What is everyone reading in May?

[Anonymous]

What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think of it?
Why did you pick that particular book to read?
How did you acquire the book?

[Anonymous]

What is everyone reading this month?
I just finished listening to "Orphan #8" by Kim Van Alkemade.

What is it about?
It is about a woman who was raised in an orphanage. At age 40, she is working in a nursing home and realizes that a new resident of the nursing home is a former doctor who did medical experiments on her while she was a child in the orphanage.

What do you think of it?
Ehh. It was good I guess.

Why did you pick that particular book to read? In March and April of last year, when I heard Overdrive was going to go away forever, I downloaded more than 100 audiobooks from my library and a relative's library and transferred them to my MP3 player. I must have been in the mood to listen to books about orphans at the time because I downloaded a whole bunch of books with that word in the title.

How did you acquire the book? Library website.

.

[Anonymous]

What is everyone reading this month?

The School for Good Mothers

What is it about?

Depending on your POV it's about a woman who leaves her child alone and is then sent to a parenting rehabilitation program or it's about the state using child safety as an excuse to overreach into citizen's lives. All of it tinged with and underlying sexism/misogyny.

What do you think of it?

Remains to be seen. I find myself frustrated with the main character.

Why did you pick that particular book to read?

It's been on my list. I like near future dystopia.

How did you acquire the book?

Library

[Anonymous]

Just started Annie Bot by Sierra Greer. Can’t say what it’s “about” yet because I’m only about 15% through based on my Kindle app. But so far it’s a story about a somewhat emotionally abusive male owner of a female companion robot.

I borrowed it from the library (FCPL) with an about 2 month wait list for the e-book.

After this I’ll probably still not be off the wait list for the other stuff I’m waiting for so I’ll pick something that’s older and available without a wait list.

[Anonymous]

I just finished The German Wife and it was okay. The main character was too perfect and talked about struggling, but didn't really struggle in ways that would have given the character depth.

[Anonymous]

Starting “Babel” by RF Kuang. I like it so far.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Normal People, after finding the book in a giveaway box in my neighborhood. I enjoyed the read but didn't feel like it fully lived up to the hype.

[Anonymous]

I’m reading “My Brilliant Friend”. About girls growing up in southern Italy and the quiet savagery of life there. A tough read but Eliana Ferrante, has an eye for detail that Jane Austen would respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading “My Brilliant Friend”. About girls growing up in southern Italy and the quiet savagery of life there. A tough read but Eliana Ferrante, has an eye for detail that Jane Austen would respect.

I loved the Neapolitan Novels. Keep going, it only gets better.

[Anonymous]

Jennette McCurdy’s, “I’m Glad my Mother Died.” Compelling, disturbing and a quick read.

[Anonymous]

Knife, Meditations After an Attempted murder
by Salman Rushdie

about the August 2022 attempt on his life

He's an excellent writer and it's very affecting stuff.

[Anonymous]

I just finished This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub and really enjoyed it, though perhaps my strong reaction is attributable to being in very similar life circumstances as the protagonist/ Straub’s alterego—namely facing the death of a parent while being comfortably enmired in mid-life ennui. But I liked how personal, and specific, and “small” the book was while taking on huge issues like time (and time-travel) and death and choosing one's life path.

I am curious about Rushdie's Knife mentioned by a PP--he was on Ezra Klein's podcast recently, and although I don't generally enjoy "authors doing radio appearances," I thought their conversation was unusually compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think of it?
Why did you pick that particular book to read?
How did you acquire the book?

I started listening to "The Idea of You" yesterday. Haven't finished it yet.
It is about a 39 year old divorced woman who has an affair with the 20 year old lead singer of a boy band. She meets him when she takes her 12 year old daughter and two of the daughter's friends to a concert to see the band.
It is deliciously dirty. Oh my. Oh my.
I picked it to read because I saw that they are making a movie about it, and it was available on Libby, so I decided to check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think of it?
Why did you pick that particular book to read?
How did you acquire the book?

I started listening to "The Idea of You" yesterday. Haven't finished it yet.
It is about a 39 year old divorced woman who has an affair with the 20 year old lead singer of a boy band. She meets him when she takes her 12 year old daughter and two of the daughter's friends to a concert to see the band.
It is deliciously dirty. Oh my. Oh my.
I picked it to read because I saw that they are making a movie about it, and it was available on Libby, so I decided to check it out.

The movie is getting horrible reviews

[Anonymous]

Annie Bot, about an AI girlfriend robot. It is disturbing and tackles some pertinent questions about AI. I was enthralled in the first half and then bored near the end.