October StoryGraph Stats

  

This is a deceiving graph. I increase the pace of all

my audio books to an average of 1.20. So none of my books are actually “slow”.

If I had read paper books, instead of listening to audio, this would be my stats -

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich was an assigned book for the group middle and I both attend. 

I took a time out on my Liane Moriarty deep dive to listen to The Night Watchman. It was a good choice for a break, as opposite as opposite could be from the ten Moriarty books. I have three more Moriarty’s to go.   

Like many Pulitzer Prize winning books, and many classics, The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich is not a novel for everyone.  I liked it a lot, rich characters, excellent writing, very interesting stories. Incredible sad topics interwoven with a community full of strong families. 

Louise Erdrich, the author, also narrated this book. I am normally not a fan of authors reading their own fiction. But Erdrich did an outstanding job, perfect voice for this story. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

I am reading Liane Moriart‘s (ten) books in order. I have a break before my next assigned book, that helps. I am not reading her kids series.

There are three authors listed at the bottom of this post, Liane Moriart and two of her sisters, who are also published authors.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty was styled very much like Big Little Lies. There was a big event. There were flashbacks building to the big event. Both books, did not grab my attention until I was well (hours!) into them. But then by the end, I liked them. 

I can absolutely see that Big Little Lies would be better on TV than as a book. 

I listened to Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty in audio format. It was 17+ hours long. The last 7 hours of the book were good. The first 10 hours of the book needed to be edited down to 5 hours. 

There are other reviews stating that the big event was not big enough. I think it would be, if the first half of the  book was shortened, so it was more proportional.

So far, my opinion is Liane Moriarty’s writing was best when she started. I am hoping these two books are blips and the last few are better. I have three Liane Moriarty books left to go. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

Note - The Nicola Berry series is for children.

Jaclyn Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Nicola Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

End of the season

It is always a surprise, that there is so much work at the end of the season. 

My husband spent a day disconnecting hoses and splitters and sprinklers.  

The hoses then spent two days stretched out the length of the driveway, draining and drying. He cleaned all the ends with WD40. 

Everything is now packed and put away in the garage. 

The sprinklers are hanging on the peg board, the splitters are all together right by them, in a basket on  the pegboard. 

Middle filled a kiddie pool, known as a dog pool at her house, with soapy water and scrubbed her hoses before she put them away. We did not. 

At our house the hoses are coiled in two plastic garbage cans. At her house they are stored in bags which are then stacked. 

The boys

December 2024 I posted about two kittens which we socialized and then they went to live with youngest. Clicking on the “cats” label at the bottom of this post will pull up those previous posts. 

The boys hit their one year anniversary with youngest earlier this month. 

They are social, thriving, and wicked smart. 

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I am reading Liane Moriart‘s (ten) books in order. I have a break before my next assigned book, that helps. I am not reading her kids series.

There are three authors listed at the bottom of this post, Liane Moriart and two of her sisters, who are also published authors.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (2014) was next on the publication order. 

I borrowed this book on Libby. The reader was Caroline Lee, again, and she was terrific. I used my now customary pace of 1.20 which reduced the 16 hour audio book to 13.5 hours. 

Luckily I had never seen the TV series (below). If I had seen the series, it would have ruined the book for me. I usually do the book or the series/movie, but not both. 

This started out as my least favorite of the Liane Moriarty books. I had to relisten to the first 20 minutes 3x before I was able to retain anything. It didn’t grab me. 

In fact, for the first 3-4 hours of the book, it didn’t grab me. Just about hour four, I liked it a lot. I liked it all the way to the end. Creative story line, in my opinion. 

I think if I would have known this (below), it would have helped a lot -

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

Note - The Nicola Berry series is for children.

Jaclyn Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Nicola Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

I am reading Liane Moriart‘s (ten) books in order. I have a break before my next assigned book, that helps. I am not reading her kids series.

There are three authors listed at the bottom of this post, Liane Moriart and two of her sisters, who are also published authors.

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (2013) on Libby was just under 14 hours, at my 1.20 pace, it was about 11.5 hours. It was read by Caroline Lee who was excellent.

I liked The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty a lot. I thought it was going one direction, which I would not have liked, but it did not. So, for me, it was very good. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

Note - The Nicola Berry series is for children.

Jaclyn Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Nicola Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty

I am reading Liane Moriart‘s (ten) books in order. I have a break before my next assigned book, that helps. I am not reading her kids series.

There are three authors listed at the bottom of this post, Liane Moriart and two of her sisters, who are also published authors.

Next up was The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty. 

This one was read by Tamara Lovatt-Smith who also narrated the first one I read, What Alice Forgot. 

Again, on Libby, I used pace of 1.20 which reduced the time from  about 13 hours to about 11 hours.

The premise for The Hypnotist’s Love Story was clever, in my opinion. I enjoyed it, a lot. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

Note - The Nicola Berry series is for children.

Jaclyn Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Nicola Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -