Danielle Steel - Amazing grace
It's okay.
wanna finish this asap and move on to the next book though

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Added on September 12, 2012, 11:10 am"Hey Boo!" love that character to pieces. You'll get it when you read.

This post has been edited by avanpiper: Sep 12 2012, 11:10 AM

Just finished this science-fiction, Michael Chrichton's last novel before he passed away. In fact, he didn't get to finish this work and it was continued by another author. Just a brief review. This is my first novel by him (he's behind Jurassic Park), but I was blown away by how much effort he put in to make things so believable. Of course, some stuffs need extra imagination but when I threw myself into the world of the unforgiving Mother Nature, it was amazingly real. I'm in research myself so it feels kinda at home as I read this. I sure hope it gets a movie adaptation in the future. It can really make a good one.



NEXT book. I picked this up during my recent visit at Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

Since I'm playing the game for vita, I thought of reading this just to get a deeper understanding of the series.



This post has been edited by avanpiper: Nov 24 2012, 10:51 PM

The Things That Keep Us Here - Carla Buckley

reading Nothing To Envy : Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

picked it up at changi airport after coming bk from south korea trip, just curious about their north counterpart...hence the purchase.

so far so good. pretty much appalled by the NK government's regime.

Siege by Simon Kernick

Reading this at the moment. Quite good.



Been a while since I read this fast lol...can't really put it down.

After finishing this, I'm going to read Reconstructing Amelia.

Finished this in 4 days. So goooooood

Would be nice to have a movie based on this.



Reading The Rosie Project now

Just finished. I like the main character, so eccentric but adorable. The only thing I don't really like is the ending.


After reading Reconstructing Amelia, The Rosie Project felt pale in comparison. I suppose for those who like thriller/drama/suspense/teenage affairs like Gossip Girl (partly), even mothers should give Reconstructing Amelia a read. It's probably the best book I've read so far in 2014. So glad I found this when I was randomly searching for thrillers/mystery to try.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1577630...tructing-amelia

This post has been edited by avanpiper: Jul 9 2014, 11:46 AM

Michael Crichton - Next

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Finished Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino and now reading the second installment, Salvation of a Saint.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Just finished this today. Reminds me of Reconstructing Amelia (Kimberly McCreight). These young teens really scare me, very unsettling and disturbing is just an understatement.
Recommended if you like thrillers, mystery and if you've read Gone Girl, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. Of all her 3 books, this debut is my favorite.



This post has been edited by avanpiper: Oct 3 2015, 09:41 PM

Books read in 2015



plus Kimberly McCreight's Where They Found Her, my final book of 2015.


Best read for me of the lot is Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I have to say, I love it more than Gone Girl so the ranking for me is Sharp Objects > Gone Girl > Dark Places. Sharp Objects really terrified me, it's not just the main character enjoying self-harm in cutting herself that her body is full of scars, but also the vivid description of her inner dark thoughts. It also reveals harrowing secrets and conducts of teenage girls in the small town. Couldn't sleep the night I finished reading it Gillian Flynn is just really good in scaring readers with tortured main characters of hers. but oddly, that's also precisely why I enjoyed Sharp Objects, it's just so honest. It's hard to swallow and definitely one of those that really leaves an impact after putting it down. Reminds me of Reconstructing Amelia (Kimberly McCreight).

Girl on the Train has a predictable culprit 2/3 into the novel so the ending kinda fell flat for me. All 3 leads lead very messy lives, cheater, liar and an alcoholic. Hard to root for anyone in this. But the alcoholic's point of view and often derailed train of thoughts are amusing as much as her blackout episodes, which makes it quite intriguing.

First novel of 2016 is Gravity by Tess Gerritsen.

This post has been edited by avanpiper: Jan 1 2016, 01:54 AM

Just started The Likeness by Tana French. 10 pages in and I already love her writing style.

Finished The Likeness (Tana French)

Currently reading The Girl Before (Rena Olsen).

Devoured this in 3 days. A promising debut by Rena Olsen that touches on a difficult but necessary subject. It deals with a woman whose life is based on a lie as she gets embroiled in human trafficking and sex industry at a tender age.

Dark, gripping, harrowing and emotional. This is the kind of story that needs to be told and I think Olsen's writing from the protagonists' POV is brilliant (as someone who has been brainwashed by her captors). Towards the end, it has a healing effect and hopeful.

Rating 4/5


Started Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies.

Rating: 4/5
Told from the point of views of several characters, the author weaves intricate webs interconnecting two seemingly unrelated cases as we look into the business of kidnap and ransom. It's a relatively unknown subject for me personally, hence I quite enjoy the insight as it touches on how a company handles kidnap & ransom, making it into a venture. I also like how the author subtly connects readers with one of the protagonists, Detective Leah Mackay's troubled life with her cheating husband and how it affects her judgment in the cases. As for the twist, I figured half of it but the other half, came unexpectedly so that was good. I like to be taken by surprise when it comes to crime novels.




Rating: 4/5
I've read the other 3 books by Gillian Flynn, so this short story is the only one missing from my list. I finished this in one sitting because it's short and easy to read. I've always liked how bold Gillian is with her story telling, she doesn't hold back and she just presents it to readers as it is, raw and surreal. The story is nothing different from what I expected from her but I have to say, the ending is kinda open, left me hanging for a closure. Still, the twists make this short story worth reading. It may not be as mind-blowing as her other works (Gone Girl being her most famous, Sharp Objects remains my favourite from her), I like how uncomfortable and unsettling she always makes me with these dark stories.

Playing with Fire - 5/5

Pretty Girls - 4/5

The Couple Next Door - 3.5/5

The Woman in Cabin 10 - 3.5/5

What Was Mine - 5/5

Some of my reviews can be read at Goodreads.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/59159...iper?shelf=read

Currently reading I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh.

5 stars!!!

Saw everyone recommending this and I wasn't disappointed, at all. It's so good! The beginning may be a tad slow but when that TWIST came out of nowhere in the middle of the book, I was stunned, speechless. I had to go back a few paragraphs and re-read them, just to relive the same shocking sensation again. How did I miss that? It was a really clever twist, I'd say, definitely one the best plot twists I've read so far this year. If anything, this book is worth reading for that twist alone imo.

I love the way the author crafted this story. I also like that she was a former cop so everything just felt more realistic, the way she delved in the intricacies of procedural police investigations. The characters are likable too (the cops mainly) and I don't want to spoil anything further because it'd ruin the experience. It's really best to go into this with the least knowledge. I'll just add that it's not an easy book to swallow because of the graphic details. I had to slow down a bit in few instances because some parts were plain harrowing.

I highly recommend this. Definitely the Top 10 books I've read this year. Great stuff.


Gonna read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch next!