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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

What I’m Reading // What are YOU reading?

whatimreading

 

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Ehhh…a whole bunch of nothing.

I’m still attempting to read, but nothing is holding my interest. Truly. The only book I remember reading lately is Jojo Moyes’ new book.

And it was sweet and lovely…but just okay. I wanted the magic of Me Before You. Sigh.

Other than that I’ve read crap. Crap that I don’t even want to record on Goodreads because it doesn’t matter.

And I’ve been checking out books from the library, but they don’t even interest me enough to read them.

I guess you could say I’m in a reading slump. Or maybe exercise has taken my reading time. And that’s okay, but I would love to read a good book.

So it’s your turn. What have you read lately that you loved? I want something that will grab me and pull me in. I want something that I will immerse myself in. I want something GOOD. I don’t want to struggle. I want to be consumed.

Whoa. That’s quite the laundry list, no?

Go!

xo

s

 

 

Comments

  2. hmmm…i’m currently reading i capture the castle, a book on adoption, and about to start caught up in a story (a book about fostering a love of reading with your children.) and the to-read pile is SO very tall…as it should be!
    are you familiar with the blog modernmrsdarcy.com ? a primary focus of her blog is books, and she shares some great ones! she has a series called literary matchmaking where she takes a reader’s list of books (favorites, hated, and most recently read) and makes recommendations based on the list given.

  3. I really enjoyed the Language of Flowers, and am currently reading Expats. If you like historical romance at all, you might want to check out Roses by Leila Meacham. I normally don’t read that genre, but it was highly recommended by my BFF and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  4. Right now reading “Goodnight June” by Sarah Jio. Really like it although I just haven’t had the time to read as much as I’d like.

  5. Have you read the kids books: Wonder? it was really good, but very simple!
    Have you read the kids book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane? My favorite book in the world!
    I am going to give you a list of books my sil gave me and she always always has good choices when she passes them to me:
    The Book of You
    Fourth of July Creek (heard this was amazing)
    The Good Girl
    Everything I Never Told You
    The Blessings
    here are a few I loved:
    I’ll be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes
    The Art of Hearing Heartbeats & A Well-Tempered Heart by Maurice Sendek
    The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
    The House Girl by Tara Conkin
    A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
    This is where I leave You by Jonathon Tropper
    Keeping the House by Ellen Baker
    The Light Between Oceans
    The Bakers Daughter by Sarah McCoy
    The Language of FLowers
    The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (anything by Kate)
    The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
    All the LIght we cannot See
    and Savannah recommends Elanor & Park
    okay I know you probably read 99% of my list, but if there is ONE book on there, I guarantee you will LOVE it!!!!!
    https://listography.com/1103725350 my lists!
    I hope you find something soon!
    I am reading Jo Jo Moyes new one now!

  7. I agree, I have had a hard time getting into books lately too. Looked at my Goodreads & the recent stand outs were:
    Little Big Lies by Liane Moriarty
    One Kick by Chelsea Cain
    Hope you find something great soon!

  8. Read ‘Eleanor and Park’ by Rainbow Rowell, its a YA book, but such a wonderful story that translates to any age. I couldn’t put it down.

  9. I have been reading like crazy lately…but I will burn out too eventually. I really loved;
    Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
    The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
    Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
    The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsio

  11. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
    A wonderful book that will suck you in!
    She is a great author and her other books
    are awesome too.

  12. Just read Me Before You and loved, loved, loved it. It *is* a hard act to follow.
    I’m currently reading the new Jan Karon book, Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good (the Mitford series); if you’ve read that series in the past, you’ll like this one.

  14. A couple I have loved lately:
    The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry (bookseller on a little island)
    Tell the Wolves I’m Home (set in the 80s, about a girl whose uncle dies from AIDS and the relationship she forms with his partner)
    Longbourn (a sort-of P&P retelling, but about the servants’ lives)
    The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (I am SUPER picky about what kind of fantasy I’ll spend my time with. This was really good!)
    Have you read The Historian? It is a long & spooky read about vampires (but not anything like Twilight!). The first chapter is a little bit slow and then WHAM, you’re sucked in. So good!

