The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hi Everyone,

The current What Are You Reading thread has a whopping 5000+ comments. I thought it might be time to open up a third thread on it, before it starts to glitch up like the last one did.

Here's a clean new thread by which you can share your current reads, because we are curious creatures who are always on the lookout for the next best book and you, my friend, might just be reading it!


Share away!

To kick it off, I'm currently reading This House of Wounds which is a collection of incredibly strange short stories. I don't even know how to classify them... soft horror with sci-fi elements might be the closest? Enjoying it immensely though!

A cosy mystery from the point of view of an eleven year old girl
The Nancys by R.W.R. Mcdonald

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished listening to My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and on my Kindle I am currently reading The Day the Rabbi Resigned

Wow 5,000! I'm reading one that will take me a while but I'm enjoying it so far.

I am late to the party but I’m reading aA GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Townes and enjoying it very much.His book THE RULES OF CIVILITY was one of my favorite reads of the last few years.

Barbara wrote: "I am late to the party but I’m reading aA GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Townes and enjoying it very much.His book THE RULES OF CIVILITY was one of my favorite reads of the last few years."

Ah, Barbara! I loved A Gentleman in Moscow and I've got Rules of Civility on a list to read soon. How encouraging your comment is!

Nobody should pass up the BuzzBook previews! As expected, I enjoyed Buzz Books 2019: Fall/Winter: Excerpts from Next Season's Best New Titles by Susannah Cahalan, Eoin Colfer, J.T. Ellison, Jojo Moyes, Jeanette Winterson and More which, as you can see, has a lot to choose from. I made a few comments, but it's worth checking the Goodreads blurb for a good list.
5★ Link to my notes with where to download free copy

"Now a major film", as the saying goes, Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley will make your blood boil. What we DO to kids!
4.5★ Link to my review

I found this one to be a fantastic thriller
The Body Keeper by Anne Frasier

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This book was just what I needed on a cold winters day

One Summer in Santorini: Escape this summer with one of the best romance books you will read in 2019. by Sandy Barker

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Decaffeinated Corpse – Cleo Coyle – 3***
Book five in the Coffeehouse Mystery series, featuring Clare Cosi, the co-owner / manager of a Greenwich Village coffee shop, and an amateur sleuth. I really like this series. I enjoy learning more about the coffee business, though Coyle can be a little too detailed at times. Still, it’s a fast, enjoyable read and satisfies my yearning for a comforting cozy mystery.
LINK to my review

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D Is For Deadbeat – Sue Grafton – 3.5***
I really like this series and its retro feel. There are no cell phones or computers; Kinsey has to rely on her intellect, her network of connections and good old-fashioned leg work. She’s smart, determined, self-sufficient and never has to rely on a man to get her out of a tight spot.
LINK to my review

Thanks for the shiny new thread, Lori!

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson was a re-read for me, and a good one, too! She's written book 5 of her Jackson Brodie mystery series, so I thought I'd catch up. Just as much fun this time around, and I think I enjoyed the characters even more.
4.5★ (rounded up) Link to my new review

Book Concierge wrote: "Thanks for the shiny new thread, Lori!"

haha, You're welcome. It was getting quite bogged down and figured it was time : )

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman. I am reading it for the BR Read Harder Challenge a book written in prison.

A chilling thriller set in Tasmania, Australia
Devil's Lair by Sarah Barrie

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Portrait of a Spy
a wonderful book in the Gabriel Alon Israeli spy/art restorer series by Daniel Silva. The books are always well-written, thoughtful, and page-turners. This is one of the best in the always-excellent series.

A fun rom-com
While You Were Reading by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm reading . I got it from Netgalley and it's been pretty good so far.

Graphic novels bring the classics to life for the visual generations. Gareth Hinds has a new take on Homer's great story, The Iliad. Historic, artistic, and detailed - for young and old. I enjoyed it!
4.5★ Link to my review with illustrations

Supersize Cross Sections: Inside Engines by Pascale Hédelin is an illustrated look inside some fascinating vessels from ships to the International Space Station and even a travelling circus! I love these cutaway pictures.
4★ Link to my review with illustrations

So glad I finally got around to reading this Aussie YA classic!

