I did enjoy it, but I like to read about dysfunctional families (nonfiction and fiction). I think it makes me believe that my family wasn’t as crazy and dysfunctional as some others.
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I am 2/3 done reading The Lacuna by the always-wonderful Barbara Kingsolver. About a half-Mexican/half-American young man during the 1930s and 1940s (WWII just ended at the point I’ve read) who spent a lot of time in Mexico with Diego Rivera, his wife Frida Kahlo, and their friends Leon Trotsky and his wife.
She does such an amazing job creating people and places.
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I read Paula many years ago and remember it was great. Allende’s story telling is always beautiful.
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I just finished Show Don’t Tell
I enjoyed it, but I have loved almost everything she has written. It is her second collection of stories (and for fans of Prep, there’s a long-awaited update to that story).
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I thought I had read all her books! I will put this one on hold. Thank you.
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I loved that book, but then I love all of her books.
Fun fact: she lives in my neighborhood. I figure I will run into her one of these days.
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I love her books, too. Her writing voice just speaks to me in a way that few others do. I used to follow her on X (before I deleted my account) and had a few interactions with her on there. She is lovely and gracious and witty and eloquent there, too…as expected.
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I’ve read all of her books too and didn’t know she had a new one. I like the short story format. You Think It, I’ll Say It was one of my favorites.
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I just finished the Women by Kristin Hannah and I could not put it down. This is typically not my kind of book as I shy away from war stories, but this was incredibly riveting and moving. Honest, gritty, real and so compelling that I devoured it.
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I liked it too. Some of the plot points were a bit far fetched, but the book really did a good job of describing wartime horribleness and an era that I am not quite old enough to recall.
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The Women was a letdown for me. The plot was interesting, I just thought the writing was not very good.
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I’ve talked with other readers who say the same thing about this (and other) Kristen Hannah books. Perhaps the writing style, combined with interesting plots and characters, helps make them quick reads.
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Had the same reaction to both Hannah books I’ve read (this and The Great Alone) - the setting /research (Alaska/ Vietnam war nurses) were really well done and I found those parts riveting, but the love stories felt meh and predictable. I would still recommend reading them.
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I’ve crossed Kristen Hannah off my-to-read list. Her books don’t work for me: depths of despair to rainbows and sunshine in the last 20 pages or so - at least the ones, I’ve read. I tend to get annoyed.
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Same. I got decently far into the Nightingale and was irritated by it. I did some light googling to see if the rest of the book was going to be different and decided not to finish. From what I’ve heard from others, I think I just don’t enjoy her style in general.
But I admittedly have a low threshold to DNF since I always have a queue of books at the ready. In the past when I’ve slogged through books I seriously considered ditching, it’s not been worth my time. Most of the time if I DNF it’s because I find the book boring.
I just gave up on Saturn Run by John Sandford. I was enjoying the story and plot a lot but I just couldn’t get over my annoyance at the billionaire playboy protagonist and his gross and objectifying interactions with some of the women.
Now I’m reading We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker, and enjoying it.
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I enjoyed that one a lot, even more than “all the colors of the dark”.
I never used to be DNF - but now I have no patience for even skimming books that are boring me. I recently gave up on “someone like us” by Dinaw Mengestu (I think it was a NYT recommendation). Though, I was just about to give up on my Amazon prime first read “tiny daggers” when it twisted and kept me going - ended up quite enjoying it, good beach /airplane read.
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I also have this one in my queue and I’m looking forward to it.
I just realized I have different criteria for DNFing, depending on the type of book and my expectations going into it.
If a book is dense and/or long and I’m just not enjoying or feel bored, I find I give up around a third of the way in, but only after a little googling to see if I should stick with it. I did that with Perdido Street Station. If a book is actually irritating me I’m more likely to give up without any googling, as with the character I mentioned in Saturn Run.
If the book is a little silly and/or short, then I’m more likely to see it through. For example, reading a Harlan Coben novel isn’t a profound experience, but I always finish those since I know exactly what I’m going to get from him and I’m just wanting something fun.
I also used to stick with books all the way through but found myself avoiding starting books because I didn’t want to commit. That’s when I gave myself permission to ditch a book. For example, I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell shortly after its release. I liked the writing and characters but it was boring and I kept waiting for the plot to develop. 1000 pages later at the end I was still waiting, lol.
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Ditto Harlan Coben (Myron Bolitar series)
Strong ditto for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
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I liked The Nightingale, but I understand why others might not.
Per giving up on a book, I liked this rule of thumb. Give it 50 pages before deciding. But… for each decade of age over 50, you can deduct 10 pages from the decision point. For example over age 50, 40 pages… over age 60, 30 pages. In other words, the older you are the more you know what you like. And life is short - in your 80s, you can ditch a book after 10 pages.
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I have less patience than that ; ). I downloaded a book last week that had no quotation marks and was filled with incomplete sentences. I didn’t even finish the first chapter.
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