*** What Are You Reading Now? - Part 3

If you are in the States, I hope you had filed your taxes because it is officially the 18th on the East Coast and tax season is officially over and one can think of more important things - books, the weather and more books.

If you are not in the States, then ignore the first paragraph and enjoy the weather and the books you are reading :)

In all cases - what are you reading? Any special reading plans for the spring/autumn?

Just finished reading Marguerite Duras : Un barrage contre le Pacifique (The Sea Wall) about two hours ago. I'm finally done with her Indochina "trilogy".

I'm reading Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant and Leila Slimani's Chanson Douce (Lullaby/The Perfect Nanny), both very recent recommendations here in CR.

Hmm, no particular special reading plans for the season other than to keep working on my overall goals for the year (have at least half my reading be books I own, and the majority of that amount be books I owned prior to the start of the year).

Currently I am listening to Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik, and I am reading Faith Hunter's Skinwalker (will probably finish today or tomorrow) and The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Oh, and I started On Stories by C.S. Lewis earlier this week.

I am reading The Female Persuasion.

I recently finished a book of essays by Rebecca Solnit called Men Explain Things to Me and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, both of which I thought were excellent.

Now I'm reading The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen and continuing on with Thinking: Fast and Slow which is interesting but slow reading.

I read James Comey's new book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership in a day. Well, actually, I listened to it on audio; he was the perfect reader for his own book. I found it very interesting--it's not a political rant on Trump (only the last 20-25% addresses he 2016 election and events afterwards) but an intriguing memoir. Comey was involved in a number of cases that I hadn't realized he played a part in--Martha Stewart, Scooter Libby, etc. The book's real focus is on the events and people that shaped his values and character. Very engaging book. I posted a lengthy review.

I'm also about halfway through two very good novels, Circe by Madeline Miller and Salt Houses by Hala Alyan.

I've started my latest win from ER, You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Along with a few collections of short stories (Stories by T C Boyle and Multitudes by Lucy Caldwell), I'm reading a couple of mystery novels; Keep Her Safe by Sophie Hannah and Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan. After these have cleared my reading palate, I hope to jump into more substantial fare.

Finished One Hundred Years of Solitude - which was one of my big goals this year. Next is back to the semi-canon, with 1 Maccabees. And I’ve also started A Brief History of Time.

On audio I’ve started The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu, who, i just learned, coined the term net neutrality.

I recently finished The Ravishing of Lol Stein, which I found similar in tone to Democracy. Now reading Numero Zero and A Ballad for Georg Henig.

I've just finished Chemistry: A Novel by Weike Wang, which I enjoyed, and am now reading A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett. Next up is Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich.

I'm reading Lisbon: A Cultural and Literary Companion by Paul Buck, in preparation for my first visit to the Portuguese capital in June, along with Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa, a short novel written in "rotten English" by a young soldier during the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War), whose illusions about the allure of military life are quickly dashed by the reality of combat in an impoverished country.

I finished Madeline Miller's latest, Circe, which was just wonderful. Gave up on Salt Houses, which was starting to feel unnecessarily loooonnnng, and I had never really engaged with the characters.

I'm listening to The Winter King by Thomas Penn, a bio of Henry VII. (Not sure that's the right touchstone).

On kindle, I'm reading The Fortunes by Peter Ho Davies.

Finished listening Rights of Man and Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. Review in my thread.

I just finished Tangerine, by Christine Managan, a book that's been likened to a pastiche of Patricia Highsmith, Daphne duMaurier, and the Brontes. I've got the next Maisie Dobbs book from the library, but I'm not feeling particularly drawn to it right now. Not sure what I'll do next. I've got a lot of non-fiction lingering that I should tend to.

I have a lot going on at work, so decided I hadn't the patience for The Scarlet Letter after all - another time.

I've picked up The Wild by Esther Freud instead. So far, so good.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Whipped through The Wild. On to The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer.

I'm reading Night and Day, Virginia Woolf's second novel and her most traditional. Also just picked up Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck from the library after seeing some rave reviews on LT.

#12
I can't believe somebody besides me is reading a book from the National Geographic Directions series. I am reading South of the Northeast Kingdom by David Mamet. Mine is about living in Vermont. I have Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich up next. As soon as I finish the Vermont book.

I'm reading Adam Smith.

Hello!
So what did you think? I had to read it for an exam and I just couldn't finish it...

I'm reading The Beekeeper.

I'm reading Down and out in the magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow. The premise is really interesting but so far I'm not really engaged.

Currently reading The 3000 Mile Garden. I don't know what all the flowers mentioned in this book look like, but I am just getting started on the book. Reminds me of 84, Charing Cross Road.

Finished reading Brasil: Uma Biografia não Autorizada, by Francisco de Oliveira, portuguese edition. Review in my thread.

