ŷ������

Here is the Folder and thread to tell us what your monthly reads for December 2023 were. How did you end the year? ⛄🎄��

Please provide:
~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

Yet again, i managed to finish only one book this month. Bummer for me. Now that one of my major distractions, if i may call a two-month visit with/from my daughter such, is gone, i hope i'll be reading more next month. On the other hand, we still have a number of streaming channels available and my spirit seems to be weak.

The Lunar Housewife--Caroline Woods. I thought someone on this board mentioned it early this year but a search of posts doesn't agree with me. Regardless, this was a pleasant novel, set in NYC around the early 1950s. It includes suspicions of CIA involvement in publishing, the careers of most of the characters. Conversations between the main character, Louise Leithauser, her lover & publisher with James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway are shared, as well.

Sometimes between chapters are excerpts of the science fiction Louise is writing. In some ways it echoes her own precarious position in society, as a smart woman in an unfortunate situation. While those publishers she knows well poo-poo her novel, she finds a 60ish female publisher in New Jersey. This woman understands the subversive message of the novel but publishes it anyway because it encourages women to follow their own careers and not necessarily marry.

madrano wrote: "Yet again, i managed to finish only one book this month. Bummer for me. Now that one of my major distractions, if i may call a two-month visit with/from my daughter such, is gone, i hope i'll be re..."

I'm glad you got time to spend with Autumn, deb. Those precious memories are the most important of all.

Hi, I just got back into reading and the first and only book I read this month was Little Big Lies.
I actually came across the book because I watched the TV series. I didn’t now it was based from a book until I looked up the show and why it stopped. I’m so happy I found the book because I wanted answers. I got them but definitely not how I was thinking it would end. I really enjoyed this book.
Now I’m starting Afterlife - The Afterlife Saga by Stephanie Hudson (I actually bought all 12 books awhile ago on my kindle so now I’m excited to read them)

Welcome to Book Nook Cafe, Kylie !

Big Little Lies was a top rated book for me, too !

Here are my December reads. I tried to focus on books that would help me with our 100 Book challenge for 2023. That happily led me to some very interesting books that I normally would have passed by.


The Neighbor by Dean Koontz
Rate 3/5 Good
eBook - Short story
Malcolm and his sister notice a light next door. No one lives in the house. They decide to investigate. Good short story but not as scary as I've become to expect from this author.

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
Rate: 3/5 good
eBook
The author was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, author, poet and teacher. The focus of the book is how to use mindfulness and breath work in your meditation practice. When doing a task try to not let your thoughts go back to the past or the future. Which is normal, so don't beat yourself up about that. Just say, "thinking" and refocus. During your daily tasks try to focus completely on the present moment. Try not to let the mind drift. Concentrate on what you are doing. For example, when eating, focus on the food. What had to happen for it to be there etc. Don't read or watch TV while eating. When washing the dishes. Just focus on that. For example, think of the water. How does it come to you. What is the temperature? How does it feel ? I thought the book was good but I've read other books by the author that I felt were better.

Small Country by Gaël Faye
Rate 4/5
eBook - Very good
This is mostly a coming of age story. The story is based mostly on the author's own experience. However, he stresses it is not strictly autobiographical. Most of the story takes place in Burundi leading up to the civil war and the Rwandan genocide that took place over 100 days in 1994. Please don't be put off by the topic. The book isn't too graphic. The writing is really top notch. There is a section where the he discovers the joy of reading. It gives him a place of refuge in a world gone mad. I think this will resonate with readers.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Fiction
Rate: 4/5 Very good
This is a young adult book. So I am not the target audience. However, I enjoyed this epistolary novel very much. This debut novel was first published in 1999. It's a coming of age story. The plot centers around Charlie who is an introverted teen about to enter high school. The book consists of letters Charlie writes to an unnamed friend.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Non Fiction
Essays
Rate: 2/5
eBook & Audio book
Cathy Park Hong is a Korean American writer, poet, and painter. This is a collection of loosely connected essays. I read the eBook for all the essays except the last one. That I listened to the audio. I think for this collection audio is the way to go. The author explores racism, social justice, "capitalist white supremacist hierarchy" of the U.S. and racial self hatred. I felt she painted with quite a broad brush. I found the essays to be disjointed and confusing. They often felt like stream of conscience writing. I don't think this format served her well.

