What book or books are you reading this week? Please share! We’d love to know.
Finished The Bluest Eye last night. Man, what a powerful book. Looking forward to the BookBrowse discussion in a few weeks. Next up is another disturbing classic: Lolita.
Still plugging away at my “space opera” in audiobook format. 6 hours left (out of 22 total - it’s a long book!) so I hope to finish it this week.
On a side note, the narrator is s-o-o-o good - part of why I’m still listening (this is book 17 in the series). The narrator is R.C. Bray, who’s a favorite. Has anyone else listened to his work?
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Just finishing listening to and reading “Code Name Helene” by Ariel Lawhon, author of “Frozen River” one of my favorite books of 2024. This is a great story of a true life heroine who works with the French resistance and becomes a leader. I highly recommend. I have also been reading Louise Penny’s “The Madness of Crowds.” This is my first book by Ms. Penny and love Armand Gamache and all of the other regulars.
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Wow, that’s Book 17 in the series! I’ve often wondered if someone would enjoy picking up a later entry without all the backstory. Thanks for answering that for me, @Susan_C! I think the series has aged well, although the later books have been much more complex, I think, than her first ones. My favorite character is Ruth and her duck. I’m not sure if this is in the book you just finished, but I frequently refer to the title of her book of poetry, I’m FINE (which stands for F**ked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Egotistical).
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I just finished reading “The House is On Fire” by Rachel Beanland for my book club. It is an historical fiction book about a devastating theater fire in Richmond VA in 1811. The book was highly rated and provided for a great discussion at the book club meeting.
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Reading Model Home. Trying to decide among James, Small Rain, and The Anthropocene Reviewed for next week.
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I’m reading We Do Not Part, the new novel from Han Kang. I’ve never read this author before and really didn’t have her on my radar until she was awarded the Nobel Prize in late 2024. More to come!
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Eleanor of Avignon-I didn’t know if I would like it because it is set in 1347. Elea is a midwife and herbalist trying to save her town from the Black Death. I am enjoying so far.
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Absolutely loved and rather devoured both of Lawhon’s books you mentioned! You might enjoy The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
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Quite frankly, I can’t imagine reading a later Gamache without having read all of the earlier installments. But of course that’s only because I’ve read them all—in order, and some of them several times. 
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Just got my notice from Libby that Citizen by Bill Clinton is waiting to be downloaded. I very much enjoyed reading My Life and look forward to listening to this follow-up political/personal memoir. I just finished listening to The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and will definitely pick up the book to read more slowly and intentionally. The twin concepts of abundance and reciprocity in the natural world spilling over into the world at large gave me hope and I want to spend more time digesting the possibility that we as a species might yet save ourselves from ourselves.
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I just finished The Daughters of Shandong - loved it. Now reading Make Trouble by Cecile Richards as a part of my reading goal to read at least 5 books by or about Medal of Freedom recipients over the past four years. She is a remarkable woman who has committed her lifetime to fighting for the rights of others.
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I’ve started The Power Broker as a buddy read and we have our first discussion meet-up scheduled.
Today I plan to finish The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis.
I also managed, through Libby, to snap up:
The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison
In Ascension by Martin Macinnes
My current audio is You Never Know read by the author Tom Selleck. Close readers of the community may recall that I often find memoirs uncomfortable/invasive. For Tom Selleck I am willing to make an exception. His voice in my ears, all day, everyday❣️
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I am currently reading The Fury by Alex Michaelides. I am so far enjoying it. Also I am reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which has been on my list for awhile. It’s also very good.
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A BELL FOR ADANO by John Hersey. I am truly enjoying this book written 1944. An idealistic Major is put in charge of an Italian town newly liberated by the US army. He tries to introduce democracy to a populace of corrupt, cowed or just traumatized townsfolk while harassed by an overly bombastic general. Funny and yet humanly touching.
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Just finished “The Grey Wolf”. Louise Penny is the only author who I have read every one of her Inspector Gamache series. This book has a sequel which I am anxiously awaiting. It was great to revisit the remote monastary of the Gilbertines once again.
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Our book club just discussed Braiding Sweetgrass. I received notice a few days later that The Serviceberry was available. Was surprised at the brevity, but was a great followup to her first book.
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I am reading The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner. Has anyone read any of his books? Perhaps Angle of Repose or Crossing to Safety? He won the National Book Reward for The Spectator Bird in 1977.
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I was reading Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, got so bored that I gave up after 120 pages. I couldn’t quite get the jest of the story. I kept waiting for it to get better, never did. Am I missing something about this book? Am starting The God of the Woods by Liz Moore tonight, excited!!
Daughters of Shandong by Eve Chung. I am enjoying this fast paced, unforgettable and powerful piece of historical fiction!
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