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January 2023: What are you reading?

Vintage81

By Vintage81,
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Storygirl

Storygirl

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I just finished Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. I've been a mystery-only reader for about 15 years, but last year I decided to branch out again and explore a wider scope of fiction. I enjoyed this one. Iona is an opinionated lady of a certain age, who rides a commuter train daily and prefers not to talk to others. But an incident on the train one day brings some of the riders together, and they slowly develop into a group of unlikely friends. Along the way, the reader learns more about each character. I liked the second half of the book, after they are firmly connected to one another, more than the set up. This is a good choice for people who like heartfelt fiction with found-family themes and quirky characters.

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kokotg

kokotg

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23 hours ago, Kareni said:

I very much enjoyed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel by Gabrielle Zevin. It's a book with a bit of everything (friendship, life, death, disability, love, jealousy, creativity, and infidelity to name a few) and a whole lot of game designing and playing.  (FIC 9, RR 2, NF 1, NS 2//)

 

I have that one on my library wish list! 

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kokotg

kokotg

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I just finished (the audiobook of) Anne Tyler's French Braid, which I liked a lot. I kind of divide Anne Tyler into very good and merely pleasant...the last one I read was The Clock Dance, which I'd put in the pleasant category; this one felt more like Tyler at her strongest, with a lot of subtly fascinating observations about family and women and aging and marriage...all her usual stuff, but she somehow has new things to say over and over again.

Then I spend a lot of time in bed today with a sore back on doctor's orders, so I started and finished The End of the World House yesterday and today. I enjoyed it; speculative fiction with a multiverse thing going on. Definitely flawed and a bit of a mess at times, but a fun read and well-written (perhaps clashes with "a bit of a mess." The plotting was a bit of a mess, and there were some things that bothered me, but the prose was lovely).

Also listening to Mike Schur's Good Place-adjacent How to Be Perfect. It's a crash course in moral philosophy sort of thing. Sometimes books like that--serious books by entertainment people--seem to be trying way too hard to be both meaningful and funny...but Schur might be nailing it (it's early days yet)...perhaps because he's a writer and not an actor. I tried to read a Nick Offerman book awhile back and just couldn't do it, even though I very much like Nick Offerman in other settings. 

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Laurel-in-CA

Laurel-in-CA

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Gave up on Blood and Thunder - not sure if it was the audio instead of text, the time pressure, or the book itself. I think it will be awhile before I experiment with audio again.

Reading a fantasy series that starts with A Coup of Tea, moves on to Tea Set and Match, and finishes with Royal Tea Service, all by Casey Blair. It is fantasy, but it is also all about the power of honesty and relationship building, discovering one's true self and serving others. Not really themes I expected in a fantasy, but it's quite engaging, and there are also dragons and potential magical disasters to over come, all tied in with the significance of tea ceremony and tea culture. Fun read!

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historically accurate

historically accurate

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I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea - really, really enjoyed this one. Found it a bit preachy at times, and super cheesy at others, but overall a wonderful, charming story.

I started Feb's book club book - Come Fly the World. It's about the 1960s Pan Am company and stewardesses. So far, I'm not impressed. It jumps from topic to topic with no transitions or even chronological reasoning in chapter to chapter. The social history of the individual stewardesses is better done than other sections. I'm not very far into it yet (about 100 pages), but so far, it reads like the blurbs you'd find at a museum based on Pan Am.

I'm listening to The House of the Seven Gables. I'm enjoying it thus far. It is very sloooooow-moving, but I do like it. My DD, who rode in the car listening to it the other day, claims she's naming my future grandchild Hepzibah because she likes the way the reader says it LOL.

Edited by historically accurate
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Storygirl

Storygirl

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I just finished two short audiobooks.

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride was on a bunch of Best Books lists in 2021. It's a YA verse novel, and on audio it is only three hours long. Less for me, because I increase the speed. A teenager named Moth goes on a road trip across the country with a new friend who is traveling from his mother's home to his father's. Moth is awash in grief over the car crash that killed her family two years ago, and her friend is struggling with his own family and personal issues. Although the poems create a memorable mood, I found the surprise twist at the end spoiled the book for me.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, on audio, is the first of a few books about Lucy. In this one, she reflects on her relationship with her mother, which is complex, when her mother comes to stay with her while Lucy is in the hospital. The book jumps back and forth in time seamlessly, revealing Lucy's later pursuit of a writing career and her own marriage and motherhood. A quick, quiet, character-driven story.

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Granny_Weatherwax

Granny_Weatherwax

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I've been participating in our library's January challenge (read 10 books). As such, I have been reading or listening to shorter books.

I have completed:

I've Been Thinking... by Maria Shriver

Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

The Whispering Statue by Carolyn Keene

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

Unfu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop

The Mysterious Mr. Quinn by Agatha Christie

 

Currently reading:

Lords and Ladies by Sir Terry Pratchett

 

Beginning in February, I hope to focus more on my book Bingo and break out some of the longer reads. Books 2 & 3 of The Wheel of Time are in the lineup.

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Kassia

Kassia

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1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

Strike my textbooks off the list. Due to our grandson being born premature, and me needing to be available here for childcare and household help and support, I had to withdraw from my coursework.

I'm sorry, too.  You've sacrificed a lot this year for your family.  Wishing you and your family all the best.

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Ottakee

Ottakee

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This month I did a reread of Never Broken:  Songs are only Half the Story by Jewel  I had never heard of her or her music before when a friend gave me her book to read about 2 years ago.  Story of her rough growing up years in rural Alaska and then moving to her big music career.  I enjoyed it.

The other book I just finished was A Year of Less   Another friend suggested this book and it was a quick listen but motivated me to continue to go through my house and get rid of things that I don't need, use, love.  I am not a big shopper so that part isn't a big deal for me but I do have way too much stuff.

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Amira

Amira

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I forgot to mention another Jill Lepold book that I read this month, The Secret History of Wonder Woman. So Big was good and I think it'll be an interesting book group discussion.  Other members of the book group seemed a little hesitant about readying it, so I hope that at least a few others will be ready to talk about it besides me and the woman who suggested it.  I also was happy with Sarah Ruden's new translation of the gospels.  I liked her Paul Among the People when I read it about 13 years ago.  It almost made me like Paul.

I also read online to university dd most days, usually children's books that we both want to revisit.  We're reading through the Chrestomanci books right now.  I started listening to A Slave in the White House yesterday.

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TexasProud

TexasProud

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Final Counts for January:


Discernment by Henri Nouwen ( part of it)
The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry ( finished, not a fan)


Gentle and Lowly by Dane C Ortlund (finished) Very good. Underlined a lot.

The Moment of Tenderness by Madeline L' Engle Finished the short story collection. I didn't really enjoy most of them. I would only recommend this to someone who is doing research on how Madeline L'Engle's style developed. (Her children collected her unpublished stories. A lot of them felt more like a chapter from a book, not a short story.)

Hold That Thought by Gem Fadling. Easy, helpful read. We are doing one chapter a month in the Replenish group (chapter 4 this week), so I will have a chance to put the principles into practice. 
 

 From Broken to Beloved by Terry Wardle - Partway through. I am doing a chapter a week.

The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World by Andy Crouch. I thought he had some good points, but his solutions sounded much more utopian than practical.  Like, yes, we SHOULD live that way, but how do you do so practically?

I am adding Word by Word by Marilyn McEntyre-  I am LOVING this and highly recommend it for quiet time reading. Short. Not necessarily biblical, though many times it is. But a great addition. 

I just got Write for Life by Julia Cameron-  I am doing a chapter a week.  I am on chapter 3

I would still like to find a fun fiction book to read in the evening.  Until then, I will continue making my way through Judy Bolton. I have read 5 of them.

Once I finished Wendel Berry, I started Maya Angelou book of poetry. Many are hard to read, but needed. Very raw. 

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Kassia

Kassia

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On 1/25/2023 at 7:26 PM, Pawz4me said:

I finished Unspeakable by Jessica Willis Fisher. I bought it a week or two ago when it was a Kindle daily deal. I learned from reading the blurb that she was somebody, but I'd never heard of her or her family. It was . . . something. I don't think I'm easily bothered by stories of abuse, but this one got to me. I didn't sleep well while I was reading it. 

I'm reading this now and feel exactly the same way.  ETA - oops!  Didn't realize this thread is from last year! 

Edited by Kassia
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Alicia64

Alicia64

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On 1/1/2023 at 8:42 AM, Hilltopmom said:

I was introduced to 2 Facebook book groups (how I got this far without knowing that was a thing, I have no idea) so I have a lot of books to read right now! And I just started using Goodreads, so I’m excited to have a way to track and a TBR list there too.

I’ll join in when I can- I get busy with kids, work, and reading and forget about threads like these. But I like seeing what other people are reading.

I usually read lots of historical fiction but am branching out 🙂

This week on my pile that I’m most excited about (I usually read a book in a day or two, depending on if I bring work home that night or not or have an exercise class):

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Remarkably Bright Creatures by   Shelby Van Pelt

Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict 

The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I’m listening to The Beekeeper of Allepo

 

 

 

Would you mind sharing your top favorite historical fiction books? I'm always looking for good ones!

 

Edited by Alicia64
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