What are you reading the week of May 15, 2021?

A long hard week. Not much time for reading. I'm nearly finished with The Sumerians: A History from Beginning to End. Despite my initial impression, it has turned out to be a very mediocre book. Basically a lot of disorganized facts loosely tied together with a lot of typos.

Starting the next book in the Maigret series, Liberty Bar.

Still reading Two Armies on the Rio Grande (80% done) but I did deal with India's Wars. As for the coming week I expect to be starting Civil War on the Mississippi, while continuing to work on American Secret Projects 3.

Did knock off The Trouble with Women Artists; which wasn't hard because it turned out to be a much slighter book than I was expecting.

Moved Ravenna to the top of the pile.

Today I'm going to start reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig for my book club. I'm seeing lots of good things about it on here, Bookstagram, and Litsy, so I'm looking forward to it!

still reading I Thought You Said This Would Work, Six of Crows, and The Mists of Avalon.

At the moment I'm reading the novella "The Run of Yourself" from Richard Ford's most recent story collection, Sorry for Your Trouble. Soon, though, I will be finally embarking upon Booker T. Washington's classic memoir, Up from Slavery.

I've just started reading The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson. No touchstone for the book.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba
by Chanel Cleeton

I like my current groove... Plays and short fiction. And a weekly mystery.

Finished:
Funerals are Fatal - Agatha Christie
Following up with The A.B.C. Murders

Plays
Finished The Play About the Baby - Edward Albee

Now I'm working out with Timon of Athens - William Shakespeare
and
Fences - August Wilson

For stories, I'm jumping around in:
The Roald Dahl Omnibus
The Body and its Dangers and Other Stories - Allen Barnett
Lot : stories - Bryan Washington

Enjoying this Kindle eBook Alexa can read to me ~

An Amish Cookie Club Courtship (The Amish Cookie Club, book #3)
by Sarah Price

Braiding Sweetgrass is the book I'm shooting to finish this week (cuz it's the longest), but I'm also reading a bunch of other books, bc I am chronically incapable of focusing on one book at a time lol (Sister Outsider, Between the World and Me)

finished Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and started the next book, Crooked Kingdom. still enjoying the story.

I'm reading Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

Just finished reading the excellent biography, Moonglow by Michael Chabon.

Next up for reading is Garden By The Sea by Mercè Rodoreda.

Finished listening to the very good Riviera Gold.

Next up for listening is A Matter Of Death And Life by Irvin D. Yalom

I finished reading A Game of Hide and Seek. I can't say I was particularly taken by the book. It was the story of a woman obsessed with her childhood beau despite her having married an older successful lawyer. Problem was that I didn't particularly like any of the characters.

From the library: The Steel Beneath the Silk by Patricia Bracewell
The #3 and finale in the "Emma of Normandy" trilogy. It released back in March. The author switched publishers for this new novel. It's only been 6 years since The Price of Blood! :)

I finished listening to the excellent A Matter Of Death And Life.

Next up for listening is Desperation by Stephen King.

Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
by Barack Obama
4/5 stars
Obama writes about his life as a child living with his mother in Hawaii, then working in Chicago as a community organizer and ends the book with his travels to Africa to meet his father’s family in this well written autobiography. I look forward to reading more of his books!

Now reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
historical fiction set in Africa/USA

>12 nrmay: I like that title. Do you like the book? What is it about?

The title I liked was Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe.

I am reading Death in Daylesford, a detective story, and Black Sheep, a romance by Georgette Heyer. Both lovely and light, although there are tons of murders in the first one! Also, an autobiography by Leslie Cavendish, the Beatle's hairdresser, which is great fun although I don't approve of all the drug-taking.

My latest is Dance With Me by Luanne Rice.

>20 historyhound7:
I did like Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe! It's magic realism, similar to the books by Sarah Addison Allen - Garden Spells et al.

Finished Homegoing. It's great.
Now reading Miss Benson's Beetle and liking it so far.

I finished Up from Slavery the famous memoir by Booker T. Washington. On the national stage, Washington was one of the most famous African Americans of his time. This is an important book to read as part of an effort to gain an overall understanding of Black history in America, although Washington's ideas about race relations are somewhat controversial now. (He believed that Blacks as a group needed to gain practical skills and other individual success before working toward social equality, despite, and seemingly ignoring, the fact that White society as a whole was expressly intent upon violently suppressing any such advances.) Overall, Washington is a person to admire. My more in-depth comments can be found on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be another book I can hardly believe I've never read, Tom Wolfe's famous history of the early American space effort, The Right Stuff.

Actually, I am rereading the Percy Jackson Series! I decided that it was time for me to just go back to my old favorite series and just reread them, and I don’t regret it one bit because it’s bringing back so much memories! I totally recommend people to reread some of their old favorite books or series , cause I personally give that a 10/10!!!

>25 rocketjk: How can you have a username like "rocketjk" and never have read The Right Stuff? :-) It's my favorite Wofe book, and one that I re-read from time to time.

Just finished Abbi Waxman's The Garden of Small Beginnings, and love it. This was her debut novel, but the last of her four published books that I've read, and each of them has been absolutely delightful. Hope to see much more from this author.

Next up is Summer Girls by Cassandra King, which doesn't want to link (but, boy, are there a lot of books out there by that title!).

>27 LyndaInOregon: Ha! Well, my nickname among my friends when I was a kid was "Rocky" for reasons having to do with a NY Mets outfielder. Later that got morphed into "Rocket." When I had a freelance writing business, I duly named it Rocket Words. JK represents my initials. There's the whole fascinating story!

But, yeah, I don't know how I've never read The Right Stuff. Better late than never, I guess. Cheers!

I am almost finished God Emperor Of Dune and reading on kindle American Rose.
Really loving the Dune series and I can not wait for the new film in October.

The new thread is up over here.