|| IF Book Club : The Next Chapter || - Page 36

@Shreya:

Now I’m even more intrigued to read My Dark Vanessa & You Deserve Each Other. Hope I can get to at least one of them by the end of the year.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Truly Devious series. I’m really looking forward to The Box in the Woods but it’s going to be a while before the book comes out.
I picked up A Study in Charlotte hoping it would be on the lines of the Truly Devious series but was completely disappointed.

If you are interested in books with a high school setting, check out One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus if you haven’t; it’s the book that got me into mystery books set in high schools. The follow up book is decent read. Another good book is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I am yet to read the second book in the series.

@Shreya:

I am the type of person who gets excited for required reading 😆

Your teachers must have loved you 😆

Gillian Flynn is a good author, each of her books of are different from the other. I’ve read all her books and Sharp Objects was my favourite, character wise, story wise and suspense wise.

Based on the two books I’ve read, Celeste Ng handles family dramas well. Little Fires Everywhere felt a little superficial compared to Everything I Never Told You, which had a lot of heart. Read both her books, LFE was not a waste of time at all. It’s just that I went into reading the book with a lot of expectations and was a little disappointed.

Verity was a good book and so unexpected coming from Colleen Hoover. I’m considering maybe including a couple of CoHo books for the book club in February next year. Some of her romances are good and fast paced so I thought we could read more than 1 book in February.

The Taking of Annie Thorne was heavily inspired by Stephen King’s writing so maybe that’s why I liked it. Her other book The Chalk Man was strictly average.

I think I’ve read all of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s books (3 books) and they are all good. They are not the best but have some good and suspense filled moments.

Shari Lapena is another good author for psychological thrillers; a dependable author but not the best.

Originally posted by: Shanam_77

@anam I am so glad you like verity. Being a coho fan makes me giddy learning that.

I understand why people may not like alchemist. But i find it quite relatable. May be because I have a strong gut feeling system. Sometimes I get a hunch beforehand how things are going to go. And the alchemist celebrates this idea. There were pretty cool lines too like " it doesn't matter what goes into our mouth. What comes out matters the most".

Guys, you all recommend so many good books. I feel so pressured. This life times seems to short. 😔

"So many books, so little time"

Verity and It Ends With Us are 2 of my favourite CoHo books. I’ve liked other books as well, but these 2 are my favourite. Like I mentioned in my previous post to Shreya, I’m considering including 2 CoHo books as part of our book club in February. It depends on whether the others are on board with this idea.

I’m a little cynical as a person and read it a little late in life so I don’t think I could fully appreciate The Alchemist. My brother read it as a teenager and it’s one of his favourite books.

Trust me I feel the same way. When I see my mounting TBR I experience more pressure than pleasure when it comes to reading. I think we need to take it easy for a while and not get so worked up. I guess that’s easier said than done.

I’m proud of myself for finishing a chunker like The Shining even though it wasn’t a 700-800 page chunker but a reasonable sized one.

I think I’ll keep my review for the end of the month. I didn’t know if anyone else would be reading it so I thought give my review earlier. Since Diya is reading it now, I’ll keep my review for the end of the month.

@Diya:

Take your time to read the book. Just skip Shreya and my posts at the end of the month.

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.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Dont know why I didnt pick this up sooner.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins: This book was a wild ride. So many what the f**k is happening moments. Highly recommend.

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover: My favourite book of hers. I read Verity and Regretting you too. They were pretty good.

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou: True story about a Silicon Valley startup but it feels like fiction.

Disappointments:

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami: This is my second Murakami book after Norwegian wood. I hated it so much. It felt like he was trying too hard to make the stories seem deep. Only 1 or 2 stories were worth reading in my opinion.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf: I feel bad for saying that this book is a disappointment because a lot of people love it. Maybe im stupid for not liking Classics. They bore me to death. The ones that I really liked are Of Mice and Men and Siddhartha.

Didnt read The Shining because I was really busy this month. I hope I can read next month's pick.

Originally posted by: Anam...

Finished reading The Shining a couple of nights back. Will post my opinion in a while.

Well, are you gonna keep me in the dark about your rating till 31st? 😳😆

Originally posted by: Shanam_77

Hey Shanam! Call me Shreya. 😃

I have only tried 2 of Tarryn Fisher's novels. I loved one and dnf'ed the other. So, I haven't formed a strong opinion as of yet. I would like to get to her other books as well especially Mud Vein as it happens to be a favourite book of a friend. Have you read it?

Oh, I agree. Sarah Hogle's writing was very addictive. She does slow burn excellently and her second book seems to be a slow burn as well. It's totally one of my most anticipated reads of next year! Can't wait!

@Shreya @Anam You two go ahead with the discussions. I don't think I'll be able to finish this book in 3 days. I am liking the book this far; in fact, it's one of the few books that got me interested from the very beginning. So, I am definitely going to finish it, but it's still too long to be finished this quickly. 🤔

Originally posted by: 23Diya

@Shreya

I loved that the story delved deeper into the whole political part of it, but what made it less enjoyable was how predictable it was. I really don't like it when I can predict the entire story. The one thing that I liked in Mockingjay was Peeta's character. He was flawlessly good in the first two books, and I didn't like it. I actually liked Gale more in them. Well, I liked Gale in the third book too, but Peeta's character finally had some shades and I really liked that. About your question; I could totally see why Gale would go the way he did, but I can't imagine Katniss being with him after that last part. Besides, with what she went through, Peeta was the only one who could support her, not Gale (imo). (And that was me trying to be non-spoiler-y. Don't know if I managed it.😆)

Btw, who's your favourite character in the whole trilogy? Mine is Cinna. *spoilers* I loved how quietly rebellious he was. He was opposing the Capitol all this time but never went with all guns blazing. Instead, he let his talent do the talking. I always love intelligent characters more than others, and according to me, Cinna was a genius! The real hero, who practically made Mockingjay, and pushed the rebellion to a place where it spread all over the country. Even dead he was a hero.

(MILD?) SPOILERS BELOW

Katniss and Gale are too similar. They would not even last a month together. I cannot imagine Gale and Katniss genuinely being happy with each other at all. And, by the end of the trilogy, their friendship was also beyond repair. I honestly never really cared for Gale. He is so whiny. 🤔

Maybe I am just soft for mature and caring men but Peeta was a genuinely a good character. I am so glad you brought this point up- Peeta only seems perfect because the others' flaws were very visible. Like you said, his shades came to forefront by the end of the trilogy. He brings out the best version of Katniss. He makes her hopeful. She has a rigid outlook of life where every single thing is measured in a practical manner and Peeta's company makes her realize that life has more nuances than strictly right vs wrong.

Out of the trio, I love Peeta. I would die for him. I think I have made that quite clear. 😆 I like Katniss too. I rooted for her throughout the trilogy which honestly is rare for me as there would always come a time in book series I read where I just can't stand the protagonist.

Cinna and Finnick from the set of side characters. You have explained perfectly about Cinna. His designs played a MAJOR role in the rebellion. Like you said, he made the Mockingjay. His death was so brutal. And, Finnick. Ah, thinking about him makes me want to cry! I liked Haymitch too.