read it. It’s about kindness and our interconnection with one another. Human kindness seems to be in short supply in our world at the moment (not that there has ever been a time when we were overrun with kindness) and this book will leave you tearful but also uplifted.
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I just purchased Theo of Golden, thanks for mentioning it here. It looks like it will be something different.
 
Let's Call Her Barbie, by Renee Rosen. Historical fiction about the people who created the Barbie doll. This book is so vividly written the reader feels involved in every scene, every action. It's been awhile since my library book club offered such a fabulous selection. Loved every minute of reading this.

Got lucky twice in one month! The Summer Guests by that luminous author, Tess Gerritson. She has started a new series of characters who are retired CIA agents solving crimes in small town Maine. Also well written, involving for the reader.

Enjoyed both these books tremendously!
 
The new Library Book Club selection is When the Crawdads Sing. I remember the title so well, I think from movie? TV? award shows and thought I may have read it or seen it, but when I read the blurb, there is a murder in it and that doesn't sound familiar at all, so off to new reading adventure.

Thrilled to have read the books in my above post, really enjoyed the experience. Two books, in one month! Books I couldn't wait to return to! A rare event, and to happen twice in one month is more I ever expected. Reading can be such a great experience.
 
This is the third book by Anita Shreve I’ve read…. Enjoy her work very much. I like how in more than one, she sets her story in the same location (actually the same house) but in different time periods and what all was going on in different eras and the families who lived there

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jujube said:
I'm still a "book" lover. I need to have the book in my hand. I have a Kindle that was given to me as a retirement present nine years ago and I've never fired it up.

As for what I read? I read just about any genre, except for the "Gothic Romances", and I suppose that if I were stuck somewhere and that's all I had to read, I'd read them gratefully.

I'm having some eye problems and don't read for as long a period of time as I used to, but I still get through 3-4 books a week.

Does anyone else get books out of the library that they find they're already read and didn't remember the name? I'll get to page 20 and say, "Oh, heck, this is the one where the woman didn't know she had a twin sister and the twin sister killed the father and tried to pin it on her!!!"

I also have to get a bunch of books at a time because I may reject a third of them because I just don't like how the author writes. I just tried one and put it down because, my heavens, the author just LOVES to hear himself write. His feeling seems to be "why use three descriptive works when twelve will do?" i.e. (and I quote from the book) "The great snorting and smoking brute that had paused with brusque impatience at the meek little village station and suffered her to take her place in one of its lattermost compartments--her fingertips still retained the impression of hot plush and greasy leather--now stood gasping after its mighty efforts under the high, soot-blackened glass canopy of the throbbing terminus, disgorging on to the platform its complement of dazed and bedraggled travelers and their jumbles of baggage." And that's just on the first page......it goes downhill from there. I love a good turn of phrase, but "great snorting and smoking brute" and "throbbing terminus"?

There are some books I can read over and over again. Every year on my birthday, I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" again. I still have the copy I got for my 10th birthday and it became a tradition.
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Re your issue of checking out a book only to find you’ve already read it…. A couple years ago I downloaded the Goodreads app to my iPhone for the sole purpose of tracking books I check out at the library. When I’m browsing the stacks and see a book that sounds interesting, I can scan the barcode and can tell if I’d already checked it out. I also loosely rate the books… 3 would be my lowest (if it’s any worse than that, I’ll just return it unread), a 5 lets me know I really liked the author.
 
I really enjoy mystery, historical fiction, and detective / cop books (Poirot, Bosch) and like checking books out at library. I have a great book stand that folds flat that I take everywhere for ease of reading. On occasion I’ve checked out books from my library on my iPad but that’s only for convenience, while traveling, etc. I do love real paper books. I don’t generally buy new, but have on occasion.
 
Pepper said:
The new Library Book Club selection is When the Crawdads Sing. I remember the title so well, I think from movie? TV? award shows and thought I may have read it or seen it, but when I read the blurb, there is a murder in it and that doesn't sound familiar at all, so off to new reading adventure.

Thrilled to have read the books in my above post, really enjoyed the experience. Two books, in one month! Books I couldn't wait to return to! A rare event, and to happen twice in one month is more I ever expected. Reading can be such a great experience.
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Since I retired, I read almost all day, and never had enough time for it when I was working and raising 2 kids. I loved the Crawdads book, and the movie. Enjoy!
 
