What to read next?

I am plowing thru the Charlaine Harris "Southern Vampire" series. They are losing their charm as I progress, but I will slog on until the end.


I have two long round-trip flights next week and would like to kill the time reading. What books have you lovedthis summer?


If anyone has read The Secret Place" by Tana French, I would be interested in what you thought of it. I think that the whole story might have been better told at half the length. I really enjoyed Faithful Place and Broken Harbor so was disappointed in this book. The last 100 or so pages were exciting, however.


Mtierney, I agree. I love Tana French but that was my least favorite of her books.



PetuniaBird said:
I have two long round-trip flights next week and would like to kill the time reading. What books have you lovedthis summer?

All The Light We Cannot See. Hands down.


^^^ I read it a few weeks ago. I liked it so much that I sent a copy to my mother for her birthday.



bookgirl said:
Mtierney, I agree. I love Tana French but that was my least favorite of her books.

I can see how it would seem overlong, but I found that I didn't want it to end. I adore Tana French, and I have a thing for books set in boarding school, so this was possibly my favorite book of hers (though the first one, In the Woods, is hard to top). I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it. The characters--the girls, but also the detectives--really drew me in and held my attention


That is the wonder of reading. Books reach out and grab you, or not! grin

I agree with you on In the Woods! My favorite French book would be Faithful Place.


Just purchased Ta-Nehisi Coate's "Between the World and Me." I'm leaving soon and wanted something that would keep riveted on the flight. My journalist/editor friend screamed at me that I was CRAZY to take this on my trip as light summer reading it's not. I didn't think it would be but also didn't think it would, and I quote, "put you in a sour mood." Sigh. Although I'm still taking it, I still need lighter fare. At a loss.


Kibbegirl - Crazy Rich Asians is a good pick if you are looking for a lighter read


President Obama's summer vacation reading list:

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
All That Is by James Salter


Why I put it off, I really don't know , but I am finally reading All the Light -- can't put it down!

Wonderful


I just finished reading The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. What a lovely book! This is a first novel for the author and it was translated from German. The beginning was a little slow but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. The story is unique and you get a glorious view of the French countryside. There's humor and sadness. It's much more than the title implies.


I've pre-ordered the new Lisabeth Salander book from the author who has taken over the series. I read some good reviews so have high hopes. I think it releases on Tuesday.

Also just finished Circling the Sun by Paula McLain (The Paris Wife) - nice light read for end of summer plus I'm a sucker for anything set in colonial Africa.


Has anyone who read The Nightingale tried any of Kristin Hannah's earlier books? I just "read" (on disc) Distant Shores and can't believe it was written by the same person. I can't figure out how the author of that schmaltzy, formulaic book came to be the author of The Nightingale. Are the rest of her books more like Distant Shores or more like The Nightingale? Kind of scared to try another.


@zucca I think you'll find most of her books to be more like Distant Shores - The Nightingale was a departure for her. I've read a few of her books though and Firefly Lane was enjoyable. If I remember, I think her writing gets better over time and her earlier books are not as good.


@hmbooks, I just can't even believe it's the same author. Talk about developing one's talent. Distant Shores is older, so that might be part of it. But I can't even imagine the path that a writer takes to get from that to The Nightingale. Either that, or she had a hell of an editor this go-round.


Just finished "The Nature of the Beast"by Louise Penny. It's a Chief Inspector Gamache novel and very enjoyable. Like so many novels there is some truth mixed with fiction. Love the characters in this French-Canadian hamlet. Has anyone read "Between the World and Me"?


"Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. This book was always on my "to read" list. Recently, Krakauer was interviewed about his tragic experience on Mt. Everest in 1996 when Outside Magazine sent him on assignment to report on the increasing commercialization of Mt. Everest. (At that time, 12 people died trying to reach the summit.) Krakauer decided to ask Outside to finance his decision to actually climb to the summit. Krakauer, in the wake of the publicity surrounding the recent release of the film "Everest," said that it was the worst decision that he had ever made in his life. To this day, Krakauer remains haunted by post traumatic disorder and nightmares.

So far, this book is riveting. I cannot put it down. Krakauer provides interesting background about "Everest," known as "Jomolungma" by the Tibetans, and "Sagarmatha" by the Nepalese. "Everest" was the name given to the mountain by Indian surveyors in tribute to a surveyor general in India, Sir George Everest. Mt. Everest is extremely dangerous to summit and, even in 1996, the impact of throngs of folks flocking there for glory were evident as written by Krakauer:

"The three or four stone toilets in the village were literally overflowing with excrement. The latrines were so abhorrent that most people, Nepalese and Westerners alike, evacuated their bowels outside on the open ground, wherever the urge struck. Huge stinking piles of human feces lay everywhere; it was impossible not to walk in it. The river of snow melt meandering through the center of the settlement was an open sewer." Officials in Nepal/Tibet are now confronting a biohazard to the environment (and its residents) caused by this situation. To say nothing of the tons of garbage, empty oxygen tanks, and some 200 bodies that remain on Everest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jon-krakauer-climbing-mt-everest-was-the-biggest-mistake-of-my-life_55ce124ce4b055a6dab0273c


I read Into Thin Air when it came out - definitely riveting. Went to see Everest because of my continuing interest and was surprised to see Krakauer portrayed as a sort of callous weenie in the movie. There's a lot online about his reaction to the movie. He was not happy.


I just read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng and really liked it. Also recently read Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart. Very good.


Anyone read The Last Policeman? Pre-apocalyptic detective novel. Just started it. Looks great. Edgar Award nominee.

Anyone read Fates and Furies? I heard a review on NPR and I'm intrigued.


jeffl said:
Anyone read The Last Policeman? Pre-apocalyptic detective novel. Just started it. Looks great. Edgar Award nominee.

I loved that trilogy!  


I didn't even know it was a trilogy!  Now I have my work cut out for me.

leighan said:
jeffl said:
Anyone read The Last Policeman? Pre-apocalyptic detective novel. Just started it. Looks great. Edgar Award nominee.
I loved that trilogy!  

Hahaha said:
Anyone read Fates and Furies? I heard a review on NPR and I'm intrigued.

Loved it.  


bookgirl said:
Hahaha said:
Anyone read Fates and Furies? I heard a review on NPR and I'm intrigued.
Loved it.  

Cool, picking it up this weekend.


Just finished The Coconut Latitudes - fascinating memoir of the author's difficult childhood growing up as an American on her crazy dad's coconut farm in the the Dominican Republic in the 50s and 60s.


Thank you for this! Wasn't on my radar, but I loved it so much I've joined Kindle Unlimited and "borrowed" Beryl Markham's autobiography West with Night.  

eliz said:
Also just finished Circling the Sun by Paula McLain (The Paris Wife) - nice light read for end of summer plus I'm a sucker for anything set in colonial Africa.


Loved West with the Night and the sequel "Straight on til Morning." Enjoy!


Just downloaded "Circling the Sun...."


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