What is everyone reading in May?

[Anonymous]

My book club is reading The Lager Queen of Minnesota.

I am also reading "The Only One Left" and "The Running Grave".

[Anonymous]

My book club is reading The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You wake up like every other day and find a box at your door. This box has a string inside. The length determines how long you will live. Some people want to open the box, others don’t want to know their fate. Will society treat the short stringers differently?

Goodreads gave this book 4 stars and I agree.

[Anonymous]

Inspired by the DCUM Kevin Wilson thread, I just finished (listening to) Nothing to See Here, first of his books that I’ve read. It was entertaining and sometimes funny, but then just… ended abruptly, from my perspective at least. The problem was not so much the plot, which sort of wrapped up, but that the story just seemed to stop in terms of character development or narrative message. Not sure what to think...

[Anonymous]

I just finished Anne Lamott’s new book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love. Her usual witty, relatable profundity. I recommend it. It’s short and you can skip around among the essays.

I’m in the middle of Julia Alvarez’s new novel Cemetery of Untold Stories. She’s one of my favorite writers, but I’m having a harder time getting into this one than her other books for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My book club is reading The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You wake up like every other day and find a box at your door. This box has a string inside. The length determines how long you will live. Some people want to open the box, others don’t want to know their fate. Will society treat the short stringers differently?

Goodreads gave this book 4 stars and I agree.

Read this book last year. Absolutely loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I finished it too! I posted upthread. It was honestly hard to read in parts. I wasn’t expecting to be as disturbed as I was. I could kind of tell it was the author’s first novel because the pacing was somewhat uneven.

[Anonymous]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I am listening to the audiobook and reading the book. Both are from the library.

I'm reading it because I saw it at the library and remembered that it was made into a movie (so it must be good!), and I like time travel that is not science fiction.

I'm halfway through and numerous times have thought about quitting. It's supposed to be a grand love story but I find myself nitpicking things instead of getting lost in the story.

[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.

Just finished this. I thought it was very good.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. Managed to get on the Libby waitlist early. I liked it, it's a bit of a slow burn similar to Larson's other books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My book club is reading The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You wake up like every other day and find a box at your door. This box has a string inside. The length determines how long you will live. Some people want to open the box, others don’t want to know their fate. Will society treat the short stringers differently?

Goodreads gave this book 4 stars and I agree.

Read this book last year. Absolutely loved it.

Really enjoyed this book as well.

[Anonymous]

There There by Tommy Orange for book club. I actually like it - non-linear story telling, about native americans living in oakland CA which is my hometown so i'm enjoying that part. I love books about people living on the edge- on a border. And these people are native americans trying to assimilate yet retain their traditions some how. however I would never pick this up w/out book club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Great recap. I really liked that book, too!!

[Anonymous]

What are you reading this month?

The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio

What is it about?

Fun new release about a single British woman in her mid-thirties who comes home one evening to find her "husband" waiting in her flat. But she's single and has never had a husband! Turns out he came from her attic, and when he goes back up to get something, a new husband comes down. Rinse, repeat again and again.

Funny premise with lots of multiverse/alternate lives scenarios, some of which made me laugh out loud. Light read that explores singlehood vs. coupledom, the complexities of who we are and what we want, and all the "what ifs" that go along with that.

What do you think of it?

I'm about 75% through and like it a lot. Nice change from some of the more literary fiction I've been reading without being formulaic or vapid. (It's a little repetitive at the start, but the plot takes off about 25% through and gets more inventive as it goes.)

Why did you pick that particular book to read?

I love light multiverse/light time travel/what if type books and movies. (Sea of Tranquility is an all-time favorite. Also enjoyed What Alice Forgot, This Time Tomorrow, and Wrong Place, Wrong Time. Would love other recommendations for books or movies like this!)

How did you acquire the book?

Borrowed from the library via Libby (audiobook)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inspired by the DCUM Kevin Wilson thread, I just finished (listening to) Nothing to See Here, first of his books that I’ve read. It was entertaining and sometimes funny, but then just… ended abruptly, from my perspective at least. The problem was not so much the plot, which sort of wrapped up, but that the story just seemed to stop in terms of character development or narrative message. Not sure what to think...

I LOVE Kevin Wilson, but NTSE was my least favorite, which is weird because it's his most popular, I think.

I truly love his short stories (even though I'm not usually a short story person) but need to read them one at a time and let them sit before moving on to the next. So much to savor!

And The Family Fang cracked me up over and over. Maybe because I'm close to my brother and our parents were kind of odd?

Also really liked Now Is Not The Time To Panic, though I think it got mixed reviews on this board. I thought it was a well-told coming-of-age story with that special Kevin Wilson flair.

[Anonymous]

Salman Rushdie, Knife