This week I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling again. It's always a comfort rereading HP. Though I turned rather red in the face on the train trying not to cry at the end.

I also read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I absolutely loved this book! I was secretly worried it was going to be dry and boring, but it was actually really funny. Elizabeth's wit and banter was fantastic. I'm so glad I picked this up.

I also finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I personally didn't like it as much as Gone Girl, and I really struggled to understand some of the characters (Ben). However it definitely hooked me and I enjoyed struggling to work out what happened that night alongside Libby.

Just about to finish

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

She's more famous for Gone Girl but this is just as good. She can really write. The name doesn't lie, the book is very dark, it's pitch black. I'll be giving it 4 stars * * * *.

Finished East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. To my shame, I've never read any Steinbeck before but I really enjoyed it. Very accessible, almost populist literature. It's not exactly subtle when it comes to the philosophical stuff, but I enjoyed the upfront discussion of good and evil and the shades of grey inbetween, and Steinbeck writes characters in such an effortless, fluid way that you come to know them intimately.

Started Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn. I watched Sharp Objects earlier this year and loved it, and Gone Girl's a great movie, so I thought I should actually read some of Flynn's work. Thoroughly enjoying how sharply written it is, the macabre details, and the slow peeling of layers to the story.

I finished Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. It was very different from what I use to read, but I just loved the nonsense of everything.

I started Dark Places, by Gilliam Flynn and I’m already 2/3 done. The characters these woman writes are incredible and the situations are really fucked up. Maybe I just like feeling good comparing my life to theirs.

Finished Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn which was a mixed bag. I like the way Flynn writes and how macabre it got in places, but I ended up more or less guessing whodunit, and I'm usually really bad at working out the perpetrator. I guess odds are you'd wind up guessing one eventually but I'm not sure it's a good sign. Also wasn't a fan of the past narratives and found myself wanting to return to the present day narrative most of the time. So, yeah, well-written and interesting but I certainly had reservations.

Started Guns Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. I'm aware that there are criticisms to be made of Diamond's work so I'm going in conscious of those, but it's very interesting so far and engagingly written. Far better than Sapiens which I found borderline unreadable.

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Started reading Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn.

And I just learned that her name was pronounced Gill-ee-an and not Jill-ee-an.

This week I finished:

House Of Sand And Fog, by Andre Dubus III. God, I loved it. It's slow, and intricate with details, but the slowness is done in a way that the dread of where everything is heading rolls in slowly like a thick fog. Absolutely loved how the author painted the crumbling collapse of the American dream through two very different perspectives - both perspectives of which have collided together out of a result of sheer circumstance and misfortune.

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn. Very different to Gone Girl but, man, I admire Flynn's dedication to writing such nasty, unpleasant characters, and I appreciate her fascination with examining how unreliable a person's narrative of events can be and how that unreliability can lead to chaos and destruction. Not an amazing book but not a bad book, either.

Currently reading:

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

Time And Time Again, by Ben Elton

If I Stay, by Gayle Foreman

And I picked up a second-hand copy of My Brilliant Friend and The Story Of A New Name, both by Elena Ferrante today, so I might start the first book if I finish the three books I'm reading currently before the week is out.

Finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and Beale Street Brand by Milo Blue

Both great reads.

It Was Me All Along, by Andie Mitchell

Finished. About a girl with a rough upbringing who, understandably, over-ate to get through her childhood. She ended up losing over 100#. I liked it because the book seems better written than most weight loss memoirs. And she really gets into the mental, physical, AND emotional aspects of weight loss.

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Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

I am listening to this on audiobook and have about 2 more hours. So good.

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My next book I'll start is the The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton (not to be confused with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo).

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Shout out to Lifetime for airing You, by Caroline Kepnes. It's definitely meeting my expectations and Penn Badgley is perfect for Joe! 😂

Reading Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn. I liked her writing in Gone Girl and this book has a similar feel, but I'm finding it hard to get into. I'm interested in the plot, but I'm at 30% or so and it's kind of flat.

Finished:

The Woman in the Window, by A J FINN

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Started:

11/22/63, by Stephen King

I finished:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn This was a joy to read. Not quite as good as "Gone Girl" for me, but still an excellent grim unfolding over time. Basically, the book goes back and forth between the day of the protagonist's family's murder 25 years ago and her current exploration of what actually happened.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki I enjoyed this book, but it took me so very, very long to get through. Another "back and forth" novel where a character named Ruth (presumably representative of the author to some extent given the name and the fact that Ruth is also an author) finds a diary of a teenage girl named Nao living in Japan. The novel switches between the diary and Ruth's narrative. It's described as "metafiction", dealing with a lot of issues about readers versus writers as "author" and about the extent to which text is "truth". (I debated a long time between 3 and 4 stars on Goodreads, because it's a super interesting novel, but I found it really difficult to get absorbed into, so I ultimately went with three. I would still recommend it to someone interested in these themes, though.)

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Rainbirds, by Clarissa Goenawan

Currently reading Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn and A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking

I finally finished Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville. It took me three goddamn weeks to slog through this. I enjoyed parts of it but overall found it to be disappointing.

I started and finished Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed that. Did not manage to guess whodunit so that was nice.

I’m starting either The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton or Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero tonight.

Last night I finished The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn. It was a page turner for me, I really enjoyed it.

And I started to read Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn.

I just finished Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn and it blew me away. I love how it kept you guessing all the way to the end, I changed my mind multiple times throughout. Even though the story is great, I think that the real strong point of the novel is the characters. They are all compelling (maybe except for two), have their strengths and yet they are all inherently flawed. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good murder mystery thriller.