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Optimist’s Guide to letting Go – Amy E Reichert – 4****
I really liked this intergenerational story that follows Lorraine, her two daughters, Vicky and Gina, and Gina’s teen daughter May. Their relationships are fraught and characterized by discord and silence. It’s a delightful and heartfelt story. I find it interesting that once Lorraine loses her speech due to a stroke, the communication between her and her daughters becomes clearer. I also have to give a “warning” about the food descriptions here. Reichert’s books always have this element in them, and readers should be aware that they will find themselves craving all sorts of delicacies.
LINK to my review

The Antelope Wife – Louise Erdrich – 4****
I just have to say that Erdrich is one of my favorite writers. Her prose is luminous and poetic. Her use of magical realism seamless. It reminds me of listening to my grandparents, aunts and uncles tell stories of family lore, sitting on a dark porch of a summer evening. The novel weaves history, contemporary urban life, legend, and sacred myth into a marvelous tapestry of a story. There is birth and death, humor and tragedy, betrayal and forgiveness, broken people scattered on the battlefield of life, and others standing tall and moving forward.
LINK to my review

A good beach read, here's my review of
Death by Divorce by Jaden Skye

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Santa Cruise – Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark – 3***
The mother/daughter writing team gives us a cozy mystery featuring retired maid and lottery winner Alvirah Meehan, her husband, Willy, and their friends on a holiday cruise. The plot is suitably complicated, if somewhat outlandish. it’s a fun, fast, cozy mystery with a satisfying conclusion.
LINK to my review

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Murder Most Frothy – Cleo Coyle – 3***
Book four in the Coffeehouse Mystery series has Clare working for the summer in the Hamptons, helping a friend train the staff of his new restaurant. Their first Hamptoms event is marred, however, when one of her employees is shot and killed. It’s a fast read with a great cast of characters. I’ll keep reading the series.
LINK to my review
Santa Cruise – Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark – 3***
The mother/daughter writing team gives us a cozy mystery featuring retired maid and lottery winner Alvirah Meehan, her husband, Willy, and their friends on a holiday cruise. The plot is suitably complicated, if somewhat outlandish. it’s a fun, fast, cozy mystery with a satisfying conclusion.
LINK to my review

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Murder Most Frothy – Cleo Coyle – 3***
Book four in the Coffeehouse Mystery series has Clare working for the summer in the Hamptons, helping a friend train the staff of his new restaurant. Their first Hamptoms event is marred, however, when one of her employees is shot and killed. It’s a fast read with a great cast of characters. I’ll keep reading the series.
LINK to my review

I’m currently reading The Snow Queen, Secrets of the Vine and Experiencing God. I just finished reading Legendary. It was pretty good. I haven’t really gotten into The Snow Queen, but I just started it. I’ve already read Secrets of the Vine. It’s my third time and favorite. This is my second time reading Experiencing God. It’s also a favorite! What are you residing and what did you read last?.

Hi, I'm new here but I thought you might enjoy this novel, translated from German and in the narrative form of second person. It's a rather dark and gritty novel but with a terrifically chilling ending. Might be worth having a look at :) and at the moment I'm also reading The Last by Hanna Jameson which has an interesting twist on the classic of people stuck in a hotel with a murderer.

I was a bit nervous about trying the recent Booker Prize winner, Milkman by Irish author Anna Burns, but I loved it! Funny, real, sad, hopeful, all beautifully written.
5★ Link to my review

I just finished The Panther by Nelson DeMille for my ftf bc. Well written book but not for me. I've always avoided this type of book with terrorists, FBI, CIA so even thought I've been assured all his writing is not like this I think I'll just pass in future. I also finished (my version of a pallet cleanser) a cute cozy mystery, Pawsitively Poisonous by Melissa Erin Jackson. Now I'm reading Cape May by Chip Cheek.

