Digital books I have placed on hold at my local library: "The Racketeer" by John Grisham; "Only Time Will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer; "Angel Falls" by Kristin Hannah; and "The Silent Sister" by Diane Chamberlain. Reserved in the form of "real books": "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova; "The Nightengale" by Kristin Hannah; and "A Spool of Blue Thread" by Anne Tyler.
And how did I happen to choose these books? Here is the process I use: First of all, I go to the New York Times Best Seller list of fiction works. If I see a title that might interest me, I go to Amazon.com, type in the title, and see what sort of reviews people are giving it and what the book is like. The biggest disadvantage to this method of finding reading material is that I am often forced to read a genuine, real, print book, and I much prefer the Kindle or IPad for several reasons: Real books are heavy and hard to hold; I can't change the size of the print to suit my aging eyes; and if I want to find out the meaning of a word, I have to go on a search for an online dictionary, as opposed to simply holding my finger on the word and seeing the definition pop up in front of my eyes.
There are certain popular authors I avoid like the plague because they only write romance stories, so those are out. There are some authors that just don't suit my fancy, Danielle Steele being one. This is strange, I know, considering that she is currently the best-selling author alive and the fourth best-selling author of all time; perhaps I should give her another chance. I probably will, one of these days.
Right now I'm reading "The Girl on the Train", which is the strangest book I've read since "Gone Girl". It seems as though every female character in this novel is loco, and I can't say much for the men, either. Will I even know, at the end, who the real killer is? Or will I be left guessing, as I was at the end of "Gone Girl"?
Even though you don't like here, Danielle Steel is still my favorite author. I also like some of the others that you mentioned like Kristin Hannah. I think I will skip Girl on a train all together.
ReplyDeleteI loved Girl on the Train and yes, you do find out the murderer. I suspected about half way through who it was. :)
ReplyDeleteI've read 'Dinner at the Homesick restaurant' by Anne Tyler and enjoyed it. I'm reading Maude right now, that you suggested. Take care, Sheila
ReplyDeleteBooks sound like good reads.
ReplyDeleteYou do what I do to pick books. I LOVE Amazon too. Their reviews are priceless. I hear"The Nightengale" by Kristin Hannah is exceptional, though I haven't read it myself.
ReplyDeleteI am currently listening to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", which I had started a couple of years ago and dumped because I just couldn't get into it. It recently came to my attention again, so I re-downloaded it and started over. After about 30-45 minutes of pure torture, it got much better and the beginning made sense as part of the background setting. I had attempted to watch the movie and tossed it, as well. Perhaps, I'll give it another try.
ReplyDeleteI have also listened to "Gone Girl" and "Girl on a Train". Wonder what is the deal with so many "girl" titles. In my opinion, they were all women. Ha! Just sayin'.