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

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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.