An excellent psychological thriller
Paranoid by Lisa Jackson

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A sweeping tale set in Australia's Snowy Mountains

Heritage by Judy Nunn

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I enjoyed my fifth visit to the lovely Canadian village of Three Pines, which has the occasional, not-so-lovely murder. Another good mystery from Louise Penny.
4★ Link to my review

The question for me today is not what I am reading, but why am I reading? this afternoon, I have started several book, mainly to fit a Goodreads sub-genre challenge. So far the writing and the story line is not grabbing me at all and I have abandoned a couple. which brings me to the question, is a challenge enough reason for me to read a book, or should one read for pleasure as well as filling a gap. I guess as far as my reading goes, I stick to the same genres, health?vegan lifestyles and mysteries and thrillers.
Joining a sub-genre challenge I hoped to break out of my comfort zones. But why waste time with silly plots and characters, written by authors that simply follow a template.

I’m currently reading A Light in the Wilderness. It’s pretty good so far. I’m halfway finished. It’s about a slave that’s freed and she marries a white man secretly. They set out on a trek west. She has a baby on the way. It’s been about her hardships and so forth. I’m enjoying it. I Iove to read books about people overcoming major trials.

A brilliantly fun cosy series
Fatal Frost by Karen MacInerney

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Girl Waits With Gun – Amy Stewart – 4****
Based on the true story of one of America’s first female detectives, Stewart gives us a wonderfully atmospheric historical crime novel set in 1914-1915, and with a great cast of characters. I loved Constance – strong, determined, intelligent, and self-reliant. But also applaud Sheriff Heath, who not only worked to prove the case against the powerful factory owner but was astute enough to recognize the talent in Constance Kopp and offer her that ground-breaking opportunity. I’ll keep reading this series.
LINK to my review

A Deadly Grind – Victoria Hamilton – 2.5***
I liked the basic premise of this new cozy series, including the small-town setting, the interplay between the sisters, and the cast of (potentially) recurring colorful characters. But the main character repeatedly made poor choices and took such obviously dangerous chances that I was just irritated with her. Still it was a fast read, and I’d be willing to try another in the series.
LINK to my review

Hi, Lori .... perhaps you could UNpin the locked "What Are You Reading .. PART DEUX" ....

Just read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, and learned how the young and beautiful gate-crashed the rich and famous in 1938. I bet it still works!
4★ Link to my review

An eye-opening look at doctor training programs

Going Under by Sonia Henry

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A teaser of a prequel

Parisian Dreams by Alli Sinclair

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reading Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness and it's pretty amazing or I should say for a 19/20 year old in 1927 she's pretty amazing. This is a non-fiction. I am also listening to The Bookshop of Yesterdays which unfortunately I figured out what was going on very early on but I'm still enjoying the book.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler – 4****
A chance encounter with a fellow college student, causes Rosemary Cooke to briefly abandon the careful façade she’s adopted and has her reflecting on her childhood, and her lost siblings: her sister Fern and her brother Lowell. This is the kind of character-driven literary fiction that I relish. Fowler’s writing brings this wounded family to life.
LINK to my review

An enjoyable, but predictable psychological thriller

The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hissy Fit – Mary Kay Andrews – 3***
Even before I read the jacket blurb, I knew I was in for a light, fun, fast, chick lit, beach read. And that’s exactly what I got. Mary Kay Andrews knows how to write in this genre and she does a fine job of it.
LINK to my review

I loved Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness which was a true story and just wonderful. I also finished listening to The Bookshop of Yesterdays and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy both of which I really enjoyed. Now I'm reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

An enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable, psychological thriller

Those People by Louise Candlish

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just joined the group today, so I guess my first order of business is to say hello, all!! :)
I am currently reading Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody. I'm only about 70 pages in, but I love it so far!! Ace of Shades