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9/2: Before and After by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate (library audiobook narrated by Emily Rankin, 2019) - True stories about people whose lives were impacted by the decades-long Georgia Tann baby market in Memphis. I sort of hoped this would be more powerful, but the way it kept skipping from story to story made it start to seem more like statistics and less like stories. 3/5 stars
9/6: The Sleeping Dragon (Guardians of the Flame #1) by Joel Rosenberg (library, 1983) - I read this as a teenager and the things I remembered were correct, but also the things I forgot were super traumatic. 3.5/5 stars
9/7: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (library audiobook narrated by Emily Rankin, 2017) - Reread of a book that was chosen for my book club. I still don't love it for many of the same reasons I wrote in my original review. The real historical facts this is based on should have made for a way more interesting story. 3/5 stars
9/8: The Face of a Stranger (William Monk #1) by Anne Perry (library ebook, 1990) - Real snooze, this one. Over four stars on Goodreads, though, so obviously I do not get it. 2/5 stars
9/11: Encore in Death (In Death #56) by JD Robb (library audiobook, 2023) - You know what? This was really good. There's a murder, but was the victim even the intended target? Super interesting. I do think Eve could have been a bit more reflective about how the circumstances of the couple reflected the circumstances of Eve and Roarke, but I thought this was a good entry in the series. 4.5/5 stars
9/11: The Sword and the Chain (Guardians of the Flame #2) by Joel Rosenberg (library, 1984) - So much violence against women in this series, but I am still enjoying it. 4/5 stars
9/13: The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher and Mary Pilon (library audiobook, 2023) - Ugh. So much running. So much whining. So many bad contracts. So much doping. So much someone else should have narrated this book. 2/5 stars
9/15: The Silver Crown (Guardians of the Flame #3) by Joel Rosenberg (library, 1985) - The weakest in the series, but I still read it. 3/5 stars
9/17: Desperation in Death (In Death #55) by JD Robb (library audiobook, 2022) - Yes, I did immediately listen to another In Death book. There's a bit too much cop worshipping in this book, but I did like it a lot. 4/5 stars
9/19: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (Kindle book I own, 1877) - I loved this book when I was a child. I can see how its focus on animal rights had a subconscious impact on my adult thinking. 4/5 stars
9/23: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy (library, 2014) - You know what? Here's a YA book I can get behind. 4/5 stars
9/28: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (library ebook, 2019) - Single teenage parent Emoni Santiago is trying to finish high school. She is taking a class in culinary arts and loves being in the kitchen, but she's not sure how she's going to afford the class trip to Spain, let alone find childcare for her young daughter. I liked this book, but really did feel like it glamorized teen motherhood (everything wrapped up in a neat bow at the end!). Eh. 3.5/5 stars
9/28: Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan - Not as good as Nora Goes Off Script, but not as bad as Same Time Next Summer. Super inconsistent author. 3.5/5 stars
Total: 13 books
Average star rating: 3.38/5 stars
Did not finish:
The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley - An eccentric man adopts six young girls (as if) and when he dies, they don't even know what he did for a living (ahem), and the oldest daughter goes looking for clues about her biological family's background. Can I just say how very much I could not suspend my disbelief or care about any of these characters? DNF at 33%.
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - I know people love this book and I tried to suspend my judgment. Just because Margo's an idiot who didn't actually think through the consequences of having a baby didn't mean I couldn't enjoy this novel. Just because she didn't think through the consequences of starting an OnlyFans didn't mean I couldn't hang. But the excessive drug usage? That's when I drew the line. DNF at page 128 (43%) - it was specifically the line "After that they all puked, and then KC said she was a sea cucumber and lay down under the desk" that made me slam the book shut. You have a baby, MA'AM.
Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood - Similar to Margo, I just wanted Grace to get her shit together. I don't have time for adults acting like teenagers. DNF at page 65 (25.3%).
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What's the last book you DNFed? Did you get mad and slam the book shut?
The book slam that reverberated around the world!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't DNF-ed anything lately... I wanted to DNF the pandemic Lianne Moriarty (Apples Don't Fall) but ended up slogging through it.
I have a limited amount of time on this planet, Maya. I am not finishing books that are making me miserable!
DeleteOk I adored every minute of Margo's got money troubles, but my hate read of the month was All Fours. I don't care what college kids do but I do care what ladies of my age do on road trips, and unless I missed something, the message of the book was that it sucks to be a lady of my age. All Fours was engaging enough that I didn't DNF, but it was a skim/hate read. My recent DNF that was an "everyone loves this book" was God of the Woods, but it wasn't anything to get mad about. I just got bored quickly and went back to my Amish murder mysteries.
ReplyDeleteI don't generally care what college students do, but as soon as you decide to bring a child into this world, you cease to just be a college student and are now a whole ass adult. All Fours sounds like it would not be my jam. I'm still around #100 for God of the Woods from my library so I'll read it just as everyone else has forgotten that they read it.
