Book Club. All Are Welcome. Reading for End of May: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

[tankel]

I'm finished. I love the language. It didn't bother me one bit. And now I'm finding myself saying bad bad a lot

 

[writingislove]

Done!

Spoiler

Overall, I liked the book. As in, I really liked reading it. It kept my attention and stirred up my imagination, so I have no complaints there.

I agree with everyone's assessments of John and Tina. John was a bit too much for me. On the one hand, he needs to seem real and I get that. But the back and forth of making the reader love him and hate him started to annoy me. And Tina definitely didn't live up to her full potential. She was just kind of "there." She didn't truly accomplish anything, which disappoints me when a major premise of the book is the concept of women fighting male power.

I also wish there would have been more to the inbreeding/birth defect aspect. Surely there would be so much more than just two cosmetic problems that resulted from all that inbreeding. I got the sense that Harry fell somewhere on the autism spectrum but those kinds of things weren't a focus of the story and there was so much potential there.

Those were my only two big qualms with the book. Otherwise I thought it was great. I got chills at the end when they found the wreckage and realized Earth was never coming back from them. I won't read the sequels right away but I might at some point, because I'd love to know where all of this led to.

 

[lemon_tree]

Love reading everyone's thoughts on Dark Eden!

Is anyone still reading it?


P.S. I read the Girl on the Train on my own. Holy infertility trigger, Batman.

 

[beccabonny]

I had heard that, Lemon

 

[BookGeek]

I've got about a hundred pages left. I've gotten into the groove of reading the language, but it still annoys me. The story is really good, though! I'll probably have it finished this weekend.

 

[lemon_tree]

Checking in!

 

[tankel]

I was just thinking of checking in too. Is everyone finished with the reading?

We can post questions now I guess. Only I can't think of any I think we discussed our main feelings already.

 

[amyamyamy]

I thought we already all talked about it

 

[writingislove]

Haha me too Amy. Are we all ready to pick the next?

 

[tankel]

yeah. Lets pick a new one. Any takers?

 

[tankel]

Isn't there a book that someone wants to suggest? Amy, I don't think you've gone yet.

I'm listening to the Girl on the Train and it's really good so far, but reiterating totally not TTC friendly. I'm duel listening actually, and I'm liking the other book a lot too. Have you guys read Little Big Man? Its pretty good, a classic.

I'm finally cleaning out my bookshelves and getting rid of books that I didn't like or probably wont ever read. That means I'm selling 2 copies of House of Leaves by Danielewski. OMG talk about a clunker. Its funny because before we met, both my DH and I bought the book and we both only got halfway through.

 

[amyamyamy]

That book irritates me (house of leaves). It's good but then it also feels like the author jacked off for 800 pages let me think about a book. I have a stack of some weird ones on my nightstand

 

[amyamyamy]

Here's a few to pick from (synopsis in the spoilers):

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Spoiler

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Spoiler

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her charges—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and their procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. As Blindness reclaims the age-old story of a plague, it evokes the vivid and trembling horrors of the twentieth century, leaving readers with a powerful vision of the human spirit that's bound both by weakness and exhilarating strength.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty... just because I loved Big Little Lies

Spoiler

Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there’s anything they can count on, it’s each other.

Clementine and Erika are each other’s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don’t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid’s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.

Two months later, it won’t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can’t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn’t gone?

In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.

 

[tankel]

I read blindness way back in college and it was good. I also have dark matter in my lineup to read. I read little big lies and the husband's secret a few years ago and enjoyed them at the time, so I'm also in for truly madly guilty.

 

[lemon_tree]

Let's read Truly Madly Guilty first, and then Dark Matter second.

I want to read blindness at some point too but can do that on my own since Tank has already read it.

 

[writingislove]

Totally second what lemon said! They all sound great!

 

[amyamyamy]

I get to pick two books?! so truly madly guilty first and dark matter second? Yay!! Can we start now?

 

[sunshine2014]

Omg, my SIL sent me truly madly guilty last week for my birthday. I'll attempt it, but seriously still not sure I'm in the mood to read, so I may just lurk. I'll keep you posted!

 

[lemon_tree]

Just reserved truly madly guilty at two local libraries. I'm #98 on one wait list and #154 on the other! Might be awhile before I can start.

 

[writingislove]

Eeek ...would it be better to start with Dark Matter? Then by the time we're done maybe lemon will have the other and sun might be up to join us?