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
Historical fiction
eBook
Rate 3/5
It's the story of the Austrian actress Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler also know as Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was know for her beauty.
Hedy was married six times but the book covers only two husbands. Husband number one, Fritz, headed an munitions firm and treated Hedy horribly. Hedy, who was Jewish realizes he is supplying arms to Hitler and decides to flee. Unfortunately, the first half the the book is mostly about their romance and her looks and the sadistic way he treats her.
The second half takes place in the U.S. where Hedy resumes her successful acting career. During this time, Hedy, with no formal training, along with a composer and pianist George Antheil invent a frequency hopping technology that would aid submarines. Though the military refuses to use it. The story says they dismissed her ideas because she was female. Today her idea is used in cell phones. I think this section needed more explanation. For me, there was too much focus on her beauty and romance. I think Ms. Lamar deserved a book that focused more on her accomplishments.

December was a pretty good month. Finished 6 books, which actually surprised me. LOL! It's the best month I had all year.


Catching Moondrops
by
Jennifer Erin Valent

4 Stars

This is the 3rd in a trilogy. I've really enjoyed all 3 books. It's historical fiction and the characters are really lovable.

~~~~~~~~

The Next Wife
by
Kaira Rouda

4 Stars

Overall, this was a pretty good read. I figured out the twist about 3/4 of the way through the book, though. I was honestly expecting the ending to be a bit more shocking, but it wasn't. That part let me down. But it was a fast read.

~~~~~~~~


Mystery Maid
by
Hazel Smith

4 Stars

This was a quick, fun read. I like that the characters were diverse and entertaining.

~~~~~~~~~~


Unspeakable Things
by
Jess Lourey

3 Stars

I ended up being really disappointed in this book. It was interesting enough that I was able to push through and finish it, but the ending was such a disappointment. I kept reading because I was expecting something shocking, but never got that. And to top it off, the epilogue wasn't even in the book. You have to go to the author's website to read it. And guess what? It's just as disappointing as the ending of the actual book.

