Just read Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies (maybe recommended here due to Belle Burden's book...or Reddit, cannot remember!) and enjoyed it, as an audiobook and narration by her was excellent. Now moved on to a Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Jen Waite, on the same topic.

I have a great used book store in my neighborhood and while browsing around, I picked up an old, used paperback novel called “The Silver Star” by Jeanette Walls.
I had read her Glass Castle memoir years ago + loved it so I thought I might like this one too.

I am 2/3 into this book and so far it is a good read for me.
I also bought a book by author Shari Lapena and was addicted to the book and am looking forward to reading more titles by her.

Currently reading Raja the Gullible. Agree prose is quick witted and smart. I’m not devouring the book, but am enjoying the writing.

Also Read Her Last Breath about two friends who go caving together, and are being chased through the underground labyrinths. It was a well thought out thriller that evoke a visceral reaction due to descriptions of very tight and claustrophobic spaces.

Lastly, Good People, about an Afghani family that becomes very successful in the US, but struggles with their children’s assimilation. There is also a bit of a crime aspect, and I thought it was also quite well written and engaging..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in between a few books due to travel and format availability:
- The Humans, Matt Haig (paperback): Very funny (and a bit sad) take on life on earth from an advanced life form’s POV—some really great descriptions/observations of the human experience
- The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell (audio/hardcover…audio ran out): historical fiction / mystery based on a Medici daughter—intrigue plus great writing
- Less, Andrew Greer (ebook): I’m early here, but enjoying some of the descriptions (“sequin laugh”)
- The Scottish Prisoner, Diana Gabaldon (ebook/audio): Part of the Lord John Grey/Outlander universe

You have exquisite taste.

Thank you! ☺️ I feel so seen right now. What are your recommendations for where to go after these?

If you liked the Humans try The husbands.
The correspondent.
I personally hated Theo of golden.
The island of sea women
Project Hail Mary
What we can know
Kin
Lion women of Tehran
And my personal favorite (good luck if you read it) Andersonville by kantor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in between a few books due to travel and format availability:
- The Humans, Matt Haig (paperback): Very funny (and a bit sad) take on life on earth from an advanced life form’s POV—some really great descriptions/observations of the human experience
- The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell (audio/hardcover…audio ran out): historical fiction / mystery based on a Medici daughter—intrigue plus great writing
- Less, Andrew Greer (ebook): I’m early here, but enjoying some of the descriptions (“sequin laugh”)
- The Scottish Prisoner, Diana Gabaldon (ebook/audio): Part of the Lord John Grey/Outlander universe

You have exquisite taste.

Thank you! ☺️ I feel so seen right now. What are your recommendations for where to go after these?

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

What an incredible book. Comedic, but very dark. Set in Beirut, covering the 60s through present day. So much about what it is to be human packed in there. Themes of family, surviving trauma and war, conflict in the middle east, growing up queer, finding identity. Some of the best writing I've read in years -- the prose is exquisite and the writer assumes a well-read reader and doesn't over-explain anything. 10/10

Anonymous wrote:Just read Maggie or A Man and a Woman Walk Into A Bar by Katie Yee; also finished SomenKind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. Both were 3 stars (out of 5) for me. I found Yee’s main character annoying and a wet blanket; Brown’s book was just very… okay. Starting either So Far Gone by Jess Walter or The Correspondent… hopefully either will be better!

So Far Gone is SO good! One of my recent favortites. I was slow to read the Correspondent -- mostly because it was so hyped up--but I ended up really liking it.

Just finished Emma Straub's American Fantasy. It's about an recently (and unhappily) divorced women you goes on a theme cruise in place of her sister who broke her leg just before the departing. The cruise is dedicated to fans of a boy band (all of the members are now middle aged). The sister doesn't really like the band, but goes anyway. It's very funny and engaging. She is one of favorite authors so I may be biased but I think this book is a delight. FINALLY--I went on a spree of reading all of Cynthia D'Prix Sweeney's books. All good.

I just finished The Hallmarked Man, the latest in the Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith). This series is so hit or miss for me. I was about to give up before the last book in the series but loved that one so kept going. The Hallmarked man was a complete mess with way too many characters to keep track of.

I just finished a book that I thought was fantastic.
It was called "Women of a Promiscuous Nature" by Donna Everhart.
The book is fiction, but based on a program that actually existed in the United States from the 1920's to the 1940's. The program was called "The American Plan". Women who were suspected prostitutes were arrested and put in a reformatory in order to protect soldiers from getting venereal diseases. Penicillin didn't exist back then, so the women were treated for their alleged diseases by getting mercury injections.
In this book, a 24 year old woman named Ruth lives alone and is walking to work when she is arrested and sent to this institution. She has never done anything more than kiss a man. Another female sent to the institution is 15 and was raped and got pregnant.

I found the book harrowing and believable.
Here is a link to a review of the book:
https://southernreviewofbooks.com/2026/03/24/women-of-a-promiscuous-nature-donna-everhart-review/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading “The Road to Tender Hearts” by Annie Hartnett and loving it. Funny, sad, weird and uplifting all at the same time. I was laughing out loud on the train and getting looks from fellow passengers. For once the blurbs—from John Irving and two authors whose books I recently loved (Shark Heart and Margo’s Got Money Troubles)—felt spot on! I love all of the characters (including Pancakes, the cat who can predict death)

The Road to Tender Hearts was a DNF.

New poster here and I loved The Road to Tender Hearts!

I just finished Broken Country and I loved it SO MUCH! I have so many thoughts and opinions.

Now I’m reading Lady Tremaine and I’m really enjoying it!

Anonymous wrote:I’m in between a few books due to travel and format availability:
- The Humans, Matt Haig (paperback): Very funny (and a bit sad) take on life on earth from an advanced life form’s POV—some really great descriptions/observations of the human experience
- The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell (audio/hardcover…audio ran out): historical fiction / mystery based on a Medici daughter—intrigue plus great writing
- Less, Andrew Greer (ebook): I’m early here, but enjoying some of the descriptions (“sequin laugh”)
- The Scottish Prisoner, Diana Gabaldon (ebook/audio): Part of the Lord John Grey/Outlander universe

You have exquisite taste.

I am usually a voracious reader, but world events have left me numb and unable to focus on books.

I’m in between a few books due to travel and format availability:
- The Humans, Matt Haig (paperback): Very funny (and a bit sad) take on life on earth from an advanced life form’s POV—some really great descriptions/observations of the human experience
- The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell (audio/hardcover…audio ran out): historical fiction / mystery based on a Medici daughter—intrigue plus great writing
- Less, Andrew Greer (ebook): I’m early here, but enjoying some of the descriptions (“sequin laugh”)
- The Scottish Prisoner, Diana Gabaldon (ebook/audio): Part of the Lord John Grey/Outlander universe

I just finished Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. It is a story about marriage and mental illness, set in and outside London. While that sounds heavy it is a witty and charming read. The narrator has something sort of like undiagnosed bipolar disorder (weirdly the condition is unnamed and an author’s note at the end says it is a fictional mental illness) and it is about her relationship with her family and her husband and has some romantic comedy DNA in there while not minimizing her illness and the ways she is cruel to people she loves as a result. I am not describing it very well but I enjoyed it. I am also listening to Awake by Jen Hatmaker (a memoir by a former evangelical influencer about the end of her marriage and her shifts in relationship to religion) which is less my cup of tea, but I haven’t abandoned it yet.