The Book Thread Book • Page 95

yeah, he does that for all his books. you get used to it (i think) but it's still annoying af imo

 

I too have also tried and failed to read Blood Meridian

 

Any fans of Bill Bryson by any chance? Just finished At Home, and he has a knack of making just about any subject fascinating.

 

does anyone have any recs for modern authors that are similar to McCarthy or say Don DeLillo? I don't know any new authors really but I'd like to read some more contemporary fiction

 

Michael Cunningham reminds me of DeLillo a bit.

- By Nightfall
- The Hours
- Flesh and Blood
- A Home at the End of the World

 

thank you. I'll check him out

 

Been slacking for a week or 2, but just finished The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. It was fine, definitely didn’t love it. Thought it was kind of forgettable compared to Mrs. Westerway and Woman in Cabin 10.

Very excited to read the Sixth Wicked Child when it arrives Tuesday as well as go out and buy The Institute (Stephen King) on Tuesday!

 

I agree whole heatedly with Turn. The ending get very rushed and didn't really understand alot of the choices she made plot wise. I'll still read anything she puts out though!

The rest of the year for me I definitely plan to read those 2 you mention plus Stephen Chbosky and James Patterson when they release. I think that's about it for my end of year plan.

Anything else you're looking forward to?

 

Hanif Abdurraqib's latest poetry collection, A Fortune For Your Disaster, recently came out. It's incredible - dude's talented on so many levels. And since this poetry book was filled with so many allusions to Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, that made me wanna revisit the movie, haha.

Still working my way through Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann. It's basically like channel surfing through a midwestern wife's brain as she ruminates on American history and the absurdity of our present state. Ridiculously awesome.

 

on ducks do you have to like...stop in the middle of a sentence when you’re done reading?

 

It's not easy finding stopping points, haha. But i usually stop when the next page begins. It's easier to keep track that way.

 

Yeah I felt like it was super rushed? I had like 3 or 4 pages left and was like "ahhhh why then did all this shit happen?" and she squeezed it in right at the end. But yep I agree, I'll always keep reading her books!

But yeah honestly I don't have much of a plan to end the year. Definitely the two I mentioned, but I'm going to read Salem's Lot by Stephen King this October. Been putting it off for a while since I've usually been so busy with school in the Fall that I never had time to read it.

 

I'm reading "a silence of mockingbirds: the memoir of a murder" which is a book about a three year old girl named Karly who was failed by the system and died of abuse. It details how policy wasn't followed and she was repeatedly let down by doctors, child welfare, police, etc. It spawned a law called Karlys law. I'm familiar with the law and an extremely brief idea of how it came about but haven't read the nitty gritty about Karly. The unfortunate part is that I'm not like a huuuge fan of the writer's style who is narrating the events. It's devastating to read how Karly was failed and how many times they should've caught it and she would've been saved, and it's especially interesting because it's local. But I just can't help but feel it would really hit home if I enjoyed the writing more. It's clear the writer is very Christian and like that's fine, but the religious aspect bleeds in a bit for me, including her stating that ppl may have doubted the daycare providers concerns because she was a born again Christian and I'm like ehhhhh did they tho? Espesh in the area this story takes place? I mean the writer knows the ppl firsthand so maybe I should just shut up, but the book leans heavily on religious themes and I don't connect with them at all. I could see a lot of the v religious ppl I know who work with kids sobbing over the Christian and Faith references, but they don't land for me. The story is heartbreaking enough that it doesn't take away from Karly, but it's annoying when they narrate how the abuser wasn't suspected because he was a conservative who believed in family values, like but honestly yeah in this area it prob did play a part in it. I guess I just wished it was more critical of the way ppl were thinking that ended up in dismissing. Idk maybe it'll get there.

 

Yeah this continues being a devastating story told by someone who is inserting a lot of their own opinions. They pointedly included how the night Karly died the mom was out drinking and hooking up with a guy. The judge deemed that what the mom was doing at a party wasn't relevant to Karlys murder BECAUSE IT WASNT. But the writer seems v intentional and peeved with her inclusion of what the judge said. Like sry sis I know ur close to the story but the judge was correct in that instance?? It was completely irrelevant and clearly put there to shame her character, even tho drinking and hooking up doesn't equate to abuse or murder. Like omg this mom sux for many reasons u don't have to reach for other reasons. It's just weird. I feel like it isn't always outright, but that the key players in this story are v conservative and I don't even think it's purposeful, but it subconsciously bleeds into the narrative.

