Hi everyone, I can’t apologize enough for not being as active over the past few days. I’ve been sleeping like there’s no tomorrow!!
Well, I’m awake now (yes, it’s 5pm in Boston and I should be awake, lol) and want to start talking about one of favorite things to do during this isolation. READING!!
For the past year up until about January of this year, my concentration has been really bad due to the cancer and treatments, but I’ve finally found a treatment that allows me to live life normally again and I started reading again. And I mean reading like crazy!! Today, I’ve started a new book called “Lock Every Door” by Riley Sager. I am a huge fan of psychological thrillers (think Gone Girl and The Women on the Train). There is nothing better than a twist that blows my mind. But I do like other types also.
I wanted to pass along a list of some of the best books I’ve read in this category and would love to talk about any of them you have read and get opinions on your favorite books. I don’t have the authors on this list, but you can find them all by title at Amazon or your local library database, or let me know because I have them all here in the house and can find the authors name for you.
Addiction
A Million Little Pieces
An Anonymous Girl
Baby Teeth
Behind Closed Doors
Bright Shiny Morning
Defending Jacob
Don’t You Cry
Every Last Lie
Gone Girl
House of Sand and Fog
I Let You Go
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Jar of Hearts
Lock Every Door
My Friend Leonard (sequel to A Million Little Pieces)
One Among Us
Our Little Lies
Pretty Baby
Pretty Ugly Lies
Still Missing
The Breakdown
The Couple Next Door
The Good Girl
The Housekeeper
The Night Before
The Perfect Nanny
The Other Mrs.
The Silent Patient
The Wife
The Wife Between Us
The Woman in the Window
Then She Was Gone
Verity
We Need to Talk about Kevin
When the Lights Go Out
Who by Fire
You Are Not Alone
I have been going bankrupt ordering books on Amazon but I just can’t get into Kindle. I love the feel of a book in my hands. But for those of you who do have Kindle, Amazon has some great deals on Kindle Books due to the Coronavirus!!
Let’s talk about what you like, and make some suggestions. And if anyone would like to start a book club and read Lock Every Door along with me, that would be fun! Or if you read any of my favorites, let’s chat about what you thought.
I look forward to hearing about what you read and if it’s something you love.
❤️❤️❤️
Lisa
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Thanks for your post also!! I’m so happy that so many of us read as it is such a positive thing to do during these trying times. And I love to hear what others like to read!!
A book lover! Sounds good to me. In the past I lived for books and my mother used to say: she has married her books. I think she was right. I was addicted to going to universities and spent a good 10 years studying what I loved which made me bankrupt. But since Fibromyalgia I have difficulty reading or writing due to lack of concentration.
I would recommend reading a book by John Grisham called The Client. I could not stop crying when I read it first time. Read it 4 times. He is a great writer ☝️😍
I’m sorry to hear you have Fibromyalgia. I have heard from others that it is a horrible affliction!!
I have always loved to read also. I also loved school and have a M.Ed in Mental Health Counseling which also made me bankrupt since I never got licensed and there is no money in that field, lol.
I have read The Client along with several other John Grisham books!! It was very good. My favorite by him is The Rainmaker!!
Sorry to hear of your fibro I too am a sufferer. Have you signed up for audiobooks. I fall asleep but can rewind and pick up at a point I remember listening to.
Hi Lisa,
First I’d like to say I’m so pleased that you now have a treatment that enables you to function more normally and can return to reading. Then thanks for that comprehensive list of potential literature to try.
I must admit that when I get a book that resonates with me I read it voraciously, but I find as I’m getting older I have to read in short sharp bursts or I do the napping thing too.
My favourite genres are historical novels and biographies, though I’ll give any book a try.
Thank you!! I understand about getting older and not being able to sit and read all day like I used to. I sometimes get in a mood for history or biographies.
I read anything and everything, some adventure books, people like Clive Cussler, Lee Childs, Wilbur Smith, Christian Jacq (He is a combination of adventure and good Egyptian history) etc, Edith Pargeter AKA Ellis Peters, historical stuff, Anthony Riches, Ben Kane, Elizabeth Chadwick, Robert Fabbri, Conn Iggulden and a few others who's names have gone AWOL detectives, J D Robb, the gent who wrote the Tear Drop?? Have a large copy of all 3 volumes of The Lord of the Rings, with beautiful colour plates, read when in need of cheering up. I have the early Tom Clancy books, will not watch the movies, nor the Lee Child ones. I spent 2 years living on a lovely Pacific Island, read out the local library, and ended up struggling through an English translation of Thucydides The Peloponnesian Wars ? on the spelling. When I could get out and about, loved nothing better than raiding Second hand Book Shops. The only thing I like more than reading is watching cricket, can often do both together!!
Fiji, my father was the last of the generation of people like engineers who worked in what was called the Colonial Service. I was actually born in Nigeria, in the early 1950's, Dad had always wanted to go back to the Pacific. When he was 18, had won a place to study as a civil engineer, but had to be called up in the 2WWar. went into the Navy, the logic being he had been a Sea scout at School!!. He was placed on an Aircraft Carrier, as a navigator on the planes that flew off her. She did the Atlantic crossing as a convoy escort, then went through the Panama Canal, where he spent the rest of the war in the Pacific. Did not talk much about it, said he spent most of his time flying in ever decreasing circles over the Indian Ocean, with the pilot saying Fred you are the navigator, you are supposed to know where the ship is. He was Demobbed in Australia, took until 1968 for him to get a job in the South Pacific and he loved it. Fiji is a beautiful country, great tourist destination, just avoid going in the cyclone season. I lived through one and that was one too many. Dad used to send me photos sort of this was the road/bridge before the cyclone, these are the after!! Still as daughter of an engineer who specialised in roads and bridges I suppose I was used to those sort of conversations. He was most disappointed when I said I might have manage Maths and physics at O Level, but there was no way I would manage Pure and Applied Maths and Physics at A Level so no engineering daughter.
