ONTD Book Club discussion

Tell us what you read last month!

Okay I got a lot done (for me). Almost all audiobooks now that I have the magic of Overdrive:

Audiobooks I listened to: Neverwhere, The Goldfinch, The Grownup (the short story by Gillian Flynn), We, the Drowned, and Survivor

And then I read a physical copy of Captive Prince.

Of note, I really liked The Goldfinch. Not as much as Secret History, but I think the guy reading the audiobook really made the experience for me, he was definitely a talented voice actor and if you are vacillating on whether to read it or not because of it's length I recommend you do the audiobook like I did. The end is a little messy but so is the end of The Secret History so whatever lol.

I really liked The Grown Up as well. I love Gillian Flynn and even though this one was a little wild it was a short and fun experience. Quick and dirty.

I HATED Survivor. Chuck Palahnuik needs a new schtick. He is so repetitive and tells the same story every single time. And boy am I tired of it after my third book of him. I get it. You hate society. Good for you.

Captive Prince....oh boy. I wanted to like it more than I did, but when you're like expecting a nice erotic fiction and instead get rape and child abuse and animal death and absolutely zero sensual interaction between the main couple in the first book it's like...why is this even allowed to have the genre "romance" printed on the back of the book? I get that in the subsequent books they'll get together but if you give us nothing in the first book like...why am I compelled to want to keep reading? There was no reward. It was just bad stuff happening over and over again. You see this cute slave boy that Damen thinks is sweet? Well watch look at this horrible thing that happens to him, enjoy.

It's like...I don't know. It brought back thoughts of my old rp partner who was someone who got off on writing bad things happening to people, because it sort of stroked some sort of complex to put characters in need of saving/rescue. And maybe Pascat is like that former friend, but these horrible things I mentioned are not something that I want in an erotic setting. And some people do like that, some people want to see characters endure and eventually be rescued from abusive situations, but for me I'm just uncomfortable.

I don't know. I'm clearly upset about this. I would have made so many changes if I was her beta. The writing isn't as good as it thinks it is and again, there is no reward for the reader in this book. Give us a break from all the heavy shit please.

Okay I'm done.

I read the new Mediator book Remembrance. Eh. It was ok. I didn't hate but I definitely felt let down by it. There just didn't seem to be a whole lot of plot for how long it was.

Also read I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The narrator is not always likable but she's pretty self aware in her unlikeability and doesn't take herself seriously at all. Plus it was interesting learning more about Jehovah's Witnesses.

I'm currently working on The Rainbow so that I can discuss it with my English professor. So far it's a vast improvement from his previous work Sons and Lovers and I'm looking forward to the his next book or whatever book my professor would like me to read next.

I'm part of a YA book club and the pick this month was The Truth About Forever. I'd never read a Sarah Dessen before and liked it a lot. Someone (I think another ONTDer? Shannon, you in here?) suggested I read Just Listen, which I did, and also enjoyed.

The Girl from Everywhere was interesting... I liked it but didn't love it. I think 90% of me liking it was for the setting (Hawaii). Loved the thought put into the premise, but the story was a little flat.

Lexicon started off crazy-strong but tapered down at the end.

Read four books I was kinda unimpressed by, Bad Feminist, Cinder, Scarlet, and The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3: Commercial Suicide.

I plan on fixing this by reading a lot of Rick Riordan this month.

Last month I read Reconstructing Amelia, China Rich Girlfriend, and just finished The Raven King about an hour ago.

Reconstructing Amelia was pretty good but I wasn't really expecting it to be as YA as it was, I was wanting more of a mystery thriller than it was. Amelia's parts were just really unbelievable, and I didn't really buy that a girl as smart as her would get caught up in such BS for (view spoiler)[some blank slate girl who treated her like shit. (hide spoiler)]

China Rich Girlfriend was fun and easy and just as good as CRA.

The Raven King was super intense and I really, really enjoyed it. There were a considerable amount of loose ends left over at the end but other than that I was really happen with how the series culminated (view spoiler)[and SO pleased that Ronan/Adam actually became canon, I was so afraid the author was going to skirt around it but she didn't and actually had a bisexual character in her story! I'm so happy. (hide spoiler)]

This month I'm not really sure what I want to read. I added Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe to my to-read list recently but idk if I want to go with something easy or something with a little more substance.

I read Winter Rose.

I enjoyed it even if I wasn't quite sure what was happening half the time. Patricia McKillip has a way with words.

I finished The Star-Touched Queen like an hour ago. It ended up being disappointing. I loved that it was set in India and had Indian mythology mixed with Greek mythology but the execution was poor and the MCs were just not that good.

