March 2024: What are you reading?

[Vintage81]

Happy March Everyone! 🍀 

I’m excited that we’re getting some warmer weather. I’m no fan of winter…thank goodness I live in the south! We don’t really have four seasons where I live, so I’m going to enjoy these few weeks of springtime before the heat comes! 

February was a slower reading month for me. Oh well! Hopefully I’ll get back on track in March. ☺️ How have y’all been doing…reading some good stuff? 

Edited March 3 by Vintage81

[Pintosrock]

Continuing with my Spanish practice, I've finished Las Brujas and have started El gran gigante bonachón (Roald Dahl's The Witches and The BFG). It's starting to get easier to read in a foreign language! Very exciting! My family bought me the first two Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians series in Spanish for my birthday. Though I enjoy Brandon Sanderson, I haven't read that series in English. I peeked at them, and it'll definitely be trickier not having read those in English before tackling in Spanish. My original plan was to read the Cronicles of Narnia in Spanish next, but we'll see what happens...

Kid and I just finished Quark Chronicles: Anatomy and heard about Ernest Devore's passing, so it was very bittersweet. 

We're halfway through Inside Out and Back Again, which was pulled from my kid's fifth grade curriculum. I wasn't able to get a clear answer on why...  it's about a girl whose family has to leave Vietnam for America during the Vietnam War. Because immigration and other cultures are inappropriate for our American kids? That makes me so mad... we are planning on pulling her out and returning to homeschooling in the fall. 

Kid's Book Clubs... just finished Normal, which is a nonfiction account of a kid who has Treacher Collins disease - the same thing that the kid in Wonder has. Second book club is Esperanza Rising, about a Mexican girl who immigrated to America! It's a lot to keep up with two library book clubs, but I feel a strong need to show support for them, given what the school system is doing!

[ScoutTN]

About halfway through Have His Carcase. Very good.

Really need to begin making a dent in my nonfiction stack before it avalanches from my night table onto my head! 😆

[Vintage81]

The next book DD and I read for our American Literature study was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I also had DD pair this with The Poet X, which I have already read. I thought Mango Street was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Poet X (if I'm comparing the two, although they're not super similar). Because each chapter is essentially a tiny short story, just as something started happening it was ending, so it became a bit frustrating. I think I would've preferred the story to continue throughout the chapters. I also felt like the stories in each chapter tended to be more about other people than the narrator herself and I really wanted to know more about her. It certainly wasn't a bad book, but the whole thing was just hard to connect with because it felt so disjointed. (3 stars)

[GailV]

2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Really need to begin making a dent in my nonfiction stack before it avalanches from my night table onto my head! 😆

I keep my stack on the floor. It's currently actually 2 stacks, with room to become 3 stacks. PROBLEM SOLVED!

Finished in February but didn't get around to posting:

The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner's Guide to the Good News by Amy-Jill Levine. As noted before, our church is reading through the New Testament, one chapter per day 5x/week**. We just finished Mark. I had gotten this to go alongside for my own reference, and, wow, what a good choice! I loved how she approached things, how she portrayed her struggle with some passages, her comments on various interpretations one can find in various sources. 

**We have a daily devotional the pastor wrote, but, honestly, it's very dull. Also, we have a variety of weekly discussion groups -- most Sunday School classes and Bible studies are focussing on this -- DH and I attend a Thursday night group that's centering on what we're reading. So I'm just over here being Extra with all my bonus books and Teaching Company downloads. Fortunately, our Thursday night group leader is also very Extra (we have a wee bit of a competition about who buys more books), and also loves AJ Levine, so it's working out nicely.

[madteaparty]

Hot Milk which is excellent in a “dazed in the sun”’sort of way.

could not finish Portrait of a Marriage even though I loved Hamnet.

The Piano shop on the left bank as  need to be in a Paris mood for the book I’m writing. 

[QueenCat]

I'm about 25% through Oath & Honor by Liz Cheney. Excellent so far.

