August 2025 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Just finished Heartwood by Amity Gage. Easy to read and suspenseful.

Just started Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict. Very interesting topic. I don't love Benedict's approach to historical fiction (too much like taking a history book and weaving in dialogue), but it is very readable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm at my dad's beach house where, for the past two summers, I have tried to read "My Brilliant Friend" and could not get past the first 50 pages. I am giving it another go this summer, and . . . meh. I think I'm the only person who doesn't love this book. Is it something that gets better and is worth plowing through? I don't like the narrator's "voice," and I'm wondering if that's a translation thing.

I couldn’t get into it either. And it checked every box for me otherwise.

I've started it 3 times, tried the audiobook, tried to watch the series and could not get into it at all.

[Anonymous]

I'm finally reading My Brilliant Friend. It has been on my to read list for a while, and I did want to read a book on the NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century so I finally made myself read it. It's translated from Italian about friends growing up in Italy - I'm about halfway through and I like it so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm at my dad's beach house where, for the past two summers, I have tried to read "My Brilliant Friend" and could not get past the first 50 pages. I am giving it another go this summer, and . . . meh. I think I'm the only person who doesn't love this book. Is it something that gets better and is worth plowing through? I don't like the narrator's "voice," and I'm wondering if that's a translation thing.

Oh so funny -I just posted that I am reading this. I had trouble getting into it in prior tries but finally made myself do it. I think it does get better - just keep going and then we can talk about it here when we are both done

[Anonymous]

Royal Gambit by Daniel O'Malley. A delightful and hilarious supernatural adventure featuring a lady-in-waiting who must keep the court safe from murder, from the author of The Rook . Forever grateful to the DCUMer who recommended the Rook

[Anonymous]

Listening to the audiobook of Mean Moms, which is by the author of Bad Summer People. I liked that book as trashy fun but this one is even better.

[Anonymous]

I read The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine. It is a fun, dark thriller about an editor staying with a famous chef who may or may not have murdered her husband. Also good for foodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm at my dad's beach house where, for the past two summers, I have tried to read "My Brilliant Friend" and could not get past the first 50 pages. I am giving it another go this summer, and . . . meh. I think I'm the only person who doesn't love this book. Is it something that gets better and is worth plowing through? I don't like the narrator's "voice," and I'm wondering if that's a translation thing.

I got into the series by listening to the audiobook while painting my kitchen during covid. If you still can’t get into the books, the HBO series is pretty spectacular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On vacation last week, I read:

Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country, 2 novellas by Emily Tesh. Very well written, easy to read, and rather delightful. I'm looking forward to her new book. Fantasy/fairytale based on the Green Man myth

The Second Life of Mirielle West. Interesting topic, pedestrian writing. In 1920s, fictional wife of famous Hollywood actor is diagnosed with leprosy and sent to the US's only leper colony in Louisiana.

I Have Some Questions for You. A page turner, but ultimately kind of forgettable. New England boarding school alum looks back on a classmate's murder and wonders if the right man is in jail

Forgot to say what they are about, so added in bold above.

I have some questions for you was the first book I successfully read in paper in years! I loved it but I’m a sucker for prep schools. It was a good mystery and commentary on cancel culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think of it?

I have started on a cozy mystery series about a caterer in Colorado. The first book came out in 1990 and the last one came out in 2013. There are 17 books total in the series.

So far all I have finished is the first book, which is called Catering to Nobody.
In the first book, Gertrude "Goldy" Bear is catering an event and someone ends up poisoned. Therefore her business is shut down, therefore she has no income, therefore she tries to figure out how the person got poisoned.

I read about five books in this series many years ago. Back when you had to physically go to the library to check out paper copies of books. I enjoyed them back then and have always wanted to read all the books in the series. So here I am. I am about 3/4 of the way through the second book in the series.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane OP. I read many from this series years ago and loved them.

Another cozy mystery series I enjoyed back then was by Rita Mae Brown, the Mrs Murphy series. The adventures of a post mistress in Albemarle county who solves mysteries with the help of her pets.

Rita Mae Brown also wrote the “Sister” Jane series , another cozy series this time about the Virginia Hunt Country.

Loved them all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think of it?

I have started on a cozy mystery series about a caterer in Colorado. The first book came out in 1990 and the last one came out in 2013. There are 17 books total in the series.

So far all I have finished is the first book, which is called Catering to Nobody.
In the first book, Gertrude "Goldy" Bear is catering an event and someone ends up poisoned. Therefore her business is shut down, therefore she has no income, therefore she tries to figure out how the person got poisoned.

I read about five books in this series many years ago. Back when you had to physically go to the library to check out paper copies of books. I enjoyed them back then and have always wanted to read all the books in the series. So here I am. I am about 3/4 of the way through the second book in the series.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane OP. I read many from this series years ago and loved them.

Another cozy mystery series I enjoyed back then was by Rita Mae Brown, the Mrs Murphy series. The adventures of a post mistress in Albemarle county who solves mysteries with the help of her pets.

Rita Mae Brown also wrote the “Sister” Jane series , another cozy series this time about the Virginia Hunt Country.

Loved them all!

Oh thanks so much for those suggestions. I think I would love the series about the postmistress! I have heard of that author and will definitely look up what all she has written.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listening to the audiobook of Mean Moms, which is by the author of Bad Summer People. I liked that book as trashy fun but this one is even better.

Agreed. Like Bad Summer People, Mean Moms is over the top, almost campy. But fun.

I recommended Greenwich earlier in this thread. I just finished Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (author of the Gifted School which I think a lot of DCUMs have read.) Both books center around the fallout from violent/tragic events and I personally found them somewhat stressful reads. (Greenwich in particular does endless foreshadowing.) For me, Greenwich was a more compelling plot; Culpability does a nice job with themes around AI and tech billionaires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listening to the audiobook of Mean Moms, which is by the author of Bad Summer People. I liked that book as trashy fun but this one is even better.

Agreed. Like Bad Summer People, Mean Moms is over the top, almost campy. But fun.

I recommended Greenwich earlier in this thread. I just finished Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (author of the Gifted School which I think a lot of DCUMs have read.) Both books center around the fallout from violent/tragic events and I personally found them somewhat stressful reads. (Greenwich in particular does endless foreshadowing.) For me, Greenwich was a more compelling plot; Culpability does a nice job with themes around AI and tech billionaires.

Who wrote Greenwich and sorry, is it fiction or non?

[Anonymous]

^^ don't worry I just found it on Amazon.
I grew up in Greenwich Ct and this book doesn't appeal!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ don't worry I just found it on Amazon.
I grew up in Greenwich Ct and this book doesn't appeal!

DP, I have no idea which Greenwich, but Greenwich Park is a good pulpy mystery.