1Tosta
I am going outside my comfort zone a bit here and actually posting! In a group! With other humans! I'll chronicle what I read...the good, the bad, the ugly. But mostly good because I don't often tolerate anything notso enough to finish it. Here goes nothin'...
2drneutron
Welcome! I saw over on your profile you’re reading Hollow Kingdom. S. T. Is very popular here in the group! 😀
4Tosta
In no particular order, I will add just the full length novels I've read or listened to so far. I'm not going to bother with all the children's books (I call these my palate cleansers), cookbooks and art/craft books I plow through.
5Tosta
I listened to the audiobook version The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner. This novel and the narrator, Alana Kerr, were both so very good. Alana Kerr made listening to this novel pure pleasure. The story was a wonderful rollercoaster ride of figuring out what actually happened before, during and after the great San Francisco earthquake. The plot was implausible but made entirely believably. I really enjoyed this one.
This one is now on my favorites list as a 5 star novel. I would definitely like to read more by Susan Meissner and listen to more audiobooks narrated by Alana Kerr. A good narrator makes such a significant difference.
This one is now on my favorites list as a 5 star novel. I would definitely like to read more by Susan Meissner and listen to more audiobooks narrated by Alana Kerr. A good narrator makes such a significant difference.
7PaulCranswick
Welcome to the group!
>1 Tosta: Make yourself at home here. I'm pretty sure we are mostly humans too!
Will be interested to see what you'll be reading this year.
>1 Tosta: Make yourself at home here. I'm pretty sure we are mostly humans too!
Will be interested to see what you'll be reading this year.
8Tosta
>7 PaulCranswick: thank you!
10Tosta
>9 FAMeulstee: oh my, I'm not sure I have time to add all those. Possibly! Maybe the standout ones... :)
11Tosta
84, Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. Both were delightful. 5 stars.
12Tosta
Fabric Manipulation: 150 Creative Sewing Techniques ... As a quilter and garment sewist and embroidery enthusiast, I am always looking for ways to push my technique further and this book scratched that itch in so many ways. Not only am I starting a quilt integrating these fabric manipulation techniques, I can also use them in my future clothes making. I've tried a few from the book so far and the instructions have worked out perfectly with similar results to the book samples. This book is a lot of fun and is going to be a lifelong reference for me. 5 stars
13Tosta
The Alice Network ... spent some time reading through all the glowing reviews and wondered if these people read the same book I did. I did not like this book. The author repeated things over and over again. The two main female characters were completely unlikable. Even though Eve had somewhat of an interesting story, I can't put myself through finishing this book to find out it was and stopped at the midway point. If i had to hear Charlie talk about her Little Problem or call herself a whore or tramp or something similar one more time I would have been forced to light this book on fire. Seriously, she doesn't go more than two pages between these references. Nope. DNF at 50%. I give it 2.5 stars because it had a decent premise...but deplorable characters.
14Tosta
The Fair Fight: A Novel Omg omg omg this is one of those books where I get to the end and I want to flip back to the beginning and read it all over again. At first I was irritated at the carousel of varying viewpoints but I grew to love it because it enriched the novel so much. The descriptions of the settings in various social classes and the different language each class used was marvelous. Love this one so much! 5 stars
15Tosta
The Reading List
This was quite easy to read and enjoyable. The author really drove home the point that books help us figure out our lives or define periods of it particularly with the Beloved section. Oof. I have read nearly all the books on the list but when it came to Beloved, I was hurtled 13 years backwards to when I was in an extremely stressful part of my life and was given this book to read. I can't remember much about the book itself but just reading the names Sethe and Denver brought back that feeling of helplessness. Anyway, The Reading List rang so true for me. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author and I added ALL the books she recommended at the end to my reading list. 4.5 stars
This was quite easy to read and enjoyable. The author really drove home the point that books help us figure out our lives or define periods of it particularly with the Beloved section. Oof. I have read nearly all the books on the list but when it came to Beloved, I was hurtled 13 years backwards to when I was in an extremely stressful part of my life and was given this book to read. I can't remember much about the book itself but just reading the names Sethe and Denver brought back that feeling of helplessness. Anyway, The Reading List rang so true for me. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author and I added ALL the books she recommended at the end to my reading list. 4.5 stars
16Tosta
Joan is Okay
I am hard of hearing and sometimes my hearing goes out completely. Hearing people tell me this must be awful but it is quite peaceful and never bothers me like hearing sometimes does. When I read this novel, it felt the same as when my hearing is off. The main character, "Joan", is content to live life her way but everyone around her insists that it is better to live their way. This novel, while quirky and wonderfully subdued, has a quiet power to it that adds incredible strength to its straightforward addressing of racism and cultural differences. Joan quietly dispels the pressure to live to their standards, to "hear". This was a powerful book in 224 pages. It felt light but went very deep. 5 stars. Weike Wang is now on my favorites list.
