Off-Topic Summer Reading

[PhyllisG]

So far nothing except The Luminaries, Sarah Waters The Little Stranger. We meet next Thursday. We take turns suggesting books and usually present 4 or 5 to choose from.
We have read the Secret Fan and while I love Liann Moriarity and have read all her books, I don't think my book club will go for it.
I really wanted The Last Painting of.......but it is a long wait from the library. Same with Smoke. Also the new Louise Erdich book LaRosa sounded good but again a long wait.
I think I will see if Eligible Sittenfield is available.
Still looking for suggestions. Thank you for your help.

[Jewels5]

Originally Posted by PhyllisG

So far nothing except The Luminaries, Sarah Waters The Little Stranger. We meet next Thursday. We take turns suggesting books and usually present 4 or 5 to choose from.
We have read the Secret Fan and while I love Liann Moriarity and have read all her books, I don't think my book club will go for it.
I really wanted The Last Painting of.......but it is a long wait from the library. Same with Smoke. Also the new Louise Erdich book LaRosa sounded good but again a long wait.
I think I will see if Eligible Sittenfield is available.
Still looking for suggestions. Thank you for your help.

Phyllis, Sarah Waters The Little Stranger is on my soon-to-read list. I have heard great things about that one.

I read and loved Euphoria by Lily King earlier this year. I think it would make a great book club read.

[BunnyHop]

Thanks for recommending Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I picked both the book and the movie from the library today. Lately I just can't tell ahead of time whether or not a book will hold my attention, so I couldn't resist picking up the dvd too, just in case. So far, I'm definitely intrigued.The details of footbinding are beyond gruesome (and the sex talk related to bound feet is just gross) and the endless talk of the proper role of a woman in life kind of depresses me, but the narrator's voice is compelling. I'm interested to see where the story goes.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by Jewels5

I read and loved Euphoria by Lily King earlier this year. I think it would make a great book club read.

I second this. My group read it and it *did* make for a great discussion.

[PhyllisG]

I reserved Euphoria from my library. Thank you!

[Aunt Famous]

I read Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America, a book by an LA Times reporter about homicides in south central LA. I'd heard David Sedaris speak a few months ago, and he recommended it. It was gripping, fast-paced, and thought-provoking. I followed it up with The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, a book about a kid from Newark who gets a blank check to attend Yale, excels there, goes back to Newark, and dies in a drug-related shooting at age 31. Peace's Yale roommate wrote the book, and it is largely interesting -- except when the roommate inserts himself in the book (which comes off as a little off). It also made me think.

On a lighter note, Emma Straub's The Vacationers was an enjoyable, well-written beach read (needed after the other two), and I also liked I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You for the same reason.

Thanks to all who recommended Eligible. Loved Prep, was lukewarm about the other two (?), glad to hear that the latest is good.

AF

Check out my blog at www.typeALC.com

[LynnO]

If a dog has saved you by being there in bad times- I read a preview copy of a book I really liked a while back- Lily and the Octopus. It was published recently. It is a bit sad as the Octopus is not a real thing, but a metaphor for something on Lily's (the dog) head. The book has one section that is full on out there- I'm not sure if it was a hallucination, metaphor, story or something else. But the loss of the dog is a catalyst of growth for the guy in the story. Recommended.

The Next - by Gangi. Another ARC from Netgalley, and another book that is really hard to explain. Starts out literary fiction, gets super natural, ends with a cheesy literary device, crosses a bit into "women's fiction". But another strange netgalley book that gets a 3 or 4 depending on what scale you use (it is good but not great and well written). There are a few editors at some of the large publishing houses buying books that don't neatly fit categories - yay them. I'm not sure who to recommend this to, but it was interesting and a good read. It kept me reading.

Grunt by Mary Roach came out- if you like science with humor, get this book. If you don't like the military theme, this is all kinds of things but not how to make better weapons.

I'm reading a book about the Dark Net, but so far, only hearing about who trolls and why. Not far in.

Listening to the Coldest Girl in Cold Town. I had given up young adult - but heard so much about this book. The first hour or two of the story- was good and now we are turning into every other urban/high young adult high fantasy. Yuck.

[isebelleg44]

I finished up Night Road by Kristin Hannah last week. It was a quick read, but very Lifetime movie like.

I picked up Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys at the library this week. I loved Between Shades of of Gray, so I am looking forward to this one.

[toaster]

I finished a couple of books recently:

All of Us and Everything by Bridget Asher, a new release I got from Amazon Vine.

Ape House, by Sara Gruen, the author of Water for Elephants (which I haven't read).

And now I just started End of Watch, Stephen King's latest.

[isebelleg44]

I have never read anything by Curtis Sittenfield. I am curious but her reviews seem very mixed.