April 2026 -- What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just read Maggie or A Man and a Woman Walk Into A Bar by Katie Yee; also finished SomenKind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. Both were 3 stars (out of 5) for me. I found Yee’s main character annoying and a wet blanket; Brown’s book was just very… okay. Starting either So Far Gone by Jess Walter or The Correspondent… hopefully either will be better!

So Far Gone is SO good! One of my recent favortites. I was slow to read the Correspondent -- mostly because it was so hyped up--but I ended up really liking it.

Just finished Emma Straub's American Fantasy. It's about an recently (and unhappily) divorced women you goes on a theme cruise in place of her sister who broke her leg just before the departing. The cruise is dedicated to fans of a boy band (all of the members are now middle aged). The sister doesn't really like the band, but goes anyway. It's very funny and engaging. She is one of favorite authors so I may be biased but I think this book is a delight. FINALLY--I went on a spree of reading all of Cynthia D'Prix Sweeney's books. All good.

I recently read my first book by her, This Time Tomorrow, and was so impressed. The lightest "heavy" book (or perhaps vice versa) I've encountered. Will have to look up American Fantasy next.

[Anonymous]

Listened to Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang. Somewhere between fantasy and speculative fiction, set in a harsh world where civilization is basically in a literal bubble, the City of Tiran, and an elite bureaucracy of mages runs the place on magic. While the book of course relies on magic as its main conceit, the story is otherwise a "realistic" allegory of colonialism, reminding me a lot of Babel.

In some ways the strengths and weaknesses of both books are mirror images of each other--I loved Babel's intricate world-building and exploration of language/translation, but it sure got bogged down in the middle and I found that the story had just entirely unspooled by the somewhat unsatisfying ending. Wang's book is much tighter and her writing propulsive, but the world and allegory themselves were somewhat simplistic. Both good if you like this type of literature... though I would not read them back to back!

[Anonymous]

About 25% through Strangers, agree it is very well written and moves quickly but man it is painful reading about the destruction of a marriage/family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

I take it this was not Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, published in 1980?

I suspect she means Normal People.

Yes I heard my favorite actor/pod-caster raving over her series of books - just raving! So i tried to read Normal People and got so mired between the angst and the ennui. No thank you! Too bad b/c I thought i had something there - oh well.

The Hulu series Normal People, based on the book, is fantastic. It’s quite hot. Highly recommend.

I agree. I loved it! And the book was an early DNF for me.

[Anonymous]

Tom Jones. It’s delightful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Correspondent - very well-written. Really liked it even though one of the topics is disturbing

Now reading Theo of Golden for a feel good to lighten things up,.

POSSIBLE SPOILER

Are you talking about the boy? The son of the other judge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listened to Never Flinch by Stephen King , just finished. I enjoyed the storytelling as usual but not as much as many of his previous novels— maybe because I was listening instead of reading ? If I’d been reading the book, I would have speed read over characters I found annoying and lingered over those I enjoyed.
Lesson learned, I think. Maybe I need to learn how to listen better?

I mostly listen to Stephen King's books and some of the narrators are better than others. I read everything he comes out with and I personally thought Never Flinch was a bit slower/duller than more recent works like Holly and the collection of short stories (You Like it Darker, I think?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

I take it this was not Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, published in 1980?

I suspect she means Normal People.

Yes I heard my favorite actor/pod-caster raving over her series of books - just raving! So i tried to read Normal People and got so mired between the angst and the ennui. No thank you! Too bad b/c I thought i had something there - oh well.

The Hulu series Normal People, based on the book, is fantastic. It’s quite hot. Highly recommend.

+1000

That show was amazing. I haven't read the book because of the mixed reviews and I loved the show so much I don't want to dislike the book.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

It's somewhat similar to Yellowface in plot (this isn't spoiling anything) - a young woman takes over her dead identical twin's life

The end was freaking weird and it sort of fell apart for me by then but I liked probably 75% of it well enough

2.75/5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

I take it this was not Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, published in 1980?

I suspect she means Normal People.

Yes I heard my favorite actor/pod-caster raving over her series of books - just raving! So i tried to read Normal People and got so mired between the angst and the ennui. No thank you! Too bad b/c I thought i had something there - oh well.

The Hulu series Normal People, based on the book, is fantastic. It’s quite hot. Highly recommend.

+1000

That show was amazing. I haven't read the book because of the mixed reviews and I loved the show so much I don't want to dislike the book.

When I was in grad school for creative writing I remember we had a big discussion in one of my classes about why you get great book/ bad movie/tv adaption or average-at-best book with a great adaptation and there are not a lot of exceptions or in-between situations. The only instance I could think of where I truly loved a book and the film of it was A Clockwork Orange. (But that film has about the biggest problem it could have, which is in the casting. I think I love that film as much as I do because of Malcolm Mcdowell's performance, but he was way too old to play Alex. The Alex in the book is only 15 and he is younger than any of the rest of the gang, which he is running. What the authorities do to him when they catch him -- deep psychological conditioning by combining his beloved Beethoven with torture and images of crime and violence -- is a very different proposition with a teenager as opposed to a young adult. The Alex in the film is old enough that a major them of the book disappears.)

Anybody have instances of where you loved both the book and film/show that arose from it?

[Anonymous]

Harry potter
The Martian
Project Hail Mary comes close

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harry potter
The Martian
Project Hail Mary comes close

I agree with all of these films being great adaptions of the books. With Project Hail Mary I'll say the film is different from the book but I think they made the right choice to do it the way they did. I also think the two, along with the Harry Potter books, make for a great combo package, where reading or watching alone doesn't give you the full story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harry potter
The Martian
Project Hail Mary comes close

You could make a good argument that these are not "great" books. I know people would come for me on this. And I'm not necessarily saying it is the case, just making the argument.

I haven't read Project Hail Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

I take it this was not Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, published in 1980?

I suspect she means Normal People.

Yes I heard my favorite actor/pod-caster raving over her series of books - just raving! So i tried to read Normal People and got so mired between the angst and the ennui. No thank you! Too bad b/c I thought i had something there - oh well.

The Hulu series Normal People, based on the book, is fantastic. It’s quite hot. Highly recommend.

+1000

That show was amazing. I haven't read the book because of the mixed reviews and I loved the show so much I don't want to dislike the book.

When I was in grad school for creative writing I remember we had a big discussion in one of my classes about why you get great book/ bad movie/tv adaption or average-at-best book with a great adaptation and there are not a lot of exceptions or in-between situations. The only instance I could think of where I truly loved a book and the film of it was A Clockwork Orange. (But that film has about the biggest problem it could have, which is in the casting. I think I love that film as much as I do because of Malcolm Mcdowell's performance, but he was way too old to play Alex. The Alex in the book is only 15 and he is younger than any of the rest of the gang, which he is running. What the authorities do to him when they catch him -- deep psychological conditioning by combining his beloved Beethoven with torture and images of crime and violence -- is a very different proposition with a teenager as opposed to a young adult. The Alex in the film is old enough that a major them of the book disappears.)

Anybody have instances of where you loved both the book and film/show that arose from it?

Pachinko. I actually think the series is better than the book, maybe because it's so visually stunning.

[Anonymous]

Just started the Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers. Its funny and getting right into the story so far I'm liking it.