Books! #2 What are you reading, recommendations & reviews

[Cheddar Chalpupa]

Verity by Colleen Hoover blew me away. The Chalet by Catherine Cooper is also really good with a nice twist at the end.

Verity is on kindle unlimited so i've just downloaded it thanks!

 

[silkytoes]

Shall definitely have to check those out. I love anything dystopian and end of the world-y in both books and films.

On the same vein, I’m currently reading Skin by Liam Brown and even though it came out pre-Covid, it could easily have been written about this pandemic. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Oh I think I have that on my kindle too, need to read it!

I felt the same about The Dreamers too - it came out in 2019 but was so spot on pandemic wise. Reading it at the beginning of 2021 meant I might have enjoyed it even more than I would have otherwise, because I was just so impressed haha.

 

[Notworthy]

I just finished Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. I read An American Marriage last year and hadn't really understood the hype and I couldn't get passed my dislike of the characters.

I didn't find that with Silver Sparrow at all, I absolutely loved it.

I loved An Amercian Marriage but didn't get the hype about American Dirt, it happens.

Has anyone read anything recently with a decent twist that actually SHOCKED them (and not in a so-shockingly-bad way)

I've been reading a lot of thrillers/page turners recently, which maybe is the problem as I'm getting good at spotting twists, but I'm just finding that nothing is landing for me and I end up bored. I read 'One by One' as a murder mystery and guessed whodunit by about page 8. I read 'Playing Nice' and was waiting for a shocking twist and nothing surprising or interesting happened, same with 'The Widow'. 'Blood Orange' was twisty but again, I found it a bit predictable. The last book I remember being truly surprised by was 'The Silent Patient'.

Playing Nice has been my least favourite JP Delaney but that might be because I read 3 of their other books quite recently. I thought The Perfect Wife was the best one.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Have you read any J P Delaney books, I love those 2.

Ive got a feeling I have... the name rings a bell. When I read books on kindle Im not good at retaining names

 

[Tit4Tattle]

Have any of you got kindle unlimited? There’s a few books I like that are on it but I’m not sure it’s worth the £7.99 a month....not when I have about 200 unread ones on my kindle already that just keep getting added to

 

[Geranium]

I’ve gone for The Aftermath

Ooh the Amazon first reads are out! It’s become one of my favourite days of the month Anyone picked their free book yet?

Thanks for the reminder

 

[CalatheaLater]

I really want to read Evelyn Hugo! I tried to get out the ebook from my library but apparently my county only has 1 copy of the ebook to loan and there's a 6 month wait for it! Now the libraries are open again I might go try get a physical copy. Is there a film coming out or something? I can't figure out why it has such a long wait.

I just read it, and I think it's popularity comes from it being in a genre were there aren't a lot of other books which fit into the niche (I'm trying not to spoil anything so sorry if I'm being vague!) so it gets brought up frequently in online discussions, leading to it becoming very popular!

 

[Eureka]

Has anybody read anything by Riley Sager?

I read Final Girls, it was pretty decent

 

[Katykatykaty]

I'm so glad you loved it too!! I felt the same about the ending. The author is hoping to write a sequel so fingers crossed we get to find out more in the next book.

It’s weird because I don’t know if I need an actual sequel. Perhaps just a newspaper article at the end or something that gave an update on where the world was at, where were the survivors etc. And also where did the main character go? I think I would read a sequel if it was released but it does stand well on its own as a single novel.

 

[Bubblesandflowers]

After finishing People like her on the weekend, I haven't picked anything else up. Not really sure what I feel like reading next. Might take me a few more days. One of my favourite authors has a new book out so might wait for it to go down in price before downloading it.

 

[Geranium]

Ooh that’s a really tough question. I’m just gonna go with what comes to mind first and not over think it. Basing these on what I remember genuinely being gripped by and not wanting to put down and then having it stick in my head afterwards ...

1) Bird Box by Josh Malerman - my heart was in my mouth at so many points and I was so genuinely terrified at one point that I can still picture it so clearly!

2) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I remember reading this on the first day of a holiday and I read it one sitting (I was up till 4am as didn’t want to put it down). I first read it 11 years ago and every few years I pick it up again and love it just as much as I did the first time.

3) Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig - this book changed my life and I just absolutely adore it. It helped me through several bad times in my life and I loved how easy it was to read despite such tough subject matter. I’ve bought it as a gift for so many people through the years to help them the way it helped me. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

I didn’t realise Bird Box was a book! I must read it. Loved the Hunger Games too. I remember starting it on Saturday morning and my husband getting angry with me because I didn’t get up until lunch time!

 

[HelloStereo]

Reading Pretending by Holly Bourne. About 25% of the way through and enjoying it so far.

 

[Libertine1975]

Not strictly just a bookish question but what’s everyone’s favourite book to movie / tv adaptation? Which ones have they done best in your opinion? And what books would make good tv and films that you hope they adapt at some point?

As others have said LOTR and Hunger Games are great movie adaptations (although Hunger Games does leave out a lot). The 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice is great and I really enjoyed the recent adaptation of Little Women.

I really like the Hitchcock film of Rebecca too.

 

[Geranium]

Not strictly just a bookish question but what’s everyone’s favourite book to movie / tv adaptation? Which ones have they done best in your opinion? And what books would make good tv and films that you hope they adapt at some point?

LOTR trilogy. I adored the books and was scared the films would not do them justice but they did.

I love a book called Greeen Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge. It’s set in both Guernsey and in New Zealand, it’s historical about 2 sisters who love the same guy and I’ve always thought it would be a wonderful series.

 

[Oohthedrama]

Euro Crime or UK based thrillers.

this made me laugh more than it should if you’re in the U.K. reading Euro Crime is half the book stopped at customs

 

[Marylou]

Ok so I've just learned that there was a TV series of TV Ice Cream Girls and the ending may be different to the book. Is this true does anyone know?

 

[Geranium]

Jane Casey is a crime writer I really enjoy. Her heroine is Maeve Kerrigan, who I really like. This a few books into a series though.

 

[kadykal95]

I'm reading so much lately and i'm buying them either brand new or used on amazon, in Tesco or Asda and i seem to be spending a lot of money! I've never used a Kindle before, but i'm beginning to think it might be cheaper for me to read on. Does it take awhile getting used to reading from it than an actual book? I've got an new IPAD can I read Kindle books for free on that?

 

[Geranium]

You might like the Lacey Flint series by Sharon Bolton after that.

Thank you

 

[Eureka]

Any audiobook fans here?

I'm looking for something good to spend my audible credit on, I'm stumped. I like most stuff but I'm looking for a book that works better as an audio book, I recently ear read the autobiographies of Trevor Noah and Eddie Izzard and they were so much better than the printed version