Jodi Picoult Books Reading Group. discussion
Recommendations
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Which One Should I Read Next??
I've read them all and they are all good. I guess my order would be Keeping Faith, Perfect Match, Change of Heart then Mercy. I don't think you will be disappointed with any of them. Have a safe trip!
I haven't read Mercy yet, but the other 3 are all good. I think I would read Keeping Faith and then Change of Heart back to back because they have some of the same themes and characters involved. But it definitely isn't necessary (I read them backwards actually and they were fine). But I am sure you won't be disappointed with any of them!
I'm starting Keeping Faith now. The only other of your list I have read was Change of Heart, and it was okay.
i haven't read Mercy yet either. Keeping Faith is one of my very favorites - and like Dara said, reading Change of Heart after that would be a good idea. Perfect Match is in the bottom half if i were to rank all the Picoult books i've read to date - but it's still a good read. enjoy your trip!
I have read Mercy and it was good, though not quite as good as Perfect Match. I have not read Keeping Faith, but have read Change of Heart. It was a good book, but of the three I've read, I would definately pick Perfect Match.
I have a similar problem with Shannon.I've bought 3 JP's books and now I'm confused which I would read first.
My list is:
-Mercy
-Picture Perfect
-Vanishing Act
Anyway Shannon, I've only read Keeping Faith from your list, and that's okay.
Picture Perfect is my least favorite of JP's books. Vanishing Acts (like Keeping Faith) is one of my favorites.
i think it should depend on your mood....read the jacket for each of them and see which one waves "read me next" :)
Has anyone read Second Glance? How was it? It is one of my last 4 books of hers to read...
I have read all of the Jodi Picoult books, except for Keeping Faith, Salem Falls, Plain Truth, Songs of a Humpback Whale and Harvesting the Heart. So Far, Second Glance was my favorite book of them all. For me, it was a really interesting and really fast read. I am from Vermont, so maybe I liked it even more because it took place there. Its a great read, there is no trial in the book, but it has a lot of the other Jodi characteristics. My mom really liked it too! Hope this helps.
Amy--I do agree that her characters seem very real and sometimes I detest all the characters in the book (like The Tenth Circle) which can happen in real life.
I haven't read Second Glance yet but it sounds like I really need to.
Amy wrote: "I also loved a Change of Heart, though I hated that Shay still ended up dying, but at least it was on his terms, and he saved Claire's life. Sometimes her stories seem so real to me, does that happ..."Yes, the characters seem incredibly real, and I become very invested in their stories. There are a few that I would love to meet and get to know! I always like it when she resurrects a character from another book so that we can see how he or she has progressed. The character I would most like to know is Ian Fletcher from Keeping Faith. I grew to adore him as the novel progressed. I was so happy to find out what had happened to him in Change of Heart!
I was so surprised when reading Change of Heart to have Ian Fletcher reapper. I really liked his character too in Change of Heart. Change of Heart was one of my favorite Picoult books as I just found it so interesting and I loved Shay. It was sad he had to die, but I think that's what made it real too.
I loved Shay too. I loved Change of heart.
I was surprised when reading it how much I enjoyed it. It was hard for me to find a Picoult book as good as My Sister's Keeper and Change of Heart was it for me.
My favorite so far has been ( I am still working on reading them all) Picture Perfect. I know thats not everyones favorite, but that one was mine.
Looks like I need to read Picture Perfect next:)
For the record, Picture Perfect is my least favorite of Picoult's books.
I thought that is what we have been doing. I guess I am a little confused by your comment.
I see what you mean, but that's not what I am getting from this group. However, I am one to sometimes be swayed (easily) by others' opinions but I need to work on being more open minded and not take all reviews or opinions to heart. Since we are on the subject, do you have a favorite Picoult book? You might have already said so but I'm not sure.
I'm sorry if Amy took my comment in the wrong way. I just wanted Etchavez to know that there was a differing opinion among the group members about Picture Perfect.For the record, among my favorites are My Sister's Keeper, Keeping Faith, and Vanishing Acts.
Etchavez wrote: "I was so surprised when reading Change of Heart to have Ian Fletcher reapper. I really liked his character too in Change of Heart. Change of Heart was one of my favorite Picoult books as I just f..."I really liked Change of Heart too! It was one of my favorites as well.
Amy wrote: "Well, my favorite was my sister's keeper, but I am reading handle with care right now, and I like it so much so far that it might become my new favorite. I like all her books, I haven't come across..."I personally didn't care for the ending of The Pact, it was very different than JP's later books. I just felt it left things hanging to me. As far as Emily keeping it a secret why she wanted to die, that is fairly common in sexual abuse victims. She didn't elaborate on that accusation (that I recall...but I read it a couple years ago so I might be wrong) which bothered me some since it was the basis for Emily's decision to quit living. The Pact wasn't one of my favorite JP books. I liked it, but I like many of the others much more.
