GTKY Thursday

varimama · June 2019

Let’s talk about books! What are you reading? What do you want to read? What’s your favorite book or book series?

bows22 · June 2019

Oh I love this! I have a running list on the goodreads app that I will add to when I get a book recommendation or hear of something interesting. Sometimes if I’m at a loss I will google “books that are being made into movies” I don’t really like to watch movies but DH does. I like them more when I already know the plot so that it doesn’t take as much mental energy to get into the story haha.

Right now I’m reading “Don’t You Cry” by Mary Kubica. I’m 30% in and I don’t like it but I can’t ever make myself quit a book in the middle so I’ll power through.

I don't think I could ever pick a favorite book but favorite series is definitely Harry Potter!

emeraldduchess · June 2019

Love this! Right now I am not reading anything, but I am putting together my summer reading list. I really enjoyed "Rebel Queen" by Michelle Moran. I will say that there are some plot points that are very difficult to read, and *TW* pregnancy plays a big role in the novel.* End TW*

chichiphin · June 2019

Not sure what I recently posted - but here are most recent books. Currently, I'm reading City of Girls - it's cute (19 yr old goes to live with Aunt in NYC). Recently - Between Shades of Gray (WWII but focused on Romanian POWs in Siberia), The Night Tiger (1930s Malaysia story that includes mystery & superstition, Reese's bookclub rec), and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (Reese's bookclub rec) . My fave of the year so far though is Where the Crawdads Sing (lol also Reese's bookclub rec) and I HIGHLY recommend it.

jennifer_louise · June 2019

I am actually not currently reading anything (although I do need to get going if I want to make it to book club at all this summer!), but my two most recent for bookclub were Beartown and Homegoing, both of which I highly recommend. Homegoing in particular was great but not an easy read.

chichiphin · June 2019

@jennifer_louise Homegoing was FANTASTIC.

stassischroeder · June 2019

@chichiphin I keep seeing Where the Crawdads Sing on my recommended list, but you just convinced me to pull the trigger!

I'm a big Tana French fan, so I read The Witch Elm recently. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good as her other books. I've also recently been reading some Ruth Ware - In a Dark, Dark Wood was pretty good, and I just started The Lying Game which is shaping up to be good as well.

jennifer_louise · June 2019

@chichiphin agreed!! It is definitely my favorite book I've read in 2019! (that's not saying much considering I've only read four...)

@stassischroeder I didn't know Ruth Ware had other books besides The Woman in Cabin 10! I'll have to check it out.

EmilyLove25 · June 2019

I'm reading Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon that looks at "abnormal" psyches and the relationships these kids have with their parents (i.e. the Columbine shooters). The book's quite interesting. I read Less by Andrew Greer prior to this--much lighter haha--it won the Pulitzer in 2018. Yay!

bows22 · June 2019

@stassischroeder we must be very book compatible because I love Tana French and Ruth Ware. I actually listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood as an audiobook when I had a long drive for a work trip and I loved it that way. I loved the Lying Game too. That’s so disappointing about the Witch Elm, I haven’t read it yet.

bows22 · June 2019

@jennifer_louise I liked the woman in cabin 10, but I think her other 2 books @stassischroeder mentioned are much better!

stassischroeder · June 2019

bows22 said:

@stassischroeder we must be very book compatible because I love Tana French and Ruth Ware. I actually listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood as an audiobook when I had a long drive for a work trip and I loved it that way. I loved the Lying Game too. That’s so disappointing about the Witch Elm, I haven’t read it yet.

You have excellent taste

FFTC: I've listened to all of them on audiobook and didn't actually "read" any of them

Where I live (ND) everything is a long drive, and I also listen while I walk the dog. I LOVE Imogen Church as a narrator, and I agree that In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Lying Game are better than The Woman in Cabin 10!

Yeah I was really disappointed by The Witch Elm. It was very anticlimactic - felt like it drug on and on only to have an unsatisfying ending.

Any recommendations? Since we seem to have similar taste and all

kagesstarshroom · June 2019

Right now, I'm reading ASSATA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. It's the life story of/written by Assata Shakur, who was a black panther arrested for a variety of crimes she didn't commit, back when the FBI was targeting the Black Panthers in the 70s. She's Tupac's godmother and still today lives in Cuba. It's really good.

I'm also reading FICCIONES by Jorge Luis Borges, a mid-20th c. Argentinian writer known for his metafiction/genre-bending--sort of for my dissertation?

I have a big stack of other books on my night stand I've paid less attention to recently, so I won't list them all, but I've been trying to get through the complete poetry of Emily Dickinson for a while now (read: over a year) & feel like I'm almost... halfway done?

My favorite novel is ON BEAUTY by Zadie Smith, which I highly recommend to anyone. And I'm a +1 for the Harry Potter series! I also loved the lesser-loved Eragon series.

mercury94 · June 2019

I really wish I was reading something. I picked up an Emily Griffin book a few months ago, but I haven’t even opened it. Time just gets away from me.

My favorite series are Harry Potter and the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich.

bows22 · June 2019

@stassischroeder have you read anything by Karin Slaughter? I read 3 of her books that I really enjoyed but the one I read mostly recently kind of disturbed me. I’m hoping that one was an outlier so I’m going to give her another chance but wanted to throw that in as a disclaimer!

Not really the same genre but I also really enjoy Ann Patchett

I’ll take any recommendations you have as well!

silly_goose · June 2019

I haven’t read anything in a couple months. Here to see what everyone is reading for ideas.

The last east book I read was One of Us is Lying. It’s like a YA mystery book. It was a let down.

babyodo · June 2019

As a distance runner, I have taken to listening to audiobooks instead of music, and I feel like I get in "the zone" so much easier now.

I'm currently listening to The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk. It was recommended to me by my site supervisor at my internship. It talks about how trauma affects the entire body, not just the mind but also how the brain functions, and the body's response and development post-trauma.

I just finished Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. It's a book geared toward women who are suffering from burnout due to "human giver syndrome." It talks about our inherent need to care for others, putting their needs above our own (often at the expense of our own needs), and how to go through & complete the stress response cycle. It was so, so, so, so good! I would legit listen to it all over again. It's funny and relateable, and puts things into layman's terms that are easy to understand and commit to memory. Remember friends: self-care is not selfish.

stassischroeder · June 2019

@bows22 I listened to Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter and liked it. I'm weird because I prefer European, British, Irish, etc. books because the narrators all sound better to me LOL. I get annoyed with Karen Slaughter books because they're all narrated in a southern accent.... I told you I'm weird! So, LSS, I need to actually read (not listen to) some other Karen Slaughter books because I like the content, but not the narration style.

Hmmmm, other books that I liked:
The Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen (although I find the main character to be a bit depressing)
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough was ok ETA nevermind, forgot how weird this one was.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was, of course, really good
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins was decent
Sharp Object by Gillian Flynn was good
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman I really liked

chichiphin · June 2019

@stassischroeder you may like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine based off of your reading history!

stassischroeder · June 2019

@chichiphin thank you!

jennifer_louise · June 2019

@stassischroeder I literally threw Behind Her Eyes across the room. I was like "TF did I just read??"

Thanks for all the good recommendations ladies! Here's to me getting back on the reading train soon. 🚉 🚉

stassischroeder · June 2019

@jennifer_louise OMG I totally forgot how weird it was until you just said that! I was going down my Audible list on my phone trying to remember which I liked. Eff that nonsense.

jennifer_louise · June 2019

@stassischroeder it was definitely an engrossing book! I read it in just a couple days. But after that last twist, I felt somehow violated lol

stassischroeder · June 2019

jennifer_louise said:

@stassischroeder it was definitely an engrossing book! I read it in just a couple days. But after that last twist, I felt somehow violated lol

Agreed! I felt like all that build up and suspense for...... THAT?!?!? Like no one told me I was reading fantasy/sci-fi

begging4abump · June 2019

@kagesstarshroom I really enjoyed On Beauty when I read it in college, but it’s been forever now since I’ve read it. I tried to read NW since I randomly found a hardback copy at the dollar store, but I haven’t been able to get into it. I wonder if I can’t handle the more poetic style now, or if I just should be trying at a time other than right before sleeping. Also, the Argentinian author looks familiar. I think he also wrote Hopscotch. I really liked the concept of that book—you read it all the way through for one read, and then read the chapters in a different order for a second read, but, again, I couldn’t handle the loooooong poetic sentences since I’d start daydreaming and have to keep restarting every sentence (since they are each a paragraph long.) I guess I need to be back in class so that I’ve got deadlines and discussions to keep me motivated for these intricate reads.

kagesstarshroom · June 2019

@begging4abump I didn't love NW liked I loved ON BEAUTY--her first book, White Teeth, is good but the first, like, 40 pages or so are not great, so it's hard to get into. HOPSCOTCH is a different author--I'd never heard of it, though, but sounds pretty wild, I just looked it up. My friends and I used to have an online book club where we all read the same book every month & talk about it via like a FB group, but then I would be the only one who read it, and I would get really mad lol so we stopped.

begging4abump · June 2019

@kagesstarshroom lol I can totally picture myself in that situation...and so irritated. My mom just joined an older women’s group and at their book club, the majority had not read the book. Wtf? Yea, I read and enjoyed White Teeth, too, but back in college. Maybe it’s time for me to read them again...At least there are some perks to a terrible memory; I can reread and rewatch without knowing what’s going to happen, but know that I’ll like it.

At some point, someone on here pointed me in the direction of the Comoran Strike series, and I plowed through the whole lot of them in a month or so. It’s a good, easy read (detective series) that’s well written. I really struggle to find something easy that isn’t terribly written. (I couldn’t read Twilight; it was too painful.)

kagesstarshroom · June 2019

@begging4abump omg I read all of the Twilight series but yes, such bad writing! I don't know how Bella didn't asphyxiate considering how often she "couldn't breathe" bc Edward was just so handsome. I am always down for providing a recommendation if you are looking for something new & well written! Even though you didn't ask.... The best book we read in book club was probably THE TIGER'S WIFE by Tea Obreht--and I'm pretty sure we all got through that one! Also, LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney is really good--I recommended that to my aunt-in-law for her bookclub and she loved it. The book club, many of them liked it but not all of them. Which I think is a good sign, haha, for some reason, even though I never met the book club.

shamrocandroll · June 2019

I love historic fiction and the occasional thriller or sob-fest story. Some favorites include: The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. The others in the series were also good, but this one was my favorite), Water for Elephants, The Help, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Gone Girl, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Nightingale, The Fault in Our Stars...

I don't read nearly as much as I'd like to anymore and I miss it!

varimama · June 2019

I’m just finishing up a biography about Tolkien’s life during WWI and some of the impact it had on his legendarium. I’ve read most of his major works but hoping to dig into some of the minor ones this summer. I’m also planning on finishing the Call the Midwife Trilogy (loved the first two books though obviously TW because there is a lot of PG/LO mentioned). I also want to read some classics, Jane Austin’s Persuasion is top of my classics list. I’ve also got a few books I’ve picked up like The Orient Express and The Girl on the Train that I want to read (just realized those are both books involving trains 🤣)

littleredm · June 2019

@chichiphin I read Where the Crawdads Sing last month and loved it!

Currently I'm reading a YA series by Sarah J Mass. The first book was A Court of Thorns and Roses. I actually enjoyed the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury, a lot more than the first one though. Other books I've read in the past few months are The Language of Flowers and the first book in a sci fi series called Fear the Sky by Stephen Moss.

I would recommend The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K Jemisin as well.

flowntheloop · June 2019

I'm currently reading:
-Beetles of Eastern North America by Arthur V. Evans
-Tracks & Signs of Insects & Other Invertebrates (A guide to North American SPecies) by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney

I do enjoy fantasy and sci-fi novels (and some horror), but I haven't picked up a new one since we moved.

bows22 · June 2019

Now that I am home and can look at these... @stassischroeder thanks! I have read most of them but added the ones I didn’t to my list! @shamrocandroll I also added the shadow of the wind, the art of racing in the rain, and the curious incident because I have read and loved all of the others you mentioned!

shamrocandroll · June 2019

@bows22 Oh man. They're all so good. But get the tissues ready for Art of Racing because 😭

bows22 · June 2019

@shamrocandroll haha yikes. I’m in trouble!

kagesstarshroom · June 2019

@bows22 @shamrocandroll Srsly, just buy stock in tissues if you're gonna read ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN. (it's so freaking gooood tho, worth every tear.)

sunflower_auryn · June 2019

Loving this thread and getting so many awesome ideas for my next reads! Right now I'm making my way through "A People's Future of the United States" - a collection of futuristic sci-fi short stories by writers of color. I read a lot of memoir-type books and some fiction sprinkled in. I'd say two of favorite books of all time are "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder, which inspired several of my career choices, and "Drown" by Junot Diaz.

bows22 · June 2019

@shamrocandroll did you read the secret life of bees? that’s another one I’d group in with your list so I recommend it if you haven’t!

shamrocandroll · June 2019

@bows22 I haven't, but it's been on my want-to-read list for a while! Next time I get a good chunk of free time, I will read it!

kagesstarshroom · June 2019

@sunflower_auryn I'll be checking out that PEOPLE'S FUTURE HISTORY book--sounds rad. Have you read anything by Nalo Hopkinson? I have only read MIDNIGHT ROBBER, but it's so freaking good. My students struggled with some of the dialect in it when I assigned it once, but once they got into it, I think they enjoyed it.

sunflower_auryn · June 2019

@kagesstarshroom I actually own "Brown Girl in the Ring" by Nalo Hopkinson but haven't read it yet. Maybe I'll do that one after my next one. I usually have to space my post-apocalyptic reads out. I read the "Broken Earth" series by N.K. Jeminisin last year and I LOVED IT but had to read a different genre of book in between each one.

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