June 2023: What are you reading?

[Bootsie]

I am reading Britt-Marie Was Here.  It is the first Fredrik Backman book I've read (and I haven't seen A Man Called Otto movie yet).  

[wintermom]

14 hours ago, Kidlit said:

Yes, please!

My friend is a former homeschool mom who is just such a hard, dedicated worker.  She went back to school for her trade when she was nearing the end of her homeschool journey. 

ISBN 978-1-77214-195-5

The publisher is Anvil Press // Vancouver

What trade is your friend exploring/entering? Has she chosen one yet?

[Kidlit]

5 minutes ago, wintermom said:

ISBN 978-1-77214-195-5

The publisher is Anvil Press // Vancouver

What trade is your friend exploring/entering? Has she chosen one yet?

I'm not sure what the official title is, but she trained as a welder.  She works in maintenance at an aluminum plant.  

[wintermom]

4 minutes ago, Kidlit said:

I'm not sure what the official title is, but she trained as a welder.  She works in maintenance at an aluminum plant.  

It is confusing! There are welders in pipefitting, boilermaking, and lots more trades. Just ask her what union she belongs to (if she went union). 

Here's a website with 22 positions that welders can do. Pretty cool! No wonder so many women go into welding. So much variety!

https://waterwelders.com/types-of-welding-jobs-careers/#:~:text=Welder%2FFitter&text=They're needed in important,construction%2C manufacturing%2C and motorsports.

[Kareni]

My local bookgroup will be meeting on Wednesday. This month's choice was a reread for me.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir was a good read. I liked it more on this second read but still not as much as I like The Martian. ETA: Everyone who attended really enjoyed the book!

"Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?"

**

I also recently read a short science fiction romance that was a Cinderella type story with an android as one of the leads. I enjoyed Once upon a Dance by Kim Fielding but had hoped for more.

"Dom is an aging house-android, toiling away for the cruel and ungrateful owners of an inn. He secretly dreams of freedom, friendship, and love. When an inn guest offers him the chance to attend a grand masquerade ball, Dom jumps at the opportunity. For a few precious hours he enjoys a level of independence he had never imagined—and the company of a handsome and kind prince of industry.

Until the clock strikes midnight."

 (FIC 58, RR 26, NF 4, NS 16//)

Regards,

Kareni

[KrissiK]

I finished my first Agatha Christie - "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". Loved it.

[Vintage81]

I finished Weyward by Emilia Hart. Sigh....I really wanted to like this book, but it didn't end up being what I thought it was going to be.

I enjoyed the multiple story lines following the three women in the 1600s, early 1900s, and present day. There was some magical realism where the women had a connection to nature, mostly birds and insects. I also liked how the end of each chapter was sort of mini-cliffhanger, so it kept me wanting to read more. But then......

This book should have come with a huge sticker on it with trigger warnings for all sorts of things - domestic violence, s*xual assault, abortion, stillbirths, plus additional abuse. If I'd have known the story was filled with all of that, I probably would not have picked this book up. It was a bit much. I also dislike domestic thriller type books, and it veered into that territory a few times.

I didn't hate it, but I don't that I'd actually recommend it to anyone either. (3 stars) I agree with @Kidlit and her assessment back from April. ☺️

Oh also, the author used the word "undulate" at least three times, which is totally unacceptable...I should knock another star off my rating just for that!! 🤣

[Kidlit]

1 minute ago, Vintage81 said:

 

Oh also, the author used the word "undulate" at least three times, which is totally unacceptable...I should knock another star off my rating just for that!! 🤣

Good catch! And good assessment! 🤣

 

yeah--I mostly just got that the author REALLY hates men.  It was one of those books I WANTED to like, but that unlikely event in the end where the modern protagonist "forgot" to do something that immediately put her life in jeopardy--yeah, no. I'm out at that point.  

[Kidlit]

Who's responsible for my falling in love all over again with Inspector Gamache via the Amazon show Three Pines THAT WAS CANCELLED AFTER ONE SEASON??? 
 

What a cliffhanger ending. 
 

I'm bitter. 

[marbel]

9 hours ago, Kidlit said:

Who's responsible for my falling in love all over again with Inspector Gamache via the Amazon show Three Pines THAT WAS CANCELLED AFTER ONE SEASON??? 
 

What a cliffhanger ending. 
 

I'm bitter. 

I know! I didn't even like the one book that I read, but the series was SO GOOD. I can't believe it was canceled. Quality TV is so hard to find. Maybe not many people want it. 

[Kidlit]

11 minutes ago, marbel said:

I know! I didn't even like the one book that I read, but the series was SO GOOD. I can't believe it was canceled. Quality TV is so hard to find. Maybe not many people want it. 

I thought the casting, especially of Armand, Rene-Marie, and Isabel LaCoste, was so good!  I admit I cried several times over the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women storyline, which I found to be much stronger in the show than in the books. 

[KrissiK]

I started “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder” by David Grann.  It’s a true story from back in the 1700’s. The subtitle kind of says it all. I am enjoying the writing so far, the first chapter has been devoted to the setting and principle players. 

[4kidlets4me]

I finished two books for book bingo. 

For the joyful square I read The Eyre Affair. I've had this on my TBR pile for a long time so I'm glad I finally got around to it. It was cute but not amazing. The literary tropes got tiring after a while. 3 stars.

For the translated square I read Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. This would have worked for a few different squares but I don't have very many translated books so I'll use it for that one. This is by far the best book I've read all year and will probably be up there in my all time favorites. However, this is also the creepiest most horrifying book I've ever read and should come with just about every trigger warning you can think of. It's especially heavy on child abuse/death/torture, political violence and extreme gore. On one hand I couldn't put this down, on the other I couldn't read it at night I was so scared and horrified I knew it would give me nightmares if I read it too close to bed. While on the surface this is about a terrifying cult, it's really about Argentina politics and the dictatorship and the very real violence those people endured which made this even more devastating and horrifying. 5 stars.

Here is the synopsis:

A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family.

A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

[aaplank]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:58 AM, Pawz4me said:

I finished West With Giraffes last night. I picked it up a month or two ago as a "free with Prime" book. I rarely get those, most of them don't seem to get very good reviews. But this one was a very enjoyable read. I'd give it a solid 4.5.

I just read this last week! I really enjoyed it too, especially knowing that it was based on a true story.

[Kassia]

I started reading My Friend Anne Frank: The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds, but it wasn't holding my interest so I thought I'd return it to the library and move on to something else but the reviews are SO good that I'm going to give it another try.  I'm thinking it's a really good book but maybe the timing for this kind of book isn't right for me now.  

I just finished In Plain View: The Daily Lives of Amish Women.  We live in Amish country.  This was a quick read and kind of interesting.

 

[Kidlit]

4 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I started reading My Friend Anne Frank: The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds, but it wasn't holding my interest so I thought I'd return it to the library and move on to something else but the reviews are SO good that I'm going to give it another try.  I'm thinking it's a really good book but maybe the timing for this kind of book isn't right for me now.  

 

Intrigued!

[000000000]

.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Petrova Fossil

[Vintage81]

4 minutes ago, Petrova Fossil said:

Erasmus once said words to the effect of “when I get money, I buy books; if there is any left, I buy food and clothes.” So do I, dear, so do I.

Love that!

[ScoutTN]

Rereading Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy.  (I don’t like the fourth book that she added later. Doesn’t match the vibe of the others. )

[ScoutTN]

Saw this last week on vacation while shopping at a local indie bookstore: 

[Kareni]

Yesterday I started and finished (late!) a very enjoyable contemporary romance, Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler.  This book involved a road trip of two acquaintances after a cancelled flight. One of them is carrying some ashes of a deceased friend that she hopes to bring to an old love of said friend. There was great banter in this book and some funny situations which had me laughing aloud. A second storyline followed the WWII era romance of two women in Key West, a military nurse and a pigeoneer. (Some adult content) (FIC 59, RR 26, NF 4, NS 16//)

"Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.

She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion.

After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he can’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone.

But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I just read a picture book that proved to be a very quick read, Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. It was the story of the author's grandparents who met and married while bring held in an American incarceration camp for Japanese Americans during WWII.  (FIC 59, RR 26, NF 4, NS 16, PIC 1//)

"To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human—that was miraculous.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast—elderly people, children, babies—now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day? 

Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s beautifully illustrated, elegant love story features a photo of the real Tama and George—the author’s grandparents—along with an afterword and other back matter for readers to learn more about a time in our history that continues to resonate."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kassia]

@Kareni  just ordered Love In the Library from our library.  Thanks!  🙂

[Bootsie]

I have just started Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.  It looks like it will be a quick, summer read (but I haven't really learned any chemistry yet 🙂 )

[Kidlit]

8 hours ago, Kareni said:

I just read a picture book that proved to be a very quick read, Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. It was the story of the author's grandparents who met and married while bring held in an American incarceration camp for Japanese Americans during WWII.  (FIC 59, RR 26, NF 4, NS 16, PIC 1//)

"To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human—that was miraculous.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast—elderly people, children, babies—now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day? 

Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s beautifully illustrated, elegant love story features a photo of the real Tama and George—the author’s grandparents—along with an afterword and other back matter for readers to learn more about a time in our history that continues to resonate."

Regards,

Kareni

I'm going to order this for the library where I work.  Dh and I met there when I worked there 26 years ago, so it is meant to be.  Thanks for the review!!

[Vintage81]

3 hours ago, Bootsie said:

I have just started Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.  It looks like it will be a quick, summer read (but I haven't really learned any chemistry yet 🙂 )

Did you enjoy Britt-Marie Was Here? (I’ve loved a few other Backman books, so I was curious how you liked it. ☺️)

[Bootsie]

42 minutes ago, Vintage81 said:

Did you enjoy Britt-Marie Was Here? (I’ve loved a few other Backman books, so I was curious how you liked it. ☺️)

It was a cute, simple book with a fairly predictable plot and enjoyable to read.  I haven't read any other Backman books, but I have heard they are fairly similar, so I do not know if it becomes somewhat repetitive. 

[Vintage81]

7 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

It was a cute, simple book with a fairly predictable plot and enjoyable to read.  I haven't read any other Backman books, but I have heard they are fairly similar, so I do not know if it becomes somewhat repetitive. 

I haven’t read Britt-Marie, so it’s hard for me to say. I’ve read A Man Called Ove and Anxious People. I don’t feel like those stories were similar. I started My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell She’s Sorry, but I had to stop that one because I could see where the story was going with an animal and I don’t do well with that. (I think Britt-Marie and My Grandmother may have overlapping characters.) In all of them though, I just really enjoy his writing style. I’ve got Beartown on my TBR shelf. 

[Kassia]

I find Backman books to be very different and they are hit or miss with me.  I really liked some and really disliked others.  Not many in the middle.  

@Kidlit how fun that you and DH met at the library!  

[Amoret]

I just finished The Compass Rose, a collection of short stories by Ursula K. LeGuin. I am working my way through her collected works, so this was next on the list. The stories were hit and miss for me -- some science fiction, some realistic fiction, and some that were just kind of bizarre. Not my favorite, but worth the time.

I also finished Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Ticht Naht Hahn. If you have read any of his books, you will know that they are all very similar in their message, and this was no different. I find reading his books to be meditative and calming, which I need right now. I have also been working back through What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, which I last read for a class in college. It far denser and less immediately relevant than Hahn's, works, but a good overview of Buddhism, yet still accessible.

We are going to be studying WWI next year, so I read All Quiet on the Western Front over the past few days. I can see why it is generally considered among the best war stories of all time. I had seen the movie, but the book is better - a tough read, for sure, but worthwhile.

[Vintage81]

2 minutes ago, Amoret said:

We are going to be studying WWI next year, so I read All Quiet on the Western Front over the past few days. I can see why it is generally considered among the best war stories of all time. I had seen the movie, but the book is better - a tough read, for sure, but worthwhile.

Our family watched the movie a few months ago...it was really good. I definitely had to hold back the tears! I've never read the book, but I probably should. 

[Kidlit]

11 minutes ago, Vintage81 said:

Our family watched the movie a few months ago...it was really good. I definitely had to hold back the tears! I've never read the book, but I probably should. 

I used to show the old black and white version back when I taught high school world history.  We didn't read the book but I tried to impress upon the students how WWI was different from prior wars, etc. Sigh. I was such an idealistic and impassioned young teacher.  LOL. I wonder if any of them remember it.

[KrissiK]

45 minutes ago, Amoret said:

 

We are going to be studying WWI next year, so I read All Quiet on the Western Front over the past few days. I can see why it is generally considered among the best war stories of all time. I had seen the movie, but the book is better - a tough read, for sure, but worthwhile.

I read that book several years ago. It really affected me. It was really good.

[GailV]

2 hours ago, Kidlit said:

I'm going to order this for the library where I work.  Dh and I met there when I worked there 26 years ago, so it is meant to be.  Thanks for the review!!

Dh and I met in a library also! How fun to find others with the same experience!

[Amoret]

41 minutes ago, Kidlit said:

I used to show the old black and white version back when I taught high school world history.

That's the one I saw, but I think there's a new Netflix version, too. We're also going to do some WWI poetry,which I first encountered in college, and I think that, more than anything, helped me glimpse the gravity of it.

[GailV]

Just finished:

Jonah for Normal People by Jared Byas. Part of the Bible for Normal People collection. I like the podcast and had purchased the book when it came out. Our pastors are doing a series on Jonah right now, so I finally got around to reading it.  Good book for some new (to me) things to think about.

Ten Planets: Stories by Yuri Herrera. It's along the lines of Calvino's Cosmicomics - fantastical little stories. This was fun, and I'd like to read more by this author.

[Vintage81]

40 minutes ago, Amoret said:

That's the one I saw, but I think there's a new Netflix version, too. We're also going to do some WWI poetry,which I first encountered in college, and I think that, more than anything, helped me glimpse the gravity of it.

The Netflix movie is the one we watched…it’s really good. 

[Pawz4me]

5 hours ago, Amoret said:

I have also been working back through What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, which I last read for a class in college. It far denser and less immediately relevant than Hahn's, works, but a good overview of Buddhism, yet still accessible.

 

I enjoy learning about Buddhism, and this is one I haven't read yet and it sounds interesting. And it's only $2.99 for the Kindle version. So I just got it. Thanks for the mention!

[Amoret]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

I enjoy learning about Buddhism, and this is one I haven't read yet and it sounds interesting. And it's only $2.99 for the Kindle version. So I just got it. Thanks for the mention

I hope you like it -- I first read it in a class on Buddhism and Christianity that had two professors, one Christian and one Buddhist, and a significant part of the class time was spent with the two of them debating, in tremendously smart and informed ways, their faith traditions' positions on various topics and social issues. I would love to sit in on a class like that again - such respectful, considerate dialogue seems hard to find these days. We also read Theravada Buddhism by Richard Gombrich, which I also enjoyed, but it has been a while.

[Vintage81]

33 minutes ago, Amoret said:

I hope you like it -- I first read it in a class on Buddhism and Christianity that had two professors, one Christian and one Buddhist, and a significant part of the class time was spent with the two of them debating, in tremendously smart and informed ways, their faith traditions' positions on various topics and social issues. I would love to sit in on a class like that again - such respectful, considerate dialogue seems hard to find these days. We also read Theravada Buddhism by Richard Gombrich, which I also enjoyed, but it has been a while.

I think I would love that class!

