The Quasi-Official May Book Reading Game

[Geoffrey]

Just a bit of clarification - The book I finished and reviewed is Magic in the Wind.  I haven't gotten to Forever as yet.

oopsies

[akagriff]

Good point Tuttle.  I'm in agreement with you. 

[Berrytastic]

I was given this book to read as a part of a reading club challenge, and I will freely admit that I would most likely never have picked this book for my own reading pleasure.Sci-fi is really not my cup of tea maybe i dont have the imagination necessary or am too grounded in reality but i was given this book as a challenge and not one to shirk a challenge i got stuck in.

People generally dont like to admit that they were wrong but in this instance I am more than happy to admit it.This book had me thoroughly engrossed, i cared about the characters and whilst it was Sci-FI it was written well enough to have just about enough believablilty about it.

Half way through the book i went to amazon and bought a trilogy by the same author and as a consequence i think its fair to say that Michael R. Hicks may just have opened up a whole new genre to my reading interests


Thank you Michael and the Anna


Peter

[Tripp]

I just finished The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobbs.  All I can say is WOW, it was a complete surprise and I became so attached to the story.  The Amazon synopsis compares it to Authurian legend and while it feels like it, this is completely it's own work.  It is fantasy that reads like historical fiction to me.  Well done, Marguerite, I am off to one click the rest of the series.

Luv, I am now going to read The Madonna's of Leningrad and am looking forward to it.

[Annalog]

I was given this book to read as a part of a reading club challenge, and I will freely admit that I would most likely never have picked this book for my own reading pleasure.Sci-fi is really not my cup of tea maybe i dont have the imagination necessary or am too grounded in reality but i was given this book as a challenge and not one to shirk a challenge i got stuck in.

People generally dont like to admit that they were wrong but in this instance I am more than happy to admit it.This book had me thoroughly engrossed, i cared about the characters and whilst it was Sci-FI it was written well enough to have just about enough believablilty about it.

Half way through the book i went to amazon and bought a trilogy by the same author and as a consequence i think its fair to say that Michael R. Hicks may just have opened up a whole new genre to my reading interests

Thank you Michael and the Anna

Peter

Peter, I am happy to hear that you enjoyed Season of the Harvest enough to try In Her Name (Omnibus Edition). As with any other genre, there is a wide range of differences in how authors handle characterization and believability. The books I enjoy are ones where I care about the characters. Michael R. Hicks books are definitely ones I enjoy.
Anna

[Tuttle]

I read A Scattered Life yesterday. It's a book that I'd not normally read, but was appropriate after the darkness in The Hunger Games. I can't say that I'd normally enjoy it, but I can definitely see why people would, and its was completely appropriate for the time. Because I really don't have a strong opinion about it, its hard to write up a response to it though. Enjoyable, reminds me that sometimes I just like books about characters rather than plot, but nothing that has any strong emotional response.

[kaotickitten]

Ok so I just finished Rasing Jake.  My thoughts are mixed on this book. The characters were warm and heartfelt. Yet I felt that thir was a bit to much cusing in this book.   To me it seem the author would use a cuss word just o use one. Almost like hewas saying ha I'm an adult and can do what I like just to prove I will shove it in your face.  Don't get me wrong I usually don't mind cussing but it seemed there was atleast one or two cus words on every page.  I was taught early on from my english teachers tht if you have to cus your pont is not one worth making.  So it kept bringing me out of the cotext.  Also I think this guy had/has a thng with sayng God's name it was use more than any other word in this book.  I understand people say omg and the like, but how often does one say it.  It seemed that ths book was written just so he could cut down the cathoic religon, use God's name, and cuss, the story was an after thought.  The best part of this bok was the first two chapters and the last chapter.  That is because it is where he focuses on the story and not on pushing language in your face.  Don't get me wrong I truely don't mind language if it is usd properly, like Stephen King uses it. I will be starting Land of Ash (my second offered pick) tomorrow. 

