What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? Please share! We’d love to know.
I just finished Harlem Rhapsody which I enjoyed. Currently, I am reading The Violin Maker’s Secret. So far I am enjoying this book.
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Just finished Harlem Rhapsody, looking forward to the book discussion. Started Black Like Me for a bookclub the second Friday of the month. Both good books. Then will read The Violin Maker’s Secret.
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I just finished a fascinating nonfiction called The Conjuring of America by Lindsey Stewart. The subtitle says it all: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic. I’m just about to finish Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn on audio.
New this week is Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite which in the very beginning seems like it might have some overlap with Conjuring of America.
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I liked Cursed Daughters.
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Thanks @Paula_Walters I’m really happy to hear that because it’s a little off my normal path.
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As soon as I finish Michael Bond’s “A Bear Called Paddington’ (for our library’s winter reading challenge–it was published the year I was born (!) & I first read it about nearly 60 years ago), I’ll start “Is This a Cry for Help?” by Emily Austin. I’m a sucker for for novels about librarians.
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I reread Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for a book club. This is the first year I’ve had to reread books for one reason or another. My position has always been that there are too many books out there to read, so why would I read something I’ve already experienced. I’ve been surprised, though, at how much I’ve been enjoying reading books a second time. It might be an age thing, since my memory is pretty flawed these days. But often I find I’m reading deeper that second time around - reading beyond the plot to what the author’s trying to say. It’s been a revelation.
I also finished A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan for our 1000 Books to Read Before You Die side read. (Anyone’s welcome to join us at any time, BTW.) I loved it and I’m eager to discuss it starting February 1, but I’m very glad I did a little research about it before I started. The book is comprised of interconnected stories but the chapters are nonsequential, so it would have been pretty confusing, I think, if I hadn’t known what to expect.
I’m now reading I’m Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig for our upcoming book club read here, and I’ll follow that with Endling by Maria Reva (who’ll be visiting us here soon) and my next review book, A World Appears by Michael Pollen.
In audiobook format, I listened to Starter Villain by John Scalzi, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Scalzi is a favorite author. His books are always so much fun, and this one is no exception. And it has cats.
From there, I moved on to Gateway, book 18 in the Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson that I’ve been listening through for years. It’s very long - 20 hours - so this one’s going to take a while. Book 19 in the series came out on Tuesday.
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann.
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I finished “Skipping Christmas” by John Grisham this weekend and enjoyed it. Reading “One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” now and…it is superbly written but it will make you angry about our world. “Everything is Tuberculosis…” is next and I hear great things.
I been a little intimidated by One Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This. Is it accessible?
Accessible? Yes. It just reveals a lot of uncomfortable truths.
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Kim, I’m always surprised to hear that rereading a book is often viewed as squandering reading time, so am glad you are discovering the value of rediscovery. For me it is like visiting an old friend. At the very least I can’t resist going back over chapters or passages that touched me or stood out as brilliant writing. Some of my favorite rear-view reads are My Antonia, To Kill a Mockingbird, West with the Night and even some Shakespeare plays. Now with audible I’m finding a new dimension in hearing them read to me — currently I’m listening to David Copperfield.
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I finished up Harlem Rhapsody a couple of weeks ago and am currently reading The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield. Stories that incorporate myth are my “go to”.
I want to thank whoever recommended Circling the Sun by Paula McLain to me. It is a nice addition to my collection of books about Beryl Markham.
In non-fiction I’m reading History Matters by David McCullough. Essays on varies topics, speeches. I’m enjoying the one on Harry S. Truman now. Various narrators if you get the audible.
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Just finished Field Notes From an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir by Julia Zarankin (non-fiction / memoir / nature). And, now reading Caliban’s War by James S A Corey, the second in the Expanse series (sci-fiction).
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I began reading Moby Dick 
this month, and am reading it slowly. I’m thankful for finding some websites that explain things that are either archaic, ship-jargon-y, or are references that are over my head. (For the most part, I’ve been using this site: Herman Melville Electronic Library )
I’m a bit surprised by some of it, given the time of its publication (1851), as some things Melville writes sound very … provocative or progressive. He has so many deep references that I’d never would’ve noticed if it had not been for the internet (three cheers for literature scholars!). It makes me wonder how much of it the average reader back then would have comprehended, too.
I’m also reading The Double by Edgar Wallace (1928). I’m wondering what is going on…?! I’m eager to get back to it! 
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@Lisa_B3 wins the prize for most entertaining emojis, hahaha. Love the whale.
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I just finished A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan for the BookBrowse 1000 Books to Read Before You Die side read. I’m not sure what I think of it. I’m very interested in what our discussion beginning February 1 brings out. I’m still listening to the audiobook ofRabbit, Run by John Updike, another book on the 1000 Books list.
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris is on my bedside stand waiting for me.
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I was just reading everyone’s responses of the current reads and recent finishes. It suddenly hit me, isn’t it great how varied from each other our book choices are?
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