Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Currently reading Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days.” It’s a collection of short stories. I’m generally not a huge fan of short stories but I will read anything she writes.

I'm a big Patchett fan and loved this book. Did you know the title comes from Charlotte's Web? I learned that from hearing Kirsta Tippett interview Kate Di Camillo.

I loved this book, too. Patchett was both very different and very similar to how I would have pictured her all at the same time.

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, about the invention/marketing of Oxycontin. They say behind every great fortune lies a great crime but the Sackler family was not willing to settle for just one.

I'm reading My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki. It's totally weird, but every time I have to put it down, I can't wait to pick it up again.

Anonymous wrote:Currently reading Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days.” It’s a collection of short stories. I’m generally not a huge fan of short stories but I will read anything she writes.

I'm a big Patchett fan and loved this book. Did you know the title comes from Charlotte's Web? I learned that from hearing Kirsta Tippett interview Kate Di Camillo.

Anonymous wrote:The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. It’s very good though I am having trouble getting into it. I think it’s because it’s about sisters and I’m having issues with mine.

I just finished Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould and would recommend, especially if you have ever struggled with holding onto yourself and your pre-kid dreams as a mom.

Next up Hush Hush by Laura Lippmann because I need a good murder mystery. But I’m also very excited to read Circe by Madeline Miller as I’ve been in a Greek myths kick generally lately.

I read Vanishing Half, but liked Bennett's earlier book, The Mothers, better. Vanishing Half felt too deliberately-plotted -- the scaffolding showed; The Mothers isn't a perfect book, but the characters and setting are more alive and organic. (Ok, my wonderful 8th-grade English teacher would make me rewrite that whole sentence.)

Slippery Creatures, by KJ Charles and Horrorstör, by Grady Hendrix.

7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for bookclub. I hate it.

Found an oldie but goodie in a NYC bookstore:
"The Best of Everything" by Rona Jaffe (written in 1958)

The story of young women working in the NYC publishing world.

OP again, I just started reading Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, which some folks on here recommended, and so far I can't put it down!

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh. It’s very good so far but also depressing so I’m on DCUM instead of reading it. I recently read Lost and Found by Kathryn Schulz, which is gorgeously written and about grief and love. I think I need some fluff next.

I was browsing this forum not too long ago, and someone was asking for CIA operative-meets-romance genre, and I'm like, "I love CIA operative style books, I love romance style books, but what the hell, that combo doesn't exist." And someone suggested the Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann. It's a 19-part series, and total fluff but also halfway decent crime/Navy Seal style operations. I'm going through a terrible time right now and needed something to read to take my mind off stuff and I'm on book 13 now.

OP here, I just finished a book I randomly grabbed at the library, and I really liked it!

It's called Everyone in this room will someday be dead, and the author is Emily Austin. It's interesting, thought-provoking, somewhat quirky but not in a try-hard way. Easy to read but not fluff.

(maybe a trigger warning, the main character does have some mental health issues and there are some passages describing suicidal thoughts, etc).

Anonymous wrote:Ocean Vuong's new collection, Time Is A Mother

and

Emily St. John Mandel's The Sea of Tranquility

In the spirit of DCUM recs, the Ocean Vuong book is now on my to-read list! Thanks PP!

I'm reading "On Second Thought" by Kristen Hannah. I have trouble putting it down, it's good. I've read a few of her other novels and they are usually entertaining but this one I'm pretty into and will probably finish it tonight.

Anonymous wrote:We need a book forum!

No, better to keep books here to "elevate" the conversations (and then let me justify peeking at other guilty pleasures in between reading about books).