The County Library discussion

The new session of Reader's Choice starts Monday, and our Goodreads followers get a sneak peak of the titles. So get ready to get reading, and make sure you fill out a ballot for each book.

Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses
All Cry Chaos: An Henri Poincare Mystery
The American Heiress
Angelina's Bachelors: A Novel with Food
Attachments
The Beginner's Goodbye
The Charlestown Connection
The Death Instinct
The Doomsday Vault
The Dressmaker: A Novel
Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer
Flowerbed of State
Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship
Graveminder
The Keeper of Lost Causes
King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village
Liver Let Die
The Medusa Amulet
No Less in Blood
Profound River
Say You'll Be Mine
Sister
The Submission
The Territory
Theft of Swords
Twelve Drummers Drumming
Warm Bodies

Have you read any of these yet? Let us know what you think!

I've read Graveminder (spooky, a bit of suspense), King Peggy (non-fiction, interesting and thought-provoking: what would YOU do if you found out you were the new ruler of a small village on the other side of the world?) and The Death Instinct (historical, interesting detail about life in the 20s but with an annoying [to me] side plot; it's a sequel, which I didn't know and which doesn't really affect the story except that there seem to be a few "inside" incidents that don't make sense until you realize that these characters have history). A few of these were already on my "to read" list anyway. I just wish I had more time to read!

One of the new Reader's Choice books that I really liked was "Territory" by Tricia Fields. It's a gritty mystery about a female police chief of Artemis, Texas, who is in the middle of a Mexican cartel drug war -- and fighting those in her own town who don't want her there.

The author sent a very nice note:
"Thank you for sharing this information! That is great news. If there is anything I can do to support the book please let me know... not to
bolster it's chances of winning, just to connect to readers! I have book club materials I would be glad to share, and I'm always glad to talk with book clubs or interested readers. Unfortunately, Utah would be too far to drive to, (I live in Indiana) but I would be glad to correspond via email or Skype.
Thank you again for the good news,
Tricia"

Keep "Territory" in mind for your book clubs!

I picked up Warm Bodies, The Doomsday Vault and Theft of Swords at Hunter yesterday. I started Warm Bodies last night. It seems like it will be a fast read.

By the way- if you are a big RC reader, but have a hard time finding enough of the new titles to browse, we still have plenty checked in at Kearns. Although you would have to brave the road construction...

My husband picked up Twelve Drummers Drumming to read together. We read quite a few pages last night. We love mysteries and are having a fun time reading this one together.

Just closed Following Atticus for the final time. I am sorry to leave Tom and Atticus behind, they have been wonderful companions over the last week. If you are a dog lover, this is one you need to check out!

If you've read any "Scandinavian" mysteries, try "Keeper of Lost Causes" by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Let us know how it compares to "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and others like it.

Aftertaste: Had a really hard time getting into it, but ended up enjoying it, 4 stars
All Cry Chaos: Meh. 2.5 stars
The Dressmaker: better than expected. 5 stars

I have a whole bunch more checked out, but I have GOT to clear out some of the review copies taking over the house, so Reader's Choice will have to be every other book or something. :)

Utahhornbakers wrote: "Just closed Following Atticus for the final time. I am sorry to leave Tom and Atticus behind, they have been wonderful companions over the last week. If you are a dog lover, this is one you need ..."

Does Atticus die at the end? I can't read books where the dog dies at the end, which is basically all dog books.

Jennifer wrote: "Utahhornbakers wrote: "Just closed Following Atticus for the final time. I am sorry to leave Tom and Atticus behind, they have been wonderful companions over the last week. If you are a dog lover..."

Don't want to spoil it for anyone by telling the ending, but I would suggest you read it.

Utahhornbakers wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Utahhornbakers wrote: "Just closed Following Atticus for the final time. I am sorry to leave Tom and Atticus behind, they have been wonderful companions over the last week. If yo..."

Okay- I'll have to trust you on that!

I have read two so far.

Sister, gave it 5 stars.
Angelina's Bachelors, gave it 4 stars.


I am reading Following Atticus right now. Will keep you informed.

Liver Let Die: 4 stars
Cute new cozy mystery.

I just finished The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler, whom I've loved since the first time I saw the movie version of The Accidental Tourist. I was afraid it would be too sad because it's about a widower trying to cope with his wife's early demise, but it wasn't. It was more about how we deal with grief and learn to move on from tragedy. And, like all of Tyler's work, it was very quietly hilarious. Now I'm starting The American Heiress, which promises to be "a tonic" for those going through Downton Abbey withdrawl.

Attachment was a cute rom-com. 3 stars.
No Less in Blood really drew me in. At first I wasn't big on all the different story lines, but then I liked it (Mary Anne's was my favorite "voice" to read). 4 stars.
Warm Bodies was quite interesting. Once you got past the gory zombie eating brains part, haha. 3 stars.
Keeper of Lost Causes was NOT my cup of tea at all. Police Thriller type. I stopped reading it. DNF (did not finish).

I loved Attachments. 5 stars- cute and quirky.

I love all the posts about our new Reader's Choice titles. At Bingham Creek, we have 2 tied for 1st: Graveminder & Keeper of Lost Causes; Angelina's Bachelors is in 2nd; and 4 are tied for 3rd: Attachments, The Doomsday Vault, Liver Let Die, and 12 Drummers Drumming. How's that for variety!

Just finished Sister by Rosamund Lupton. Story was way stretched out & ending was HORRIBLE.

The Charlestown Connection- 3 stars
Seriously meandering plot, though once you get to the point/idea it's a good one, lol.

Just finished the American Heiress. 4 stars
It was an enjoyable read (although at some point I wanted to slap each of the main characters).

A new Reader's Choice book club is starting at the West Valley Library on October 23 at 7:00. Should be lots of fun! Here's the description from our website:

Out of this World Reader's Choice Book Club
Come join your fellow Reader's Choice lovers in a lively discussion of your favorite Reader's Choice titles both past and present.

It looks like you don't have to register or read a specific book, at least to start. Hope to see you there!

Just finished Angelina's Bachelors: 3 stars. At first I didn't like Angelina at all but then I grew to really like her.

I just wanted to thank the library for adding my fantasy adventure, Theft of Swords to the fine set of titles featured by the Reader's Choice Program. I'm a relatively new author and to be recognized in such a way is really an honor.

My husband just read Theft of Swords and has the sequel on hold. :) I need to get him to write up a "guest post" review for my blog.

Finished The Dressmaker: 3 stars.
enjoyable read based on the tragic shipwreck, its survivors and the Senate hearing that took place after.

My husband and I finally finished Twelve Drummers Drumming. It was a pretty good, fun read. We are now reading Theft of Swords. We've read the first few pages, and are already enjoying it. We have chuckled and outright laughed a few times.

I'm giving up on Twelve Drummers Drumming. I just couldn't care enough about the characters to keep them straight, which made the faults in the writing stand out even more.

@Jennifer, I read Twelve Drummers Drumming too and had a tough time finding interest in the characters and plot. I guess it was written for the "cozy English murder mystery" segment, and no one else.

LOVED Doomsday Vault. I will be reading the rest of the series.

Utahhornbakers wrote: "@Jennifer, I read Twelve Drummers Drumming too and had a tough time finding interest in the characters and plot. I guess it was written for the "cozy English murder mystery" segment, and no one else."

It wasn't really written for the cozy English murder mystery lovers at my library, who would be seriously turned off by the casual, and in my view, unnecessary use of profanity in the book. I don't really have a problem with profanity, and sometimes it's definitely integral to the voice of the story, but I don't think this is one of those times.

Just finished Attachments. 2 stars. Good premise but I was disappointed in the shallow character development. Good beach read though.