I was going to take a break from Japan, but I seem to be hooked for the time being - just finished Mishima: ou la vision du vide and The roads to Sata (guess which of those was more fun!) and started Sanshiro.

>6 japaul22: I just picked up Rebecca Solnit's latest, The Mother of All Questions: Further Reports from the Feminist Revolutions. It's about same size as Men Explain Things to Me.

>16 fannyprice: Well, just that bit said about Tangerine intrigued me. So, a Gothic psychological thriller?

>19 AlisonY: I really enjoyed The Confessions of Max Tivoli back when it first came out. Have you read Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Less, by chance? I have not.

I just finished a great book, Small Country: A Novel by Gael Faye, due to be published in June here, but it won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens in France. I also finished Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmieri.

Otherwise, I'm currently reading She Would be King (no touchstone yet) by Wayetu Moore, also An Extraordinary Ordinary Woman The Journal of Phebe Orris, 1820-1830, and The Language of Secrets, a crime novel/mystery by Ausma Zehanat Khan (this latter I read a chapter or so at bedtime).

I finished South of the Northeast Kingdom by David Mamet. It is one of the National Geographic Directions series that I have made an all year project to complete.

I started Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. This one is for one of my real life book discussion groups.

>29 avaland: no, I've not read Less. This is my first foray into Greer's writing. I haven't really had time to get beyond the first page in the last few days, but hoping to get picking it up properly this week.

I’m reading The Dry by Jane Harper, and last night I just started Kate Grenville’s Sarah Thornhill, which I can already tell I’m going to enjoy. Two Australian books, pure coincidence.

>29 avaland: I look forward to reading your thoughts on Small Country - it’s what I want to read as soon as I get through a backlog of library books. I nearly started it the other day, but forced myself back to the library books!

Finished The Fortunes and The Winter King. I've been listening to A Line made by Walking by Sara Baume and just started reading A Case of Curiosities.

Just finished a really good space opera Illuminae by the writing time of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. The recorded version of this novel was very well done and I don't think it detracted from the book. It was a full cast so it made it easier to understand who was talking and when. It was so good I immediately started on book 2 in the series Gemina.

Ok, let's see. Finished A Brief History of Time - I mean I read the words and here or there something may have stuck correctly. My loan of the The Attention Merchants is up and I'm 16th in line for two copies, so it will be awhile before I get back.

Yesterday I started: Thinking about the Earth : A History of Ideas in Geology by David R. Oldroyd, a book Kevin (stretch) got be interested in. I'm on page 12... Today I started The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez, which is part of my May goal. And then on Audio, Monday I started Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat, linked short stories on Hatie

And I'm still working through 1 Maccabees.

I think that's all.

I finished A Line Made by Walking and am now listening to The Sealwoman's Gift and reading A Case of Curiosities on kindle.

>32 rachbxl: I really enjoyed Dry and a second book by Harper is out now. I haven't read it, but another staff member has and she enjoyed it.

I'm having some trouble motivating myself to write comments/reviews.

I'm reading La clé de l'abîme by Jose Carlos Somoza, it's a re-read.
I've also started Kafka on the shore (in French) for RG's Japanese quarter.

I finished Lisbon: A Cultural and Literary Companion by Paul Buck last night, I'll complete A Man: Klaus Klump by Gonçalo M. Tavares shortly, and I might be able to finish Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa this evening as well.

I'm reading Exposure and We Were Eight Years in Power.

I have a really good start on my nonfiction book for my real life book discussion group Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. Very interesting so far.

My Inter-Library Loan request for audio recorded version of Syren, book 5 of the Septimus Heap series, by Angie Sage came in so I have stopped listening to Gemina and started Syren.

A lot of sitting on the balcony in the sun with a book over the last few days! I've finished The curious incident of the dog in the night time (didn't manage to overcome my usual prejudice against bestsellers...), Fumiko Enchi's Masks (interesting, but I think the translation let it down), Ali Smith's Shire (a little gem of design and writing), and Saramago's The elephant's journey (best elephant novel so far this year).

I've also started the George Herbert biography Music at midnight, which I've been wanting to read since it came out. Looks very good so far.

I am still making my way through The Summer Before the War (about 150 pages left; book group meets on Wednesday to discuss it), but a rush of library holds coming available has turned my current and upcoming reading life a little on its head.

In the audio realm, I am listening to Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright, and Liza Mundy's Code Girls is waiting in the audio wings (one of the holds that just came available).

My ILL request for Emma Bull's War for the Oaks came in, so I started that on Wednesday. Waiting in the wings for print books (borrowed) are Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Crazy Rich Asians, both holds that almost certainly have holds on them, meaning I have three weeks to read them, no renewals available.