[Kareni]

I just finished a nonfiction book that I read for artistic inspiration, How to Be a Rule-Breaking Letterer: A Guide to Making Perfectly Imperfect Art by Huyen Dinh. It was a pleasant affirming book and very pink! (FIC 59, RR 26, NF 5, NS 16, PIC 1///)

"This book is for anyone who's felt the pressure of perfection. As a schoolgirl in Vietnam and later in online lettering classes, Huyen Dinh was always told to perfect her penmanship. Instead, she started embracing her own imperfect style—with squiggly lines, cheeky messages, and pastel colors.

In this upbeat guidebook, Dinh walks you through the basic rules of lettering and then teaches you how to break them in clever and creative ways. She shares challenges and triumphs from her own artistic journey and offers inspiration as well as technical tips. You can use your new lettering skills to tell your personal story, support a cause you care about, or decorate your tote bags and sneakers! Fully illustrated in Dinh's signature pastel palette, this book is the perfect companion for any aspiring creative."

Regards,

Kareni

[4kidlets4me]

I finished 2 more for book bingo 

Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham this is for my trans or non binary author square. This was excellent, I absolutely loved Carlotta. It's mostly told in a first person stream of consciousness style with no quotation marks with can be hard for some. It's a scathing look at the prison industrial complex and how the system continues to traumatize people even after they have paid their debt to society. 5 stars. 

Carlotta Mercedes has been misunderstood her entire life. When she was pulled into a robbery gone wrong, she still went by the name she’d grown up with in Fort Greene, Brooklyn—before it gentrified. But not long after her conviction, she took the name Carlotta and began to live as a woman, an embrace of selfhood that prison authorities rejected, keeping Carlotta trapped in an all-male cell block, abused by both inmates and guards, and often placed in solitary.

In her fifth appearance before the parole board, Carlotta is at last granted conditional freedom and returns to a much-changed New York City. Over a whirlwind Fourth of July weekend, she struggles to reconcile with the son she left behind, to reunite with a family reluctant to accept her true identity, and to avoid any minor parole infraction that might get her consigned back to lockup.

 

I also finished The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. I'm going to use this one for the chosen for the cover square. This is a dreamy, claustrophobic, dystopian novel about things disappearing. I would have liked more information about what was going on but I didn't end up frustrated for lack of answers. I think it can be interpreted as a metaphor for a multitude of things. 4 stars.

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

[Vintage81]

Last night I finished The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer. This book definitely had an interesting premise, and I loved it! The story is about Clover Brooks, who becomes a death doula after her beloved grandfather dies alone while she is away traveling the world. Because Clover spends almost all her time focused on taking care of the dying she becomes a bit of a loner, never having been in a relationship and not really having any friends her own age. Everything changes when her next client enters the picture and she's faced with all new experiences. (5 stars)

I'm sure this topic isn't for everyone, but I found it to be a really interesting concept, plus I really liked Clover. As someone who is introverted and struggles to make friends, I understood her. Also, some of the stuff in the book regarding death reminded of a book I've previously read (twice), which I also really enjoyed...From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty.

[Kidlit]

57 minutes ago, Vintage81 said:

Last night I finished The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer. This book definitely had an interesting premise, and I loved it! The story is about Clover Brooks, who becomes a death doula after her beloved grandfather dies alone while she is away traveling the world. Because Clover spends almost all her time focused on taking care of the dying she becomes a bit of a loner, never having been in a relationship and not really having any friends her own age. Everything changes when her next client enters the picture and she's faced with all new experiences. (5 stars)

I'm sure this topic isn't for everyone, but I found it to be a really interesting concept, plus I really liked Clover. As someone who is introverted and struggles to make friends, I understood her. Also, some of the stuff in the book regarding death reminded of a book I've previously read (twice), which I also really enjoyed...From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty.

My dd19 requested this one from the library upon the recommendation of a friend and she read it in one day.  She really liked it, too!

