Favorite book you've read this year?

[Anonymous]

The Names by Florence Knapp or The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb.
I'm sorry, but I hated Atmosphere. I really wanted to like it. I couldn't even finish it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For fans of The Wedding People -- note: spoilers ahea

I'm the PP who picked this as my runner-up book of the year. I really liked Phoebe, plus I'm a sucker for the New England coastal wedding trope. But I'm still not sure I buy into the idea that she was just drifting through life aimlessly, living a life "contained", and that this led her to seriously consider suicide. Yes, of course, she hit a horrible trifecta of infertility, the pandemic, and Matt's infidelity, but there just seemed to be a disconnect between who she was before all that happened and who she was when we first encounter her checking into the Cornwall. Espach wants us to see Phoebe as someone who becomes aware of her needs and her power to take action to try to meet those needs. But does she? I mean, she decides to stay in RI and responds to the ad about being a winter keeper. But at a pivotal moment she doesn't reach out to Gary until it's almost too late. What am I missing?

I didn't feel she should have reached out sooner - he just broke off a marriage/wedding. If anything - recognizing that is more mature than reaching out sooner IMO.

[Anonymous]

The Measure by Nikki Erlich. It was a book club pick and I didn’t have great expectations when I started it, but it was an amazing read. How would we live if we knew when we would die? It made for interesting book club discussion.

[Anonymous]

Stone Yard Devotional—Charlotte Wood
A book where so little happens, yet I stayed up late reading it and finished it in 2 days. Beautiful, engrossing, and thought provoking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Balkan and Levant Trilogies by Olivia Manning

Written in the 1960s-80s by a British author who lived and fled from Romania, Greece, and Egypt during WWII with her husband who was a professor. Autobiographical, but fiction. Starts kind of slow, but her writing changes and (in my opinion) improves throughout the six books which create one long story arc. A memorable reading experience.

Read long ago but so memorable.

[Anonymous]

Flashlight by Susan Choi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll see your Demon Copperhead and raise you a David Copperfield read side by side. A. maze. ing. cultural experience that is available to all!

im doing this right now- even though I don't find David copper field as funny as little dorrit so far.

[Anonymous]

Lion women of Tehran.

[Anonymous]

Best book I read this year is fanfiction: All the Young Dudes

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10057010/chapters/22409387?view_adult=true

[Anonymous]

Long Island Compromise
Mothers and Sons
Show Don’t Tell (short stories)

[Anonymous]

I loved Dream State.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t had the best reading year looking at my list, but my favorite might be Long Island Compromise. I found the characters very real and propelling though it was stressful to read since they all made such bad choices. I also liked State of Wonder by Ann Patchett a lot but did not like the end so well.

[Anonymous]

I loved Grief is for People, Sloan Crosley.

[Anonymous]

oooh Long Island Compromise was a good read!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:oooh Long Island Compromise was a good read!

DNF for me.