I am hard of hearing and sometimes my hearing goes out completely. Hearing people tell me this must be awful but it is quite peaceful and never bothers me like hearing sometimes does. When I read this novel, it felt the same as when my hearing is off. The main character, "Joan", is content to live life her way but everyone around her insists that it is better to live their way. This novel, while quirky and wonderfully subdued, has a quiet power to it that adds incredible strength to its straightforward addressing of racism and cultural differences. Joan quietly dispels the pressure to live to their standards, to "hear". This was a powerful book in 224 pages. It felt light but went very deep. 5 stars. Weike Wang is now on my favorites list.
17PaulCranswick
>14 Tosta: That looks like one to look for. I guess you could say it packed a punch?!
Have a great weekend.
Have a great weekend.
19Tosta
January
Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide listened to audiobook narrated by John Cleese. 3 stars mostly because it's John Cleese, otherwise pretty standard creative advice.
The Birth of Venus: A Novel I really enjoyed this one but took a star off for the ending which didn't fit with the character that was developed and felt completely unbelievable. 4 stars.
Made-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture Under Late Capitalism I was an early reviewer for this book. I had no idea how to rate it since it was so far out of my purview.
The Book That Matters Most: A Novel 3.5 stars. Listened to the audiobook. It was just ok.
The Pull of the Moon 2 stars. I'm normally a big fan of Elizabeth Berg but this one fell completely flat for me.
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street loved it! 5 stars
Flora and the Flamingo kids book. 5 stars
American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West audiobook. This was good at first and well narrated but I lost interest 3/4 in. 3 stars.
Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide listened to audiobook narrated by John Cleese. 3 stars mostly because it's John Cleese, otherwise pretty standard creative advice.
The Birth of Venus: A Novel I really enjoyed this one but took a star off for the ending which didn't fit with the character that was developed and felt completely unbelievable. 4 stars.
Made-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture Under Late Capitalism I was an early reviewer for this book. I had no idea how to rate it since it was so far out of my purview.
The Book That Matters Most: A Novel 3.5 stars. Listened to the audiobook. It was just ok.
The Pull of the Moon 2 stars. I'm normally a big fan of Elizabeth Berg but this one fell completely flat for me.
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street loved it! 5 stars
Flora and the Flamingo kids book. 5 stars
American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West audiobook. This was good at first and well narrated but I lost interest 3/4 in. 3 stars.
20Tosta
2 more in January I forgot about
Both kids books
Dinosaur Lady 4.5 stars
When Cloud Became a Cloud 4.5 stars
Both kids books
Dinosaur Lady 4.5 stars
When Cloud Became a Cloud 4.5 stars
22Tosta
February 2022...
I live in the frigid northwoods of Minnesota and January and February were some of our coldest and snowiest months on record. I love snowshoeing and birding and photography but there were entire weeks where the windchill was like -35. I am a hardy northerner but even that is too much. So I dedicated myself to reading and listening
to happy, funny, uplifting books in February. I often struggled and quit a few early on that didn't meet those requirements. But here is my list of the ones I finished last month:
On Turpentine Lane this was a funny, odd, kinda romance but not really, kinda murder mystery but not really, book about a woman living in a small town with quirky characters. I listened to it in audio and enjoyed the narrator. 4 stars.