[Kidlit]

I finished the middle grade novel Restart by Gordon Korman in audio a few days ago.  I will be hosting a bookclub with 6, 7, 8 graders for this book at the end of July.  It is a neat premise--a bully falls off his roof and sustains a concussion leading to amnesia.  Because he doesn't have any memories, he has a chance to remake himself and it turns out he is nice person when given a chance to think about things without prior knowledge of his own reputation. I hope the kids will like it and it will lead to good discussion.  
 

i also finished reading  Prisoner of Azkaban aloud to my 10 yo the other night.  This might be my last HP to read aloud. 🥲

[madteaparty]

I just posted about Lorrie Moore’s I Am Homeless if this is not my home.

after i read everything she’s written I’ve dowloaded (traveling otherwise I don’t  like the kindle) The Man Who Saw Everything (I don’t know how I found this one). 

Edited June 25, 2023 by madteaparty

[Kassia]

On 6/21/2023 at 8:11 PM, Kassia said:

I started reading My Friend Anne Frank: The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds, but it wasn't holding my interest so I thought I'd return it to the library and move on to something else but the reviews are SO good that I'm going to give it another try. 

 

 

On 6/21/2023 at 8:15 PM, Kidlit said:

Intrigued!

I did end up finishing the book and am glad I did.  I've read a lot of books written by Holocaust survivors and this wasn't my favorite, but it was very good.

I'm reading a book now that was one of my favorites as a child:  Moki, by Grace Jackson Penney.  It's about a Cheyenne girl.  Here's part of an Amazon review:  The book is very thought provoking for children, especially for girls, as it introduces the fact that girls were not as important as boys in the Cheyenne culture. Of course this leads to conversations about inequality in many other past and present cultures in the world. Moki is very enduring and the book paints a vivid image of the hard work that the people of the camp must do everyday to survive.

[4kidlets4me]

I finished Severance by Ling Ma. This is part apocalypse, part immigrant story, part millennial anti-capitalist story. I wanted way more apocalypse than this book had, I found myself skimming over the other parts of the book to get back to the end of the world part. On top of that it had an ambiguous ending. I can't figure out how this won all kinds of awards. I was underwhelmed to say the least. 2.5 stars rounded up.

I also finished Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh. I didn't realize this was book #3 in a series but I don't think I missed much by not reading the first two. The premise of this is fascinating, the serial killer isn't on trial....he's on the jury! This was a fun, quick read. My only gripe was the serial killer was way over the top and not very believable. 3 stars.

[Kareni]

This afternoon I finished a regency era mystery which I quite enjoyed, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman. The book featured unmarried 42 year old twin sisters who take on several cases to aid women and children. I look forward to reading the next book when it is released. Trigger warnings for (highlight to read) SPOILER ALERT**breast cancer, abduction of children to a brothel, and a horrific insane asylum***END SPOILER    (FIC 60, RR 26, NF 5, NS 16, PIC 1//)

"Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus,” is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend’s goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
 
The sisters set out to Caroline’s country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots and injures the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.

Back in London, Gus can’t stop thinking about her unlikely (not to mention handsome) comrade-in-arms. She is convinced Lord Evan was falsely accused of murder, and she is going to prove it. She persuades Julia to join her in a quest to help Lord Evan, and others in need—society be damned! And so begins the beguiling secret life and adventures of the Colebrook twins."

Regards,

Kareni

[marbel]

I've had the chance to listen to a lot of audio lately.

I had already mentioned Songbird by Peter Grainger. I've since gone on to listen to two more books in that series (On Eden Street and Roxane) and enjoyed both. There is one more book in that series, but I'm taking a break.  Something else came in from the library - a reread/listen for me: Broken Harbor by Tana French. She is one of my absolute favorite authors and I find I need to reread almost all of her books because toward the end of the first read, I read so fast to get to the resolution I lose some of the details. Revisiting this book was well worth the time for me. 

Last night I started listening to Rock Paper Scissors (Alice Feeney) and just started reading American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson, Too early for opinions so far. 

As usual, I have several nonfiction books out from the library but just can't seem to get into them. I also go for the easy fiction! 

Edited June 28, 2023 by marbel