What are you reading for July?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a quarter of the way into Romantic Comedy, by Curtis Sittenfeld. Different than her other books - lighter and less cynical, IMHO. I'm definitely enjoying it so far.

is it funny?

NP - I wouldn't say it's laugh out loud but she's always got a wit to her writing. This one def does read like a meet cute romance, with some literary groundings. I found the epistolary section really tedious and mostly skimmed it - didn't quite buy the resolution, but still enjoyed the book. Tore through it in like two days.

Thanks for responding. I cannot abide epistolary narratives either, so I think I'll give it a miss.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Mill on the Floss, which I didn't really enjoy. Very dull for the first half and although it got better the second half, it just didn't really work for me.

Now I'm reading Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Mill on the Floss, which I didn't really enjoy. Very dull for the first half and although it got better the second half, it just didn't really work for me.

Now I'm reading Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri.

I had to force my way through Mill on the Floss, driven only by my loyalty to Middlemarch.

[Anonymous]

Reading My Murder right now. I'm not sure where it's going but I can't stop thinking about it.

Just finished Shrines of Gaiety, which I enjoyed.

[Anonymous]

Does everyone already know what they're reading for the month ahead? I kind of flow with what comes in for me at the library ... maybe that's just me!

Some that I really enjoyed since the last thread:

- Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez - I think this may be my favorite of hers. Romcom between two doctors with fake dating.

- Yellowface by RF Kuang - I'll be thinking of this one for a long time. About a woman author who steals a manuscript from her another frenemy. Satire/insight into various aspects of the publishing industry.

- Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano - a woman has a big life change and moves to a small beach town--the unique thing is that it isn't an idealized place, the story feels like a very realistic take on the politics of a small town, and plus it's very funny.

* The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel - highly recommend this one, it's a kind of revenge based comedy of manners with a school secretary who wants to get revenge on two other women but their lives end up intersecting in this really lovely way.

[Anonymous]

Based on another thread I tried The Nine Tailors, a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery by Dorothy Sayers. While I enjoyed it ok, it did seem to have unreasonably high expectations for my level of engagement with the details of English church bell culture and also English drainage systems. I last read a Peter Wimsey book about 20 years ago and there too my recollection is that it wasn’t bad, but didn’t give me that Agatha Christie level of satisfaction when the puzzle pieces came into place. It could be that I don’t really like mysteries; I just like Agatha Christie’s very particular version of mysteries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I re-read the US Constitution every year. Should be required reading.

I know this is going to sound absurd, but I carry a copy of it with me at all times. It's small, fits easily into my purse. It was given to me by a VIP when I started working years ago, after she gave a speech to all of us new lawyers about our sacred duty to uphold the rule of law. I took it seriously. And have kept that little reminder with me ever since. It's come in handy a few times when someone who didn't know anything about the Constitution started rambling on about it and getting things wrong, lol.

NP. So on these few occasions, did you take out this copy and start reading from it?

[Anonymous]

I’ve read The Girls by Emma Cline (felt very meh about it but finished it)
The Guardians by John Grisham (a good quick beach read while keeping an eye on kids)
Am now reading Homegoing which has been on my list for a while. It is probably the best book so far that I’ve read in 10 years. So engrossing but so devastating as well. I’ll do another John Grisham after this one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone already know what they're reading for the month ahead? I kind of flow with what comes in for me at the library ... maybe that's just me!

Some that I really enjoyed since the last thread:

- Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez - I think this may be my favorite of hers. Romcom between two doctors with fake dating.

- Yellowface by RF Kuang - I'll be thinking of this one for a long time. About a woman author who steals a manuscript from her another frenemy. Satire/insight into various aspects of the publishing industry.

- Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano - a woman has a big life change and moves to a small beach town--the unique thing is that it isn't an idealized place, the story feels like a very realistic take on the politics of a small town, and plus it's very funny.

* The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel - highly recommend this one, it's a kind of revenge based comedy of manners with a school secretary who wants to get revenge on two other women but their lives end up intersecting in this really lovely way.

I also liked Part of Your World. Do you recommend Yellowface?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read The Girls by Emma Cline (felt very meh about it but finished it)
The Guardians by John Grisham (a good quick beach read while keeping an eye on kids)
Am now reading Homegoing which has been on my list for a while. It is probably the best book so far that I’ve read in 10 years. So engrossing but so devastating as well. I’ll do another John Grisham after this one!

I also really liked Homegoing

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I recently got off the hold list for Fourth Wing, and I'm going to start it today! I just finished Carrie Soto is Back yesterday, and liked it (but I posted about this in the June thread).

