Anonymous wrote:I'm reading What we can know by Ian McEwan - set 100 + years in the future, looking back to 2010-2050. It's amazing, I love it so much I don't want to it to end. (I'm still in the first part).

I'm also reading the second book in the marlow murder club - Death Comes to Marlow. It's ok, a little bit silly, but a very easy breezy read.

Then I've got Holly Jackson's Not Quite Dead yet which is about someone who will die from an aneursym in a week - she was attacked and suffered a brain injury. So she spends that week figuring out who tried to kill her/will kill her.

I also grabbd from the library The Salt Path. I wanted to read it when it came out, never got to it, but the recent controversy (did thwy relaly walk the path? Is the husband really ill? Are they really just grifters?) pushed it onto my list.

Anonymous wrote:Picked up a couple of Sue Monk Kidd's books from my shelves

Read The Book of Longings first. Fiction told from the perspective of Jesus's wife. Found it quite enjoyable, well paced, and just plain interesting. Deals with women wanting to have a voice, issues of writings told only from make perspective, women being shunned because a man raped them, betrothals, class, etc. Would recommend a read, not sure if I'll keep it or pass along.

Then read The Secret Life of Bees. About a young teen whose mother dies when she is young. She grows up in an abusive home where her dad is extreme with his punishments and completely devoid of love for her. Eventually she runs away with her housemaid and finds herself and her housemaid taken in by 3 sisters who keep bees. Won't spoil anything for those who haven't read it, I enjoyed it and finished it, but at one point, the girl is told that her dad wasn't always like that and that at one point he loved her mom very dearly which is just messed up nonsense, and I hate when people say stuff like that about abusers. It's just plain not true nor psychologically possible. So for that reason, not going to keep it, and it struck me morally, but all in all, it was still a good book.

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Anonymous wrote:Reading The Story of a New Name, the second Neapolitan novel by Elena Ferrante. Like I posted in last month’s thread I recently finished My Brilliant Friend, after seeing it is #1 on the NYT list of 21st century fiction. I don’t really agree with that placement but it was good enough for me to commit to the whole series.

I loved that whole series. Don’t be afraid to take it slow! The HBO series is incredible. I watched each one after finishing the book as a treat.

Anonymous wrote:I'm about halfway through "Buckeye" and am finding it very good. Reminds me of John Irving's books.

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Anonymous wrote:I just finished “Shark House” by Sara Ackerman (book club pick), about a shark researches working to solve a series of mysterious shark incidents on the Big Island, set in the 1990s. The writing was very basic/YA, the characters were flat, pacing a bit slow, and the MC was either immature or willfully naive at times. I did enjoy learning about sharks and the setting.

After a few duds, I want something well written and engaging next—thinking either O’Farell’s “Marriage Portrait” or Osman’s “The Impossible Fortune” (most recent Thursday Murder Club book).

Marriage Portrait is quite good!

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Anonymous wrote:Currently about halfway through Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden. I paused reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver to read it as soon as it became available from the library.

Where are you in Poisonwood that you could pause it?! Just post the book # or title (“What we…”) if you’re worried about posting a spoiler.

Book 3: The Judges, The Things We Didn’t Know. (The section right after Patrice Lumumba is elected)

I’ve never done this mid-read (stop, read another book, and resume original book), but The Poisonwood Bible is taking me a looong time to get through. I really like it but it’s kind of a slog for me. I needed a quick read and will resume PWB today.

Anonymous wrote:The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It's very, very good. A spy novel, but also an account of the end and aftermath of the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective.

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Anonymous wrote:Currently about halfway through Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden. I paused reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver to read it as soon as it became available from the library.

Where are you in Poisonwood that you could pause it?! Just post the book # or title (“What we…”) if you’re worried about posting a spoiler.

Anonymous wrote:Reading The Story of a New Name, the second Neapolitan novel by Elena Ferrante. Like I posted in last month’s thread I recently finished My Brilliant Friend, after seeing it is #1 on the NYT list of 21st century fiction. I don’t really agree with that placement but it was good enough for me to commit to the whole series.

Anonymous wrote:Currently about halfway through Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden. I paused reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver to read it as soon as it became available from the library.