What are you reading for January 2024?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Tom Lake. It was just okay.

I agree. Most of my book club loved it, I found it a bit tedious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am reading The North Woods. I am not too far into it yet and am undecided. Some of it is poetic and lovely. Some of it is really funny. But I admit I am not sure whether/how this will sustain a whole book. I just finished Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I enjoyed—short stories set in Rome, with a lovely pace and sense of place.

Ok, finished North Woods and am back to say that it is weird and compelling and excellent. Highly recommend. It is not like anything I have read before but it is fascinating and moving. A good kick off to a year of reading!

[Anonymous]

Such Kindness by Andre Dubus. Good, but had me rolling my eyes a bit at the relentless bad luck plaguing the main character. And if one more woman showed up with wet hair... But overall I was interested in the characters and wanted to finish it. A lot of the same themes as The House of Sand and Fog.

[Anonymous]

Decided to read the Lee Child Jack Reacher Books after enjoying Season One and now Season Two on Amazon Prime.

I don't read too often but I finished one book in six days and already started a second book. Well written. Great stories. Also love how you don't need to read them in order. Each book is its own story with little or no connection to other books.

[Anonymous]

I’ve started Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. I feel seen and not in a good way. I hope I’ll come out the other end with some good ideas for how to break my bad habits that encourage fragmented focus. Although my two toddlers are definitely a contributing factor and nothing but time will change that.

[Anonymous]

So far this year:

The Bee Sting: Tragic. Beautifully written. Could have been shorter. Recommend.
The Center Cannot Hold: It's a memoir and I can't adequately express my admiration for the author and how bravely she narrated her experience with schizophrenia. A very worthy read.
Hello Beautiful: It is a novel about romance and sibling relationships, much like the author's other book that I read, Dear Edward (with Dear Edward, what struck me most was how much more significant the main character's relationship with/ his brother was compared to that of his parents).
Veil of Doubt: Recommend if you are into historical fiction or legal dramas. Not my cup of tea but held my interest during the part that covered a trial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far this year:

The Bee Sting: Tragic. Beautifully written. Could have been shorter. Recommend.
The Center Cannot Hold: It's a memoir and I can't adequately express my admiration for the author and how bravely she narrated her experience with schizophrenia. A very worthy read.
Hello Beautiful: It is a novel about romance and sibling relationships, much like the author's other book that I read, Dear Edward (with Dear Edward, what struck me most was how much more significant the main character's relationship with/ his brother was compared to that of his parents).
Veil of Doubt: Recommend if you are into historical fiction or legal dramas. Not my cup of tea but held my interest during the part that covered a trial.

I hated Hello Beautiful.
Fourth Wing - ugh and Vaster Wilds - yay!

[Anonymous]

Just finished and loved We Must Not Think of Ourselves.

[Anonymous]

I finished how to keep house while drowning and I'm reading Hello Beautiful. I am about 60-65% through and liking that it's a modern day retelling of Little Women. I am waivering between rating it a 3 or 4, and I'll see how it ends, but currently leaning towards rounding up to 4.

I really loved the 1994 Little Women movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11/22/63 -guy time traveling back to save Kennedy.

I LOVED this book so much!

Why

I read it when it came out in 2011 so my memory is hazy, but (1) I love Stephen King in general and (2) I thought it was an interesting take on a historical event. I find his characters to be engaging and deep and his stories grab me from the start and keep me interested. If I have time I'll read this again and try to come up with the specifics as to why I loved this book but I recall everyone I have ever recommended it to loving it as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please recommend a fun read? I am literally reading Sandra brown and I am really liking it bc I just need simple.

Novels I've read or listened to that I would describe as fun:

Oona Out of Order
Pineapple Street (note: a lot of DCUM hated this book)
Nothing to See Here
The Secret Bridesmaid
When We Believed in Mermaids
The Restoration of Celia Fairchild
Project Hail Mary

I didn't love Nora Goes Off Script or Romantic Comedy but I liked them enough and would categorize them as kind of beach reads and I know many others who really liked them. I didn't dislike them, just didn't love them.

[Anonymous]

for fun reads - I agree with Nora goes off script. I also recommend Winter in Paradise series by Elin Hilderbrand at this time of year.

[Anonymous]

Reading "Educated" I don't get the hype, and honestly there are times things are hard to belive like a million different pieces. Can't wait for it to be over.

[Anonymous]

Somewhere I picked up “Dawn” by Octavia Butler and I started reading it on beach vacation. I inhaled it within a couple of days and read the rest of the trilogy.

Holy crap. This morning I woke up thinking about the books.

Yesterday I woke up thinking about the books. I’ll probably wake up thinking about the books for at least another week. Did the main characters have any agency at all? Were the antagonists lying? Could the fate of humanity been avoided? Are humans really so dysfunctional?

[Anonymous]

I am reading Covenant of Water. Really enjoying it — about half way through. It was a bit slow to “take” — the first 50 pages or so were kind of a slog, as I had trouble getting into the writer’s cadence. But once I did it took off.
It is set in India, mostly in Southwest India (so far ) during the early part of the 20th century. Really interesting.