I picked Fourth Wing because it seems very popular in a FB book group I am in, and my sister and her friend read it and both liked it.

Glad you liked Carrie Soto, I had heard mixed reviews. What is the fb book group you’re a part of?

FWIW - I like Carrie Soto, Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo all pretty equally - & more than I liked Malibu Rising.
Peloton Moms Book Club - I love that group. You can join even if you're not a mom or have a peloton, I believe.

Me again - sorry to keep posting, but I wanted to add that I am glad I read Malibu Rising, because Carrie Soto is a character in it. Also - Carrie Soto is Back is a lot of tennis, more tennis than I was expecting. I don't play tennis but as a general matter, I like sports and books about sports. It was a good beach read - I read it while in Hilton Head this past week.

That sounds like a great vacation! I liked Open by Andre Agassi a lot, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (fiction), and Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (also fiction) if you’re looking for other sports books.

Thank you! I loved art of fielding so I’ll have to check out your other two recommendations! My other two recs for you would be boys in the boat and born to run (both non fiction) if you haven’t read either!

I loved Art of Fielding, too. Also highly recommend We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry. It's fiction - about a girl's field hockey team at a high school in Salem, MA. Quirky and really, really good. (For anyone who's read it, just thinking about The Claw cracks me up even now, a few years after reading the book!)

I finished Hello Beautiful from Ann N. and that had basketball references weaved in for another sports fiction book plus family saga

For the poster who likes books that are sports-adjacent, the Beartown series by Fredrick Blackman are really good..strong mix of complicated people with hockey/sports stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone already know what they're reading for the month ahead? I kind of flow with what comes in for me at the library ... maybe that's just me!

Some that I really enjoyed since the last thread:

- Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez - I think this may be my favorite of hers. Romcom between two doctors with fake dating.

- Yellowface by RF Kuang - I'll be thinking of this one for a long time. About a woman author who steals a manuscript from her another frenemy. Satire/insight into various aspects of the publishing industry.

- Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano - a woman has a big life change and moves to a small beach town--the unique thing is that it isn't an idealized place, the story feels like a very realistic take on the politics of a small town, and plus it's very funny.

* The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel - highly recommend this one, it's a kind of revenge based comedy of manners with a school secretary who wants to get revenge on two other women but their lives end up intersecting in this really lovely way.

I just post what I’m reading in that moment and may come back and add another book later in the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently got off the hold list for Fourth Wing, and I'm going to start it today! I just finished Carrie Soto is Back yesterday, and liked it (but I posted about this in the June thread).

I picked Fourth Wing because it seems very popular in a FB book group I am in, and my sister and her friend read it and both liked it.

Glad you liked Carrie Soto, I had heard mixed reviews. What is the fb book group you’re a part of?

FWIW - I like Carrie Soto, Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo all pretty equally - & more than I liked Malibu Rising.
Peloton Moms Book Club - I love that group. You can join even if you're not a mom or have a peloton, I believe.

Me again - sorry to keep posting, but I wanted to add that I am glad I read Malibu Rising, because Carrie Soto is a character in it. Also - Carrie Soto is Back is a lot of tennis, more tennis than I was expecting. I don't play tennis but as a general matter, I like sports and books about sports. It was a good beach read - I read it while in Hilton Head this past week.

That sounds like a great vacation! I liked Open by Andre Agassi a lot, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (fiction), and Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (also fiction) if you’re looking for other sports books.

Thank you! I loved art of fielding so I’ll have to check out your other two recommendations! My other two recs for you would be boys in the boat and born to run (both non fiction) if you haven’t read either!

I loved Art of Fielding, too. Also highly recommend We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry. It's fiction - about a girl's field hockey team at a high school in Salem, MA. Quirky and really, really good. (For anyone who's read it, just thinking about The Claw cracks me up even now, a few years after reading the book!)

I finished Hello Beautiful from Ann N. and that had basketball references weaved in for another sports fiction book plus family saga

For the poster who likes books that are sports-adjacent, the Beartown series by Fredrick Blackman are really good..strong mix of complicated people with hockey/sports stuff.

Thanks! I should read those. I’ve only read A man called ove by him.

[Anonymous]

I finished Demon Copperhead and The Paris Apartment last month, am currently reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I have A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - son was supposed to read it for Freshman English. I also have The Overstory if I'm up to it. Or I may save that for "Back to School" in Sept.

[Anonymous]

I LOVED Homegoing and Yellowface