It’s August, what are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The God of the Woods. Fully met expectations and was a quick read for a longish book.

I’m just about to start this and am looking forward to it. I made myself wait until my kids got home from sleep away camp to start it.

Why?

Sorry duh, I’m slow.

[Anonymous]

"There was an old woman" by Hallie Ephron. It is a whodunit set in NYC. I thought it was excellent. Downloaded it from my library website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vanishing Half

I read this about a year ago. I thought it was very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I "finished" Britt-Marie was here. Did not like it. I am now on Finlay Donovan, next is the Guncle, and it's almost my turn for Part of Your World via the library so I'm hoping for that this month, or an easy Sophia Kinsley book like I've Got Your Number.

Oh, I really liked Britt Marie was here. To me, the book was about a quirky (maybe on the spectrum?) woman who had no identity except for trying to please her husband. Then she slowly found an identity of her own.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko about his and his buddy's effort to hike the length of the Grand Canyon. HIGHLY recommend.

If you liked this try A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson! Same idea but with the Appalachian Trail.

PP here - I read A Walk in the Woods years ago - and loved it. This book, however, is better imho. The hike here was on another level as far as danger was concerned, and he spends alot more time discussing the natural and cultural history. Don't get me wrong - it is uproariously funny in parts, but it is not a humor travelogue. He knows he walks in the footsteps of giants (even gives a shout-out early on to Bryson), but, in the end, it's a much more serious book than AWITW.

If you like more danger, have you read Into Thin Air by John Krakauer? It's an oldie but a goodie.

I also recommend John Krakauer books - Into Thin Air, Into the Wild. They are so interesting and easy to read.

I feel like Into the Wild should be required reading for any high schooler (and it actually was in AP Lit at my school)! Under the Banner of Heaven is also fascinating but much more disturbing.

Why do you think Into the Wild should be required? I taught it one year to 11th graders. They honestly liked The Crucible more. And hated Chris as a “protagonist.”

Because you can debate it endlessly! When we read it, it engendered strong feelings. Some strongly identified with Chris— they craved adventure, felt stifled, thought the whole idea was so romantic. (We grew up in NOVA, like Chris!) Others hated him, thought him obnoxious and privileged. Others (smaller group, as we were younger and perhaps not as sympathetic to him, as I am now), just felt sorry for him. There are also wonderful literary references throughout the book so we also studied those. I later taught it to a group of high schoolers, ten years later, and it was the same lively discussion.

I know this is a book thread but if you haven't seen the Into the Wild movie, you MUST watch it. It's so good -- I sobbed at the end.


I think the reader can “hate” Chris and still get a ton out of that book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The God of the Woods. Fully met expectations and was a quick read for a longish book.

I’m just about to start this and am looking forward to it. I made myself wait until my kids got home from sleep away camp to start it.

Are you waiting because the book is about 2 kids disappearing from a summer camp and it makes you nervous to read it while they're at a summer camp?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I "finished" Britt-Marie was here. Did not like it. I am now on Finlay Donovan, next is the Guncle, and it's almost my turn for Part of Your World via the library so I'm hoping for that this month, or an easy Sophia Kinsley book like I've Got Your Number.

Oh, I really liked Britt Marie was here. To me, the book was about a quirky (maybe on the spectrum?) woman who had no identity except for trying to please her husband. Then she slowly found an identity of her own.

I know it’s practically blasphemy but I don’t like the Fredrick Backman books I’ve read. Unlikeable characters who are supposed to warm my heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton and A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende. Both good so far, but I don't think Custom is going to be as good as the best Wharton.

Custom of the Country is my favorite Wharton. It's very contemporary and Undine could be a modetn influencer/celeb. I hope you like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko about his and his buddy's effort to hike the length of the Grand Canyon. HIGHLY recommend.

If you liked this try A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson! Same idea but with the Appalachian Trail.

PP here - I read A Walk in the Woods years ago - and loved it. This book, however, is better imho. The hike here was on another level as far as danger was concerned, and he spends alot more time discussing the natural and cultural history. Don't get me wrong - it is uproariously funny in parts, but it is not a humor travelogue. He knows he walks in the footsteps of giants (even gives a shout-out early on to Bryson), but, in the end, it's a much more serious book than AWITW.

If you like more danger, have you read Into Thin Air by John Krakauer? It's an oldie but a goodie.

