Anonymous wrote: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.

I thought it was just ok.

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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!

new poster. I read trust Exercise in 2020 and HATED it. Loathed it. Was pissed I spent time reading it. Will never read anything by the author I hated it so much. That said, the beginning was a struggle, the middle section was ok (but felt too indulgent and "look at what a clever writer I am), and the end section was just terrible.

Just read Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell -- it was enjoyable and an easy read.

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

Both are quite engrossing, for different reasons.

A Thousand Acres is one of my favorite books. My husband is reading and loving The Gales of November right now. Do you hail from the midwest, PP?

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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.

I believe this. Often I’m reading a mediocre book that almost screams, “I was written solely because my author hoped someone would want to adapt this.”

First PP— I’ve noticed this quite a bit recently and find it disappointing. I also think I had a negative attitude toward the book here because it felt like such an obvious marketing ploy. I do not believe for a second that these two organically came together to write a “ghost love story.”

"Long Island Compromise" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

I finished "Fleishman Is in Trouble" last summer after initially putting it down as a DNR, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it when I gave it a second try. This book is even better.

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Anonymous wrote:reading Less about a gay man who plans an around the world trip to avoid his ex-boyfriend's wedding. It's good so far but I'm not sure I understand the pulitzer win...

I remember being puzzled about that as well.

I finished Less and am underwhelmed. Probably should look up the other contenders that year for context.

Now reading The Forbidden Notebook about a woman in 1950s Rome who starts a journal and it leads her to examining her life. It was written in the 50s and I’m shocked at how modern the issues feel.

Anonymous wrote: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.

I read this a few months ago and would give it the same rating. I didn’t think it was as good as “The Island of Missing Trees,” but it was still engaging, and as you noted, well researched.

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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.

I believe this. Often I’m reading a mediocre book that almost screams, “I was written solely because my author hoped someone would want to adapt this.”

I just started The Elements...heavy topic (child sexual abuse) but so far I'm liking the book.

The Look by Michelle Obama

Anonymous wrote:I’m about a third of the way through The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. It was everywhere on literary fiction booktok and sounded really interesting so decided to give it a go. So far pretty good—lots of food for thought about human purpose.

I’m this PP. Really liked The Wall. Not an effortless read but well worth it.

Now starting Amma by Saraid de Silva.

Finally getting around to reading James by Percival Everett. About two-thirds through and really enjoying it. I don't often like very hyped up books, this one has been very good though.

Anonymous wrote:Just finished What We Can Know, which is the new Ian McEwan. I've read all of his books, and I'm not quite sure why, lol. I am always a bit bored by them. This was better than most, though. It's creative and twisty. I do recommend it. You have to stick with it for the payoff.

Just started Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. I'm sure I will love it. It's very different from the other books of his that I've read, and I've read most of them. Both Blood Meridian and The Crossing are probably in my top 10 fave books. Certainly in my top 20.

I'm this PP ^^. Finished Stella Maris and had learned that it is a companion book to The Passenger which should be read first. So I read The Passenger. The Passenger is better than Stella Maris. Stella Maris is only dialogue between a patient and her psychiatrist and if you are familiar with Cormac McCarthy, there are no quotation marks with his dialogue, lol. It's not too hard to keep track of who is saying what though. The Passenger is more what I expect from Cormac McCarthy, strange in wonderful and disturbing and deeply human ways. That said, neither of these books became a favorite. Stella Maris being only dialogue is missing a lot of the prose of his that I love so much. And with both of them I was having to roll my eyes quite a bit at the misogyny. It wasn't even the typical Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian misogyny, it was garden variety. Ugh.

Would never recommend these to anyone who hasn't read his other books. He's an acquired taste to begin with and these were lacking in what people love about his writing, and saturated with some of the stuff that people don't.

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is on my to-read list!