July 2025 -- What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long Island by Colm Toibin. I’m halfway through—enjoying, but I liked Brooklyn better.

Finished it, and I can’t recommend it. I was frustrated by the feckless main characters and their utter inability to express their feelings, needs, and desires. I found myself rooting for none of them—which I guess is fine, because the ending isn’t positive for any of them.

[Anonymous]

I was on vacation last week and read
The Wedding People--I enjoyed it even if it was ridiculous fluff. (other people have already described the plot)
Tilt--a pregnant woman is trapped in a massive earthquake in an IKEA and needs to navigate her way home across a destroyed city. I found the main character irritating and hated the ending.
The Quiche of Death--the first Agatha Raisin mystery, I found this in a library book sale recently. It's a cute, cozy mystery about a marketing exec who retires to the Cotswolds.

Currently reading The Favorites--about an ice dance team and the various drama and scandal that follows their career. It alternates chapters from the female character's perspective with quotes from her rivals/coaches/etc. A friend of mine described it as "juicy" and that's a good word for it. I'm finding it entertaining, but it might be lowering my IQ.

Up next, The Doorman (previously mentioned here) and All the Water in the World (post global warming survival novel). The online synopsis describes it as a mix of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower.

[Anonymous]

Anyone read One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune? It's a cute romance, good summer book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am really struggling to get through Atmosphere (audiobook version) but the reviews are all so good?!

My audible app suggested it after I listened to the wedding people, which was not high brow but enjoyable. And the reviews were uniformly high on the app.

Maybe it's the format? All the in space suspense seems so unrealistic and drawn out and the romance so slow and painful.

I am finding it so overwrought. The

It's not good and I usually love Taylor Jenkins Reid. My friend and I were discussing it and she made the point that she thinks all the rave reviews are just people on autopilot who think they are supposed to love anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes and aren't giving it much independent thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new Wally Lamb book!

Same. So far, I’m enjoying it.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore. I thought I had seen it recommended here, but I couldn’t find it with a quick search, so I apologize if someone else has already given a description. It’s sort of a murder mystery, but really more of an examination of the compromises “influencers” make in pursuit of sponsorships as well as the effects of growing up under a social media microscope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really struggling to get through Atmosphere (audiobook version) but the reviews are all so good?!

My audible app suggested it after I listened to the wedding people, which was not high brow but enjoyable. And the reviews were uniformly high on the app.

Maybe it's the format? All the in space suspense seems so unrealistic and drawn out and the romance so slow and painful.

I am finding it so overwrought. The

It's not good and I usually love Taylor Jenkins Reid. My friend and I were discussing it and she made the point that she thinks all the rave reviews are just people on autopilot who think they are supposed to love anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes and aren't giving it much independent thought.

I had not heard of the author. (Though had heard of some of her books .. just did not know she'd written Daisy Jones and the Six, etc.) But I now can't imagine trying anything she's written. The dialog is just so so so bad. I had to fast forward the most banal five min conversation about god and keep thinking it sounds like someone asked AI to write a same sex love story with as much cheesy dialogue as possible.

[Anonymous]

Just read God of the Woods by Liz Moore and Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. Both were great vacation reads—the latter a bit fluffy but fun. Now back to Big Swiss, which I started before I left but didn’t want to take with me since it’s a library book, and I can’t be trusted.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Long Island Compromise. I absolutely loved it. Though I disliked each character in various ways, I couldn’t get enough and compulsively devoured the whole (long, dense) book in a few days. I found it insightful and remarkably clever and funny. One of my favorite reads so far this year.

[Anonymous]

Finished All the Colors in the Dark - really good, but a little exhausting. Long mystery/suspense novel about the ramifications of a serial killer's actions on a community. It had so many cliffhangers and "almost" revelations.

Now I'm reading Miss Benson's Beetle, which I'm hoping will be light and fun. About a 1950s British spinster who decides to travel to New Caledonia in the South pacific to try to discover a golden beetle that is rumored to live there but has never been documented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Long Island Compromise. I absolutely loved it. Though I disliked each character in various ways, I couldn’t get enough and compulsively devoured the whole (long, dense) book in a few days. I found it insightful and remarkably clever and funny. One of my favorite reads so far this year.

I'm so glad you liked it so much, I did too. The first character that is focused on, the son/brother (?), is especially unlikable and such a cringe-worthy mess and yet it's so well-written that you can't look away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really struggling to get through Atmosphere (audiobook version) but the reviews are all so good?!

My audible app suggested it after I listened to the wedding people, which was not high brow but enjoyable. And the reviews were uniformly high on the app.

Maybe it's the format? All the in space suspense seems so unrealistic and drawn out and the romance so slow and painful.

I am finding it so overwrought. The

It's not good and I usually love Taylor Jenkins Reid. My friend and I were discussing it and she made the point that she thinks all the rave reviews are just people on autopilot who think they are supposed to love anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes and aren't giving it much independent thought.

Add me to the list of people also underwhelmed by Atmosphere - and I really liked Daisy Jones, Evelyn Hugo, and Carrie Soto, fwiw. I liked Malibu Rising a little less than those 3, and I rank Atmosphere below Malibu Rising. IDK who all these people are who are giving it such good reviews or why. I no longer really trust all of the good reviews on goodreads. I've been feeling this way for a little while - not just about Atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was on vacation last week and read
The Wedding People--I enjoyed it even if it was ridiculous fluff. (other people have already described the plot)
Tilt--a pregnant woman is trapped in a massive earthquake in an IKEA and needs to navigate her way home across a destroyed city. I found the main character irritating and hated the ending.
The Quiche of Death--the first Agatha Raisin mystery, I found this in a library book sale recently. It's a cute, cozy mystery about a marketing exec who retires to the Cotswolds.

Currently reading The Favorites--about an ice dance team and the various drama and scandal that follows their career. It alternates chapters from the female character's perspective with quotes from her rivals/coaches/etc. A friend of mine described it as "juicy" and that's a good word for it. I'm finding it entertaining, but it might be lowering my IQ.

Up next, The Doorman (previously mentioned here) and All the Water in the World (post global warming survival novel). The online synopsis describes it as a mix of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower.

I’m intrigued by this one, having loved both of the reference novels!

[Anonymous]

A wedding at sea! an english couple in the 1970s sets sail from England aiming for New Zealand, only to be struck by a whale near the galapagos and have their boat sink leaving them stranded in the ocean in a small life boat. havent finished yet! SO GOOD

[Anonymous]

oops sorry, its called a MARRIAGE at sea not wedding lol