~~~~~~~~~~


Kittenfish
by
Brenda Lowder

3.75 Stars

This was a quick, fun read. It's an enemies to lovers story and for the most part, the characters are enjoyable. I did find that there were several things that were repeated in the book (worded differently, though). Sometimes it was feeling a bit redundant.

~~~~~~~~~


Rock Paper Scissors
by
Alice Feeney

5 Stars

I devoured this book! It was so good! It was a fast read and really kept me wanting more. Stayed up too late 2 nights in a row to get it finished. I love the idea that the author gave the characters the last name of Wright, when everything was "wrong". It's the 2nd book by Feeney that I've read and I've loved both of them. This one is now on my favorites list.

Hello everyone! I read four books this month.

The first book I read was Murder on The Orient Express by Agatha Christie. My full review can be found here.

Much like with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (another entry in the Hercule Periot series), I was genuinely impressed! It's so smooth, so subtle, and so interesting in the way that it builds things up, develops its characters, and establishes important information. It's so smart in the way that it makes the more eccentric and logical sides of Hercule work together to solve the mystery of who murdered the Ratchett guy. It's so respectful in the way that it takes what made previous entries work and improves upon what didn't. As you can tell, I love this. I think the only real issue was that, much like with Hamra and The Jungle of Memories, it has this thing where there will be parts left untranslated without any kind of hint given to help the reader figure out what they could mean.

If you want to know how to write a mystery or you just want a damn fine mystery to read, please check this one out!

Rating: A

Another book I read was Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy. I did a relatively short review on it and you can read it here if you'd like.

This is basically a recounting of the 1913 Voyage of the Karluk. It sucked. So, the word that best describes this book is "boring". I understand that this is non-fiction and the author really had a passion for the subject in terms of how detailed and accurate this book is, but books like What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions and Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law prove clear as day that you can indeed have flair while remaining factual.

While the detailed nature of Empire of Ice and Stone really helps in making the people involved in the expedition feel like more than just names in a book, it also demonstrates the problems this approach can have because man does it need some serious editing. Way too many needless inventory counting moments, way too many moments of the people involved eating pemmican, you get the idea. The bone dry writing style also doesn't help matters. I think I put it best in my review when I described it as such: "Dry. Dry as a southern-style biscuit from a crappy fast food chicken joint."

Rating: F

The third was Running the Risk by Ali Sparkes. My review can be found here.

So this is the second entry in The Shapeshifter series (the first being Finding the Fox). Yeah, there were a couple of things that were weird and didn't make any sense (such as a blatant inconsistency with how the shapeshifting system worked and an infuriating Deus Ex Machina), but despite that, I really enjoyed it.

For one thing, it does everything a great sequel should do by taking the elements from the first entry and elevates them. For example, I love how, even though (view spoiler)[Dax has basically mastered the ability to turn into a fox, (hide spoiler)] this book still manages to have him and the shapeshifting system evolve in ways that, for the most part, are believable. They're also interesting too, like how it (view spoiler)[explores how Dax deals with the fox's hunting instinct. (hide spoiler)] From (view spoiler)[her power-absorbing ability to the way that she kind of succeeds in her attempt to drown the entire college she and Dax attend in order to basically kill everyone so she can be the only kid with superpowers to how she'd been shuffled from foster home to foster home prior to attending the college, (hide spoiler)] the villain is so much more developed and so much more interesting compared to the villain of the first entry. I mean, wow! Elevating these elements also allowed this entry to take a lot more risks and do more of its own thing compared to the first, which I seriously respect.

Needless to say, I'm game to checking out the next entry!

Rating: A-

The final book was The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Holy shit was this bad! If you have the time, I go into way more detail in my review.

Anyway, this book was so bad, I couldn't even finish it. I couldn't even make it to the halfway mark. Keep this in mind. I'm the kind of person who will usually finish a book no matter how good or how bad it gets. But this? Oh God.

This book is not character driven. This book is not plot driven. This book has no drive whatsoever. I have never seen a book go out of its way to not develop its main character. Like, whenever it gets the chance, it will focus on literally any other character and even then, outside of like two or three of them, they don't get that much development either! So if the book doesn't care about its characters, why should I?

When you're making Lost Girls and Love Hotels look like a brilliant piece of literature, you know you've screwed up immensely.

Rating: F-

Overall, a month of extremes no doubt about it. The stuff that was great was really great and the stuff that sucked really sucked.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "December was a pretty good month. Finished 6 books, which actually surprised me. LOL! It's the best month I had all year.
Rock Paper Scissors
by
Alice Feeney
5 Stars
..."
I'm glad to see you had such a nice reading month, Kim.
Regarding, Rock, Paper, Scissors I know someone either here or YouTube or other social media gave a thumbs up for that book, too. Sorry, my memory is horrid. I'll check the book out on Amazon. Thanks.

I hope January is also a great month for you !

Hailey wrote:
"Overall, a month of extremes no doubt about it. The stuff that was great was really great and the stuff that sucked really sucked.
..."

