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A new book thread

MsMary

Veteran

Okay, I just read a long novel that knocked my socks off: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Warning: The first chapter is about as harrowing as anything I've ever read, but oh my gosh this book! It's climate change dystopian sci-fi but ends up being pretty hopeful and I couldn't put it down for a week. Also it was so educational -- I learned so much about so many things! HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

In other news, the new Inspector Gamache novel, The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny, just showed up on my Kindle this morning and I'm excited to dive into it!

What is knocking your socks off lately?

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34 replies

Latest reply was from Laurie

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Sounds good!
All I’m reading these days is 19th century newspapers, particularly Black papers. Hoping to put together a research project.

Anonymous

Hmm . Ministry for the Future sounds intriguing . I’ve been reading non-stop lately but nothing has knocked my socks off . I’ve read lots of Louise Penny but am done with her now ,lol. Here are a few of my most recent reads :

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rachylou

Veteran

I haven’t started it yet, but I just downloaded Entangled Life about fungi and mycorrhizal networks that trees communicate through and so forth. This intrigues me!

pil

Veteran

Thanks for starting this, MsMary!

I just finished The One In A Million Boy by Monica Wood, the best book I have read this year. A father completes a community service project - assisting a 104 year old woman - started by his late, young, son. The ‘oddness’ of the boy is a thread that joins the woman, and the boy’s divorced parents. Made me cry more than once!
https://www.pressherald.com/20.....cter-is-go

The Madness of Crowds is on my holds list at the library.

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JAileen

Veteran

I’ve just got the Alex Trebek ebook from our library.

Bonus photo: A mural of him in his porn star mustache, at his old high school in Ontario.

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MsMaven

Veteran

Right now I'm reading political books, but I'm not going to discuss them here. I haven't been in the mood to read a novel, not even a mystery by a favorite author. I'm about to start a biography of Kurt Gödel, Journey to the Edge of Reason. Never could understand his theory. So far it's excellent. He was a good friend of Einstein. So it's kind of a mystery and a different form of escapism.

Rachy, your book sounds fascinating.

MsMary

Veteran

JAileen, fun fact: I was on Jeopardy! back when Alex Trebek looked like that! (No, I didn't win -- I had the bad luck to be on with somebody who went on to hold the "biggest winner in the history of Jeopardy!" title until KenJen came along!)

Lisa, I enjoyed Leave the World Behind.

Pil, The One in a Million Boy looks amazing and heartbreaking. I will have to check it out.

Anonymous

*checks Hoopla for Ministry for the Future- but not there*
I started Lightly by Francine Jay and Own the Day by Aubrey Marcus, but I read much more in winter.

JAileen

Veteran

Oh Mary, !!!!!

Joy

Veteran

I love Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels and have read them all. Many, if not all, are also available as audiobooks.

Lately I have been devouring novels by Donna Leon, especially the Commissario Guido Brunetti set in Venice in modern times. The books will give you a craving for Italian food.
the one I just finished, The Jewels of Paradise, is not a Comissario book but the main character is researcher in baroque opera from Vienna. An enjoyable visit to the researcher’s world.

The author is an American who has lived in Venice for at least 30 years.

Sally

Veteran

The midnight library by Matt Haig
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
Redhead by the side of the road by Anne Tyler

All have quirky characters, seem light to read but have a real message about life. I read a facebook post recently that we should reread our favourite novels at different stages in our life. It will be the same story but our perspective changes (or words to that effect). So I've been rereading ladder of years by Anne Tyler, an old favourite of mine. I've got a few others I want to reread as they had an effect on me when I was younger.

Anonymous

I love Anne Tyler's writing too. Redhead was another good one

MsMary

Veteran

I loved Anne Tyler years ago.

Also really enjoyed The Midnight Library and Eleanor Oliphant.

Suntiger, I just discovered my public library has started using Hoopla, which is great because their old app just stopped working for me! Thanks!

Joy, I will have to check out Donna Leon. I was in Venice two summers ago and it just rocked my world!

kkards

Veteran

I gave up on Louise Penny half way thru the Paris book, (cant remember exactly what the title was), it just seemed so outlandish and i no longer cared.
Working my way thru the Donna Leon books in the audio version… perfect background for WFH when I’m not on a call…
My beach vacation, ie my read-a-thon, is next week. So far, this is what I’m thinking for taking.