I also recommend John Krakauer books - Into Thin Air, Into the Wild. They are so interesting and easy to read.

I feel like Into the Wild should be required reading for any high schooler (and it actually was in AP Lit at my school)! Under the Banner of Heaven is also fascinating but much more disturbing.

One of the best general non-fiction writers, I'd say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last month I listened to "Dear Mrs. Bird" by A.J. Pearce. I thought the book was awesome so I looked up the author to see what else she has written. Turns out she wrote 2 sequels to Dear Mrs. Bird, so I downloaded both sequels from overdrive and am currently listening to them.

They are all set in London during WW II. In book one, a young woman sees an ad for someone to work at a women's magazine. She thought she would be a war correspondent but instead the job is to sort through mail for an advice columnist. The columnist is an older woman who refuses to address anything "unpleasant". The letters from people with real problems are supposed to go in the trash. Our protagonist feels sorry for the letter writers and sometimes writes them back personally, signing the letters as though they were from the advice columnist.

In book two, the former advice columnist has transferred to a magazine for livestock owners and our protagonist has taken over the advice column. She also starts writing a series of articles about women doing war work.

I have just started book three. So far what has happened is that the former owner of the magazine, which has been in publication for 48 years, has died and left it to his niece. The niece thinks the articles in the magazine are depressing (hello - there is a war going on) and she wants to make changes.

The author is writing a 4th book in the series, to be published next year.

These sounds great!

I just checked out Dear Mrs. Bird and will report back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last month I listened to "Dear Mrs. Bird" by A.J. Pearce. I thought the book was awesome so I looked up the author to see what else she has written. Turns out she wrote 2 sequels to Dear Mrs. Bird, so I downloaded both sequels from overdrive and am currently listening to them.

They are all set in London during WW II. In book one, a young woman sees an ad for someone to work at a women's magazine. She thought she would be a war correspondent but instead the job is to sort through mail for an advice columnist. The columnist is an older woman who refuses to address anything "unpleasant". The letters from people with real problems are supposed to go in the trash. Our protagonist feels sorry for the letter writers and sometimes writes them back personally, signing the letters as though they were from the advice columnist.

In book two, the former advice columnist has transferred to a magazine for livestock owners and our protagonist has taken over the advice column. She also starts writing a series of articles about women doing war work.

I have just started book three. So far what has happened is that the former owner of the magazine, which has been in publication for 48 years, has died and left it to his niece. The niece thinks the articles in the magazine are depressing (hello - there is a war going on) and she wants to make changes.

The author is writing a 4th book in the series, to be published next year.

These sounds great!

I just checked out Dear Mrs. Bird and will report back!

Oh yay! I am the person who read all three books in less than two weeks. I am looking forward to hearing what you thought of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The God of the Woods. Fully met expectations and was a quick read for a longish book.

I’m just about to start this and am looking forward to it. I made myself wait until my kids got home from sleep away camp to start it.

Are you waiting because the book is about 2 kids disappearing from a summer camp and it makes you nervous to read it while they're at a summer camp?

No. I waited because i don’t have control over my subconscious mind/ nightmares. So I didn’t need to read a book right before bed about kids going missing from a camp out in the woods while my kids were at a camp out in the woods.

[Anonymous]

The God of the Woods reader here: while it is a story about missing kids, it’s more about the characters and their relationships/stories

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I "finished" Britt-Marie was here. Did not like it. I am now on Finlay Donovan, next is the Guncle, and it's almost my turn for Part of Your World via the library so I'm hoping for that this month, or an easy Sophia Kinsley book like I've Got Your Number.

Oh, I really liked Britt Marie was here. To me, the book was about a quirky (maybe on the spectrum?) woman who had no identity except for trying to please her husband. Then she slowly found an identity of her own.

FYI, it looks like Britt-Marie is on a kindle sale for those interested

[Anonymous]

I've just started Dead-End Memories, a series of short stories by Banana Yoshimoto. I love her books, I can't quite put my finger on what she does that is so compelling, atmosphere, setting, human emotions, ghostliness, the decay of families, a ton of things basically.

I recently tried reading a book by her that hadn't been translated for 20 yrs despite her writing mostly otherwise being available in English. Then I discovered there was an incestuous brother / sister thing going on and I gave up on it. Otherwise I read everything by her, all the way thru.