June 2024: What are you reading?

[Vintage81]

Happy June! 🌻

June got here so fast I forgot to make a new thread! 🤣

I don't have too much going on right now, so my reading has picked up a bit. I'm happy about that. I could still be doing more but baby steps, baby steps!

I look forward to hearing what y'all are reading! 

[Kassia]

I'm still reading An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  I like it, but it's a slow read for me.  I've been very frustrated because life has been very busy and stressful, so I haven't had much time to read and I miss it.  

[Faith-manor]

I just started "Dirt to Soil" by Gabe Brown.

Mark, LOL, is reading a how to book, title I do not know, about making hard cider out of some of our apples! 😂😂😂. I have this weird feeling that a copper pot and cider press may soon reside at my house.

[Zoo Keeper]

I'm reading Red Side Story, by Jasper Fforde. 

I was so tickled to be the first to grab it at the library. 🙂

[math teacher]

On Audible, I have The Woman Who Went To Bed For a Year.

On my Kindle app, Secret Societies of America's Elite.

[ScoutTN]

The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers. Recent Newberry winner. I try to keep up with some current middle grade and YA books every year. Love love the classics, but its good to have some knowledge of new books too!

[Ottakee]

I just finished The Last Apothecary .  Dual time line with present day and 1791 London.   I enjoyed it as an audio book.

Story of an apothecary who provides poisons to women to use on their husbands.  Then a young girl comes in to pick up one for her mistress and everything changes.

[Kareni]

A bookish post from the Word Wenches ~

What We’re Reading In May

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I've read several books (for children and young adults) for a bookmark I'm planning. All of these were good, but I most enjoyed the first two. The graphic novel also incorporated some humor.

Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

"This dramatic, suspenseful narrative reads like an adventure story-but it is true. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and a twenty-seven-man crew set off on an expedition to reach and cross Antarctica. Just a month and a half into the voyage, their ship, the Endurance, was caught fast in heavy pack ice. The men had no radio contact, and no one knew where they were or even that they were in trouble. None of them should have survived the ordeal that followed-unstable ice floes, treacherous waters, freezing temperatures, and starvation. Only the extraordinary leadership, courage, and strength of Shackleton brought the whole team safely through. Elizabeth Cody Kimmel's clear, compelling text is illustrated with photographs, taken and carefully preserved by the ship's photographer, that record the stark condition and the day-to-day activities of the men."

**

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi

"Ernest Shackleton was one of the last great Antarctic explorers, and he led one of the most ambitious Antarctic expeditions ever undertaken. This is his story, and the story of the dozens of men who threw in their lot with him - many of whom nearly died in the unimaginably harsh conditions of the journey. It's an astonishing feat - and was unprecedented at the time - that all the men in the expedition survived.

Shackleton's expedition marked the end of a period of romantic exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctic, and this is as much a book about the encroaching modern world as it is about travel. But Nick Bertozzi has documented this remarkable journey with such wit and fiendish attention to detail that it's impossible not to get caught up in the drama of the voyage."

**

The Endurance: Shackleton's Perilous Expedition in Antarctica by Meredith Hooper

"This true adventure tale of courage and survival tracks the dangerous expedition to Antarctica led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, featuring 40 full–color illustrations.

Intrigued by the mysterious, vast continent at the bottom of the world, Sir Ernest Shackleton fearlessly led 27 men to explore Antarctica―but on their way to its shore, their ship Endurance was crushed by the relentless ice! The shipwrecked team braved many months stranded on an ice floe (through an Antarctic winter), facing extreme hunger, frostbite, illness, and exhaustion. But through Shackleton's heroic effort to sail in an open wooden lifeboat to the nearest inhabited land―hundreds of miles away through the treacherous ocean―everyone was eventually rescued and this amazing true story began to be told again and again."

Regards,

Kareni

[KrissiK]

I just picked up "All the Beauty in the World: the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me" by Patrick Bringley. It's good. I am enjoying it so far. It's a memoir by a former museum guard. 

[Laurel-in-CA]

I am on a Roman Britain kick, reading a series by Damion Hunter (a woman with a male penname), who was originally inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff. Her books are less mystical and more the practicalities of the character's life in the legions or out of them. Enjoying them, but I found Sutcliff's originals much more gripping.

[ScoutTN]

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

[GailV]

On 6/1/2024 at 8:32 AM, Zoo Keeper said:

I'm reading Red Side Story, by Jasper Fforde. 

I was so tickled to be the first to grab it at the library. 🙂

Hold up, I didn't know this was out!  Should I run to the library tonight to see if it's there, or wait until tomorrow? 

Just kidding, going out this evening would take way more energy than I have. But I WILL go browse the library website to see which branches have a copy.

Edited to add: IT'S AT THE NEAREST BRANCH RIGHT NOW! Should I stay here with the 4 books I'm already reading and enjoying, plus the one that should be delivered by Amazon sometime in the next 2 hours? Darn it all, @Zoo Keeper, you've really messed up my quiet evening at home.

Edited June 3 by GailV

[Ausmumof3]

Rereading A Gentleman in Moscow while watching the miniseries and listening to The Eustace Diamonds. Thoroughly enjoying both. Even though I loved A Gentleman in Moscow I don’t remember much so I’m enjoying it a second time round. 

[Ausmumof3]

My DH got me some nice Bluetooth headphone for Mother’s Day so I’m really enjoying some audiobooks now (and it’s finally my turn to annoy everyone by not responding when they talk to me)

[Zoo Keeper]

2 hours ago, GailV said:

Hold up, I didn't know this was out!  Should I run to the library tonight to see if it's there, or wait until tomorrow? 

Just kidding, going out this evening would take way more energy than I have. But I WILL go browse the library website to see which branches have a copy.

Edited to add: IT'S AT THE NEAREST BRANCH RIGHT NOW! Should I stay here with the 4 books I'm already reading and enjoying, plus the one that should be delivered by Amazon sometime in the next 2 hours? Darn it all, @Zoo Keeper, you've really messed up my quiet evening at home.

I finished it yesterday-- highly recommend!

[madteaparty]

Swimming Home

The Bell Jar on audio

a rotation of Jack Gilbert poems

[GailV]

The Awakened Brain: the New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life by Lisa Miller, PhD. Looks at some of the physiological effects of spirituality on the brain. She sees spirituality to encompass both the religious and the secular (for example, the wonder of nature). I kept wondering what she meant by "awakened," which took about two thirds of the book to get a handle on (turns out it wasn't stream entry - I'm pretty sure I heard of the book via a Buddhist-adjacent podcast, so maybe that's why I was confused). She did a lovely job of illustrating everything via stories.

Why Would Anyone Believe in God? by Justin L. Barrett. An intro to the cognitive study of religion. I have no idea if this is a good book on the subject, but I came into it knowing nothing and now I know more. About midway through my reading of this I found a list of suggested books on the subject, and this wasn't on it. Anyway, this author ends by saying "...widespread belief in God arises from the operation of natural processes of the human mind in ordinary human environments," such as our tendency to look for intentional agents for events. He believes our cognitive tools are such that some sort of theism is generally more likely than atheism.

Awake: It's Your Turn by Angelo Dilullo. Tells about how he awakened (by which I think he DOES mean something akin to stream entry -- like Eckhart Tolle, for example). Gives his thoughts on how others can awaken if they're interested in doing so.  Part way through he mentioned giving up one's beliefs, and all I could think of was nonreflective beliefs like "an unsupported rock will fall to the ground", which just goes to show I shouldn't have read all three of these books at the same time (nonreflective beliefs were important in the book on cognitive studies).

Overall, reading these 3 books at the same time (plus taking notes and flagging passages) gave me flashbacks to school, and I felt like I should be writing a term paper. 

[Kareni]

For my distant group, I read The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. I found the first half of the book to be a tad slow, but I sped through the second half. The book is set on Jeju Island in South Korea from 1938 to 2008; the main character is a haenyeo, a female diver, as is her best friend. I learned quite a bit about Jeju in the post-WWII era, and some of the book made for a brutal read.

"Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kassia]

On 6/1/2024 at 9:18 AM, Kassia said:

I'm still reading An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin. 

Finally finished this.  I liked it a lot, but it was a very slow read for me.  Starting The Women by Kristin Hannah now.  

 

 

11 minutes ago, Kareni said:

For my distant group, I read The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.

I read this a long time ago and really liked it.  

[Kareni]

I also enjoyed the first two books in a young adult science fiction series, Nyxia and  Nyxia Unleashed both by Scott Reintgen. In Nyxia, a teenager is offered a great, off-Earth, opportunity which he believes will enable him to save his mother who needs a transplant. Things do not go as promised.

Here is the blurb for the first book:

"What would you be willing to risk for a lifetime of fortune?
 
Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family.
 
Forever.
 
Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.
 
But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And I quite enjoyed the (mostly Australia set) contemporary romance Sexy as Sin by Rosalind James. This features a very (VERY) wealthy real estate developer and a chef who has just spent most of her money buying part ownership of a catering company. It is quite over the top with a shark attack and poisonings, but it also has someone with a broken bone that is not magically healed. I will happily read more by this author. (Adult content)

"Serious men don’t eat red Popsicles.
Brett Hunter’s life isn’t unicorns and rainbows, and it sure isn’t sparkles. He’s a businessman, a disciplined man, a money man, and if he ever believed in magic, it was a long time ago. He’s not a hero, and he doesn't play one on TV. Oh, and he really doesn't like the water.
What’s he doing, then, on an Australian beach in a custom-made Italian suit, up to his waist in the waves and helping a red-haired mermaid save the day?
No matter how crazy his life gets, not being in control isn’t an option, and neither is veering from his path or falling for mermaids. Also, serious men don’t eat red Popsicles."

ETA: I also enjoyed a novella, Like the Taste of Summer by Kaje Harper. This featured two young men falling in love in Iowa in 1981. This is currently FREE for Kindle readers. (Adult content)

"Jack managed to get a scholarship to a small-town college in the middle of the Iowa cornfields, September 1981. It wasn't New York, or California, but he figured it would be better than being home. College would be be a new start in a new place, maybe somewhere he could be himself.

Sean was local, born and bred, on the opposite side of the town-and-gown divide, but attraction knows no boundaries. When personal tragedy brought them together, it was the beginning of something extraordinary."

Regards,

Kareni

[Vintage81]

16 hours ago, Kareni said:

For my distant group, I read The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. I found the first half of the book to be a tad slow, but I sped through the second half. The book is set on Jeju Island in South Korea from 1938 to 2008; the main character is a haenyeo, a female diver, as is her best friend. I learned quite a bit about Jeju in the post-WWII era, and some of the book made for a brutal read.

"Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point."

Regards,

Kareni

ooooohhhhh...I should read this. I think I've seen it around, but never thought about picking it up. I read Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See not long ago and really enjoyed it. 

The story in the book sounds different, but it reminds of a k-drama I watched not long ago called Welcome to Samdal-ri. It took place in a village on Jeju Island where the mothers of the couple were both haenyeos. Funny enough they were also both named Mi-ja, and while they hated each other at first they eventually became best friends.  ☺️

[bookbard]

Read a really good book - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. So far, favourite (new) book of the year. I really enjoyed this peaceful story where a woman tells her daughters about her youth, with the idea that excitement and fame and so on are nothing to the quiet life.

[Kassia]

7 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Read a really good book - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. So far, favourite (new) book of the year. I really enjoyed this peaceful story where a woman tells her daughters about her youth, with the idea that excitement and fame and so on are nothing to the quiet life.

This has been on my to read list and everyone I know who has read it has really enjoyed it. 

I started The Women and don't like it so far.  I suspected I wouldn't, but (like Tom Lake) everyone I know who has read it absolutely loved it so I had to give it a try.  I'm hoping I like it better soon because I am determined to finish it.  I haven't been finishing books I don't like lately, but this one is so popular that I really want to get through it.  

[Ottakee]

I just finished Hold My Girl as an audiobook.  

Very powerful listen.   So much complexity, so many emotions, and so many tears.

The story of one little girl and 2 mothers…..and the question of What is a Mother?

Warning though there are a lot of triggers that might not make this the best book for everyone.  Please reach out if you want more details before deciding.

———-

From Amazon……Two women. Two eggs. One life-changing switch.

Katherine finally has it all. She's spent her entire life striving for perfection―obsessing over her spotless home, maintaining her pristine reputation, building her perfect family―and her hard work has finally paid off. After seven difficult years of trying (and failing) to conceive, Katherine gives birth to Rose, her IVF miracle child, and at last has the one thing she's wanted most of all. But one thing isn't quite perfect. Rose's pale skin doesn't match Katherine's complexion, and an irritating doubt begins to grow in Katherine's mind.

Tess never got the happy ending she wanted. She underwent IVF at the same clinic as Katherine, but after finally conceiving, Tess's daughter was stillborn. Now, nearly one year later, she's approaching rock bottom. Consumed by her grief and without hope for the future, Tess is divorced, broke, and stuck in a dead-end job beneath her skillset.

But shortly before Rose's first birthday, Katherine and Tess get a call from the fertility clinic: Their eggs were switched.

As Katherine's carefully planned life begins to crumble around her, Tess finally sees the glimmer of hope she needed to get her life back on track. Motherhood has always been their dream, and neither woman is prepared to share that claim over Rose. It will take a tense custody battle to decide who deserves to be Rose's mother, but it will also push them to the brink.

With themes of racial identity, loss, and betrayal, Hold My Girl is an emotional novel that will leave you contemplating: What makes a mother?

[EKS]

I just finished The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.

[Kareni]

I quite enjoyed the 1960 set You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian. This is a romance between a baseball player who unwittingly alienates his new team and city and the newspaper book reviewer who is asked to write a running series about him. While I enjoyed the author's previous book featuring other characters associated with the same newspaper, I found this a much more gripping read. (Adult content)

"The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough."

///

Regards,

Kareni

[GailV]

On Earth As It Is On Television by Emily Jane. A light, sort of goofy scifi (VERY light on the "science" part of scifi). I listened to the audiobook. It starts with a car crash, so I was glad I hadn't chosen it for a drive-time-listen. I thought it was loads of fun (other than the car crash), but I'm a big fan of cats, and this book gets VERY cat-centric as it goes along. I wouldn't even attempt this book if you're not interested in cats. It's also very pro-bacon -- I'm neutral on the subject (pretty much never eat it) -- but that didn't seem to be such a big deal.  

The Mystery of Acts: Unraveling Its Story by Richard I. Pervo. This week we're finishing up Acts in our year-long read through the New Testament, and this is the book I chose to read along with it.  The author has been studying Acts since his 1970s dissertation, and the book is a veritable fire-hose of information. The mystery in question is whether Acts is actual history. "Acts is a beautiful house that readers may happily admire, but it is not a home in which the historian can responsibly live."

 

[Kassia]

I ended up hating The Women and quit reading it when I had read about 1/3.  I am interested in the subject, so I ordered the books Kristin Hannah used for her research and just got them from the library today.  

Moved on to Sleepless: Unleashing the Subversive Power of the Night Self. This was ok. I thought some parts were really interesting and others were boring and I just skimmed them.  Lots packed into this book - memoir, history, research, literature and arts, etc.  

Now I'm reading Birdie & Harlow: Life, Loss, and Loving My Dog So Much I Didn't Want Kids. I'm not crazy about this one either, but it's a quick read.

[Kassia]

On 6/3/2024 at 7:20 PM, ScoutTN said:

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

This looks great.  I mentioned it to DH and he found it online and read it in one day and he really liked it.  I ordered it from the library.  I love Jane Austen's books! 

[bookbard]

I read How To Think Like a Woman by Regan Penaluna, which is ostensibly a book of biographies of women philosophers. However half of it is about the author's failed marriage and divorce and look, the problem with including yourself in a book of incredibly brilliant women is that the comparison is cringeworthy. It's like that Julie and Julia movie - Julia Child was so amazing that putting her side by side with an influencer was just embarrassing. Some of the biographies were really interesting but honestly, I wish a better writer had put it together, and perhaps they have. Comparing it with the simply wonderful biography of John Donne by Katherine Rundell that I read earlier this year? Well, there is no comparison. One is literature, the other a very long whinge.

[KrissiK]

On 6/6/2024 at 7:23 PM, EKS said:

I just finished The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.

What did you think?

[Kareni]

I read the contemporary romance, Owls and Other Assassins by Megan Moores. The author wrote this in two months after her son asked if there was anything she regretted not yet having done; her answer was to have written a book. I thought the male lead was not terribly likeable and the storyline was a little over the top, but overall this was a fun read. (Adult content)

"Gemma Lane is a freelance writer, the caretaker of one house plant, and is definitely not looking for love. Her life is predictable, contained, and under control. When Gemma lands a last-minute assignment to interview Swedish heartthrob Jonas Hellgren, a movie star she’s admired for decades, she knows she must take a leap of faith into the unknown.

Jonas Hellgren, known for his smoldering good looks, reclusive ways, and aversion to speaking with the press, doesn’t want to be interviewed. He hasn’t felt like speaking to anyone since the death of his wife eight years ago. He especially doesn’t want to share his life story with an unknown American writer, even if she does have hair the color of an Autumn sunset and a smile that threatens to thaw his frozen heart. Jonas knows he's required to complete the interview, but he doesn’t have to be nice about it.

When Gemma and Jonas find themselves stranded in the Swedish wilderness, they must contend with killer owls, a mysterious stalker, and with the walls they’ve built from grief and loss. Can they take a chance on each other to find their way out of the dark forest . . . and into love?"

**

I read Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen which finished the young adult science fiction trilogy I began last week. This was an enjoyable series but not one I'll quickly reread.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I also read and quite enjoyed The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe. This is a contemporary fantasy featuring a fae who has come to earth to learn about humankind and their music (a one way trip since while he can send information back, he cannot return to the Otherworld) and a musician who (to save a parent from a jail term) has reluctantly agreed to be his companion for a number of years. I can foresee rereading this and am now interested in seeing what else the author has written. (Adult content)

"Hatred is a spell only true love can break.

Ángel Cruz is a dedicated session musician, until loyalty to his estranged family forces him to work for Oberon: the feared and hated envoy from the Otherworld. Overnight, Ángel is taken from his life, his friends, his work, and trapped in a hideous mansion in the middle of nowhere, under constant surveillance, and with only the frightening fae for company.

Oberon’s poor understanding of humans combined with Ángel’s resentment and loneliness threaten to cause real harm to the pair. Then a long winter together in the mansion unites them in their love of music. Slowly, Ángel’s anger thaws, and he begins to realize that Oberon feels alone too.

Gradually, these two souls from different worlds form a connection like none other. But hate and prejudice are powerful things, and it’ll take all the magic of their love to stop the wider world from forcing them apart."

**

I also read a contemporary romance novella,  Avocado Protection by Kaje Harper. This features a scientist and the head of a security company that is hired to protect him after a kidnapping attempt. The scientist has developed a device that enables the user to determine the ripeness of avocados. (Adult content)

"When Fynn invented the 'CadoBox, he didn't think it would change his life. Make some money? Sure. Fund his own laboratory? Hell, yeah. But not get him almost kidnapped, and land him with a six-foot-six bodyguard shadowing his every move. Fynn doesn't handle changes well. Having Nolan looming over him has his nerves on edge and his motormouth running. If only the big man wasn't so damned hot.

Nolan's owned his security firm for five years. He's protected many clients. None of them dragged him into their lab and lectured him on avocado offgassing. And none of them seemed as oblivious of both their danger and their attractiveness as Fynn. Bodyguards shouldn't fall for their clients, but it's not "falling" to vow no one's getting near Fynn on his watch."

Regards,

Kareni

[GailV]

8 hours ago, Kareni said:

 

I also read a contemporary romance novella,  Avocado Protection by Kaje Harper. This features a scientist and the head of a security company that is hired to protect him after a kidnapping attempt. The scientist has developed a device that enables the user to determine the ripeness of avocados. (Adult content)

 

Hmm, I'm considering reading this just for the avocado content. 😉  Although I'm pretty good at telling when an avocado is ripe, which isn't the case for the 6 on my counter right now, but *is* the case for the 2 in the refrigerator (we go through a lot of avocados here). 

Anyway, I'm charmed by the idea that someone made avocado ripeness into a plot device.

[Kareni]

2 hours ago, GailV said:

Hmm, I'm considering reading this just for the avocado content. 😉  

Something you likely never thought you'd say!

If you read it, I hope you'll enjoy it. Do take note of my adult content warning.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Today I read On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US by James LaRue which was a quick but worthwhile read. I have to admit that I chose this book because of its cover.

"In America today, more books are being banned than ever before. This censorship is part of a larger assault on such American institutions as schools, public libraries, and universities. In On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US, respected long-time public librarian James LaRue issues a balanced and reasonable call to action for all citizens. 

LaRue, who served as director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, highlights the dangers of book banning and censorship in our public and educational spaces. Synthesizing his more than twenty-five years of experience on the front lines of these issues, he takes the reader through attempts he encountered to remove or restrict access to ideas, while placing the debate in the greater context about the role of libraries and free expression in a democratic society. LaRue covers topics such as: 

• The role of the library in American culture and community 
• The consequences of cancel culture 
• Seven things citizens can do to quell book banning and censorship attempts 

By examining past efforts at censorship and their dangerous impacts, LaRue asks the reader to reflect on how those times are not so different from today. This book is essential reading for all those who believe in free expression, who support libraries, and who cherish the central freedoms that American democracy represents."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kassia]

@KareniI just ordered the censorship book from the library.  Thank you!  

I just finished Birdie & Harlow: Life, Loss, and Loving My Dog So Much I Didn't Want Kids. I ended up enjoying this one much more than I thought I would at the beginning.  Definitely not a favorite, but very sweet and I'm glad I read it.   

Now I'm reading The Merry Recluse: A Life in Essays by Caroline Knapp.  I really liked the other books I read by her (Drinking: A Love Story, and Appetites: Why Women Want).

[Kareni]

I quite enjoyed The Sunny Side by Lily Morton which is a contemporary romance between a top fashion model and his agency's owner. The model has poor self-esteem due to parental abuse/dyslexia but is a generally upbeat person while the owner has a more controlled personality. (Adult content)

"Jonas Durand is successful, rich, and controlled. He owns a prestigious modelling agency and has the world at his fingertips, but a turbulent childhood has taught him to be focused and never deviate from a plan.

Dean Jacobs threatens that stance. He’s one of the world’s most sought-after supermodels, but he’s also laidback and lighthearted and free in a way that Jonas has never quite managed.

Dean has always been interested in Jonas and has never made any secret of his admiration, but from the beginning, Jonas put him in a neat little box labelled, “Don’t touch,” turned the key, and never looked back.

However, the universe seems determined to thwart Jonas’s plans. Over the course of one hot summer, the two men come together, and Jonas’s well-ordered life becomes something a whole lot wilder.

Moving from the glamorous worlds of London and Paris Fashion Weeks to the sleepy South of France, Jonas finds himself liberating partridges, chasing his supermodel, and falling in love."

**

I also enjoyed rereading 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."

///

Regards,

Kareni

[ScoutTN]

The Abolition of Man by CSL. The first lecture is required reading for the training I am going to next week for my new teaching job. 
 

Still working on The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers.

Will take paperback copy of The Fellowship of the Ring for my wind-down evening reading during the work trip. 

Edited June 16 by ScoutTN

[Kareni]

Best wishes for the training, @ScoutTN. What will you be teaching?

Regards,

Kareni

[ScoutTN]

2 hours ago, Kareni said:

Best wishes for the training, @ScoutTN. What will you be teaching?

Regards,

Kareni

2nd grade in a new Hillsdale public charter school. 

[Kareni]

All good wishes for your new position, @ScoutTN!

Regards,

Kareni

[KrissiK]

I finished “All the Beauty in the World” which was a really good book. Just picked up “Nicholas and Alexandra” by Robert K. Massie. It’s a thick book, but I’ve read his biographies before and enjoyed them.

Edited June 17 by KrissiK

[Melanie32]

I’m reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Not sure what I think about it so far. I’ve heard many compare her books to Jane Austen’s but I’m definitely not getting that vibe. 
 

I’m also reading Praying The Bible by Donald Whitney along with my church. I am really liking it so far. 
 

 

[Ottakee]

I just finished The Beekeeper of Aleppo and it was a very good listen.  Story of a beekeeper from Syria and his wife who are trying to get to safety in England.   

[Kareni]

A bookish post ~

Jo Walton’s Reading List: May 2024

Regards,

Kareni

[Vintage81]

I finished All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir: 

"Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle's liquor store while hiding the fact that she's applying to college so she can escape him--and Juniper--forever.

When Sal's attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth--and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst."

I've read Sabaa Tahir books before, her fantasy series, so I was excited to read this one. I liked the idea of this story, but not the execution. There were so many things thrown in that it was hard to concentrate and focus. You name it, this book had it...drug abuse/addiction, alcoholism, domestic abuse, racism, chronic illness, past timeline, current timeline, young love, and I'm sure there were other things I'm missing. I also think the details were sloppy. The author seemed more concerned about making ALL the points and not making any point in a meaningful way (at least to me). Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. (3 stars)

[Kassia]

On 6/13/2024 at 2:06 AM, Kassia said:

 

The Merry Recluse: A Life in Essays by Caroline Knapp.  I really liked the other books I read by her (Drinking: A Love Story, and Appetites: Why Women Want).

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a bit uneven for me with some of the essay topics being much deeper and more meaningful to me than others, but I liked it a lot overall. I just finished The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism and am starting Tom Lake. I'm guessing I won't like Tom Lake, but I'm going to give it a try. I did like Ann Patchett's book, The Dutch House, but didn't love it.

 

7 hours ago, Melanie32 said:

I’m reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
 

 

DH really liked this book.  I want to read it sometime.

 

5 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I just finished The Beekeeper of Aleppo and it was a very good listen.  Story of a beekeeper from Syria and his wife who are trying to get to safety in England.   

This looks great.  I ordered it from the library.

 

14 minutes ago, Vintage81 said:

I finished All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir: 

I've read Sabaa Tahir books before, her fantasy series, so I was excited to read this one. I liked the idea of this story, but not the execution. There were so many things thrown in that it was hard to concentrate and focus. You name it, this book had it...drug abuse/addiction, alcoholism, domestic abuse, racism, chronic illness, past timeline, current timeline, young love, and I'm sure there were other things I'm missing. I also think the details were sloppy. The author seemed more concerned about making ALL the points and not making any point in a meaningful way (at least to me). Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. (3 stars)

I gave this one four stars, but don't remember much about it.