Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that asks bloggers to create Top Ten lists on a variety of bookish topics. This week’s topic is…
Top Ten Authors I’ve Only Read One Book From But NEED to Read More
Megan Abbott – I loved this summer’s The Fever and am not sure which of her earlier books I want to read next. Any recommendations?
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore – Bittersweet is my favor 2014 summer book and one of my overall favorites of the year. I’d like to read her first novel, The Effects of Light, which was published in 2005.
John Green – I’ve only read The Fault in our Stars, which was powerful and heart wrenching. Which of his books should I read next?
Greg Iles – I recently finished Natchez Burning, the first in a new Penn Cage (the main character, a former prosecutor and the mayor of Natchez, MS) trilogy. It was enthralling and pure evil. I can’t wait to read the next installment of the series.
Chris Pavone – I loved this year’s publishing world thriller, The Accident, told in a single day, “24” style. I’m planning to go back and read The Expats, which I’ve heard is great. Hopefully, I’ll get to it this year!
David Sedaris – I know, I can’t believe this one either! I read his latest essay collection, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and didn’t love it. But, lots of people have told me I should give him another shot with Me Talk Pretty One Day.
Maggie Shipstead – I loved Shipstead’s satirical, tongue in cheek take on uptight snobs attending the wedding of their knocked up daughter in Seating Arrangements and Astonish Me, her novel about the dark side of the ballet world, is on my TBR list. I meant to read it this summer, but will hopefully get to it this fall.
Elizabeth Strout – Olive Kitteridge has been on my TBR list literally for years. Somehow, I ended up reading The Burgess Boys first, but am planning to circle back to Olive Kitteridge at some point.
Jonathan Tropper – This is Where I Leave You was the book I read while I was in labor with my daughter. It was the perfect amount of hilarity and ridiculousness to keep me distracted from the pain. I’ve been meaning read something else by him for awhile now – any recommendations?
Meg Wolitzer – The Interestings was one of my favorite books of 2013 and is still one I recommend to everyone. I wanted to read something else by her and Shannon at River City Reading’s review of The Wife convinced me that’s the one. Now I just need to stop getting distracted by new releases.
Every Tuesday, fellow blogger Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.
I’m almost 3/4 of the way through The Secret Place and this has been an odd book for me. I wasn’t a fan for at least the first 1/4, but am now totally into the story. I had trouble getting into the flow of the writing, which could be because of the Irish slang and sentence construction, and also was feeling a little genre burn-out from reading so many teen angst thrillers lately. But, now the story is becoming more and more complicated and I’m having trouble putting it down.
Plot Summary from Amazon
The photo on the card shows a boy who was found murdered, a year ago, on the grounds of a girls’ boarding school in the leafy suburbs of Dublin. The caption says I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.
Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin’s Murder Squad—and one morning, sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey brings him this photo. “The Secret Place,” a board where the girls at St. Kilda’s School can pin up their secrets anonymously, is normally a mishmash of gossip and covert cruelty, but today someone has used it to reignite the stalled investigation into the murder of handsome, popular Chris Harper. Stephen joins forces with the abrasive Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who and why.
But everything they discover leads them back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends and their fierce enemies, a rival clique—and to the tangled web of relationships
that bound all the girls to Chris Harper. Every step in their direction turns up the pressure. Antoinette Conway is already suspicious of Stephen’s links to the Mackey family. St. Kilda’s will go a long way to keep murder outside their walls. Holly’s father, Detective Frank Mackey, is circling, ready to pounce if any of the new evidence points toward his daughter. And the private underworld of teenage girls can be more mysterious and more dangerous than either of the detectives imagined.
Here’s the first paragraph of Chapter 1:
She came looking for me. Most people stay arm’s length away. A patchy murmur on the tip line, back in ’95 I saw, no name, click if you ask. A letter printed out and posted from the wrong town, paper and envelope dusted clean. If we want them, we have to go hunting. But her: she was the one who came for me.
What do you think? Would you keep reading? Stay tuned for my full review…
I put Olive Kitteridge on my TBR list after I read The Burgess Boys, too! Bittersweet is also on my list but I haven’t gotten to it yet.
Bittersweet was my favorite book of the summer – twisty turny scandalous fun!
On your list, I am only familiar with John Green, but have seen quite a few of the other covers are popular. The intro sounds a little choppy to me. I’m not sure I would make it past the first 1/4 to get to the more interesting parts of the story.
I almost didn’t :), but am glad I stuck with it!
I would never consider reading a David Sedaris book – they are too wonderful on audio! He narrates them himself, such a unique delivery.
The Secret Place is on my wish list. I listened to In the Woods a couple of years ago and want to read more Tana French.
Maybe a Sedaris is what I should listen to for half marathon training next…thanks for the recommendation! I just bought The Good Girl on audio, but will do Me Talk Pretty One Day after that.
I didn’t care for The Expats. It was long and repetitive. I loved Olive Kitteridge (I read recently that it is being made into an HBO mini-series), and also really liked Abide with Me by Strout.
I’ve only read “The Faut in Our Stars” by Green. “Looking for Alaska” is on my “tbr” list. 🙂
Oh, I almost put Seating Arrangements on my list to read, because I loved Astonish Me! Yes, if you like Shipstead, you absolutely should read Astonish Me soon. 🙂
I am curious about this book, and actually downloaded the first book in this series a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for sharing…you did pique my curiosity.
Thanks for visiting my blog….
I liked Secret Place a lot; hope you will love the rest as well.
The opening didn’t grab me. I guess it’s because the sentences didn’t flow and I had to read them twice to make sense of what was being said. But I’m glad to hear the story has picked up.
Here’s the link to my Tuesday post: Tumbleweeds.
That is exactly the way I felt for the first 1/4 (at least!) of the entire book!!
The first paragraph confused me, but the blurb would probably get me past it.
Mine’s at http://suziequint.blogspot.com/
Your Top Ten list tells me that you and I have very similar tastes in books. John Green, Greg Iles and Elizabeth Stout are authors for whom I also have second books. Tana French is also on my To Read list. This one sounds good.
Great authors. Glad to know you liked Natchez Burning, I hope to get to the books soon. The Secret Place is on my stacks.
Definitely don’t give up on David Sedaris. He’s one of my favorite riders but I didn’t get through the Owl book.
I’d keep reading, at least for awhile to see if that beginning straightens itself out. It’s like starting a puzzle. I haven’t been that impressed with John Green other than “The Fault in our Stars”. kelley—the road goes ever ever on
I loved The Secret Place so I hope now you’ve got into the flow of the writing style the ending meets with your approval. Love your top 10 as well although I haven’t even managed one of most of your author choices. Thanks for visiting my TT http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/teaser-tuesday-september-16/
I must admit I’ve not read any on your list, but did see the movie of John Green’s book. Everybody says I need to read the book now, because it is so much better.