|| IF Book Club : The Next Chapter || - Page 33

Originally posted by: Anam...

@Shreya: I always kept putting off reading The Shining for later because of its genre and also because of the size of the book. I’m glad I picked it as a book club read so that way I have to read it. I remember you mentioning somewhere that you liked the book a lot so that’s what eventually made me make up my mind. I was planning to choose one of Stephen King’s shorter and more recent works as the pick for October.

The Shining is a chunky book, I agree. It's very lengthy with so many (sometimes, unnecessary) descriptions which kind of worked for this book, in my opinion as The Overlook Hotel is treated as it's own character. I will refrain till the last day of the month to discuss in depth. I do want to do a reread if I get time so that everything is fresh in my mind and also I can pick up the sequel before this year gets over.

Another Stephen King? Oh, I am excited. The Shining is the one and only book I have read from him.

Originally posted by: Anam...

Question for the day -

Which have been your 3-4 favourite books of the year so far? Books that you would really recommend to other readers.

This is a wonderful question! I am really eager to know all of your answers along with your least favourite book(s) too. If it's possible, please rank all of yours too. Not including any rereads, of course.

5. My Dark Vanessa by Kate E Russell. This book deals with dark themes and certain scenes are very graphic so I would not recommend anyone read this book without checking the trigger warnings. It explores the relationship between a teenage girl and her manipulative teacher. I remember being so drained of all my energy after finishing this book. Not necessarily a book I would ever reread but I think, it deserves a place in my Top 5 as it's one of the most impactful books I have ever read.

4. A Storm Of Swords: Blood and Gold by GRRM. It's the third book in ASOIAF series so I will avoid mentioning anything spoiler-y but this is Martin at his best!

3. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Truly heartbreaking and I can see myself rereading this story a lot more times! I feel this is a book where you will discover new things every time you read it.

2. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It's less than 100 pages but whoa! I still think about this book. This book has me interested in exploring more of Gothic fiction.

1. My favourite book of 2020 so far is You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle. The previous time a romance became my favourite book of that year was when I read The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. If you love a slow burn and enemies to lovers trope, please check this book out!

(Special mentions to The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, The Wicked King by Holly Black, Home Before Dark by Riley Sager and thanks to this book club, Where The Crawdads Sing)

My least favourite book so far has been The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, Final Girls by Riley Sager, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. Wouldn't call these books the worst but they were very, very disappointing!

Originally posted by: Anam...

That’s so cool. I feel that one should actually make an effort to read in more than 1 language. Reading in a regional language gives you a better feel of the setting and characters as compared to reading the same stories in English.

That is all true. It is really thanks to my mother who encouraged me to read in different languages. Indian literature is so vast, with famous works in all genres, it is hard to decide where to start. It's just so much easier to slip into old habits of reading only English novels. That's why I have now decided to read at least a few Hindi works (novels/short stories) every year. I know I can't do better than that. 😆

Originally posted by: Anam...

Question for the day -

Which have been your 3-4 favourite books of the year so far? Books that you would really recommend to other readers.

My favourite reads this year (in no particular order)-

1. The Hound of the Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle

2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

4. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

My worst reads of the year are-

1. The Fault in our Stars by John Green

2. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

3. Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins

Somewhere in between these two extremes fell a couple of books-

1. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

2. Pariksha (short story) by Munshi Premchand

3. Carrie by Stephen King

4. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

5. Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

Originally posted by: Mayashika

This is a wonderful question! I am really eager to know all of your answers along with your least favourite book(s) too. If it's possible, please rank all of yours too. Not including any rereads, of course.

5. My Dark Vanessa by Kate E Russell. This book deals with dark themes and certain scenes are very graphic so I would not recommend anyone read this book without checking the trigger warnings. It explores the relationship between a teenage girl and her manipulative teacher. I remember being so drained of all my energy after finishing this book. Not necessarily a book I would ever reread but I think, it deserves a place in my Top 5 as it's one of the most impactful books I have ever read.

4. A Storm Of Swords: Blood and Gold by GRRM. It's the third book in ASOIAF series so I will avoid mentioning anything spoiler-y but this is Martin at his best!

3. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Truly heartbreaking and I can see myself rereading this story a lot more times! I feel this is a book where you will discover new things every time you read it.

2. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It's less than 100 pages but whoa! I still think about this book. This book has me interested in exploring more of Gothic fiction.

1. My favourite book of 2020 so far is You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle. The previous time a romance became my favourite book of that year was when I read The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. If you love a slow burn and enemies to lovers trope, please check this book out!

(Special mentions to The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, The Wicked King by Holly Black, Home Before Dark by Riley Sager and thanks to this book club, Where The Crawdads Sing)

I have been planning to read ASOIAF for so long now, but every time I think about starting it, I am intimidated by the size of each book.

You have now inspired me to read The Yellow Wallpaper, again because of its size. 😆

I'm hearing quite a lot of good reviews about A Monster Calls. I wonder if I should add it to my continuously growing tbr.

Originally posted by: Mayashika

My least favourite book so far has been The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, Final Girls by Riley Sager, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. Wouldn't call these books the worst but they were very, very disappointing!

I haven't heard a lot of good reviews about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. That, along with the fact that I thought the HG series kept getting worse as it progressed, has me skeptical about picking about a new book set in the same world.

Also, I already know a major spoiler. 😵

My favourites this year also, includes" you deserve each other " by Sara Hoogle. It's a pretty perfect book. Highly recommended. Also I read the alchemist this year. Yeah i was very late to the party. But my mind was blown. I want everyone whether who reads often or not, to read this book. I am not into self help books but this one just stood out for me. The unhoneymooners By Christina Lauren, the wives by tarryn fisher and simply wild by K. A TUCKER were fun reads too.

Originally posted by: Mayashika

The Shining is a chunky book, I agree. It's very lengthy with so many (sometimes, unnecessary) descriptions which kind of worked for this book, in my opinion as The Overlook Hotel is treated as it's own character. I will refrain till the last day of the month to discuss in depth. I do want to do a reread if I get time so that everything is fresh in my mind and also I can pick up the sequel before this year gets over.

Another Stephen King? Oh, I am excited. The Shining is the one and only book I have read from him.

I’m halfway through and really liking the book so far. I agree, some bits are descriptive and I tend to drift off a bit while reading them so I have to re read those parts again. At this point the way the story is progressing I’m willing to forgive the slightly descriptive parts.

The next Stephen King will happen after a while. Now it would be an overdose.

Read Carrie and Pet Semetary, they are good.

@Shreya:

My Dark Vanessa is a book I recently added to my TBR because of Books on Toast. After your take on it I’m excited to read it even more.

A Monster Calls is also a book I’ve been intending to read for a while now. Hopefully I’ll get to it later this month.

You Deserve Each Other is a book I added to my TBR after you mentioned it as being one your favourite romance reads in the other thread.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a story I read for college and I’m thinking of re reading it because any story read for academic purposes is automatically boring in your head.
A Storm Of Swords: Blood and Gold: If I was into fantasy and if the size of the book didn’t intimidate me, this definitely would have been on my TBR.