DeleteHa ha, it's been a long time since I've DNF'd a book. And I'm not sure I've ever slammed a book shut in rage- although some books have definitely deserved it. I think I'll skip Margo's Got Money Troubles. But now I'm curious about the JD Robb series- I've never read any of those.
ReplyDeleteThe JD Robb books are wildly inconsistent in quality. The best are Very Good and the worst are Very Bad. And I sort of hate the main character's husband. But the secondary and tertiary characters are awesome and there are like a million books in the series, so there's always something to read!
DeleteI liked both Margo and Amazing Grace Adams. I had compassion for both of the characters. I feel like Margo was in between a rock and a hard place and felt like she had to do things in order to be able to support her child. The women she paired up with to create content were definitely not great, though, and I understand the issue with the drug use.
ReplyDeleteI've DNF'd a number of books recently but they weren't "slam the book shut" kind of DNFs. They were more along the lines of - I'm so bored, where is this going, I'm not connecting with this book, etc.
Illegal drug use should never been on the table when you're responsible for a child's welfare. I am sticking by my guns on this.
DeleteLOL. I think your quiet quitting of books and my explosiveness indicate our very different personalities, friend.
The last book I DNF is Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. "Vibrant and hilarious..." they said. More like tedious and petulant if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteI love this. Tell me how you really feel about it!
DeleteI can't remember the name of the last book I slammed shut with the intention of never finishing it. But I was on vacation and finished the other book I had brought with me; so I ended up finishing it begrudgingly.
ReplyDeleteI listen to a podcast called True Weird Stuff and they did an episode on Georgia Tann called Baby Broker (published on 7.14.2024) that might be of interest to you.
Oh, awesome. I'll add that episode to my podcast queue. It's such an interesting topic.
DeleteLast book I DNF – Truth or Beard by Penny Reid – man.... so toxic and stupid. seriously... so many eye rolls.
ReplyDeleteI did read Before we were yours but all the other ones are not familiar to me. Hope next month you have better picks.
I've only read a couple of Reid books. My response to the last book I read was: I do not find arrogant, bossy men to be my cup of tea, however, and I think it's possible that while I want to like Reid, I don't actually. No go for me.
DeleteI went through a DNF period when I got some biographies that sounded SO much better than they read. One was a bio of Oscar Wilde. Another was a bio of Robert Lincoln. Another was a bio of JD Salinger. I DNFd all of them, albeit reluctantly. I do think I picked up the Salinger one again and finished it later, but do I remember any of it? No. The bio of Wilde sorely needed editing. NOT EVERYTHING ABOUT SOMEONE'S LIFE IS NECESSARY OR GERMANE TO THEIR STORY.
ReplyDeleteI generally find most biographies and memoirs slightly boring. It's because there's usually one or two interesting things about someone's life, but I have to wade through so much other stuff. I guess I'm just a fiction girl at heart.
DeleteI do DNF a lot of books, but it tends not to be explosive. The book I remember getting enraged about the most was one I finished, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I was SO MAD at the twist at the end that I wanted to throw it across the room. I didn't, because it was a library book, but I vowed to never read another of her books, and I have kept my word.
ReplyDeleteYES!! Same reaction to My Sister's Keeper. Same, same. I've never read another Picoult book again.
DeleteI usually DNF when I have read or listened to several pages and cannot remember what they were about. Clearly I have lost interest. So no, I do not slam them, or really get too angry, I just slowly lose interest and quit. I have had this happen a lot lately, and am thinking it is more about my ability to focus than it is that the books are actually bad, but I am still giving them a pass for now. I often DNF non-fictions when they are going too much into detail about one thing or another. I tried to read the book about the Jonestown massacre and it was talking about Jim in his young life and was describing the color of someone's eyes and I was like WHO CARES!?! I don't care if his eyes are light brown, let's get onto the actual story! DNF.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the Jonestown book. I listened as an audiobook and I felt like the details really made it. People have such different reactions to the same things!
DeleteInteresting! I was wondering what your major issue was with Margo. I can understand where you’re coming from, but it didn’t bug me as much as it did you. Especially the way she responded afterwards, which I thought was appropriate for a woman with a kid!
ReplyDeleteI can’t remember the last book I rage quit! I think the last disappointing DNF I had was Family Family by Laurie Frankel. I love her books but this one was just so boring!
I do not know how Margo responded afterwards because I never read that far. Lady was irresponsible and I don't have time for that.
DeleteThe only one of these books I read (well tried to) was Before We Were Yours. I couldn't get into this book, and I agree with what you said. The historical parts could have been way more interesting. So even though we can disagree about books, we can agree too. I need to check out that JD Robb book.
ReplyDeleteI love when people have exactly the opposite taste in books. It's helpful in so many ways!
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