And my book group is reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for the month of June, so that is also waiting in the wings. Plenty to keep me busy!

I finished Go, Went, Gone which was excellent. Also finished my audiobook of Madame Bovary which was ok.

Now I'm doing a reread of The Handmaid's Tale in a beautiful folio society edition that I got for my birthday, listening to shrill by Lindy West on audio, and for nonfiction reading Prairie Fires, a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I am finishing The 3000 mile Garden and just started Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer. I have not read any Heyer for a long time, so good to get back to her!

I downloaded a sample of Crazy Rich Asians onto my e-reader so I am anxious to take a look at that after all the buzz about it.

I've recently read The Albuquerque Turkey by John Vorhaus, which was fun, and The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss, which was okay, but not as good as it seemed like it should have been.

Currently reading Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind by Kitty Ferguson.

I just finished Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This is an excellent example of narrative nonfiction and it is a great read. I was for my real life book discussion group. I have picked up and started reading American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow. This one is for one of the LT Challenges - the Non-fiction read run by Chatterbox. American Canopy is for the June selection which is "the Natural World." It is going to be more scholarly than the Killers of the Flower Moon, but so far it is a good read.

>48 benitastrnad: I've heard nothing but good things about Killers of the Flower Moon.

I've recently finished The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman which was everything I love in one book and a five star read for me.

Now reading Straying by Molly Mccluskey, about an American living in Ireland, So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, which is uncompromising, but also accessible and useful, and The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani. Clearly my vague plans to read older books as well as new and shiny ones isn't working out so far.

I just started A Gentleman in Moscow, of which I have hard good things.

>49 RidgewayGirl: I liked The Imperfectionists and have been wanting to read more Rachman. I'll add The Italian Teacher to my list.

Killers of the Flower Moon was not only super interesting content wise, but the structure he chose was very interesting—there was a lot of journalistic transparency that gave it a whole other layer.

After several miss starts with books that did not click, I'm about 100 pages in to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Last to read it, I know. It's okay so far, but I'm hoping it gets less violent -- I expect to be disappointed at that.

>52 Nickelini: (very quietly happy your reading this)

>53 dchaikin:

So you're saying it doesn't get less violent, but stick with it?

>52 Nickelini: not quite the last! Though I keep meaning to.

>54 Nickelini: ha! Just glad it’s not a miss start yet.

Kid-in-the-candy-shop reading...blew through most of Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston this morning. Last night at bedtime I started Who Are You, Really?: The Surprising Puzzle of Personality by Brian R. Little (the author goes beyond the nature and nurture arguments) bypassing completely the crime novel I have in process.. And I'm now and again, reading The Mother of All Questions: Further Reports from the Feminist Revolutions by Rebecca Solnit and, when in the mood, the 19th century woman's diary and poetry by Gail Mazur.

Must be something about Spring....

I just started GI Brides: June: An Exclusive E-Book Short Story by Duncan Barrett which is a novella and got me interested in reading the entire version of GI Brides by the same author.

Finished reading O Impeachment de Fernando Collor, by Brasilio Salim Jr., portuguese edition.

Finished listening World War I: The Great War and the World it Made, by John Ramsden.

Both reviews in my thread.

Before leaving on vacation I never mentioned I read Gigi by Colette which I was meh about.
And just today I finished Troyat's La Neige en Deuil which has the title The Mountain in English, and was a quite a beautifully written novella.

random update:

Audio: I finished Claire of the Sea Light and started Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger which I'm mixed on, definitely some good though. I'm waiting for the the library to release another book I want to try.

Bible: spent last weekend reading through 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees and 1 Esdras and the brain held (reviews maybe indicating some some sense of info overload). This week I finished 3 Maccabees and I'm starting 2 Esdras.

slowing working through two other books too, mentioned above somewhere.

I finished the GI Brides: June novella, which I liked quite a bit. I have had a hard time finding non-fiction books about people's lives on the homefront during WWII, and these novels seem to fit what I might be looking for. Not a lot of heavy duty thinking involved, but fun to read. I also like that the GI Brides books are based on interviews with people, as well as correspondence and research on the part of the authors.

I also picked up a reading group book Read It and Eat. I am not in a book group now, other than these LibraryThing groups, but it is a fun book to read, and I am getting some good reading suggestions as well as recipes.

I decided to revisit a past fave, How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen.

I started Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, about what life is like in North Korea. I've read the first chapter and it seems quite promising. I think I may be reading too many books at the same time...

Finished reading Só mais um esforço, by Vladimir Safatle, portuguese edition. Leftist thought in Brazil. Review in my thread.

Just started Victoria by Daisy Goodwin (about Queen Victoria) and Don't Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami (mystery novel) by Sharon Kahn.