I love The Rainbow, oh gosh, so much.

I haven't finished much lately; my partner is a Ph.D. Student and he's doing his comps right now. It's been a whirlwind of a few months.

I did finish The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and I'm still stumbling through Roots by Alex Haley, and my light/phone continual reading list is the Wizard of Oz series. I've been reading dark/fluffy stuff more regularly now, instead of my usual heavy topics.

Also, how do you tag books in your posts? Or is that exclusively a not-for-phones feature?

In at least the non-mobile version above the comment area it says "add book/author" which is how we are doing that. I dont' know if it's a feature you can do on mobile.

Wigs wrote: We, the Drowned...

What did you think of this book? I've had it on my to-read list for a while and I think I should finally get it read.

I read a lot again in April!! It was a very eventful month for me.

I was finally approved for disability after waiting since November of 2012. I am also a new aunt. My youngest brother and his wife welcomed a baby girl last Thursday night.

The Death Cure - 3 stars. So-so.

The Buried Giant - 3 stars.

The Girl on the Train - 4 stars.

Luckiest Girl Alive - 2 stars. I may have liked this more if I had not read it immediately after TGotT, but it was awful.

Dad Is Fat - 4 stars.

Cinder - 3 stars.

Scarlet - 4 stars.

Cress - 4 stars.

Winter - 4 stars.

Glitches - 4 stars.

The Little Android - 3 stars.

Stars Above - 4 stars.

Fairest - 3 stars.

As you can see, I enjoyed the Lunar chronicles quite a bit. I didn't think I would, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm up to 48 books so far for the year.

This month I read:
The Girl with All the Gifts - LOVED THIS. I gave it four stars but i may change it to 5. Thought it was a great take on the concept of Zombies.

The Lying Game and Never Have I Ever - i'm totally sucked into this series - glad its only 6 books so i wont get tired of it as it drags on and on.

Life After Life - ugh, this book totally killed my reading goal for the month, i thought it was was too long and the concept was cool in theory but not well executed. 2 stars, only because there were about 75 pages in the middle that were really well written and great.

I think I got book hangover from how much I was reading in Jan-March, so I only got through one book this month- A Midsummer's Equation. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two Detective Galileo novels, but it was fine. I think ultimately I'm too American to identify with the murderer's motivations in this book (it was treated as a sympathetic motivation imo). I'm still slowly working on The Iliad too.

Alyssa wrote: "This month I read:
Life after Life...

YES. My MIL gave me Life After Life and the first half is soooo slow. I've read another one of Atkinson's books since then and it was better, but what a way to start into her anthology...

Elissa wrote: "Alyssa wrote: "This month I read:
Life after Life...

YES. My MIL gave me Life After Life and the first half is soooo slow. I've read another one of Atkinson's books since then and it was better, b..."

I have Case Histories on my shelf (also came recommended) and i'm hoping its better! I really wanted to like 'Life' but i was so bored!

Amy B wrote: "Also, how do you tag books in your posts? Or is that exclusively a not-for-phones feature?"

Yeah I think that's a computer-only feature, I had to log on instead of using the mobile app cuz I couldn't figure out how to tag on my phone lol.

You can get around the mobile issue if you open it within your browser instead of via the app. I do this often on my android and my Kindle Fire.

The Jackson Brody (Case Histories) series is very different from Life After Life. I am obsessed with Kate Atkinson. She's brilliant.

This month I read:

Forest Born - 4 stars. I enjoyed the main character and it was a nice end to this series.

The Duchess War - 4 stars. DANG Courtney Milan can write.

Neanderthal Seeks Human - 1 star and DNF. Romance and knitting were promised but the dude is creepy and the heroine doesn't actually knit. Disappointing.

Reckless - 4 stars. My palate cleanser. Everything I want form an Amanda Quick novel.

Garden Spells - 5 stars! Magical! Realism! I really liked the small town feel of this too.

The Golem's Eye - 4 stars. The main male characters are idjits. However, his book turns its attention to a badass female character named Kitty, so I'm quite looking forward to the next one in the series.

The Perfect Kiss - 2 stars. I usually like Anne Gracie but this one did not do it for me because (once again) the dude was creepy.

Alyssa wrote: "This month I read:
The Girl with All the Gifts - LOVED THIS. I gave it four stars but i may change it to 5. Thought it was a great take on the concept of Zombies.

[book:The Lying G..."

Adding The Girl with All the GIfts to my to-read list! Sounds really cool.

I read three books last month and they were all really good!

First I read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and it was really funny. I liked most of the characters and it was a very engaging story!

