Pick-a-Shelf discussion

This thread is for open discussion of any book you are reading that demands a place to share with others how you are reacting to it. It might be a 5* read or a 2* read. It might be a book that changes your life or one you wish you had DNF'd and didn't. Or it might just be fun and delightful.

It is your choice. What's on your mind about your reading?

Well I will start off by sharing my favourite book of the year so far: Wild Dark Shore - incredible. I had very high expectations for this and they were blown away

Thanks for leading off, Meg. I meant to come back and tell you about mine, but life got in the way.

Wild Dark Shore really looks interesting. It now has a giveaway attached for the US and so I entered it.

Oh, and how exciting! The author also wrote Once There Were Wolves, which I read and gave 5*!

Thanks for bringing me back to this author, Meg.

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

I belong to the PopSugar annual reading challenge. and one of the prompts is to read a book of healing fiction.

Well, my first response was "what is healing fiction"? So I did some research and found that it is a genre that originated in Japan and Korea.

That fact did not really motivate me as I have difficulty understanding many of the Eastern cultures that I attempt to read. So I turned to GR lists and found that I had a book on my Kindle that fit the definition. Who knew? That book (the one listed above) had been hanging around my Kindle library since 2019.

It is a hard read due to the rape and battering scene that sets the basis of the story. [A grieving king attacks his own daughter after the death of his queen.] But, that is the worst part, and it is limited.

The daughter escapes with her dog, loses her memory of events and self, and goes on a journey of survival...that eventually leads her to face the memories bubbling up over time and find her own best self and a new life.

And, that is the point. Even a horrific event can be survived, faced, and healed. I finished that book on such a high note of hope that it is still in my active memory two months later. Highly recommend!

healing fiction sounds interesting

i'll admit that i've loved most of the japanese/korean stuff i've read recently - it just seems so fresh compared to the US published stuff

Any fave Japanese or Korean authors Dee?
I really like Sayaka Murata and Yōko Ogawa

Ah, Meg. Thanks for mentioning those two authors. I checked and found that I had read one book of each and rated them very differently. Yōko Ogawa's book, The Housekeeper and the Professor, got a 5* rating from me. I remember really connecting with it. However, Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman got my usual rating for Asian reads of 3*, which means that I found some cultural misses in myself.

However, I will pursue more of Yōko Ogawa's writing.

Meg wrote: "Well I will start off by sharing my favourite book of the year so far: Wild Dark Shore - incredible. I had very high expectations for this and they were blown away"

I've got that to read! Loved her other books too

I also read Water Moon recently and really liked that. I think she's Japanese American but it's set in a magical version of tokyo

Among my recent 4* and 5* reads have been several by Nghi Vo. I believe she's Asian-American, and her stories certainly have the feel of the ancient East.

Susan wrote: "Among my recent 4* and 5* reads have been several by Nghi Vo. I believe she's Asian-American, and her stories certainly have the feel of the ancient East."

Susan, she is a new unknown author to me. I will check her out this summer if my reading gets back on schedule. Which of her books would you suggest? I am more a fantasy reader.

Bea wrote: "Susan, she is a new unknown author to me. I will check her out this summer if my reading gets back on schedule. Which of her books would you suggest?.."
Start with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, which is the first of the Singing Hills Cycle of 6 books (so far). They're all short, and fantasy is the first listed shelf on most of her books.

On my own list to read next is The City in Glass.

Susan wrote: "Bea wrote: "Susan, she is a new unknown author to me. I will check her out this summer if my reading gets back on schedule. Which of her books would you suggest?.."
Start with [book:The Empress of ..."

Thank you for the recommend.

Have you guys noticed the extra Seasonal challenges on GR?

https://www.goodreads.com/readingchal...

Meg wrote: "Any fave Japanese or Korean authors Dee?
I really like Sayaka Murata and Yōko Ogawa"

whoops - i was getting zero recommendations/notifications from this group - i haven't posted since January which is crazy town :)

Not so much a particular book as a series. I am reading the third book of Earth Children series that started with The Clan of the Cave Bear. I am about two-thirds done with The Mammoth Hunters. The first book was by far my favorite so far. The second The Valley of Horses was very good. The third book wanders off track at times but overall I am enjoying it.

Beth wrote: "Not so much a particular book as a series. I am reading the third book of Earth Children series that started with The Clan of the Cave Bear. I am about two-thirds done with [book:Th..."

I think I read these 20 years ago! I loved them then