November 2025 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I received a free copy of “Remain” by Nicholas Sparks and M Night Shyamalan. The quality of writing is what one would expect. It exists just to be adopted into a film (and I believe the film is already scheduled for release next year). Lots of exposition, obvious prose, and so on. I’m reading it because it was free, so. We will see if it ends up grabbing me!

Update: My expectations were very low and were met. Plot points were not so much foreshadowed as glaringly advertised from miles away. The “twist” is the only obvious conclusion. The writing is basically, “This thing happened. And then another thing happened.”Overall, not a good book, and will make a B or C level movie.

[Anonymous]

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams.

So good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Murderland by Caroline Fraser about the prevalence of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest after WWII and the pollution in the area. I wasn't sure I'd get into this but it's fascinating! The subject of the industrial plants in the area is super interesting and who would have thought? She evokes a vivid picture of this time and place and weaves several stories together including her own upbringing. I'm finding the picture of this region as interesting or more so than the true crime aspect. It is like driving through the area with its kind of scary, kind of spooky, vibe. She gets at the mood of the place and the era.

Cool, I'm adding this to my list.

[Anonymous]

I listened to "Margo's Got Money Troubles" on a long drive. I had avoided until now it based on the goofy plot summary but ended up totally immersed. Great narration by Elle Fanning, who will play Margo in the series adaptation. It was much sweeter and twistily self-referential than I expected, with shifting first- and third-person narration that was a clever callback to Margo's college writing class. I wasn't crazy about the specifics of how the author wrapped it all up but overall loved it.

I just started The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny by Kiran Desai. Beautiful so far!

[Anonymous]

I just finished Queen Esther by John Irving. It started out good with some oddities sprinkled in. Then it got weird. And then it got weirder. I finished it, but I really disliked it by the end. My advice is to skip it.

[Anonymous]

Reading a Wilkie Collins (Victorian era) that I hadn't read yet - Armadale. Very fun, but not as good as The Woman in White or The Moonstone. I'd recommend those first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I received a free copy of “Remain” by Nicholas Sparks and M Night Shyamalan. The quality of writing is what one would expect. It exists just to be adopted into a film (and I believe the film is already scheduled for release next year). Lots of exposition, obvious prose, and so on. I’m reading it because it was free, so. We will see if it ends up grabbing me!

Update: My expectations were very low and were met. Plot points were not so much foreshadowed as glaringly advertised from miles away. The “twist” is the only obvious conclusion. The writing is basically, “This thing happened. And then another thing happened.”Overall, not a good book, and will make a B or C level movie.

Often it's the mediocre books make better movies. The best books are so multi-layered and complex that no film can ever truly do them justice because so much has to be cut out for the movie to be produced. And I say this as someone who has read books for adaptation for producers as well as worked as a writer's agent in the film and TV industry. It's not just a random opinion, I've seen it.

[Anonymous]

Just finished "Three days in June" by Anne Tyler.
It is about a couple who have been divorced for a very long time. They get reacquainted when they get together for their daughter's wedding.
I liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I received a free copy of “Remain” by Nicholas Sparks and M Night Shyamalan. The quality of writing is what one would expect. It exists just to be adopted into a film (and I believe the film is already scheduled for release next year). Lots of exposition, obvious prose, and so on. I’m reading it because it was free, so. We will see if it ends up grabbing me!

Update: My expectations were very low and were met. Plot points were not so much foreshadowed as glaringly advertised from miles away. The “twist” is the only obvious conclusion. The writing is basically, “This thing happened. And then another thing happened.”Overall, not a good book, and will make a B or C level movie.

Often it's the mediocre books make better movies. The best books are so multi-layered and complex that no film can ever truly do them justice because so much has to be cut out for the movie to be produced. And I say this as someone who has read books for adaptation for producers as well as worked as a writer's agent in the film and TV industry. It's not just a random opinion, I've seen it.

Good point. My expectations are also low because Shyamalan's past several movies have been so bad. Interestingly, it was the narrative that was so weak in each of them, so if he has a stronger writer/editor collaborating with him, it may make for a much better movie.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading "Trust Exercise" by Susan Choi. I'm enjoying it so far. I went to a pressure cooker performing arts/specialized school like the one described in the novel. Though I went to school in the 2000s and this takes place in the 1980s, the novel still feels like it's describing big parts of my high school experience. It's a bit eerie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams.

So good!

It’s juicy and fascinating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listened to "Margo's Got Money Troubles" on a long drive. I had avoided until now it based on the goofy plot summary but ended up totally immersed. Great narration by Elle Fanning, who will play Margo in the series adaptation. It was much sweeter and twistily self-referential than I expected, with shifting first- and third-person narration that was a clever callback to Margo's college writing class. I wasn't crazy about the specifics of how the author wrapped it all up but overall loved it.

I just started The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny by Kiran Desai. Beautiful so far!

I loved the Margo audiobook too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading "Trust Exercise" by Susan Choi. I'm enjoying it so far. I went to a pressure cooker performing arts/specialized school like the one described in the novel. Though I went to school in the 2000s and this takes place in the 1980s, the novel still feels like it's describing big parts of my high school experience. It's a bit eerie.

I remember reading this and wanting to discuss the ending but no one else had read it. So please share your thoughts upon completion!

[Anonymous]

Just finished "There Are Rivers in the Sky" by Elif Shafak, a Turkish-British author. It was pretty good (I'd give it 8/10), love all the water metaphors, the only criticism is that sometimes it got a bit too on-the-nose with the lessons.

The acknowledgments at the end are AMAZING, citing all the research that Shafak did before writing the book, which is based on true stories, including that of George Smith, the person who found the lost tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh in Nineveh.

[Anonymous]

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
The Gales of November by John U. Bacon

Both are quite engrossing, for different reasons.