SueBee said:
Re your issue of checking out a book only to find you’ve already read it…. A couple years ago I downloaded the Goodreads app to my iPhone for the sole purpose of tracking books I check out at the library. When I’m browsing the stacks and see a book that sounds interesting, I can scan the barcode and can tell if I’d already checked it out. I also loosely rate the books… 3 would be my lowest (if it’s any worse than that, I’ll just return it unread), a 5 lets me know I really liked the author.
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I keep lists too, by genre, since 2009. I rate 1-5, but truly exceptional authors get 6's. I don't actually rate 1 and 2 -- I put DNR (do not read) so I don't actually pick up anything by those authors again. If I own those books, I put them in the trash.
 
SueBee said:
Re your issue of checking out a book only to find you’ve already read it…. A couple years ago I downloaded the Goodreads app to my iPhone for the sole purpose of tracking books I check out at the library. When I’m browsing the stacks and see a book that sounds interesting, I can scan the barcode and can tell if I’d already checked it out. I also loosely rate the books… 3 would be my lowest (if it’s any worse than that, I’ll just return it unread), a 5 lets me know I really liked the author.
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I use Goodreads in much the same manner. I set a reading goal on Goodreads at the first of each year just for fun to see how many books I’ve read for the year.
 
“All The Colors Of The Dark” by Chris Whitaker. Fiction in the serial killer genre but also a love story. Set in the 70’s in Missouri

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story line is really good. The emphasis is not so much on the serial killer but on the people whose lives were affected. I can see this book as possibly a movie.

On the negative side - this book needed some editing. It doesn’t need to be as long as it is. The author’s sentence construction is awkward at times. I found myself often having to reread a sentence after thinking “wait, what is he talking about“ . The dialogue is occasionally unrealistic.. A lot of cultural references to America in the 70’s that are so vague that the reader might not know what is being referenced if they did not grow up in that era.

Having said all that, I’m glad I read it..
 
MountainRa said:
“All The Colors Of The Dark” by Chris Whitaker.

On the negative side - this book needed some editing. It doesn’t need to be as long as it is. The author’s sentence construction is awkward at times. I found myself often having to reread a sentence after thinking “wait, what is he talking about“ . The dialogue is occasionally unrealistic.. A lot of cultural references to America in the 70’s that are so vague that the reader might not know what is being referenced if they did not grow up in that era.
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Sounds like the editor was asleep at the wheel, @MountainRa 🙄
 
MountainRa said:
“All The Colors Of The Dark” by Chris Whitaker. Fiction in the serial killer genre but also a love story. Set in the 70’s in Missouri

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story line is really good. The emphasis is not so much on the serial killer but on the people whose lives were affected. I can see this book as possibly a movie.

On the negative side - this book needed some editing. It doesn’t need to be as long as it is. The author’s sentence construction is awkward at times. I found myself often having to reread a sentence after thinking “wait, what is he talking about“ . The dialogue is occasionally unrealistic.. A lot of cultural references to America in the 70’s that are so vague that the reader might not know what is being referenced if they did not grow up in that era.

Having said all that, I’m glad I read it..
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I started reading this book last week, just couldn't;t get into it I gave up around page 150 Sue
 
Bill Bryson writer. I enjoy his books. I like his interview even more.
One of his books is called "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
I think the one first talked about here in the interview is called "In a Sunburned Country" and is about Australia.

Talking Science: - Bill Bryson on A Short History of Nearly Everything​


 
I somehow lost touch on this thread... hate when that happens. Looking at posts during the few weeks I missed, I see some interesting possibilities to add to my reading list.

Yesterday, after over 100 pages in, I gave up on Emily Henry's newest book, Great Big Beautiful Life.
Mostly uninteresting characters and noticeable borrowing (with fictionalized names) from William Randolph Hurst's and Howard Hughes' lives.

I'm not sure why Amazon and Goodreads (owned by Amazon) reviewers are so enamored with Emily Henry. I find her works to be beach-read level meh: ok if I have nothing better to read or do. In this case, I had better books awaiting, so cut bait on it. My only regret was not doing so 50 pages earlier.
 

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