Spring "What are you reading?" Book Thread

[pygmymom]

The author J.L. with the memoirs is possibly Jen Lancaster. If you like Jane Green and Emily Giffin, you would enjoy her as well.

Madeleine Wickham is actually a pen name for Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series, and she has several books under that name.

Mystery fans would enjoy Kevin O'Brien and Rick Mofina. If you're a Twilight fan, Stephenie Meyer is coming out with a Twilight novella on June 5.

I have just discovered an author named Kristan Higgins. She writes romantic women's fiction with quirky characters you just don't want to leave. I haven't chuckled so much since Shopaholic.

Now that I'm not working at the bookstore, I actually have time to read...

 

[4Pirates&APrincess]

Were they Jen Lancaster's books? I haven't read them but they are on my wishlist... Bitter is the New Black is the first book..

YES! Thank you so much to both posters who knew the name. I have been going crazy trying to remember.

 

[tessieg]

Just read " Bloodroot" by Amy Greene and loved it. About a few generation sof a family living on Bloodroot Mountain.
Now am addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse books, like a few others here!

 

[floridascgirl]

Here are a few books I've recently enjoyed:

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley - fun English mystery
"The Godmother" and "The Stepmother" by Carrie Adams - Chick-lit
"I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith - light fiction from 1920s
"The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall - LOVED this one! Can't wait to get more.

I've read the whole series and I just adore Precious Ramotswe. Did you know that they have the whole first HBO season on DVD? I checked it out at the library. Also, the latest title in the series will be released in hardback on April 20th.

 

[Kirby]

Yes, she did. This book is a part of the series, number 14... the character was introduced in Runaway Quilt, an earlier book. Only one of us in the club have read all her books. For the rest of us The Lost Quilter was our first by this author - but I didn't feel lost by not reading the other book first. But I plan on doing it now since I enjoyed the story so much.

Wow, 14! I'm so far behind. I've only read the first four or five. Didn't realize that there was so many.

 

[thebeesknees]

[/B]

I've read the whole series and I just adore Precious Ramotswe. Did you know that they have the whole first HBO season on DVD? I checked it out at the library. Also, the latest title in the series will be released in hardback on April 20th.

I had no idea! We don't have cable, so I never know what is out there. I'm going to check the library and see if they have it! Thanks!

 

[PinkRhombus]

I just finished the Princess Diaries series last night. All TEN books if you don't count the couple of supplemental ones Meg Cabot did.

GREAT series.

I have no idea what I'm going to read now.

 

[mom2brina]

Next up for April's book club read is Girl With a Pearl Earring. Haven't started it yet but need to get going on it.

We just got done reading The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini. Everyone in our Club absolutely loved it. It tells the story of a woman named Joanna, a slave who escaped along the underground railroad, but is captured again. It tells of her life at the beginning of the Civil War and how she plots to escape again through her sewing of a quilt.

Other books we've read (and that I can remember off the top of my head) are:
Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons
Three Cups of Tea
Kite Runner
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Bean Trees
The Kitchen Boy
The Other Boleyn Girl
Water for Elephants
The Time Travelers Wife
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Red Tent
The Secret Lives of Bees
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

All of them I really enjoyed... Some I never would have read and I have the wonderful women in my book club to thank for introducing me to some great stories and authors!

Right now I'm reading The Kingdom Keepers (started it a couple of years ago and never finished). In fact, I think I'm going to get off the computer and go read some!

Looking forward to getting other ideas from this thread...

I wanna join your book club!! I've read all of the ones in bold - and they were ALL good. I can certainly recommend them to others. I read The Red Tent when it was first published and I remember being so into that book that I could not put it down and when I finished it, it was like my life was a foreign country because I was totally 'there' in that book.

Another favorite series of mine is the Jane Auel books. Big, thick books that will take you to the neanderthal time. I wish I knew if she is ever going to publish another book.

 

[thewesterberg]

I wanna join your book club!!

I love my book club! It's an amazing group of women... there are seven of us plus a satellite member (one of our friends moved out of state last summer). Sometimes we Skype her in! I cherish our monthly time together and our friendship! Good friends + good books + good wine = GOOD!

I've read all of the ones in bold - and they were ALL good. I can certainly recommend them to others. I read The Red Tent when it was first published and I remember being so into that book that I could not put it down and when I finished it, it was like my life was a foreign country because I was totally 'there' in that book.

Isn't it amazing that books can do that to you? The Lost Quilter was like that... one of my friends said she was even having dreams about the story!

Another favorite series of mine is the Jane Auel books. Big, thick books that will take you to the neanderthal time. I wish I knew if she is ever going to publish another book.

My husband and his mom enjoy her books too... I haven't read them yet, but I might have to do that. I know they often talk about when she'll come out with another.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

In the past 2 weeks I have read:

Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah: Absolutely loved it.

House Rules - Jodi Piccoult: Loved the story but was dissapointed by the ending (like most of her books).

Still Alice - Lisa Genova: Excellent book about a Harvard professor who is diagnosed with early Alzheimers disease.

Currently reading Saving CeeCee Honeycut - Beth Hoffman. I am loving this book...was up until 1:00am reading it.

Next up: Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs

 

[hmack]

Finished recently - Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. I really enjoyed it, but should say that it's not rated "PG".

