What are you reading for July?

[Anonymous]

I listened to the book, "The Four Winds" by Kristen Hannah.

It was good but it felt interminable.

It was basically a retelling of the Grapes of Wrath, but with a woman as the main protagonist.
The audiobook was 15 hours long.

[Anonymous]

The Guest by Emma Cline. Really enjoying it so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in the "upbeat books" thread recommended "Mary Jane" and I just finished that. Loved it! A great summer story.

This was so good!

I loved Mary Jane too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in the "upbeat books" thread recommended "Mary Jane" and I just finished that. Loved it! A great summer story.

This was so good!

I loved Mary Jane too!

I downloaded this book today based on you all's recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one reading tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

I'm a little on the fence at the half-way point. Very readable, but find some of the characters a little twee, and Sadie's first relationship fell into such an annoying trope (can't one just have a "normal" bad relationship?). So we'll see...

I couldn't connect with the characters either. I'm not a gamer and this was so much about gaming and all that goes with it. I finished it but, meh.

Similar. The gaming part wasn’t interesting (to me), and the characters weren’t likable or relatable. “Meh” describes pretty well how I felt about that book.

[Anonymous]

I am in the middle of Infinity Gate by MR Carey. Great multiverse hard sci fi space opera.

I just finished How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. Very funny and very scary at the same time.

Two of my favorite books this month were: (1) Tropicalia by Harold Rogers. Brazilian family saga. Fantastic debut; and (2) Las Madres by Esmeralda Santiago. She is an established Puerto Rican author who has outdone herself with this one (out 8/1).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listened to the book, "The Four Winds" by Kristen Hannah.

It was good but it felt interminable.

It was basically a retelling of the Grapes of Wrath, but with a woman as the main protagonist.
The audiobook was 15 hours long.

It was interminable! And so heavy handed.

[Anonymous]

For those looking for fun romance, in addition to the great suggestions already listed I've enjoyed The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, the Bodyguard by Katherine Center, and the Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams.

Recent reads that I couldn't put down:
- Adelaide (my heart broke for her)
- The Little Italian Hotel
- Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Just started Falling and seems like it will be a page-turner like Drowning, both by T.J. Newman

[Anonymous]

I just finished Dear Edward and The Half Moon. Both were quite good. Not my favorites but kept my interest. The Half Moon was a bit slow.

[Anonymous]

I am DNF’ing Her Here by Amanda Dennis. It’s a very nested story with a completely implausible premise and many unrelated storylines (and so many characters). There’s lovely content here about grief, and loss, and memory, but it’s just too much and I don’ t care about the characters to know what happens. I’ll read in the Skin of the Lion again if I want an unreliable narrator trying on someone else’s life.

Next up, maybe Shutter, or Yerba Buena.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just started How To Lose A Time War, which I’ve been meaning to read for years. Really enjoying it so far.

I finished this a couple weeks ago then promptly started it all over again and can I just say it is FANTASTIC. Highly recommend to those while haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Started Pineapple Street, by Jenny Jackson, a few days ago. So far, meh. I'm not finding any of the characters really engaging and overall the narrative reads like a contest to see how many ultra-rich WASP cliches the author can throw into a single paragraph. I'll stick with it though, because so many raved about this book, and it's a fast read so I don't have to slog through it before DNF at 50%.

Finished Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson. Not a new book, but another solid read from him.

Pineapple Street doesn’t get better. The hype around this book is completely an artifact of the publishing industry’s love for itself and its culture of rainmakers and suck ups. (The author is a well-connected editor. So nobody will say anything negative about her book even though the emperor has no clothes.)

+1 A mediocre book puffed up by the author’s social capital.

oof. No kidding, PPs. I am the PP who posted about Pineapple Street... I finished it, but it was pretty disappointing and I am baffled at the good press this book has gotten, especially from the NYT and NPR. None of the characters were remotely likeable or relatable, and there was no character development to speak of so none of them underwent any improvement as the book progressed. Even the SIL, who I suppose is supposed to be the sympathetic character because she wasn't born into the rich 1% family, is irritating. Ultimately the only character I liked was the snooty mother, who was entertaining in the same way as Frances Fisher's character in the Titanic movie ("Will the lifeboats be seated according to class?")... just over the top rich and ridiculous and unapologetic about it.

Interesting…I read Pineapple street right away (even preordered it) and loved it! It wasn’t particularly thought provoking, but it was fun for me in the way other romantic comedy is fun.

I also recently read (a few months ago) Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and the first half was on track to be a favorite and then the plot twist just ruined it for me. It’s kind of like how I wanted Where the Crawdads Sing to be just a book about how a girl survives on the marsh and the action part of the plot really changed the tone of that book for me.

For July I’m rereading Over Sea Under Stone with my 10 year old, which has been fun. I’ve read “Our Kids” which was recommended to me and I thought was just okay. I thought “In a New York Minute” was a fun read and I’m currently reading “The Crucible” because I’m in a summer reading challenge that includes a play and I’d never read it. (I started Othello but decided it would take too long.) I’m listening to Lahiri’s “Unaccustomed Earth” and like it so far. At the end of June I read Wilkie Collin’s Woman in White (because I’d never read it and liked The Moonstone in high school) and actually found it quite a page turner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Dear Edward and The Half Moon. Both were quite good. Not my favorites but kept my interest. The Half Moon was a bit slow.

Yes, I worshipped "Ask Again, Yes" by Mary Beth Keane, but I thought "The Half Moon" was slow, too. I'd give it a B+.

[Anonymous]

I just tore through The Boys by Katie Hefner. Highly recommended. Set during the pandemic, and about family, and loss, and our family stories. This is a good review:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/books/review/the-boys-katie-hafner.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just started How To Lose A Time War, which I’ve been meaning to read for years. Really enjoying it so far.

I finished this a couple weeks ago then promptly started it all over again and can I just say it is FANTASTIC. Highly recommend to those while haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

+1

I recommend the audiobook as well. The narration is truly beautiful and brings across so much emotion.