Anxious People

Anonymous wrote:The Change - read recently based on DCUM. Revenge fantasy about women who get witchy powers after menopause. A little over the top but fun.

Slightly more rooted in reality, but also a story of menopause: Wayward by Dana Spiotta -- maybe my favorite book of 2022

Anonymous wrote:OP, can you recommend any of those light weight thrillers you read recently?

Sure! Some of these were lighter than others, but I enjoyed them all (again, to differing degrees):

Domestic/Family/Suburban thrillers:

The Last Flight (Julie Clark)
The Power Couple (Alex Berenson)
Imperfect Women (Araminta Hall)
Three Perfect Liars (Heidi Perks)
Not a Happy Family (Shari Lapena)
The Marriage Pact (Michelle Richmond)
The Gifted School (Bruce Holsinger)

Contemporary Spy Thrillers:

Damascus Station (David McCloskey)
The Cover Wife (Dan Fesperman)
The Paris Diversion (Chris Pavone)
Never (Ken Follett)
Pretty Things (Janelle Brown) (crime, not spy)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Change - read recently based on DCUM. Revenge fantasy about women who get witchy powers after menopause. A little over the top but fun.

OMG that sounds really fun - going to add to my TBR

OP here. I enjoyed it, too!!

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti is lighter than what you are looking for, but it's a great summer read if anyone needs a recommendation. It's about a con artist in the publishing world. It's similar to Inventing Anna, if anyone has seen that series.

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay is an epistolary novel. Very sweet and could be read in one sitting.

Home or Away by Kathleen West. A former elite female hockey player returns to her hometown so her son can play hockey on a higher level. She has secrets from her past.

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Excellent story set in the early 70s about a black woman who is a home health nurse and becomes aware of unethical practices.

Rules of civility was great

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NFT8N8F/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Paper Palace. I read a lot and this was one of my favorite books in years.

That and Verity. I loved the writing but hated the book at the end.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

The last three books I read were:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. A pretty good read but quite dark.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Definitely a light read, I enjoyed it while I was consuming it but afterwards a few flaws stuck out in my mind which slightly lowered my review of the novel.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (forget the author's name offhand). Overall I enjoyed the read but much like with the Moriarty novel, once I got to the end and looked back at the book more critically I recognized some of the flaws in the book and so my rearview mirror take was a bit less positive than how I would have rated the book while I was reading it.

One Italian Summer - it's about a woman grieving the loss of her mother. She and her mother planned a trip to Italy and now the daughter has to go alone. It's sad, but enjoyable.

I very much enjoyed French Braid by Anne Tyler - deceptively breezy, but amusingly accurate novel about three generations of a Baltimore family.

I also enjoyed Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead - about a black man trying to make his way in 1960s Harlem - not woman-centered, though.

Agree about Happiness - one of my fave books of past decade.

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian is quite good about a woman accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts and has some of the literary tension of a thriller without the explicit violence.

Anonymous wrote:The Change - read recently based on DCUM. Revenge fantasy about women who get witchy powers after menopause. A little over the top but fun.

OMG that sounds really fun - going to add to my TBR

The Change - read recently based on DCUM. Revenge fantasy about women who get witchy powers after menopause. A little over the top but fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Guncle. I loved it, but it’s certainly not woman-centered.

Guncle is very good! Did you already read These Precious Days from Ann Patchett? That was fantastic. I also am a big Anne Tyler fan and just read French Braid which I enjoyed. We Are the Brennans (family saga), Circe, The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah are all ones I liked too.

couldn't get into circe

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