A month of extremes for sure. I'm sorry you had some clunkers. However, I have to say your reviews of the bad ones made me LOL.

Endlessly.Kylie wrote: "Hi, I just got back into reading and the first and only book I read this month was Little Big Lies.
I actually came across the book because I watched the TV series. I didn’t now it was based from ..."

Great to read your post, Kylie. I like the idea that the tv show led you to the book, which answered your questions about the tv show. Neat!

I hope the Hudson book is as pleasing for you!

Alias Reader wrote: "Here are my December reads. I tried to focus on books that would help me with our 100 Book challenge for 2023. That happily led me to some very interesting books that I normally would have passed b..."

You had a good reading month, Alias. Your ending comment on the Lamarr historical fiction sounds about right. Sure, she was a beauty but the novel should have shown so much more, if for no other reason than to make the book worth the entire subject.

I'm glad you shared about these, Alias.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "And to top it off, the epilogue wasn't even in the book. You have to go to the author's website to read it. And guess what? It's just as disappointing as the ending of the actual book....."

The above quote is from Kim's comments about Unspeakable. What an odd choice for the author & publisher to make. The fact it, too, was a letdown makes it even worse. Had it been rewarding, maybe a reader's overall view would have changed. Pity.

Thanks for sharing about these, Kim. I've added the last one, from Feeney, to my TBR.

Darnit! I just lost the notes i made on each of your books, Hailey. I tried adding them as i read but forgot to "save" the last batch. Your reviews are thoughtful and full of valid opinions, which makes them interesting to read. I'm glad you shared them with us.

Here's what i recall for each book. Christie and many late 19th & early 20th century writers presumed their readers knew French, perhaps because knowing that language was a sign of superior education. For publishers today to NOT translate the words, even if they are not clues, illustrates how they really are not keeping the reader in mind, but their pocketbook instead. I'm with you on this translating issue.

Your dry biscuit quote for Empire was perfect. Well chosen, Hailey! Details are a joy for some readers & a pain for others. Usually, i like details, even about entertainment & meals, but sometimes they are too boring. I once read a book which gave the dimensions of the rooms, for pity's sake! Why????

Your review of Running, which you liked was neat because you noticed the contradictions and made observations, and even a way to correct them. It illustrates what a careful reader you are.

Finally, Bear was another unfortunate read for you & i'm sorry. Giving it up was a wise choice, lest it drive you crazy. Nonetheless, you made a point of telling us you liked the writing. This is quite fair, imo.

Thank you for sharing these with us. As always, it's great to see the reviews and learn your visions.

Alias Reader wrote: "Hailey wrote:
"Overall, a month of extremes no doubt about it. The stuff that was great was really great and the stuff that sucked really sucked.
..."

A month of extremes for sure. I'm sorry you ..."

Thank you, Alias! I'm glad to hear that my reviews of the awful books brought you joy.

In terms of the wildly varying quality of the books I read this month, I said in my author interview for The Book Smuggler's Den (which you can read here: ) that, "...some people will suggest consuming good media as a way to learn how to write good stories. While I do agree with this sentiment, I think people should also consume bad media as well. By consuming both good and bad media, you obtain a much more well-rounded understanding of how to write and how not to write stories." In other words, I try to view every book I read as a learning opportunity, even if I really hated it.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "December was a pretty good month. Finished 6 books, which actually surprised me. LOL! It's the best month I had all year.


Catching Moondrops
..."

Hello Kim. I'm glad to hear that your reading month was a mostly positive one.

That Rock, Paper, Scissors book is quite interesting. I read the blurb and the preview and I have to say, I was not at all disappointed. I'll have to read the entire thing some time soon.

As for Unspeakable Things, I wholeheartedly agree that the choice to not include the epilogue within the book itself was certainly a strange one. It makes me ask myself, "Was this an author decision? A publisher decision?" I can understand keeping bonus content like deleted scenes or concept art separate from the book, but an epilogue?

Hailey wrote: "In terms of the wildly varying quality of the books I read this month, I said in my author interview for The Book Smuggler's Den (which you can read here: ...) that..."

This was a very good interview, Hailey. You sound even wiser now than when it was shared '22, was it? The thought you've given to the process of your work is valuable. Thanks for the link.

Hailey wrote: In other words, I try to view every book I read as a learning opportunity, even if I really hated it.
"

Very wise.

I think that is why I finish most of the books I start.

~*Kim*~ wrote:
"Unspeakable Things
by Jess Lourey
3 Stars
I ended up being really disappointed in this book. It was interesting enough that I was able to push through and finish it, but the ending was such a disappointment. I kept reading because I was expecting something shocking, but never got that. And to top it off, the epilogue wasn't even in the book. You have to go to the author's website to read it. And guess what? It's just as disappointing as the ending of the actual book...."

I googled and found this by the author.

"This small-town Minnesota girl who grew up with snarly hair and bad teeth doesn't know how to process that sort of success. I'm trying to take it in small doses and remind myself that the book is no longer mine. It belongs to you, the reader. That's why I pulled -the epilogue from the book before publication."
----Unspeakable Things Epilogue - Jessica Lourey
Jessica Lourey

Still, it is a most curious decision.

While i agree a book belongs to the reader, in a fashion, this doesn't mean s/he doesn't offer an epilogue. Odd, that.