I have a good start on the True Crime/Narrative Nonfiction book Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated A Nation by Brad Ricca. So far, it is a good book. Glad I picked it up.

I'm finishing up Prairie Fires, a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also caved and bought Circe by Madeline Miller instead of waiting for months for my turn at the library.

Haven't read a Zweig in quite a while so read Stefan Zweig's novella Le voyage dans le passe (Journey into the Past) yesterday. Short, even shorter as it turns out half of the book I had was made up of the original German version (which I can't read). Not the finest Zweig I've read but it was nice to dip into his style again.

I really need to update my thread now.

The Buried Giant. Mostly this seems to be inspired by the Fisher King legend, though in this case, the wasteland is mental as a mist of unknown origin steals memories and makes people loggy and dull. It's entertaining and fun to identify the mix of Arthurian and Anglo-Saxon legends.

I finished A Gentleman in Moscow, a good read, and just started The Absolutist

I recently read The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. That's the last book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series that I had on hand, which is making me pout a little.

I'm now reading The Newford Stories by Charles DeLint, which is taking me a while, because it's a big three-in-one omnibus volume.

I started listening to When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors. I am not sure this is conducive to slowing down road rage, but I figure I need to do a better job of listening to the different segments of our society, so I will listen (literally) to what this author has to say.

Finally The Confessions of Max Tivoli got up enough speed to spur me to the end. I'll probably pick up Far From the Madding Crowd next as I've had it out on loan from the library for a while (although a new McEwan on my shelf keeps screaming at me).

Yesterday, I finished 2 Esdras and today I finished 4 Maccabees, which means I've through the Aprocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. I'll start the NT in June. That was six biblical books in May, which is too much for me. I'm happy I'll focus a bit on something else. (have two other print books going)

Just started Ben and Me by Robert Lawson. I think I read this in about 4th grade, lo those many moons ago. I am reading this for RandomCAT June, for which an unusual narrative is the topic. This book is narrated by Amos, a mouse friend of Ben Franklin. The cartoonish drawings are hilarious. I am sure Ben would love this book.

A lot of time on trains lately - in the last couple of days I read another Kawabata (Snow country) and have nearly exhausted finished The pleasures of Japanese literature. And I'm getting well into Le ventre de Paris, after a couple of months' break from Zola.

Recently finished Black Rain and needing an antidote to WWII horrors have started a (perhaps satirical) WWI book, The Case of Sergeant Grischa.

Finished A Esquerda que não Teme Dizer seu Nome, by Vladimir Safatle, portuguese edition. Leftist thought in Brazil. Review in my thread.

I've recently finished Circe by Madeline Miller and The Dry by Jane Harper both of which were very good.

Next up is Varina, a new novel by Charles Frazier who wrote the book Cold Mountain that was so popular a while back.

Just finished Ben and Me and started Scornful Scones (Cozy Corgi Mysteries Book 5) Since I have not read the first four in the series, it will be interesting to see if I can keep track of the characters. The author is (sort of) introducing them as we go. It is set in a bookstore with bakery--cannot be all bad!

I'm reading Tangerine by Christine Mangan and The Italian Party by Christina Lynch, both set in the 1950s and featuring Americans living in foreign countries.

I'm also reading The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky and The Aviator by Evgenii Vodolazkin, both of which I am enjoying enormously although they are very different from each other.

Suddenly I'm finishing books. In text, finished Autumn of the Patriarch, my May book by Gabriel García Márquez. On audio I finished Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger (author of the book behind the Apollo 13 movie). Which was really good despite having the word "thrilling" in the subtitle. So now I'm focusing on Thinking About the Earth and I've stumbled across a new audiobook that I'm already really into, Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Liberian-born author Helene Cooper.

Have started Plum Rains by Andromeda Romano-Lax, a dystopia set in Japan. I also hope to start I Feel You: The Surprising Power of Extreme Empathy by Cris Beam. Dabbling in poetry by Linda Pastan and also Gail Mazur.

Just starting Warlight by Michael Ondaatje.

I've read two chapters of La terre qui penche by Carole Martinez and it's promising to be really good!

I finished the Donna Leon mystery Dressed for Death and enjoyed it. She does make Venice come alive in her mystery novels.

I also just started Last Stories by William Trevor.

Just finished Scornful Scones (Cozy Corgi Mysteries) by Mildred Abbott and Another One Bites the Crust by Ellie Alexander. Now starting Traitorous Toys (Cozy Corgi Mysteries).

I finished reading Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca. This was a biography and part true crime. It was full of very interesting history of New York CIty during the Progressive Era.

Finished Le ventre de Paris yesterday — great fun, as you’d expect — and I’m now reading The great cities in history and Retour à Reims, neither of which fits into any obvious category of things I was intending to read...

Listening to Warlight on audio.

