Literature What are you currently reading?

Chryssie said:
Today I finished "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine" by Gail Honeyman. This is an amazing debut novel by a Scottish author published in 2017. Told in her own words, Eleanor's story is both hilarious and tragic. Eleanor is a quirky, socially awkward young woman but as she herself often proclaims, she is "fine." However, this is far from the truth and her tragic past catches up to her. Written with humor there are hints of some very disturbing issues which are finally explained. I really liked this book! It had me in tears at the end. Beautifully written and worth reading.
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I finally got around to reading this.
It was So Good.
Reminded me a bit of Cassandra in Reverse.
 
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I just did a search and I tried to read Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine last year and I could not get into it at all. I had read really good reviews.

I saw 2 books I want to read today on a finance site I'm on. He recommends books on finance and other subjects.

One is The Anxious Generation - How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness and The Trading Game. Both are about £14 each which seems expensive so I have put them on my wishlist and hope the price comes down.
 
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I have borrowed Die, Die Birdie and the Eleanor Oliphant one and will read them over the next couple of days.

@Lou - I like books that have romance and sex I am just not huge on the fantasy part... my favourite genre is one I just invented the word for romanterotic... although now that I google I see that it is word - loving sexiness with an awesome storyline and characters with depth...

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
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Emma JC said:
...romanterotic...
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A little trivia.
Historical Romances, you know the ones with lurid covers, were a driving force in the beginning of the e-book popularity - before 2007. It seems at first ebooks were not popular at all. Most people preferred real books. But one group of people, mostly made up of female public transport commuters, loved e-books. They liked the fact that people couldn't see the covers of the books they were reading. And these people read 1 - 3 books a week.
And they quickly realized that they would always have a book to read on the train. they could put as many as they want onto their reader - no need to carry a spare.
Plus they wouldn't have the embarrassment or hassle of going to the book store once a week and buying a bunch of them.

In 2007, apple launched the iPhone and Amazon launched the Kindle. E-books became mainstream. No turning back.
 
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Lou said:
A little trivia.
Historical Romances, you know the ones with lurid covers, were a driving force in the beginning of the e-book popularity - before 2007. It seems at first ebooks were not popular at all. Most people preferred real books. But one group of people, mostly made up of female public transport commuters, loved e-books. They liked the fact that people couldn't see the covers of the books they were reading. And these people read 1 - 3 books a week.
And they quickly realized that they would always have a book to read on the train. they could if put as many as they want onto their reader - no need to carry a spare.
Plus they wouldn't have the embarrassment or hassle of going to the book store once a week and buying a bunch of them.

In 2007, apple launched the iPhone and Amazon launched the Kindle. E-books became mainstream. No turning back.
Click to expand...

that is very interesting - thank you

if it hadn't been for covid I would likely still be reading hard covers and wow, would I have missed out.... so thankful for e-books!

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
I was not an earlier adopter of e-books. Like many I liked hardcovers. I was given a Kindle (touch) of a present about 10 years ago and then I didn't even use it much.

I'm not sure what got me going with e-books. It might have been that my public library got more of them. Or.... I remember one year I had gotten a Movie Pass. So I was going to the movies about once a week. My strategy was to go to the theater about an hour a head of time to get a good seat - then I would go somewhere to read for an hour. Carrying a hardcover book around was a bit inconvenient - much easier to just put the kindle in my pocket.
Not long after that I started preferring e-books to hardcovers. Now, I will even sometimes wait for the ebook to come out before checking it out.
 
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Chryssie said:
Today one of my co-workers gave me a stack of books that her friend had written and self-published. I knew they were not going to be "my thing" by just looking at the covers. LOL However, I sat down with the shortest one, a Christmas story, to see what they were like. OMG! The writing is absolutely awful! Ok, she can write complete sentences and it is not gibberish but the phrasing is so totally bad it was almost laughable. I hope she has a good day job because she can't write! Even the steamy sex scene was boring! I had to put it down as I will not waste my time with garbage. Maybe it is supposed to be satire? Now my dilemma is: should I be honest in telling my co-worker my opinion?
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Well, you can always be nice and just say that “it’s not the style of books that you like to read “
 
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I find hard cover books quite hard to hold up now I have osteoarthritis in my fingers. I do prefer proper books to a kindle in some ways, though.

I am going to finish the Michelle Obama book in the next couple of days.
 
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I read a new book that I picked up just browsing the new section. It is "Beyond All Doubt" by Hilton Reed. It is a thriller and I could see a movie being made from this action packed mystery. It is told in first person by Cameron, a widower raising his 7 year old daughter. His wife died tragically in a terrible car crash riding with her boss, who was under investigation for all kinds of fraud like that guy that just got 25 years in prison IRL. The car caught fire so the bodies were identified through dental records. But then Cameron sees a man who looks just like the dead man at the airport and he goes down a rabbit hole of intrigue and danger. Very good read that sucks you in!
 
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Chryssie said:
I read a new book that I picked up just browsing the new section. It is "Beyond All Doubt" by Hilton Reed. It is a thriller and I could see a movie being made from this action packed mystery. It is told in first person by Cameron, a widower raising his 7 year old daughter. His wife died tragically in a terrible car crash riding with her boss, who was under investigation for all kinds of fraud like that guy that just got 25 years in prison IRL. The car caught fire so the bodies were identified through dental records. But then Cameron sees a man who looks just like the dead man at the airport and he goes down a rabbit hole of intrigue and danger. Very good read that sucks you in!
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darn, it isn't in any of my libraries

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
I read another Mary Kay Andrews book called "Bright Lights, Big Christmas." It was a nice quick read. Another Hallmark channel Christmas movie, LOL There was no murder or mayhem just a little romance and family relationships. Just a nice little Christmas story. Her books are a feel good read.
 
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I started the Riley Sager book I got from the library. It is quite good so far, I'm going to carry on with it this afternoon.

The Only One Left.

Everyone believes that Lenora Hope is a mass murderer. When the Hope family was massacred decades ago, she was the only one left after that tragic night. Mute, paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora has never been able to tell her side of the story. Until her new live-in caregiver Kit brings her a typewriter. And with one working finger Lenora begins to type: I want to tell you everything.
 
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Emma JC said:
I am about a third of the way through - enjoying it so far, I just wish there was more joy and less angst. Thank you for the recommendation.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
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I finally finished it. I stopped and took several breaks to read other books. I just found the first half or two thirds too... as Emma put it.. . angsty.
But I read the last third pretty quickly. I'm going to put the second book on hold.
 
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Read another Harlan Coben called "Home." I had another one too but when I started it, I realized I had read it before. This one was published in 2016 and it is really good (as usual). Two 6 year old boys were kidnapped 10 years ago but an anonymous email sends Myron Bolitar and his very scary buddy, Win, on a quest to rescue them. Lots of twists, family drama, and action.
 
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