What are you reading, June - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Off Topic

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

What are you reading, June

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

Our local library has just announced they're starting curbside pickup next week and I'm psyched. Their ebook selection is not extensive and I miss 'real' books.

I read the first in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue. I've read some of her other novels but nothing in this series yet. It's an urban fantasy set in San Francisco where the faerie kingdoms overlap with the regular world and the heroine ends up a private investigator of sorts (she's half faerie half human). I enjoyed it but it felt a little rote, somehow. Not sure if I'll look for the next one in the series.

I just got The Other Bennet Sister from my ebook holds. I'm looking forward to it as it has good reviews and I have always thought Mary Bennet got a bad rap.

Off Topic

29 replies

Latest reply was from Laurie

Anonymous

I'm on a reading tear right now. Our libraries haven't reopened and it's just about killing me , and my bank account. I'm not sure we have the same taste in books -but here's my recent list:

This past week or two I've read Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle (good) , Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner (dumb) , Normal People by Sally Rooney (meh) , My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (outstanding) , part of Uneducated by Tara Westover (not getting into it) and just started The Self Care Solution by Dr. Jennifer Ashton (liking this one ).

Teed up for next is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney , The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (very intrigued by this one and eager to start it ) , and Exodus by Deborah Feldman (love her work) .

Jane

Veteran

I read Kate Mosse, The Taxidermists Daughter early in lockdown, dark, gothic, set where I live, and now for easy reading I'm on Inspector Montablano, Andrea Camillieri, intriguing and the Sicilian lifestyle is delightful.

kellygirl

Veteran

I just finished The Blind Assassin. It took me forever and I really didn't enjoy it. I wanted to give it a chance though since I like Margaret Atwood. I was also too lazy to look for something else to read. I feel like I have attention deficit issues now--not sure what I'm going to read next but it definitely has to be light reading.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Louise Penny’s Gamache books - I really enjoyed the whole series (set in Canada).
Daniel Silva - Gabriel Allon series - Great spy thrillers (read them in order).
CJ Sansom's - Shardlake series.
Hilary Mantel's - Thomas Cromwell trilogy - amazing books & so well written - they need to be savoured.
Elizabeth Strout - My Name is Lucy Barton - brilliant writing.
Peter Robinson - DCI Banks books - if you like English police procedurals, again read in order as the characters develop & the plots are continued & extended.

Synne

Veteran

The Memory Keepers Daughter by American author (and professor of English) Kim Edwards. Beautifully written, and very moving.

Molly Mac

Veteran

In the Heart of the Sea, the tragedy of the whale ship Essex (this true story was the motivation for Moby Dick (Loved)
-City of Girls-Elizabeth Gilbert (liked)
-Politics is for Power, How to move beyond political hobbyism and take action and make real change-Eitan Hersh (important and educational)
-Little Fires Everywhere-Celeste Ng (loved)
The above are my most recent reads. Also reading a lot of light romance by Kristan Higgins, Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, etc... because unlike real life there is always a HEA and sometimes I need that at the end of the day

Laurie

Veteran

Recently read:
Redhead by the Side of the Road - Anne Tyler. I wouldn't say I always love her books, but I've read quite a few. This one was good - I really appreciated her writing.

Nothing to See Here -Kevin Wilson. I don't know why I got on the Hold list on Libby for this one, a review or other recommendation. Fast read, but, not so great.

Just borrowed Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb, hope it's good!

Best thing I've read in several months was American Dirt.

My Dad is taking online Osher Institute courses from Carnegie Mellon, and is in a lit class. They've just read Middlemarch, and he's encouraging me to read it. I'm not really in the mood for late 19th century English lit right now with all that's going on the world, but I may dig in.

Helena

Veteran

Waiting for delivery of Africville, which will be my June reading. For Canadians interested in the history of the Black community here, this might be of interest.

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca.....-item.html

We visited the site of Africville when we went to Nova Scotia a couple of years ago; it was a Black area of town that was razed by the municipality in the 60s after multiple prior injustices such as taxation without services. Compensation was not given to those impacted until 2010.

I just finished the Enneagram of Belonging by Chris Heuertz, which might be on interest to any other Enneanerds in the group!

