What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? Please share! We’d love to know.
I finished THE MAD WIFE by Meagan Church the other day and am currently reading THE SECOND STORY BOOKSHOP by Denise Hunter - first time reader of this author. It’s a light read with some romance.
THE MAD WIFE was good.
A good mystery I read is THE WIVES OF HAWTHORNE LANE by Stephanie DeCarolis.
A fun cozy I read is ICING ON THE MURDER by Valerie Burns.
I’m just finishing The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, not my usual choice, but someone online recommended it. It isn’t a new book, published in 2020. Very compelling and well written.
@Susan_W1 I reviewed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Schwab when it came out & really enjoyed it. Glad you’re liking it!
I finished Replaceable You by Mary Roach for review. As always, her work is fun and informative. Now I’m on to God of the Woods by Liz Moore for an upcoming book club discussion. I’m hoping to get to The Invention of Charlotte Brontë by Graham Watson after that, since he’ll be visiting us in a few weeks, followed by Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen for review.
In audiobook format, I finally finished Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, the second (and final) book in her Earthseed series. In both books Butler elaborates on a religion her main character establishes called Earthseed (hence the series title). In the first book, there’s a lot more talk about the dystopian society in which she’s living, with some philosophy thrown in. The second book picks up after the protagonists have established a new community, and the first third of that book isn’t as interesting; there’s not much happening and it’s too heavy on the philosophy. The second third is horrific and consequently more engaging. The last third feels rushed and again becomes more preachy. The audiobook wasn’t helped by a secondary narrator whose delivery I thought was all wrong for the character.
At the recommendation of someone here (sorry, can’t remember who) I started The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, narrated by Tom Hanks. They were not wrong! Man, I’m thoroughly enjoying the book. I have about 1.5 hours left & I’m going to be sad for it to end. Thinking about The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates next.
On audio I just finished The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine. Next audio is The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore.
In print I’m about to finish The Bright Years by Sarah Damhoff. Next up is Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang.
I finished “Becoming Madam Secretary” by Stephanie Dray–enjoyed reading about the life of Frances Perkins–and have started “Smoke & Mirrors”, the fourth book in the Greer Hogan mystery series by ME Hilliard.
I just finished Lolita for the BookBrowse Book Club (so much to process and discuss!) but now I need a entertaining “palate-cleanser”. I’m trying Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron. I’m also one of the many BookBrowse members who liked The Correspondent - it’s just what I’m in the mood for so I’ll be searching for Read-Alike advice.
It depends on what part of it resonated with you.
Have you read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? If you like epistolary books with a lot of heart, that one might be up your alley. That’s the first similar book that jumped into my head.
If it’s the aging aspect you enjoyed, or the parent-child relationship, I’ll have to put my thinking cap on.
A nice book featuring an aging protagonist is All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle.
Another really good one a lot of folks here have read is The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.
I’m not big on parent-child books so someone else will have to help you there.
Thank you, Kim! I do like epistolary books (84 Charing Cross Road is one of my favorites) but feeling and heart are what I’m needing. I think All the Lonely People might do it and, even better, my library has it currently available. I’m wanting to read about ordinary people, old or young, making connections and positive differences in their own or others’ lives.
Yeah, that one sounds like it’ll hit the spot. It’s a lovely book.
This week I’m finishing up When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee. It’s a BookBrowse FI. It’s not my normal genre, so I’m still working on my FI. After I finish this, I plan to read Nightshade by Michael Connelly for a book club. Just saw him a couple of weeks ago at Bouchercon. What a nice and humble man. I’m also listening to Like Lions by Brian Panowich, whom I also met at Bouchercon.
I am reading “Becoming Madam Secretary” by Stephanie Dray. It is off to a slow start, but a lot happened in the protagonist’s life, so I have high hopes. I finished “Cuba: An American History” on Tuesday, and I was shocked by how much I didn’t know, even with a degree in Spanish.
I just started “Becoming Madam Secretary” yesterday!
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was a delightful book and will always be special in my life because that was the first book my granddaughter (she was 13) and I read together . Addie adventures were very thrilling for us to share.
Thank you Kim for correcting my mistakes. This has been a difficult week because of my dog”s health issues but his medication is stable now so we are encouraged. The loss of a pet is an incredibly painful and lonely experience and Bennett is only 7. The joy of reading is a wonderful escape.
The God of the Woods was listed as one of my favorite books in 2024.
Last week I read The Vanishing Place. With my mindset it .was a very dark thriller. I did give it an excellent rating. Then I was eager to start Buckeye which I immensely enjoyed. It definitely described the period of the baby boomers which includes me. However reading about the Viet Nam war years brought back sad memories of high school friends that I lost.
Now I am going to start The Invention of Charlotte Brontë because I enjoyed reading Jane Eyre in high school.
I am just starting BUCKEYE after taking a stab at Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and finishing THE BETTENCOURT AFFAIR. I found Bettencourt extremely interesting as it is a true story of a family feud between the founder’s daughter and heiress of L’Oreal and her only daughter and how money was central to this extended war between the two of them that, strangely enough, never affected the bottom line at L’Oreal. Now with social media, I think everyone would have been weighing in on both sides and the company stock would have suffered more. Mrs. Dalloway (100th anniversary of the writing) was not a favorite of mine. The stream of consciousness writing was off-putting and I almost threw in the towel when I hit one page where one sentence took up the whole page. Not a period in the text. Throw in the fact that at least a couple of the characters had mental problems and wading through their thoughts was especially difficult. I didn’t find it “charming” and a beacon of women’s consciousness …. at all. I had read Virginia Woolf before and have never been a fan, but thought I’d give her one more shot. We can’t like everything, right? Since I’m just starting Buckeye, I don’t have thoughts yet, but even just starting, I can tell it’s got to be better than Mrs. Dalloway.
Just started River East, River West. Has anyone read this book?
Finishing up Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. To me, it’s “Meh,” but I feel compelled to finish since I’m reading it with my book club. I tried listening to The Wizard of Earthsea, but my mind kept wandering so I dropped it and switched to Voices from Chernobyl on Hoopla. I definitely can’t recommend after only 10 minutes of listening. The narration is computer/AI generated which I didn’t like at all. Not sure what I’ll read next.