Finished You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero last night and realized I don’t really care for self help books. . .

I started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman last night and I already love it!

Finished:

Growing Things And Other Stories, by Paul Trembly

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Started:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, by Haruki Murakami

I am reading Tales of King Arthur, by Henry Gilbert to my son .

I finished the audiobook Brave, by Rose McGowan then started and finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon and have started The Queens of Innis Lear, by Tessa Gratton.

I finished Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman and I'm about to start The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman.

For Graphic novels I started and finished Descender, Vol. 2: Machine Moon, by Jeff Lemire and Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities, by Jeff Lemire and I've started Low, Vol. 3: Shore of the Dying Light, by Rick Remender

This week, I finished:

How Not To Fall Apart by Maggy van Eijk Book about the author's history of non suicidal self injury and other mental health issues. Solid "meh" from me. There's an audience for this book-- an 18-year-old struggling with self harm who has not yet been to therapy-- but I'm not the audience. I did like the author's description of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy techniques from a client perspective.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North Book about a character who is re-born as himself each time he dies. I loved this. It starts slow but enjoyable and ends as a complete page turner. I was worried, as I reached the end, that it wasn't going to wrap up in a satisfying way, but it definitely did!

Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge The author of this book chose a random day and described the deaths of all children and teens who died by gun violence on that day. That description is probably enough for you to know how you will feel about this book. More than anything, it's bearing witness.

The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown Book about the Donner party. Another one that I loved. Very much reads like historical fiction, even as a nonfiction book.

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski Book about women's sexual health and pleasure. I mostly loved this book (and the research is very solid, as a current Counseling Psych PhD student), but have some complaints. The author's language is occasionally unnecessarily juvenile, which I feel like can feel patronizing. Also, I wish that she had considered the possibility of a broader audience. It's really assuming the reader is a cisgender woman, which is fine, but there's a lot of other folks who might still get benefit from this information. For example, I feel like I could not really recommend this to a heterosexual man because he would so clearly not be the target audience, even though I think there are a lot of heterosexual men who would get great benefit from some of this information.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Overall, I generally liked this. I'd heard a lot about the "quirky" main character but was kind of surprised at the plot itself. I really liked how issues of romance and friendship were addressed. I did not like the conversations Eleanor had with her therapist and wish the author had run them by an actual therapist before publishing. (Nothing was outlandish "no therapist would ever do that" but I don't think the author's intent was for the reader to think the therapist was not very skilled and not trauma-informed in their practice. Not a book-ruiner, but, as my partner said, "I think a lot of authors think they don't have to do any research unless they are writing historical fiction").

This week, I started:

The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde

Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link

Finished up Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. Predictable but enjoyable. Still working my way through Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. It's interesting but not something I can binge on.

Also began The Terror, by Dan Simmons but I just started and it's too soon to give any sort of opinion. The audiobook of IT, by Stephen King has me riveted though. For such a long audiobook I am just blowing through it.

I was away from the internet a few times the last few weeks so here is a summary for my reading for all of June.

Finished:

The Anatomy of Dreams, by Chloe Benjamin : I love her writing style, although this book is a little long. Her writing definitely improved for The Immortalists.

Flight, by Sherman Alexie : normally I don't read YA but I had this one my list from a while ago and I finished it on a plane ride. Enjoyable and I love when authors portray teens that actually feel like teens.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel: finally finished this after a few months. I was stuck about 1/3 of the way through, but I finally powered through it. I've now finished all of Martel's books this year and this is his best. But boy is mediocre. At the beginning it says "this tale will make you believe in god" and it made me wonder how simple that person's beliefs are.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck: Wow. What an amazing novella. I've never read anything by him and I'm amazed the ending wasn't spoiled for me just through pop culture osmosis. An absolutely brilliant story from start to finish. I've put East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath on my to read list.

Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer: I normally don't read weird fiction, but this book really worked for me. Loved the setting. Loved the characters, Loved the whole world of Area X he has created. Everything about this book just satisfied me. I look forward to reading the next two books.