  15. Here are the book club books from my island … you’ll notice there are a lot of British authors. Anything I’ve marked with a (*) was particularly good.
    The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson*
    The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton
    Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
    A Single Breath by Lucy Clark
    Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
    Instructions for A Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell*
    Wonder by R.J. Palacio*
    And The Mountain Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
    The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen
    Trespass by Rose Tremain
    A Widow for One Year by John Irving*
    The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman*
    Elephant Moon by John Sweeney*
    We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
    The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
    Longbourn by Jo Baker*
    The Husband’s Secret, Liana Moriarty*
    The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Serestad
    Life, Death & Vanilla Slices by Jenny Éclair
    The Thirteenth Torment by Pam Chambers
    The Boy That Never Was by Karen Perry
    Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie
    The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
    The Villa by Rosanna Ley
    The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion*
    I’m catching up on Jo Jo Moyes right now (The Last Letter From Your Lover, Me Before You and One Plus One)
    Good Luck!

  16. My book club books for October are The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch (my choice – a German author from Munich who writes about this area that I live in . . . in the 1600’s. Our book club is going to take a field trip to the Ansdech Monastery (BREWERY!!, which of course I can’t drink beer because I’m doing WLC) to review the book. It’s a 3-book series right now, so if I like the first, I’ll continue with the others.
    The other choice for October is: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

  17. I just finished the latest book “The Long Way Home” (the Inspector Gamache series) by Louise Penny (mystery) that just came out. There are 10 books in the series and I read them all pretty quickly (found them late after they were already out). I really like the series as it deals a lot with what drives people to do the things that they do and I usually don’t figure out who did it until the end!

  18. Encountered the exact same problem at the end of summer. Our girls headed back to school on 8/15 and 8/25. I checked out books from the library but they didn’t keep my interest. Until the latest book from my fav series (Mitford Book Series by Jan Karon) came out. Then I was happy to be reading again! Sadly, I devoured it in a couple days… Mitford’s first book was a little slow for me as they developed the town and characters, but then I couldn’t put it down and eagerly grabbed the next. Sweet small town, faith links, I appreciated it. Anyway, not sure what I will pick up next. Good luck!

  19. Check out Reamde by Neal Stephenson and The Circle by Dave Eggers. The first is kind of a thriller and the second is a take on how technology is taking over our lives bit by bit.

  20. Love these posts! I have often been in a reading slump too. We go to the beach for a month in the summer. I love sitting on the beach reading while listening to the ocean! I read
    “A Midwife’s Confession” by Diane Chamberlain
    “Digging to America”
    “I’d Know You Anywhere” – Laura Lippman
    “Beautiful Day” – Elin Hildebrand (and got to go to her book signing at Rehoboth Beach!)
    “Ladies Night” – Mary Kay Andrews
    I can’t remember what else I read! School/activities for the kids has started, so not much time to read now. A little before bed, that’s about it. Love to see what everyone else is reading!

  21. I just finishing a really great book – I smiled throughout the whole thing!
    “The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
    So good!

  23. So thankful you posted this. I feel much the same way and I usually read 2-3 books a week but cant seem to make myself finish even one lately! Read all of L. Moriarty’s books and really enjoyed them though it was a while ago. Maybe it is the weather 🙂

  27. did you read Why We Broke Up? you will read it in hours. it’s so lovely. Same for Eleanor and Park. Same for Wonder by R.J. Palacio. All are Young Adult and super-fast reads that are also meaningful.
    i liked The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared too but it wasn’t a super fast read for me, though enjoyable.

  30. These are the 3 I have not been able to stop listening to, even after my commute is over I’d sit on the couch and continue to listen because they sucked me in big time:
    Gone Girl (if you haven’t read it already, totally crazy plot)
    Middlesex (about a hermaphrodite that was raised as the wrong gender bc no one knew he was a hermaphrodite until puberty)
    Red Rooster: awesome badass WWII fiction

  31. Richman, Alyson “The Lost Wife”
    Kline, Christina Baker “Orphan Train: A Novel
    Hill, Lawrence “Someone Knows My Name”
    Kwok, Jean “Girl in Translation”
    Orringer, Julie “The Invisible Bridge.”
    Turner, Nancy E. “These is my Words – The Diary of Sarah
    Turner, Nance E. “My name is Resolute”
    Hoffman, Beth “Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt
    Kibler,Julie “Calling Me Home”
    These are all excellent from page one. We have talked before. We both loved “Room”, I think you also loved Cee Cee Honeycutt, if I remember correctly. If I am correct, we have the same taste so try these, you will thank me.
    hugs, Dorothy

  32. I love Sarah Jio’s books. They are all good but my favorite two are The Violets of March and The Bungalow.

  33. I read all of Rainbow Rowell’s books- Eleanor and Park, Fangirl and Landline. But Attachments by the same author is my favorite. Best read of 2014 has been The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

  35. The Story of Beautiful Girl . . . it is so hard to put the book down and I pick it up here and there during the day to try to get in a few more pages.
    I also love “Out of the Woods” by Lyn Gardner. It’s a youth book and so, so good.

