What are you reading? November edition

[Anonymous]

Finished Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight, by Riku Onda, translated from the Japanese by Alison Watts. It's a quick read - a taut psychological thriller. It takes place over one night in Tokyo, a battle of wills between two former lovers, each of whom is convinced that the other committed murder. The writing style is spare, so every word packs a punch. I loved it and will definitely check out Onda's other works.

[Anonymous]

Just finished an ARC of “Victorian Psycho,” by Virginia Feito. I believe that it’s already been optioned for a movie or series, which often annoys me- I hate when I read a book and you can just tell the author was just angling for a Netflix series. But the book is actually delightfully insane, a great spooky season read. The main character is a psychopath who works as a governess. It’s dark and grotesque but also hilarious and creative. I see it having a cult following soon.

[Anonymous]

Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart. An assassin is in AA for assassins but finds himself draw back in to the life after he is attacked. I finished this last night and now typing this can't tell you how it ended so that's how much it stuck with me.

I found it a bit slow for a book in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Expiration Dates, by Rebecca Searle. Light (but not vapid) romance novel about a woman in her early 30s. Uses a bit of magical realism (described in the book blurb) that creates novelty, but not in an overly distracting way. Exactly what I needed to detox from the news, post-election.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Expiration Dates, by Rebecca Searle. Light (but not vapid) romance novel about a woman in her early 30s. Uses a bit of magical realism (described in the book blurb) that creates novelty, but not in an overly distracting way. Exactly what I needed to detox from the news, post-election.

I read that one earlier this year and enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Finally getting to The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel. It's been sitting on my nightstand in a stack for about two years. Read the first two in the trilogy and loved them, so I don't know why it took me so long to remember I had this one. I skipped over it for lighter reading during the summer. Somehow some books just feel like colder weather reading to me if that makes sense to anyone else

Love this book, although not as much as the first two. Report back.

NP. I’m excited that the second part of the miniseries is finally coming back (after almost five years?). I thought the first was an excellent adaptation.

Another Hilary Mantel fan here who loved the Cromwell trilogy. Agree Mirror and the Light wasn’t quite as terrific as the other two but the bar was so high it wasn’t a surprise. And still a wonderful, absorbing read. I thought part of the reason I liked the last book less was that I had to follow this compelling character on his way down instead of his way up.

Also looking forward to the new series. I loved the first one.

If you haven’t read her novel about the French Revolution I highly recommend it. It took some time for me to really get into it— I struggled through the back stories. But once they were set and the story moved to Paris, I was all in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished We Solve Murders. Fun but not as great as the old folks. Starting Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.

I tried to read Intermezzo. Oh sweet Jesus the writing is anxious and overwhelming. I didn’t want to go past chapter 2. What is the appeal? This was my first Rooney book. I put it down and didn’t finish it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Updating my October list as these were finished in November:

I am working on Water for Elephants (yes, I'm late to the party on this one). Finished this one and although there were parts I disliked, overall I enjoyed it and would recommend if you like historical fiction with narrator alternating between himself at a young age and old age.

Next up or simultaneously because one is non fiction and because WFE might not hold my attention:

From Here to the Great Unknown, memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
I am going to listen to the audiobook narrated by Keough and Julia Roberts which according to Goodreads is fantastic.
Highly recommend this one if you have any interest in the Presley family

The Grey Wolf, Book 19 in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
Penny continues her overuse of sentence fragments, but these are less noticeable when listening to the audiobook versus reading the paper copy or e-book. The audiobook narrator is new on this book and is not as good as the first two for this series. This book also continues the recent trend of Gamache books where the danger is widespread versus focused in Three Pines. It's a bit convoluted and ends with a set up for book 20. I'm a fan of Penny and do recommend her books - and go see her in person if you ever have a chance to see her speak - and sometimes I want a series to go on forever, but maybe there comes a time when it's better to end.

I love Louise Penny. I’m a super fan! But oh Louise… what the heck? This book was horrible. Disappointing after a two year wait. Scattered, disconnected. Oh so disappointing. I don’t want the series ti end. But this was just awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart. An assassin is in AA for assassins but finds himself draw back in to the life after he is attacked. I finished this last night and now typing this can't tell you how it ended so that's how much it stuck with me.

I found it a bit slow for a book in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre.

I was very disappointed by this book. I thought the premise was clever, but the execution - pun intended - was a miss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished We Solve Murders. Fun but not as great as the old folks. Starting Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.

I tried to read Intermezzo. Oh sweet Jesus the writing is anxious and overwhelming. I didn’t want to go past chapter 2. What is the appeal? This was my first Rooney book. I put it down and didn’t finish it.

I loved Intermezzo. Agree the writing style was hard to adjust to, but I thought it fit the intent of the book really well. And I loved the story, especially loved the younger brother’s arc.

[Anonymous]

Reading The Wedding People now, it’s a pretty good read for the weekend but not too mindless, and the writing is decent.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Birding Without Borders by Noah Stryker. Currently reading Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss. Also recently read War by Bob Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Wedding People, Alison Espach

Loved this one so much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished We Solve Murders. Fun but not as great as the old folks. Starting Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.

I tried to read Intermezzo. Oh sweet Jesus the writing is anxious and overwhelming. I didn’t want to go past chapter 2. What is the appeal? This was my first Rooney book. I put it down and didn’t finish it.

I read one of her others a few years ago. I was interested enough to finish it, but by the end knew I wouldn't be reading her other books. Too overwrought - just not my thing.

[Anonymous]

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I haven’t read any of her other books.

I enjoyed it and also enjoyed going down the rabbit hole afterwards to read others’ interpretations and reviews. Good escapism for me!