March 2025 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Orbital and omg I love it so much.

Still making my way through Moby Dick. Slow going because for every paragraph I read straight through there are 4-5 that I need to restart — a problem of my own attention span, not the book. The book is brilliant. FYI I will likely still be posting Melville in May, but by god I am going to finish! (Moby Dick, the book, has become my white whale lol).

Inspiring that you are still making it through despite it being a (attention-related) slog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The Voyage Home" by Pat Barker. It's the last in her Trojan War trilogy and came out a few months ago.

I still think "The Silence of the Girls," the first book concerning Briseis and the start of the war, is the strongest in the trilogy.

Would you recommend the trojan war trilogy? Any new or unique takes from the same old story?

I could write an essay on this, haha! It depends on what you're read and enjoyed. There's a glut of Greek retellings from female perspectives right now, but I think Pat Barker is one of the stronger writers in this genre. She was listed for the Booker prize for "Silence of the Girls," which can stand alone as a book. The trilogy follow more minor female Iliad characters.

Madeline Miller's "Song of Achilles" and "Circe" are both extremely popular, and they're solid novels. "Circe" is kind of a fun perspective that is not entirely focused on the Trojan War. Natalie Haynes is also pretty prevalent in this genre and has written "A Thousand Ships" (pretty good) as well as individual novels about Medusa (pretty strong), Medea (haven't read), and Jocasta (eh). Jennifer Saint also writes individual novels about Greek women, like "Elektra," "Ariadne," and "Atalanta." I don't feel strongly about any of those novels; they were entertaining but perhaps not groundbreaking in their perspective anymore. I enjoyed "Clytemnestra" by Costanza Casati.

Colm Toibon wrote "House of Names" as a retelling of the Oresteia (so immediately post-Trojan War). "Ithaca" by Claire North is about what was going on while Odysseus was away, and it is also the start of a trilogy. I quite liked it, though it's fairly dense comparatively.

Ok so finally, I want to put in a plug for "Bright Air Black," by David Vann. It's an utterly bizarre, surreal novel about Medea and Jason and the Argonauts (so, well before the Trojan War). It does not take a contemporary perspective, and in fact makes clear how alien the Greeks' thinking and behavior would be to us.

Thank you for all this, sincerely. I did immediately think of Circe which I agree was fun and clever but not all that. In fact I heard it lauded so much I looked it up because I had forgotten I had already read (and forgotten) it. Will check all of these out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The Voyage Home" by Pat Barker. It's the last in her Trojan War trilogy and came out a few months ago.

I still think "The Silence of the Girls," the first book concerning Briseis and the start of the war, is the strongest in the trilogy.

Would you recommend the trojan war trilogy? Any new or unique takes from the same old story?

I could write an essay on this, haha! It depends on what you're read and enjoyed. There's a glut of Greek retellings from female perspectives right now, but I think Pat Barker is one of the stronger writers in this genre. She was listed for the Booker prize for "Silence of the Girls," which can stand alone as a book. The trilogy follow more minor female Iliad characters.

Madeline Miller's "Song of Achilles" and "Circe" are both extremely popular, and they're solid novels. "Circe" is kind of a fun perspective that is not entirely focused on the Trojan War. Natalie Haynes is also pretty prevalent in this genre and has written "A Thousand Ships" (pretty good) as well as individual novels about Medusa (pretty strong), Medea (haven't read), and Jocasta (eh). Jennifer Saint also writes individual novels about Greek women, like "Elektra," "Ariadne," and "Atalanta." I don't feel strongly about any of those novels; they were entertaining but perhaps not groundbreaking in their perspective anymore. I enjoyed "Clytemnestra" by Costanza Casati.

Colm Toibon wrote "House of Names" as a retelling of the Oresteia (so immediately post-Trojan War). "Ithaca" by Claire North is about what was going on while Odysseus was away, and it is also the start of a trilogy. I quite liked it, though it's fairly dense comparatively.

