What are you reading? November edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m finishing up Weyward for book club, and working through audio David Copperfield in parallel (print Demon Copperhead to follow).

Weyward is an easy read, but I’m finding the characters a bit flat compared to larger than life Dickens and Gabaldon (finished Voyager most recently…Claire has her issues, but she’s sharp, good company, and never dull). James is my next print book, excited to pick it up.

I found Weyward really disappointing. She has a new book coming out and I’m not sure I’ll read it.

(Cover art is gorgeous for both though!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried to read Sea of Tranquility since I liked Station Eleven (didn’t love, was disappointed by the conclusion). But I DNFed it. It was too navel gazing to me. All the stuff about the pandemic in the moon just sounded like her working out her feelings of being stuck home during Covid with a young kid and it made me roll my eyes.

It doesn’t get better. It’s basically an unfinished manuscript or leftover pieces from The Glass Hotel. My theory is that no one is editing her anymore, which happens to a lot of great and popular authors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading Michael Connelly books, Detective Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer series. Some of the better written crime fictions.

Check out the Renee Ballard ones as well. They start with her as a sidekick of Bosch but now she's a main character.

[Anonymous]

Finally getting to The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel. It's been sitting on my nightstand in a stack for about two years. Read the first two in the trilogy and loved them, so I don't know why it took me so long to remember I had this one. I skipped over it for lighter reading during the summer. Somehow some books just feel like colder weather reading to me if that makes sense to anyone else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finally getting to The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel. It's been sitting on my nightstand in a stack for about two years. Read the first two in the trilogy and loved them, so I don't know why it took me so long to remember I had this one. I skipped over it for lighter reading during the summer. Somehow some books just feel like colder weather reading to me if that makes sense to anyone else

Love that trilogy. And agree about “cold weather” reading!

[Anonymous]

Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

Aren’t dinosaurs reptiles?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

Aren’t dinosaurs reptiles?

They are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

Aren’t dinosaurs reptiles?

They are not.

They are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

Aren’t dinosaurs reptiles?

They are not.

They are.

This is a fun rabbit hole. It depends on whether you agree with cladistics (you cannot evolve your way out of a common ancestry, thus birds are reptiles) or linnean classification (birds are warm blooded, thus can’t be reptiles). But birds are definitely evolved from dinosaurs.

[Anonymous]

Updating my October list as these were finished in November:

I am working on Water for Elephants (yes, I'm late to the party on this one). Finished this one and although there were parts I disliked, overall I enjoyed it and would recommend if you like historical fiction with narrator alternating between himself at a young age and old age.

Next up or simultaneously because one is non fiction and because WFE might not hold my attention:

From Here to the Great Unknown, memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
I am going to listen to the audiobook narrated by Keough and Julia Roberts which according to Goodreads is fantastic.
Highly recommend this one if you have any interest in the Presley family

The Grey Wolf, Book 19 in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
Penny continues her overuse of sentence fragments, but these are less noticeable when listening to the audiobook versus reading the paper copy or e-book. The audiobook narrator is new on this book and is not as good as the first two for this series. This book also continues the recent trend of Gamache books where the danger is widespread versus focused in Three Pines. It's a bit convoluted and ends with a set up for book 20. I'm a fan of Penny and do recommend her books - and go see her in person if you ever have a chance to see her speak - and sometimes I want a series to go on forever, but maybe there comes a time when it's better to end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Very informative but easy nonfiction reading, quite interesting. Did you know birds are the descendants of dinosaurs? Yeah not reptiles. Birds.

Aren’t dinosaurs reptiles?

They are not.

They are.

This is a fun rabbit hole. It depends on whether you agree with cladistics (you cannot evolve your way out of a common ancestry, thus birds are reptiles) or linnean classification (birds are warm blooded, thus can’t be reptiles). But birds are definitely evolved from dinosaurs.

We weren’t talking about whether birds are reptiles. We were talking about dinosaurs, which are classified as reptiles.

[Anonymous]

Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
- especially great if you happen to live in NY in the late 90s/early 2000s

You've Got Mail for a new generation, set in the days of AOL and instant messenger banter, about a freshly engaged editorial assistant who winds up spending her "summer Fridays" with the person she least expects

Summer 1999: Twentysomething Sawyer is striving to make it in New York. Between her assistant job in publishing, her secret dreams of becoming a writer, and her upcoming wedding to her college boyfriend, her is plate full. Only one problem: She is facing an incredibly lonely summer as her fiancé has been spending longer and longer hours at work . . . with an all-too-close female colleague, Kendra.

When Kendra's boyfriend, Nick, invites Sawyer to meet up and compare notes about their suspicions, the meeting goes awry. She finds Nick cocky and cynical, and he finds her stuck in her own head. But then Nick seeks out Sawyer online to apologize, and a friendship develops.

Soon, Sawyer's lonely summer takes an unexpected turn. She and Nick begin an unofficial ritual—exploring New York City together every summer Friday. From hot dogs on the Staten Island Ferry and Sea Breezes in a muggy East Village bar to swimming at Coney Island, Sawyer feels seen by Nick in a way that surprises her. He pushes her to be braver. To ask for what she wants. Meanwhile, Sawyer draws Nick out of his hard shell, revealing a surprisingly vulnerable side. They both begin living for their Friday afternoons together.

But what happens when the summer is over?

Summer Fridays is a witty and emotional love letter to New York City that also captures the feeling of being young and starting out, uncertain what to do on your summer Friday. It’s also perfect for readers who remember when “going online” meant tying up the phone line, and the timeless thrill of seeing a certain someone’s name in your inbox.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
- especially great if you happen to live in NY in the late 90s/early 2000s

You've Got Mail for a new generation, set in the days of AOL and instant messenger banter, about a freshly engaged editorial assistant who winds up spending her "summer Fridays" with the person she least expects

Summer 1999: Twentysomething Sawyer is striving to make it in New York. Between her assistant job in publishing, her secret dreams of becoming a writer, and her upcoming wedding to her college boyfriend, her is plate full. Only one problem: She is facing an incredibly lonely summer as her fiancé has been spending longer and longer hours at work . . . with an all-too-close female colleague, Kendra.

When Kendra's boyfriend, Nick, invites Sawyer to meet up and compare notes about their suspicions, the meeting goes awry. She finds Nick cocky and cynical, and he finds her stuck in her own head. But then Nick seeks out Sawyer online to apologize, and a friendship develops.

Soon, Sawyer's lonely summer takes an unexpected turn. She and Nick begin an unofficial ritual—exploring New York City together every summer Friday. From hot dogs on the Staten Island Ferry and Sea Breezes in a muggy East Village bar to swimming at Coney Island, Sawyer feels seen by Nick in a way that surprises her. He pushes her to be braver. To ask for what she wants. Meanwhile, Sawyer draws Nick out of his hard shell, revealing a surprisingly vulnerable side. They both begin living for their Friday afternoons together.

But what happens when the summer is over?

Summer Fridays is a witty and emotional love letter to New York City that also captures the feeling of being young and starting out, uncertain what to do on your summer Friday. It’s also perfect for readers who remember when “going online” meant tying up the phone line, and the timeless thrill of seeing a certain someone’s name in your inbox.

That sounds incredibly fun. I did live in NYC in the lat 90s/early 2000s and will download this one immediately.

I'm reading God of the Woods now. Just a little into it - enjoying it so far.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren.

It's a fun, mindless beach novel, with a bit of steam. Perfect to get lost into this week.