What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list? Part 2

[IceIceBabyBump]

The original thread is nearly full: Page 40 | What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list? | Mumsnet

So, here's another one to keep us going!

Just finshed two things - one so-so, and one excellent.

The so-so was Patrick Radden Keefe's 'Empire of Pain' about the Sackler family and the money they made from Oxycontin. It was clearly meticulously researched, but came with a bit of an agenda. I don't even disagree with the main thrust of the agenda but I'm a bit uncomfortable about targeting members of the family who had nothing to do with Oxycontin. Not quite sure what he expects them to do.

The excellent was 'Mrs Bridge' by Evan S Connell. Published in the late fifties and telling the story of a well-to-do housewife in Kansas city between the wars. Doesn't exactly sound promising, but there is not a word wasted, and in a series of short vignettes of family life, the author conveys so much about what is happening beneath the surface, without once overtly divulging someone's thought process. Very clever, very humane.

Next up is Annie Ernaux's 'A Woman's Story'.

Back again because I've finished 'A Woman's Story' (it's a very short book) and it was marvellous. It was unsentimental but very moving - a sort of biography of the author's mother but managing to be a universal look at mothers and their daughters. So good.

Will now move on to 'I Want You to be Happy' by Jem Calder which claims to be a 'sharp eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times...'

But then I'm shopping for more Annie Ernaux.

Hamnet - finally. I'm not that far into it but not getting the hype just yet.....

need to finish it before watching the film!

Almost finished ‘The Women’ by Kirsten Hannah, and not quite getting the hype. It’s very readable, and written from an interesting stance, but the writing is poor at times (how many times does she chuck her gloves down?) and the storyline is basically a chick lit set around the war. Although it’s not a bad book, it does’t live up to the hype.

Not sure what I’ll be reading next.

Just scrolled back to see if anyone else had read it, and found your comments. Glad it isn’t just me.

Currently reading - LJ Ross Holy Island - This is the first of many books in this series. I used to love Ian Rankin and hoping this series will have a similar vibe. Currently at around 70% and enjoying it, the location is interesting but it's taking me a bit longer than usual to get through.

Next book - not 100% decided. I tend to switch genre between crime, thriller and historical fiction (I'll give most things a go except romance!). Think I'll be after something light and summery.

@Silverbirchleaf I felt the same about The Women, I was expecting it to be much better written given the hype it has had on social media. It was so repetitive and I didn’t like the main character at all.

@IlovetoKnitandRead (me too)

I’ve since finished the book.

To be fair, the historical aspect if the Vietnam war, and the attitudes to it, the PTSD, etc was an interesting subject matter, and I found myself having a quick read about the war (on Wikipedia!) looked up pictures of the monument etc.

Also loved the friendship of the three women.

However, the relationship storylines became a bit of a farce, especially at the end, and I expected it to be better written.

I am still plodding through The Idiot. It’s an interesting read, but not gripping me. I am doing 20 pages a day and I need to sit quietly to concentrate .I have Bring up the Bodies on Audible, which is fabulous and I am reading When the Cranes Fly South on my Kindle and enjoying it, but with an overarching sense of gloom.
I am looking forward to reading Last House Before the Mountain by Monika Helfer. I got this from a book swap and it sounds very moving.

Loved ‘When the cranes fly south’. Very emotional book.

I’m reading it at the moment.
A blurb on the front cover proclaims “Best read of the year” The Times.
I just don’t get its brilliance.
I thought it would be better.

I quite enjoyed The Wedding People. I liked the idea of someone being caught up in an event that has nothing to do with them.

I'll tell you what I didn't like though. I did not like 'I Want You to be Happy' by Jem Calder. Here is my detailed plot summary - two people meet, they date for a bit, it doesn't work out. All with some bizarre vocabulary and sentence structure choices from the author that make me question the editing. This is definitely getting to be a theme of mine.

This author described a body of water as 'stilly'. I looked it up - it's an archaic word that means 'still'. What on earth was the point of that? Or how about, 'they sat in an instantiation of Barbie's preferred restaurant chain...' Instantiation? I looked that up too and still can't work out what it's supposed to mean in this context. There were a few other such examples. As a whole, it wasn't terribly written, and the book had some things to say about loneliness and connection but it's a debut novel, and it shows, in places.

I think I'm going to retreat to some Evelyn Waugh next, with 'Helena', a historical fiction about the mother of the Emperor Constantine.

Came to this thread because I'm on s hunt for my summer holiday books, which seems to fall into a pattern: thriller (mackintosj/foley/ initial surname) type; epic book I've been saving time to read; something warm and fuzzy/ glamorous (reid Jenkins type); something in case I'm on a night flight(can't sleep) and need an easy read.

The Women fit this category last year. I read the Nightingale too. If I'm feeling generous, I can allow myself just to be carried along,appreciate her research, and feel emotional about the characters etc.

But if I'm not, I'm basically just reading romance with variously dramatic historical background.

