Laura - some of the Georgette Heyer have relationships that are a bit dubious (older worldly man with inexperience ingenue).... some of them have much more equal relationships.

It is interesting reading older books with a modern lense. "Gone with the Wind" being a classic example (that I won't comment on as I feel the US readers will have a much more informed view than I do) that I adored as a late teen but there are a few issues.

Laura - I thought a Discover of Witches was boring too. I finished it but I haven't read any of the other books in the series. So many pretentious discussions about wine! I've read all the Witcher books. The author has some interesting takes on classic fantasy tropes (his elves are guerrilla fighters not always on the right side) but the books are VERY male gaze.

RunCarla - I've read all of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series and I'm curious about the TV show. I'm especially excited since the casting is much more diverse than the original books. Older historical romance is very white. Some of the newer authors, like Courtney Milan, are writing more diverse stories.

I just realized I never answered the question about what I'm reading. I'm currently reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I'm also working my way slowly through Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. They're totally crazy sauce paranormal romance. I'm also listening to a podcast called Fated Mates (one of the hosts is Sarah MacLean who writes historical romance) that analyzes each book in the series. It's so much fun!

Sara, I just heard about Fated Mates and put it on my podcast TBR. I grew up sneaking my mom's romance novels, back in the day when gender roles, etc., were different, so it'll be interesting to revisit some of my nostalgic favorites.

I'm partway through Four Days Gone, which is a memoir about the author's mother's childhood and how she went missing for four days at age three in the 1920s in a small British town. Absorbing story but her mom's family situation was so repressed and emotionally abusive it's hard to get through.

I just finished a juvenile book - the first of the Percy Jackson series. I read about the NYT best selling author (Rick Riordan), and had never heard of him. The book reminded me of Harry Potter series. I enjoyed it, just as I enjoyed the Harry Potter books.

I am finding since the pandemic lockdown began that I am almost incapable of reading books. It's much like when I had a newborn, 23 years ago: I thought I'd have so much "downtime" for reading, but in reality I was too anxious - thought I'd get caught up in a book and completely forget I had a baby.

Kind of like that now - I have three extra members in my household and all day long they need things, and then they need a huge dinner at the end of the day. If I get sucked into a book, I might be ignoring an important need, or that huge dinner might not get made.

Or something. Anyway, I'm ready for things to be slightly more normal.

@ April - before retirement I worked in disability management and serious injuries for a gov’t insurance regime. I could never get into ‘serious’ reading and escaped into light topics and historical romance with predictable story arch. 2 years post retirement I was just getting I to some meatier books, but once Covid hit, and those horrible death statistics and stories of survival - I was back into needing ‘light’ and escapist material.

FWIW - I sleep better if I read for an hour before bed, rather than do ‘online’ stuff. I don’t watch TV.

Into week 3 of War and Peace....still very enjoyable! (I'm reading from the Norton Critical edition.) This week's reading introduced the more serious war sections rather than the lighter high society gossip and romance of the previous two weeks.
I was intrigued by the sections depicting the frustrations of war, especially when opportunities/blunders presented themselves due to communication delays of having to wait for orders to be physically delivered. (My how far we have come!)
Yes, I have to keep a running list of characters so that I don't get confused, but I am enjoying it and thankful for the weekly discussions with my book club.
Definitely would encourage anyone to read it!

@Carla and others - many years ago in my Ph.D. program, I had a supervisor who told me she had to read herself to sleep at night *and* that she had to read something she'd read before. (If it was new material, wondering about the plot might keep her awake.) For that reason, she was on her tenth or twelfth trip through the Harry Potter series.

At the time, this did not resonate with me at all. Now it seems brilliant.

@SaraL and @Laura, I’m so glad to hear the love for Fated Mates. I hadn’t read Kresley Cole, but love Sarah MacLean’s writing, so I jumped in on the podcast and reading IAD last year. The books are bonkers, but I love them as a complete reality break (especially the one that includes a paranormal version of the Amazing Race!)

Right now, I am listening to Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series. I think Beauty and the Mustache is my favorite,

I also recently read Such a Fun Age. Really liked it - some good topics for Book Club.

I think in the last thread I had just mentioned that I was ordering the Annotated H.P. Lovecraft books. I have now ordered both, and while I received the second first, and they are all relatively short stories, so it shouldn't matter which was read first, it DOES matter. So I am now reading the first annotated edition of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, including the Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness. These stories (in addition to a few other shorter stories) really describe the ideas and thoughts of H.P. Lovecraft, and give a person a firm grounding in the Great Old Ones and other mythic beings. Reading these stories has given me a huge amount of insight into the games my DS1 and DS2 are playing.

Of course, Dh and I are into D&D; we have been since long before we met and long before we had children. Our kids have taken to the game greatly, and both DS1 and DS2 DM their own games with friends (while Dh DMs at home). However, reading Lovecraft has made me realize the similarities with the many video games the boys are familiar with, especially games like Bloodborne and the Witcher.

I highly recommend HP Lovecraft's stories to anyone who would like to better understand references to Cthulhu, R'yleh, the Necronomicon, etc. in games and modern parlance.

High five Echo! DH and I have co-DM’d D&D campaigns online in the past, and DS#1 is keeping his campaign going (and his friends socializing) via a Face Time event every second week! He and DS#2 are playing as I write.

I’m still plugging away at the Witcher books. I find them sorta intriguing and yet I can’t read many pages at a time...

I really like Penny Reid - her Beards series grabbed me more than Knitting in the City (I know they're all related, but the newer books seemed less manic).

I just finished Trust Exercise by Susan Choi - set in a performing arts HS in the 90s, and then present day looking back at it. Major 'me too' trigger warnings but well-crafted and an interesting take on how POV shifts perception and the issue of consent.

I'm partway through Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino's book of essays, and would recommend.

I had both The Glass Hotel and A Gentleman in Moscow out as ebooks from the library, and let them expire without finishing. The Glass Hotel had an interesting set up, kind of a mystery and moving between POVs, but all the characters felt so contingent and I just need some stability even in my fiction right now. A Gentleman in Moscow is timely, as it's about a former nobleman in Russian forced to live in a small room in a hotel in Moscow by the Communists, and never allowed to leave. Cool period details but again this sense of despair and stuck-ness I just couldn't handle.

I find the more my mental state is sketchy, the less I'm able to handle literary fiction. I've been reading romance and light nonfiction, when I have been reading books. Mostly it's still the news and then TV for a distraction.

Our library is supposed to open for curbside pickup soon, which will be a big morale boost for me.

I’m reading the latest Maisie Dobbs novel, The American Agent. It’s by Jacqueline Winspear. I love this series.

Xtabay - just popped here to say I'd just finished American Dirt and saw your review from 3 weeks ago. Riveting, and horrifying. I have some people in my life whose stories I need to learn more about. I think this book is an important read.