February 2025 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I'm reading to The North Woods by Daniel Mason, a booker finalist for other works. It's the story of a cabin/house in rural western Mass and the stories of the inhabitants over 300 years. Really wonderful, especially since I grew up in a similar house in Vermont.

The North Woods was a DNF for me.

I did finish it, but barely. I could not get into it. The ending was preposterous.. like reading a different genre.

Some of the “stories” were interesting but yeah the ending was rushed (not that I wanted it to continue any longer) - and fell flat.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm reading Onyx Storm. I'm surprised not to see it mentioned here as it's on all the best seller lists, but I suppose not everyone wants to own up to it.

So far it's just okay. Not nearly as good as Fourth Wing, but I have a lot to go.

I'm still waiting my turn on the library hold list My sister DNF it though, so I decided to just wait it out instead of buying.

I just finished it! I thought it was good. Not as good as the first book, but still good in the way that you care enough about the characters to read it instead of paying attention to the world. It ends on a bit of a cliff hanger though, which is annoying with an unfinished series!

[Anonymous]

Meet me by the lake Carley Fortune, probably my favorite new romance writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne, the actor and son of Dominick Dunne, the famous writer who chronicled infamous crimes for Vanity Fair. It's really great--juicy Hollywood stories, family tragedies, life-long friendships. It's really good--and I'm generally not a memoir reader.

I loved it too and didn't know anything about him aside from "oh that's Uncle Nicky from This is Us!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading to The North Woods by Daniel Mason, a booker finalist for other works. It's the story of a cabin/house in rural western Mass and the stories of the inhabitants over 300 years. Really wonderful, especially since I grew up in a similar house in Vermont.

Unlike the PPs who disliked it, I think North Woods is a masterful, magical book. I liked it a lot on the first read and loved it on the second. The creativity in this novel is just unmatched and so clever. It's packed with quiet, subtle gems. It's like Daniel Mason trusted his readers to be intelligent, thoughtful readers instead of spelling everything out and hitting us over the head.

Love the underlying diss to the previous PPs lol

yup, basically you have to have a superior IQ to like a book...uhhm..ok

It's not about having a superior IQ. The magic in North Woods is in the Easter eggs, the through lines between all the vignettes that are often only connected by a single line or cursory reference. I said I read it twice; I myself missed half of the special moments on first read. I think you have to be in a certain reading mood to appreciate North Woods. If you're in the mood for something plot or character-driven that is more straight-forward entertainment, it's not going to be the book for you at that moment. Not to say it's not entertaining, it's a very funny book.

What's the point of book discussion if we can't say more than "I liked" or "I didn't like" a book?

I’m in the camp of loving North Woods, but I agree that you probably have to be in the right frame of mind or maybe just the right place in your life to “feel” it rather than appreciate it on a purely intellectual level. I will probably get jumped all over, but I never “got” Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I was glad other people found it so engaging and brilliant, but I wasn’t in the right place to see that for myself.

Totally agree about Dr. Strange. I feel like I should have enjoyed that more.

Considering North Woods next but I might go easier, I am recovering from surgery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just started Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino. She also writes "Behind Every Good Man" but I've been on the waitlist at the library for that forever - "The novel is a historical fiction political rom-com set in Montgomery County in the 1960s". She is a former MCPS teacher! https://bethesdamagazine.com/2024/08/01/mcps-high-school-teacher-to-publish-fourth-novel/

I finally got Behind Every Man. The two main characters in these books are cousins. But Behind Every Man takes place in Montgomery County, with constant referrals to MoCo staples, like Montgomery Donuts, Woodmont country club, congressional plaza, Rockville Pike, NIH. The main characters in both books are firecrackers. Both fun and easy reads, I am forever a fan of Sara Confino!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m about 1/3 into “Here One Moment”, the newest Liane Moriarty. I got it after a 4 month wait at the library and so far I’m sorry to say it hasn’t been worth the wait. I’d really enjoyed What Alice Forgot and Big Little Lies but her recent stuff hasn’t impressed me much.

It gets much better in the second half.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading to The North Woods by Daniel Mason, a booker finalist for other works. It's the story of a cabin/house in rural western Mass and the stories of the inhabitants over 300 years. Really wonderful, especially since I grew up in a similar house in Vermont.

I think the North Woods is the type of book you’d like if you liked Lincoln in the Bardo. Similar vibes…

Unlike the PPs who disliked it, I think North Woods is a masterful, magical book. I liked it a lot on the first read and loved it on the second. The creativity in this novel is just unmatched and so clever. It's packed with quiet, subtle gems. It's like Daniel Mason trusted his readers to be intelligent, thoughtful readers instead of spelling everything out and hitting us over the head.

Love the underlying diss to the previous PPs lol

yup, basically you have to have a superior IQ to like a book...uhhm..ok

It's not about having a superior IQ. The magic in North Woods is in the Easter eggs, the through lines between all the vignettes that are often only connected by a single line or cursory reference. I said I read it twice; I myself missed half of the special moments on first read. I think you have to be in a certain reading mood to appreciate North Woods. If you're in the mood for something plot or character-driven that is more straight-forward entertainment, it's not going to be the book for you at that moment. Not to say it's not entertaining, it's a very funny book.

What's the point of book discussion if we can't say more than "I liked" or "I didn't like" a book?

[Anonymous]

Small Things LIke These Claire Keegan. Incredibly well and vividly written.

just started The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Hard to put down, I'm about 170 pages into the 470 or so pages.

Read All the Beauty in the World in January and spent a Sunday at the Met two weeks ago. Simply amazing.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone read the new Anne Tyler yet?

Three Days in June — about a socially awkward mother of the bride apparently.

I have it on hold at the library and excited to read it . I find her books to be soothing and comforting. I’m glad she is still writing at age 83!

[Anonymous]

Just finished Midnight in Chernobyl, by Adam Higginbotham. It's a gripping read that must have been exhausting to research. I have his newest book, Challenger, queued up next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Midnight in Chernobyl, by Adam Higginbotham. It's a gripping read that must have been exhausting to research. I have his newest book, Challenger, queued up next.

So good, PP! Loved that book so much I read it a second time, which I rarely do for nonfiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Midnight in Chernobyl, by Adam Higginbotham. It's a gripping read that must have been exhausting to research. I have his newest book, Challenger, queued up next.

So good, PP! Loved that book so much I read it a second time, which I rarely do for nonfiction.

DP. I read Challenger and it was really good!

[Anonymous]

I really disliked North Woods. I should have DNF but kept going thinking surely it would get good based on all the rave reviews. It was tedious, then unsatisfying, and just gave me the ick (the ick may have been to do with the audiobook narrators, not sure).

[Anonymous]

Just finished Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker. It was a pretty captivating story about a crunchy granola/soft parenting blogger and her attempts to leave behind a very traumatic, abusive childhood.

Started God of the Woods today.