What to read next?

But so very, very difficult to deal with the baggage, and unclean. Sleep with, yes, relationship you know is doomed, marry... Never. Guess I need to read as a 20 year old, not as the mom of someone who will be the mom of one in a few years.

Heh! I am mom of a college soph and, yes, it gives me pause -- I recall only too well exactly went through my head -- and I did my time with the Leonards of the world. Fortunately got over it.

I think the marriage angle was a combination of her thinking/believing that she could save his beautiful genius+ having got backed into a saving face corner w/respect to her parents etc. Couldn't admit they were right-ish. I don't think that error is limited to people in their '20's.

First time I'm jumping into this thread ... but it's also the first time since I can remember that I bought a book, started it, and actually finished it.

Just finished Patti Smith's "Just Kids", her memoir of the years she spent with Robert Mapplethorpe. Sounds like a wacky combination, I know. But Smith's writing is very no-nonsense and insightful. I just loved going back to it again and again. First time in a long time I finished a book.

Now I can go back to what I started before that, which is Cheryl Strayed's "Wild".

Eliz: You said you read it, too. Don't give anything away now .... but it does suck you in.

bookgirl said:

The Likeness features Cassie Maddox from In the Woods. It was her second book. I really liked that one though the premise is so implausible it's crazy. That said, once you put that behind you I think you will really enjoy it.

I have Age of Miracles on hold at the library. I'm about to start Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead.

I also read The Likeness and kept thinking they'd find out something about the one she's "like" (trying to not give anything away) that would connect their likeness. A little implausible to say the least. Kind of afraid to read the new one bc I find it so hard to read about abuse against kids. Have you read it?


I have the Audible.com download of Gone Girl going at double speed for my commute. I am a pushover for any book containing diary entries or letters, and this is a pretty entertaining listen.

Have enjoyed the Phillip Kerr Detective series set in pre and post Hitler Germany. Reading Prague Fatale currently.
Can't wait for the return of Phillip Marlow, as written by one of my favorite writers John Banville aka Benjamin Black. Raymond Chandler's estate selected him revive Marlowe. My to -read list includes Black's latest Vengeance.

MKMama, yes, I have read the new one. It's definitely tough in that respect, but still a good read.

So far I'm really enjoying Age of Miracles. I'm very excited because I got Dare Me in time for my vacation. I also got a copy of the new Jonathan Tropper so I'm looking forward to that as well!

I am in the middle of Catherine the Great on my nook. Got it from the library and desperately trying to finish it before it disappears when the 2 week limit is up.

I will be camping in the mountains with no electricity for 2 weeks soon. So, no way to charge the nook. If anyone has any "real" books they might want to share with me for my vacation, I would be oh so grateful!

carolanne said:

I am in the middle of Catherine the Great on my nook. Got it from the library and desperately trying to finish it before it disappears when the 2 week limit is up.

I will be camping in the mountains with no electricity for 2 weeks soon. So, no way to charge the nook. If anyone has any "real" books they might want to share with me for my vacation, I would be oh so grateful!


You could buy an extra battery for the Nook--they're not very expensive, and it's easy to swap the batteries out. If you keep the Nook in airplane mode the whole time, you could conceivably get 2 weeks out of it with two batteries.

Or you could just bring print books. :-D I'm just so attached to my Nook that I wouldn't be able to contemplate going on vacation without it!

Interesting. My Kindle will easily go two weeks without a charge as long as the 3G is turned off.

You guys amaze me with this book talk. Im so envious of people who can rattle off titles and authors and comparisons etc. I read a book and then can't even remember what it was called or who wrote it. Anyway, right now I am deeply held by John Irving's latest one, whats it called, haha. But man is it good. Just don't ask me what its about ten minutes after I finish it. ugh.

boomie said:

You guys amaze me with this book talk. Im so envious of people who can rattle off titles and authors and comparisons etc. I read a book and then can't even remember what it was called or who wrote it. Anyway, right now I am deeply held by John Irving's latest one, whats it called, haha. But man is it good. Just don't ask me what its about ten minutes after I finish it. ugh.


I am the same way and it drives me nuts. I've purchased a book that I've already read more than once.

eta: If you ask me what I'm reading these days, I'd probably say "I don't know..........."


I am really glad I'm not alone in this. It's frightening sometimes.

mauras thanks for the tip! Its a nook tablet, does that matter or are there extra batteries for it too? Of course the touch screen just stopped working as I was using it this morning so it may all be a moot point.

boomie said:

You guys amaze me with this book talk. Im so envious of people who can rattle off titles and authors and comparisons etc. I read a book and then can't even remember what it was called or who wrote it. Anyway, right now I am deeply held by John Irving's latest one, whats it called, haha. But man is it good. Just don't ask me what its about ten minutes after I finish it. ugh.


