May Discussion Post
May. 18th, 2023 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thestoryinside
It's time for our monthly discussion post! This post will remain open for you to contribute at any time, so no pressure. Even if you didn't get around to reading any of your selected books or opted out of participating for the month, you're still more than welcome to take part in the discussion.
Please copy and paste this in the comments!
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Date: 2023-05-27 12:58 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you? Heartstopper: Volume 3 by Alice Oseman, Jack and Jill by James Patterson, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? I read Heartstopper and Twilight
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite? Hearstopper series hasn't yet disappointed me and it was, as always, excellent. Twilight however... if I had read the book when it originally came out I might have even liked it. Now when I'm a middle-aged mother of two? Not so much. Too much emo and teen angst and "I want to dieeeeee for my stupidly gorgeous vampire boyfriend!" going on. It was almost like reading a badly inserted Mary Sue fanfic. Eurgh. I was this close of not finishing the damn book.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Hearstopper yes, Twilight NO.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books? I read Knife of Dreams and The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan - only the last two books left in The Wheel of Time series! I also read Niki Lauda: The Biography by Maurice Hamilton - even if Niki Lauda was all kinds of awesome, this biography wasn't. It didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know about The King Rat, and kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
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Date: 2023-05-27 01:28 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you? Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, Then Again by Diane Keaton
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? I read Then Again by Diane Keaton and I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice.
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite? Then Again was all right as far as autobiographies go. I enjoyed the way Diane Keaton alternated between moments in her life and excerpts from her mother's diaries. But my favorite is definitely Pride and Prejudice even if I'm only a third of the way through it.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Yes!
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books? I read Steven Millhauser's short story collection Voices in the Night, Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer and Riley Sager's Lock Every Door.
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Date: 2023-05-28 04:43 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you?
Choice 1:"Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto" by Tricia Hersey (non-fiction/female author)
Choice 2:"Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim (thriller)
Choice 3: "That Inevitable Victorian Thing" by E.K. Johnston (Fantasy/LGBTQ+)
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? Yes
I finished Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
I'm currently reading Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite?
The two I've read/am reading are so very different from each other that it's hard to compare them.
I think Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto is fascinating in how it takes a radical view of taking care of yourself and frames it as an act against capitalism, white supremacy, and the patriarchy. Miracle Creek is a fictional courtroom drama playing out where characters aren't what they seem and motivations are murky.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Yes to the first - especially for anyone interested in intersectionality and Black voices. A cautious yes to the second - I don't know how it ends, so cannot say whether or not it will stick the landing.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books? Yes :)
Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson (for Star Wars Bookclub)
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Speak by Louisa Hall (for family bookclub)
The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
Dream Eater by K. Bird Lincoln
I actually gave up on Inciting Joy: Essays by Ross Gay - which was picked for me last month. I decided to send it along to my dad instead as it seemed like something he might enjoy and he mentioned hearing about it. I may revisit the essays I didn't get to one day.
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Date: 2023-05-31 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-31 07:22 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you?
1) The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (female author)
2) Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (classic, female author)
3) Don't Turn Around by Jessica Barry (thriller, female author)
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones?I only managed to read "Don't Turn Around" (which I enjoyed). I've been in another serious reading slump for most of May :(
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite?n/a
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)?I would, if you don't mind having some political/social justice themes in a thriller. I know a lot of people prefer this genre to be a light-hearted read.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books?
I have!
-> "Hour Of The Witch" by Chris Bohjalian (recommended)
-> "Perfect Prey" by Helen Fields (recommended)
-> "The Maidens" by Alex Michaelides
-> "Sein letzter Witz" by Arne Dessault (Murder mystery novel about a controversial comedian who gets both killed and has his feet cut off. I liked the way it was written, the fact that it took place in the region I grew up in so I could get some of the references, and the fact that each chapter was titled after a song. The author's dry sense of humour and the (sometimes not so) subtle references to real existing persons also appealed to me very much.)
-> "Tage voller Zorn" by Tuomas Oskari (This was an excellent Finnish thriller taking place in the near future, when the Finnish social system has all but collapsed and there is even more inequality in society than even today. A left-wing group is planning to stage a revolution, while the young prime minister realizes that he is just the puppet of a rich elite of old men, and starts to question if what he had been doing so far is right. Full of thrilling twists and turns, and with a way too realistic plot, this book had me on my toes. The ending especially left one thoughtful since it was, unfortunately, extremely likely.)
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Date: 2023-06-01 11:20 pm (UTC)"Hour Of The Witch" by Chris Bohjalian has somehow made it into my household (I noticed it at a local bookstore and recognized it from your list last month). I can't say I'll read it soon, but it might show up on a TBR list ;)
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Date: 2023-06-03 03:55 pm (UTC)That's great that you bought the book, and I hope you'll like it when you get around to reading it.