what are you reading for july?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker & I am dying to talk about why people rated this book almost 5 stars on Goodreads! I don’t get it & at almost 600 pages, I think it could have been so much shorter. I was really into it in the beginning & then just had to finish it out of spite.

But I loved the book One’s Company & highly recommend it!! Especially if you watched Three’s Company growing up!

I do see a lot of hype around Colors of the Dark. 600 pages is very long, that better rival how good Demon Copperhead is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m about 120 pages in and And the Band Played On is SO good. I’m 39 and fascinated with learning about historical events that happened in my lifetime but that I was too young to really understand at the time and which occurred too recently to ever be taught to me in school. Things like the AIDS crisis, Reagan presidency generally, OJ Simpson trial, Clinton-Lewinsky affair, Oklahoma City Bombing, etc. They’re all things I know of because I was alive but since I was a kid I just didn’t get them fully . Seeing how truly mishandled the AIDS crisis was and the scientists’ bafflement at what they were seeing and putting it all together is mind blowing.

[Anonymous]

i start reading this book

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker & I am dying to talk about why people rated this book almost 5 stars on Goodreads! I don’t get it & at almost 600 pages, I think it could have been so much shorter. I was really into it in the beginning & then just had to finish it out of spite.

But I loved the book One’s Company & highly recommend it!! Especially if you watched Three’s Company growing up!

I do see a lot of hype around Colors of the Dark. 600 pages is very long, that better rival how good Demon Copperhead is.

Low bar, then.
Demon Copperhead is an awful book.

[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.

Thanks for the recommendation, I am flying today and just downloaded the audiobook.

[Anonymous]

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

This is my book club book for the summer. Having a hard time picking it up. What do you think so far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just picked up a copy of “The Housemaid Is Watching” by Freida McFadden the other day + am enjoying reading 📖 it immensely.

I have read her previous Housemaid novels & really liked them both.

I was introduced to this fantastic author’s work from a previous book club.

Her books can be a little cheesy to read - but her writing style is easy to read and I am a sucker for a good, suspense / thriller novel!

+1
If you are a thriller aficionado then these books are a great read!

[Anonymous]

I always have four books going at any one time. One in each category:

Hail Mary (audiobook fiction): Based on a suggestion I think here. While it isn't the best book I have ever read, it is absolutely the best audiobook I have ever read. I'm about 9/10 finished and I am really struggling not to start it up right now...

Outlive (audiobook nonfiction): Peter Attia's book on health and longevity. It is really interesting, though that dude is VERY intense.

Happy Place (fiction): Cute and light. Not really engrossing, but a nice thing to pick up and relax into for a spell.

Walkable Cities (nonfiction): Lots going on near me locally about zoning/development and generally how the built environment affects how people live. I really like it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m about 120 pages in and And the Band Played On is SO good. I’m 39 and fascinated with learning about historical events that happened in my lifetime but that I was too young to really understand at the time and which occurred too recently to ever be taught to me in school. Things like the AIDS crisis, Reagan presidency generally, OJ Simpson trial, Clinton-Lewinsky affair, Oklahoma City Bombing, etc. They’re all things I know of because I was alive but since I was a kid I just didn’t get them fully . Seeing how truly mishandled the AIDS crisis was and the scientists’ bafflement at what they were seeing and putting it all together is mind blowing.

What are you reading to become educated on these topics? Not a book, but I’d recommend Slow Burn Season 2 for Clinton-Lewinsky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the beach, I read couple of detective mysteries written by MC Beaton.. on recommendation from DCUM. A cozy British Murder Mystery Series; one is about a police constable, Hamish MacBeth and another about a middle age busy body named, Agatha Raisin. I thoroughly enjoyed both.

Both series are excellent for beach reading (or for wherever you wants something light but well written). The same author wrote historical romance novels under various names, notably Marion Chesney (her actual name) and Charlotte Ward, but I didn’t find them quite as entertaining.

[Anonymous]

Finished a Gentleman in Moscow, took me longer than usual to get through it but it was worth it. Beautifully written.
Started Recursion by Blake Crouch (work book club) and am not into it, so put it down about 30% of the way through.
Now on Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan -- just started it, so can't give an opinion yet.

At the end of June I finished Headshot, a super short/easy read about a bracketed boxing competition for teenage female boxers. It was eccentric and refreshing because it was so different. Recommend!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m about 120 pages in and And the Band Played On is SO good. I’m 39 and fascinated with learning about historical events that happened in my lifetime but that I was too young to really understand at the time and which occurred too recently to ever be taught to me in school. Things like the AIDS crisis, Reagan presidency generally, OJ Simpson trial, Clinton-Lewinsky affair, Oklahoma City Bombing, etc. They’re all things I know of because I was alive but since I was a kid I just didn’t get them fully . Seeing how truly mishandled the AIDS crisis was and the scientists’ bafflement at what they were seeing and putting it all together is mind blowing.

What are you reading to become educated on these topics? Not a book, but I’d recommend Slow Burn Season 2 for Clinton-Lewinsky.

Currently listening to American Scandal season 33 about Clinton - Lewinsky. I was 12-13 when this broke so I understood the part where it was an affair with an intern but this is helping me see how Jennifer flowers and Linda Tripp fit into it and things like that that as a kid just didn’t really register. I may or may not read the Andrew Morton book about it when I’m done, depends if I’m still interested.

Last summer I read The 90s by Chuck Klosterman and had a similar response when he wrote about the OJ Simpson Bronco chase and said OJ wasn’t the one driving the Bronco. Mind blowing! I was 8 when that happened and I do remember the Bronco chase but I had always thought OJ was driving .

[Anonymous]

I'm reading Five Broken Blades by Mai Cortland. It's fantasy. Very fast paced and engaging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading Five Broken Blades by Mai Cortland. It's fantasy. Very fast paced and engaging.

I meant Mai Corland.

[Anonymous]

I just finished The Ministry of Time, about a government agency in London that has stumbled into time travel technology. It is also a romance. Funny, interesting, maybe a little confusing in some of its plotting (or maybe I read too much of it late at night as I was falling asleep) but I recommend it.