[Kareni]

I reread (and then reread again) the contemporary romance, Lucky by Gigi DeGraham. It featured three teens in their last year of high school who have a polyamorous romance.  (Adult content)  

"Lucky’s life hasn’t been fortunate, despite her name. Not the rich or even middle-class families ever lived in the Sunset Pines Trailer Park but Lucky and her father have love, even if they don’t have much else. Skipping school wasn’t her brightest idea but Lucky never met a rule she didn’t want to break.

Lucky would do anything to keep her father out of jail, but going to Halton Prep for her senior year? Didn’t the judge know kids from the trailer park NEVER step foot into that ‘Richy-Rich’ school? But her choice wasn’t hard. It’s agree to go or her dad spends time behind bars.

Whatever. Lucky will do anything to protect her father. She’ll compromise for his sake, but Halton Prep’s dress code isn’t all Lucky must deal with.

One hot footballer, Whit Graham has claimed Lucky as his and tries his best to become her only guy. Anyone who gets in his way might need a little friendly reminder, even if they are a star cross country athlete. But Hudson Preston isn’t intimidated by the mighty Whit Graham, or his Hellcat Crew. He doesn’t abide by anyone’s stupid bro-code and sets his sights on Lucky.

Two hot guys both want to be her one and only but Lucky’s never seen things the way most people do. Now that she’s on this compromising kick, she’s looking at Whit Graham and Hudson Preston with a new idea in mind.

The question is, would they even consider it? There’s only one way to find out, and it’s—Game On."

**

I also enjoyed a couple of male/male romance stories -- Out in the Cold by Kiki Clark and Catching Starlight by Lisa Henry.

///

Regards,

Kareni

[Lucy the Valiant]

Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby van Pelt) - recommend! 

[bookbard]

We had to do a mystery for book club (The Dry by Jane Harper, Australian author). It was all right, but it sparked a lot of reading of books I already have which are mysteries. I reread The Big Sleep (didn't realise how homophobic it is), Gaudy Night (a great book about the whole how do you have a career if you're married thing that we STILL struggle with), To Play the Fool by Laurie R King (fascinating secular book with lots of theology in it), Peter Temple's The Broken Shore (if you want an Australian mystery, this is excellent and literary), A Grief of Stones (brilliant fantasy by Katherine Addison), Emma Bull (and friends)'s Shadow Unit (gory but so good), and the sci-fi novella The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (ok, interesting but just ok). So I feel like I covered quite a few genres - romance, hard boiled, fantasy, sci-fi, philosophical . . . basically a mystery is one of those structures you can hang a lot onto.

 

[Ottakee]

42 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby van Pelt) - recommend! 

It was interesting but pulled you in

[Lucy the Valiant]

1 minute ago, Ottakee said:

It was interesting but pulled you in

yes! especially well done for a debut novel . . . great use of her covid shut-down time. 

[KrissiK]

I am reading "Jean Lafitte Revealed: Unraveling One of America's Longest-running Mysteries" by Ashley Oliphant and Beth Yarbrough.  

Lafitte is a pirate who helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans. I found out about him when I read the book about the Battle of New Orleans by Brian Kilmeade and became intrigued, so I found this book. It's been interesting so far.

[Mothersweets]

I finished The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz. This is the fourth in his Hawthorne & Horowitz series and I liked it very much. Horowitz himself is being investigated for the murder of a well-known and very nasty theater critic and is forced to rely on Detective Hawthorne tot prove his innocence. I always enjoy his mysteries and the low-key humor he injects into the story. 

I also finished listening to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and narrrated by Juliet Stevenson. This is both a re-read/re-listen for me and it's one of my favorites. 

 

[Kareni]

I stayed up late last night to read the latest book in a favorite series,  Murder in Reproach by Anne Cleeland. I enjoyed it until it stopped with a very abrupt cliffhanger. I initially thought that I had downloaded a corrupt Kindle copy as I twice tried to continue reading. Then I checked the Table of Contents and saw that the book did indeed finish at that point. Drats. 

"This seemed like a cut-and-dried case of suicide to Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle; the decedent—a wealthy theatre patron—must have decided that life without her famous husband was too hard to bear, and so she’d ended it.
Indeed, nothing about the tranquil scene would indicate foul play, save for the housekeeper’s insistence that something was amiss. The girl was certain that her mistress would never take her own life, and equally certain that she would never hold a peacock feather while doing so. After all, everyone in the theatre trade knew that peacock feathers were bad luck. . ."

Regards,

Kareni

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Mothersweets said:

I also finished listening to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and narrrated by Juliet Stevenson. This is both a re-read/re-listen for me and it's one of my favorites. 

 

I really enjoyed North and South and I can imagine it would be a great one to listen to. 

[Kareni]

My book group will be meeting Tuesday, and I just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I enjoyed this non-fiction work that is about the massively destructive 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library. It's also a history of that library and has much to say about libraries in general. I am looking forward to our discussion.

"On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.

Along the way, Orlean introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters from libraries past and present—from Mary Foy, who in 1880 at eighteen years old was named the head of the Los Angeles Public Library at a time when men still dominated the role, to Dr. C.J.K. Jones, a pastor, citrus farmer, and polymath known as “The Human Encyclopedia” who roamed the library dispensing information; from Charles Lummis, a wildly eccentric journalist and adventurer who was determined to make the L.A. library one of the best in the world, to the current staff, who do heroic work every day to ensure that their institution remains a vital part of the city it serves.

Brimming with her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks that reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country. It is also a master journalist’s reminder that, perhaps especially in the digital era, they are more necessary than ever."

Regards,

Kareni

[Faith-manor]

Sky of Stone (last book in the auto-biographies of Homer Hickham)

[ScoutTN]

The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead

[TechWife]

I read Tom Lake by Ann Patchett over the weekend. It’s very good, my favorite Patchett book so far. Admittedly I’ve only read a few.

I’m currently reading The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters & am having a hard time getting into it.

Next up is The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. 

[bookbard]

Just finished reading Kipling's Kim. Now I was certain I'd read it before (years before) but I remembered nothing at all. I did enjoy it mostly because I've spent a lot of time in that part of the world and it was very obvious Kipling knew and loved India. Of course, it was the India that a British person would see, but after accepting you're reading the perspective of someone living in the world of British India, it's still a fine piece of historical fiction. I don't know that many kids would enjoy it nowadays though, except that Kim gets his own way against the adults for most of the book. 

[Kareni]

I've read three more books.

A favorite author recommended A Space Girl from Earth (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 1) by Christina McMullen. I found it a pleasant science fiction novel but am not compelled to read on in the series. This book is currently free for US Kindle readers.

"Yesterday, her biggest worry was failing an exam.
Today, it's saving the galaxy.

From her six foot four inch height to the uniform white dots that peppered her skin in perfect geometric patterns, Ellie Whitmore was certainly unusual, but an alien from the other side of the galaxy? Of course not. That's just what the tabloids said to sell papers.
Or so she thought.
Turns out not only is Ellie an alien, but an ancient and powerful relic housing the forbidden knowledge of a lost civilization is hidden deep within her genetic code. Suddenly she's on the run from a malevolent Emperor who sees her as the key to ruling the galaxy. Even her own mother can't resist the draw of ultimate power and the one person Ellie might be able to trust is an unrepentant assassin who may be responsible for her life’s upheaval. Now, she must travel to a distant planet and unlock the secrets to restoring peace and ending tyranny.
But how can anyone expect her to save the galaxy when she can’t even pass organic chemistry?"

