What are you currently reading?

[Anonymous]

I'm reading and listening to Lincoln in the Bardo. I read great things about the Audiobook but found it hard to follow on its own!

I recently finished Hell of a Book. It was well done - very thought provoking.

[Anonymous]

I'm having a great reading week. I just finished No Land to Light On. I'm not normally a fan of writing that can be described as "beautiful" or "lyrical," but this author writes in short sentences/fragments and the flowery language is much more palatable to me that way. It's a very powerful story.

I started reading The Round House by Louise Erdach for book club. I've only read two chapters but I can't wait to read more.

I'm listening to Olga Dies Dreaming. I'll admit it. I never would have picked this one up based on the cover. It's hideous. The cover doesn't match the book at all. I am loving it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished a random book I grabbed at the library - The Pessimists by Bethany Ball. I give it 3.5/5, it had some decent satire and some interesting characters so I found it to be an enjoyable read. There were a few flaws though, but overall I think I'd recommend it. Now I'm re-reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I really like this book (I wanted to check out About a Boy but they didn't have it at the library).

What are you reading and would you recommend it? I kind of wish we had a monthly book club post here on DCUM, I always like seeing threads about books but they can be kind of sporadic.

I picked this up a while ago and just started it again. It feels very moody and maybe because it's set in Connecticut, reminds me of the Ice Storm. 3.5 seems fair!

Thank you for starting this thread OP! I used to read a novel a week and haven't really done so since the second season of the pandemic. Hoping to get back on track.

[Anonymous]

I just came back from the library with two books.

My Policeman - because I'm obsessed with Harry Styles and want to be ready for his movie

Lisa Lutz's latest book. She's the author of the Spellman series, which I highly suggest to everyone with even the tiniest sense of humor.

[Anonymous]

I just finished crying in H Mart. Prior to that, I had just binge watched six seasons of the show “the expanse” and found out it was canceled and that there were three more books. So I went to the bookstore and picked up books 7, 8, and 9 and read those in quick succession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. It is really good!

Me too! I got the recommendation from The Today Show. I’m surprised this is a debut novel. It’s flows so smoothly.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I finished Magpie Murders and enjoyed it a lot more than I though I would! Definitely recommend. I saw that there's a sequel and I'm curious how that would work so I may pick it up this weekend at the library.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven. Loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else read Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny? Apparently she lives in DC! I liked some things about this book and disliked others, wish I had someone to discuss it with! Online fora are usually reviews, I always want to ask people what they thought about plot point X or character Y.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The House in the Cerulean Sea and was disappointed. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as great as I was expecting, based on how enthusiastic my friend who recommended it to me was about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading and listening to Lincoln in the Bardo. I read great things about the Audiobook but found it hard to follow on its own!

I recently finished Hell of a Book. It was well done - very thought provoking.

I love George Saunders’ short stories but could not get through Lincoln, and I tried reading and listening. Based on his other works, I’m sure there are rewards for sticking with it, so I wish you luck.

[Anonymous]

I just read 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard. I don’t have the best luck finishing books since becoming a mom, but I flew through this. Takes place in Dublin at the start of the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven. Loved it.

I just finished this one too, also loved it. I think I appreciated most how it was the first book I've encountered that really grappled with the pandemic and what it might mean for our sense of time & security, without (remotely) being a blow-by-blow account, i.e. pandemic lit. Also very tightly composed - almost too much so - more of a novella than big book, for people who enjoy the former.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else read Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny? Apparently she lives in DC! I liked some things about this book and disliked others, wish I had someone to discuss it with! Online fora are usually reviews, I always want to ask people what they thought about plot point X or character Y.

I read that a long time ago - sort of loved it, sort of didn't understand how all these light observations came together into a full novel. Thought the same about another novel of hers that I read more recently - Early Morning Riser. Like, I read it all - I enjoyed it. And also, it felt like just little vignettes about a pretty boring couple! The weird thing is that I actually even WRITE novels so I shouldn't be so perplexed about how this works, but I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished a random book I grabbed at the library - The Pessimists by Bethany Ball. I give it 3.5/5, it had some decent satire and some interesting characters so I found it to be an enjoyable read. There were a few flaws though, but overall I think I'd recommend it. Now I'm re-reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I really like this book (I wanted to check out About a Boy but they didn't have it at the library).

What are you reading and would you recommend it? I kind of wish we had a monthly book club post here on DCUM, I always like seeing threads about books but they can be kind of sporadic.

Matt Haig's How to Stop Time - Yes - although I think The Midnight Library is better (so far).