Another big fan of Emperor of Gladness here. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it and the restaurant staff.
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Way to go @Lynne_G. So happy you prevailed and mostly enjoyed the experience of W&P. You do have me a little apprehensive about that second epilogue, I must admit. At least that close to the end it is easy to push through.
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I haven’t read Heart the Lover, but I put it on my holds list just after finishing Writers and Lovers. It’s supposed to be available in 2 weeks.
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Ditto…Emperor of Gladness was great.
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I finished The Battle of the Little Big Horn by Mari Sandoz. Her last book, it was posthumously published in 1966 almost 20 years before the wildfire at the NPS National Battlefield Site. That fire which would have been devastating to NPS structures, etc. ended up being of tremendous benefit to archaeological research. Using ultramodern detection equipment researchers were able to trace US troop and indigenous warrior movements, as well as, in some cases, identify where individual soldiers had fallen. Ms. Sandoz’s book was reasonably accurate related to the overall playing out of the battle within the context of the later findings. Even more important she gave an evenhanded presentation of the warnings Custer repeatedly received from his officers and Native scouts before the battle and of the bravery, intelligence, and ability of his Native American adversaries. That was somewhat unusual for the time at which Ms. Sandoz was writing. Yes, I love the Old West and Native American history and culture!
Next up is Angel Down by Daniel Kraus. This will fulfill the BookBrowse Reading Challenge for a book that was featured in the BookBrowse Review. And when driving tomorrow I start listening to The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, the BookBrowse Side Read for September.
Regretfully, I am pulling away from the War and Peace group read. I’ve had too many irons in the fire and didn’t get as much reading done on it as I should have. I have been trying to catch up by both reading and listening. Although both techniques were the same translation, they were numbered differently so it was very difficult to switch back and forth. The narrator didn’t engage me at all while listening and my mind wandered everywhere so I missed large chunks of the book. I’m 3/4 of the way through, but I’m not doing justice to the novel or myself. I’ve ordered the Briggs translation and plan to read at least 10 pages a day or 1 chapter a day. I’ll decide when I receive the book.
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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy was excellent!
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Flock cameras everywhere, but people are protesting or disabling these Big Brother devices! I know “eyes” are always upon us, though, whether in the physical or cyber worlds.
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Sunday I spent the entire afternoon and enjoyed the 3 ending books. Foolishly I was determined to finish the book that evening. I enjoyed the first epilogue so looking back I should have finished the second on Monday. It would have been less grueling. He rambled on with a deep philosophical essay of four different themes.
Overall I enjoyed the book and reflecting about the experiences and outcome of the three main families and gained an insight of the impact the different governments had on society.
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Congratulations, @Lynne_G! I think you’re first (unless @Anne_Glasgow or @Gabi_J beat us to it and just haven’t said anything). Completing War and Peace is an accomplishment, and I’m delighted you more or less enjoyed the experience.
Not I. All honors go to @Lynne_G. I’m just reading at my set pace and I think that will have me finishing right on track but not a moment early.
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@Lana_Maskus sorry about W&P! I tried doing the reading/audio combo and found it hopeless, too. Since, like you, I’ve committed to too many books lately, I opted for the audio version as it’s the only way I’m going to make it through. I have a different narrator - Thandiwe Newton - and I think she’s pretty good. I get annoyed with the female histrionics, but that’s probably Tolstoy & not the narrator. It’s the Maude translation.
I hope you enjoy Angel Down. It’s one of my favorite books over the past few years. It’s very different, but I thought it was great.
One of the things I love about Daniel Kraus is that fact that every single thing he writes is completely different than his last book. I don’t know another author who’s able to cross multiple genres as well as he does. I’ve read four of his books and each was unique.
I am listening to The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable. I finished listening to Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton. A bit jarring to go from Woodstock last week to 17th century Venice this week. I also listened to Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini - Germany 1929 - 1946. Chiaverini was trying to write a saga but I wish it had been edited to make it tighter - 600+ pages - 20 hours of audio. Interested in what others who have read or listened to these books thought.
Just started reading The Calamity Club and enjoying it so far except when I want to cry.
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I read Covenant of Water and enjoyed it very much. I also read his earlier novel, Cutting for Stone which was also very good.
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I think the heat here has fried my 
…… my reply was TO BE sent to you instead of Nan. 
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You were to receive my reply instead of Nan!
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To be honest with you……. I was in a slump trying to find something else to read so I just continued reading and it kept my interest.
In the past years the Labor Day holiday has given me some happy news. . …(48 years ago on this weekend I was given a big surprise that I was pregnant while my ex was grad school for his MBA) 46 years ago another surprise was my daughter.
AND terrible memories
I later lost 1 family member and a close friend and a loved pet. I was hospitalized 3years ago.
Therefore, 2026 Labor Day will be my War and Peace memory.
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All of those events on this holiday? Wow, I’d probably crawl into a dark closet to hide from the next big surprise. Congratulations for the good memories and I’m sorry about the sad ones.
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I am also reading War & Peace at a leisurely pace while tucking in numerous other books (but not as many as @Anne_Glasgow 
). @Lynne_G Congrats on wrapping up the book.
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I wondered. 
I tried and tried to follow your message but….