June 2026 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I also feel slumped. Book club chose Nina Totenberg's bio "Dinners with Ruth" and I am not excited...

please change my mind!

Had zero interest in this. But, read it when I spotted it a lil free library. It was surprisingly good. It’s not really as advertised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just on vacation and got a lot of reading in:
1) The Compound - 3* (dystopian satire of Love Island type show)
2) The Women- 3.5* (interesting historically but silly writing)
3) Calamity Club- 4* (one note characters but definitely kept me turning pages)
4) Buckeye- 4.5* (1930s-1970s family saga)
5) Good People- 4.5* (multi perspective crime / cultural novel about Afghan American family- this was my fave)

Currently reading Heart the Lover (Lily King) but having a hard time getting into it.

Planning on buying London Falling for DH for father's day- then I will read it after him.

Just started listening to Buckeye based on the good reviews even though it's 16 hours - I usually only listen to books 10 hours or less (at 1.25x). Glad to see another high rating!

I liked Heart the Lover. It reminded me a bit of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Group by Christie Tate. It's a memoir about her experience in multiple intensive weekly groups led by the same unconventional therapist and how the groups help her as she moves toward relationships with true intimacy. Thumbs up.

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markowitz - road trip novel that starts with a father dropping off his daughter at college and keeps driving west instead of returning home. It was ok. The Road to Tender Hearts was a road trip novel I enjoyed more.

The Librarian Spy follows two women, an American library in Portugal and a woman in France working with the resistance, during WWII. I liked the librarian/Lisbon perspective on the war and enjoyed both plots (yes, there is a connection).

All That Life Can Afford - you'll cringe when you see the choices this recent graduate female makes in this coming-of-age/Gatsby type novel but it was a decent read.

If anyone likes historical romance (light on the historical), I'm enjoying the Palace of Rogue series by Julie Anne Long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just started reading Freida McFadden’s latest book 📖 called “The Divorce.”

I recently discovered this great author and have to admit that I have a very strong addiction to her novels.

So far I am engrossed in this story.
I cannot say what it is about since anything I say would be a spoiler since the first chapter weaves the initial story for the reader.

I just finished it and enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz. Originally published under the pen name Leigh Nichols in 1981.

This was a quick thriller about a mother haunted by the loss of her son in a Boy Scout adventure in the high Sierras.

Reason I read it— the plot involves secret biological warfare with a man made virus called Wuhan 400. Had to read it for myself and found it in a used book store. Fun summer reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little halfway through Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. It's about an 81 year old woman with a dark past. I initially wasn't intrigued based off of the synopsis, but I can't put this one down.

Love this book. I figured out part of the end, but not the entire resolution. It was clever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little halfway through Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. It's about an 81 year old woman with a dark past. I initially wasn't intrigued based off of the synopsis, but I can't put this one down.

Love this book. I figured out part of the end, but not the entire resolution. It was clever.

PP poster here. Just finished it last night, and I definitely did not figure that out. Loved it though.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Power of the Dog (the Don Winslow book, not Thomas Savage).

It was a fantastic glimpse into the 80's-90's border/drug trade. Now I'm starting book two, The Cartel.

[Anonymous]

I am reading "The Thief" - Book 1 of the Queen's Thief series (6 books in total) by Megan Whalen Turner. It is YA Fantasy. The protagonist is a professional thief named Gen. The king sends him on a mission with his advisor and a couple of other folks to retrieve a valuable object. It is good so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Five by Ilona Bannister. I’m sure I saw it recommended on this forum, because that’s where I get many of my book recommendations these days.

We meet five people, one of whom we know is going to die in an accident in a British railway station. The novel keeps you guessing as to which character is going to die. Since all of the characters are flawed in some (or many) ways, it also makes you think about which of them would be the least of a “loss” for humanity if they are the one who dies. (And it makes you question your own humanity for even thinking in such a manner.) If you’re like me, the more you learn about them, the more you may change your opinion.

It’s not very long, and it’s not challenging to read, but it is challenging in other ways.

This sounds interesting, thank you!

[Anonymous]

I have been striking out some lately. I just finished Normal People by Sally Rooney and was really disappointed by the end. It’s kind of a romance that you can tell will have some darkness and heavy topics to it which I was ok with but the ending was just rushed and trite an and also upsetting. I haven’t been that let down by an ending in a long time.

I also read Abby Jimenez’s latest, the night we first met, which is definitely a rom com about how a mistaken first impression of the male main character but I didn’t enjoy it as much as her earlier books, I think the tension was just too entirely self inflicted. Or maybe I’m cranky lately.

I did read and like the Night Circus, which was a bit of a departure for me since I rarely read anything with mystical/magical themes but it was very interesting and nicely done. The night circus is what it sounds like, a circus only open at night and it’s a very self contained world in a lot of ways. There is a little love story which I wasn’t actually expecting but it’s nicely done. I found the main female character very likable, which helps.

Not sure what I will read next.

[Anonymous]

I just started getting into Sally Hepworth, whose books I found by looking up authors to check out if you like Liane Moriarty. So far I've read The Soulmate and The Mother-in-Law. They follow a particular formula and I won't pretend they're amazing prose, but they held my attention and I enjoyed the reveals and the pieces coming together at the end. Going to go to the library and get other ones.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Land, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel, and I was blown away. It is the story of an Irish family in the late 1800s. The father is a mapmaker. The family has hard times throughout the book, but it's not a hopeless story. And it she ties the family story into a connection with the land they live on beautifully.
I've read and loved many of her books, but this one felt like the one she was meant to write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A bit of an older book, but I’m starting Malibu Rising ahead of a vacation I take this weekend. I won’t have much opportunity to read beforehand, but I like to be invested beforehand.

“Set in California in August 1983, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows four famous siblings—Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit Riva. Over the course of 24 chaotic hours, their epic annual end-of-summer party spins completely out of control. The night brings long-held secrets to light and culminates in a devastating fire.”

Oooofff hated it!

Oof! These kinds of replies are so annoying. As if your personal opinion with zero context actually matters.

People’s “personal opinion” is exactly what matters on this thread. Context is helpful but not necessary.

Get over your need to be aggressive with people on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A bit of an older book, but I’m starting Malibu Rising ahead of a vacation I take this weekend. I won’t have much opportunity to read beforehand, but I like to be invested beforehand.

“Set in California in August 1983, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows four famous siblings—Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit Riva. Over the course of 24 chaotic hours, their epic annual end-of-summer party spins completely out of control. The night brings long-held secrets to light and culminates in a devastating fire.”

Oooofff hated it!

Oof! These kinds of replies are so annoying. As if your personal opinion with zero context actually matters.

People’s “personal opinion” is exactly what matters on this thread. Context is helpful but not necessary.

Get over your need to be aggressive with people on the internet.

+1

I just started "I Have Some Questions For You" based on a rec from this thread. I am really liking it so far, though many people on Goodreads hate it.