**

I also read two more books by author Gigi DeGraham which I quite enjoyed. The first, Prisoner (Steele Pack Book 1), seems to be a contemporary novel until a revelation in the last chapter. The story is about a teenager found guilty of murdering a man who is raping his sister. He serves some years in a juvenile facility (where he befriends/falls in love with another inmate) before being transferred to a prison. When the story begins, he is escaping. After finishing Prisoner, I read and enjoyed the sequel Fugitive (Steele Pack Book 2). Now I need to wait for the next book to be published.

"Most prisoners believe their punishment is unfair, but for Ryan Tarkett, it’s true. While serving his sentence, an attack sets off a chain of events and forces Ryan to speed up the timeline on an insane escape plan. Spurring him on are memories of his past, his one love, who he met in juvie, and the driving desire for freedom. When Ryan believes he has nothing left to lose, escape from prison becomes the only option.

Ryan’s desperate journey isn’t easy as he tries to evade capture. Past regrets and confusion about his sexual orientation dog him as he deals with the loss of Thomas. When a stranger gives Ryan the chance at a new life, somewhere he might begin to feel safe, he may learn to trust again.

But in his mountain hideaway, Ryan feels as if he is being watched. Something lurks in the surrounding woods. Flashes of a figure give the impression he is being followed or, worse, hunted. Alone and lonely, Ryan fears he is losing his mind. When his new shadow seems intent on sticking around, Ryan starts to suspect this is no ordinary Wolf.

Prisoner is a different kind of love story, where a mystery waits to unfold."

///

Regards,

Kareni

[*Inna*]

On 3/6/2024 at 6:31 AM, TechWife said:

Next up is The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. 

I loved it and the sequel as well. The mini-series on Amazon are excellent.

[Kareni]

I just finished a lovely picture book, Big by Vashti Harrison. This is about a young girl who, as she grows, is deemed to be too big. She is ridiculed, and her feelings are hurt. She comes to realize that her size is right for her and returns to their speakers the unkind words that had hurt her. The book is a Caldecott Medal Winner and Coretta Scott King Honor Title.

"The first picture book written and illustrated by award-winning creator Vashti Harrison traces a child’s journey to self-love and shows the power of words to both hurt and heal. With spare text and exquisite illustrations, this emotional exploration of being big in a world that prizes small is a tender portrayal of how you can stand out and feel invisible at the same time."

Regards,

Kareni

[Grace Hopper]

Just finished American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. It details an Acapulco woman’s grueling flight from cartel death threats, traveling the migrant route to the US with her young son. It is compelling reading, apparently was Oprah’s book of 2020. 
 

I will definitely recommend it but must include trigger warnings for SA and violence (topics inescapable in the telling of this story). 
 

Anyone clueless about the push factors that drive people northward to the US and what they face on the journey should read this book. It’s fiction, but well researched and authentic in the telling. 

[GailV]

 A Rooster for Asklepios: A Slave's Story Book 1 by Christopher Stanley. I discovered this author, a recently retired professor, while casually rummaging around in the world of New Testament history. When I saw he had a book on Kindle Unlimited I immediately downloaded it, and was instantly whisked into the world of Novels for Homeschoolers Studying Ancient History. Wow wow wow, I really felt I was pre-reading a book for my kids' study! Soooo much info, PLUS he has a website so you can browse pictures, videos, and maps A Slave Story resources (see also the Blog linked on that page for even more background information of various scenes in the book). My goodness, I'm so tempted to text my kids (adults living in a different state) and assign this as reading JUST BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Also, I was listening to a podcast featuring Candida Moss talking about her latest book which touches on slaves in early Christianity, and it was amazing how many things she mentioned that I already knew, thanks to this book. For example, slaves were the technology of the era (where we would use a device or machine, they used a slave). The testimony of a slave was only acceptable if the slave had been beaten/tortured, because they were assumed to otherwise lie. We can identify a slave in literature (or life) via naming conventions.

If you're considering diving in, be aware that the novel covers medicine in the region and era (so much diarrhea goes on), relationships between Romans and Jews (a couple of times Paulus is mentioned as a Jew who is proclaiming new things; one Jew mentions Christos), several mentions that "Jews cut off the end of their pricks", sex is mentioned casually (eg, masters totally own their slaves body) but takes place "off screen".

Edited to add: I was also pleased  with the tiny detail that when the Roman characters visited a Jewish meeting and heard about the story of Abram, a Roman character pondered that it sounded like the story of Aeneas. 

Edited March 12 by GailV

[Mothersweets]

I finished listening to Thornyhold by Mary Stewart.  Set in England after WW1 (I think?), a young woman inherits a country cottage from her aunt. The locals in the nearby village believe her aunt was a natural healer or maybe even a witch so folks are very interested in her when she moves in. Slow moving story but the whole of it is so enchanting you don't mind that not much happens. 

I'm about to start Beartown by Fredrik Backman.

[Kareni]

I quite enjoyed the contemporary romance Something Wild & Wonderful (Nashville Love Book 2) by Anita Kelly which features two men who meet while hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. I can imagine rereading this at some point and look forward to reading more by the author. (Adult content)

"Alexei Lebedev’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail begins with a single snake. And it is angling for the hot stranger who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Lex is prepared for rattlesnakes, blisters, and months of solitude. What he isn’t prepared for is Ben Caravalho. But somehow—on a 2,500-mile trail—Alexei keeps running into the outgoing and charismatic hiker with golden-brown eyes, again and again. It might be coincidence. Then again, maybe there’s a reason the trail keeps bringing them together . . .

Ben has made his fair share of bad decisions, and almost all of them involved beautiful men. And yet there’s something about the gorgeous and quietly nerdy Alexei that Ben can’t just walk away from. Surely a bad decision can’t be this cute and smart. And there are worse things than falling in love during the biggest adventure of your life. But when their plans for the future are turned upside down, Ben and Alexei begin to wonder if it’s possible to hold on to something this wild and wonderful."

**

I also enjoyed the historical romance novella The Mistletoe Kiss by Ruby Moone which featured a bookseller and his assistant after the Napoleonic war. (Adult content)

"Widowed bookseller Lawrence Fenton has spent a lonely lifetime hiding who he is. He has convinced himself his feelings for his far too young, gorgeous, but troubled assistant Christy Shaw are nothing more than pride in his protégé and concern for his plight.

Christy’s life involves walking fine lines: one between his mother and his abusive stepfather, one where he must keep his needs hidden, and hardest of all, one where he must keep his feelings for his serious employer to himself.

Lame since birth, Lawrence cannot imagine anyone wanting him, least of all Christy. But when Christy’s life threatens to spiral out of control, Lawrence steps in. Then Christy’s emotions spill over into a kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas. Will Lawrence be able to face the long-buried truth about himself and keep Christy by his side?" 

Regards,

Kareni

[bookbard]

Well after reading most of Ilona Andrews' other works, I finally managed to get into the Kate Daniels series by reading the newest 'series' (Wilmington series). It's similar to her (actually their) other books, magic, violence, romance, tough woman etc. In other words a fun easy urban fantasy - knowing there are a dozen books left to read is very reassuring. 

[Vintage81]

For book club this month we read Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See: "According to Confucius, "an educated woman is a worthless woman," but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient. 

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. 

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. 

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today."

This book was so interesting because there were so many different things it touched on but they all worked so well together in this story. First was the Chinese culture itself at the time...this was the Ming Dynasty. The book started in 1469 and ended in 1511. Then there was all of the medical information, which was fascinating. Apparently, this was based on a real doctor and some of her remedies are still used today. You can probably guess from the title, but there was a lot of focus on the female relationships in this book...wives, mothers, friends, etc. Highly enjoyable! (FYI...there were a few graphic medical things described, so if that stuff bothers you, just be aware.) (4.5 stars)

Edited March 25 by Vintage81

[Faith-manor]

I just started, "The Uninhabitable Earth". Warning. This book is not just for kicks and giggles!