Ok so finally, I want to put in a plug for "Bright Air Black," by David Vann. It's an utterly bizarre, surreal novel about Medea and Jason and the Argonauts (so, well before the Trojan War). It does not take a contemporary perspective, and in fact makes clear how alien the Greeks' thinking and behavior would be to us.

Thank you for all this, sincerely. I did immediately think of Circe which I agree was fun and clever but not all that. In fact I heard it lauded so much I looked it up because I had forgotten I had already read (and forgotten) it. Will check all of these out.

Of course, and if you have any suggestions, please give them! I swear I don’t only read Greek retellings but I do check out a couple every year (which really adds up)! I’m always looking for new ones.

Oh dear, and I just remembered two slightly older ones by preeminent authors— “Lavinia” by Ursula K Le Guin and “The Penelopiad” by Margaret Atwood. Lavinia is odd; it’s a riff on the Aeneid and almost a novella-length conversation between Virgil and his character, Lavinia. The Penelopiad was probably kind of groundbreaking when it was published but it now it is very similar in plot/themes/tone to the half dozen feminist retellings that come out every year. (Not that this is a bad thing but just know that it’s another “myth from the perspective of a female character who has not gotten her due, with lots of humor/satire,” which you may have read many times before.)

[Anonymous]

Long Island Compromise. So far all I can say is it’s long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long Island Compromise. So far all I can say is it’s long.

I feel like I am the only person in the world who didn't like Fleischman - I couldn't get myself to read another loooong book about miserable rich people

I'm reading The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl and really liking it. It feels so different from the books that are coming out now - and it's set in the 80s - so I thought it was old, but it just came out a couple of years ago. It's about a repressed young woman whose difficult mother leaves her a small inheritance with the order that she must use the money to go to Paris. And her finding herself while she's there - starting from when she blows all the money on a dress that leads her into a different life. I'm about halfway through it. It's slow and precious, and I like it a lot.

Read Divorce Towers before that - it's a rom com/mystery/whatever that I got from Amazon First Reads. It wasn't objectively good but I still enjoyed reading it. Fast, fun read.

[Anonymous]

The library book by Susan Orlean. .fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long Island Compromise. So far all I can say is it’s long.

I feel like I am the only person in the world who didn't like Fleischman - I couldn't get myself to read another loooong book about miserable rich people

I'm reading The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl and really liking it. It feels so different from the books that are coming out now - and it's set in the 80s - so I thought it was old, but it just came out a couple of years ago. It's about a repressed young woman whose difficult mother leaves her a small inheritance with the order that she must use the money to go to Paris. And her finding herself while she's there - starting from when she blows all the money on a dress that leads her into a different life. I'm about halfway through it. It's slow and precious, and I like it a lot.

Read Divorce Towers before that - it's a rom com/mystery/whatever that I got from Amazon First Reads. It wasn't objectively good but I still enjoyed reading it. Fast, fun read.

I listened to Fleischman and liked it more than I thought. That said, I suspect the wife’s story arc was supposed to make me feel seen and I was supposed to feel a lot of empathy. I didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long Island Compromise. So far all I can say is it’s long.

I feel like I am the only person in the world who didn't like Fleischman - I couldn't get myself to read another loooong book about miserable rich people

I'm reading The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl and really liking it. It feels so different from the books that are coming out now - and it's set in the 80s - so I thought it was old, but it just came out a couple of years ago. It's about a repressed young woman whose difficult mother leaves her a small inheritance with the order that she must use the money to go to Paris. And her finding herself while she's there - starting from when she blows all the money on a dress that leads her into a different life. I'm about halfway through it. It's slow and precious, and I like it a lot.

Read Divorce Towers before that - it's a rom com/mystery/whatever that I got from Amazon First Reads. It wasn't objectively good but I still enjoyed reading it. Fast, fun read.

I didn't like it. I did like the screen adaption, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Orbital and omg I love it so much.

