What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? Please share! We’d love to know.
I am reading Daughter of the Leopard: True Stories From a Samburu Maasai Girlhood by Monique N. Leparleen and Ann Hendricks (who is a friend from my book group!)
This is the true story of Monique’s growing up in the Samburu tribe in Kenya in the 1970s. As her tribe sticks to many of their old ways, Monique and some of the younger members start to adopt modern customs. But it’s not at all easy, especially for a girl raised in an extremely traditional Patriarchal society. Very eye opening.
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I’m reading Matt Haig’s MIDNIGHT TRAIN…about halfway through and didn’t think it possible, BUT
think I like it even more than MIDNIGHT LIBRAR!
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Just finished Migrant Heart by Reyna Grande. Tomorrow I will start reading Whistler by Ann Patchett.
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I finished listening to The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and reading Days of Sun and Shadow by India Hayford this past week. Both were wonderful 5 star reads. I hope I can stay on a roll of reading such satisfying books. We are heading out on vacation tomorrow so I’m hoping extended windshield time can help me get caught up on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy for our BookBrowse side read. I’m also listening to Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini for our BookBrowse 1000 Books to Read Before You Die side read.
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I need to add to my list. This does sound interesting.
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Oh you are in for a real treat with Whistler - not only my book of the year (I’m calling it now) but added to my all time top 10 (and I’m a senior so I’ve been reading a long time!)
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Gosh, where’s @Anne_Glasgow? She’s almost always the first to contribute here!
For me, this week, I made the mistake of listening to Mad Mabel at the same time I was reading Too Old for This. Both of them feature an elderly woman who committed murder in their pasts. They were very different - Too Old for This was actually pretty funny, bordering on absurd, while Mad Mabel was just exceptionally well done - but because they featured similar characters, I sometimes found myself confusing them (“Who killed whom, now?”).
Currently reading an NF book, The Wound is Where the Light Enters, for review next week, and listening to Captain Blood for our 1000 Books group. I’m caught up on Tolstoy until next week, but I might have to listen ahead since I’m taking a mini vacation to the Coast for a few days and I doubt much reading or listening will occur.
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Here I am. I had a zoom meeting this morning so I’m late like Alice.
FINISHED:
The Complex by Kiran Mahajan, read by Neil Shah—
dnf for now because it was too similar to The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai—a saga of two young people who try to blend their lives and overcome country, class, race, history, and beliefs. I feel like I struggled on nearly every page to keep going and finally finished this book with a sigh of relief.
Country People by Daniel Mason. A totally entertaining read led by a family of four who move from CA to rural Vermont and meet the country people. Daniel Mason takes very seriously the implied country people and includes a photographer of snowflakes, the woman carpenter, the rat catcher, and The Miscellaneous Minute (the only minute that’s actually an hour) the daily talk radio that ranges from agriculture to antiques. It wasn’t LOL funny but it was delightful.
NOW READING:
There’s Only One Sin In Hollywood by Rasheed Newson, read by Jelani Alladin— Queer, Black Hollywood in the 1950s.
Backtalker by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw. The woman who coined the term intersectionality and led the way on CRT education.
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Oh I’m interested to hear what you think of Chris Young’s book. He is close to Brittany Barnett who wrote A Knock at Midnight. She also worked his clemency case I think. I have followed her on social media ever since reading her book. I’m sure you’ll get all the details from his book.
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In prep for my book club next month, I finished Broken Country. I’m a bit surprised it was chosen as we don’t do romance books as a rule. To me it is a romance, while a very well written one. If not for the extraordinary character that Frank is, it would be rather unremarkable. I also finished The Berry Pickers a debut novel by Amanda Peters which is about a migrant girl age four kidnapped by lonely, barren parents and how that played out for both families. The book really picked up during the second half and I think was a good first effort winning a few awards.
Currently reading an oldy by southern writer Eudora Welty - The Optimist’s Daughter. Such a unique voice.
Also reading Erika J. Simpson’s This is Your Mother which is a newly released memoir that has been praised as “candid, heartbreaking and enlightening.” …about the deep, difficult and unbreakable mother - daughter bond. I’m most curious to discover some unique literary method I’ve read the author uses near the end of the book.
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I hope to finish “Flesh” by David Szalay this weekend. It is a unique book with time jumps and a ton of dialogue but it is very well-written. Some parts are extremely uncomfortable but I prefer that to feeling nothing.
Next in the stack is “The Creation of Half-Broken People” and I am looking forward to that.
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Oh, I hope you enjoy The Creation of Half-Broken People. It was a complex book, but I thought it was excellent and very creative.
I finished Berg’s Life: A Love Story and loved it. @Lynne_G in response to your post, there were so many things I enjoyed about the book. I loved the awe Flo found in the smallest of things. It was also inspiring that she was able to continue to embrace new people and new experiences despite her timeline (I am intentionally being vague so as not to share spoilers). It was such a positive book although it did have quite a few touching and tissue-moments. The book made my heart happy.
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@Gabi_J, I am pleased you enjoyed the book. I had the same thoughts and reactions. A perfect response to the ending: it was a heart warming book.
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I am still reading the 9 books I started with this month: Valour, tower of dawn, empire of storms, empire of silence, pride and prejudice, the knight and the moth, and buffalo hunter hunter.
I will say that buffalo hunter hunter is phenomenal. It’s really encouraged me to get lost in Native American cultures/history. It’s such a well written incredibly impactful book and I’m not even halfway through.
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Thanks for the encouragement!
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Just finished Country People, which I loved, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Most Fun We Ever Had, and am mid-Whistler. This is gardening season, so I am accompanied by audio books as I work (though I am reading Whistler)…Heaven!
Really enjoyed Mad Mabel!
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I’m reading NONE OF THIS IS TRUE by Lisa Jewell. It’s s a good book, but I’m still thinking about the last one I read, NO MORE TEARS: THE DARK SECRETS OF JOHNSON & JOHNSON by Gardiner Harris. It’s nonfiction and both a great and scary book.
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