June 2025 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Friends by Frederick Backman. It had echoes of Demon Copperfield at some points. I just love the way he writes - some of his sentences are gut wrenching, some are laugh out loud funny. I cried near the end of the book because I realized I'd have to say goodbye to all the characters soon.

I meant Demon Copperhead above. This is what I get when I try to do two things at once.

[Anonymous]

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- I never read it in school and wanted to read it before reading James. So far I’m really enjoying it much more than I thought I would- I remember hating Tom Sawyer when I read it in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Friends by Frederick Backman. It had echoes of Demon Copperfield at some points. I just love the way he writes - some of his sentences are gut wrenching, some are laugh out loud funny. I cried near the end of the book because I realized I'd have to say goodbye to all the characters soon. [/quote

I just read Beartown and liked it. I'm kind of torn on Backman ... I don't like the forced folksiness. But when he takes a more straightforward tone, I like him.

[Anonymous]

“Infinite Ground” by Martin MacInnes, who was Booker shortlisted for “In Ascension” last year. I loved last year’s book. This older one was pretty surreal, almost like Jeff Vandermeer (whom I’ve read a lot of) or Bolaño (only read one book). Almost too surreal? But interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just started reading “ Long Bright River” by Liz Moore who also wrote “God of the woods”.
It’s too soon to tell if I will like it or not. Right now it’s a mix of police procedural and family drama.

I recently finished “The Wager” by David Grann , the true story of the adventures of a British naval armada in the 1700’’s.

One of my absolutely favorite parts of the book was learning about the nautical origins of multiple present day phrases—

Toe the line -sailors forced to stand with toes on deck seam for inspection

Pipe down— boatswain’s whistle at night to quiet down

Piping hot- boatswains whistle for meals

Scuttlebutt— water cask where sailors gossiped while waiting for their rations.

And more.

I also enjoy learning about the history of language. I’ve discovered a Youtube channel, Words Unravelled, that explores the interesting backgrounds and eccentricities of words.
https://m.youtube.com/@WordsUnravelled

Here are some other videos and channels that I’ve enjoyed that you might find of interest:

https://m.youtube.com/@RobWords/featured

https://m.youtube.com/@JDraper/featured

[Anonymous]

Finished The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie. 3.5/5 stars. The premise of the novel was interesting... matriarch of French-Canadian heritage Babs Dionne controls the flow of drugs into a small town in Maine, while trying to preserve her family and her Francophone culture as competition from rival drug lords encroaches upon her turf. It's endlessly bleak... lots of drugs, alcoholism, domestic violence, and trauma. Currie has sketched some interesting and complex female characters, and I was intrigued by the focus on the "Little Canada" neighborhood of French-speaking Mainers in which Babs holds court. However, much of the dialogue read as overly scripted (do rival drug lords really talk like this to each other?) and there are two scenes that are wildly out of place (one, near the end of the book, is cringe to the point of being ridiculous) and ruined the narrative flow.

One thing Currie does really well, better than most authors in books I've read recently, is his integration of non-English words and phrases into his novel. For this to work, it has to be possible for readers who don't speak or read the language to get the point across from the surrounding context. I remember reading another novel recently where I was annoyed by the Spanish phrases that were seemingly thrown in at random, making it difficult to discern what the characters were saying or what the author was trying to convey. Maybe I found it easier with this novel, given that I had a decent reading knowledge of French already, but I thought Currie did a great job with weaving the French-Canadian phrases and sayings into the narrative. Especially given that the French language plays such a big role in the characters' lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just started reading “ Long Bright River” by Liz Moore who also wrote “God of the woods”.
It’s too soon to tell if I will like it or not. Right now it’s a mix of police procedural and family drama.

I recently finished “The Wager” by David Grann , the true story of the adventures of a British naval armada in the 1700’’s.

One of my absolutely favorite parts of the book was learning about the nautical origins of multiple present day phrases—

Toe the line -sailors forced to stand with toes on deck seam for inspection

Pipe down— boatswain’s whistle at night to quiet down

Piping hot- boatswains whistle for meals

Scuttlebutt— water cask where sailors gossiped while waiting for their rations.

And more.

I also enjoy learning about the history of language. I’ve discovered a Youtube channel, Words Unravelled, that explores the interesting backgrounds and eccentricities of words.
https://m.youtube.com/@WordsUnravelled

Here are some other videos and channels that I’ve enjoyed that you might find of interest:

https://m.youtube.com/@RobWords/featured

https://m.youtube.com/@JDraper/featured

Wow, thank you so much for these links! I look forward to watching and learning.

[Anonymous]

I have a few in rotation at any given time:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. I’m up to Jane Seymour. Pretty shocking how mistreated Katherine of Aragon was and how terrible Anne Boleyn was (although beheading her was absolutely insane).

How to Draw in 30 Days- just little lessons in how to draw things

The Norton Anthology of Literature Volume B - reading it straight through, no skips, and rating the stories. This volume begins with Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle / Legend of Sleepy Hollow, both of which I enjoyed. Next is James Fenimore Cooper selections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- I never read it in school and wanted to read it before reading James. So far I’m really enjoying it much more than I thought I would- I remember hating Tom Sawyer when I read it in high school.

I tried rereading Huck Finn before reading James and I couldn't get through it. The dialect was exhausting to read and I wasn't drawn into the story. I'm glad I had some context going into James though. People told me that I would enjoy James either way, but I feel strongly that knowing the story of Huck Finn is critical to appreciating James fully. FWIW I thought James was a fine read, but it was far from my favorite book of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a few in rotation at any given time:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. I’m up to Jane Seymour. Pretty shocking how mistreated Katherine of Aragon was and how terrible Anne Boleyn was (although beheading her was absolutely insane).

How to Draw in 30 Days- just little lessons in how to draw things

The Norton Anthology of Literature Volume B - reading it straight through, no skips, and rating the stories. This volume begins with Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle / Legend of Sleepy Hollow, both of which I enjoyed. Next is James Fenimore Cooper selections.

Ah Jane, Henry's true love.

[Anonymous]

Reading The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. It's great, but I'm not loving it as much as I loved Matrix.

[Anonymous]

Just finished What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. Basically if the Unabomber had had a daughters. I loved it.
Just started the River is Waiting by Wally Lamb. Really liking it so far. Living up to the hype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. It's great, but I'm not loving it as much as I loved Matrix.

I felt the same once I finished but still thought vaster wilds was worth reading. She’s a great writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. It's great, but I'm not loving it as much as I loved Matrix.

I felt the same once I finished but still thought vaster wilds was worth reading. She’s a great writer.

She's amazing. Will probably pick up Florida soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just started reading “ Long Bright River” by Liz Moore who also wrote “God of the woods”.
It’s too soon to tell if I will like it or not. Right now it’s a mix of police procedural and family drama.

I recently finished “The Wager” by David Grann , the true story of the adventures of a British naval armada in the 1700’’s.

One of my absolutely favorite parts of the book was learning about the nautical origins of multiple present day phrases—

Toe the line -sailors forced to stand with toes on deck seam for inspection

Pipe down— boatswain’s whistle at night to quiet down

Piping hot- boatswains whistle for meals

Scuttlebutt— water cask where sailors gossiped while waiting for their rations.

And more.

I also enjoy learning about the history of language. I’ve discovered a Youtube channel, Words Unravelled, that explores the interesting backgrounds and eccentricities of words.
https://m.youtube.com/@WordsUnravelled

Here are some other videos and channels that I’ve enjoyed that you might find of interest:

https://m.youtube.com/@RobWords/featured

https://m.youtube.com/@JDraper/featured

Bill Bryson has a wonderful book on this.