[Kareni]

I just finished All The Colors of Life by Lisa Aisato which has lovely art by the author who is a professional artist/illustrator and a nice storyline to accompany it. 

"Enter the breathtaking world of internationally acclaimed artist Lisa Aisato with this heartwarming book featuring her most beloved illustrations.

Celebrated artist Lisa Aisato distills the many stages of life, in all their rainbow hues, into a lushly illustrated book that will inspire and comfort readers at all moments of their journeys. More than one hundred beautiful images, stunning in their diversity, each illustration an exuberant story unto itself.

Colorful and heartfelt, All the Colors of Life explores the universal ups and downs of a life while highlighting what is most important in life….love."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kassia]

I want to thank everyone for sharing what they are reading.  I get so (too?) many ideas for new books to read from this thread!  🙂  

I'm reading  As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh.

 

 

[Vintage81]

6 hours ago, Kassia said:

I'm reading  As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh.

 

Ooooohhhh...can't wait to hear what you think of this one!

[Amoret]

I have started and abandoned so many books this year (mostly recent publications), but I just finished The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. I love her Oxford time travel books (PSA: She is working on a new one about Tintern Abbey!) and find some of her other stuff to be hit and miss. This one was a hit for me. It is a ridiculous premise (it's an alien abduction/road trip/love story) and requires a full suspension of disbelief, but if you just go with it, the book works really well. I was looking for something lightweight and escapist, but well written, and this fit the bill.

I also recently finished Martin Chuzzlewit, the final Dickens novel I had to read. Like all of them, there is plenty to recommend it (Pecksniff is an excellent villain, the scenes and descriptions are often top notch, and the characters are well done), but I can see why it isn't commonly read. The plot is clunky and and the satire on America was heavy handed, even for Dickens.

When I was pulling out some old, long-boxed up books to put on a new bookshelf, I came across a copy of East Wind West Wind by Pearl Buck, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. From Amazon:  Kwei-lan is a traditional Chinese girl—taught by her mother to submit in all things, “as a flower submits to sun and rain alike.” Her marriage was arranged before she was born. As she approaches her wedding day, she’s surprised by one aspect of her anticipated life: Her husband-to-be has been educated abroad and follows many Western ideas that Kwei-lan was raised to reject. When circumstances push the couple out of the family home, Kwei-lan finds her assumptions about tradition and modernity tested even further. 

Edited March 15 by Amoret

[Kareni]

Science fiction fans ~

March 15 and 16 only.

Load up your eReader for FREE, no strings attached, with mind-blowing sci-fi.
Hurry, this sale lasts two days only.

https://www.cgockelwrites.com/sci-fi-book-blast/

Regards,

Kareni

[QueenCat]

I'm currently reading "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride. It touches hard subjects, like racism & bigotry towards Jews & people of color in the 1930s. It's fictional but uses historical information. 

[Ottakee]

4 hours ago, QueenCat said:

I'm currently reading "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride. It touches hard subjects, like racism & bigotry towards Jews & people of color in the 1930s. It's fictional but uses historical information. 

Let me know how you like it at the end.  I started it but struggled to get into it ….and ended up returning it when another hold became available.

[Kareni]

Next week my local book group will be meeting to discuss Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett. I found this book, about members of two families over some fifty years, to be a quick read. The time jumps surprised me though, and I could have benefited from a list of characters as many are introduced in the first chapter. This is not a happy book and contains infidelity, divorces, death of a child, cancer, and more.

"One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kassia]

On 3/15/2024 at 2:42 AM, Kassia said:

 

I'm reading  As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh.

 

 

 

On 3/15/2024 at 8:58 AM, Vintage81 said:

Ooooohhhh...can't wait to hear what you think of this one!

I gave up on it.  Hated the writing and wasn't crazy about the story/main character either.  It's YA, but there are plenty of YA books with great writing that don't feel like they are written for a middle school audience like this one does.

[SKL]

I finished the 40 day forgiving challenge book.  It was OK.  Not life changing for me, by any stretch, but I think I learned a couple new things.

I was slowly working through the book about having impossible conversations.  I put that on temporary hold for the following.

I finally got a chance to start American Eclipse.  I would love to finish it before April 8 (total eclipse day).  It's a fun and easy read so far, but I have so many mega deadlines this month, I will make slow progress.

[Vintage81]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

 

I gave up on it.  Hated the writing and wasn't crazy about the story/main character either.  It's YA, but there are plenty of YA books with great writing that don't feel like they are written for a middle school audience like this one does.

Oh wow…🫤 Sorry you didn’t like it. 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Vintage81 said:

Oh wow…🫤 Sorry you didn’t like it. 

I'm really picky.  😛  Maybe you'll love it.

[Vintage81]

3 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I'm really picky.  😛  Maybe you'll love it.

I’ve read it! And yes, I thought it was really good. ☺️ 

[Hilltopmom]

Just finished Kristin Hannah’s The Women about female nurses in Vietnam. I liked it but tough subject. Quick day and a half read.

Finished listening to Coal River (historical fiction) and First Lie Wins (quick thriller).

Just started Steven King’s 11/22/63- it’s 30 hours on audio so will take quite a few commutes to finish!

Not sure what to read next from my library stack- Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is due first so probably that or The Six about female astronauts.

[Vintage81]

6 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

Just finished Kristin Hannah’s The Women about female nurses in Vietnam. I liked it but tough subject. Quick day and a half read.

I’ve thought about reading this one, but after The Four Winds depressed me so much I felt like I had to put Kristin Hannah on pause for a while! 🤣 I’ve seen mostly good things about this new book though. 

[Kassia]

49 minutes ago, Vintage81 said:

I’ve read it! And yes, I thought it was really good. ☺️ 

Oh, I bet I wanted to read it because of you then!  I'll have to go back and see what you posted!  

ETA - I didn't find your original post but I saw that you gave it five stars in your yearly wrap-up!   

Edited March 16 by Kassia

[Kassia]

19 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

Just finished Kristin Hannah’s The Women about female nurses in Vietnam. I liked it but tough subject. Quick day and a half read.

 

I've been on hold for this book for a long time at the library - I think I'm still in the 300s on the hold list.  Everyone seems to really like it, but I'm so picky that I don't have high expectations.  

[GailV]

The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture by Robyn Faith Walsh. Another tie-in to reading the New Testament through this year; this time a scholarly look at the authors of the synoptic gospels. From the back cover:

"Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intragroup "oral traditions" or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic Poets speaking for the Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism. Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians."

The early parts about Germanic folk tales was a bit of a slog for me -- the vocabulary and concepts used to analyze literature are totally foreign to me and thus slow going. Loved the later parts comparing various Hellenistic lit to Bible stories, and how mashups of Homer, subversive biois (eg Socrates, Aesop) etc with the Septuagint might have been a popular product right after the Jewish War (be assured that I am stating that waaaaaay more casually than the author would).

Now I'm trying to decide what next -- some Dennis MacDonald, or maybe Richard Miller? Both seem like they're all-in with the idea that a lot of gospel vignettes find their origins in popular tropes of the day. Hmmm....

(Actually I'm inching through an entire pile of books right now, so no rush to make that decision. Also, this rabbit trail demonstrates why telling me to read the entire New Testament this year might be a bad idea.)

Edited March 16 by GailV
typos

[Vintage81]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

Oh, I bet I wanted to read it because of you then!  I'll have to go back and see what you posted!  

ETA - I didn't find your original post but I saw that you gave it five stars in your yearly wrap-up!   

I really appreciated the topic…while I know about Syria from what I’ve seen on the news, reading about it (even a fictional story) was interesting. I also liked the little bit of magical realism that was thrown into the story. I don’t know how far you got, but there was a huge twist closer to the end that shocked me, so I found that to be pretty impactful.