January 2025 - what are you reading?

[Anonymous]

I am working my way through Janice Halley’s mysteries. They remind me of a frothy Agatha Christie for the text age. The audio versions are great if you like teleplay style with multiple voices, acting, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finished Long island, first Colm Toibon book I have ready, it was ok, enjoyed it, middle aged woman finds out about her DH affair and baby on the way, goes back to mother Ireland and reconnects with an ex from long ago.
reading The cliffs now-just started

It is a sequel to his earlier book, Brooklyn.

[Anonymous]

I just finished listening to "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society".
It is set in 1946 on the island of Guernsey, which is halfway between France and England and is a British territory. The book is about how the Germans bombed the island in 1940 and then, seeing as how the island had no defensive forces, the Germans moved in 2 days later and occupied the island for the duration of WW II.
The book was fiction, but I googled and the German occupation of the island really did happen during WW II.

The book got its title because one night during the war, a few friends got together and stayed out after curfew. When the German soldiers caught them walking home after curfew, they said they were coming from book club, and their book club name was the Guernsey literary society. So then the group had to officially start a book club. One man who attended was not very "book-ish" so when the Germans questioned him as to why he was attending a book club meeting, he said they also had food, and since the only food that was plentiful on the island at that time was potatoes, he said they made mashed potatoes, put the mashed potatoes in a pie plate, and then used the potato peels as a lattice for a pie crust.

I got the book from my library. I liked it, and I learned some history along the way.

[Anonymous]

Iris Murdoch - The Severed Head

[Anonymous]

^ I loved that Guernsey book! MY Mum grew up just across the channel.

J just finished “Liars” by Sarah Manguso which was **intense” and I’m reading “The Ministry of Time”…love it so far.

[Anonymous]

I'm on a bad dry streak. Recently DNFed all of the below, though I started out excited for all of them.

There Are Rivers in the Sky: IMHO, too many stereotypes and one note characters. It might have gotten better based on reviews. I could not find a reason to keep reading.

The Ambassador: The mystery at the heart of the plot was silly. There was much musing about the world of "diplomacy" and most of it was trite and self important.

Sky Full of Elephants: It felt like the author has a message, or too many messages, yet I could not discern it/them. Gave up.

I Hope This Finds You Well: Somehow too real and too contrived. It didn't quite work as satire or as lit fic.

Creation Lake: Too many sentences that went on for days and days! 70 pages in and I still didn't know what it was about, nor did I care.

[Anonymous]

Whale Fall
A low key, interesting read. Not plot driven, but the setting and characters provide enough interest.

Colored Television
If you want to hear from someone whose every thought and statement and idea centers on her Mulatto identity (yes, Mulatto), you will love this! The Mulatto thing was blasted at a 15/10 volume, might have been interesting at a 4/10. The bits about the TV industry were interesting. I did not like the ending, but I will not spoil.

The God of The Woods
It was too long but I liked it. I like reading about social class and that was The Theme here.

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby
Great pace, great setting, great characters, okay plot. On balance a very enjoyable read!

[Anonymous]

Emma.

Never read it before. It’s fantastic, so witty, maybe even more so than Pride and Prejudice? (though it’s been a minute since I read that).

[Anonymous]

Just finished "Nine, Ten". Which is a book for middle schoolers about the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The book depicts what four different middle schoolers were doing during the days leading up to that day.
One boy lived in Shanksville Pa. His dad died in a vehicle crash a year earlier. One boy lived in NYC and befriended a firefighter. One girl lived in L.A. and her mom was in NYC for a business meeting. One girl lived in Columbus Ohio and wore a hijab.

I thought the book was very good. I cried.
Got it from Libby.

[Anonymous]

Finally reading The Women, by Kristin Hannah.

I'm a female veteran, and I normally avoid war stories, but I am really enjoying this. I'm almost finished, and just started late Saturday evening.

[Anonymous]

Notes on your sudden disappearance
By Alison Espach

Excellent!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iris Murdoch - The Severed Head

I love her books. Have you read any others? I haven't read The Severed Head yet, but I've read The Bell; The Sea, the Sea; and Under the Net.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Emma.

Never read it before. It’s fantastic, so witty, maybe even more so than Pride and Prejudice? (though it’s been a minute since I read that).

Emma was the first Jane Austen novel I read, back in 12th grade. I love it so much. I usually give the edge to P&P, but they are both five star reads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whale Fall
A low key, interesting read. Not plot driven, but the setting and characters provide enough interest.

Colored Television
If you want to hear from someone whose every thought and statement and idea centers on her Mulatto identity (yes, Mulatto), you will love this! The Mulatto thing was blasted at a 15/10 volume, might have been interesting at a 4/10. The bits about the TV industry were interesting. I did not like the ending, but I will not spoil.

The God of The Woods
It was too long but I liked it. I like reading about social class and that was The Theme here.

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby
Great pace, great setting, great characters, okay plot. On balance a very enjoyable read!

Just finished this today and I totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am working my way through Janice Halley’s mysteries. They remind me of a frothy Agatha Christie for the text age. The audio versions are great if you like teleplay style with multiple voices, acting, etc.

That sounds like something I would enjoy. My TBR list is so long and all my Libby holds seem to come available at the same time but I'll add this to my list.