What are you reading for January 2024?

[Anonymous]

I'm finally reading Killers of the Flower Moon. Gripping writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tom Lake is apparently better as an audio book read by Meryl Streep.

I did it on audiobook. Her voice is great but it’s still boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the House on the Cerulean Sea. Really enjoyed it.

Up next: Unsheltered.

I read Unsheltered a few years ago. I live in a fixer-upper house and found the book very relatable.

[Anonymous]

The Fortunes of Jaded Women, by Carolyn Huynh. So far, so good! It's funny, engaging, and an easy read. The author uses a lot of Vietnamese words and phrases, but it's done in such a way that you can easily understand what she's getting at from context (I don't know a word of Vietnamese).

One of my pet peeves is authors using non-English words and phrases just for the heck of it. Non-speakers of the language should be able to infer what you're trying to say; a reader shouldn't have to break out Google Translate to figure it out. Huynh does a good job with it and the added Vietnamese makes you feel like you're really sitting in on a conversation between the characters.

[Anonymous]

I’m rereading Sarah J Maas’s series before the release of her new book at the end of the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the House on the Cerulean Sea. Really enjoyed it.

Up next: Unsheltered.

Really excited for Cerulean Sea! I’m like ninth on the waitlist…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trying to get through as much of How To Survjve a Plague (AIDS mémoire/nonfiction) before the library yoinks it back. Really good but wasn’t exactly Christmas fair.

I was able to renew and finish it this week! Really good (although really long — the audio book is 24 and a half hours) and very interesting for me to learn more about that era. Also a little disconcerting to think how much of it overlapped with my life; I remember the “you can’t get AIDS from shaking hands” lectures in my rural elementary school although I had no notion of the experience adults were living in big cities at the time and for the decades previous.

The author based this book on a documentary film he made of the same name and also has a documentary film on Covid so I’m going to see if I can find those at the library too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to get through as much of How To Survjve a Plague (AIDS mémoire/nonfiction) before the library yoinks it back. Really good but wasn’t exactly Christmas fair.

I was able to renew and finish it this week! Really good (although really long — the audio book is 24 and a half hours) and very interesting for me to learn more about that era. Also a little disconcerting to think how much of it overlapped with my life; I remember the “you can’t get AIDS from shaking hands” lectures in my rural elementary school although I had no notion of the experience adults were living in big cities at the time and for the decades previous.

The author based this book on a documentary film he made of the same name and also has a documentary film on Covid so I’m going to see if I can find those at the library too.

If you want a corresponding fiction book about the AIDS crisis, read The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. It's so good.

[Anonymous]

My mom passed along Go as a River over Christmas, so far it is great https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63922274-go-as-a-river

[Anonymous]

Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes

I've only read a few chapters but I am already enjoying it. Two very different 40-something year-old women become intertwined in each other's lives due to a mix up in gym bags.

So far it is a fun read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finished Middlesex. I didn't really enjoy the beginning, but the middle to end was pretty good. The first half was OK, I kept reading it, but found myself skimming certain parts, it felt overstated or something. I think I would have liked it more if I had known half the book was backstory. I'll probably read it again.

Read Yellowface. It was a quick read for me and I enjoyed it well enough to not regret spending my Saturday on it 😅

Reading In 5 Years by Rebecca Serle. Finding it endearing, like the cliches are comforting.

I read Middlesex like 20 years ago (in college). I remember being a little horrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Last Applicant. I don’t love intense psychological thrillers so this was good for me. A little bit contrived but a solid 4.5/5

I loved the beginning of the book and then thought it went completely off the rails and couldn't finish it quickly enough. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Anonymous]

I just started Barbra Streisand's autobiography and I'm reading Next Level about nutrition and exercise in middle age.

[Anonymous]

I read "The Sweeney Sisters."
It's about three sisters who find out shortly after their father dies that there is a fourth sister.
I liked it. Well, actually it took me a while to get into it because the book took a lot of time explaining who all the characters were. Once all that was sorted and we got seriously into the story, then I enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just started The Bee Sting
Just finished Chip War (nonfiction) and The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg (3rd in a series)

Reading the Bee Sting now. What happened to the punctuation? 😭