You should write a book! What a fascinating story and your father sounds so interesting!! My cousin is an engineer (he works with computers, nothing like your dad) and I still don’t understand exactly what it is. It’s great to talk to you!!
I'll be reading a few on your list. I like psychological thriller's based on true events. I'm not keen on romantic stuff. Biographical or scientific books I also like. ☺☺
Good, I hope you enjoy some of them! I HATE romance. It makes me want to throw up, lol. I also enjoy sociological and psychological books. I’m very into people and spent a lot of time working in Psychiatric research.
I love reading true crime novels, o also like romance, history, autobiographies and biographies. Detective novels all sorts of books but not science or soft. Love James Patterson's books especially the Alex Cross ones. Have a great day and take care of yourself😊 Bernadette xx
Hi Lisa - I too found concentration really difficult for over a year following diagnosis and this upset me a lot. Been an avid reader since childhood and my holidays were filled with books. Thankfully I have gradually got back into it - loved girl on the Train - didn’t watch the film as my daughter said it didn’t live up to the book. My favourite authors are Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwall and have read all their books - all crime novels. Recently started reading L J Ross on kindle again crime novels. As I am now 12 weeks staying home I am setting aside time to read each day - trying to put some structure in my day as I live alone with my two daughters live some 2 hours away and busy working but I do speak to them every day. Stay safe and enjoy your reading! x
We sound a lot alike!! Not being able to read was the worst thing that happened. I am glad you too are able to get back into it. Please stay safe and I’m glad you have your daughters to talk to at least. Living alone is so hard during this time!!
Just a suggestion for you. It's something I've had to adopt as I age and reading makes me (annoyingly) nod off. I just read a page or two at a time. It's not as lovely as diving into a book for a long period but it does keep me reading. I keep the book nearby and every time I'm at a loose end, I pick it up and read as many pages as I can. I then bookmark it and try to go back to it within a few hours and do the same again.
It really is upsetting when we lose our ability to enjoy books as we used to, but I feel this at least keeps me reading.
Good luck to you and I hope you regain your concentration soon.
Wow - that’s a great list of books. Try reading ‘The Sewing Machine’ by Natalie Fergie. Lots of twists, turns and intrigue and it’s not so much about sewing but about the lives of those who touch the sewing machine. I think reading is a lovely way to escape from some of the stresses around us - whether that’s PMR, other stuff or this horrible virus. It’s definitely good for our mental health. In the early days of taking pred I found it difficult to concentrate but it’s got better and reading is a joy now. I have to declare a bias about the book as the author is my friend. enjoy!
Oh yes Janet57, I know Amazon are starting to scale back some physical deliveries, but it's sure to be available for Kindle! Thank you. I don't love ebooks, but under the current circumstances we have to be flexible!
Thank you Lisa glad things are improving for you. I have kept a list of the books as I have read a few on your list so may well enjoy some of your others thanks for the tip re kindle as I live mine. I do like a book but my kindle allows me to read in bed without lamp on thus not disturbing my husband. Had a good 5k 6.40 this morning while streets were empty.
Aww thank you. I was going to ask people here for suggestions and you read my mind lol .
I love psychological thrillers too and I like crime/ mystery . I have a few Ruth Rendell's books at home but nothing else. I use my Kindle sometimes but I'm not a great fan of ebooks especially that you have to charge it quite often.
I think this is a time for rereading old favourites as well as trying new books. In the first category for me are 'I Capture the Castle' which I've loved since I was a girl, 'Cold Comfort Farm' which always makes me laugh out loud and 'Great Expectations' which is the least complicated of Dickens' late great novels. New ones for me are Willa Cather's 'One of Ours', which I've managed to miss so far despite loving her work and 'Silence of the Girls' by Pat Barker which was published last year.
The last film I saw the week before being quarantined was the excellent 'Just Mercy'. I was in my local library the next day and saw the book by Bryan Stevenson on which the film is based, so I borrowed it. I found that the film was very respectful of its origins but, of course, had to simplify the story to some extent. The book also includes details of cases that weren't included in the film. Naturally the library is closed now and I couldn't go there anyway so I'll probably have time to read the book again!
For anyone that likes Horror Movies (I love them), you can watch the new movie with Elizabeth Miss called The Invisible Man on On Demand. It’s $20 because it just came out at the movies, but considering going to a movie pretty much costs that much, I may watch it. My friend saw it and said it’s really good!!
Hi i love reading books , i always have two on the go at anyone time .
i like mysteries , psychological thrillers , romances ... my interests are vast. nothing like a good book to take our mind off the News even if it is for a short while .
i shall check out your list later and maybe buy a couple .
ill let you know .
Just had a course off treatment for my cancer so feeling little tired, but tomorrows another day
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Reading in the sunshine!
Reading this brought a tear to my eye 
Who says they have to be red?