Anonymous wrote:Lion Women of Tehran

Loved this!

I'm reading a nonfiction book called The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper that explores how access to writing and use of the skill changes the way we think. It's really readable and interesting. And it's making me want to pick up my abandoned journal again.

Started The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) last night and I'm hooked.

Anonymous wrote:I am reading “The Apothecary Diaries” light novel by Natsu Hyuuga. Reading on hoopla. Just started so I don’t have much to share other than it is about a young girl kidnapped and sold in the “rear palace” as a serving girl. She is an apothecary and knows about medicines and potions. Seems like a good mix of mystery, palace intrigue, romance etc in an interesting historical fiction setting. Anyone read this series?

I have watched the anime and it is one of the most popular anime in the last decade and is absolutely excellent. I highly recommend it to you. I am more of a manga reader but it is so fun watching a series come to life.

Just finished Babel by R.F. Kuang. I really enjoyed it. Just the type of read I was looked for right now. Loved the magic/silver work, the translation, the language and etymology, the setting, the characters - all in all a very enjoyable 500+ pages.

I’m in the middle of Lake Effect, pretty good so far in the 1970s, but it will jump ahead by a few decades at some point.

I just finished Beartown, and while I have zero interest in hockey, the writing and story were very compelling.

Just finished The Correspondent - very well-written. Really liked it even though one of the topics is disturbing

Now reading Theo of Golden for a feel good to lighten things up,.

On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

Anonymous wrote:Lion Women of Tehran

I just finished this as well.

Lion Women of Tehran

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swann's Way, by Proust. The translation is amazing. The madeleine scene lived up to expectations. Picked it up feeling a gap in my classics reading, but I'm loving it.

Which one is it?

John Grieves, the NYRB edition.

Thanks.

I just finished A Good Person by Kirsten King. Quick funny read, though I found it a bit stomach-churning to be in the mind of a sociopathic narrator. Ultimately I didn't love it because of the slapdash and unfinished ending, but it was enjoyable enough.

Anonymous wrote:
Now I feel like I have to read Theo of Golden lol because there is such a spirited debate over it lol.

Ha ha I feel the same. Everyone loves it or hates it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swann's Way, by Proust. The translation is amazing. The madeleine scene lived up to expectations. Picked it up feeling a gap in my classics reading, but I'm loving it.

Which one is it?

John Grieves, the NYRB edition.

I am reading “The Apothecary Diaries” light novel by Natsu Hyuuga. Reading on hoopla. Just started so I don’t have much to share other than it is about a young girl kidnapped and sold in the “rear palace” as a serving girl. She is an apothecary and knows about medicines and potions. Seems like a good mix of mystery, palace intrigue, romance etc in an interesting historical fiction setting. Anyone read this series?