July 2025 -- What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Spark of the Everflame series. With everything going on in fed world, I've thrown myself into immersing books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far, I’ve read The Doorman and Murder in the Dollhouse, which is about the Jennifer Doulas murder. Next book is These Summer Storms.

Please report back on These Summer Storms! It’s up next for me too!

NP but just finished it and LOVED it. I think it's among her best.

[Anonymous]

Another thumbs up for These Summer Storms! It was a pretty light read, but had a good plot that kept me turning pages.

I've been in bed with covid for a bit, so I've gotten a lot of reading done:

Broken Country: not my favorite. It just wasn't compelling.

The Girls who Grew Big: about a group of pregnant teens in Florida. Excellent.

Parents Weekend: about a group of college kids who disappear at the start of parents' weekend and the FBI agent working on their case. This one was fine. A decent summer read, especially if you love mysteries.

Right now I am reading Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild. It's about a young family involved in a tragedy. I'm about halfway through it, but I love it. Warning that it is very emotional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fleishman Is in Trouble

Are you enjoying it? I expected to hate this book but ended up really enjoying it.

DP. I enjoyed it as well.

NP. I started off reading disliking it but was (pleasantly) surprised by how trippy and strange it had become by the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Pachinko about Koreans in Japan up to, during, and after WWII. I know many love it but it really fell flat for me.

I am flabbergasted. It’s a top 10 book of all time for me.

I thought the start was very, very promising. But some of the turns it took were just unrealistic for something purporting to shine light on the Korean experience in Japan. And I found the later chapters/final third flat. I'm glad you found it so wonderful, though! Different strokes and all that.

DP, but I felt the same way about Pachinko. The first third was beautifully written and compelling and I got myself lost in Sunja’s story. Then the narrative shifted gears to the future generations, and I started losing interest. An uneven read overall.

ITA. The first third of the book was great, the second okay, and by the last third, well, despite getting so far, I did not even ultimately finish.

[Anonymous]

I was looking for a diverting, not-too-heavy read this month, and the first two books of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson really fit the bill well. Admittedly, this is pretty solidly in fantasy/sci-fi territory, so I'm not sure how broad the appeal. That said, it was very well-plotted and I liked that he steers the narrative well in that sweet spot between being too dark or gory and "adult" on the one hand versus too simple and YA on the other. Good escapist read.

[Anonymous]

I just started Hail Mary by Andy Weir because I needed something intriguing and seat-edgy. It says on the cover that Ryan Gosling will star in the movie version so I already have him in my head as a character visual — not a bad thing, though. All I know so far is an alien lifeforce may be consuming output from the sun and this means humans on Earth are looking at possible extinction.

[Anonymous]

I am reading an ARC of Ian McEwan’s new book “What We Can Know,” which plays with time and perspective. It mainly takes place 100 years from now.

He described it as “science fiction without science” which describes some of my favorite books recently— like “In Ascension” and “Klara and the Sun.” I’m not far into it so don’t have a strong opinion yet.

[Anonymous]

The Storyteller, Dave Grohl’s memoire. I’m really enjoying it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am listening to "The Wedding People" but I don't know if I will be able to finish it before my Libby library time runs out.

A couple weeks ago I decided to get in line on the Libby website for my library for this book, since many on here have mentioned that they enjoyed it. Libby said I was number 168 in line to be able to access the book and it would be a 14 week wait. Then, 4 days ago Libby said I could skip to the front of the line right away, but only if I keep the book for one week only. Of course I downloaded it, but I am pretty busy this week and I am almost resenting this 12 hour long book just because it feels like yet another obligation on my list of things that need to get done.

So far I have listened to about 2 hours of it. I am at the part where they are waiting for room service to bring them some dental floss.

The book is about a woman who checks into a hotel and finds that she is the only guest at the hotel who is not part of a wedding party.

Skip it and finish another time. It's the kind of book you can listen to leisurely - no complicated plot, limited characters, and not heavy.

[Anonymous]

I'm in my first book club and reading "The Midnight Library". It's terrible. I also usually read nonfiction so I think there is a huge adjustment perhaps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my first book club and reading "The Midnight Library". It's terrible. I also usually read nonfiction so I think there is a huge adjustment perhaps?

A lot of people are lukewarm about that author. It's not just you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Storyteller, Dave Grohl’s memoire. I’m really enjoying it.

It was some years ago that I read it, but Grace Jones's memoir "I'll Never Write My Memoirs" (which is a lyric from one of her songs) is fairly enjoyable. The chronology gets a bit weird because Grace claims not to experience time linearly, but that's just part of her charm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far, I’ve read The Doorman and Murder in the Dollhouse, which is about the Jennifer Doulas murder. Next book is These Summer Storms.

Please report back on These Summer Storms! It’s up next for me too!

I'm almost finished with These Summer Storms and I will be so sad when it's over. It's so good! And before that one, I read the Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan. It's thematically similar to These Summer Storms, but it was just a coincedence that I read them back to back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Storyteller, Dave Grohl’s memoire. I’m really enjoying it.

This was really great on audio.