Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
Last week was pretty low key at our house other than trying to occupy the kiddos during days of rain from Hurricane Joaquin and Fall TV…
My husband and I might be giving up on Narcos after three episodes. We’re not super into it and it requires full attention (i.e. lots of sub-titles). I like to multi-task on the computer while watching TV, so I’m not sure this is a good fit. Nashville is back with new episodes, which I’m thrilled about, and I watched the series premiere of ABC’s Blood and Oil. I don’t know…things were just so obvious! I don’t watch much network TV (except The Bachelor/ette and Nashville) and this show just seemed to be missing the deft hand of cable TV. I’ll probably try a few more episodes to see if things improve.
As I mentioned in my September Round-Up, I’ll be teaming up for a third time with the lovely Anne Tollett of Hanover Avenue (check out our previous collaborations: A True Reader’s Library and White Knight Bedroom) to stock three different bathroom designs with reading material. Look out for this series starting on Wednesday, October 14.
I finished reading…
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (April 7, 2015)
This was a perfect book to recover from Did You Ever Have A Family with! Fun, snarky, and sparked some interesting speculation. Plus, it’s currently only $3.99 (for the Kindle version) on Amazon! Mini review to come.
Affiliate Link: Buy from Amazon
I’m currently reading…
Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart (September 1, 2015)
I’m about a quarter through this historical fiction about one of the first female deputy sheriffs in the country. It’s gotten great reviews, but I’m having trouble concentrating. I’m hoping things turn around.
Next up are…
Speed Kings by Andy Bull (October 20, 2015)
The true story of the American bobsledding team as they tried to win gold at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. This is technically one of my Nonfiction November books, but I’m starting early. Who says I can’t start Nonfiction November in September?!
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (October 13, 2015)
This is the 1970’s New York City epic that got a $2 million advance from Knopf. I read the Prologue and really loved the writing…we’ll see if it ends up being worth that $2M and its 944 pages.
City on Fire looks great. I’m looking forward to that one! Even though I loved Did You Ever Have a Family, I didn’t feel the need for a recovery book… at least in the sense I did with We Are Not Ourselves.
Oooh.. We Are Not Ourselves is another one that definitely demanded a recovery book! That one was tough!
I watched The Good Wife last night. I hadn’t watched it before. I enjoyed it. It looks like you have a nice variety of books lined up. Enjoy!
I haven’t seen that show, but have heard of it.
Oh, I can’t wait to hear more about Speed Kings. I love Olympic stories.
I started it today, but am less than 10% in, so hard to tell yet…check back because I’ll share updates!
$2M dollars in advance for a novel is a big gamble, so I hope it delivers. I’ll be sure to read your thoughts on it, though I don’t like the size of it. Oh! What we do to chase a great story!
I know, right?! Maybe they were paying by the page..ha!
Wow! I had no idea that City on Fire was 944 pages. Just call me Mrs. Intimidated and leave it at that. haha I watched Blood and Oil because a guy I went to high school with was one of the roughnecks in the movie. He was the eczema guy in the drug store. I’m not sure I’ll continue with it, either because it was so predictable with where it was going. I was hoping for another “Dallasn” to be honest. Stay safe and dry!
I watched episode 2 of B&O last night and I think I’m probably done with it. We just started Breaking Bad on Netflix and I’m way more into that one! Very cool that your friend is in the show, though!
I think I need a fun one too like The Royal We. I recently finished Did You Ever Have a Family too and wasnt as enthralled. So I need escape!
Oh no! Sorry to hear Family didn’t work for you. But, The Royal We is definitely a fun choice!
A $2mm advance? Holy cow. I have been reading it for a week and am still not at the 300 page mark. It is good but not “drop everything and read” good. I will be sticking with it, especially now because I want to see if it is worth that advance!
Haha – it’s going to take me forever to read too! Glad to hear it’s good, but wish you said it was fantastic! We shall see…
So many interesting things in this post- I hardly know where to begin!
I am ecstatic about your collaboration with Anne! That library last year was my dream. In fact, I need to go back and look at it again because I think that is the color I should have painted my office.
I have The Royal We on my hold list at the library and wish it would hurry up because I need some GREAT fun reading. Slumping hard.
Last but not least, I have started up with City on Fire again. No doubt Hallberg knows his way around a dictionary but the fact that I could put it down for over a week at the midpoint doesn’t bode well- not $2 million well. And, the only reason I started it up again is because I tore the ARC in half and so I can hold it now. Sacrilege, I know.
Yay – I’m so glad you’re actually using the library to work on your own house!! Anne will love to hear that! I think The Royal We would be a great slump buster…or good choice if your mind is cluttered with other things!
And – ugh – that’s not good to hear about City on Fire. I loved the Prologue, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m going to give it a shot for sure…but, I’m glad my expectations are getting tempered a bit. And – kudos for just ripping that thing in half…I’m not even bothering with the print version, so I commend you for even trying! Although, will definitely result in less toning of the biceps 🙂