Reading:

Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher: I asked last time for someone to pick a number for me and this is the book. I'm enjoying it, yet it comes in bursts. I'll read like 50 pages and then put it aside for a few days. I did the same thing with the first one as well. I think I read it over the span of 2 months?

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood : I like this, but I find the sections with the old woman really boring.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet , by Becky Chambers: it's nice to have a sci-fi that is more character-driven and less sci-fiey. The conflict is lessened and it's just more a story in a world. I like it, but the author needs to learn to tone down the LGBT+ messages. I like the ideas, but sometimes they are just so ham-fisted it takes away from the novel.

The Tokyo-Montana Express, by Richard Brautigan: Great short, short, short stories.

Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente: Goodreads describes this as "a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood". Light and fluffy and fun.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel: I'm a huge Shakespeare nut so I love this book. Her writing is great and the book just flows along nicely.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman: I only picked up this book because I liked the cover and I enjoy it. I always enjoy reading about characters who are on the spectrum. No idea where it is going.

Just started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman and I’m quite enjoying it so far. I love unreliable narrators, and I’m getting a Shirley Jackson/The Bell Jar vibe from it.

This week was definitely a slow reading week. I read Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck for class, which was an interesting and important read in regards to the 2015-17(?) refugee crisis in Germany (and had lovely prose), but it was brutally slow imho.

I dipped into Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which is very reminiscent of A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman. I'm loving it, but my reading for class has taken priority, so I'm moving through it at a snail's pace.

I'm also working on finishing up Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney for class. The prose is phenomenal, but I'm having the hardest time understanding the architecture plot. If anyone has read and can summarize/explain, that would be amazing.

I started and finished The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton. It was excellent and I’d recommend this to anyone who is a fan of murder mysteries.

Now reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. I read about half of this yesterday and I’m really enjoying it.

I'm halfway through Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It gets bogged down in descriptions and seems to skip over important events with a single sentence. The murder/kidnapping mystery still hasn't had any investigation or explanation. Characters haven't developed and almost everything we know about them has been told to us not shown. We'll see how the second half goes, but probably won't be one of my favorite books this year.

Still listening to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. Love it. I don't have much to add from last week. Still a wonderful exploration of Eleanor's psychological state.

I'm also starting a reread of The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein for my bookclub. Partway through the not so brief history of hobbits prologue so not much to say.

Finished: Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney - Didn't care for it. Unlikable characters in awkward relationships. There were no quotation marks, which made it difficult to determine if a character was speaking to someone or if they were just having an inner monologue. The one thing I did like was that the dialogue felt realistic.

Finished: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman - I LOVED THIS BOOK. No words I type here can possibly do it justice. Eleanor is a creature of habit who is lacking in the social skills department and tries her best to avoid people, which made her so endearing to me. As the book goes on, the author does a great job dropping hints that suggest Eleanor went through some kind of trauma when she was younger, which only adds to your desire to continue reading so that you can find out what happened. Along the way, an event brings her and a colleague, Raymond, together and they slowly become good friends. Raymond ends up being a really good influence on her and their relationship is such a joy to read about. It was great seeing Eleanor step out of her comfort zone, grow as a person, confront demons, and start living life. Such a pleasure to read.

Starting: The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Finished up The Power, by Naomi Alderman and began Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell. Doing about half a chapter a day of that one in my attempt for more non-fiction in my life.

Also started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. It's okay so far (about 25% in) but it's not a page turner yet. I've heard good things though, hopefully I'll finish it up this week.

Finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman.

I'm a little conflicted about how to feel about this book. But, gun to head, on a scale of being overwhelmed to being underwhelmed, the needle is tilted more towards the latter than the former.

