What are you reading for September?

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Five Star weekend. Really liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Finished Tom Lake this week, it was good. I am from a farming family and got nostalgic and guilt about not carrying on my family farm, though.

I grew up and bought a new farm 3 states away, and have sworn not to make my kids feel an obligation to keep it going. We are going to sell it when we retire and travel the world for months at a time, then get a small place near our grown kids.

I honestly cried a few times from the guilt. Our family farm has been with us for 4 generations but I can’t make a living there. I love it so much, but there is no future in it.

Meh. Books forum. Take the farm story to therapy.

I have not read the book Tom Lake but I assume it is about a farm. I enjoyed your heartfelt share about how your personal life experiences relate to the book. Thank you for sharing your perspective PP.

[Anonymous]

I just finished listening to "Back in the Burbs" by Avery Flynn and Tracy Wolff.
It is about a woman trying to rebuild her life after her husband did her wrong. I enjoyed it. It kept me engaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Zadie Smith, new James Ellroy, new Knausgaard.

Please tell us about the new Zadie Smith when you’re done! I have never been able to get into her work, but this new book has me very intrigued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Finished Tom Lake this week, it was good. I am from a farming family and got nostalgic and guilt about not carrying on my family farm, though.

I grew up and bought a new farm 3 states away, and have sworn not to make my kids feel an obligation to keep it going. We are going to sell it when we retire and travel the world for months at a time, then get a small place near our grown kids.

I honestly cried a few times from the guilt. Our family farm has been with us for 4 generations but I can’t make a living there. I love it so much, but there is no future in it.

Meh. Books forum. Take the farm story to therapy.

I have not read the book Tom Lake but I assume it is about a farm. I enjoyed your heartfelt share about how your personal life experiences relate to the book. Thank you for sharing your perspective PP.

Same! This is what literature is about!

[Anonymous]

FOr my mind: Northanger Abby
For my husband: The Maiden C. Aron
For my kids: The House in the Cerulean Sea

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Zadie Smith, new James Ellroy, new Knausgaard.

Please tell us about the new Zadie Smith when you’re done! I have never been able to get into her work, but this new book has me very intrigued.

Same. She's like overcooked spinach; it's good for me but I just can't do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm back in the office so I'm reading a lot more data science driven content. Honestly if this club talked about journal articles I would love to talk about those but I think I would be an audience of one. But that's what I'm reading right now. I'm finding that I'm "the" expert on a certain subject at work so I just stay up to date on it.

At work I read biomedical journals so sure, we can have a journal club where we teach each other about new fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Zadie Smith, new James Ellroy, new Knausgaard.

Please tell us about the new Zadie Smith when you’re done! I have never been able to get into her work, but this new book has me very intrigued.

Not that PP but me neither. She seems really clever and funny and interesting in interviews and articles but I cannot read her writing. I think it's partly because I don't need to read a re-write of an existing classic, and the other stuff just doesn't interest me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FOr my mind: Northanger Abby
For my husband: The Maiden C. Aron
For my kids: The House in the Cerulean Sea

I just read a review of this and wanted to pick it up! Let us know what you think and what ages it’s appropriate for (I have a three year old but two tween nieces…)

Also it’s an unpopular opinion but Northanger Abbey is my favorite Austin because it seems to be the most self-consciously written (all the mocking of women reading gothic novels!) and I found that really lets you in on the joke.

[Anonymous]

The Change

Halfway through and really digging it!

[Anonymous]

I just read Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang. Eh. It was fine. I decided to read it after reading The Plot last month as it is a similar story of plagiarism, though The Plot does not have the racial dynamic; I wanted to compare and contrast. It probably suffered from that as the two books hit many of the same narrative beats. In between I read Trust, by Herman Diaz, not realizing that it too is a story about who owns a narrative. Trust was definitely the most ambitious of the three, and I liked it the most, but it is an odd book in that it makes a fairly deliberate narrative choice to be less interesting for the first full half. So, it took a while to pay off for sure.

[Anonymous]

Currently reading Birnam Wood -- was expecting more based on the reviews.
Just finished The Lost City of the Monkey God -- absolutely loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finished Tom Lake this week, it was good. I am from a farming family and got nostalgic and guilt about not carrying on my family farm, though.

I grew up and bought a new farm 3 states away, and have sworn not to make my kids feel an obligation to keep it going. We are going to sell it when we retire and travel the world for months at a time, then get a small place near our grown kids.

I honestly cried a few times from the guilt. Our family farm has been with us for 4 generations but I can’t make a living there. I love it so much, but there is no future in it.

I just looked up Tom Lake and while it’s not the kind of thing in usually read your review made me think it might resonate with me after all. I’m going to put it on hold at the library.

(And I’m sure your parents and all the four generations back want you happy and secure and would be delighted that you’re still farming even if it isn’t on the same land.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Change

Halfway through and really digging it!

I really enjoyed that book, too!

Pick up Killers of a Certain Age after that one