June 2026 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Any one else feel like a bonanza of great books just came out? I’m in the thick of summer reading right now. So happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Overwhelmed father of toddler twins loses job and becomes a temporary stay at home dad while he looks for work. Tragic accident occurs and the book explores the characters and repercussions.

Well written but bleak. Some redemption. In good faith, I can’t even pass this book along to other readers I know. Check the trigger warnings before reading.

I felt so glum after reading this. Very well-written, but some parts were so so hard to hold. When I had highly mixed feelings about it. I did end up reconsidering over the next month and then buying the book and am curious to go through a second time one day.

This is a book I'll never read again it was so devastating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading a lot this month. So far have read:

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Whistler, Ann Patchett
The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout

All very good, though I have to say, Life After Life is really special, it brought me to some new places.

Read Life After Life years ago and loved it, might be time for a re-read!

[Anonymous]

So far I have read this month:

How to Rule the World - written by a DC-kid who just graduated from Stanford about his experience in bringing down Stanford's chancellor through a series of articles he wrote his freshman year (!) It's also a fascinating look at how the tech industry is wholly enmeshed into the school.

Saltwater - crap. Got 50% through and decided I'd had enough.

Now reading Lovers XXX. Jury is still out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just started reading Freida McFadden’s latest book 📖 called “The Divorce.”

I recently discovered this great author and have to admit that I have a very strong addiction to her novels.

So far I am engrossed in this story.
I cannot say what it is about since anything I say would be a spoiler since the first chapter weaves the initial story for the reader.

This was so terrible. I did read it in one day, but really I think it's the worst of Freida's books. Dear Debbie was enjoyable

I’m halfway through listening to it and both the ex and his girlfriend are so over the top mean that they are completely unbelievable. I’m going to get the e-book from Hoopla and finish it at a much faster pace because I do want to find out what happens in the end. I did like Dear Debbie as I’m a big fan of revenge fiction

I hate when Freida makes her female characters idiots- The Divorce, The Tenant, The Boyfriend, The Surrogate Mother - all have the same theme with female MC's without a brain.

Yes, I still read them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading a lot this month. So far have read:

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Whistler, Ann Patchett
The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout

All very good, though I have to say, Life After Life is really special, it brought me to some new places.

Read Life After Life years ago and loved it, might be time for a re-read!

Different strokes for different folks - Life After life is one of the very few books I couldn't get through. I hate not finishing, but (and I don't think this is too spoilerish, though is probbly nonsensical if you haven't read it) I could not get through WWI and the Spanish Flu , and I knew WWII would be right behind it and I found starting over again each time to be quite tedious. It just dragged on and on (for me). But I know many people loved it. Just not for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far I have read this month:

How to Rule the World - written by a DC-kid who just graduated from Stanford about his experience in bringing down Stanford's chancellor through a series of articles he wrote his freshman year (!) It's also a fascinating look at how the tech industry is wholly enmeshed into the school.

Saltwater - crap. Got 50% through and decided I'd had enough.

Now reading Lovers XXX. Jury is still out.

I did not enjoy Saltwater, either. The ending was twist upon weird twist. The note I wrote to myself after finishing this books was : Everyone is bad here.

But that Standford book sounds intriguing.

[Anonymous]

I'm half way though Strangers, by Belle Burden.

It's compelling, and she's a great writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far I have read this month:

How to Rule the World - written by a DC-kid who just graduated from Stanford about his experience in bringing down Stanford's chancellor through a series of articles he wrote his freshman year (!) It's also a fascinating look at how the tech industry is wholly enmeshed into the school.

Saltwater - crap. Got 50% through and decided I'd had enough.

Now reading Lovers XXX. Jury is still out.

I did not enjoy Saltwater, either. The ending was twist upon weird twist. The note I wrote to myself after finishing this books was : Everyone is bad here.

But that Standford book sounds intriguing.

I liked Saltwater, I thought it was a good mindless beach read. Perfect for what it made for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just on vacation and got a lot of reading in:
1) The Compound - 3* (dystopian satire of Love Island type show)
2) The Women- 3.5* (interesting historically but silly writing)
3) Calamity Club- 4* (one note characters but definitely kept me turning pages)
4) Buckeye- 4.5* (1930s-1970s family saga)
5) Good People- 4.5* (multi perspective crime / cultural novel about Afghan American family- this was my fave)

Currently reading Heart the Lover (Lily King) but having a hard time getting into it.

Planning on buying London Falling for DH for father's day- then I will read it after him.

Just started listening to Buckeye based on the good reviews even though it's 16 hours - I usually only listen to books 10 hours or less (at 1.25x). Glad to see another high rating!

I liked Heart the Lover. It reminded me a bit of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

I liked Good People, too. I think it kind of fell apart at the end, and I'd like to know more about why she made some of the choices that she did, but overall I thought it was super interesting.

I just finished The Rest of Our Lives, which I really liked a lot. I'm now reading The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother). Liking it so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been striking out some lately. I just finished Normal People by Sally Rooney and was really disappointed by the end. It’s kind of a romance that you can tell will have some darkness and heavy topics to it which I was ok with but the ending was just rushed and trite an and also upsetting. I haven’t been that let down by an ending in a long time.

I also read Abby Jimenez’s latest, the night we first met, which is definitely a rom com about how a mistaken first impression of the male main character but I didn’t enjoy it as much as her earlier books, I think the tension was just too entirely self inflicted. Or maybe I’m cranky lately.

I did read and like the Night Circus, which was a bit of a departure for me since I rarely read anything with mystical/magical themes but it was very interesting and nicely done. The night circus is what it sounds like, a circus only open at night and it’s a very self contained world in a lot of ways. There is a little love story which I wasn’t actually expecting but it’s nicely done. I found the main female character very likable, which helps.

Not sure what I will read next.

I loved Normal People so much. Why did the ending upset you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading a lot this month. So far have read:

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Whistler, Ann Patchett
The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout

All very good, though I have to say, Life After Life is really special, it brought me to some new places.

Life After Life is one of my all-time faves.