Im really excited to start Funny Story but I have library books to read first 
Books #28
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Anybody read Shark Heart I can't seem to get into it and the short chapters aren't helping. Is it worth persevering with?
Ohh I really enjoyed this trilogy, much prefer this one to HB's more recent stuff. Do let us know what you think of the third.
Anyone read Dune? I've got it and I'm about 70 pages in, finding it challenging but want to keep on with it. Does it flow better as it goes?
Starting to think Emily Henry is just not for me. I've said here before that Book Lovers was a dnf, but I just finished Happy Place and meh. The start felt quite promising but it got so dull.
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The chemistry between the main characters was so dull, by the time they finally got it on I was so uninterested my eyes were just skipping through the scene. The whole book was just a group of people who clearly cannot communicate. They just fail to tell each other ANYTHING. I also thought it was building up to a big reveal of why he broke up with her and then it was just ....is that it?
I haven't read it but my partner read and loved it. He said he found it easier to read after he had seen the film though. He never managed to finish the book, but went back to it after the film and loved it. I know a lot of people don't like to see the movie before the book, though! Myself included.
even as a emhen enjoyer, i really didn’t like happy place. the main couple were just so badly matched imo. even at the end of the book, all of the issues still remained and they hadn’t really talked anything through. i hate reading a romance based book where you just feel like the central couple would be better off apart. the whole supporting cast were so annoying too.
i remember that when i read it the top goodreads review was something like “this book made me glad to be single” and i FELT that
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i made it to about 100 pages of dune many years ago and peaced out. that type of really intense sci-fi just isn’t it for me, and every book in the series was just so huge that it put me off.
Totally agree!! Also all of a sudden it was just like "oh I hate being a doctor I'll just quit and move to you". Which is fine but it felt a bit out of nowhere. I think she tried to hint about her not enjoying work but I think it could have been explored better. Also the friendships changing as you get older has SUCH interesting potential but wasn't done well here imo. Whewww end rant. The more I think of the book/characters the more wound up I get.even as a emhen enjoyer, i really didn’t like happy place. the main couple were just so badly matched imo. even at the end of the book, all of the issues still remained and they hadn’t really talked anything through. i hate reading a romance based book where you just feel like the central couple would be better off apart. the whole supporting cast were so annoying too.
i remember that when i read it the top goodreads review was something like “this book made me glad to be single” and i FELT that
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I also read This Family recently by Kate Sawyer, I didn't read The Stranding as didn't sound like my kinda thing but love love loved This Family. It reminded me a lot of The Most Fun We Ever Had which I know a few people here also enjoyed. I think The Most Fun is slightly higher rated for me, but really did enjoy This Family too. It's a multi-POV, all set over one day when one of the characters is getting married, but alternate chapters show flashbacks into the history of the characters/family.
He has fast become my fav author this past year. I read beartown last month and it's easily one of the best books I've read. He has a way of making you really KNOW the characters and feel everything they feel. That said I'm a third of the way through us against you and not that into it and I'm more drawn to the other books I've had on the go
that was exactly it for me too - like oh i’ll quit being a doctor and make a living out of pottery! a minor hobby that every mention in the book so far has indicated that i am not very good at! good job you make obscenely expensive furniture!Totally agree!! Also all of a sudden it was just like "oh I hate being a doctor I'll just quit and move to you". Which is fine but it felt a bit out of nowhere. I think she tried to hint about her not enjoying work but I think it could have been explored better. Also the friendships changing as you get older has SUCH interesting potential but wasn't done well here imo. Whewww end rant. The more I think of the book/characters the more wound up I get.
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I also read This Family recently by Kate Sawyer, I didn't read The Stranding as didn't sound like my kinda thing but love love loved This Family. It reminded me a lot of The Most Fun We Ever Had which I know a few people here also enjoyed. I think The Most Fun is slightly higher rated for me, but really did enjoy This Family too. It's a multi-POV, all set over one day when one of the characters is getting married, but alternate chapters show flashbacks into the history of the characters/family.
i mentioned it a little while back but i bought my mum a new book as a lil treat while out shopping and she apparently throws books around the room as she reads them because when she gave it to me to read i was like wtaf have you done to this i cannot read it in this state. anyway, that book was this family
maybe i’ll have to get over her apparently having sat on it numerous times and read it now!I agree, there was trauma upon trauma, some of which was unnecessary.
I did love the book but could have easily been cut shorter and still been great
i feel the same. i loved it too but there was absolutely a few moments in the final third (especially when THAT thing happened) where i was like oh come on because what more can truly happen to a person. i get it was meant to be about the cycle of abuse (in theory) but i think she pushed that past the absolute limit at points.
same i think tho tbh the choices are either ones I have had before or a lot worse than they used to be these days
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anyone else still have things on their Kindle they bought 5 yrs ago and didn;t know they had lolIt was looking at my own TBR and thinking why did you buy these? That sobered me
I enthusiastically agree with all of this!that was exactly it for me too - like oh i’ll quit being a doctor and make a living out of pottery! a minor hobby that every mention in the book so far has indicated that i am not very good at! good job you make obscenely expensive furniture!
i mentioned it a little while back but i bought my mum a new book as a lil treat while out shopping and she apparently throws books around the room as she reads them because when she gave it to me to read i was like wtaf have you done to this i cannot read it in this state. anyway, that book was this family
*removes dust jacket off hardback to keep it nice
I hated the end of Happy Place, it was infuriating and pretty unbelievable! I don’t usually believe fiction has any responsibility to have any ‘message’ but it didn’t sit that well with me that the main character just throws it all in to run after a man. How many pots is she going to have to tell to pay off her student loads??!
Anyone else read The Ice House by Nina Bawden?Was chosen for my work book club and i didnt fancy it .. then my contract was extended and the price went down to only £2.99 on Kindle so thought what the hell.. its just started and we have only just heard mention of the Ice house and I am bored AF already..
exactly?!! and everytime they mentioned the pots it was always with the disclaimer that she’s NOT VERY GOOD AT IT?! like i don’t get why, if emhen wanted to do a choosing between being a doctor and an artist kinda thing she didn’t make it clear that harriet was actually good at the art thing because how were we meant to support that choice? her student loans would have been ridiculous! and they never really addressed that wyn himself had essentially become what we were told he’d never wanted to be…. and we were meant to support that too?
wow i had a lot of repressed happy place thoughts
it was weirdly written imo because i don’t get how we were meant to see any of the decisions made by the main characters as sensible ones.
As a Classics fan, I found this video interesting. She sums up a lot of the problems I have with modern retellings, especially her points about Penelope and the importance of viewing myths in their temporal space.
ooo this looks like a really interesting watch! thank you, i’ll save it for my cooking soundtrack tomorrow
i’m a classics fan too and so many modern retellings don’t work for me. for one, i think you can only look at the same story so many times (like the trojan war, i don’t know how many angles are left to view it from) and, like you say, i think a lot of these myths don’t benefit or are not improved from trying to view them through a modern lense. when they’re done well, i really enjoy them, but i do find a lot of them quite lazy.
Thank you to you and @CommentBelow for this solidarityexactly?!! and everytime they mentioned the pots it was always with the disclaimer that she’s NOT VERY GOOD AT IT?! like i don’t get why, if emhen wanted to do a choosing between being a doctor and an artist kinda thing she didn’t make it clear that harriet was actually good at the art thing because how were we meant to support that choice? her student loans would have been ridiculous! and they never really addressed that wyn himself had essentially become what we were told he’d never wanted to be…. and we were meant to support that too?
wow i had a lot of repressed happy place thoughts
you're both articulating exactly how I felt reading it!- Status