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Suz

(website)

Veteran

I just finished listening to Michael Pollan's This is Your Brain on Plants. Also really enjoyed Ali Smith's quartet -- I'd read the first book ages ago but finally got around to reading the last three. Very affecting. And Deborah Levy, Real Estate. She is everything!

Oh, another really terrific nonfiction book is Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I’m reading The Kingdoms, by Natasha Pulley. I love all her books. The world building and inner life of her characters is amazing.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Interesting that so many of you loved The Midnight Library. I was not a fan at all.

My mother-in-law sent me a stack of books she recently finished that she thought I would like, including a couple of old mysteries by Josephine Tey. They were written in the late 20s through the early 50s, but are still very readable, and I'm just adoring the escapism to another time.

MsMary

Veteran

LOVE Josephine Tey! Daughter of Time is a classic. If it's not in your stack, HIGHLY recommend you get your hands on it.

Midnight Library was lighter than it could have been but I knew that going in so I enjoyed it for what it was.

DonnaF

Veteran

Family Trust by Kathy Wang. I'm not Chinese but found it hilarious in the way that I find Hasan Minhaj hilarious. It reads gossipy sort of in the style of Crazy Rich Asians.

Other stuff I've been reading is too heavy and depressing or antiracist (and heavy and depressing) to recommend.

AJ

Veteran

Over the summer I read:
The Magus by John Fowles - I think you will either like or hate this book. Definitely a suspenseful, trippy ride.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder - a quick, palate cleanser between books.

Currently reading:
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

MsMary

Veteran

Speaking of antiracist, I LOVED How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith. So good!

Joy

Veteran

What Sally said about rereading books we read when younger. We often notice completely different things. I reread My Antonia by Willa Cather ( it is close to the story of my immigrant family members from Sweden who settled in Nebraska.) and found it very different than the first time.

Debbie

Veteran

Kkards-I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Echo

Veteran

I primarily read nonfiction, but that doesn't mean I don't go in for some light summer reading! I have been reading The Science of Monsters: The Truth About Zombies, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Legendary Creatures by Kelly Florence and Meg Hafdahl. It is entertaining, but doesn't contain much information I wasn't already aware of.

I also picked up The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Bloom, which I also anticipate being a light read.

Sally

Veteran

Joy I read 'My Antonia" about 30 years ago when i was at university. I must look it up and read it again. The other one I read at university and kept rereading at different times was "cats eye' by Margaret Atwood. It seems to really amplify the complicated relationships of girls how nasty they can be. One of my friends read it for the first time recently after being bullied at work by another woman, and found it quite healing.

Laurie

Veteran

I'm back to The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsen, about Churchill, England in the early stages of the war, and the US's entry into WWII through the lens of Churchill. Larsen is such an engaging writer, and I need my history to be this readable. It's a really long book so I've had to return it a few times and wait for it to become available again. I keep pushing off other holds that pop up as available, I'm determined to finish it this time.

Style Fan

Veteran

AJ, I read The Magus by John Fowles and several of his other books a long time ago. I enjoyed them at the time.

I haven't been reading much this summer because I have had chronic migraines. Awful. The weather is probably part of the reason. I may try audiobooks.

Debora

Veteran

I always love these books threads. So many good suggestions to add to my reading list. Thanks, MsMary! I’m currently reading Stephen King’s Billy Summers and can’t put it down. Louise Penny’s latest is also on my reading list, and my hold for The Ministry for the Future has just become available at the library. Looking forward to starting it after hearing your review.

A few others I’ve enjoyed this summer…
Anxious People by Fredrik Backmon
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Piranesi by Sussana Clarke
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

MsMary

Veteran

LOVED Piranesi! It was my book of the year for 2020, I think!

And I read and loved Anxious People last year and am about to re-read it this weekend for next week's book club!

And I loved The Kitchen Front so much that I gobbled up the rest of Jennifer Ryan's oeuvre!

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