11 June 2015

Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: Catching Up

Stacked-Up Book Thoughts are my random notes about books I've read or listened to, movies and TV I've watched, books I'm looking forward to, and events I hope to get to.

Reading. My reading wish list is overflowing with all the books I learned about at BEA this year. Fantasies, mysteries, literary fiction, middle grade fiction, short stories, audiobooks . . . . I want to read them all RIGHT NOW. I'll do my best to get to everything great.

I'm currently reading The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. If you haven't yet met Kelsea--one tough, intelligent woman--then you must first pick up Queen of the Tearling and be introduced to a refreshing fantasy series with great characters, mysteries, and vivid action. I'm a little more than halfway through the second book and love the surprises, the continued world building, the new characters, and the changing personalities of some of the principals.


I'm also reading Susan Loomis's In a French Kitchen. It's been wonderful to meet her French friends and make some their meals. The timing is absolutely perfect because our local outdoor farmers markets are in full swing now, and I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has a market almost every day--all within easy driving distance. I've been a fan of Loomis's for years, and I'm happy that her latest book is filled with both personal stories and delicious-sounding recipes.

Finally, I finished Bill Willingham's latest Fables volume: Happily Ever After, which means I have only one more left. The story lines in this collection are almost all subtitled with the words the last: the last story about Jack of Fables, the last tale of Briar Rose, the last, the final . . . the sadness! I'm so glad Mark Buckingham was onboard for this issue. Only a few weeks now and Fables will be finished. Of course, I have a few spin-offs to look forward to, but still!

Listening. I recently reread Kate Atkinson's Life after Life in audio, which was narrated by Fenella Woolgar. She did a super job keeping her performance fresh throughout. Not an easy job considering how much of the material was repeated as we learn of Ursula's life/lives.


I also finished Anne Enright's The Green Road. This one is read by Alana Kerr, Lloyd James, and Gerard Doyle. The three narrators worked well together, and the choice of using different readers fit the nature of this very Irish tale. Although there are consistent plot points throughout the novel, it reads like a series of interconnected short stories. I'm still putting together my thoughts.

Next up? I think it's going to be If You Find This by Matthew Baker and read by Bryan Kennedy and Robert Petkoff. Mysteries, adventures, magic, and family -- I'm expecting a fun, quirky middle grade story.

Watching. We seem to be in TV limbo. We are finishing up The Game of Thrones, despite the controversy and calls for boycotting. *shrug* We recently watched the Robert Duvall film The Judge, which was very well acted and worth watching, despite some predictability. Oh and we finally started Broadchurch. So much fun to try to tease out the real bad guys from the red herrings. And I love the main characters: flawed, real, and growing and changing. I hope the rest of the series holds up to the promise of the first four episodes.


We are looking forward to the next seasons of Orange Is the New Black and True Detective. Wishing for more Longmire and impatiently waiting for Justified to be free on our streaming services. And, of course, counting the weeks for more Outlander.

What's on your reading, listening, or watching list?

10 comments:

(Diane) bookchickdi 6/11/15, 7:16 AM  

We can't wait for Orange Is The New Black and True Detective. I've also been watching Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in Grace and Frankie on Netflix and loving it so much. It might be my favorite Netflix series yet. I also have so many BEA books to catch up on, I don't know where to start.

Anonymous,  6/11/15, 7:51 AM  

I will be looking into Queen of the Yearling. And is it just me or does the boy on If You Find This remind a little of Harry Potter? I'm still debating whether that would sell it to me or make me hesitant to pick it up. It does sound like it might be a really nice read though.

bermudaonion 6/11/15, 9:10 AM  

I watch so little TV that I wasn't even aware that people are calling for a boycott of Game of Thrones.

Katherine P 6/11/15, 9:35 AM  

Audio isn't happening for me until school starts again and I find myself missing it! I'm trying to get caught up at least a little and am trying to request less on NetGalley. I've heard fantastic things about Queen of Tearling and I'm really curious about In a French Kitchen.

grammajudyb 6/11/15, 10:59 AM  

I'm trying to read the titles needed to catch up with my F2F bookclub, Karen Schutte's trilogy: Ticket, The Seeds of Volga, and Flesh on the Bone and filling in a couple of challenges on Goodreads. I am hoping to binge watch Gilmore Girls this summer and looking forward to the last(sob!) season of Downtown Abby. We, my DH and I, are wishing for the streaming of Justified and more Longmire too.

Literary Feline 6/11/15, 12:22 PM  

I know that feeling all too well--the one where you wish you could read all of your books at once. :-) It's a good "problem" to have.

I'm really curious about Queen of Tearling. It's on my wish list. You have me curious about the audio of Kate Atkinson's Life after Life. If I don't have the e-book already, I'll have to add the audio to my library and take it in that way since you liked the narrator.

I really liked Broadchurch too. :-)

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Bree 6/11/15, 5:22 PM  

In a French Kitchen sounds good. I LOVE Orange is the New Black and can't wait to start binge watching it tomorrow. Maybe I'll do last season and then new season. Hmmmm. True Detective has been mentioned by several but I've never heard of it. May have to look into that one. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous,  6/13/15, 12:58 PM  

I added Queen of the Tearling to my to-read list. I also would like to reread Life After Life, especially that there is now a companion novel.

Lisa 6/14/15, 8:28 PM  

Absolutely agree about the narration of Life After Life - it would have pulled me in in print but I loved it thanks to the audio being so good. When is Longmire supposed to return - I thought Netflix was on it but I'm hearing nothing about it coming any time soon!

Daryl 6/15/15, 10:14 AM  

Life After Life was brilliant .... i adore Kate Atkinson .. if you've not read her Jackson Brodie series you must ...

As for the GoT controversy .. it was much ado about nothing .. there was nothing to see, nothing happened on screen ... the Red Wedding episode was far worse ... far worse ...

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