Roxanna

Veteran

@Helena - amazing episode on the CBC Ideas podcast of the history of slavery in Canada.

I’m obsessed with the enneagram! How was this book?

Runcarla

Veteran

@Roxana - last night, right? I don’t watch TV, but I’m a diehard CBC Radio listener!

anne

Veteran

Laurie, Middlemarch is my favourite novel and well worth a read, but can understand not being in the mood for it. My reading dropped dramatically in the pandemic when the library books I had left to read at the beginning of lockdown didn't match with my mood.

They are open again here now, and I read one very quickly, Such a fun age, which was an easy read but thought provoking. It's about a black nanny, the white family she works for, a run in with a security guard, social media and more...
I am also, like caro in Oz, reading the latest in Hilary Mantel's trilogy on Thomas Cromwell.

cindysmith

Veteran

The reiki healer has an extensive book collection. When I say extensive, I'm probably understating it by more than a little bit. I asked if he had George R R Martin's books and he does have most of them so I've started on those. I already binged the series, now I want to read the books. I may binge the series again after I finish them all. I'm donating the one he was missing because ThriftBooks makes it more than affordable.

I've also been reading a lot of nonfiction, currently working on Deray Mckesson's book "On The Other Side of Freedom", and I have several books on the current administration of our federal government on tap ready to read.

Laurie

Veteran

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is an excellent memoir! About halfway through. This woman is fascinating - she worked for NBC in her 20's, just before Friends and ER were being launched - sat in on Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox's auditions! During research for ER she got fascinated with medicine and started med school, while continuing to write and publish articles. Eventually she becomes a therapist. I really like her writing style.

@anne - I got on the wait list for Middlemarch, so I will most likely dive in. I majored in English, and don't know how I missed reading anything by George Elliot. Keep you posted!

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Next on my list: Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire.

I've been reading a lot, too

These are the last few:

Sea Wife, by Amity Gage (I particularly recommend)
Silence Fallen, by Patricia Briggs
Before She Knew Him, by Peter Swanson (good thriller)
Dirt, by Bill Buford
Folk of the Air series, by Holly Black
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, by Natasha Pulley (really like but a previous book needs to be read first)
Things in Jars, by Jess Kidd
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, by Kelly Harms
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
The Devil Aspect, by Craig Russell
Saint X, by Alexis Schatkin
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett (recommend)
Celestial Bodies, by Jokha AlHarthi

Helena

Veteran

Roxanna going to add that podcast to my list - thank you! I finished the Enneagram book and have read his first book too. I find his writing style to be very esoteric (? not sure if that's quite the right word) - however, I've been able to pull a practical gem from both (both around a spiritual/meditative practice to support personal growth), so they were worthwhile. This most recent book offered an affirmation/mantra for each type, and mine is so spot on that I've been using it daily. He went super-deep into instinctual variants, etc. and I admit some parts were way over my head! He is also quite a devout Christian (Catholic I think) although very universalist in his leanings, so that's a matter of personal comfort/preference when that language comes into it. He was just on Brene Brown's podcast and that is worth a listen for sure. You are a type 3, is that right (I think we discussed before) ... if you have recos, do share!

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I was probably the one that recommended Nothing To See Here, or at least I mentioned I liked it on a previous thread.

Lila, I tried and tried to get into Gideon the Ninth since the buzz was so overwhelming, and I just couldn't. Lots of dubcon aspects and the way the romance was going was just icky, imo. Other people got a lot of giddy joy out of it so I dunno what's wrong with me.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Gideon the Ninth was a hard read for me because it was so violent. But I liked the main character a great deal, and I will be looking for the sequel.

I hadn’t heard this term dubcon before fwiw.

But when I look back to the romance novels I read 30+ years ago — Rosemary Rogers and Johanna Lindsey and Judith McNaught, my god, it’s a wonder I didn’t come out the other side completely whacked on consent issues.

MsMaven

Veteran

My friend recommended The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kaddish, said she couldn’t put it down. On a whim I bought it, started it yesterday. I love it and it’s really hard to put it down.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

Ooh, I loved The Weight of Ink. I think I read it in audiobook...Really good.