madrano wrote: "Hailey wrote: "In terms of the wildly varying quality of the books I read this month, I said in my author interview for The Book Smuggler's Den (which you can read here: ..."

You're welcome, madrano.

Alias Reader wrote: "~*Kim*~ wrote:
"Unspeakable Things
by Jess Lourey
3 Stars
I ended up being really disappointed in this book. It was interesting enough that I was able to push through and finish it, but the ending..."

Thank you for taking the time and effort to investigate this matter, Alias.

Though, I am confused by what the author meant by "I'm trying to take it in small doses and remind myself that the book is no longer mine. It belongs to you, the reader. That's why I pulled -the epilogue from the book before publication." Is she implying that the epilogue was so universally hated by the beta readers, that she excluded it from the main book, but wanted to have it be publicly available in some fashion?

Alias Reader wrote: "I googled and found this by the author."

She said this before the page with the actual epilogue.

"I removed this epilogue from the novel because I wanted Cassie's future to be written by you after you'd walked through the fire with her."

It then goes on to give the author's version of the epilogue.

Hailey wrote: "Is she implying that the epilogue was so universally hated by the beta readers, that she excluded it from the main book, but wanted to have it be publicly available in some fashion?"

This could be the case because I was really let down by it when I read it on her site.

Curious choice. She could have just written an ambiguous ending, rather than that.

Here are mine ...

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...


Dope by Sara Gran ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...


The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders by Ben Aitken ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...


Mrs Tim Of The Regiment by D.E. Stevenson ⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...


A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare ⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...

John wrote: "Here are mine ...

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...
."

Excellent review, John. I'm putting this on my TBR list. The opening paragraph that I read on Amazon about the snow sealed the deal for me.

Thanks for mentioning the audio. I listened to a snippet on Amazon. I loved the narration !

John wrote:
Dope by Sara Gran ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show....."

First, congratulations on a stellar December and your two 5 star reads !

Dope is one I will have to check out. Being a New Yorker, how can I not?

I've also added The Gran Tour to my list.

John wrote: "Here are mine ...

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...


Dope by [author:Sara G..."

Thank you for sharing your December books with us, John. I'll have to check out The House on Vesper Sands some time.

John wrote: "Here are mine ...

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

/review/show...
.."

Thanks for your reviews on these, John. I was particularly pleased with the comments on Dope, as i just checked that out of my library. Hurrah!

The cover art on House calls to me, as do your comments. We'll see. Your thoughts on the two travel books sound on-target to me. I want the titles to jibe with what i'm reading & Swallow doesn't seem to do so.

I'm going to add the book mentioned in the review, rather than the one reviewed, to my TBR. E.M. Delafield's book sounds good. Thanks for that title.

Good reading month, John. I'm glad you shared your comments on them with us.

I'm very late to this party, but here are the books I read in Dec 2023.

The Garden of Evening Mists (5 stars)
I discovered Tan Twan Eng when his latest novel, The House of Doors, was longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. I was immediately intrigued--I'm originally from Malaysia and there aren't many (any?) Malaysian writers who are internationally known. I loved The Garden of Evening Mists for its beautiful and evocative writing and for delving into complex aspects of Malaysian history--the legacy of British colonization, race relations, and the Japanese occupation during World War II. I'd say that 0.5-1.0 of the stars I gave it were for the meaningfulness and nostalgia (fair amount of use of local color) for me, specifically. It would've probably gotten 4 stars otherwise--the pace was sedate and the tone more cerebral than emotional, which made for more of an outside-looking-in experience than an immersive one.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (5 stars)
Magical realism isn't usually my cup of tea (I'm looking at you, The Lovely Bones), but the way Shehan Karunatilaka integrated concepts of afterlife, local lore/beliefs, and Sri Lankan history and politics into a story that, unexpectedly, became a tense page-turner toward the end really worked for me. Early on, I did a bit of background reading on the history of Sinhalese-Tamil relations, and that made a big difference in what I got out of the book. This was one of the very few books I purchased after having read it, so I can come back to it again.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (3 stars)
This fell short of my expectations but was at least entertaining enough that I didn't feel I'd wasted my time. I appear to be very much in the minority, but I found the main characters to be surprisingly shallow and uninteresting, resulting in the book failing to generate insights into humanity or what it means to have an impactful life. A real opportunity missed, considering the span of human history covered by this book.

I still haven't read The Garden of Evening Mists but I certainly want to, and I expect to enjoy it thoroughly. Thank you, Joy, for your take on it. I hope to be able to read it soon.

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I still haven't read The Garden of Evening Mists but I certainly want to, and I expect to enjoy it thoroughly. Thank you, Joy, for your take on it. I hope to be able to read it soon."

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, Kiki! I'm hoping my local library will add his other books to their ebook inventory so I can read them as well.

Joy wrote: "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (5 stars)
