I am torn about reading “Gone Girl” due to the varied reviews. It seems like people either love it or hate it. For those at each end of the spectrum, what did you love or hate about the book?
I am thinking about 11/23/63 for my trip to London, but might prefer a shorter book so I am not staying up on the plane and at night reading when I should be sleeping! Usually this is when I need a beach read kind of book.
Snowball, I may make your dilemma worse! I loved Gone Girl–not usually my type of book, either, but the characters were so well drawn and the premise so intriguing that I had trouble putting it down. At different points in the book you think you have it figured out, but trust me–you do not! The suspense continues until the very–and I do mean VERY–end.
I also loved 11/22/63–I have never read a Stephen King book before but since he decided to write a book in one of my favorite genres–time travel/fantasy/science fiction–I picked it up. Again, a very original and intriguing treatment of an event which was memorable in my life.
I think you should read both books.
I absolutely loved 11/22/63–one of those books that you don’t want to end. For a short but powerful book with a very different writing style, I suggest The Buddha in the Attic. I also enjoyed A Visit from the Goon Squad–that one has lots of fodder for a book club discussion.
For those of you who enjoy mysteries, I just finished one of the best ones I’ve ever read. “Trust Your Eyes” by Linwood Barclay. Wonderfully constructed, a terrific story, a mix of poignant, exciting, and clever, with a few twists that will truly surprise you. I was up until 1:30 this morning finishing the final 50 pages because I just couldn’t wait til morning to see how it ended.
For those of you interested in 11/22/63, we did that one in the CC book club. If you do a search, you can find the discussion. It was a good book.
I recommend “Gone Girl.” I finished it since I posted on it here a few days ago. I listened to it, however, and part of what I liked about is Julia Whelan’s narration. She really brought Amy to life for me. I listen to books just because she narrates. I chose “The Witness” by Nora Roberts because she narrated and really enjoyed it.
Has anyone mentioned “Before I go to Sleep” by S.J. Watson. Maybe I mentioned it - I enjoyed it.
^“Before I Go to Sleep” was last December’s College Confidential book club selection.
Snowball – I was impressed with the author’s intricate plotting in Gone Girl, but I didn’t care for either of the main characters. I am more in the liked it, but didn’t love it camp.
sharp objects is maybe even darker than gone girl…and then dark places is maybe even darker! i am glad i have read all three of her books, but glad i read them in this order…
gone girl, sharp objects and dark places.
i think she thanks her husband for sleeping next to her even though he knows how she thinks!
“For those who enjoyed (or wished for more) from “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, I am reading “Almost Somewhere” by Suzanne Roberts. Three women who just graduated from college hike the John Muir Trail. I like it much better than “Wild”. Roberts is more relatable for me than Strayed with her serious drug issues was.”
I wanted so much to like Wild. Found it self-indulgent. Especially the fact that the events happened a generation ago!
Angle of Repose is on my short list of favorites, along with Bucking the Sun.
Sew happy, I love Joan Didion, first discovered through her book about widowhood “the Year of Magical Thinking”.
Came home from Costco today with “Lady Alma and the Real Downton Abbey”. Time to quit posting and start reading!
That’s where I heard about it!
cartera45: I enjoyed The Witness by Nora Roberts also.
I haven’t read Gone Girl so am making no comparisons here, but I really liked Sister by Rosamund Lupton. I liked it better than Before I Go to Sleep, I think.
After watching the mini-series “Teach” on A & E recently (streaming, as I missed it when it was on TV), I just finished Tony Danza’s “I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had” (yes, Tony “Who’s the Boss” Danza).
This is a great book (just released a couple of weeks ago) as he shares his experiences as a teacher of 10th grade English in an urban public high school in Philadelphia. He actually was always intending to be a HS teacher, and that was his emphasis in college (he received a BA in History).
He calls the book “a love letter to teaching”. It’s really about the struggles that (especially) public school teachers face today. It’s real, and it’s poignant.
I have always liked him, and this series (7 episodes, available to stream on A & E) and now the book, have made me LOVE him! What an amazing experience he had.
dragonmom, The Year of Magical Thinking is on my night stand awaiting its turn in my fall line-up. 
Right now I’m re-reading Daniel Deronda for about the 10th time. 2012 has been my George Eliot year.
I admired Gone Girl, enjoyed the breezy prose very much and it moves swiftly. I just thought the premise and characters were too preposterous to take seriously. Sometimes I don’t like a book much but the plot or a character will linger a long time in my mind and I start to ponder the book and decide it’s really good, after all. Not happening with this one.
I read *Before I go to sleep * and admired the plot but it didn’t seem to transcend the plot in any very meaningful way, or maybe I just didn’t grasp it.
Anyone reading any poetry? Fall makes me enjoy poetry. I’ve been reading snippets of Elizabeth Bishop.
In my opinion Where I was From is a wonderful sequel to Slouching Towards Bethlehem. I love how Didion reconsiders the stories and prejudices with which she was raised.
I am reading the new and the young: Just finished Eugenides The Marriage Plot and now have to go back and reread Middlesex which I barely remember. Also Smith’s White Teeth and On Beauty. I am enjoying these authors. Sometimes I even get their literary references.
What I am having a lot of trouble with is David Halperin’s new book How to be Gay. If someone on this thread has read it and can simplify all the various arguments I would really appreciate it.
i’m a little slow to the table on this, but i am currently in the middle of Rules of Civility. Can’t seem to put it down for anything!
ignatius – I liked Sister, and I really liked Lupton’s latest, Afterwards.
^^^
Sister caught me by surprise (its ending, literally): I liked it enough to purchase it after reading a library copy. I wanted to wait before I pick up Afterwards, since I didn’t want to compare, perhaps unfairly, the two books. I’m glad to see your “thumbs up.”
alh – thanks so much for the mention of Didion’s *Where I was from[/]. I used to read her avidly and just lost touch with her work of late. Have put it on my Kindle. Love the title. I feel as if it sums up my own life well.
I just read (listened to) a book that qualifies as “chick lit” but it really tugged at my dog loving heart strings and I enjoyed it. This is another one I chose because of the narrator. The book is “Stay” by Allie Larkin.
Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother’s Compulsive Hoarding. By Jessie Sholl.
Recommended by my SIL who I just learned recently also had a mother who was an extreme hoarder. So interesting and informative.