If I have to try to be a bit more nuanced in my opinion – the book didn't really do anything for me; it didn't make me feel anything despite it being touted as being able to do exactly that, if we go by the testimonials in the blurb. Reading it was tantamount to indifferently wading through nearly four-hundred pages of text with a dissociation from pretty much everything that happens in the narrative. It was like listening to a recording of a voice that's too far away – the voice seeks to tell an interesting story but you're too detached from it for it to be immersive, which is admittedly an ironic analogy, considering the fact that the entirety of the novel is told from the first-person viewpoint of its eponymous character and is a 'study' of her psyche, and that is arguably as 'close' as a reader can get to a fictitious character. But, the point is, despite the authorial intention of having the narrative voice be appealing, quirky, and appealingly quirky, and of having it strike a chord with the reader, I was mostly indifferent towards it and the narrator/protagonist by association. The narrative is supposed to be witty at some points and emotional at some others, but save for maybe one or two instances, I was neither humoured nor moved, so much of it came off as bland. This is of course a highly subjective opinion, but there it is.

Some of the things about Eleanor's character also threw me off and felt a little too farfetched to be taken seriously. For instance, she, a fairly well-educated twenty-first century woman living and working in a metropolitan city, who regularly watches TV and listens to the radio and has a penchant for solving crosswords in newspapers to top it off, doesn't know what McDonald's and a laptop are. She's established as being a social misfit for sure, but nowhere is it implied that she has lived her life being subjected to some involuntary incarceration to the effect of never having had the opportunity of knowing of such everyday things as a fast-food chain and a portable computer. I can't help but feel that the author at times took things a little too far in an effort to nail the whole 'living under the rock' aspect of Eleanor's character. Also, throughout the book, it was difficult to pin down whether Eleanor was deliberately rejective of social norms or if she was truly clueless about them, because she appeared to keep vacillating between the two stances, which made the writing of her character come across as inconsistent.

All said and done, I get that the novel attempts to address some very important issues – trauma, abuse, depression, and loneliness – and I appreciate the intention and the message behind its writing. But I can't say I'm a fan of the end product as a whole. It simply didn't work for me.

(Also, as a side note, I noticed that in Chapter 20, there's a mention of 'Emily Brontë novels', while Brontë wrote and published but only one novel in her lifetime, and that being Wuthering Heights.)

---

Started All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.

Finished:

My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite

This is a pretty interesting and pretty short read. It did a pretty good job of illustrating family dynamics within Nigeria, which is not something I know a lot about.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

I know this one is a bit of a divisive read on this subreddit. I definitely had some trouble getting into it first as it starts out super cringey. I actually needed to read the full synopsis of the story to make sure nothing too embarrassing happened because I'm just not good with that (I can't watch The Office for this reason). However, if you can make it past the 50% mark, it starts to get more enjoyable. I completely understand if this book is not for you.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray

Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin, by Donald Grayson

Finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. I chewed through it in 2 days on my commute and loved it. It was very sad, and after I finished it I did some more research on the main character, Lale Sokolov. It turns out he and his wife emigrated to my city (Melbourne, Australia) and his son still lives here. Melbourne has a pretty large jewish population and many of them came from Europe after the war, having being in concentration camps.

I started The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma today. It's meant to be very good but some of the dialogue is hard for me to follow- I'm putting it down to cultural differences between my western upbringing and African storytelling. I'm really intrigued because the plot sounds excellent. Hoping to finish it quickly so I can jump on some of my other library books!

Edit: Update! I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, and loved it.

Finished:

• Circe, by Madeline Miller - I enjoy Greek mythology and I really liked this book. It was interesting to read the story of a "minor" character. I think I enjoyed it more than The Song of Achilles, but I read that over a year ago.

This Week:

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman - Initially this reminded me of Brit-Marie Was Here and the beginning annoyed me enough I thought about not finishing it. It became more interesting after about 30 pages. Now I'm two-thirds into the book and I'm liking it.

Doing a reread of The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein for my book club. It has some dry history moments, but they generally help shape the world. Tolkein does go a little crazy in named side characters that may or may not be important. Mostly, I forgot how many songs and poems are in the book.

I finished listening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman over the weekend. Loved it. It's the story of a women coming to grips with her traumatic past, becoming irrationally fixed on the singer of a band, and making an unexpected friend. Eleanor is a hilarious and relateable character while still having suffered more than most people. Her new found friendship with Raymond develops naturally (awkwardly for them). Just an all around great read.