  37. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult = Amazing. Or anything by her. I’m about to start The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I’m hoping it’s a great read. 😀 Happy reading.

  38. Stumbling across Goodreads years ago has been a godsend to me! I loved reading but had a hard time finding new books or authors. Four years and about 1000 books later I do not have that problem.
    I don’t know what you like to read but here are a few suggestions: A piece of cake, Gideon’s gift, The girl with no name (INSANE!!), Stolen (by Lucy Christopher), Earned in blood..

  39. I have also been in a reading slump. Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I will be adding many of these to my Goodreads list.

  40. I’m in a slump too, but i wrote down your past few lists and read a lot of those, most really excellent thank you!! So I understand the slump. There isn’t even anything I’m super excited about reading right now. Slumps stink! When I find the book that gets me out of it I’ll let you know!

  42. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, starting with Northern Lights. He’s the very best storyteller there is, I kept looking up to say, “This is so good”. They really are amazing. You have quite a list now I think! I love to see what other people recommend. CJ xx

  57. Melissa Reed.
    First and foremost…you are AMAZING. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share these with me.
    Lots of these I’ve read and loved. Wonder (it makes me weepy just thinking of it), Rosie Project…etc.
    But there are even MORE I haven’t read. So thank you . You have single-handedly filled my Goodreads “To Read” list to bursting today. Next time I’m just coming straight to you!!! xoxo

  70. I need to read Eleanor and Park! that was savannah’s favorite! I knew you probably had read MANY of these! glad I could give you a few new ones! happy reading my friend!
    tara

  71. Currently I am re-reading (for the 4th time) the 3rd book in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. This is a series that I just adore, in spite of the vampires & witches. =) I’ll link the first book up for you here:
    http://deborahharkness.com/discovery-of-witches/
    After I’m done, I might go back and do a re-read of this one, since the TV series that they’ve made out of the book is currently running on Starz. It has to be one of my all time favorites!!
    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10964.Outlander

  74. Have read two thrillers recently which were really good. ‘I am Pilgrim’ by Terry Hayes and ‘The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair’ by Joel Dicker.

  76. Stephanie, We Were Liars is my favorite book of the summer. READ NOTHING ABOUT IT. The end.
    trust me–you will love.

  77. I seriously adore these posts. I just wasted too much time on The Heiresses by Sara Shepard. I guess it was just good enough to keep me going, because I tried to give myself permission to give it up. And now, The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe. I think I really like this author, but the book isn’t exactly a happy-maker so far.

  78. I am reading the concluding book of the Discovery of Witches trilogy (The Book of Life). Love it so far. And then I have to indulge in the last Outlander book Written in my own blood. I started reading this series when we were living in London, UK and it just reminds me of the atmosphere there. While in Europe you must go to Scotland especially the Western Highlands. If there is magic or faries to be found here in Europe then you will definitely find some there 🙂 Have you read the House of Spirits by Isabel Allende? It is one of my all time favourite books. But other than those I am also a bit disappointed in the current books and did not find any new one that spoke to me.

  79. I second Cari’s suggestion of the Louise Penny novels…. they are amazing and very addictive. My boss recommended them to me and 10 minutes into the first book I was hooked.
    Penny has an incredible talent for developing characters that are quirky and compelling so that you can’t help but wonder what is next in the lives of the people of Three Pines, QC.

  81. I liked all books by Sarah Addison Allen, but my favorite is Garden Spells. For me, it was definitely one of those books that pulled me in, and kept me immersed, and when it’s done, you’re just left feeling good.
    Love reading everybody’s recommendations – thank you! 🙂

  82. Currently reading We Are Not Ourselves and cannot put it down. So good. Loved Light Between Oceans too.

  83. Currently reading Run by Ann Patchett and Americanah by (embarrassed I cannot spell or pronounce or currently remember the name).
    Recently enjoyed:
    Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore (like da vinci code for book nerds)
    Cinnamon and Gunpowder (female pirate kidnaps a male chef at cook for her at sea)
    All the Light We Cannot See (one of my favorite books of all time)
    This is Where I Leave You
    Non fiction:
    Carry On, Warrior –Glennon is amazing; you probably read her already
    Bread & Wine
    I need to bookmark this page for future reading ideas!