Amy wrote: "I also loved a Change of Heart, though I hated that Shay still ended up dying, but at least it was on his terms, and he saved Claire's life. Sometimes her stories seem so real to me, does that happ..."I agree Amy, JP's characters are very real to me too. And I love that JP gets the readers into all of the players heads. By telling her stories from each of the characters in the first person you can really feel what they are experiencing. I use Nineteen Minutes alot when I describe her writing style because it is such a hot button topic, school shootings, and it is easy to armchair quarterback from our seemingly safe little corner of the world. Though these tragedies happen and are very real, most of us will fortunately never be touched by such events. So when we do hear media reports (which are always jaded anyway) it so easy to judge the parents of the shooter (how could they possibly not know???) or Josie (she was easy to hate afterall she was largely the cause in this book). But JP tells Josie's side and her guilt and the mother's shock and everyone else. That is what I love...
Amy wrote: "Well it just seemed like everytime someone said a certain book was their favorite, someone had to say it wasn't theirs. I was kind of getting the feeling that just because some people didn't like a..."Oh Amy...I don't get that from the conversation here at ll (though I am definitely not discrediting your opinion). What I get from our conversations here is a different perspective. I have my opinions but other peoples perspective gives me a different way to look at or think of the issues. Sometimes they are things I haven't considered.
On another related note, another book club I am on here on GR was totally bashing JP and it didn't seem like many of those commenting were fans at all. I felt very defensive about it...lol! I don't care what anyone else thinks, I love JP's books and will continue, proudly, to read them and share them with my friends!
I did not really enjoy Vanishing Acts but liked Keeping Faith and loved My Sister's Keeper - it was the first one I read.
Etchavez wrote: "I did not really enjoy Vanishing Acts but liked Keeping Faith and loved My Sister's Keeper - it was the first one I read."My Sister's Keeper was also the first one I read. In some ways, I think it set a really high standard against which I measure her other books. :)
I loved Songs of the Humpback Whale and Harvesting the Heart. Both are great. I am just having such a hard time getting into Second Glance.
Misty wrote: "My favorite so far has been ( I am still working on reading them all) Picture Perfect. I know thats not everyones favorite, but that one was mine. "Misty, I really liked Picture Perfect too. I don't know why I related to the characters so much but I did.
I didn't really like Harvesting the Heart and have not read Picture Perfect yet. That will be the next Jodi book I read. I am currently reading No One You Know by Michelle Richmond. She's my new favorite author. She is very similar to Jodi Picoult.
Can't wait to get my hands on House Rules next month!
Me too Lori! Jodi is gonna do a signing in Phoenix in March while I'm out there on vacation. I'm hoping to get her to sign it for me.
LOL Gina, we are birds of a feather it seems....I love those book signings. We are going to one on March 3rd for her new book!
I loved Picture Perfect. It was one of my favorites by Jodi. I just finished Harvesting the Heart, but it was not my favorite. It took me a month to read and I just could not get into the characters until the end. I found it to be disappointing. I have read all of her books except for Second Glance and Songs of the Humpback Whale. I can't wait to read her new one next month! I also just read a book recently by Diane Chamberlain. It was really good and sort of like Jodi Picoult. The little girl in the book had a life terminating disease and she was getting better on a treatment and then she ended up lost in the wilderness on a Girl Scout trip. I think I may read some more books by her in the future too.
Lorifog wrote: "LOL Gina, we are birds of a feather it seems....I love those book signings. We are going to one on March 3rd for her new book!"Yay Lori! Let me know how it goes.
I didn't like Harvesting the Heart either. It took me a long time to get into it and finish it. I haven't read Picture Perfect yet but will be the next Jodi book I read.
I guess you would like a book you can identify with. The story of this book looks so very much like my life, that I really enjoyed reading it. TWhat took me a long time goin throught, though, was the part when Paige goes to visit her mom. I found it incredibly boring and endless. I would've liked better for Paige not to go look for her mother at all.
It's funny, because it seems it will be my next book as well. My first and only JP book has been Harvesting the Heart, which I loved. Now i'm going to have to look for Picture Perfect!
I would suggest finding some of her older books first. The Pact was my absolute favorite book. But all of her old books were fabulous. I didn't care for Nineteen Minutes as much. Picture Perfect was a pretty good one, but really go back further than that for her best work.
I recently read The Pact and found it to be okay. My favorite JP book is My Sister's Keeper and A Change of Heart. I have a lot more of hers to read though.
I am within 100 pages of finishing Salem Falls and am LOVING it!!!
I just bought songs of the humback whale...any good?
Sherri wrote: "I just bought songs of the humback whale...any good?"Sherri, Songs of the Humback Whale was one of my first Picoult books and i really enjoyed it. When i think of my absolute favorites like The Pact and My Sisters Keeper, it's right up there. Hope you enjoy it!
Dara wrote: "I am within 100 pages of finishing Salem Falls and am LOVING it!!!"Ok...finished this last night and I did like the story but was rather disappointed with the ending. I just thought it ended rather abruptly. I thought more would come out as part of the trial that didn't (don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it).
I haven't read Songs of a Humpback Whale, I have it in my stash, just haven't gotten to it yet.
I definitely recommend Change of Heart or Perfect Match. Loved them. Among my favorites are: My Sister's Keeper, The Pact, Nineteen Minutes, and Handle With Care
Handle with Care, Nineteen Minutes, The Pact, or The Tenth Circle... They are all great but if I were you, I'd read Nineteen Minutes first. It's strongly addicting :)
Keeping Faith
Mercy
Change of Heart
Perfect Match