A Bibliophile’s Pile (32): Does Anyone Actually Read These Titles?

Read

Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes (physical / own / audiobook / library)
My rating: 2.75 of 5 stars

Moyes is talented, but her subject matter mostly depresses me. The only story I truly liked was Last Year’s Coat.

3 stars for the title story, in which sad sack Nell engages in incredibly risky behavior in Paris and miraculously survives. The third star is because Moyes managed to mostly make me forget the ridiculousness and feel like it was actually romantic.

3 stars for Between the Tweets. It was fairly dull and predictable, but saved by the 2nd “twist”.

3 Stars for Love in the Afternoon was a bit too real to be truly enjoyable.

2 stars for A Bird in the Hand. Ugh, a story about an affair.

2 stars for Crocodile Shoes. A story about how casual sexism can get a woman ahead, if she only plays it right. 🙄

3 stars for Holdups. It’s a weird little story – reminds me of some of Roald Dahl’s adult stories.

4 stars for Last Year’s Coat. Sweet, and the heroine has a great name.

2.5 stars for Thirteen Days with John C. The twist was not the one I expected, but I still didn’t particularly enjoy the story.

2.5 stars for The Christmas List. Ray was a nice character, but the story was depressing.

The Black Reckoning by John Stephens (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like the other books in the series, this felt incredibly derivative to me. My kids, who’ve read less fantasy than I have, enjoyed it quite a bit. Jim Dale was, of course, superb.

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen’s Novel to Film by Emma Thompson (physical / own)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Extremely interesting behind the scenes look at S&S. Thompson is witty and insightful. It made me want to re-watch the film, even though I just watched it 2 days ago!

The Tempest by William Shakespeare (physical / own / audiobook /library)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the wonderful Naxos audiobook, starring Ian McKellan and Benedict Cumberbatch, while reading along. Either I’m becoming more accustomed to read Shakespeare, or this play is easier to understand than some of the others I’ve read.

Challenges

GOODREADS

192 of 260

AGATHA CHRISTIE READ ALONGS

None

#shakeit2017

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

CLASSICS CHALLENGE

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

BACKLIST READER CHALLENGE 2017

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen’s Novel to Film by Emma Thompson

Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes

POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE 2017

• A book you got from a used booksale – Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes