December 2025. What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Frozen River was too slow for me.

[Anonymous]

I think, as far as liking books, there can be a big disconnect between readers. Some readers read for pure entertainment, some like a well written novel, a "crunchy" book, so to speak.
Personally, I don't care if the characters are likeable or not. I just want them to be interesting.

[Anonymous]

Just started The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. It was on so many "best of" lists and shortlisted for Booker, so I thought I'd read it. Only about 50 pages in but loving it so far. I read the Inheritance of Loss, but that was when it came out like 20 years ago and I don't remember it.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Philippa Gregory's Boleyn Traitor, about Jane Parker Boleyn who served 5 queens and died along with Katherine Howard. It was well done.
I like Tudor era novels and am going to start Jo Harkin' The Pretender, about Lambert Simnel.

[Anonymous]

Best books I've read this year:
Heart the Lover (my favorite -- it's so so good!)
So Far Gone by Jess Walter
The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers
These Summer Storms by Sarah McLean
If You Think It, I'll Say by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished I, Claudius, a 1939 historical fiction book of early Roman emperors. It was really fantastic.

Now on to Culpability which I finally got from the lucky day shelf at the library.

I forget about this book, because I read it so long ago. It is sooooooo good.

2+. I read this one deep in my young adult Greek myth/history phase. Still remember it as great.

OMG I had that phase too maybe in late elementary school. I blame D’Aulaeres book of Greek myths!

[Anonymous]

Pillars of the Earth. Currently on page 625 with about 350 to go.

I’m going through chemo and have lots of medical anxiety dominating my mind. I have found huge slow books pull me in for hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished I, Claudius, a 1939 historical fiction book of early Roman emperors. It was really fantastic.

Now on to Culpability which I finally got from the lucky day shelf at the library.

I forget about this book, because I read it so long ago. It is sooooooo good.

2+. I read this one deep in my young adult Greek myth/history phase. Still remember it as great.

OMG I had that phase too maybe in late elementary school. I blame D’Aulaeres book of Greek myths!

Ha, I checked that book out of the library like 50 times as a kid! I’m being inspired to perhaps pick up Song of Achilles, which I purchased after loving Circe… but never got around to reading.

[Anonymous]

Pillars of the Earth is Great! It's the best of that series imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pillars of the Earth is Great! It's the best of that series imo.

Great to hear! I’m reading them in chronological order. So on #2. Since the number of characters is small considering the length, its an easy book to pick up right where you left off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best books I've read this year:
Heart the Lover (my favorite -- it's so so good!)
So Far Gone by Jess Walter
The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers
These Summer Storms by Sarah McLean
If You Think It, I'll Say by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

So I just finished These Summer Storms and really enjoyed the first half/ maybe two thirds but the ending was sort of weak and predictable for me. I guess it is a romance so the ending is often pretty predictable but it felt like she was trying hard to make it something more and it just wasn’t. It was also a bit too drawn out. I realized I have felt this was about a number of her other books too

But I do appreciate her writing, I still think she’s one of the best in that genre!

[Anonymous]

DCUM, I am reading it right now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best books I've read this year:
Heart the Lover (my favorite -- it's so so good!)
So Far Gone by Jess Walter
The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers
These Summer Storms by Sarah McLean
If You Think It, I'll Say by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

Thanks for sharing - a few are already on my library list and I added a couple more. I started SFG but didn’t finish before I had to return it. Sounds like it may be worth picking back up. What did you like about it?

I read The Friday Afternoon Club and thought it was interesting - I had no idea Dune had such a storied part (only knew him from This Is Us…not from his generation).

[Anonymous]

I just started "My Friends" and liking it so far. It's my first Fredrik Backman book and seems like a crowd pleaser so I'm hoping to get sucked in more soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am about 1/3 into James. I think my expectations may have been too high--or perhaps I am so familiar with Huckleberry Finn that it's making the story feel like a bit of a retread. The audiobook is very well done--and I realize I haven't really gotten to the "meat" of the (original) story yet--so will continue along...

It is a very good book. But it is not a great book. And I think it has been sold as such.

Well, I finished James, and I was sort of shocked at how... not good it was, or certainly the last third.

My first impression was wrong... After the slow but decent beginning, it diverged from Huck Finn quite a bit. The middle third was the strongest, a different more sinister look at the Duke & King and I liked the episodic stories of the minstrel band, Jim's travels with Norman, etc. which both had the Odyssey-like feel of the original while being novel.

The final third -- POTENTIAL SPOILERS -- was just head-scratching. I found the "revelation" completely implausible and it had the effect of gutting any power or tension in Jim and Huck's relationship. Then the finale basically devolved into "good guy with a gun"--which perhaps would have been at least superficially enjoyable--but it wrapped up so abruptly that it felt like a rough draft.

So I don't get it. Enjoyed Erasure, and not sure why this one got all the hype.