Magical realism isn't usually my cup of tea (I'm looking at you, The Lovely Bones), but the way Shehan Karunatilaka integrated concepts of afterlife, local lore/beliefs, and Sri Lankan history and politics into a story that, unexpectedly, became a tense page-turner toward the end really worked for me...."

Joy, i appreciated your comments on all three of the books you listed as December books you read. Oddly, though, the one which calls to me most is the one with magic realism, which i'm not fond of reading. However, the rest, that is, the afterlife and lore parts sound very good. I've added this to my TBR but have no idea when i'll be able to read it.

Again, thank you for sharing all your comments here.

Joy wrote: "Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I still haven't read The Garden of Evening Mists but I certainly want to, and I expect to enjoy it thoroughly. Thank you, Joy, for yo..."

Thank you, Joy. I think I'll like it a lot, and I've been looking forward to reading that book for a long time.

Joy wrote: "I'm very late to this party, but here are the books I read in Dec 2023.
"

Thank you for sharing, Joy ! You have a real talent for succinctly writing up your reviews. I enjoyed reading them very much.

I've seen The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on a lot of readers lists. But I've taken a pass as it didn't seem like it was for me.

Joy wrote: "I'm very late to this party, but here are the books I read in Dec 2023.

The Garden of Evening Mists (5 stars)
I discovered [author:T..."

Thank you for sharing your December books with us, Joy. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida sounds pretty cool to me.

For some reason, I feel like I've seen or heard of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue before, but I don't quite know where though.

@Deb @Hailey

If either of you read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's written as if the reader is Sri Lankan (or at least familiar with Sri Lankan history/culture), with many references not fully explained. The story is understandable as is, but some of the context and richness would be lost without a bit of background reading (just Wikipedia and some Googling).

I learned a lot about a country I knew almost nothing about and was appalled, once again, by what human beings are capable of doing to each other, as well as by my own ignorance of events that have taken place well within my lifetime.

Alias Reader wrote: "Thank you for sharing, Joy ! You have a real talent for succinctly writing up your reviews. I enjoyed reading them very much.

This is so kind of you...thank you! It's been such a pleasure to be part of this group and to participate in the discussions. And I've barely scratched the surface--I see there are also threads on travel, another thing I love!

Alias Reader wrote: "I've seen The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on a lot of readers lists. But I've taken a pass as it didn't seem like it was for me."

This was a pick for a book club I belong to. The other members have reading preferences that are quite different from mine. It's been great for diversifying my reading and I've discovered several gems along the way, but it can be hit-or-miss. :-)

Hailey wrote: "For some reason, I feel like I've seen or heard of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue before, but I don't quite know where though."

It was on the NYT bestsellers list for a long time and I think there are plans to make a movie of the book. Not sure if that's how you heard of it?

Joy wrote: "@Deb @Hailey

If either of you read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's written as if the reader is Sri Lankan (or at least familiar with Sri Lank..."

Will do, Joy. As i think i mentioned, i'm not sure when i'll be getting to it but the story sounds so different, i hope sooner, rather than not.

I know little to nothing about Sri Lanka, so it will mostly be new to me. The sole book i've read set there was Anil's Ghost--Michael Ondaatje.

madrano wrote: "I know little to nothing about Sri Lanka, so it will mostly be new to me. The sole book i've read set there was Anil's Ghost--Michael Ondaatje."

I was thinking the author's name sounded very familiar, and then realized he also wrote The English Patient (haven't read it, but saw the movie). Anil's Ghost sounds very interesting...potentially a different perspective/take on the same period of Sri Lankan history. Will add to my TBR list!

As i recall, i liked Anil for that different slant. I saw English Patient, too, but didn't read it. The movie didn't do much for me, so why bother?

Joy wrote: "Hailey wrote: "For some reason, I feel like I've seen or heard of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue before, but I don't quite know where though."

It was on the NYT bestsellers list for a long time..."

Hello Joy. It's possible, but I'm not entirely sure.

Joy wrote: Magical realism isn't usually my cup of tea (I'm looking at you, The Lovely Bones), but the way Shehan Karunatilaka integrated concepts of afterlife, local lore/beliefs, and Sri Lankan history and politics into a story that, unexpectedly, became a tense page-turner toward the end really worked for me.

Just now catching up with some older posts -
Joy, I've added The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida to my TBR, thanks for sharing!

You’re welcome, Lindsey. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it once you’ve read it!

I am so far behind with groups and I kind of forgot to get back over here and add my December reads. Planning on playing catch up for 2024 too. :)

So here we go for my December reads and I didn't read much at all. I only read two books in December. :)

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix - 5 stars
My review:
/review/show...

SLAY BELLS RING by J. D. Allen - 4 stars
My review:
/review/show...

I'm glad the two books you read you enjoyed. That's all that matters.

Marie wrote: "I am so far behind with groups and I kind of forgot to get back over here and add my December reads. Planning on playing catch up for 2024 too. :) ..."

I like the title & premise of My Best Friend's Exorcism. Clever. Your comments about friendship in our teens rings true. Thanks for sharing that observation, as well as the story line.

The collection of short stories was fun for those titles alone! LOL! "Down Thru the Chimney" crept me out just thinking of possible scenarios!

Alias Reader wrote: "I'm glad the two books you read you enjoyed. That's all that matters."

Thank you Alias! :)