[MissStar]

I finished Captivity last night...another good pick!  I liked the story, and am glad I read it.  I did spend the majority of the book hating the main character's brother, and there was a loose end or two that I wish had been tied up, but for the most part I really enjoyed it.  It really makes you think about animal testing and what happens to the animals when the tests are done.  Thank you!!

[Margaret]

I finished Captivity last night...another good pick!  I liked the story, and am glad I read it.  I did spend the majority of the book hating the main character's brother, and there was a loose end or two that I wish had been tied up, but for the most part I really enjoyed it.  It really makes you think about animal testing and what happens to the animals when the tests are done.  Thank you!!

You are welcome.  I am glad that you liked the books. The brother in Captivity was easy to hate. I was just glad that his sister learned how to deal with him by the end of the story.

[Geoffrey]

I finished The Cranberry Hush over the weekend and from the book blurb, I thought this was a gay-for-you m/m romance.  Throughout the book, the elements were there but the pieces didn't add up to the overall book I expected. I love it for that.  It took me by surprise and turned itself into a wonderful coming of age novel.

There were a couple places in the book where the flashbacks were a bit confusing but overall it's a well-written, well-edited novel and a great read.

I'm now reading Active Senior Life.  I started it yesterday and I'm about 40% through.  It's so far out of my usual genres that I'm surprised I'm enjoying it.  I thought it was going to be a wry, possibly snarky look at senior living - and in some places it almost is.  Mostly, its the memoir of a woman recovering from cancer and finding herself in a facility where she's 20 to 30 years younger than the rest of the residents.  It's a fast read and while I know most lives don't have plots, I keep wanting this one to have one.

[Geoffrey]

Ok so I just finished Rasing Jake.  My thoughts are mixed on this book. The characters were warm and heartfelt. Yet I felt that thir was a bit to much cusing in this book.   To me it seem the author would use a cuss word just o use one. Almost like hewas saying ha I'm an adult and can do what I like just to prove I will shove it in your face.  Don't get me wrong I usually don't mind cussing but it seemed there was atleast one or two cus words on every page.  I was taught early on from my english teachers tht if you have to cus your pont is not one worth making.  So it kept bringing me out of the cotext.  Also I think this guy had/has a thng with sayng God's name it was use more than any other word in this book.  I understand people say omg and the like, but how often does one say it.  It seemed that ths book was written just so he could cut down the cathoic religon, use God's name, and cuss, the story was an after thought.  The best part of this bok was the first two chapters and the last chapter.  That is because it is where he focuses on the story and not on pushing language in your face.  Don't get me wrong I truely don't mind language if it is usd properly, like Stephen King uses it. I will be starting Land of Ash (my second offered pick) tomorrow. 

Well, I'm glad you didn't hate the book at least .... I don't notice swearing mostly because I'm a casual swearer myself .... I really hope you like A Land of Ash better.

[Geoffrey]

I finished Active Senior Life on the plane last night and let me just say for the record that I cried all the way to Frankfurt.  This went from a pleasant, very clean-cut memoir to the story of Jan's struggle through another cancer relapse.  The book itself was good and it brought up all sorts of issues from my mother and grandmother's times in adult care facilities and cancer and all that .... I never would have read this on my own, but I'm glad I did.

[Emily King]

I'm about 15% in to Pillars of the Earth - I'm really enjoying it, but this thing is REALLY long!  Geez!  It's just taking me forever to read.  I don't want anybody to think I'm not reading my book... I am!   

[vg]

I finished Active Senior Life on the plane last night and let me just say for the record that I cried all the way to Frankfurt.  This went from a pleasant, very clean-cut memoir to the story of Jan's struggle through another cancer relapse.  The book itself was good and it brought up all sorts of issues from my mother and grandmother's times in adult care facilities and cancer and all that .... I never would have read this on my own, but I'm glad I did.

Oh, wow, Geoffrey, I hope I didn't ruin your trip.  I came away from the book with a feeling that just because we age, doesn't mean that our lives can't still be active and filled with relationships and meaning.  My mom and dad didn't spend time in a facility like this, so I don't have the reference point that you do.  If you ever assign me to you again, I promise it will be a breezy, laugh riot kind of book that I pick.

As to my assigned book, Unbroken, I'm about 12% into it and wish I could sit and read it without interruption.  I am already invested in Louie and his group (also my dad's name - weird) and read each war story with trepidation.  I know at some point I am going to lose some of these guys, and I just don't want to!  I am getting a clearer picture of the world before and during WW2 and what life was like for these young men and their families.  When you look at pictures, everyone always seems so mature - it hit me last night that my mom and dad were just kids (early to mid 20s) when all of this happened.  My dad's service pictures have him looking like he's already a 40 year old of today.

[Marguerite]

I finished The Hunger Games last night, and really, my biggest reaction to it is questioning why its being so highly praised by everyone. It doesn't feel like an unusual dystopia, the comparison to The Lottery, is apt, and the biggest part that makes it really creepy is that these are children. It felt like nothing special. One of the bigger problems I had with it is the overwhelming "us vs. them" about the poor vs. the rich. Yes, they're trying to kill each other, but the poor are resourceful and smart, while the rich are just bloodthirsty savages who never develop a character beyond that. It feels like they are being presented as part of the evil that is the capital, rather than actual characters. The difference in money only makes this worse, because along with there being completely undeveloped characters, it starts feeling like its preaching about how money necessarily makes people evil through these character's blood thirstiness. On the upside for the book, I had to go back and read more because of having too strong of emotions after Rue's death.

It's far from a bad book. It's a book I enjoyed, and one which I would have recommended to people who like the style, with the warning about those with food are portrayed as mindless, but I really can't recommend it to people with how much I've heard people gushing about the book that feels like nothing is special about it.

I understand what you are saying about that I had the same thought except that I thought of it as the privileged and underclass or slaves.  I am glad that you liked it.

[Marguerite]

I just finished The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobbs.  All I can say is WOW, it was a complete surprise and I became so attached to the story.  The Amazon synopsis compares it to Authurian legend and while it feels like it, this is completely it's own work.  It is fantasy that reads like historical fiction to me.  Well done, Marguerite, I am off to one click the rest of the series.

Luv, I am now going to read The Madonna's of Leningrad and am looking forward to it.

I am so glad that you liked it!  Woo hoo!  I felt the exact same about it when I read it.

[Marguerite]

I read A Scattered Life yesterday. It's a book that I'd not normally read, but was appropriate after the darkness in The Hunger Games. I can't say that I'd normally enjoy it, but I can definitely see why people would, and its was completely appropriate for the time. Because I really don't have a strong opinion about it, its hard to write up a response to it though. Enjoyable, reminds me that sometimes I just like books about characters rather than plot, but nothing that has any strong emotional response.

fair enough.  Good but not great...I'l take it.

[drenfrow]

As to my assigned book, Unbroken, I'm about 12% into it and wish I could sit and read it without interruption.  I am already invested in Louie and his group (also my dad's name - weird) and read each war story with trepidation.  I know at some point I am going to lose some of these guys, and I just don't want to!  I am getting a clearer picture of the world before and during WW2 and what life was like for these young men and their families.  When you look at pictures, everyone always seems so mature - it hit me last night that my mom and dad were just kids (early to mid 20s) when all of this happened.  My dad's service pictures have him looking like he's already a 40 year old of today.

I'm glad you're enjoying it.  I listened to it as an audiobook and just didn't want to quit listening.  I normally only listen to audiobooks when I'm walking the dogs but I got a lot of housecleaning done while listening to Unbroken.

[Geoffrey]

Oh, wow, Geoffrey, I hope I didn't ruin your trip.  I came away from the book with a feeling that just because we age, doesn't mean that our lives can't still be active and filled with relationships and meaning.  My mom and dad didn't spend time in a facility like this, so I don't have the reference point that you do.  If you ever assign me to you again, I promise it will be a breezy, laugh riot kind of book that I pick.

No,  you didn't ruin the trip, but the woman sitting next to me kept looking at me sideways - I bet she's telling a story about a crying man too ... I got the same thing from the book as you about being active as well as a certain strength and joie de vivre.  and it ended really strong - I liked that it ended where it did.  ....   