Not sure what my next audiobook will be. Possibly Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente.

Last week I finished:

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani Spring and All by William Carlos Williams French Exit by Patrick deWitt

This week I'm reading:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck

I am reading Tales of King Arthur, by Henry Gilbert to my son .

I finished the audiobook Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown and have started Brave, by Rose McGowan.

I finished Shadow & Claw, by Gene Wolfe then started and finished The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline and I'm about to start Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (audiobook) after 15 weeks on hold at the library I finally got the chance to start! I'm almost halfway through and I am so loving it. I've always been a sucker for historical fiction and for sweeping family drama and this book has it all! I'm right at the end of WWII.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (eBook) Also just received after 15 weeks on hold! I've heard mixed things, so I am excited to get deeper into it.

Just finished The Ministry of Upmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy and wasn't sure what to think, I'd love to talk about it with someone.

I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. I really enjoyed this book. I’m a sucker for unreliable narrators, and this one in particular gave me Shirley Jackson and Sylvia Plath vibes, two of my favorite authors.

I’m now reading A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. I love science fiction that incorporates religion, so I’m quite enjoying the premise of this one. It’s also very funny!

Finished:

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman - I liked it until the end. It seemed rushed and just didn't fit the rest of the book in my opinion.

This week:

• The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin - I'm about two-thirds through. It hasn't kept my attention like The Fifth Season but I still like it.

Last week I finished: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

This turned into something I wasn't at all expected. The book cover makes it seem like it's going to be closer to a romcom than it actually turned out to be. I was pleasantly surprised that it ended up more about facing your own horrors and the strength of friendship. I liked it a lot.

Just started reading: Providence by Caroline Kepnes

I love Kepnes' first novel, You, so much. I read the sequel, which I liked but not as much. But I'm still a dedicated Kepnes fan, so I had to check out her newest. I'm about 100 pages into it, and it is weird, but I really like it so far. There's a supernatural element to it that I wasn't expected based on her other two books, but I can dig. it.

Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul

Picked this up after /u/Blue_Tomb mentioned Phyllis Paul in the forgotten writers thread. It was surprisingly easy to get a copy on abe books from a 3rd party seller. It's a mystery/thriller. I've only finished the first chapter so far. The entry paragraph was a little too heavy on the adjectives and adverbs for my liking but Paul seems to have toned things down a bit from there on. The atmosphere is shaping up to be amazing.

I'm also listening to the audiobook for Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. I'm about halfway through and loving every minute. Eleanor is fully realized, hilarious, and heart wrenching. She's casually—mostly online—stalking a singer she's decided will be her future husband while working on improving her appearance for him. She fully commits to researching every decision. And delivers her well researched opinions in a matter of fact deadpan no matter the situation. She has an unintended friendship budding with the resident out of shape, video game playing, IT expert at her office. She also has a complicated history with her mother. It's still a bit of a mystery but we know her mother is on the run? institutionalized? something, Eleanor is covered in burns, and Eleanor has an assigned social services worker. It's amazing how Honeyman ties all these threads together so effortlessly.

Last week I finished:

Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

This week I'm reading:

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison* and Haunted Castles by Ray Russell

Finally finished The French Girl by Lexie Elliott. While not bad it was pretty slow for a murder mystery type book. Also, the ending was kind of bleh. I was able to figure out who did it about half way through.

​

Haven't started it yet by Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman is going to be my next book.

About a hundred pages into Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Enjoying it so far. Eleanor is quirky to say the least and I can't wait to see where this book takes her.

Finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Women by Balli Kaur Jaswal I'm starting Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Finished Vacationland by John Hodgman. I really enjoyed it. He's funny and just a normal nerdy dude. I don't agree with him regarding his views on pot, but otherwise, he's very poignant and honest lol

Just started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Title character is a just a taaaaaad awkward and it makes me feel awkward which is probably the point but I just feel awkward. Not in a bad way though!