In One Person! And I'm so glad you like it. grin

@bookgirl - Cannot wait to get my hands on the new Jonathan Tropper. He's a favorite!

I just finished an old Elizabeth Berg novel called Until the Real Thing Comes Along. I generally like her writing, and I enjoyed this. I've also been delving into non-fiction books about the music industry, which has been a refreshing change of pace.

boomie said:

You guys amaze me with this book talk. Im so envious of people who can rattle off titles and authors and comparisons etc. I read a book and then can't even remember what it was called or who wrote it. Anyway, right now I am deeply held by John Irving's latest one, whats it called, haha. But man is it good. Just don't ask me what its about ten minutes after I finish it. ugh.

There's no secret or special power involved for one issue! For years now I kept a record of the books I've read & authors - this is vital since If I like an author or crime series, I need the titles so I don't pick up the same book twice! It's on my computer, so keeping it updated is easy. I collect NYT book reviews of books I've bought or intend to buy.

As far as retention, I am blessed -or cursed- with good recall of stuff I read. Brain could use some vaccumming by now!

cynicalgirl said:

I started "Some Kind of Fairy Tale: A Novel" and I stayed up too late as a result. I think it's gonna be good...


i read that in less than 24 hours. really really liked it.


MTierney (and others), you should use Goodreads! I love it. I've been listing every book I've read on there since I started using it. You can hook up with your friends and facebook friends and see what they are reading as well, and read their reviews and comment on them. When I see a book I want to read, I usually just put it on my Amazon wishlist, even if I'm planning to take it out from the library (but you can also put it on Goodreads in your 'To Read' list).

bookgirl,
Please let me know how Dare Me goes, I have downloaded a sample, tx.

bookgirl said:

MTierney (and others), you should use Goodreads! I love it. I've been listing every book I've read on there since I started using it. You can hook up with your friends and facebook friends and see what they are reading as well, and read their reviews and comment on them. When I see a book I want to read, I usually just put it on my Amazon wishlist, even if I'm planning to take it out from the library (but you can also put it on Goodreads in your 'To Read' list).


I have not used Goodreads yet. I usually use my Amazon wishlist, too. I have about 100 items on it. Either recommedations, stuff reviewed in the Times that intrigues me, recommedations from Amazon. Then I always have something to choose from. I am generally reading a fiction and non-fiction at the same time.


A place I like for recommendations is NPR's books page:

http://www.npr.org/books/

and especially the three books on a theme series:

http://www.npr.org/series/three-books/

It's one of my favorite Facebook feeds.

As someone who doesn't Facebook, twitter or tweet and only wants a booklist for my personal needs, the goodreads site looked scary. confused

I love goodreads also. I signed up a long time ago and then didn't pay any attention for a while (had a baby). But lately I've started reading again, and it's great for finding out what your friends have been reading and enjoying, or what books are similar, etc. etc. And there's an app so I can easily see my "to-read" list at the library.

Plus I signed my daughter up so she'd have the Reading Challenge of reading X number of books by the end of the year. She's not doing as well as I am, but I'm hoping....

Anyone read the new Michael Chabon, Telegraph Ave yet? He's one of those authors I sometimes really like, and sometimes I am indifferent to.

So late last night I downloaded Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple and boy what a surprise! If you enjoy satire, humor, sharp writing - pick this up. I'm only partway into it but just loving the writer's style.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/books/whered-you-go-bernadette-a-maria-semple-novel.html

I really liked "where did you go Bernadette" also.

Just finished Gone Girl - what a read! Half way through it I was really hating it, but then I just had to see what would happen next. The ending wasn't what I expected, however.

Enjoying Mission Flats, the first book by the author of Defending Jacob - a very disturbing book, but so well written.

Both Gone Girl and Defending Jacob give a close look at contemporary marriage and parenthood, and it's scary!

I am reading "The Starboard Sea" now. Kind of blah.

"Unorthodox - the scandalous rejection of my Hasidic roots" By Deborah Feldman.

It's a first-person account of a woman's (scandalous) rejection of her Hasidic roots in a Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Hard to put down, one of those books that sheds light and information on a subject where I thought I knew what the deal was but I had huge gaps in my info. I've looked forward to reading it every day since i started - not always pleasant but fascinating.

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