Still making my way through Moby Dick. Slow going because for every paragraph I read straight through there are 4-5 that I need to restart — a problem of my own attention span, not the book. The book is brilliant. FYI I will likely still be posting Melville in May, but by god I am going to finish! (Moby Dick, the book, has become my white whale lol).

Hi book twin! I read Orbital last November and loved it…her descriptive language is so beautiful!!

I am also currently reading Moby Dick…where are you? And have you tried audio to supplement? I found it helpful for some of the more didactic chapters (Cetology), but did need to go back and read the chapters that were written more like a play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above…I’m having an unexpectedly nautically heavy year, and am reading/listening to Moby Dick. I had no idea how many modern phrases have their root in sailing jargon.

I’m also starting Mexican Gothic (book club).

And just finished A Room of One’s Own (Woolf), which remains relevant regarding the arts, and some views of women. I read this and the short story the Yellow Wallpaper after reading All Fours.

A very interesting companion to Moby Dick is "Dayswork" by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above…I’m having an unexpectedly nautically heavy year, and am reading/listening to Moby Dick. I had no idea how many modern phrases have their root in sailing jargon.

I’m also starting Mexican Gothic (book club).

And just finished A Room of One’s Own (Woolf), which remains relevant regarding the arts, and some views of women. I read this and the short story the Yellow Wallpaper after reading All Fours.

A very interesting companion to Moby Dick is "Dayswork" by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel!

Another good one is Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts. The idea is that Ishmael fathered a daughter in Nantucket, and the novel takes off telling the stories of all of the descendants that come from this initial pairing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above…I’m having an unexpectedly nautically heavy year, and am reading/listening to Moby Dick. I had no idea how many modern phrases have their root in sailing jargon.

I’m also starting Mexican Gothic (book club).

And just finished A Room of One’s Own (Woolf), which remains relevant regarding the arts, and some views of women. I read this and the short story the Yellow Wallpaper after reading All Fours.

A very interesting companion to Moby Dick is "Dayswork" by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel!

Another good one is Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts. The idea is that Ishmael fathered a daughter in Nantucket, and the novel takes off telling the stories of all of the descendants that come from this initial pairing.

"Ahab's Wife" by Sena Jeter Naslund is wonderful. It tells the story of Una and her eventful and interesting life, of which Ahab was only a small part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The library book by Susan Orlean. .fascinating.

Loved The Library Book!! She's my kind of non-fiction writer; I generally love that style of starting with an isolated question or event, and then following all its elements backwards and outwards. I learned a lot about women's role in the education workforce.

For anyone who struggles with non-fiction (I do) I'd add most of Mary Roach's books to my list of readable nonfiction recs. Grunt might have been my favorite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Orbital and omg I love it so much.

Still making my way through Moby Dick. Slow going because for every paragraph I read straight through there are 4-5 that I need to restart — a problem of my own attention span, not the book. The book is brilliant. FYI I will likely still be posting Melville in May, but by god I am going to finish! (Moby Dick, the book, has become my white whale lol).

Hi book twin! I read Orbital last November and loved it…her descriptive language is so beautiful!!

I am also currently reading Moby Dick…where are you? And have you tried audio to supplement? I found it helpful for some of the more didactic chapters (Cetology), but did need to go back and read the chapters that were written more like a play.

A writer friend of mine told me to listen to it. I did all one summer as it slowly unfurled commuting to and from work. I enjoyed it. I think it works in audio because it's a yarn with the voice of a storyteller telling the tale (except the info parts about whales). Try it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The library book by Susan Orlean. .fascinating.

Loved The Library Book!! She's my kind of non-fiction writer; I generally love that style of starting with an isolated question or event, and then following all its elements backwards and outwards. I learned a lot about women's role in the education workforce.

For anyone who struggles with non-fiction (I do) I'd add most of Mary Roach's books to my list of readable nonfiction recs. Grunt might have been my favorite.

I enjoyed the Orchid Thief and her book on Rin Tin Tin too.