I've just read Between Two Wars by some bloke. The premise sounded interesting, plague ridden France c1300s and a battle between good and evil. But at one bit, a very young, poss pre teen girl, gets her period and I couldn't get past other stuff I'd read that said girls actually menstruated later than they do today, due to poor nutrition etc.

So anyway. Read Paradise Lost instead.

I’ve just finished The Midnight Library which I started years ago and couldn’t get into but started yesterday and finished just now. I know it’s a bit of a marmite book but I really enjoyed it.
ive now decided to try and finish all my incomplete books on my kindle, nearly finished Margot’s got Money problems which I didn’t love but I’m finding the last part pretty great and then im going to try to get back into Same at it Ever Was which I’d half read and found not gripping but I’m much better at reading in the heat! I always read loads on holiday so im channelling that in this heat wave!

Just finished reading Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. Engrossing read because the characters and place came alive very vividly to me.

Just started Fingersmith last night - sshhhhh! don’t tell me anything but gripped so far. The writing style is very engaging. Hope it keeps going similarly.

Ok I’m now going to make a terrible confession!!! The last few books I’ve read I’ve written a list of books from my tbr list that I’m interested in starting. And then I’ve presented the choices to ChatGPT and told it what mood I’m in, what books I’ve read recently and what I’ve thought about them.

I’m certainly reasonably sceptical about ChatGPT but I have to say it’s been spot on for my last few books. I’ve not always gone by its suggestions or just made my own choices entirely but I was quite surprised as I’ve previously found it a bit dodgy on getting books and authors etc correct. Either it’s improved or it’s got to “know me” better or I’ve just been lucky 😄. Also it’s kind of helped me get over my indecisiveness and not sabotage choosing by worrying I won’t enjoy a book.

Also this has been a useful way to get around the fact that I often find book blurbs can lead me to have a false idea of what’s to come and I try to avoid reading them. But then how do you choose?

I recently finished notes on an execution which I absolutely loved! So much so that my next book is girl in snow, by the same author - Danya Kukafka.

I also had a quick read of my phantoms because it's a relatively short book and I have posted about that elsewhere because i'm confused about it!

Last night I finished "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett.

It was brilliant but slightly let down by the completely tangential 'trans' storyline. The book was published around 2020-ish so I'm guessing there was some pressure on the author given the zeitgeist of the time. But it felt really clunky and moved the focus too far away from race and racial identity.

Next up is "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett.

Interesting to hear your view of The Vanishing Half @IceIceBabyBump as I've had it hanging round for a while but not got around to reading it.

I read Evelyn Waugh's 'Helena' which was a bit bonkers. The narration was like reading Homer but with dialogue by Bertie Wooster.

I followed that with Somerset Maugham's 'Up at the Villa' - a novella set in Tuscany just before WWII. A lot more action than I was expecting. Lovely cover.

Than I moved on to 'Servus' by Emma Southon, a look at slavery in Roman times. She writes in a matey, informal style which is engaging and warm, but in the end, I felt that it detracted a little from the weighty subject matter. She also conveys a lot of interesting information. However... Did you know that slavery is bad? If you're in any doubt, this book will ram home the message by telling you countless times that she doesn't think slavery is a good thing. Just in case that hadn't occurred to you before.

Now reading another of Waugh's less well known works - this one is 'Edmund Campion: Jesuit and Martyr' - a straight biography/history. Well straightish as clearly, he's a big fan.

Next up will be 'Solcae House' by Will Maclean which is described as 'The Secret History meets The Haunting of Hill House'. Now, I love both of those so I'm bracing myself for disappointment, of course.

Reading 'Hamnet" too and struggling with all the nature references which come over as a lot of padding for a thin narrative. I'm far from averse to descriptive writing but blimey, this is getting on my thre'pennies.

Not good. It should have been called "The Woman", as all the others were poorly-developed characters.
In my mind's eye I pictured a spreadsheet for each scenario where the author would tick off the contemporary music playing in the background. It was that predictable.

@echt must say I preferred The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’F - but I’ll keep going with Hamnet and hope it grabs me at some point!

Just started reading The Hobart Hotel by Mary-Lou Stephens. Haven't read enough to know if I'm liking it yet. Next book will be The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue.

I started "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett over the weekend.
What a boring load of old shite.
My second DNF of the year

I've just started "The Idea of Perfection" by Kate Grenville. It's good so far. Not outstanding and some of the humour is a bit tiresome. But good.

I have absolutely no idea what's next.

I’ve just finished ‘Revolutionary Ride’ by Lois Pryce. It’s a recount of her trip across Iran on a motorbike, I’d bought it as was planning on going on a tour out there (though that idea has been parked for now).

Bought 4 books today from a secondhand site, so will now need to decide which to read next. I’ve never been able to have more than one on the go at a time.

I’ve just started Any Human Heart by William Boyd. I think I’m going to give up even though I’ve only read about a fifth. God it’s so dull!