Jan's cancer and the nausea and endless doctor visits and all that got me started - and it was starting before the white wine with dinner so it wasn't that.     I did tear up three times though.  The second one was the big cry but it was from a good memory.  It was when Jan mentioned people treating her like usual and not like an invalid.  it got me thinking of my last Christmas with mom; she helped me make Christmas Dinner even though she was going through chemo.  She wanted to do something normal so I set her to making the Deviled Eggs while we teased each other and joked all through the preparations.  The rest of the family and guests were in the living room and really only came in for snacks and fresh cocktails while we had our time together.  That was December 1993 and she passed away 6 months later.

I did have to change up my TBR list though to read a Discworld book to cleanse my palate ....

[kaotickitten]

OK so I read my second choice A Land of Ash.  I thought I would only be starting it today.  Nope finished it within a few hours of starting it.  Definitely a good book.  Well written.  I love apocalyptic fiction. Am only now realizing that I need to add apocalyptic fiction to my usually reads.  I am so greatfull you recommend this one. Probably would have stayed on my samples if you hadn't.  The stories in were either exactly what you imagine would happen or little bright spots. So once again thanks for this recommendation.

[Geoffrey]

OK so I read my second choice A Land of Ash.  I thought I would only be starting it today.  Nope finished it within a few hours of starting it.  Definitely a good book.  Well written.  I love apocalyptic fiction. Am only now realizing that I need to add apocalyptic fiction to my usually reads.  I am so greatfull you recommend this one. Probably would have stayed on my samples if you hadn't.  The stories in were either exactly what you imagine would happen or little bright spots. So once again thanks for this recommendation.

Hurray!   I loved it as well - and I think I read it in one sitting as well.

[Tripp]

I just finished The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean.  This was another huge success for me.  This novel tells Marina's story between WWII Leningrad and current time Pacific NW.  It is about memory and how Marina uses it to stay sane during the war and how she struggles to retain it as her elder self struggles with Alzheimer's.  The novel takes both story lines and weaves them together throughout to contrast between the two until they eventually merge as one reality.

Thank you for the recommendation, Luv. 

 

[Luvmy4brats]

I just finished The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean.  This was another huge success for me.  This novel tells Marina's story between WWII Leningrad and current time Pacific NW.  It is about memory and how Marina uses it to stay sane during the war and how she struggles to retain it as her elder self struggles with Alzheimer's.  The novel takes both story lines and weaves them together throughout to contrast between the two until they eventually merge as one reality.

Thank you for the recommendation, Luv. 

 

I'm glad to see you enjoyed it. It's been quite sometime since I read this, so may do a quick re-read of it.

[TJsmetana]

I haven't had a chance to read anything this month.  Life has gotten in the way with 3 surgeries, 1 college graduation and party, various medical appointments, and a broken truck.  I am still hoping I will have time while sitting around in a hospital waiting.

[Geoffrey]

Happy Sunday everyone.  I flew back home yesterday - and I did not bawl my eyes out over a book this time.  After an 11hr jet lag sleep, life is getting back to normal.  We're at the half-way point in the month and this is what we look like.   I think I updated everyone but I'm still a little dorked out so ..... lemme know if I forgot you:

Participant	Selector	Book	Author	Comments
akagriff	fadedrainbows	The Hunger Games	Susanne Collins	FINISHED - the book was good but I don't think it was great.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. there was nothing unique about the story.  i felt as if I was reading a season of Survivor mixed with a little bit of the Running Man and the short story The Lottery. As I posted earlier, The Hunger Games was an suggested reading for my son who is in 6 th grade.  ...  It's maybe an appropriate book for the high school reader but not the middle/jr high age student.
Annalog	kaotickitten	Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself	Harriet Ann Jacobs	FINISHED - I did enjoy reading this book. It was well written and kept me up last night because I wanted to read the ending before going to sleep. The book illustrated actions of good and bad people in that time in history from the perspective of a young woman from childhood through motherhood.
Berrytastic	Annalog	Season Of The Harvest	Michael R. Hicks	FINISHED - I will freely admit that I would most likely never have picked this book for my own reading pleasure.Sci-fi is really not my cup of tea ... People generally dont like to admit that they were wrong but in this instance I am more than happy to admit it.This book had me thoroughly engrossed, i cared about the characters and whilst it was Sci-FI it was written well enough to have just about enough believablilty about it.  Half way through the book i went to amazon and bought a trilogy by the same author
drenfrow	songbirds sis	Wild Indigo		FINISHED - I enjoyed the story but I thought the parts dealing with the Native American traditions was too heavy handed.  The author would go into such long descriptions that the story itself just ground to a halt.  I feel like since this was her first book and she had done so much research that she just felt compelled to put it all in the book.  ...  I did like it enough that I will probably continue with the series but I don't feel like I need to read the next one right now.  A good recommendation though, thanks.
	OR	Mist of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley	-
Emily King	Berrytastic	Pillars of the Earth	Ken Follett	-
fadedrainbows	SongbirdVB	The Help	Kathryn Stockett	-
Geoffrey	Leslie	The Cranberry Hush	Ben Monopoli	FINISHED - rom the book blurb, I thought this was a gay-for-you m/m romance.  Throughout the book, the elements were there but the pieces didn't add up to the overall book I expected. I love it for that.  It took me by surprise and turned itself into a wonderful coming of age novel.  There were a couple places in the book where the flashbacks were a bit confusing but overall it's a well-written, well-edited novel and a great read.
Geoffrey	vg	Active Senior Living	Jan Curran	FINISHED - It's so far out of my usual genres that I'm surprised I'm enjoying it.  � let me just say for the record that I cried all the way to Frankfurt.  This went from a pleasant, very clean-cut memoir to the story of Jan's struggle through another cancer relapse.  The book itself was good and it brought up all sorts of issues from my mother and grandmother's times in adult care facilities and cancer and all that .... I never would have read this on my own, but I'm glad I did.
kaotickitten	Geoffrey	Raising Jake	Charlie Carillo	FINISHED - My thoughts are mixed on this book. The characters were warm and heartfelt. Yet I felt that thir was a bit to much cussing in this book.   To me it seem the author would use a cuss word just to use one. ... So it kept bringing me out of the cotext.  Also I think this guy had/has a thng with sayng God's name it was use more than any other word in this book.  ...  It seemed that ths book was written just so he could cut down the cathoic religon, use God's name, and cuss, the story was an after thought.  The best part of this bok was the first two chapters and the last chapter.  That is because it is where he focuses on the story and not on pushing language in your face.  Don't get me wrong I truely don't mind language if it is usd properly, like Stephen King uses it.
kaotickitten	Geoffrey	A Land of Ash	David Dalglish	FINISHED - I thought I would only be starting it today.  Nope finished it within a few hours of starting it.  Definitely a good book.  Well written.  I love apocalyptic fiction. Am only now realizing that I need to add apocalyptic fiction to my usually reads.  I am so greatfull you recommend this one. Probably would have stayed on my samples if you hadn't.  The stories in were either exactly what you imagine would happen or little bright spots. So once again thanks for this recommendation.
KingAl	Tripp	Water for Elephants	Sara Gruen	-
luvmy4brats	Tuttle	Nation	Terry Pratchett	-