>91 thorold: Retour à Reims has been in my To Read list since I read En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule (The End of Eddy) last year (Didier Eribon is a mentor to Edouard Louis), but I have been thwarted in my efforts to borrow it from the library: first because I was looking for it in the Fiction section instead of in the Non-Fiction 305.51s, then because it was out anyway... I'm curious to know what you think of it.

I am reading the YA fantasy novel Sightwitch by Susan Dennard. This is a prequel to her Witchlands series. It is a fun short read.

I just started In The Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero

Finished Thinking About the Earth and started The Collected Stories by Amy Hempel, a library book sale purchase I picked up in 2007, and finally picked up to read.

>93 Dilara86: Yes, actually it was partly your mention of Louis that made me read it - I got the two of them mixed up somehow. I’ve posted a review. Good, but you have to fight the sociology jargon all the way.

Finished Bickering Birds by Mildred Abbott, another one of the Cozy Corgi mysteries. Guess I am hooked on the series! Just started The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, on my TBR list for a long time.

I returned Warlight after finishing about 2/3 of it. Just not interested in Cold War intrigue.

I've recently finished Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep by Michael McGirr, which unfortunately wasn't the book I wanted or expected it to be; A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, which I actually liked even better than the previous book in the series; and Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips, which pleasantly surprised me by being very difficult to put down by the end.

I've now started Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, which I've been meaning to get to for a while.

>100 bragan: I'd like to know your thoughts on Lab Girl when you're done.

Finished two more shorts from the "must read sometime" list, The summer book and Tschick.
And started a much thicker Japanese novel, The Makioka sisters.

#100
I have heard that the Gin Phillips book Fierce Kingdom if very well done. Since Phillips is from Alabama and my book discussion group is from Alabama we are considering it for next years reading list.

>100 bragan: Nice to see Lab Girl show up again here.

>101 MsNick: I'm about 75 pages into Lab Girl now, and it's not quite what I was expecting, but I think I'm starting to really appreciate it. We'll see what I have to say when I finish.

>103 benitastrnad: I liked it, obviously, but, man, you might want to check with your book group whether anybody in it is likely to feel unable to handle reading about little kids in danger or distressing situations involving babies. I've known more than one person who's had kids and then suddenly found themselves just completely unable to deal with that kind of thing!

>104 dchaikin: Lab Girl is one of those books I was eager to pick up right away when it came out, and then inexplicably took a long time to get to. Or maybe not inexplicably. So many books, so little time, and all that.

>99 Cariola: Wow. Sorry you didn't enjoy it. I loved that book.

I'm having trouble lighting on any one book. I read a bit out of Toni Morrison's The Origin of Others and have started John Crowley's Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, a novel about, yes, a crow. Crowley writes so beautifully....

>106 avaland: I think you enjoy spy, crime, and mystery novels a lot more than I do.

I've started Le putain d'énorme livre du bonheur qui va tout déchirer (original title: so happy it hurts) by Anneliese Mackintosh. So far it seems to be fun, in a trashy Bridget Jones style. I hope the rest of the book stays on the same level!

I also started Les paupières, a collection of short-stories by Yôko Ogawa. The first story was quite enjoyable.

Reading Death of a Gentle Lady for the MysteryCAT Police Procedurals category. I read a bunch of the Hamish MacBeth novels years ago and I am reminded how much I like them.

I finished my first book for June -- mostly read in May but read last 50 pages in June -- which is コンビニ人間 which was excellent and coming out on June 12th in English as Convenience Store Woman.

I finished Ruby Wax's A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled and am on to Black Dogs by McEwan now.

>111 lilisin: I've heard a lot of good buzz about this one, and I am looking forward to the English translation (my Japanese skills are...mediocre at best).

I’m really enjoying Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. I’ve also just started Amanda Michalopoulou’s Why I Killed My Best Friend, which I’m looking forward to getting further into.

Still chugging on slowly through the Scottish classic, The Makioka sisters, but I’ve allowed myself to be distracted into starting Jonathan Israel’s 1.7kg monster, The Dutch Republic — I may be gone for some time...

>115 thorold:

lol! I love the thought of The Makioka Sisters being a Scottish classic! Tanizaki might even get a kick out of that one! Love it!

>114 rachbxl: Rachel, Eleanor Oliphant was surprisingly good. I really enjoyed it.

I'm reading Tomb Song by Mexican author Julián Herbert, which reminds me of Luiselli's The Story of my Teeth. And I'm reading The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, Let's No One Get Hurt by Jon Pineda and I'm almost finished with The Aviator by Russian author Evgenii Vodolazkin, which was wonderful.

Nearly done with Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt, and a little ways into The Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek.

I finished The Absolutist, which was excellent and am starting A Dangerous Crossing.

I've just started Chanson douce (published in English as Lullaby, or The perfect nanny), and I don't thank Lelia Slimani for having the eponym song by Henri Salvador stuck into my head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLNxHW4ZgXE

I finished Reasonable Doubts by the Italian author Gianrico Carofiglio and enjoyed it. This series of novels is set in the Adriatic port city of Bari and are very different from many of the Italian detective novels that we get here in the U. S. These are more Perry Mason than Jack Reacher. Courtroom drama rather than murder mystery.

I finished Last Stories by William Trevor, which was very good. I'm about to start Florida, Lauren Groff's latest.

Reading Cruel Candy, the first one in the Cozy Corgi bookstore mysteries. I thought I should go back to the beginning, since I read most of the series out of order. Want to know more about baking goodies with marijuana ("edibles")? I got an education, although my husband knew all about it, since he is a retired policeman.

I finished my second book for June, Autobiography of a Geisha which I'm still forming my thoughts on.

>117 RidgewayGirl: yes, I was surprised to enjoy Eleanor Oliphant as much as I did. A great debut novel.

I’m enjoying Why I Killed My Best Friend (and intrigued about where it’s heading). Yesterday I started Jenni Fagan’s first novel The Panopticon. I’m 100 pages in, and it’s excellent so far.

I finished The Kitchen House on audio and started Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. I'm enjoying FLorida by Lauren Groff as well.

I've finished several books since last posting in this thread: Varina by Charles Frazier (excellent), Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (meh), July's People by Nadine Mortimer (very good), and the Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor (not for me).

I'm almost done with The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe, a biography about the woman best known for writing the words to Battle Hymn of the Republic. And I'm not sure what will be next. Something off my shelves.

I started Kornwolf by Tristan Egolf. I'm reading it in English and so far it's difficult for me to understand, but it seems like there is something very powerful in this book.

I've been finishing off thorough reads of the books I ended up having to skim to finish in time for my panel. Yesterday I finished Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou; today (and no doubt tomorrow, since Sundays aren't big reading days for me usually) is Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow.

Having skimmed the last few books in order to have a basic overview for them in time for my panel last month made me realize how much I hate doing that. I'm a read-it-thoroughly, start-to-finish kind of gal. I had read the last 50 pages of each, but in my read-throughs are rereading even those, since they change slightly in context. It makes me glad I didn't go to work at LJ Reviews, since they have to do that all the time. I suppose you get used to it if you have to, but I personally dislike reading that way.

I finally got a copy of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine from the library.

I've started A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Nicolson which is a memoir of 7 generations of women in her family, the most famous being Vita Sackville-West.

For fiction I'm reading Smiley's People by John Le Carre

I finished reading Gemina: Illuminae Files - 02 by the writing team of Aimee Kaufmanii and Jay Kristoff. This is YA sci/fi and great reading - if the format doesn’t put you off. I listened to it and the narrators were great! I had many driveway moments with this one.

I started listening to the YA novel 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

Just finished Death of a Gentle Lady and started The Teashop Girls.

I've finished McEwan's Black Dogs. I think I'd better pick up Far From the Madding Crowd as I've renewed it 3 times now from the library without opening its cover.

Finished my third book in June, Han Kang's Human Acts. I was very pleased with this one as I did not like The Vegetarian at all but still could recognize that she was a good writer.

I am 25 pages into Seeing in the Dark and am really liking the way this guy writes about astronomy and being an amateur in this field.

Just finished Teashop Girls and started an Early Reviewers book called Christmas by the Sea by Melody Carlson.

>136 lilisin: Human Acts is an extraordinary book. I liked The Vegetarian, but Human Acts was just superlatively good.

I'm currently reading When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter. It's a really thought-provoking book, and she tells her story and adds the greater context and meaning as she goes and it's tremendously readable. When I'm not reading, I'm thinking about how I know so very little.

I'm also reading Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall, a British crime novel that feels a lot like something written by Barbara Vine, and How to be Safe by Tom McAllister, which is about a teacher who was momentarily suspected as an accomplice in a school shooting. But it's also a much broader book than that.

>136 lilisin: Human Acts is one of those books that don't hit you over the head but stay with you for a long time after you read it. Really a powerful little collection.

>139 RidgewayGirl:, >140 lisapeet:

Yes, now I'm interested in picking up her next book The White Book, although it might have a style closer to The Vegetarian than Human Acts so it'll be interesting to see how I feel about that one as well.

>141 lilisin: I'm also looking forward to The White Book and I have my fingers crossed that it's offered as an ER book like the other two were.

I just finished Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which is an OK light read. I've started The Last Man in Europe, a historical novel about George Orwell's writing of 1984.

Finished Florida by Lauren Groff--great collection of short stories. I'm listening to Glory Over Everything, the sequel to The Kitchen House and will likely start reading one of my ARCs next; I have a few calling my name, inlcuding There, There and Left: A Love Story.

I'm a few pages away from finishing Kenzaburo Oe's A Personal Matter which is just an amazing book about the recess of a father's mind when he realizes his first born child might become mentally handicapped.

I've been listening to Fisherman's Blues: A West African Community at Sea by Anna Badkhen, a sort of poetic nonfiction. And I just started The Fragrance of the Guava, and extended interview of Gabriel Garcia Márquez

I finished The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel, which was inexcusably sitting on my shelf unread for over ten years, and I started the New Testament. I've read Matthew, and will start Mark when I get a chance.

Just finished The Last Man in Europe - really excellent historical novel about George Orwell, especially about the writing of Animal Farm and 1984. Next, I am starting Lauren Groff's new story collection Florida.

I started The little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I had it in my wishlist tagged as horror, but I don't remember how it got to my attention. So far it's well written and immersive.

I started Lifting the Veil, a collection of short stories and essays by Ismat Chughtai, an almost forgotten female Urdu writer. She went through a trial for obscenity in 1942 because of her depiction of lesbian sex in one of her stories.

>148 chlorine: I enjoyed The Little Stranger. but I gave up on her latest, The Paying Guest.

I started Noonday, the final book in Pat Barker's Life Class trilogy (the second novel is Toby's Room).

Touchstones are sure being touchy today!

>148 chlorine: Apparently several people here have read and liked The little Stranger, which gives me hopes that I will like it too! :)

>127 japaul22: I enjoyed the Julia Ward Howe biography also. I also like to keep my eye on what Elaine Showalter writes....

I have started too many books. Can't seem to settle, too many distractions I think (or too many temptations and not enough me, ha ha)

I'm nearly finished with Invitation to a Bonfire, which is a lot of fun—1930s, boarding school, Russian émigrés including Vladimir and Vera Nabokov stand-ins, literature, murder plots, and some really enjoyable writing.

I just finished Smiley's People by John Le Carre which was fun. I'm almost done with A House Full of Daughters, a memoir by Juliet Nicholson which I'm liking.

And I've just started an ER book, Melmoth by Sarah Perry. I liked her book The Essex Serpent but this one seems even more promising.

I recently finished Do Not Say We Have Nothing and On the Heights of Despair and have set aside Cider with Rosie, an ebook, to finish the hardcover Indigo and A Kestrel for a Knave before going on vacation next week.

Most of the last week has been spent either walking or on trains, so I'm making little progress with the two "heavy books" I've got on the go, The Dutch republic and The Makioka sisters. But I did finish Wanderlust and The white bird passes on my e-reader and have started another Louise Penny crime story. Now to find the time to post some reviews...

>149 Dilara86: Ismat Chughtai was one of the people I wrote about in my final-year dissertation, a long time ago. Not a name you see every day, but very interesting.

>154 japaul22: Wow, even better than The Essex Serpent? Can't wait for that one!

Started a new audiobook, Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir.

Invitation to a Bonfire was great fun. Now I'm back to Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over, which I began before my big nonfiction read in May, but I also grabbed Invitation to a Beheading off my shelves, because a little free-association is good for my reading. That may be my bedside book.

Slogging through the rest of The Man Who Couldn't Miss. Just cannot seem to get into it, so will skip and skim.

It's been a while since I've checked in on this thread. In the interim, I've read Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen, a decent YA novel that just wasn't quite my sort of thing; Cocktail Time by P. G. Wodehouse, which was entertaining as Wodehouse always is; The Trouble with Testosterone by Robert M. Sapolsky, which dealt with some interesting subjects but was disappointingly slight; New Jersey Noir, edited by Joyce Carol Oates, which was a bit of a mixed bag of an anthology; Dictionary Stories by Jez Burrows, which was a nifty idea taken perhaps slightly too far; and Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction by Keith Oatley, which I had slightly complicated feelings about but generally found very interesting. Whew!

And now I've just started Provenance by Anne Leckie, which I am anticipating very much enjoying,

>154 japaul22: I'm looking forward to reading Melmoth. Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

I just finished Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall. It was an excellent novel that reminded me of Barbara Vine at her best. Really tightly plotted and it all held together through the final sentence.

I'm now reading When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, which is doing a superlative job of showing how certain policies and attitudes affect the lives of real people. It's devastating.

And I'm reading How to Be Safe by Tom McAllister, about a woman who was briefly suspected of being involved in a school shooting.

Finished The Man Who Couldn't Miss for Early Reviewers. I am now on to The Provincial Lady in Wartime and White House Diary, and Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson.