Lila, no kidding - looking back to the romance novels I snuck from my mom when I was a kid, yikes.Times have changed.

I've started Black Klansman, which is the true memoir that inspired the movie (which I haven't yet seen) - rather workmanlike since the author is a police detective and not a professional writer, but the story is interesting.

JAileen

Veteran

I’m just starting the first Louise Penny book, Still Life. It’s been recommended to me many times. So far it hasn’t grabbed me.

I just finished the third Percy Jackson book. They remind me of Harry Potter, only with Greek mythology instead of witchcraft. I’ve enjoyed them. The third one partly takes place in my home town!

Windchime

Veteran

I’m about 100 pages into a book by Fannie Flagg (best known for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe) called The Whole Town’s Talking and am really enjoying it. It’s a warm, funny, well-told story, and I’m finding it an uplifting diversion from pandemics and politics. One of the main character’s last name is Nordstrom. It’s fiction, of course.

Sara L.

Veteran

I pretty much read exclusively on my ereader and I'm a patron of two different library systems (one my local library and then a digital one). I also follow a couple twitter accounts that tweet about book sales so I've been able to keep reading during this pandemic without too many problems finding the books I want without too much damage to my wallet.

I've been working through Adriana Herrera's American Dreamers series. Just finished Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai and it's really good - so is the first book in the series called The Right Swipe.

I love Seanan McGuire and I've read all the Wayward Children books but nothing else by her.

Interesting about Gideon the Ninth - I have it but haven't it read it yet.

Ummila - I just read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and I'm trying to get my sister to read it so I have someone to talk about it with. I haven't read the second book yet. Sounds like I need to do it soon before I forget what happened in Book 1.

I really enjoyed the Folk of the Air series (and there's great fan art on Pinterest and Tumblr).

Molly Mac - I read in the Heart of the Sea a few years ago and thought it was really interesting. I read LOTS of romance.

Laurie

Veteran

Ok, oh my gosh you guys...I am reading Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld. It. is. steamy. It's so, so interesting to me that she writes - fictionally - about live people. I have liked everything she's written. American Wife, based on Laura Bush, was really good too.

I highly recommend Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, especially if you like memoirs, and/or have an interest in therapy. It actually brought me to tears 2 times, one of which alarmed my husband as he was driving us home from Boston. Very touching.

Anonymous

"A beginners guide to archery"- yes I took up another new hobby
The Percy Jackson books are great fun! Yes they're in the YA section, but magic and monsters are much more fun than real life.

JAileen

Veteran

Ok, I finished Louise Penny’s Still Life. Once the detective showed up, I was hooked. Before that, too much dialogue. Suntiger, archery is an important feature in the book. I loved archery in junior high. We used recurve bows (see, I learned something!)

Now I have 1 1/2 weeks to finish I Capture The Castle. Again, it hasn’t hooked me.

Anonymous

@JAileen I have a little compound bow that I found in my inlaws basement- was DHs as a child. But my friend that's teaching me said it will not do, so a nice recurve is heading my way
I'm not planning to hunt, just target practice as meditation.
Sorry to derail- back to the books!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I just started Ann Patchett's "The Dutch House." Too early to have any thoughts on it yet.

Just finished: "The Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa. Interesting premise and well-written. Surreal and dark and uneasy, and somehow it seems particularly suited to the times. Not an uplifting story, so be warned if you check it out. Apparently the author is deeply influenced by the story of Anne Frank.

Before that I read "Sunburn" by Laura Lippman. I always enjoy her books because of the local connection, and I like a good thriller/suspense novel. This is one of my favorites of hers so far.

JAileen

Veteran

Ok, I just finished My Name is Lucy Barton. Very good.

I started reading A Burning. I‘m getting a feeling of dread, though. I’m not sure I can go on.

I just started Outbreak. It hooked me right away.

Laurie

Veteran

I am reading Esther Safran Foer's memoir, I Want You to Know That We're Still Here. Her parents were Holocaust survivors, from Ukraine. It's excellent. Everything is Illuminated, by her son Jonathan, is a fictionalized account of the family story. Will read/watch film after.