Margaret	Tjsmetana	Magic in the Wind	Christine Feehan	FINISHED - I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it.  On the plus side, I like the story of the seven sisters and I would suspect that each book in the series deals with one of them fulfilling her destiny and finding her true love.  ... The book moves quickly. I read it in one sitting. However, that is also the problem I had with this novel.  I felt that the author could have taken more time to develop her story and her characters.  The book seemed too short for the story that it tried to tell.
Margaret	Tjsmetana	Forever...	Jude Deveraux	-
Marguerite	MissStar	'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy	Leslie Langtry	-
MissStar	Margaret	The Gargoyle	Andrew Davidson	FINISHED - I really enjoyed it very much.  The first quarter or half was a bit hard for me to get through...not because of the style of writing (which was good) but because of the topic and the details.  I'm a very empathetic reader, and this author definitely gave enough details for me to be slightly uncomfortable.  However, I made it through that section and am so glad I did.  I found it very thought-provoking.  I am extremely glad I read it, so thank you, Margaret!
MissStar	Margaret	Captivity	Debbie Lee Wesselmann	FINISHED - another good pick! I liked the story, and am glad I read it. I did spend the majority of the book hating the main character's brother, and there was a loose end or two that I wish had been tied up, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. It really makes you think about animal testing and what happens to the animals when the tests are done. Thank you!!
MoyJoy	KingAl	Flowers for Algernon	Daniel Keyes	-
RavenclawPrefect	akagriff	Cutting For Stone	Abraham Verghese	-
songbirds sis	RavenclawPrefect	Crystal Singer	Anne McCaffery	-
songbirds sis	NogDog	Halting State	Charles Stross	-
SongbirdVB	MoyJoy	Gods Behaving Badly	Marie Phillips	FINISHED - It wasn't exactly the hoot I thought it would be, but I did enjoy the book.   I have always been interested in Greek mythology, and this was certainly a new twist!  The concept was interesting, and I think the author had some fun with how the gods would face living among mortals in modern times. There were some sad moments, some that made me laugh, and quite a few that had me rolling my eyes.  I loved the ending and am glad to have read the book.
Tjsmetana	Emily King	A Discovery of Witches	Deborah Harkness	-
Tjsmetana	Emily King	A Game of Thrones	George R.R. Martin	-
Tripp	Marguerite	Assasin's Apprentice	Robin Hobb	FINISHED - All I can say is WOW, it was a complete surprise and I became so attached to the story.  The Amazon synopsis compares it to Authurian legend and while it feels like it, this is completely it's own work.  It is fantasy that reads like historical fiction to me.  Well done, Marguerite, I am off to one click the rest of the series.
Tripp	luvmy4brats	The Madonna's of Leningrad	Debra Dean	FINISHED - This was another huge success for me.  This novel tells Marina's story between WWII Leningrad and current time Pacific NW.  It is about memory and how Marina uses it to stay sane during the war and how she struggles to retain it as her elder self struggles with Alzheimer's.  The novel takes both story lines and weaves them together throughout to contrast between the two until they eventually merge as one reality.
Tuttle	Marguerite	A Scattered Life	Karen McQuestion	FINISHED - It's a book that I'd not normally read, but was appropriate after the darkness in The Hunger Games. I can't say that I'd normally enjoy it, but I can definitely see why people would, and its was completely appropriate for the time. Because I really don't have a strong opinion about it, its hard to write up a response to it though. Enjoyable, reminds me that sometimes I just like books about characters rather than plot, but nothing that has any strong emotional response.
Tuttle	Marguerite	The Hunger Games	Susanne Collins	FINISHEHD - my biggest reaction to it is questioning why its being so highly praised by everyone. It doesn't feel like an unusual dystopia, the comparison to The Lottery, is apt, and the biggest part that makes it really creepy is that these are children. It felt like nothing special. One of the bigger problems I had with it is the overwhelming "us vs. them" about the poor vs. the rich. ... It's far from a bad book. It's a book I enjoyed, and one which I would have recommended to people who like the style, with the warning about those with food are portrayed as mindless, but I really can't recommend it to people with how much I've heard people gushing about the book that feels like nothing is special about it.
vg	drenfrow	Unbroken	Laura Hillenbrand	12% finished - I am already invested in Louie and his group (also my dad's name - weird) and read each war story with trepidation.  I know at some point I am going to lose some of these guys, and I just don't want to!  I am getting a clearer picture of the world before and during WW2 and what life was like for these young men and their families.  When you look at pictures, everyone always seems so mature - it hit me last night that my mom and dad were just kids (early to mid 20s) when all of this happened.  My dad's service pictures have him looking like he's already a 40 year old of today.