It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. For this meme, bloggers post what they finished last week, what they're currently reading, and what they plan to start this week.

My comments are not meant to be recaps of the story lines as I include a link to Goodreads for their synopsis of the book. I am merely stating how I felt about the book without giving any spoilers.

2012 Recap and 2013 Recap

I've been MIA for the last few weeks as we were in the road for two weeks as we did a leisurely drive home from Sedona to Toronto. Then when we got home we had to get our selves organized and catch up with friends and family.

So not much reading has been going on!

FINISHED SINCE LAST POSTING:

Synopsis here.

I really liked this book, it takes place in Buffalo, a city we have visited many times. I knew there was a strong Irish population but had no idea about the cliques and closed environment they calls The County.

It also made me smile to have them drinking coffee at Tim Horton's a Canadian chain.

The title got me as I am irish born and my father, who had jet black hair, was often referred to as Black Irish.

A first book of fiction for the author, and I would definitely read further adventures of his protagonist.

For 16-year-old Sam, life is about to get extremely complicated. He and his girlfriend—make that ex-girlfriend— Alicia have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Sam is suddenly forced to grow up and struggle with the familiar fears and inclinations that haunt us all.

Nick Hornby’s poignant and witty novel shows a rare and impressive understanding of human relationships and what it really means to be a man.

Interesting...this is Hornby's first book for young adults. I found it a quick read, enjoyed that it is told from Sam's point of view. he definitely is a 16 year old self absorbed boy as well he should be.

I didn't think that a book about teen parents would be all that interesting, the subject has been done a million times. However, as always, Hornby is excellent with blending in pop culture references.

Flatscreen tells the story of Eli Schwartz as he endures the loss of his home, the indifference of his parents, the success of his older brother, and the cruel and frequent dismissal of the opposite sex. He is a loser par excellence—pasty, soft, and high—who struggles to become a new person in a world where nothing is new.

Into this scene of apathy rolls Seymour J. Kahn. Former star of the small screen and current paraplegic sex addict, Kahn has purchased Eli’s old family home. The two begin a dangerous friendship, one that distracts from their circumstances but speeds their descent into utter debasement and, inevitably, YouTube stardom.

It was probably not a good idea to read this right after Slam, one can only take so much adolescent angst.

Enjoyed but read skimmingly to get to the end.

STARTED THIS WEEK:

Officer Gunnhildur, recently promoted from her post in rural Iceland to Reykjavík’s Serious Crime Unit, is tasked with hunting down escaped convict Long Ommi, who has embarked on a spree of violent score-settling in and around the city. Meanwhile, she’s also investigating the murder of a fitness guru in her own city-center apartment. As Gunna delves into the cases, she unearths some unwelcome secrets and influential friends shared by both guru and convict. Set in an Iceland plagued by an ongoing financial crisis, Gunna has to take stock of the whirlwind changes that have swept through the country—and the fact that at the highest levels of power, the system’s endemic corruption still leads, inevitably, to murder.