what are you reading for july?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just started Hello Beautiful.

Just finished All Fours, Help Wanted, and a garbagy but fun Ruth Ware. (I’ve been sick, but fortunately not to sick to read!)

How was All Fours? I just downloaded so am hoping you say good!

I liked it. I love Miranda July’s prose and could really relate to the protagonist’s time of life (raising children, perimenopause, restlessness). There’s some graphic sex that was a bit WTF for me, but I’m kind of a prude.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading City on Fire by Don Winslow and really enjoying it. It's not the usual type of book that I read (beachy, fun love stories....), but I was pulled in very quickly and pleasantly surprised by how much I want to keep reading!

[Anonymous]

the first three are mysteries. I couldn't put ANY of them down and raced to put the toddlers to bed each night so I could finish!

the couple at number 9 - claire douglas
the other mothers - katherine faulkner
the unquiet bones - loreth anne white

the unmaking of june farrow - adrienne young

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Sandwich after seeing it recommended here. LOVED it for the first half, then got kind of bored. I did finish - and have some mixed feelings about the disclosures that come.

I am thinking of reading Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen next because it looks really fun. Unless folks have something else to hook me instead!

Counterfeit was very fun! It was kind of uneven (very smart in some places, a little trite in a few), overall great and fun and very worthwhile!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Sandwich after seeing it recommended here. LOVED it for the first half, then got kind of bored. I did finish - and have some mixed feelings about the disclosures that come.

I am thinking of reading Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen next because it looks really fun. Unless folks have something else to hook me instead!

Counterfeit was very fun! It was kind of uneven (very smart in some places, a little trite in a few), overall great and fun and very worthwhile!

+1 on Counterfeit. Fun is the right word to describe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the first three are mysteries. I couldn't put ANY of them down and raced to put the toddlers to bed each night so I could finish!

the couple at number 9 - claire douglas
the other mothers - katherine faulkner
the unquiet bones - loreth anne white

the unmaking of june farrow - adrienne young

When you're done, I'd love to know what you think of her choice at the end!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the first three are mysteries. I couldn't put ANY of them down and raced to put the toddlers to bed each night so I could finish!

the couple at number 9 - claire douglas
the other mothers - katherine faulkner
the unquiet bones - loreth anne white

the unmaking of june farrow - adrienne young

When you're done, I'd love to know what you think of her choice at the end!

I was so surprised by it, but I absolutely loved it. I think it was such a beautiful book! definitely did not see anything coming and every chapter was a surprise to me. what about you?

[Anonymous]

I checked out Remarkably Bright Creatures (Lucky Day shelf) and A Woman is No Man, today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished reading "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen. Published in 2007.
It is about a bunch of female family members who live in an old house with a magical garden. They cast spells on people by mixing certain herbs and flowers into recipes.
I thought it was fun. There is a sequel, which I may check out in the future.
I picked the book up at a thrift shop and have had it on my bookshelf for a while.

This is OP and that sounds delightful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just started Hello Beautiful.

Just finished All Fours, Help Wanted, and a garbagy but fun Ruth Ware. (I’ve been sick, but fortunately not to sick to read!)

What did you think of All Fours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Sandwich after seeing it recommended here. LOVED it for the first half, then got kind of bored. I did finish - and have some mixed feelings about the disclosures that come.

I am thinking of reading Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen next because it looks really fun. Unless folks have something else to hook me instead!

Counterfeit was very fun! It was kind of uneven (very smart in some places, a little trite in a few), overall great and fun and very worthwhile!

+1 on Counterfeit. Fun is the right word to describe it.

This is OP and I started it last night, and it just immediately grabbed me. I'm so glad to hear that you both enjoyed it. I think this is exactly what my tired and stressed brain needs right now.

[Anonymous]

I didn't post in the June thread, so I'm sharing my recent reads.

Victim by Andrew Boryga
Terrible. A one-note plot that's explained in full on the dust jacket. No insight, one dimensional everything (characters, plot, message).

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
This came up in a search for "available now." I had never heard of the author though she seems to have a small following. What a lucky find! The writing was fantastic, beautiful sentences throughout. That more than anything kept me reading early on, but the complex characters and vividly drawn setting (medieval Italian convent) also held my attention. The plot is gentle, a few twists and some suspense, but this is mostly a character driven book. This is the ultimate Bechdel Rule book- it's all about the interior lives of women without the usual fluff about dating or "having it all". I will read more from this author.

Get the Picture by Bianca Bosker
Disappointing. I liked her first book about wine, but this one was muddled and didn't deliver on its promises. She spends a lot of time railing against the pretension and exclusivity of the art world, which seems like tilting at windmills.

My Murder
A light quick read. Entertaining enough. I guessed the plot twist, but it still felt like a decent payoff.

Listen for the Lie
if you want a novel with commentary on true crime and the cultural phenomenon of women victims, My Murder is better. The romantic subplot in this one was tedious (will they or won't they? of course they will). The protagonist narrator has a strong, sarcastic voice that I loved on the first page, then it became grating very fast. Will probably DNF.

Such a Bad Influence
Will DNF. Trite observations about influencer culture grafted on to a thin plot. This would have been fascinating if it gave a peek in to how the influencer market works, but it's clearly written from the outside.

Fat Leonard
I've followed this case since it first broke, so I'm in the target audience for this book. Yet so far I can't get into it. The author's tone is moralistic and condemning of all involved. It would be more interesting to learn about them as complex people, not just "bad guys."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listened to a podcast the other day about a woman in 1990 who claimed she got AIDS from her dentist and basically the CDC and NIH researched it and the claim was credible though nobody to this day knows how he infected her. Anyway, that made me interested in the AIDS crisis broadly so I’m reading And the Band Played On right now. Also bought Solario which is a memoir of a man who emigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador at age 9.

And the band played on is a classic.

I had no idea that the story was controversial (that she got aids from her dentist) but looking into it after reading your post, I learn that she had lied about her sexual history and had developed aids symptoms in a statistically very unlikely time frame. Fascinating! I guess we will never know.

[Anonymous]

All the Colors of the Dark - can’t put it down so far.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been slowly making my way through The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.