I did not like Hamnet as much as everyone else seems to. I liked it fine and it was interesting to learn some of the background about Shakespeare but I didn't love it like others. I gave it 3 stars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started Hamnet and I can not mesh with the writing style. It feels so over the top. I'm sad because so many people seem to love it, but I think it's a DNF for me. Or should I give it another chance.

I've been trying to read Hamnet since November - well, I haven't actually picked up the book since DEcember, so not trying too terribly hard. I just can't get into it. Maybe I know too much of the plot and don't want to get emotionally involved? But I find the writing style to be distancing - being too much of an observer and not in the story. And then yes, overwrought. It sits on my night standand night after night mocking me.

Give up and watch the movie.

I just started Heart the Lover and am liking it so far. I read Writers and Lovers first and they are companion pieces. Imagining the college is UNC or Duke.

Anonymous wrote:just finished The North Woods. I really liked it conceptually and the writing was beautiful, but I found it tedious to get into a brand new story line every few pages. I would have preferred to follow some of the stories longer without switching to new characters over and over. But I get that was kindof the point.

The house/land is the main character.
I wanted the first story to continue. But…we don’t see that woman until decades later.

just finished The North Woods. I really liked it conceptually and the writing was beautiful, but I found it tedious to get into a brand new story line every few pages. I would have preferred to follow some of the stories longer without switching to new characters over and over. But I get that was kindof the point.

Books I have read in the last few weeks:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. It is about a female scientist in the 1950's who keeps trying to get a doctoral education as a research chemist but encounters sexism at every turn. Finally she takes a job as a cooking show host and the show ends up being very popular. I thought the book was fun. I looked up the author and she has a second novel coming out in October.

Such Quiet Girls by Noelle Ihli. This was about a school bus with 10 kids and a bus driver on it and they are all kidnapped and put in an underground container. The book was fiction but inspired by a real event that happened in California in 1976. I thought the book was really good. I couldn't put it down from start to finish. I plan to check out what else this author has written next time I am in the mood for a "whodunit" type of book.

I also finished the 17th and final book in a cozy mystery series about a caterer in Colorado. I enjoyed every book in the series. I joked to my family while reading them over the last year or so that I would never hire her to cater a party since so many people end up getting murdered when she is around.

And I read the 5th book in a cozy mystery series about Finlay Donovan, who is a novelist and accidental contract killer. I find this series fun and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Just finished listening to Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles

Very well done in depth investigation into the murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans in SNP in 1996. I had followed this case for years due to proximity of SNP and many visits there.

A true tragedy in many ways including the FBI’s zeroing in on Darrell Rice and dogging him for years. There was finally a DNA match in 2024 with Walter Leo Jackson who died in 2018 while doing time for multiple rapes. Darrell Rice was completely exonerated in June 2024, though he was struck and killed by a car 7/5/24. Lollie’s parents died not knowing who killed their child though Julie’s parents were still living.

The book came out in 2022 so left many unanswered questions. I debated whether to read the book based on this, but so glad I decided to!

Anonymous wrote:Finished Raja the Gullible... would love to hear others thoughts. It was smart, funny and well written. Not sure how I felt about the story in general.

Now reading The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff.

I loved it. I did find it very hard to read in places, but it was all integral to the story and the development of the character -- it isn't trauma porn at all. It felt a bit wild to be reading it now, as war has again come to Lebanon; I think I felt more aware of the news about the war than I would have been if I hadn't been reading this book. It deserved that National Book Award.

Just started So Far Gone, by Jess Walter. Recommended by a friend. Loving it so far.

Just finished This Time Tomorrow - solid 4. The Husbands (time travel so to speak) is better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trust by Hernan Diaz. It's fantastic . . . leaves one to contemplate how wealth and power can dictate who gets to tell the "truth" and manipulate facts.

I really liked Trust, too.

+2 to Trust

I just finished The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore. A 3.5, maybe 4 star read for me. I randomly grabbed it from the library when I decided I should be reading more real books in front of my kids instead of books on my phone. Overall, though, a sweet and satisfying book about identity, belonging, and love.

Just finished Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent, about an Oxford English Dictionary editor. The editor's sister disappeard 10 years ago under suspicious circumstances and someone starts sending hr office clues and hints and urgings to solve the mystery. It was good - slow, but really focusing on words and their meanings at the same time which added a layer of interest.

I'm about to start another mystery, Not quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson which made a bit of a splash last year. The narrator is violently attacked and suffers a brian injury which the doctor tells her will rtigger a deadly aneursym within 7 days, so she spends her last week (?) solving he own pending murder. Likely not great literature that others have mentioned but who knows could be interesting.

Anonymous wrote:I started Hamnet and I can not mesh with the writing style. It feels so over the top. I'm sad because so many people seem to love it, but I think it's a DNF for me. Or should I give it another chance.

I've been trying to read Hamnet since November - well, I haven't actually picked up the book since DEcember, so not trying too terribly hard. I just can't get into it. Maybe I know too much of the plot and don't want to get emotionally involved? But I find the writing style to be distancing - being too much of an observer and not in the story. And then yes, overwrought. It sits on my night standand night after night mocking me.

Anonymous wrote:Trust by Hernan Diaz. It's fantastic . . . leaves one to contemplate how wealth and power can dictate who gets to tell the "truth" and manipulate facts.

I really liked Trust, too.