The Bookshop on the Corner ...this was a fun little fluff of a book mostly set in northern Scotland. It was happy and mentioned lots of books and was filled with delightfully odd characters. It is technically maybe a romance but it felt like that was far from the focus. It was more like a woman finds herself and happiness and place in the world. 4.5 stars.
The Maid ..I read this for Jenny Lawson's book club to see if I wanted to be in a book club (I don't lol). It had the elements I love with quirky characters and a socially inept main character but the character development felt forced and I wasn't that into the murder mystery. 3.5 stars
Early Morning Riser ...I ADORED this book. It was funny and I loved the pacing where it would jump ahead a few years every so chapters. Small town quirk with family relationships both biological and self made. I laughed out loud so many times and was so sad that it ever had to end. 5 stars.
Hollow Kingdom ...this is a really popular book about a talking crow in the zombie apocalypse. I felt the humor was almost too much and I just couldn't get into all the talking animals. It's not you, it's me I guess. 3 stars.
The Feather Thief ...I listened to this on audio and very much enjoyed it. It is creative nonfiction that is a deep dive into figuring out who stole feathers from a British museum. It was wonderfully researched, written and very entertaining. 4 stars.
The Portable Dorothy Parker ..I read the poetry in this as it has been sitting on my shelf for maybe 15 years. It was much better before I read it. I had built Parker into a feminist poet icon and that she was clearly not if her poetry was any indication. It all felt very hetero teen angsty to me focusing on getting together and breaking up and I just couldn't care. I made a reading challenge list for myself for the year and this met the classic poetry part. I was quite disappointed and wish I could go back to not knowing this. 3 stars.
I live in the frigid northwoods of Minnesota and January and February were some of our coldest and snowiest months on record. I love snowshoeing and birding and photography but there were entire weeks where the windchill was like -35. I am a hardy northerner but even that is too much. So I dedicated myself to reading and listening
to happy, funny, uplifting books in February. I often struggled and quit a few early on that didn't meet those requirements. But here is my list of the ones I finished last month:
On Turpentine Lane this was a funny, odd, kinda romance but not really, kinda murder mystery but not really, book about a woman living in a small town with quirky characters. I listened to it in audio and enjoyed the narrator. 4 stars.
The Bookshop on the Corner ...this was a fun little fluff of a book mostly set in northern Scotland. It was happy and mentioned lots of books and was filled with delightfully odd characters. It is technically maybe a romance but it felt like that was far from the focus. It was more like a woman finds herself and happiness and place in the world. 4.5 stars.
The Maid ..I read this for Jenny Lawson's book club to see if I wanted to be in a book club (I don't lol). It had the elements I love with quirky characters and a socially inept main character but the character development felt forced and I wasn't that into the murder mystery. 3.5 stars
Early Morning Riser ...I ADORED this book. It was funny and I loved the pacing where it would jump ahead a few years every so chapters. Small town quirk with family relationships both biological and self made. I laughed out loud so many times and was so sad that it ever had to end. 5 stars.
Hollow Kingdom ...this is a really popular book about a talking crow in the zombie apocalypse. I felt the humor was almost too much and I just couldn't get into all the talking animals. It's not you, it's me I guess. 3 stars.
The Feather Thief ...I listened to this on audio and very much enjoyed it. It is creative nonfiction that is a deep dive into figuring out who stole feathers from a British museum. It was wonderfully researched, written and very entertaining. 4 stars.
The Portable Dorothy Parker ..I read the poetry in this as it has been sitting on my shelf for maybe 15 years. It was much better before I read it. I had built Parker into a feminist poet icon and that she was clearly not if her poetry was any indication. It all felt very hetero teen angsty to me focusing on getting together and breaking up and I just couldn't care. I made a reading challenge list for myself for the year and this met the classic poetry part. I was quite disappointed and wish I could go back to not knowing this. 3 stars.
23PaulCranswick
>22 Tosta: The "frigid northwoods of Minnesota" - I am cold just reading that!
Keep warm and have a lovely weekend.
Keep warm and have a lovely weekend.