I finished reading American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow. This was a fascinating look at American history through its use and misuse of its trees and forests. The book started with the primeval forest and the harvesting of the New England White Pine for the exclusive use of the British Navy and ended with the impact of the Environmental movement and Global Warming. There was a whole chapter on tree diseases and the impact of them on our trees. Dutch Elm Disease and the Chestnut Blight and how the attempt to stop the Dutch Elm Disease led to Rachel Carson studying the effects of pesticides. Famous people who loved trees, all the way from Henry David Thoreau to Aldo Leopold were written about as well as those who hated trees, like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. It was truly an amazing history and very well written. I highly recommend this book to history lovers as well as those who love our forests and trees.

I also finished reading Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew by Alan Lightman. This is a book of essays that the astrophysicist author published in various other magazines. It explores everything from religion to quantum theory. Great thought provoking reading.

I started Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. From science to fantasy. Books are full of great things.

>163 benitastrnad: American Canopy sounds terrific!

I seem to be reading The Collected Stories of Flannery O'Connor, at least I've opened it. And I'm looking for a new audiobook. I finished I've been listening to Fisherman's Blues: A West African Community at Sea on audio, and The Fragrance of the Guava, which is very short.

I'm not currently reading anything but I WILL be going to the library this week and checking out Reign the Earth by A. C. Gaughen

Jus listened The American Legal Experience, by Lawrence M. Friedman. Liked it. Clear exposition of some crucial aspects of American Law. Review in my thread.

Will be reading:

1. Eon
by Alison Goodman

2. Story Thieves: Worlds Apart
by James Riley

3. The Immortal Heights sequel to The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea
(all) by Sherry Thomas

I finished three books in the past few days: Noonday by Pat Barker, Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir, and Left: A Love Story by Mary Hogan--and liked them in that order. I would not recommend the Hogan as I was expected to sympathize with the main character but found her way too full of herself.

I'm currently reading A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent and started listening to Roxanne Gay's Hunger: A Memoir of My Body.

Just finished slogging through The Man Who Couldn't Miss which was an Early Reviewer book that I did not like. I am now reading The Provincial Lady in Wartime for the July RandomCAT Category Challenge.

Time for a Zola! I've started La faute de l'abbé Mouret. I'm a little apprehensive as I had started to read it when I was much younger and going through many Zola books, and this was the only one that I got fed up with and did not finish.

Listening to A Room of One’s Own on women and fiction by Virginia Woolf. I’ve never read Woolf before, so I had no idea what a terrific writer’s voice she had. (Read terrifically, too)

I've recently started Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol and The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers. Halfway through 1066 And All That, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

I'm reading a few books right now -- Brass by Xhenet Aliu is about a mother and daughter living in Waterbury, Connecticut and dreaming of better things.

Grace by Natashia Deon is set in Georgia, in the mid-nineteenth century. There are two different stories being told, and while it hasn't gripped me yet, I'm interested in finding out what happens to them.

And I'm reading Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten, because I'm in the mood for a solid crime novel. There's something very soothing about the steady pace of a solid police procedural.

I'm still reading Old in Art School, which I'm enjoying but she's really nonlinear. It's interesting stuff she has to say about art world politics and art school politics as well as the nature of art, of being an outsider in several ways (chiefly being black, female, older than her fellow students, and a professional in another field), and some cool stuff about art itself, but it's not propulsive. She also has an oddball voice that's refreshing, but again pushes back as much as it pulls you in. So I find myself reading a bit, drifting away, reading a bit more, etc. Maybe that's just the way it needs to be consumed, which is fine. There's still something very intrinsically likeable about it.

Also reading Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading in tiny bursts before bed... once I get horizontal I tend to pass out pretty quickly, but this is another one that might be really good in short doses.

Have moved past the logjam (book jam?) and have settled into Life is Good by Alex Capus, his latest to be translated. I love the voice of his books. Also reading Scandinavian Crime Fiction by Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen.

Just finished reading Soldiers Alive by Tatsuzo Ishikawa about the Japanese fighting through China on their way to Nanking. It was neither enlightening, neither harrowing: an average "okay". Hoping to finish one more Japanese book before the end of the month if I can find time for it between violin practicing and the World Cup.

Started Savage Sourdough in the Corgi mysteries. I should have read them in order, but oh well!

Recently started Eona by Alison Goodman...
Then will start Story Thieves: Worlds Apart by Janes Riley
...and The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas

Finished Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body and am halfway through Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell. Still working on A Slant of Light, which I am enjoying.

Just finished The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

I finished Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness and now I'm flying through Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife.

>182 Cariola: I love Jeffrey Lent!

Finished Old in Art School, which I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend—especially for anyone with an interest in making art, or who's middle-aged or older and thinking about the opportunities/restrictions brought on by getting older.

Now I'm reading Tommy Orange's There There, which is terrific so far.