Thank goodness I’m not alone on The Goldfinch…I’m 3/4 of the way through, and have enjoyed parts of the story, but feel like it’s all over the board in plot and character development.
Heard interesting comments about Unwound (not sure of the author). Might give that a go…
I so agree on Goldfinch. She had me until he left Las Vegas. What’s annoying is how the reviews gush about this book. It feels like they are in in together to build it up.
Hmm..I liked The Goldfinch, although I agree about its length. It could have been several books and therefore much easier to cart around and hold.
I’m fighting through the middle of The Flamethrowers right now. Is there hope for the final third? I’m very close to returning it, unfinished, to the library.
I have mixed feelings about The Goldfinch. A friend told me that he hated all the characters so lost interest in what happened to them, but I liked something about all of them so I did care about what happened to them. I’m glad I stuck it out.
If you are a fan of Wodehouse and particularly of Jeeves and Wooster, I highly recommend Sebastian Faulks’ Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. Faulks says it is an homage and it is as close as imaginable to an actual Wodehouse story, both in plot and in Wodehouse’s amazing and witty prose. (I think Faulks was helped by using the TV version with Hugh Laurie as Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves as a model. You can hear their voices in the dialogue.)
In a different vein, the non-fiction book Wounded by Emily Mayhew discusses the lives and plight of the wounded and those who cared for them in WWI. Any time you feel like complaining, think of these men.
^Just finished the Faulks book and enjoyed it.
I’ve really enjoyed Dave Eggers’ “The Circle.” It’s about a young woman who works at a google/facebook type company and the influence of the technology…lots of reverberations in everyday life.
^I liked The Circle a lot, too. Though chilling–sort of an updated 1984.
I liked the Goldfinch. Maybe it was because I became totally immersed in it during three seven hour drives?
I just heard about The Goldfinch on NPR! Need to get it.
Someone upthread mentioned *The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics * by Daniel James Brown. I thought it was the best book I’ve read all year. Even though you know the outcome, the description of all the races was thrilling. The author does a wonderful job of capturing an era of poverty, neglect and hardship, describing boys who the reader can’t help but root for.
Gulp. By Mary Roach. She makes the science of digestion funny and entertaining.
A minor detour for this thread, but I know this is where the parent book lovers congregate on CC. We got a game called “A Dark and Stormy Night” for Christmas this year, and have played it every night since. It is a blast if you are a reading family. You hear the first few lines of a book, and have to name the author or title. They are in categories and you can ask the year published, so you get a little bit of a clue. We have had so much fun with it! Just thought I would mention it here, since I know people on this thread love books.
About to read 50 Shades of Grey since it was left at my house over Christmas. Not expecting an award winner, but I may not be able to resist picking it up. 
I just finished Longbourne, about the servants’ lives as Pride and Prejudice is taking place. I haven’t read the endless spinoffs on P&P, but this is really well done and worth a read if you are an Austen fan.
Got a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas and love it! My first read on it was Gone Girl. I loved that!
Then I read her other two, “Sharp Objects” and “Dark Places”. Wasn’t as impressed with those two books.
Anyone have any suggestions for someone who loves psychological thrillers but needs it to be well written?
intparent, when I was in high school we used to make that game for each other. I came across a copy of one recently and it brought back a lot of memories. “It was the best of times…”
But really I’m here to report I really enjoy Penelope Lively’s second most recent book Family Album. Like nearly all her books it’s about memory and consequence. How did doing x end up with y happening? This one is about a pair of mismatched parents, an au pair who never leaves, and the six children.And it’s about a house, a big old Edwardian house and the secrets (which is not much of a secret) it holds. I really liked it. Quick read, unlike the monster I’m reading for CC book club now!
Mathmom, they DO have quite a few Dickens books in the Pre-1900 Novel category.
^Haha, mathmom, I finally finished “the monster”…The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It’s good, but challenging!
^^I am 124th on the waiting list for The Luminaries. As I started at 220 something on the wait list, I figure that I’ll have finished reading it this time next year!
I think I will give Longbourne a try! Those kinds of books are really hit and miss with me but I really like the hits, so it’s always worth a shot. When I first joined this thread a year ago I was reading Death Comes to Pemberly, but I never could finish it.