Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

Finished Reading: Title:   How to Walk Away Author:  Katherine Center My rating: 4 of 5 stars Date Started:  Date Goodreads Summary:  Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment. In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect. Little Thoughts :  I finished this book this morning. It was a really fast read and a bit predictable, but it was the light read I needed right now! Starting Today: Title:   Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime Autho...

Currently Reading: Title:  Little Fires Everywhere Author:  Celeste Ng Date Started: February 5 Goodreads Summary:  In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts ...

Currently Reading: Title:   A Madness of Sunshine Author:  Nalini Singh Date Started:  January 29 Goodreads Summary:  On the rugged West Coast of New Zealand, Golden Cove is more than just a town where people live. The adults are more than neighbors; the children, more than schoolmates. That is until one fateful summer—and several vanished bodies—shatters the trust holding Golden Cove together. All that’s left are whispers behind closed doors, broken friendships, and a silent agreement not to look back. But they can’t run from the past forever. Eight years later, a beautiful young woman disappears without a trace, and the residents of Golden Cove wonder if their home shelters something far more dangerous than an unforgiving landscape. It’s not long before the dark past collides with the haunting present and deadly secrets come to light. Little Thoughts :  I really like Nalini Singh as an author and enjoy her Psy-Changling series. I ...

Who thought it was a good idea for me to participate in FOUR book discussions? I do enjoy talking about books so it's not a huge deal.  This is one of the things I miss about working at a public desk in a small branch, everyone was always talking about what they were reading and recommending books.  Title: The Husband's Secret Author:  Liane Moriarty Rating: 3.5  of 5 stars Group:  For the Love of Reading Review:  [It was a fast read and didn't take a lot of focus.  That said, there were things that I didn't care for like the sterotypes, like the mother and daughter-in-law who didn't get a long, or the fat girl who loses weight and is suddenly beautiful.  I also didn't see a need for the Tess/Felicity/Will story line. Oh and let's not forget poor Polly! Title:  Normal People Author:  Sally Rooney Rating: 2.5  of 5 stars Group:  Ladies Night Out  Review:  I've seen this author compared to Jane...

Currently Reading: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Date Started: January 21 Goodreads Summary:  Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a ...

Book Beginnings on Friday from  Rose City Reader   The Friday 56 with  Freda's Voice . This week I'm reading:  Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit  by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker It Begins:   Prologue I Must Be in Hell I must be in hell.  It was the only logical explanation. I was tied down and naked. The pain was unbearable.  On Page 56: We were indoctrinated to be on the lookout for Soviet agents, who would try to compromise us and get out secrets. These agents could be anywhere. We were told particularly to beware of women! The brainwashing was so effective I turned down a date with an extremely good-looking woman who worked in the building who had actually asked me out to dinner. I was afraid it was a setup and I was being tested.  Verdict: I'm not that far into the book yet, just getting to the parts where he joins the Behavioral Science Unit, but it's really interesti...

These last few months I've done readings for four different book discussion groups. The only one I've done each month is the reading for the group at my local library.  I'll be taking over the group in 2020!  I'm so excited. We're currently going through our selection process to pick the books we'll be reading next year.  July Title:  Woman in Cabin 10 Author:  Ruth Ware Rating:  4 of 5 stars Group:  MCLS Tuesday Book Club (Facebook Group) Review:  It was a bit slow moving for me at first, but then it started to pick up and I found myself really pulled into the story.  In the discussion, since this was the kick off to the library system's online discussion group, it was mostly staff and as such we all had interesting takes.  One being for such a high end ship it's WiFi was pretty crappy! Title:  Saga, Vol. 1 Author:  Brian K. Vaughan Rating:  4 of 5 stars Group:  SLSG Book Club (Facebook Group) ...