Then I read Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl and I'll admit I teared up at the end! I'm a cat girl at heart, and that last ode to Wesley got me thinking about my baby and how sad I will be. Haha, I really liked it!

Last I read Jurassic Park and while completely different from the movie, I thought the book was great as well! But I'm partial to the movie so I might like it better... shh! Haha.

All are recommended if you have the time!!

I'm hoping to read 4 books, one a week in May. I'm really behind on my goal of 50 this year. :(

I felt like I read more books in April than I did, but in reality I only read 4. Which is just ok for me. The quality of what I read was good though.

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich 3/5. Typical Stephanie Plum.

The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War by Phyllis Edgerly Ring 5/5. Really good. Highly recommended for historical fiction lovers.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman 5/5 LOVED IT! One of my new favourites.

Days of Grace by Catherine Hall 3.5/5. Another historical fiction that was decent.

Peyton wrote: "Neanderthal Seeks Human - 1 star and DNF. Romance and knitting were promised but the dude is creepy and the heroine doesn't actually knit..."

Woohoo! I'm a knitter too. :D

Jess wrote: "Wigs wrote: We, the Drowned...

What did you think of this book? I've had it on my to-read list for a while and I think I should finally get it read."

Uhmmmmmmmmmmm. I feel like if I wasn't listening to the audiobook it would have been really hard to get through..

I was bothered by the racism (they use the n-word several times) and misogyny (yea sure it's period accurate but eh), and rape, and there was some gruesome animal torture and death that happens to a dog. (actually I think there were two bad animal deaths but I can't think of the other. I feel like it was butchering a dolphin but I'm not sure if I'm going crazy, it's hard to recall.)

I think it's too boring and slow to put up with some of the shit you have to deal with, you know? There were some parts I liked but not enough and I celebrated when I finally got to the end.

I quite liked the last page or paragraphs too cuz I'm a sucker for generational summaries but honestly

don't put yourself through it. lol I'd chuck it off the list if I were you.

Wigs wrote: "Jess wrote: "Wigs wrote: We, the Drowned...

What did you think of this book? I've had it on my to-read list for a while and I think I should finally get it read."

Uhmmmmmmmmmmm. I feel like if I ..."

Thanks! It is getting removed. That sounds icky.

I finally read Me Before You and it was so good. I wasn't expecting to cry like I did, BUT ALL THE TEARS. I inhaled the pages. I read Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle for book club and loved it. Chef Maurice is so extra that I'm going to have to continue the series just for him. All in all, I loved the story and all of the characters.

Has anyone read You? I read it for a different book club and I have mixed feelings about it. It's one of those books that I disliked until about a week later when I decided that I kind of liked it.

Has anyone read You?

I haven't but I read the description and added it to my to-read list! Books that make you come around to liking them are interesting. I was that way with Gone Girl haha

Yup, I read "You" earlier this year. It was okay. The writing style took a while to get into because of the PoV, but the main protagonist was interesting to read about.

Nowhere near as good as "Gone Girl", and I preferred "The Girl on the Train" to it as well.

Gave it 2.5/5

Christy wrote: "Has anyone read You?

I haven't but I read the description and added it to my to-read list! Books that make you come around to liking them are interesting. I was that way with Gone Girl haha"

It was interesting because I put it down and thought, ugh. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. In the end, it was actually somewhere between hilarious and scary. I think all of the pop culture references is what initially put me off, but not enough to put it down because it is an entertaining and interesting story lol.

MNLO wrote: "Mia wrote: "Read four books I was kinda unimpressed by, Bad Feminist, Cinder, Scarlet, and [book:The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3: Commercial Suicide|..."

It was a self-professed filler volume and had a different art style so it didn't seem worth it. It soured me enough to maybe not pick up the next one, although I'll probably check it out from the library or something.

Commercial Suicide was a real letdown after how killer volumes 1 and 2 were. If I weren't so in love with the story I wouldn't be inclined to keep going but I hear things are getting back on track in the current volume, though I haven't read the current issues myself.

Hmm, I've been in a book slump this month and the last for all kinds of reasons but I tried to read Red Rising by Pierce Brown and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I may dump them for Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma, The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic, or Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.

I listened to the audiobooks for The Silkworm and Career of Evil and absolutely loved them! The narrator did a great job and really helped immerse me in the stories.
Does any one have any specific audiobooks they would recommend with great narrators? I previously listened to The Goldfinch and Outlander and those narrators were great. I'm listening to A Darker Shade of Magic right now and while I'm enjoying the story I'm NOT loving the narrator, he's driving me kind of crazy with over the top accents and dramatic reading.