The Sparrow is on sale at Barnes & Noble for $1.99 today. One of my favorite books ever.
Just starting Hillbilly Elegy and got D Code Name Verify from the library ā¦ Thank you
@oldmom4896 No connection to China and I completely recognize that the plot is very contrived. I still enjoyed the book on a ābeach readā level and I liked the role of tea on the story. I just assumed the therapy session scenes were a mechanism to get certain ideas out, not an accurate portrayal of anything.
@jaylynn I am all ?? about Universal Harvester. I couldnāt put it down and really enjoyed the writing but Iām glad I donāt have to do a plot summary.
I finished Trevor Noahās āBorn a Crimeā. Iām not sure what I expected, but I know I did NOT expect a childhood story like that one! I listened to it on audio, read by Noah, and of course that made it even better, especially all of the words and phrases not in English.
The new Patterson book was okay. I got the whodunnit part right about halfway through, but there was another surpirse I didnāt really see coming.
The dialogue got very cheesy at times, which is not a criticism Iāve read in the reviews. Maybe Iām just overly critical. But describing a frigid Chicago night with āIt was as cold as a witchās tit in a brass braā-seriously?!
Iām not familiar with the book. But that phrase? Right out of late 1980 high school in the Chicago suburbs for me.
Kinda weird to hear it again, and have a flashback.
@cartera45 ā that sums up my feelings exactly! I enjoyed it but parts of it left me grumpy, and I only felt grumpier the more I thought about it. I found the ending unsatisfyingā¦
I just finished Dan Chaonās book, Ill Will. It was very good, very creepy, very chaotic ā talk about your unreliable narrators! I wasnāt thrilled about some of Chaonās stylistic nuances, but overall, it was a disturbing, memorable novel. I liked it better than Universal Harvester. It may have been the best book Iāve read in the last 6 months.
@Midwest67, the book is The Black Book by James Patterson. Allegedly his best book in 25 years, but that was according to him. 
@Nrdsb4 ā I gave up on Patterson and his predictable plots, plus lazy three page chapters, about 15 years ago.
Iām a little over halfway through *Barkskins/i, and loving it.
@scout59 I didnāt really have a problem with the ending. Iām planning to listen to it again. I read a lot of complaints about people having no idea what was going on. I didnāt feel that way. I think I āgot itā but I want to enjoy the reveals that I think I missed in my hurry to figure it all out.
@garland, I actually had never read a Patterson book. I had heard the criticisms that he was just phoning it in for years, āco-writingā with other authors, etc. But I did hear that this book was fresh and new, and one of his best in a long time.
I really enjoy the suspenseful page turners for my bike rides (gives me incentive to ride more often and for longer time). My stepdad used to love Patterson, and he gave me some suggestions (his earliest works) that I may try.
I saw Patterson on Charlie Rose years ago, and he said, āI know how to write a good potboiler.ā I think that was a fair assessment. That was back when he actually wrote his own books, of course.
If you want to read a mystery/thriller, there are SO many better choices!
^^^Iām open to suggestions!
I enjoyed Big Little Lies and was particularly interested in Australia because Dās boyfriend was born there.
Another book I really enjoyed, though it was a hard read at points, is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I watched the movie with H and S17 and we were all surprised by how much we loved it and how moving it was. I thought it was an excellent adaptation of the book as well.
I always keep a James Patterson book or two in the car for those times when H goes into Home Depot or someplace else I despise. I can pick it up, read a chapter or two and put it down till we reach Loweās. H keeps a Tom Clancy in the car for those times when I go into a store he doesnāt want to join me in.
For those interested in mysteries, I canāt recommend the Louise Penney āGamacheā books enough. (Gamache is the lead detective in them.) They are really well written and you will get enmeshed in the lives of the characters. They are in a series and really are a great escape.
@Nrdsb4 - what kind of thriller/mystery are you looking for?
I read a lot of mysteries, but I have my preferences - mostly those set in the US, and Iām not a big fan of cozies. Iām just letting you know where Iām coming from before I suggest:
If youāre looking for an easy read but well-written ā I like John Sandfordās āPreyā series (with Lucas Davenport, a Minneapolis detective) and Michael Connellyās Bosch series (although his Lincoln Lawyer series is okay too.) Sandfordās Virgil Flowers books are also good.
If you prefer female detectives, thereās always Sue Graftonās alphabet books.
If youāre looking for good writing, snappy dialogue, and a sarcastic-narrator-with-a-brooding friend duo, Iād recommend Robert Crais. Heās written some stand-alone novels (āHostageā) but I like his Elvis Cole series better. Dennis Lehane also wrote a series of snappy-dialogue-sarcastic-narrator books, (the āKenzie-Gennaroā series) - his āGone Baby Goneā was one of the best detective novels Iāve read, and I thought one of his stand-alone novels (āMystic River,ā which was made into a movie) was amazing.
Then there are authors like Laura Lippmann, whose books donāt fit so neatly into categories. She wrote a series of books (the Tess Monaghan series) but I like her stand-alone books better, like āAfter Iām Gone.ā The Tony Hillerman books with Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, detectives in the Navajo Tribal police, are really good - not only are they mysteries, but you actually learn things about Native American culture.
Oh, and I love Thomas Perryās Jane Whitefield books - sheās a Native American guide who helps people ādisappear.ā
Then thereās Linwood Barclay (easy read but gripping) and George Dawes Green (āThe Jurorā and āThe Cavemanās Valentineā) and Tana French and James Lee Burke andā¦I can go on but Iāll stop for now. I need to go back to work.
Oh, and Ben Wintersā Last Policeman trilogy ā SO GOOD.
I canāt read James Patterson - the paragraphs are too short (weird, I know.)
Wow, thanks @scout59! The only ones among your suggestions that Iāve read are the Last Policeman novels.
In the police procedural/thriller line, my husband is reading a lot of Michael Connelly. I havenāt read them, so I canāt tell you how good they are, but heās prolific. The Bosch series is currently being televised and is quite good so far.
Speaking of mysteries, I enjoyed William Kent Kruegerās āCork OāConnorā series. The novels are set mainly in Minnesota, and the Ojibwe culture is woven into the books.
I have read most of the books in the series, not the earlier ones though, need to catch up on them.