What were your top summer reads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry

Then listened to the interview of the author to find out it is her first book and it is already being made into a show on Apple TV. Talk about instant success.

This book was so annoying. I read it for a book club. I felt like they could have made the main character normal, but she was instead rude, unwavering, pompous, and I thought she was autistic, but the author didn't go there. I was waiting for the moment it gets better and I forced myself to read to the end. Such a disappointment. And I'm a scientist and really wanted to like this one. Such a waste of my time.

That's interesting. Like Emma by Jane Austen, the protagonist is unappealing. Did she learn from her vileness or was it not a journey of character type book at all?

[Anonymous]

All personal finance books - the old classic and the new.
This time I'm not going to mess it all up, suffer, or miss the boat. 2001- 2002 and 2008-2010 were miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All personal finance books - the old classic and the new.
This time I'm not going to mess it all up, suffer, or miss the boat. 2001- 2002 and 2008-2010 were miserable.

Do you have any recs? I actually also read You Need a Budget and I will Teach you to be rich this summer and liked both.

[Anonymous]

- Hello, Stranger by Katherine Center. Rom com about a woman who develops face blindness, also explores loss and a fractured family of origin. This may be my favorite of hers.

- Zero Days by Ruth Ware. Very cinematic with lots of tension, I would describe it as a cross between The Fugitive and Sneakers. A security specialist who is paid to break into corporate offices to expose weakness finds her husband murdered and is the prime suspect.

- Same Time Next Summer by Anabel Monaghan - this didn't make a big impression on me initially but my thoughts have returned to it quite a few times so I'm adding it to the list.

- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - one of my favorites from the entire year ... maybe all time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Malibu Rising and Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (my first time reading her books - fun summer reads)
Know My Name by Chanel Miller (rape victim's account - must read)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (reread)
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donaghue (set in a maternity ward during the 1918 flu epidemic)
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (her newest - I loved it - set on a northern Michigan cherry farm during the covid pandemic lockdown)
Drive Your Plow over the bones of the dead by Olga Tokarczak (nobel-prize winner, odd but engaging mystery of who is killing people in a small Polish village - is it the Animals??)
Midnight News by Jo Baker (her newest - WWI during the Blitz, the narrator is wrapped up in a mystery of her friends dying - is she losing her mind or is there a conspiracy lurking?)
Homestead by Melinda Moustakis (first novel set in 1950s Alaska about creating a marriage between virtual strangers with the backdrop of Alaska becoming a state)

First, thanks for your quick synopses of each book, very helpful!

Second, if you liked Homestead you may like The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I found the “character” of Alaska to be an interesting addition to the story. It’s not an easy book but I really enjoyed it. I’m going to put Homestead on my list now!