Life As We Knew It - my 15 y.old said that I, "HAD to read it" and it was really good. It stuck with me for a while after finishing it, if you know what I mean. Now we HAVE to get the next two in the series. they are by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

The last book that my book club finished was - 1000 White Women. I wanted to like it, but it just fell flat for me. Although someone else said that is was one of the best books that she's read in a long time.

We are currently reading - Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil.

Our next read will be The Girl Who Ate Kalamzoo by Darrin Doyle.


I think that the best book that I've read via my book club was Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. It's a different type of book, format wise, but it lends itself to a great discussion and it just a good overall read.

Also on my radar screen is The Help & The Weight of Silence.

 

[MandM-Mom]

In the past 2 weeks I have read:

Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah: Absolutely loved it.

House Rules - Jodi Piccoult: Loved the story but was dissapointed by the ending (like most of her books).

Still Alice - Lisa Genova: Excellent book about a Harvard professor who is diagnosed with early Alzheimers disease.

Currently reading Saving CeeCee Honeycut - Beth Hoffman. I am loving this book...was up until 1:00am reading it.

Next up: Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs

I started House Rules on Sunday and I just have not been getting into yet, I keep getting interrupted and only get a few pages down, I was hoping to start getting into it today but now I got a sick kiddo home so maybe later in the week

 

[carone0318]

I am about 30 pages shy of finishing Sarah's Key. I am really enjoying the book, it's sad at times but interesting too.

 

[NemoMOm]

I just finished Silver Bourne by Patricia Briggs, this was the 5th and just as great as the others. If you like the Sookie Stackhouse series you should give them a try.

A little note about the Stackhouse series, I first read the first book just as it cam out. I loved it so much that I did something that I never had before, i emailed the author. I asked if there would be more, she said she had perhaps 1 more coming out and if the books were popular, than they would reconsider the contract. Her publisher and agent did not thin the books would be popular and wanted her to stick to her m ystery books. Crazy, when you think how popular they are today

 

[mfortune]

I love anything written by Jennifer Weiner. Currently reading Best Friends Forever and almost finished. Really good so far!

 

[nunzia]

Currently, I'm reading The Terror by Dan Simmons which is a fictionalized account of what happened on the lost "Franklin Expedition" where 19th century ships were caught in the ice trying to navigate the Northwest Passage and all hands were lost. It's a horror story and pretty good, so far. DH is reading The Gathering Storm, 12th in the Wheel of Time Series, which I read and enjoyed last fall. On audiobook, we both just finished A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin, which was excellent (we're going to buy the remaining books in the series). I've just started listening to The Hundred Days, book 19 in the Aubrey-Maturin series.

Thanks for the Dan Simmons tip. I picked this one up for my free weekly book at work..we had more than one copy and it was on the shelf 3+ weeks, so I was able to get it. Looks good!

 

[hffmnheidi]

I am reading scrapbooking series from Joanna Campbell Slan and Laura Childs. They are entertaining mysteries.

 

[Jump4Joy8390]

I've just discovered Greg Iles..very good..and Lee Child has a new book in PB (I get a free PB a week at my second job, so seems wasteful to buy HB or oversize PB now) Dean Koontz is another favorite, and Restless will be out in PB soon as well as another Frankenstein

What a great thread! Believe it or not, I currently have True Evil by Greg Iles, Killing Floor by Lee Child and Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz on my nightstand! I'm halfway through True Evil, and am just starting the other 2. I tend to read 3 or 4 books at the same time, so I'm also almost finished Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.

I just finished Turning Angel by Greg Iles, which was also good, but not as good as True Evil, and The First Rule by Robert Crais. I love the Elvis Cole / Joe Pike books.

I'm also excited to read Harlan Coben's new book, Caught, which is being released Tuesday 03/30. His are always worth the wait!

I love everything by Harlan Coben - both his suspense novels and his Myron Bolitar series. Also, anything by Dan Brown and James Patterson are very good. It's so good to see that so many people still love reading! It's almost become a lost art.... I'm so glad that my DD is becoming a real bookworm, too!

 

[rainydayplay]

Hi, all! Just found this thread... I'm a total bibliophile -- I read a little bit of everything and buy new books when I need a pick me up.

Lately, I've averaged one book per week. (As a teacher, that just completely blows the minds of my middle school students.)

Recent reads: House Rules by Jodi Picoult. (Good, but I am getting to where I can predict what's going to happen LOOOOOONG before it happens in her books, which is the same result I got from reading too much Nicholas Sparks.)
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (Great...a little bit of a magical twist.)
Not MY Daughter by Barbara Delinsky (Good...pregnancy pact between 17 year old girls, and the mother of one girl is principal at the school the girls attend.)
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
Push by Sapphire
Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
After by Amy Efaw

That covers what I read in March...

Currently Reading: Kingdom Keepers (And I just read the part where the Small World animatronics come to life...)
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang (okay..that's the one I'm making my class read)

Upcoming Reads: Eighth Grade Bites is probably next. I'll have to give The Help another shot (It threw me because I had to read it out loud for it to even remotely sound right...I don't feel like the dialect was written correctly...) Burned, the latest installment in the House of Night series, comes out later this month. And I'm always up for more suggestions....

 

[Kirby]

I just finished Turning Angel by Greg Iles, which was also good, but not as good as True Evil, and The First Rule by Robert Crais. I love the Elvis Cole / Joe Pike books.

I love the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books too!