About 60% of the way through Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathon Swift. Swift bounces between entertaining escapades, amusing philosophical or political discussions and dry descriptions. The dry descriptions are brutal and really detract from my enjoyment of the overall novel. He spent a page or two describing how exactly a magnet turning moves a floating city in specific directions in relation to the surface. Just no. Maybe it's intended to be satire of naturalist journals being published at the time? One can hope. The political discussions are amusing and still relevant today, which is probably concerning.

I also started listening to the audiobook for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman and I'm loving it so far. Eleanor is socially awkward in the most relateable way; she says exactly what she's thinking with deadpan delivery regardless of the situation. Unlike most people she has a severe traumatic event in her past somehow connected to her institutionalized mother (described as the pretty face of evil by reporters) which could easily justify her routinized life and social isolation. At the start of the novel, Eleanor has decided her future husband will be a singer she saw at a show. Somehow, I don't think it's going to work out, but the bumbling, friendly, out of shape IT worker in her office is a strong candidate for new found friend despite her ambivalence (at best) towards his existence.

I'm combing this week's and last week's because I got surgery and never posted:

In the past two weeks I've read:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman, Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire, Haunted Castles by Ray Russell, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

This week I'm reading:

Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey, The Walking Tour by Kathryn Davis

***edit: formatting

I finished A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I liked it enough to want to read Beartown, which seems more interesting.

I started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which bears some similarities so far, but I think will turn out to be quite different. Very different style, too.

I might start reading No Country for Old Men at the same time for something different.

Finished:

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Starting:

My Life on the Road, by Gloria Steinem

Finished off Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. What a delightful read.

I started and finished Craven Manor, by Darcy Coates. Not entirely what I expected but enjoyed it. Could’ve used more creepy haunting in the first half. I felt like the ghostly element was over a bit too quickly and changed into more of a thriller-with-ghosts.

Now reading The Narrows, by Michael Connelly. I like the Bosch series and this is no exception. Only got about 25% of this left to go.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Started today, needed something lighter and funny. Does the job.

Fiction:

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion

Plainsong, by Kent Haruf

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney This was the best of the fiction. Not as good as Normal People, but still good.

Nonfiction:

The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston

Means of Ascent, by Robert A. Caro

The Age of Eisenhower, by William I Hitchcock Surprisingly, I liked this better than Caro's book. Means of Ascent was more narrowly focused than I had expected (from reading his other books).

Finished:

1984, by George Orwell I think I may be in the minority here, but it wasn’t my favorite book. I was intrigued at times, but other times so bored that I had to put the book down for a few days. Nice writing, just not my type of book.

Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert I’ve recently picked up water coloring because I’ve been feeling inspired to be creative, but have never had any talent when it comes to art. This book has encouraged me to keep practicing and not put too much stress into making sure it’s perfect.

Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman I started this book because Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies. However, the book seems to go a little bit of a different direction than the movie and I actually think I prefer the movie over the book. Because of this I put this book down for a couple of months and just decided to finish it this week. Still recommend reading though if you liked the movie!

Started:

Light is the New Black, by Rebecca Campbell So far this book is not what I expected. Not sure how I feel about it.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, by Gail Honeyman I actually passed by this book quite a bit in the book store not thinking I would be interested. I decided to give it a go anyways due to so many other people liking it and I’m really glad I did. I’m still in the first few chapters, but I’m liking it so far.

I finished:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Against all expectations I really liked it. Sure you have to suspend belief but that's ok.

Started:

What Belongs to You, by Garth Greenwell

It's written so so exquisitely. Reminds me of Call Me by Your Name in the way it's written.

Started:

With This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

First book in a long time that I can't put down. So funny and sad at the same time.

Finished Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, by Gail Honeyman

Absolutely loved it, read it on multiple recommendations abut it was better than I expected. A fantastic debut.

Part way through (put down to read the above) Hitler's Forgotten children, by Ingrid Von Oelhafen and Tim Tate

Autobiography/ non fiction about Himmler's Lebensborn programme to create an Aryan master race. Picked it up in Library at random interesting so far, was not something I knew much about before.