Reader’s Corner

[Songbird76]

I just finished The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune. It was really good. It was different from his other books, and it was more on the sci-fi side, but not overly so. I really liked the main characters. Art is really fun and quirky, and while Alex is pretty gruff, he's really a softy and he loves Artemis so much.
Nate is rather confused about his feelings after his parents died. He's inherited the cabin they used to go to, and when he loses his job, he decides to go to the cabin and clear his head and figure out what to do next. He meets Alex and a 10 year old girl, Art, and doesn't know why they are on the run, but as he gets to know them, he realizes that Art needs to be protected.

I love TJ Klune, and his books are often about inclusion, justice, and empathy for others, but usually in a quirky way. The characters are usually vulnerable, but very endearing....I think my favorite is still House in the Cerulean Sea. That one just made me laugh so much. But he really has a way of making you care about the characters and wanting a better world for them to live in. This one is no different in that way. There are a lot of different themes in this one that are handled....there are issues including government overreach, LGBTQ issues, Cults, mental health, UFOs, ethics....it's a lot. But I really enjoyed it.

The Bones Beneath My Skin

A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author…

www.goodreads.com

 

[k8einwdw]

My most recent read was “The Locked Door” by Freida McFadden. It’s about Nora, a surgeon whose father was a notorious serial killer when she was a child. Her father has been imprisoned for 20+ years and she has moved on with her life. Then two of her young, female patients are found killed, in her father’s signature style. Someone is trying to frame her, and she has to find out who committed the crimes before she gets blamed for something she didn’t do. I don’t normally read thrillers (I’m a bit of a scaredy cat), but this was well-written and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

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My most recent read was “The Locked Door” by Freida McFadden. It’s about Nora, a surgeon whose father was a notorious serial killer when she was a child. Her father has been imprisoned for 20+ years and she has moved on with her life. Then two of her young, female patients are found killed, in her father’s signature style. Someone is trying to frame her, and she has to find out who committed the crimes before she gets blamed for something she didn’t do. I don’t normally read thrillers (I’m a bit of a scaredy cat), but this was well-written and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

This looks like it would be pretty good! I quit reading Freida McFadden after I read 3 of hers and they all seemed to be themed the same way. Maybe I picked the wrong ones? Anyway, this one sounds really good. Thanks for the great review.

 

[DisneyFreak]

Show off your books/bookshelves!!!

 

[k8einwdw]

My most recent read was “The Husbands” by Holly Gramazio



It is about a woman named Lauren who walks in to her apartment one night to find that she’s married to a man she’s never met before. Then he goes into the attic, and is replaced by another husband. This keeps happening- a husband goes into the attic, another husband comes out. In Lauren’s quest to find the perfect husband out of a seemingly endless supply of men, she finds out that there really is no one perfect person for her. This was a fun read. A lot of reviewers online felt that the ending lacked closure, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[erstwo]

Just finished this one. Loved it. I know it’s everywhere right now - it’s just as good as they say. Easy read. What a debut!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I don't think I have read that book of hers but I have enjoyed many Jodi Picoult books.

I hadn't read any of Jodi Picoult's books before. I found this one to jump all over the place.
I won't say the ending, but it was disappointing to me. I guess her books are not for me at this time.
However my daughter loves them and took the Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult.
I'm reading The Beginning by Preston/Child. This is the very start of their Pendergast series. I have all the books and love them and read them over and over. This one tells of the agent as he was starting his career. Very interesting, and yes, weird in some ways. Love it

 

[Songbird76]

I just read Second Glance by Jodi Picoult. It was ok, but I didn't like it as much as some of her others. The biggest thing with this one was that it jumped around. It's one story, but it's told by telling the stories of several different characters who are all intertwined. I like that in general, but found it difficult to keep everyone straight. I feel like it maybe could have been a series? I don't know. All the stories kind of overlap, and it jumps between the stories and even between timelines throughout the whole book.

Basically, there's a bit of land that may or may not be haunted and people disagree. And IF it's haunted, there's also a disagreement about who haunts it. Is it a native American burial ground or not. Some say yes, some say no way. Different people are called in to use their knowledge and skills to get to the bottom of it. There's a paranormal expert who is called to see if there's any spirit energy present. A native American who is called on to ask about the history of the local tribe. The owner of the land/house who is heading towards the end of his life, quickly. A scientist whose job it is to help couples conceive a healthy baby (one without a genetic disorder) and her daughter who seems sensitive to ghosts, and also the scientist's grandmother. A researcher/librarian who is called on to find the history of ownership of the land and the family who owned it, and who has a son with a genetic disorder that will almost certainly lead to a premature death. The local law enforcement officer who is just trying to keep all sides calm and get to the bottom of it. Is there a ghost, is there not a ghost? If there IS a ghost, is it a native American or not? If there is a ghost, why is the ghost still there? And then there's the company that wants to develop the land and the local Native tribe who wants to stop it. I think that's pretty much it for the main characters.

The book is divided into 3 parts. The first part introduces the characters who will eventually try to solve the mystery. The second part is more historical fiction about the history of Eugenics and the experts in it who owned the property at the time in question. Then the third part kind of ties it together.

Fair warning, there is a lot of controversial matter in this one. Eugenics is a pretty hot button to some and its history has caused a lot of emotions. There are several different applications of the knowledge, not all of them ethical. Probably the most famous use of eugenics was Hitler trying to create a super race and eliminate genetic disorders and illnesses. You can understand why there are strong feelings involved.

So there's a lot of discussion about genetics and DNA and the advancements in technology using that DNA. There are ethical discussions involved as well, and it involves real history of real laws, real beliefs, etc. There are little excerpts from historical documents including papers written about eugenics, laws that were passed, etc. I looked it up and a lot of the little excerpts are real. Some seem invented by characters in the book, mostly letters written between two people, but there WERE sterilization laws in the 1920s and 30s that aimed to keep Native Americans and some other groups who were considered inferior from reproducing. It can be a bit disturbing to realize these were actual beliefs held at that time, so read with caution.

Second Glance

When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtos…

www.goodreads.com