Also I've found two typos so far lol

Shame that such an important story is imo not v well written

 

@Colby Searcy I am starting the Sixth Wicked Child today!

 

You'll have to tell me how it is! It'll be a bit before I get to it, still have to finish Unsolved by James Patterson. A newborn in the house is killing my drive to get back to reading at the moment

 

Finished I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier last night. Read it because it was only $1.50 at a local bookstore and I remembered loving The Chocolate War as a kid, despite not remembering a single thing about it lol. I wanted an easy read after The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and thought this might hit the spot.

I really loved it. I don't typically read YA but I don't even know if I'd consider it that. The prose was thrilling to read- the first-person present tense added a lot of musicality and suspense. The ending was entirely devoid of hope though and knocked me on my ass. I recommend it for people into psychological thrillers and coming-of-age, mixed with a bit of government conspiracy shit.

 

The Institute by Stephen King is out tomorrow, the premise sounds pretty cool I'm looking forward to it.

 

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates comes out next Tuesday. Just finished an advanced copy and it's a fucking beautiful novel. Very much indebted to Toni Morrison's Beloved with a similar lucid, poetic prose. Also indebted to James Baldwin's eloquent rage.

I highly recommend it.

 

Mark Beaumont - The Man Who Cycled The Work

Now... I am not a cyclist at all. A guy in my work gave me it 3 years ago and it sat in my room for years until I moved out. I ended up reading it with the primary purpose to just say I had read it and give it back to the guy! However, it was a splendid read.

It follows a fellow Scot who aims to beat the Guinness World Record for cycling around the world. It is a fascinating book about him cycling himself around the world through some crazy places. The different characters he meets, the challenges he faces. It was a great read and had some really heartwarming moments of people who helped him or donated to charity on his behalf.

 

Started A People's History of the United States the other day and have been enjoying it

 

finished rereading Beloved over the weekend. Every bit as powerful as I remember. I had forgotten some of her more out-there experiments with language in the passages from Beloved's perspective.

almost done with Abdurraqib's A Fortune For Your Disaster, really great poetry collection if anyone's interested in that. I love that it traces different threads throughout the book by reusing the same name for different poems as the collection goes on. some lines I really love that I'll probably single out on here at some point.

Also picked up The Testaments on Monday and I'm really into it, already halfway through. this has gotten really good press for a sequel like this and so far it's definitely living up. I kinda fell off of the Handmaid's Hulu series but i was sad to be missing out on some of the story, so i'm glad we have this now

 

Just started The Sparrow. Excited to dive deeper into it.

 

@Colby Searcy I have finished The Sixth Wicked Child!

I will say I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the first book of the trilogy or even maybe the 2nd. In the spoiler I will put some thoughts (no actual spoilers just more of my reaction hidden if you don't want to read it before your own reading because I more so focus on my negative reactions to it and don't want to hinder your reading of it).

I felt this book was slightly messy. I felt more confused as the story kept going, parts of it didn't really stick or make sense, and I kind of wish we got MORE perspective from Sam. The majority of the book is a mystery of WHAT HAPPENED in the past, and I really feel like by the time of the reveal I was exhausted of waiting and waiting and waiting with all the turns/twists/details. I almost wish the reveal of the past events was revealed much sooner so I could understand fully why the characters were doing what they were doing. As standard in this trilogy there are twists, and sure there's a good one here that got me but I am unsure how I feel about it. I think in time I'll appreciate it.

I do enjoy how the diary of Anson is back like book one. However, the story told is obviously very important … but I wasn't AS into it because it takes a while to realize what is actually happening.

The overall three book story in the end is quite awesome as we really see the madness of a "serial killer" and the basis of why these murders happened, but it may take me some time to really appreciate it.

 

It's on my list but I just got The Institute and a couple more books from the library that I need to read before I get to this. I'll definitely let you know what I think once I get to it. Your thoughts make me less excited going in, hmmm.